22. Second Chances

Avni watched with bated breath as EJ spun the table, winking at her from the wings, and Ricky's mask came off and landed safely in Nini's hands.

Thank fucking god.

Avni looked astonished at his transformed figure, and then met him in the middle for a kiss on the seventh count of the music.

"Oh my god," Avni said to Ricky, laughing.

He laughed as well, wrapping her in a hug.

"We did it," Avni said to him.

"Yeah." He paused. "Listen-um, I- Thank you," he whispered.

"What for?" she asked, amused.

"For everything. We're never going to get to do this again- and I'm just grateful," he said.

Avni smiled at him. "Me too," she said. "We should probably get changed for the final scene."

"Hey! Give it up for our star," Nini called as Avni walked backstage. Everyone cheered at her words.

"Oh, you guys!" she waved them off.

"Hey," EJ said (again).

"Hi," Avni replied. "You coming to Slices, right?"

"Yeah. I was hoping we could maybe have a little talk first?"

"Yeah."

"Avni, it's happening!" Ricky called.

"Oh, I wanna see this, hold on," she said to EJ. She rushed to the door, where Big Red was holding a painted sign with Ashlyn's name written in lights- they were talking.

Avni leant further against Ricky, trying to hear what they were saying, but she only caught bits. Ashlyn was obviously flattered though.

And then they were hugging and kissing. "Aww," she whispered. Ricky grinned at her- she knew they were both feeling really proud of Big Red.

EJ pulled her aside, just as everyone started splitting up to go see their family. "So-" he started.

"Hey I'm going to go see Miss Jenn," Ricky cut him short. "I gotta give her my blessing to date my dad."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, I think I'm ready. And I saw them talk and there was so much giggling."

"Aww, I'm really proud of you, Rick," Avni said.

He smiled. "Don't leave for Slices without me." He stared from Avni to EJ, and then winked very obviously at Avni before leaving.

Avni followed his retreating form with wide eyes, almost horrified.

"Oh, you told him!" EJ said. "That's why he's been grinning at me all day."

Avni laughed, "Yeah, no. Big Red told him." When EJ looked confused, she said, "He was in the control room when we were on stage." EJ's eyes widened. "He didn't hear what we said, just saw us kiss. It's extremely creepy. He cued fireworks for me though."

EJ grinned at that. "Okay, well I'm going to make this quick since I just keep getting interrupted." Avni grinned at that. She'd just been grinning all day. "Do you wanna be my girlfriend?" He got straight to it.

He looked so nervous.

Avni relaxed her face muscles- it felt good, she'd been smiling for too long.

Wow, I'm weird.

"Is that all?" she asked.

"Yeah?" He looked even more nervous now.

She smiled, pursing her lips to stop laughing. "Yeah, I'd wanna be your girlfriend."

"Okay, good," he said, relieved.

Avni just burst out laughing. "Why are you so nervous? We kissed twice tonight."

"Yeah, I didn't know what to make of it. We've liked each other for a while now- this whole thing is very hard to make sense of!"

"Wait, you knew I liked you?"

"I figured it out a little after Breaking Free- it felt like you were feeling what I was feeling."

Avni blinked in surprise. "Am I stupid?"

He grinned. "You didn't know I liked you?"

"I thought there might've been a chance- but then Nini happened and then the whole egg thing," he cringed at that. "And then Gina," she added.

"Wait, no- Gina knew that I knew. She also knew that I liked you."

"What? Seriously?"

"Might've been the reason why I just kissed you out of the blue earlier. Having someone close to you to talk to about all this has made me strangely confident."

"Hmm." God, I love her.

"I didn't make a move because of the whole egg thing," he said a beat later. "I didn't want to build on a lie."

Avni smiled softly, "Well, we're here now. Only took us three years."

He grinned. And then- "Wait, three?"

"Well, one and a half."

"Brigadoon opening night?" he asked, referring to the exact moment Avni had felt the spark.

"Wait, you too?"

He laughed, "We are idiots."

"Yep."

She smiled at him and leaned in, and he met her midway for the third kiss of the night- but it felt like they'd been doing this for ages. It was warm and comfortable, but exciting and new at the same time. Everything within Avni threatened to burst from all she was feeling, but at the same tume she'd never felt more at one with herself.

Avni deepened the kiss, fingers threading through his hair, and it felt like time had stopped and the world had reduced to just the two of them.

"You guys comin- oh," Carlos interrupted. Well there goes that.

Avni and EJ awkwardly separated.

"Yep, we're coming," Avni said, walking towards the exit.

"No, wait," EJ pulled on her forearm. He threaded his fingers through her hair, fixing it? "Your hair always gets so weird after you kiss. It's such a give-away," he grumbled.

"Sorry my hair acts like hair, EJ. Jeez."

"Tonight was one for the record books!" Ashlyn toasted. Everyone cheered heartily at the words.

"I literally don't even remember being on stage," Carlos said.

"The rest of us will never forget it," Seb said sweetly.

The bell chimed, and Lily, Antoine (Avni had only recently learned his name) and Hrithik walked in.

Oh, no.

Everyone booed them. Avni just wanted to hide.

"Okay, easy, Wildcats," Lily said. "We just came to congratulate you all." I don't think so.

"It is true," Antoine said. "Your show had a beginning, a middle, and an end. It was wonderful. And Big Red- you were also in it." Didn't have to bring it up if you didn't have anything nice to say.

Hrithik's eyes flitted from Avni to EJ, who was sitting by her side. "You were amazing up there," he said softly to her, his eyes dreamy.

EJ's arm tightened around her, drawing her closer.

Avni didn't know what to say, so she just looked away.

"Okay, well, thank you guys for dropping by," Ricky scoffed. "But this is kind of a private party. So if you could, uh-" he shooed them out, following them all the way to the door.

"You alright?" EJ asked Avni.

"The last time I saw him he said a bunch of shit that led to a breakdown- so, yeah," she looked up at him. "I'm peachy."

He smiled reassuringly, dropping a kiss on the side of her head.

"The audacity," Natalie scoffed at the North High kids.

"Can you guys imagine if they actually win at the Menkies?" Big Red asked.

"Wait, what can we win at the Menkies?" Avni asked.

"Best Lead, Featured Actor/Actress, Best Musical, Best Direction, Musical Number, Orchestration/ Composition, Costume Design, Scenic Design and Best Original Score."

"There's an award for Orchestration but not for Choreography? No offence, Ashlyn," Avni said.

"No, I was thinking the same thing," Ashlyn said. "When I googled the Menkies three months ago," she said pointedly.

"Alright, alright, fair enough," Avni laughed. "I should've researched."

"It is weird," Carlos said. "At least there'sBest Musical Number."

The bell chimed again and this time Miss Jenn walked in. "The envelope, please," she said, and Mr. Mazara handed it over. "Wildcats, I have in my hands the nominations for the Alan Menken Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater. I haven't opened it yet, but who's ready for the biggest moment of the year?"

"No one when you set it up like that," Avni murmured, and EJ sniggered.

She opened the envelope, reading the paper for an eternity.

"Oh my god," she said quietly.

"Okay, what?" Carlos asked impatiently.

"We have Best Lead Actress for Avni," she started.

Oh my god.

"Best Featured Actress for Kourtney."

Avni grinned excitedly at her.

"Best Composition for Ashlyn."

Avni squealed and reached across the table to hold her hands.

"Best Musical Number for Be Our Guest," she paused. "And Best Musical."

The room descended into total excited chaos.

Holy shit.

A/n

Obviously, next chapter is the Menkies.

In the show, they mentioned something like 'Menkies gold'? So I'm guessing there's also silver and bronze. I literally have no fucking idea- just bear with me here.

Also how does an award for musical theatre not have a choreography category? I think it was just a plot device to justify Carlos playing Lumiere, so I just ran with it.

Our ship is officially sailing!

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