one time thing | ricky bowen ¹

twelve

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the following morning, leighton woke up feeling refreshed. just not knowing what the day would actually turn out to be. classes only seemed to drag on when she didn't have anyone to talk to.

before rehearsal, turns out there was a missing hamster on the run from natalie bagley. it was an emotional-support animal supposedly and the girl was desperate to find it.

the cast was stuck outside as they waited for the door to open up to the rehearsal room. leighton had her airpods in and couldn't really hear what was going on between nini and ej a few feet from her spot by the door. she felt a nudged from someone and looked up from her phone.

it was big red who sent her a soft smile, knowing she was probably still upset with him, but tilted his chin to where the 'couple' was arguing at.

taking out one airpod she heard, "oh please! gina's not the wonderstudy i need to worry about, is she?" from nini. by now everyone was looking up at them.

"wow, nini is angry at someone who isn't ricky? that might be a first." leighton said as big red laughed at her comment. the two watched discreetly as nini kept rejecting anything ej said.

big red spoke up and turned a little towards leighton. "you know, i didn't mean to intrude on your privacy. i don't want to apologize for ricky, leigh but he slipped it out. you can't continue being mad at him forever." leighton gnawed on the inside of her cheek.

"then why hasn't he tried to apologize? i see him with you. i know his life is crazy but, it would be nice to have an apology. maybe i should do it first. i miss him.." she asked out loud, it directed to big red but more so herself. big red pulled leighton into a hug.

the girl grateful for their friendship and pondering what to do about ricky now. once again there was an intense voice from nini who said something about summer being over. leighton and big red let go to see ej standing there as nini walked around him and towards the area by the door.

"oh shit, she's coming this way. stop looking!" someone whispered in the group as everyone looked down and back to their phones. nini asked why they weren't able to go inside the drama room and ashlyn explained about the hamster.

the group of teens heard a high pitched scream as ashlyn proceeded to say, "i think they found it." once again hearing another scream.

"hey ricky just texted me he's going to be late. his mom is back from chicago." big red said and showed leighton the message. her eyes widened and knew things were not okay for him right now. she felt bad once again for being angry with him. it was a never ending cycle.

natalie busted out the drama room saying she needed a moment. carlos and ashlyn shared a conversation with where the hamster might be and how carlos' toe was stepped on twice.

things were messy with the musical and it was not entertaining for once. "we're ready to begin, people." carlos said and reopened the door before going to talk to nini and ej and leaving everyone to pile in the room.

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leighton sat at the piano on the small drama room stage. she watched as miss jenn frustratedly talk to nini and ej. sure, she watched what went down with them outside but didn't want to make that obvious. they were already doing that for themselves.

carlos suddenly pointed out where the chair was supposed to be on stage for the character. nini volunteering to do it so she would get away from her ex boyfriend. leighton stared with her hands on her face and leaning on the piano. miss jenn stopped nini and had big red do it.

he stood up and widened his eyes to leighton as she silently laughed. not wanting to get on the teacher's bad side like the others.

"which should be further downstage, okay?" miss jenn said as big red went over to the right again to do what he was told. 'troy' was supposed to end up close to the piano and now big red was moving it.

"i should have quit when i was able to." whispered big red, moving the piano the wrong way. "no dear that would be upstage." miss jenn laughed. leighton just sat there not moving or helping. still scared to do something.

this continued for a few more minutes before the actors finally started to sing. miss jenn pointed to leighton who started to play the piano as ej followed his stage directions.

the singing started, and boy was it so awkward. nini could just at least pretend things were fine. it was acting leighton thought. she wanted to say something, but as 'kelsi' it wasn't apart of the musical. nini could really be petty if she wanted to. she was all in ej's. this caused leighton to suddenly start feeling bad.

after the song was over, everyone stared at nini for the way she was singing. it was weird to say the most, and miss jenn explained how it really should have been. thankfully ricky entered the room, "sorry! i'm late. my mom caught an earlier flight." he said with look of frustration and sadness.

"where are we?" looking towards miss jenn. carlos responded with the scene and ricky nodded. "i don't have my script. could i borrow.." "you need your script, ricky. as well as a pencil. it's a blocking rehearsal." miss jenn interrupted. leighton stood up and dug in her backpack for her script. she didn't really need it and could do notes on a notebook.

she walked over to hand it to ricky, miss jenn starting to disagree. "no, no borrowing anything leighton. he needs to be responsible for his stuff." leighton spoke up, probably going to regret it. "i understand, but i think this rehearsal will finish a little faster if he had it. it's not a problem to me." the girl handed a pencil and the script to ricky and his heart felt swollen.

despite the arguments they have been having and what happened with his mom minutes ago, leighton still helped with things he needed. he was happy with this interaction. miss jenn just put a tight smile on as natalie walked in. upset her hamster was still missing.

there was so much going on at this rehearsal it was starting to look like a circus. "natalie, we feel your pain, but i was just explaining what a constructive rehearsal requires." miss jenn spoke. ricky looking like he was about to pass out, leighton rubbed his back in hopes to relax him. their drama teacher still going off.

ricky spoke up and said he knew the scene. miss jenn disregarded it and asked to see him in her office. ricky moved and grabbed leighton's hand and gave it a squeeze. the two smiled at each other as he took off.

the rest of the rehearsal being called off as for everyone was not in the right state of mind to finish up for the rest of the day.

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delia notes: ah the smell of things going back to normal. as normal as they can. i know this is messy but it'll get better. work with me y'all. it's a filler chapter :)