𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 [𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 𝐱 𝐣𝐚𝐭𝐩]

all i wanted .23

"thank you," julie breathed out as luke pulled her into his arms. the two of them held onto each other as soon as they exited from the stage. julie had tears in her eyes and luke could hear her little sniffles as he held her in her arms.

"for what?"

"giving me a chance," julie whispered and let go of the boy. it was intermission by now. ricky and nini were getting ready for their performances and everyone else was getting snacks or talking in the lobby.

"julie, i like you," luke confessed with an innocent smile. a smile crept up on julie's face and her cheeks started to turn red.

"you sure?"

luke chuckled and grabbed julie's face with her chin. he gave her a soft kiss on the lips. julie felt her heart stop beating as her lips melted into luke's. luke moved his hand to her cheek and deepened the kiss even more.

"does that answer your question?"

julie smiled and shook her head, "hmm... i don't know. might need a little more reassurance?"

luke chuckled and shook his head. he looked at julie with bright eyes and smiled at the sight of her in front of him, "you're ridiculous, you know that?"

"i know," julie chirped out before reconnecting her lips with luke's.

+

"and up next," mr. mazzarra announced once everyone settled down for act two, "we have ricky bowen, singing "perfect gift." ricky turned around to see nini standing behind him. she was leaning against the wall and gave ricky an awkward smile. the boy nodded his head at her before walking across the stage. he saw all of his friends in the front row with big smiles on their faces. there julie was, sitting next to luke with her hand in his.

ricky sat down on the chair and rested his guitar on his lap. the boy took a deep breath and saw as nini got closer to the stage and stood right behind the curtain. ricky gave her a smile and started to sing and play the guitar.

"through every up and down, there's one thing that stays true," ricky sang and looked right at nini, "christmas is better every second it's with you."

"i don't got much to give, so i hope you think this is..." ricky sang and gave nini a light smile, "the perfect gift, that i could give. to the perfect gift, that ever lived. yeah, this song's the second best thing i could do. when the perfect gift is you."

a small smile left nini's face when he said that lyric. nini shyly put her hands behind her back and smiled as ricky continued to sing to her. everyone in the crowd started to clap along with ricky's beat and cheered him on as he performed. this was sweet, nini thought to himself.

"when seasons change and i've lost my way," ricky started to sing and got up from his seat. he started to make his way towards nini and motioned for her to get on stage with him, "it'll be okay, with you by my side. and darling that's why..."

ricky motioned for nini to sit down in the chair as he stood in front of her and sang, "this song's the second best thing i could do. when the perfect gift is you."

the crowd cooed and cheered them on as ricky continued to sing for nini. once ricky was done playing, nini had a cheeky smile on her face and her cheeks were red. ricky let his guitar hang from his side as he looked at nini with a longing look. the girl got up from her seat and ran into ricky's arms. the boy gladly took nini into his arms and held onto her as tight as he could.