Ricky sat on the big brown couch backstage, his head hanging low, fidgeting with his fingers. Being back in his old high school brought back a lot of memories. Some happy, some weirdly random. Some reminded him he had lost his mother during his senior year.
"You ready to play?"
The sound of her voice made him perk up instantly and he could've sworn he'd heard angels sing when he looked up and saw her face.
"Nini, hi!" he stuttered, standing up immediately and pecking her cheek, giving her a warm hug.
"You look great, Troy!" she smiled, rubbing his arm up and down quickly before giving him a pat on the back and being on her way, saying hi to the old gang.
Nina Salazar-Roberts looked even more beautiful than she did ten years before, if that was even possible. Her once long brown hair had a lighter tone to it and it was now slightly shorter than it once was. She had ditched her Doc Martens and her band t-shirts, but she was still Nini. Good old Nini. The same girl he had a huge crush on for years. The one that got away.
"You really need to get it over with, buddy." the curly-haired man heard someone say from behind him, making him turn around to find his best friend, shaking his head in disapproval. "It's been what, fifteen years?"
"Come on, man... I just broke up with my girlfriend." Ricky rolled his eyes, putting his hands in his pockets.
Red's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and a giddy smile crept up on his lips.
"Caswell!" he yelled out to the young woman approaching them, looking through her purse. "Pay up, doofus!" the redhead demanded, making their friend groan loudly.
"Did you bet on how much time my relationship would last? Again?" the taller man huffed, annoyed at his friends' lack of sensibility.
"Sorry, dude... I just really love making money at your expense. Plus, Ash is going to have to wear a clown nose the whole day because of this." Red shrugged in response. "Look, as I see it, this is your chance. From what I've heard, she's pretty much single. You're single. When was the last time you two were single at the same time? That's right, never. This is how it's going to go down: you finally get it over with this weekend and we all live happily ever after. I promise it won't hurt." he added, giving him a thumbs up.
Ricky looked at him baffled, incredulous at his honesty and how forward he was about this particular subject. Red had always been particularly invested in helping set the two up, but the curly-haired man was too shy to act on his feelings and Nina... Was Nina. Beautiful. Talented. Grade A student. Incredibly oblivious.
"You're really annoying, did you know that?" he conceded, sighing and wrapping an arm around Ashlyn's shoulders, kissing the top of her head. "Hey, you."
"Don't mind him, Rick. You know how he is." Ash chuckled. "Let's ditch him and you'll tell me if we did good with our cherished auditorium." she winked, both walking away from the redhead.
"I heard that! Go get her, Bowen! I need to check if I locked the car!" they heard him say.
The curly-haired man chuckled nervously, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach.
God, Richard... Get it together, man. he thought to himself, trying to shake away the feeling that he was inevitably going to make a fool of himself. The two friends walked onto the stage, heavily decorated for the chats they were supposed to have with Miss Jenn's students.
When Nini spotted them, the wonderful smile that decorated her face grew wider.
"Come here!" the tiny blonde beside Nina urged, motioning for the pair to move faster. "Principal Gutierrez wants me to take a picture to post online. He says it's good publicity for the school. Ricky Bowen and Nina Salazar-Roberts, former students, the town's pride and joy. Whatever gets us more kids than the other schools in the state..."
"Do you mind?" Nini asked kindly, her big brown eyes looking up at her old scene partner, completely mesmerizing him. "Ricky?"
He was snapped back to reality by her voice, a coy smile forming on his lips as he managed to stammer a quick of course without sounding too desperate.
"You should make it look disgustingly cute." their old drama teacher suggested. "Imagine how many people will volunteer to do sets for the drama club just so they can ask me things about you guys!"
"Yeah, sure. I think I know what you mean." he conceded, as she got her phone out of her purse.
"This isn't fair, you guys. I also want kids in Robotics club!" Mr. Mazzara protested from the control booth, making them laugh.
"I got them first!" Miss Jenn yelled back. "Ashlyn, darling, my protégée, would you be a sweetheart and take it for me?"
"Yes, of course, I'll take it from here."
Ricky chose to ignore the way his heart beat faster as he stood behind his high school dream girl, resting his chin on her shoulder and snaking his arms around her waist, resting his hands on her stomach. Her smell was inebriating and sweet. The very description of Nina Salazar-Roberts.
"Okay, are you ready?" Ashlyn inquired, looking at them through the phone screen.
The brunette nodded and he stood still, his trademark smirk making an appearance, as often requested.
"I think everyone's going to go crazy over these." the small redhead commented, giving the device to Nini, who started looking through the pictures that were taken. "Hold it for me for a few minutes please, I need to check with Mazzara if we're good to go."
The actress hummed in response, her eyes not leaving the screen.
"We're definitely getting these kids' attention." Nini announced cheerfully as she raised her fist for him to bump.
She showed him the photographs and he had to admit it: she was right. They looked so happy and... couple-y. Her finger accidentally swiped right once more, a picture of a little girl showing up on the screen.
"Is that..."
"Yeah... Willow. My pride and joy. I sent this to Miss Jenn the other day." his old friend gushed." I think if I close my eyes and open them again this little girl will be a teenager already."
Ricky gave her a loving look before letting his mouth work faster than his brain.
"She's beautiful. Takes after her mom."
"Where you this charming in high school?" she blushed slightly, swatting at his harm playfully. "I only remember you being scared of girls."
As he was about to reply, he heard his name being called.
"Oh my god, it's Ricky Bowen!" a girl screeched, pulling her phone out of her back pocket.
The dark-haired man sighed, his shoulders slumping before he regained composure and sent her an apologetic look.
"Go ahead, superstar. We have plenty of time to catch up." Nini smiled, seeming to be reading his mind.
The curly-haired man reluctantly nodded, heading over to the young admirer and posing for pictures.
Nina picked up her bottle of water from the chair she had been previously sitting in, distracted by thoughts of him. It was so weird to be with Richard Bowen again. To actually see his face in person, to hear him speak and act all flustered around women. The endless hours rehearsing in that old and dusty auditorium flooded her thoughts for the first time in years.
"Is it just me or does he get more attractive by the year?" Ashlyn inquired, startling her.
"Who?" the brunette croaked out, handing her Miss Jenn's phone.
"What do you mean who? Ricky, who else? Have you seen that jawline?"
She was right, he aged like fine wine. Ricky had always been beyond cute, but as years went by, he turned into an extremely handsome man.
"Oh yeah... He does look good." the brunette mustered, slightly embarrassed by her own thoughts.
"Good is an understatement. But you already know that. Anyway, duty calls… Again. See you in a bit. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." her friend teased her, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
Nini found herself mindlessly wandering around, her memory failing to come to her aid as she looked for a bathroom.
Principal Gutierrez took pride in his most successful students and had organized an event around this particular group of theatre kids, the ones who put East High in the map all those years go, in hopes it would bring good publicity to his school and, hopefully, raise some money for the renovation of the old auditorium where they once spent hours upon hours rehearsing. There would be Q&A's, photo ops, a tiny concert and a dinner party. It was going to be a long weekend.
"So, back with the boyfriend... What is it like?" Red jumped in front of her as soon as she stepped out of the bathroom, a few minutes after.
"Jesus Christ! You scared the shit out of me!" Nini shrieked, placing both hands over her heart.
"Sorry... So, as I was saying, excited to be back with your boy?"
"Ricky?"
"The one and only." the redhead chirped, batting his eyelashes.
"It's really good to see him."
"You know, he could really use your support right now..." Red started, locking arms with her while leading her back to the auditorium.
"Why, what happened?" the brunette furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"He just broke up with his girlfriend..." her friend told her, feigning sadness over the news.
"That's awful." she commented, frowning slightly.
"Yeah... Look, he could really use a friendly face. Show him some love, if you can." Red suggested in response, holding her by the shoulders.
"Okay?"
"Thanks, Neens, you're a peach!" he crowed, opening the door for her. "I'm going to hide before Mazzara sees me."
She eyed Ricky, a few feet away, stuck taking pictures with some of the students that had gathered up around him in the meantime, sending him a sympathetic look. He winked at her and excused himself, meeting her in the middle.
Nini grabbed his hand, dragging him to the stage before any of the people behind him could even process they were in the presence of the Nina Salazar-Roberts, local acting legend, Hollywood's newest obsession, currently a few work days away from wrapping up on a Dawson Leery movie.
"Alright, fellow Leopards! We'll be back in ten for the Q&A session, tell your friends!"
The entire auditorium cheered in glee as they walked out arm in arm. Ricky led her to the couch Miss Jenn had convinced Mr. Mazzara to help drag on stage and the one the curly-haired man had been sat on less than an hour before, waiting for her to sit before he did the same, keeping a safe distance from her mesmerizing presence.
Nini noticed the distance he had willingly put between them and leaned in, gently touching his toned arm.
"You know, you can come closer. Promise I won't bite." she whispered in his ear, sending chills through his entire body.
He reluctantly scooted closer to her, goosebumps covering his skin as she nodded in approval.
The first question came from the left side of the room. A young girl almost jumped up from her seat, eagerly grabbing the microphone that was handed to her by their old drama teacher.
"Hi guys! We recently found out you were Troy and Gabriella in the school's first production of High School Musical. Would you consider working together again on another project in the future?"
"Absolutely. Nina is such an incredible actress and singer. I wouldn't hesitate on working with her again. She was the best scene partner I ever had so yeah… I think everyone would like that, you need to hit up our agents for that one." Ricky promptly answered, looking at Nini from time to time. "Neens?"
"Yeah, I would love to eventually work with Ricky again. It would certainly be something I wouldn't have to think twice about if it came up."
"When asked about where Seth Cohen would be today, Adam Brody said he'd probably be dead… Where do you think Troy and Gabriella would be right now?"
"Probably at home, looking after their five children." Ricky replied, smiling at Nini.
"Yep, Gabriella's still singing from time to time and she's Taylor's presidential campaign manager… Troy's a huge NBA star who got an EP deal recently."
"What was it like working alongside each other during your high school days" this time the question came from the back of the auditorium.
"Oh, awful!" the brunette scoffed. "Can you imagine having to kiss, sing and dance with this guy every day?" she teased, pointing at Ricky.
"Yeah, just horrible. No chemistry whatsoever. Dreaded every single day of it." he followed, hearing the students laugh at their playful bickering.
"It was great, we had so much fun together." she concluded, resting her hand on his leg.
"Yeah." the singer agreed, hoping people didn't notice the way his cheeks flushed when he felt her touch. "Nina's an amazing partner in crime, we were the dream team. I'm very thankful for the time we spent together."
"Do you have any funny stories you could share with us?"
"The whole cast would taunt me all the time because of the Megan Fox poster I kept in my locker."
Nini broke into a fit of laughter, remembering the weird semi-nude picture of a Transformers era Megan Fox that was taped to the inside of his locker everyone in the cast and crew had made fun of him for.
"During one of the rehearsals we were supposed to do the final kiss scene Miss Jenn insisted to write in and we had been kissing for about five minutes straight and no one would tell us to stop. Eventually we did decide to stop, completely weirded out, noticing there was no one around. As it turned out, our friend Natalie had brought her guinea pig with her to school and it had disappeared so everyone was out frantically looking for it. It was really embarrassing and awkward because we had to explain to everyone why it had taken us so long to realize there was guinea pig on the loose." she confessed, hiding behind Ricky while trying to avoid everyone's gaze.
The students broke into hysterics, typing quickly on their phones, letting everyone in their respective fandoms know about the story no one had ever heard of until now.
"If this is how they react to what we're saying, imagine what will happen when Miss Jenn posts the picture." the curly-haired man laughed as his partner regained composure.
"Would you consider kissing one more time for the fans?"
Ricky's eyes grew wide as he was left completely speechless. Of course he had thought about kissing her again, but not in front of everyone, not a stage kiss. A kiss like the one they had shared that afternoon when no one would say stop. He never told her, but he had noticed the auditorium was empty way before he reluctantly stopped and moved away from her.
Nini thought about her next move briefly, before softly grabbing his face and kissing his cheek. She knew he always blushed when she improvised, but she had no idea about the effect she had on him.
"There you go. A Rini/Troyella kiss."
Everyone in the room swooned over the perfect pair, clapping before the next question was asked.
Ashlyn and Big Red were watching from the sidelines. The junior Drama teacher was wearing a clown nose, as promised, and the redhead rubbed his hands against each other, overjoyed by the turn of events.
"Want to make another bet?" he suggested, wiggling his eyebrows.
"I'm pretty sure I'll probably lose and I'm not willing to wear this thing ever again." Ashlyn sighed in response.
"Oh come on!" Red whimpered when Nini pecked Ricky's cheek.
"What's wrong?" Kourtney inquired, squeezing herself in between them.
"They had the perfect opportunity to kiss and she went for the kiss!" he protested in response.
"Red's very passionate about other people's love lives." the redhead teacher explained.
"They'd do make a really good couple, I'll give you that Redonovich." Kourtney agreed, not taking her eyes off the pair on stage.
"Ricky's too shy to do anything about his fifteen-year-long crush and Nini seems to have no idea he practically faints whenever she looks his way… We seriously need to intervene."
"This is exactly like that Anne Hathaway movie where the main characters are friends for twenty years before finally shacking up together. They'll come around to it."
"Caswell, Anne dies in the end. They could've had it all without having to wait twenty years for it." Red reasoned, rolling his eyes.
"Don't go all Hitch on them, Red." Ashlyn warned.
Kourtney chuckled, recording a video of the two of them giving each other pointed looks.
"Let me know if you need help setting them up."
Meanwhile, Ricky and Nini took one one last question before the Q&A session ended, giving them some time off before photo ops.
"Ricky, are you performing tomorrow? Would you mind giving us a preview of the show and sing something to us right now?"
"No, I'm really sorry, but I can't… I'm here off duty because my voice gave me a little scare the other day so I'm just cheering for my super talented friends instead. One of them's Miss Roberts here. Maybe she can give you a sneak peek of what she prepared for you guys.. Nina?"
"If you insist…" she chuckled, clearing her throat before belting out one of her favorite songs.
As Nini sang, Ricky listened attentively, her angelic voice soothing his broken heart and it came to his attention that he would give anything to hear her sing all night long. Her lively eyes locked with his and she rested her head on his should, his signature cologne invading her senses. He finally felt at home.
When they finally got backstage, the singer opened his mouth to speak, but he was quickly interrupted by her phone ringing. She excused herself, getting her phone out of her pocket and checking to see who it was.
"It's my mom. Will must want to talk to me." Nini said, sending him an apologetic look. "We'll see each other soon for the photo ops, alright sailor?" she winked, before reaching up and hugging him, answering her phone and vanishing from his sight.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."