one time thing | ricky bowen ¹

twenty-four

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

it was now the following monday after the short thanksgiving break. leighton and ricky had an amazing weekend now that they are official. the two tried to reach gina all weekend, but they still hadn't heard from her. the both told their families and big red about being a couple. everyone freaking out, even more than nayeli when she saw them kiss.

they drove to school in ricky's car that morning, receiving texts from carlos they needed to meet at the drama theatre as soon as possible according to miss jenn. no cast member had any idea what they're in for. everyone kind of arrived on time, a few trickling behind them slower to the theater.

"does it smell weird in here or is it—" leighton started, only to come closer inside to the theatre full of dust, dripping water and firefighters. the cast gasped as a firefighter excused her way past each of them. "oh my gosh, what happened?" nini was the first to ask. leighton and ricky moved closer together as everyone looked around.

the water dripping from above them was splashing near leighton who backed up a bit, miss jenn explained no one was hurt in the 'small' theater fire. the firefighter who walked between the cast came back with a smoking basketball and told their teacher some cause of the fire.

"unfortunately, the show cannot go on." the firefighter said. leighton slowly let ricky's hand go. feeling her hearing fade. the firefighter walked away and miss jenn turned around. all leighton saw were her lips moving, but she wasn't able to process it. the cast worked so hard the last few months. she was so in love with theatre that now it was crashing.

of course this would happen after they fixed one issue to begin with.

ricky grabbed leighton's hand and squeezed it. this pulled her out of her short trance and she regained her hearing. "gina." leighton mumbled, ricky pulled his phone out with his free hand and immediately got to texting gina. "ricky. nini. spread the word."

leighton and ricky were too focused on messaging gina that miss jenn asked ricky to do something, having to repeat herself a bit. they planned to meet in the cafeteria after school.

—
the theatre kids sat in the cafeteria as they all chatted. the school day dragged on as leighton could only think about what was going to happen with the musical. miss jenn finally arrived and things got down to business. "where's gina?" she asked. ashlyn responding with, "i think she's going through a family thing right now."

leighton agreed with her statement. hating that her friend wasn't there with them at the moment. she missed her. "if we don't have a theater, we don't have a show." miss jenn spoke. the teens' faces fell even more that day as they didn't want things to be thrown away. "come on miss jenn. we have to do something." carlos talked first of them.

"other theaters? i mean if we can?" leighton asking, deciding to finally speak out. everyone spoke at once again thinking the idea was good. venue places were shouted out, but only to be shot down by their teacher. that was until carlos suggested the 'el rey'.

carlos explained his uncle was a listing agent at the venue. leighton perked you from her blue mood as he walked away to call his uncle. she was hoping for the best at the moment. ricky was just watching her bite her lip out of anxiousness and decided to rub her back a bit. just to calm her down as they waited.

seb pulled up the website and saying how many seats there were inside it. it was a lot more than their theater that's for sure. the phone call was on speaker as carlos asked his uncle about using the venue. once his uncle said yes everyone was up out of their moods and ready to do what they needed.

ricky side hugged leighton and shook her as they happily laughed. "wildcats, let's grab the props and costumes that didn't get damaged and let's load out!" miss jenn said, everyone running to the drama room and theatre. ricky pulled leighton and people made suggestions to who will carry what in their cars.

"leigh can you and ricky take these boxes of pom-poms in your car?" big red asked the brunette as she was walking around the corner with another. "yeah put it on top of this one i'm holding." she said smiling at her friend. "on your right! heads up!" the girl heard before seb and ashlyn were running down the main hallway with leighton's practice piano in their hands.

"don't you drop that guys! i need that in one piece!" she yelled after them trying to catch up with their fast legs. ricky was already in leighton's car waiting for her to arrive with anything else before they headed off to the venue. they were too excited about the show continuing on.

—
ok so the venue was... icky. in leighton's opinion. it was dusty, creaky, and stuffy. she knew they had to put in tons of work for the next few rehearsals. she moved her flashlight around every way and area they walked by. miss jenn trying to make the most of the poor theater.

"you can seriously smell the mold in this place.." leighton whispered to ricky who only laughed at the girl's disgusted face. "mold! it's a sign of life!" she heard. only to gag at the statement. leighton couldn't do disgusting matters or smells. it was terrible, but she was pushing through.

the group traveled to the stage, everyone roaming around with their flashlights. hoping to make the best of all of this. someone found a light and leighton shut off her flashlight. she had a bag of smaller props on her shoulder and set them on the floor against some statues that were leftover. 

miss jenn was talking about how old the tech was and how they still needed to learn how to use that. she was going to dedicate this rehearsal for learning how to use it and redoing the stage marks. leighton's mind suddenly went back to her piano. she wanted her big grand piano instead of the practice one, but she knew it was not a major thing right now.

"natalie bagley, my dear, my stage manager, this is your chance to be the hero." their teacher said. someone speaking up and saying she was getting her wisdom teeth removed. leighton scoffed-laughed at how that girl was always missing rehearsal for something. "okay. okay, so, i'm down a stage manager, my taylor's m.i.a."

"gina's okay. she's a fighter and she'll be back for opening night." ricky quickly said. leighton turned to look at ricky, "she answered our messages?" she asked pulling her phone out to see if she missed it. "no, she didn't but i mean.. she has to be back right?" ricky responded back to his girlfriend.

the conversation ended just as a sand bag fell from above them in the stage. the teens jumped and screamed from the sudden noise. leighton nearly falling over, hating the loud echo it made. she was just a little clumsy, obviously.

she quickly looked up as did everyone else, "holy crap!" leighton said as miss jenn tried to calm her students down. ricky covering her mouth from letting out any other words she might have been holding back. he knew leighton and he didn't want to have her in trouble.

the plans for that evening were made and miss jenn asked ricky and nini to go off and run lines together. leighton felt herself grow a stomach knot again. she didn't feel this way again after thanksgiving late thursday. she knew they had to read their lines alone, but it still gave her a terrible feeling.

"you're leaving.." leighton said with a playful pout. ricky just held her face and brushed her bottom lip. "it's just for right now baby, have fun out here with all the headless chickens running." he laughed as he kissed her cheek before grabbing his script book and flashlight. leighton watched him walk off and moved her hand to rub her stomach. the knot making her feel bad, she tried ignoring it but it wasn't working.

she couldn't think wrongly on them going off. her being scared she was only going to hurt herself and that's something she didn't want to do. leighton took a deep breath and went to her practice piano and bag as she grabbed her music book. this was going to be a long afternoon.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
delia notes: are y'all ready for whats ahead? it won't be too much though ok