Romeo and Juliet

c h a p t e r f i v e

River woke up the next morning and stretched across the entirety of Rickys bed. After a restless night of the pair kicking each other, the girl had shoved her brother figure out of the bed and he had been forced to go and spend his night on the couch, reluctantly. She rolled out of the bed and made her way through to the lounge area and woke her best friend up, offering to make him breakfast which he happily agreed to. She made her way to the kitchen and started to make up a batch of pancakes with bacon, knowing both of the Bowen's would be very much pleased with their first meal of the day. Once it was all done up she set two plates down on the table before sending Ricky through to his Dads room with his breakfast. She then sat at the table and started to eat away, looking behind her quickly to make sure the boy wasn't behind her before she pulled out her phone and checked her notifications. On her screen was a message from the boy from the previous day and she couldn't help but smile lightly at it.

•••

Antoine: it pains me to know we will be fighting for stardom when you are already a star

River: somehow you always say the sweetest things

•••

River felt a blush fall on her cheeks before she heard the door open again and she put her phone back down turning to her friend.
"Do you want to go out for lunch today?" She asks and he sighs before shaking his head.
"I was gonna just try and work things out and see if Nini wanted to go for lunch" he tells her.
"That's okay, I'll just ask G or EJ or Seb" she says wondering who to choose.
Her mind flashes to Antoine but didn't want to seem desperate or be seen by any of her friends, but she had to admit that she did miss him and would cave soon enough. She hadn't really stopped thinking of him and was worried this might knock her in the competition. She nodded to her friend before turning around and grabbing her phone, going to text EJ. After spending another half hour with Ricky talking about the show and the dreams they had the previous night, she eventually got a text back and decided to go get dressed so she could go out for lunch. She went to the bathroom and announced that she was having a shower, making sure to turn up her music so the guys could hear it, knowing they loved her taste. Once she was done, she wrapped herself in a towel and made her way through to the boys room, telling him she would be done in about ten minutes. She went and changed into a green summer dress with thin straps and brushed her hair down to dry. She then applied some eyeliner to her eyelids and looked at herself in the compact mirror she had packed. She smiles before she made her way out of the room and through to the lounge. She sat down and pulled her shoes on before ruffling Rickys hair who pushed her hand away playfully.
"I'll be back in a few hours, bye Bowen's" she shouts as she makes her way out of the house.
•
River made her way down through the streets of Salt Lake with a smile on her face. She was excited to see her friend as she always was. The thing about River Maxwell is that she loved so easily, so quickly and so much and her friends were the prime receivers of that. She had always found it difficult however to love someone romantically, let alone like them enough to have an interest in them. It was why she felt so weird about the Antoine situation. She wondered if it was just his charm or the fact that he was one of the first boys to see her for who she was instead of just a friend or someone who was far too easy to move on from. She made her way closer to Slices before she looked across the road and stopped in her tracks. She let out a small sigh and stares at the boy standing at the other side. He was looking down on his phone and she saw his fingers pressing randomly at things on his screen. He stopped after a few seconds and she felt her phone vibrate with a notification which she lifted to see a message from him.

•••

Antoine: is it normal to feel this way?
Antoine: like we were meant to find each other

•••

River didn't even know how to respond. She was amazed at how quickly the two of them of had clicked and she only wished it to be true. She didn't think she would be able to come back from a heartbreak like that. She smiled softly before he looked up and saw her stood there. His eyes widened before they softened. He gave her a smile and she waved at him before she replied to his message, putting her phone away quickly, still smiling to herself. He waved back to her and went to cross until he saw EJ walking towards the girl. River felt someone pick her up and spin her around and she couldn't help but feel herself laugh. She knew who it was immediately when he let go.
"Are you ready?" He asks and she quickly glances across the street before turning her head back to him and nodding.
The two headed in and Antoine watched disappointingly before he looked down to his phone and felt his heart smile again.

•••

River: you are the only person to make me feel this way

•••

EJ and River made their way into the pizza shop and sat down at a table quickly. After a few minutes of looking at the menu, Kourtney came over to the pair smiling.
"Hey guys what can I get you?" She asks.
"Do you wanna share a barbecue pizza?" EJ asks and the girl nods.
Kourtney writes it down on her notebook before smiling at the pair and walking off to the kitchen.
"So are you looking forward to doing your scenes next week?" She asks him and he nods enthusiastically.
"I sure am, but I can't wait to see you singing your heart out to Be Our Guest" he smiles cheekily and she rolls her eyes playfully.
"Yeah I'm actually really nervous about that" she nods and he gives her a confused glance.
"Why? You're one of the best performers we have" he tells her and she shakes her head.
"There's just a bad feeling in my gut that I'm going to mess up and disappoint everyone including myself"
EJ leans towards her and takes Rivers hand into his as she looks up to meet his eyes.
"You could never mess up"
She smiles at him and thanks him before they get their pizza served and the two of them spend the rest of their time together just laughing and talking about anything that popped into their heads.

•••

When River arrived back to the Bowen household that afternoon, she found Ricky lying on the couch still in his PJs which confused her.
"Hey loser, what happened to making plans?"
"Nini isn't responding to my texts" he mumbles and the girl frowns as she comes to sit next to him.
"I'm sure it's fine, she's probably just busy" she tries but they both knew that things hadn't been right from the day prior.
The pair spent the rest of the day just sat with each other watching movies and eating snacks until Ricky was able to perk up. River took this chance to suggest playing a game which he agreed to happily.
The night ended with petty fights about who won before she gave in and he victoriously took back his bed for that night. But River didn't mind and she wouldn't because as long as he was happy, so was she.

•••

A/N: Just a little filler chapter <3