𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚 [𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙞 𝙖𝙪]

Chapter Eleven

At lunch the next day, Ej and Gina met up with Ricky in front of his locker before going to the cafeteria.

"Hey Ricky. So I was thinking we find you a girl so you can double date with Gina and I," Ej said.

"Babe, stop," His girlfriend said right after.

"Hey, I only want what's best for Ricardo over here," the raven haired boy defended.

"Not my name, but I appreciate the effort Elton John," Ricky responded, causing Ej to go speechless.

"Sooo," Gina broke the tension after a couple seconds, " Ricky, you're free after school right?"

"Of course he is Gi," Ej replied before Ricky got the chance.

"Why do you automatically assume I'm free?" Ricky scoffed.

"Uh, cause you're new and don't know anyone?" The tall boy responded.

"Point made," Ricky sighed, "yes, I'm free. Why what's up?"

"Great! Let's go out after school," Gina suggested to the two boys.

"Sure, where?" The curly haired boy asked.

"Um, we could go to that place my cousin always goes to with her friends." Ej remembered.

"I'm down," Ricky responded.

"Great! I think Kourtney's working today too," Gina said, more so to herself. "See you losers after school!"

+

After school, Ricky walked out to the school parking lot and made his way over to his two friends that were leaning on Ej's car.

"Hey Ricardo," Ej greeted him as he approached the car.

"Not my name," he mumbled back as he got into the back seat of the car and his two friends sat in the front.

The couple sitting in the two seats in front of Ricky were making small conversation with each other and fought about who was going to control the aux cord, all while Ricky stared out the car window, taking in the view of Salt Lake City.

They drove up to the place and parked into an empty spot in the parking lot. The three teenagers got out of the car but as Ricky closed the door, he slowly turned towards the building and froze with his jaw slightly dropped.

It was the diner from his dream.

Ej and Gina started making their way to the entrance of the building when they realized Ricky was no longer behind them.

Gina turned around and yelled, "Ricky, are you okay? Let's go!"

He was in shock, everything from his dream was coming to life. First the girl, and now the diner he was in every night.

"Rick, you alright?" Ej asked, slowly walking back towards him. "You're probably just hungry, let's go, my treat."

The next thing Ricky knew, he was walking into the diner, but stopped as soon as he took a step inside.

It looked the exact same as it did in his dream.

He followed Ej and Gina into a booth, which, to his surprise, was the same booth he would sit in, in his dreams.

Ricky sat there, still in shock, trying to soak in everything that had happened in the past few days.

"Hey guys, ready to order?" Kourtney said, walking to the booth, a wide smile on her face.

"Hey Kourt! I'll take fries with a strawberry milkshake please," Gina said to the girl.

"Of course," Kourtney responded, writing the order down onto a piece of paper. "What about you Ej?"

"I'll have a burger with a coke please."

"No problem, and for you?" she turned her body to face the curly haired boy she didn't recognize.

"Oh Kourtney, this is Ricky, he's new." Gina started to explain. "Well, not really new, per se, he was here in kindergarten then moved away, but he moved back for senior year. I'm not sure if you remember him."

"Oh, I don't think I do. It's nice to meet you, I'm Kourtney. What would you like to have?"

"I'll have the same as Gina please," he said, still recovering from being in shock.

"Sure, no problem, I'll be back with your orders in a couple minutes." the girl said, walking back to the bar.

"So, how you liking Salt Lake?" Ej asked Ricky.

"It's nice, I'm happy I finally got to meet Jenn and Spencer."

"Oh right! I forgot your dad married Miss Jenn," Gina said.

The couple in front of Ricky made small conversation with each other, again, as Ricky was eating the food that was now set in front of him.

He started playing with the straw of his milkshake, waiting for his friends to finish their food, when he heard the bell.

His eyes widened as he looked up to see the very same girl again, but this time with three other people, a girl and two guys.

His eyes followed her as she approached Kourtney and sat down at the bar in front of the entrance.

"Woah, Ricky, take a picture, it'll last longer," the boy sitting in front of him said, laughing.

Ricky snapped back into reality and his face turned red out of embarrassment. He continued playing with his straw, stealing a couple glances at the girl.

He looked over every time he heard her laughing with her friends. He could only admire her. The sound of her laugh sounded so light and warm, and she looked so pretty in the sunlight that was hitting her.

"Who is that?" Ricky finally asked after wondering how everything in that moment was real.

"Who?" Gina asked. Her eyes followed Ricky's stare and saw who he was looking at. She smiled and proceeded to name the people in the group.

"The guy with the black hair is Carlos, he's the choreographer of all the school musicals. Beside him is Seb, his boyfriend, the sweetest guy ever. The red head is Ashlyn, Ej's cousin. And that's Nini, she's tough at first but she's really nice once you get to know her."

Out of all the names Gina had just said, only one stood out.

Nini