AN: Okay. I must be honest. With all the crap going on between Ramy this season I was really really REALLY angry at SL and could barely bring myself to even look at this story. Not because I hate the Ricky and Amy in my universe, but because they would just remind me of how Ricky and Amy should be and how they just weren't. -_-x but, with the season over, maybe I'll finally be able to forget all the ridiculousness of this season and focus on this. Sorry for the delay and before you jump me for what has apparently happened in this chapter, don't stress, OTH style time jumps are necessary to keep the story progressing. And there will be NUMEROUS flashbacks in the next chapter.


Biting her lip, Amy let her eyes sweep over the expanse of her room, the mess seemingly endless as boxes sat piled upon one another in every corner. She hadn't realized how much stuff she actually had until she had to pack it all up, but the fact that she had been dragging her feet throughout the whole process surely contributed to her disorganization. An act of rebellion in response to the move, though she knew it would only cause trouble when she got to her dad's house. Her eyes flitted over to her phone that sat precariously atop her desk and she itched to reach for it and dial his number. She hadn't so much as texted him since he returned home nearly three weeks before. But that had been their deal: what happens in New York, stays in New York.

Her mind blew back to their last two months together filled with picnics in the park, dinners with Nora, lunches with Margaret and Shakur, movie dates, and Yankee games with Johnny. It had all been blissful and Ricky had been true to his word, he kept her out of her head and in the moment, never letting her second guess anything, just being exactly what she needed. It was the best summer of her life. But like all summers it had to end and come August 15th he was on a plane back home and they returned to their normal lives, promising to give each other some space to do so.

But neither could have known that Amy's life wasn't going to return to normal. A few days after Ricky left Amy's mother sat both her and her sister down and explained that she had secured a lot of international clients for the next year and that she would be doing extensive traveling across Europe and Asia for the sake of buyers and sellers. She wanted the girls to go with her, to spend the year traveling and seeing the world.

"But…what about school?" Amy had asked, the shock evident as she tried to comprehend her mother actually offering such a trip. Her mother had pulled out home schooling documents and explained that the two of them would do an online home schooling program for the year and that as long as they were diligent in doing their school work they wouldn't get derailed when they returned to the States. Ashley had, right away, jumped at the idea. She had always been restless in school and actually expressed what could be described as "excitement" at the offer, but Amy hesitated.

It wasn't that she didn't want to see the world at some point, but the idea of spending a year in foreign countries, constantly switching location, never having an actual home sat uncomfortably in her stomach. Hadn't the last two years been enough of a transition? She could understand why her mother was so excited. The divorce had given her leeway into a new exciting single life where she could do such traveling. But Amy had never been an international jet-setter type, so, innocently she asked, "Are there any other options?"

It so happened that there was. Anne had known her oldest would have been more reserved to the idea. She knew that while vacationing in exciting locations would have been fine with Amy, living in another country and learning new languages without any sort of stability would seem more risky than anything, and Amy liked to have her control. So, reaching a hand out to the girl, Anne smiled and nodded, "If you want, you can spend the year in California with your father. The school that Grace goes to is a Magnet school and your father says that with your grades and transcripts they are sure to accept you if that's your choice."

'California,' Amy had thought, 'That's where Ricky is…' she had said yes before she could even think about it and before she knew it her dad had been called, the arrangements had been made, and Amy was being given boxes to pack up her room. She would be moving in with her dad and his new family within the next week.

It had initially concerned her how quickly she had made the decision to go to California, as well as the fact that her first thought had been Ricky. But what troubled her even more was that she didn't necessarily know where Ricky was in California or if they would even be close to one another before deciding. Sure, they had talked extensively about his family and his friends, but he had never actually mentioned his hometown or the name of his school. The only reason she knew that he was from California was because she had heard Giuseppe, Ricky's uncle, mention how BB Headquarters was located there, but she never asked for confirmation and Ricky never offered it.

She knew she could probably ask Shakur or Margaret or even Mariah, but somehow she thought it best to just not ask. What if her dad's town was nowhere near where Ricky lived? Then it would be just as hard knowing that they were even closer and still so far apart. No. She would stick to their plan, she would see him next summer when he came back to New York and they would resume whatever it was they were then and only then. But now, she wouldn't even mention it, she would do what she would have done had she never met Ricky, which was pack, go, and make the best of it. She had, after all, agreed to live with the father that she hadn't entirely forgiven yet, she would have enough to worry about as it is without a boy hanging in the balance.

A grunt from behind pulled her attention back to her room and she smiled at the sight of Megan and Mariah walking in with more empty boxes. "Jeez Ames, are you bringing all this stuff with you to Cali?"

Amy laughed and grabbed a box from Megan, "No, most of it will go into storage, but my clothes, my books, and my music are all coming with me. My dad offered to buy me new clothes when I got there, but I told him I'd be fine. Kathleen and Grace always let me borrow clothes anyway."

"So what are they like?' Mariah asked as she started to pull Amy's books from off the shelf and neatly stack them in another empty box, "You never really talk about them."

Amy sighed as she carefully refolded her clothes, "Yeah, I guess…I don't know. Kathleen is still a touchy subject with my mom. I mean, they get along alright, but you can tell it still gets awkward from time to time so I try not to mention it. But she's very nice and very pretty. Grace is…a little perky and a little enthusiastic, but she's sweet and easy to talk to while Tom is hilarious. He's got kind of a warped sense of logic that shouldn't make sense, but it does." she laughed at the memory of her step brother and shook her head, "It shouldn't be that bad…it's just my dad that I'm worried about."

Her friends nodded, Mariah turning towards Amy to sit on the bed while Megan leaned her back against the door, "Have you talked to him?" Megan asked.

Amy nodded, "Yeah, a few times, but never for long. He's really excited, kept trying to tell me about the room he's got set up for me, but…it's still weird. We haven't spent that much time together since he left."

"Even when you and Ashley would visit?" Mariah asked, crossing one leg over the other.

Amy shrugged, "Yeah, I mean, he tries really hard and we indulge him, but…he's created this whole new life over there with them. They've got their own thing going on. It was easier to just be polite than to try and participate you know?"

"Yeah," her friend nodded, "I could see that," she paused, her gaze dropping down to her lap as she seemed to choose her words carefully, "Have you told Ricky you're going out there?" Amy froze in mid fold, her teeth catching her bottom lip between them for a split second before resuming her work.

"No. Why would I do that?"

Mariah looked at her like she had grown a second head, "Um…because the two of you spent the entire vacation in summer lovin' mode and now you're about to head to the state where he is. Don't you want to see him?"

Amy pursed her lips and turned away from her friends, "We agreed to wait until next summer, when he comes back here for school, before we revisit anything."

"But that was before either of you knew you would be moving to California!" Megan interjected, "You two were so happy! Why not just…continue?"

"Because," Amy sighed, "It would be different."

Megan and Mariah shared a look, "How so?"

Amy sighed and turned to her friends, crossing her hands over her chest as she leaned against her closet door. "I mean…it would have to be different. Being here with him it was like…something out of someone else's life. I mean, he was practically on vacation from the rest of his life, but there? There, we'd be neck deep in it. And the summer was great, it was a beautiful summer with a beautiful boy, but we knew going into it that that was all it was going to be: a summer fling. We're not supposed to get into anything deeper."

"But that was because you both thought all you had was the summer!" Megan sighed, "Now you could have the whole year and then come back to New York together!"

"That's assuming we would even work out!" Amy spat back.

"And there are no guarantees if you wait until next summer to see what happens either," Mariah supplied, stepping toward her friend. "Look Amy, I get it. The summer was great and you want it to stay great, which it will. No one can take this summer away from you and Ricky. But, it can't just be a coincidence that you're going to California this year. Out of all the places that your dad could have been living, it had to be the same state as Ricky; driving distance. I'm not saying that you and Ricky have to…pick up where you left off, but maybe this is a chance for the two of you to actually have a go at a real…something. You were both so happy. Megan and I just want you to be happy again. You've been sulking ever since he left and so has he."

Amy's eyes snapped up to meet Mariah's. It had been the first time she had ever mentioned anything about Ricky and Amy couldn't believe she had overlooked the fact that Mariah and Ricky would still be in contact. She licked her lips and shifted her weight, "Has he….has he mentioned me?"

Mariah rolled her eyes and chuckled, "Babe, you're all we talk about."

Amy bit back a smile and ran a hand through her hair, her mind racing with the new information as she glanced at her phone. "When I get there…I'll call him when I'm actually there, because I don't want to have that meeting hanging over my head as well as the rest of the transition but…" she looked at her friends, "I'll call him."

Megan let out a girlish squeal as Mariah smiled, "Good, because I don't know if I can take anymore of, 'So, Mari, how is she today? Did she mention me? Does she miss me?' Oh my god, I've wanted to kill him for weeks." The three girls laughed as Mariah turned back to Amy's bookshelf and Megan stood to help. In turn Amy glanced at her phone once more and felt the familiar flutter in her stomach that came whenever Ricky would look at her. She wasn't sure what would happen, but if Ricky was worth risking once before, he was worth at least a phone call now.


He sat fixated on his phone, quietly sitting on the counter, unmoving and frustrating him to no end. He wanted to call her. He wanted to hear her voice, he wanted to have something more tangible than the pictures in his phone and the ones in his camera. But he had promised to give her space and respecting that meant waiting for her to call him. He sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair, running it down his face as he glared at his phone, "Son? Should I be concerned?"

The voice made him jump and Ricky spun around, eyes wide as he came face to face with his father. "Jeez, dad!" he cried out, clutching his chest, "Way to give your son a heart attack."

"I'm sorry," Leo Boykewich chuckled, looking sheepish as he circled his son with his hands in his pockets. "You've been staring at your phone for the past half hour, I was wondering if you needed a new one, maybe the one you got is broken?"

Ricky let out a breathy laugh and shook his head, "No, no, nothing like that. Just," he paused, "waiting for a call."

Leo nodded and leaned against the counter, "From Adrian?"

Ricky furrowed his brow, "No, dad. Trust me, Adrian and I are over."

Leo chuckled, "I did hear that, but I wasn't sure. You've said that before."

"Yeah, well," Ricky sighed, "I mean it now and even if I didn't I wouldn't stand by my phone waiting for Adrian to call. Our relationship was never like that."

"I remember," Leo said, which made Ricky cringe slightly, knowing that his father had never been happy with his relationship with Adrian. "So, I'm guessing you're waiting on the girl from New York, the one your brother mentioned."

Ricky groaned and shook his head, "Remind me never to tell Ben anything."

Leo laughed once more and situated himself on the stool beside Ricky, "Even if I did tell you that you wouldn't listen. You and your brother have been telling each other everything since the day that you met, which is something that I love. I've always loved how close you and Ben are, so why would you want to go and change that?"

Ricky sighed and shook his head, "I wouldn't, I just…some things are better kept private you know?"

Leo nodded, "Ah, so what you're saying is that you didn't want me to know?"

"No!" Ricky objected, shaking his head as he faced his father, "I was going to tell you about New York it's just…" he sighed once more and looked at his phone, "I need to figure it all out before I can talk about it."

Leo furrowed his brow, "Did something happen, something that I should be aware of, between you and this girl?"

Ricky pursed his lips, "Not anything bad just…it was a good summer. Almost like a dream and I wasn't ready to wake up…you know?"

Leo's gaze softened on his son and he reached over to place a hand on his shoulder, "Yeah, I do know. So," he paused, "why don't you just call her?"

Ricky sighed and leaned back into his seat, "I can't."

Leo furrowed his brow, "Did you lose her number?"

Ricky chuckled and shook his head, "No, I've got it. I just…Amy has to be the one to call me. She's really cautious when it comes to these sort of things, so I've got to give her space to breathe."

He looked up at his father to his father's puzzled expression and bashfully bowed his head, "Yeah, I know. Not my usual style, but…this girl-"

Leo shook his head and patted his son on the shoulder, "Say no more son, I get it. She's a game changer. Can't say I'm not surprised, but…it's nice to see you caring about a girl enough to respect her wishes, but…" he sighed and leaned onto the counter, "be careful. I don't want to see you sulking about, it's not going to help anyone."

Ricky nodded, "Thanks dad, I know. I just…I want her to call."

Leo chuckled and clapped Ricky on the back of his shoulder as he got up from the stool. "I know son, but staring at the phone is not going to do it. Be productive, school starts in a few days, don't want to have a slow start right off the bat right?"

Ricky only nodded as his father left him to his thoughts, his eyes still fixated on his phone as he ran a hand down his face. "Jeez, Amy Juergens. What have you done to me?"


AN: Update coming: Sunday September 2, 2012 pending reviews. Please do so.