Ricky Bowen Sickfics

7

Nini's POV

Today we were having a rehearsal that was going to start from 4pm, right after school, and was going to end at 12 am. An eight hour rehearsal. I was really excited and so was everyone else there. Mostly everyone was used to these long rehearsals, except for Ricky. 

Ricky had already seemed a little off when he first entered the room. He seemed a little paler and quieter than usual, but I figured he was just nervous for the long rehearsal we were about to endure. 

The first hour mostly consisted of helping with set decorations and coordination of where pieces were going to be during certain scenes and having the crew prep themselves on what they had to move, when, and where they were going to move it to. 

Ricky sneezed twice during the first hour. I blessed him both times and thought nothing of it. Several other people sneezed as well so I wasn't exactly thrown off by it. 

The second hour we started by warming up our voices. We had run through lines during the first hour but we hadn't sung anything yet. Miss Jenn sent Ricky and I over to the piano with Seb to get our vocal cords warmed up. 

Ricky's voice sounded a little strained. He cleared his throat once or twice and actually ended up coughing after a couple of long notes. 

"Are you excited for your first 8-hour rehearsal?" I asked. 

Ricky shrugged. "I don't know. I like the idea of doing what I love for so long but...to be honest I'm pretty tired and I thought I was coming down with something yesterday but I'm not too sure. I might just be exhausted from school and all the other rehearsals we've been doing. I just hope I make it through the whole thing." He scratched at the back of his head nervously and let out a light cough. 

"You'll do great, I promise. It goes faster than you think it will," I said. 

We ran a few more bars and then we were ready to start. We took about thirty minutes running through a few songs. Ricky was coughing a little bit and he had ducked to the side during one of the songs with what I thought was a muffled sneeze, but I couldn't be sure. 

Then the second hour was up. 

The third hour was where things started to get interesting. We were still running songs and we were about to start working on What I've Been Looking For. 

"Hang on, I'm sorry Miss Jenn I know you didn't say we could take five but I just need to blow my nose, this song will not go well if I don't," Ricky said. 

"Fine, Ricky, be quick."

I bit my lip. I was starting to worry a bit. Ricky went and blew his nose a couple of times. When he returned there was a pink-ish hue to his nose. It was pretty cute. 

Miss Jenn said, "Okay, let's get Set on the piano and we'll start What I've Been Looking For, the reprise!" 

As Seb was walking over to the piano, Ricky bent forward and sneezed silently into his arm three times. 

"Bless you," I mouthed. Ricky nodded his thanks and wiped his nose on his sleeve. 

Seb pulled out the sheet music and started playing the song. We ran through it twice pretty smoothly. The third time, Ricky sneezed and missed his cue about halfway through the song. He started his line late and Miss Jenn looked frustrated. Still, though, we made it through the song. 

We went to run it again but a few seconds before he was supposed to start singing, Ricky started coughing brutally. When he was done he croaked, "Miss Jenn, can I get some water?"