Romeo and Juliet

c h a p t e r f o u r t e e n

The audience cheered loudly in the background as the curtain dropped down and River smiled proudly. She turned to her friends and hugged them closely before she started to make her way backstage to get out of her costume and into a pair of leggings and Antoine's hoodie. Once she had hung up her costume she grabbed onto Ricky and the pair followed behind Kourtney.
"Oh my god, y'all! Rickys transformation!"
"Wait, how'd it look?"
Ricky and River come to stand beside the girl.
"Honestly?" She pauses making every lean towards the trio.
"Passable" she laughs as everyone starts to cheer.
Kourtney walks ahead of the girl who makes her way to Gina, throwing her arms around her in a hug before she hears Nini in the background.
"Hey!! Give it up for our star!!"
They turn and see Ashlyn stood there which makes River applaud loudly.
"Oh you guys" she giggles with a big smile on her face making everyone smile back.
"Um has anyone seen my boyfriend, it feels like I've been missing him all night?"
"I think he pushed himself a little hard" Carlos says as the rest of the cast look among each other sneakily with smirks on their face.
"But I'm pretty sure he left a letter at your locker" Ricky pipes up.
"Uh couple letters actually" EJ corrects.
"Oh, okay wow, that's sweet, maybe I'll read them on the way to Slices, good show everyone" she says as the tone in her voice shifts as everyone watched the ginger girl walk away.
"Tell me how it goes" River tells Ricky before she makes her way through to the audience where she knows her parents are waiting.
The girl spots the three people waiting on her and she runs into her dads arms who immediately hug her and tell her how wonderful she was before she turned to her boyfriend who lifted her off of her feet and spun her around telling her countless times that she was the best one on that stage. She smiled happily as he put her down and she pulled him into a proper hug.
"Are you going to come with me to the cast party tonight then?" She asks and he nods.
"I will but Lily asked me to meet up first so I will have to see her and then I'll come along" he tells the girl before they both spot the blonde walking over to them.
"Wow River, you were incredible up there" she smiles as she pulls her into a hug.
The brunette doesn't know what to do so just awkwardly pats her back before letting go.
"Thanks Lil, that means a lot coming from North Highs shining lead" she says as she gives her a tight lipped smile.
Antoine senses the tension from his girlfriend and suggests that the pair leave but not before he can give her one last kiss.
The girl bites her lip as she walks the friends walk off before turning to her parents and telling them that she'll see them after the cast party. She then turns on her heel and makes her way through the halls until she finds Nini.
"Hey you were incredible tonight Riv, I am so proud of you" she says pulling the girl into a hug.
"So were you Nini, from dancing fork to emotional support, you did it all" she chuckles before they start walking down the hall together.
They pass the door to the rehearsal room before River stops and turns to see her best friend crying in front of a vanity.
"Gig?" She asks as she walks in and pulls her into a hug.
"Gina, you coming to Slices?" Nini asks as she walks in after her.
"Uh I think I'm gonna head home early actually" she responds and River takes the girls hand into hers, squeezing it tightly.
Nini comes to sit beside the pair as her best friend wipes the girls tears away.
"What's going on?" River asks.
"Um" she stops making them both lean into her.
"I just had this big dumb plan to go out with EJ tonight and he just cancelled"
It didn't make sense to the girl. EJ had been so excited about tonight, she had unfortunately had to hear him talk her ear off for weeks about it. It seemed weird for him to cancel.
"You can go tomorrow?" Nini suggests.
"No, he cancelled Nini, for good." She sighs and River stands.
"I'll have words" she says making her way around the girls, only to feel Nini pull her back by the sleeve of her hoodie to stop her.
"Sit down Maxwell" She says before turning back to the girl in pink.
"Gina, I don't know what's going on between you and EJ, but you are a force of nature"
"Nini.."
"You have this energy about you that's just so-"
"Off putting?" Gina finishes for her.
"Powerful" River corrects.
"I'd say any guy would be lucky to have you, but that's not the point" Nini starts.
"Truth is G, we're all lucky to know you, and I'm so lucky to have you as my best friend" The girl next to her finishes as tears well up in the best friends eyes.
"You're still doing it" Gina says facing Nini.
"Doing what?" She asks making the girl in front of them smile.
"Lifting other people up, you did it all night"
"That's so true" River whispers next to them making the girls laugh lightly.
"And you Riv, you've always had my back, even when friends you've had since childhood upset me"
"I've got your back Gig, always" she smiles as the pair reach to hold each other's hands.
"Look I'm really sorry about the whole Valentine's Day chocolates thing" Gina says turning to Nini again.
"Oh no, that's, honestly it was more about me and you than it was about me and him."
"Wait, who and who?" The all laugh.
"I was just hoping we were finally in a place where you could like one hundred percent trust me"
"I did, I do. I mean that's something I learned early on when you stole all my stuff and then gave it back" she says making River smile at the odd memory of being sat in the dressing room next to her best friend and best friends ex as she emptied the contents of her bag next to the pair. 
"You're a really solid person Nini" she tells her.
"Yeah she's alright" the girl next to them says making the girl next to her, bump her shoulder teasingly.
"Well, if you change your mind about going to Slices" she smiles as she gets up going to leave the pair.
"Our show would've been better by the way, if you could've sung the rose song tonight"
Nini laughs lightly before turning back to the pair.
"I don't know about that"
"Have you ever thought about taking your songwriting to the next level?"
"What are you asking me?"
"There's someone I think you should meet" the girl nods and River knows what she means, smiling lightly at the pair.
They had experienced their ups and downs but she had gotten to experience both of their sweet moments on opening night and it melted her heart a little.