Despite Ashlyn trying to convince Gina to stay home and relax the whole day, she and her friend arrive at the bomb shelter for the musical read through. Though Gina had agreed to leave school after the rehearsal.

"I didn't think you'd be here, how are you?" Miss Jenn says while running up to the girl.

"I'm fine, just a little shocked," she replied, surprised by the teacher's care for her. Normally Miss Jenn would just ignore Gina but now she was acting like she really cared for her.

"So you saw the cast list right?"

"Yeah, thank you so much for giving me the lead role even though I couldn't make it to the auditions" she says, remembering the advice Carol had given her "You guys are so supportive, I wouldn't be able to deal with this without you"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I feel like you'll really be able to relate to Evan. And always look out for your mental health first. Speaking of which, if you want you can just watch us do the read through"

"Don't worry I think I'll be fine"

"But if you can't I won't get upset by you not being able to do it okay?" She says, looking the girl directly in the eyes with a kind look.

"Ok" She gives the teacher a smile to show that she's okay.

"I was thinking about it and since your a girl do you want to give Evan a more feminine name or just play them as a guy"

"I was thinking maybe they could be a girl named Evan, they're supposed to be an outsider so it kinda fits right?"

"Yeah, great idea Gina!"

Gina goes to find Ashlyn and tell her how oddly nice Miss Jenn was to her. She expected most people to be nicer but not by that much. It felt like Miss Jenn was almost completely replaced with another person, but maybe she had just taken more of a liking to Gina. Maybe that was what it was like to be Miss Jenn's favorite.

Gina finds Ashlyn talking to Kourtney about some song that was removed from the musical that they want to add back in. Kourt almost immediately tells her how sorry she is that her mom died. At that point the girl was more than tired of being told that, after her dad died when she was 9 "Sorry for your loss" basically became the new "Hi". But she just responds by saying that it's hard out she's hanging in there and asking if she can talk to Ash for a minute.

"Ash, Miss Jenn is being so weird right now, I don't think she's ever been this nice to me"

"Doesn't that just happen after a parent dies"

"Yeah but it's like a weird amount of niceness, what was she like when you told her I couldn't make the auditions"

"I wouldn't say she was that out of the ordinary. I just told her about how your mom died and how she always was putting pressure and you feel like she died disappointed in you and thinking you were a burden"

"Why would you tell her so much personal information!" Gina says in disbelief.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry it just kinda came up in the conversation. I didn't think about how you might not want her to know. I'm really so sorry I should've been thinking about that"

The girl sighed, "It's fine, just don't tell anyone else, promise?"

"Promise"

She felt pretty frustrated, You normally don't need to be told not to tell your drama teacher about your friend's shitty relationship with her dead mom. But still, how Ashlyn was so sorry when she realized her mistake and the way she smiled made it hard to be mad.

Gina goes to sit down next to her understudy, Seb.

"Hey I heard about your mom, how are you?" he asks kindly.

"I'm good, it's still a bit much to deal with but I'm handling it"

"That's nice, I know you try to come off as really strong and scary but if you want to talk to someone, I'm here"

"Thank you, you're so much nicer of an understudy than I was"

"Oh, should I try to be meaner," he says sarcastically "You know something could always happen to you before the musical, you could be ran over by a herd of cows or 1 very anxious sheep"

"Or be moved to a foster home that's 2 towns away from here" Gina finishes his sentence.

"Aren't you staying with Ashlyn right now?"

"Yeah but they aren't my legal guardians so I'm supposed to be getting moved into a foster home"

"Why don't they adopt you"

"I think her parents are a bit too busy for that, plus that's not really the kind of relationship I want to have with Ash" Gina says, staring at her friend.

"Ohhhh, yeah that seems like it would be awkward. Are you 2 like officially a thing, or?"

"What, no, she doesn't even know that I like her, she's probably out of my lead anyways"

"What do you mean? You took the captain of the water polo team and senior class treasurer to homecoming, I don't think anyones out of your lead after that"

"That was different it was just a wonder studies scheming thing, we weren't actually dating"

"But still he agreed to be seen as a couple with you," Seb points out to her.

"I guess but Ashlyn cares about so much more than that, not just what part you get in the musical but about being kind and caring" Gina looks longingly over at her crush.

"I think that if you take a step back you'll realize that you are everything that she's looking for"

"Maybe, thanks for the talk"

A little after they finish their conversation Miss Jenn starts the read through. Most of it was pretty average though she got a lot of angry looks from who she assumed to be Lily, since she was the only one who the girl didn't recognize. Once it ends Gina heads over to her crush's seat only to be interrupted by Nini before she can get there.

"My moms wanted me to give you this," she says, handing over a black and white gift bag. "It's a sorry for your loss gift"

"Oh, tell them thank you!" Gina responds, while taking the bag.

"I will"

Once she finally arrives at her destination Ash asks her what she wanted to do for the rest of the day.

"I would like to not fall behind in my classes and go to school"

"But you have to take time off for your mental health"

"Honestly Ash, I just want to be distracted by everything that's going on"

"So, we can do that. We can go to an amusement park and just have good ole' teenage fun" She says while locking arms with the girl.

"Yeah, that seems really fun. But I can distract myself with school" Gina lets go of the girl's arm.

"That's just distracting yourself with a slightly less stressful situation versus distracting yourself with a good situation"

"Okay, you've convinced me"

"So it's a date!" Ashlyn quickly realizes what had just left her mouth "Like a platonic date, I mean"

"Uh huh, a platonic date," Gina says disappointedly.


They take a bus to America's Wonderland and when they get there Ash immediately wants to go on the Ferris wheel.

"Do we have to? I don't really like Ferris wheels, why do they have to bring you so high up?" Gina complains.

"So that you can see the amazing view"

"And how far down you will fall if the ride breaks!"

"Gina, it's not gonna break"

"I know it won't, but being that high up is still scary"

"I'll be there right next to you to comfort you"

"I know, I know. How about we do it last?"

"It's a deal," Ashlyn says.

They head over to the rollercoasters and Gina finds one she likes.

"Ohh, I always loved this one as a kid, let's go on it" Gina says while pointing at a rollercoaster that's just going around a loop.

"Really but it seems so fast"

"Yeah, but fast is fun, it's just when it's really high up that's the issue"

"Okay"

"But I might need to hold onto you" Gina says, admitting that she's still kind of scared.

"heh, sure"

Once they finally get on the ride and buckle in it starts going pretty slowly and gains speed as they go. Because they were going in circles their speed starts to push Gina who's sitting on the outside of the ride into her friend. She doesn't try to fight it and instead puts her arm around Ashlyn's waist and rests her head on the girl's shoulder. As the ride goes on her head ends up close enough to her crush's heart so that she could hear its heartbeat. She cherishes this moment, listening to it and feeling the exhilaration that's pumping through Ashyln's veins.

The ride starts to slow but instead of coming to a full stop, it starts to go backwards. The force of their speed now pushes Gina's head off of her friend but only after she feels the girl's heartbeat speed up with fear. As much as Ashlyn loved heights and speed, she couldn't do going backwards.

"Is this scaring you?" Gina says

"No, no, it was just surprising," She takes a deep breath to try to gain more control of the situation "I didn't know that this would go backwards"

"Yeah, it's my favorite part"

"Oh, okay" She takes another deep breath.

"You know it's okay if it scares you right?"

"Okay! Okay, I'm really scared, why is it going backwards? I can't see where I'm going"

"Just trust me, nothing bad is going to happen"

"If you say so," Ashlyn pulls Gina back around her and feels the safety of being in the girl's arms.

They go on a few more rides until they decide that it's time for a lunch break.

"What do you want to get for lunch?" Ashlyn asks.

"Probably a sandwich"

"That's not an amusement park day lunch!" She says, shocked by the girl's blandness.

"What do you mean? Do they not have sandwiches here?" Gina says, not understanding what her friend meant.

"I mean that when you're at the amusement park you have treats for lunch!"

"Okay, so pizza?"

"Gina, you are not good at this. Find a table to sit down at and I'll bring you some food" Ashlyn leaves to find a concession stand that she can get snacks at.

After waiting for a concerning amount of time Gina starts to wonder if Ashlyn is having trouble finding the table that she sat at. But a few minutes later her friend came carrying a small paper bag, cotton candy, a candy apple, funnel cake, and 2 sodas.

"Ash, this is too much food"

"We don't have to finish it all," she says, laying it all out.

Gina peaks into the bag to see that it's full of mini donuts.

"Have you had tiny toms donuts before?" her friend asks.

"No, I don't think I've had a lot of this before"

"Seriously? You must have had cotton candy before"

"I've heard about it, but my mom always thought it was too much sugar"

"Oh, well if you don't want to eat it that's fine" Ashlyn says, being brought back to the reality of Gina's mother having just died.

"No, no it's fine. I shouldn't have brought it up"

"If you want to talk about your mom, then we can"

"I guess I feel like there were so many things I never got to do because of her and she made me feel so horrible about myself," She opens up the bag of mini donuts to avoid looking her friend in the eye "Is it weird that her death feels kind of freeing?"

"I don't think that's weird, you finally won't have to worry about what she'll think of you or what you do" Ashlyn says, trying to comfort the girl even though she thought it was pretty strange.

"Yeah, I guess, but it feels wrong to disappoint her after she died"

"Maybe it was her fault for having unrealistic expectations," Ashlyn says while handing her friend the cotton candy.

"Maybe," she says while pulling off a piece.

After having their lunch and playing a couple games they decided it was almost time to go home. But not before going on the ferris wheel.

"Ash, I don't think I can do it"

"Don't worry, I'll be there to comfort you"

"Okay"

They board the Ferris wheel and luckily there are enough empty seats that they can have a carriage all to themselves. Gina stays pretty comfortable in the beginning of the ride but as they get closer to the top she gets increasingly anxious.

"If looking outside is too scary you can just look at me instead" Ashlyn suggests.

"I will," the girl says thinking about how much she loves to look at her friend.

Gina does as her friends suggested and stares at the girl as Ash looks at the sky. While Gina doesn't have the guts to look outside, based on her crush's face she knew it must have been beautiful. After a while Ashlyn turns to her friend and slowly puts her hand over the girl's to comfort her.

She takes a deep breath and looks at the girl, "You're beautiful"

"Yeah, the city must be really pretty from up here," Gina responds, mishearing the girl.

"I... I mean," Ash leans in close and kisses her on the lips. Gina doesn't react at first but after a moment she too leans into her friend. A few moments later they pulled away.

"Oh, yeah, now I get what you meant," the girl says, a little surprised.

"Sooo…'' Ashlyn waits for the girl to tell her what she thought of their kiss.

"Sooo… would you like to go on a date sometime?" She says, finally getting back to her usual self.

"Yes, I would"

"Great!" The girls smile and turn away from each other to look at the ground slowly coming closer to them as they finish their ride on the Ferris wheel. When the ride stops Gina opens the door and steps out first, she then reaches her hand out so Ashlyn can hold onto it while she gets out. Gina looks at her now kinda girlfriends with a nervous and happy smile, Ashlyn returns it with a more love filled smile.

"So have you done everything you wanted to do?" Gina asks.

"Yeah, I think I have"


As they arrive home Ashlyn goes searching on the internet for a Dear Evan Hansen bootleg that they can watch while eating dinner. Her parents are busy at work again so they're probably gonna make one of the meal delivery service dinners that they get delivered weekly. Gina was already looking at what meals they have.

"What do you want? Shrimp tacos or broccoli pesto pasta?" She says, both of the meals were much better than what she used to make with her mom. Most of the time her mom was too busy working and forgot to pick up groceries so Gina had to make due with whatever was left in the house.

"Mhh, shrimp tacos"

"Okay, I'll get started on making it, just come once you've found a good bootleg"

"Kay!"

A little while later Ashlyn goes to the kitchen to help her girlfriend with cooking. She starts chopping vegetables while Gina cooks the shrimp. Normally Ash would never let another person cook in the kitchen while she was working in it. Kitchens are dangerous places and having another person who she couldn't control running around would be too unpredictable. Something about Gina was different, it was like they were one, she could just feel what the girl was going to do next. She was never worried about if the girl was going to be walking by the sink while she was carrying boiling water or if her girlfriend had spilled something and not told her about it. She couldn't imagine not having the girl living at her house with her.

Once the dinner was finished they sat in front of the TV and Ashlyn got it to play a youtube video she found of Dear Evan Hansen. As they watch it they sing all the songs that their characters have and some of the other songs that they really like. They discuss the casting choices that Miss Jenn made and who would be better at playing them.

"I feel like EJ looks too young to play Larry" Ashlyn points out.

"I guess but is there anyone older than him?"

"Good point, I guess we'll have to dye his hair gray"

"Ohh, that is gonna be so funny to see, can you imagine him with gray hair"

"Him with a beard and gray hair would look just like his father"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, you should meet the man sometime"

Gina chuckles "Ooh and you would make so much better of a Zoe than Nini"

"I feel like you're just saying that cause you hate Nini"

"I don't hate her anymore, and I'm saying that cause it would be easier to date you than her"

Ash rolls her eyes "You have to learn to get along with people you don't like plus, at least you're not related"

"I guess but I still feel like she hates me"

"I mean you did steal her phone"

"And then she stole my shoes, water bottle, script, laptop, scarfs, hair brush and I could go on" Gina lists off.

"Oh, yeah, well you guys should just call it even and try to be friend again"

"I'll try"