Half a Heart •Ricky Bowen•

8

 
Later in the night, Ricky texted Ella a simple ‘hey’. The two had not actually had a whole conversation since the night they kissed. They would speak maybe a sentence or two, but it was nothing like before. 

Ella’s heart skipped a beat to see his name pop up on her phone. Ella quickly called him, missing the sound of his voice. “Hey Ricky.” Ella smiled.

“Hey Ella. Listen, I just want to apologize for not talking to you much recently. It’s just there has been a lot of stuff going on, both in my head and in my real life; it just felt like a lot and I didn’t mean to ignore you. I’m just trying to find some way to word how I feel without messing up too badly. As you can probably tell in the voicemail I left you.” Ricky vented, only taking a breath after he finished.

“Woah wait? What voicemail?” Ella asked, confused.

“What do you mean what voicemail?” Ricky asked, starting to get panicked. 

“I mean- I never got a voicemail.” 

“Then who did I- oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. I’m dead. Just kill me. What the-” Ella cut Ricky off, "Ricky what happened?"

“I sent it to Nini. I guess I wasn’t paying attention and I just clicked without looking. I am such an idiot El. Oh my God.” Ricky put his phone down and ran his hands through his hair. 

“Ricky. Ricky, calm down. Maybe she hasn’t gotten to hear it or maybe she has turned her phone off or something. Don’t let your first thought about it be negative. Just breathe.” Ella said in an attempt to calm him down. 

“Okay, okay yeah you’re right. I mean I can always just explain and apologize to her tomorrow and this gives me time to think about what I’ll say.”

“There you go. Don’t think too much into it and if you can’t find the words to tell her I’ll help you out with it.” Ella smiled into the phone.

“You’re a blessing Ella Varney.” Ricky grinned, imagining Ella’s smile in his head.

“Get some rest dork, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
_

___________________________

Everyone stood aside and watched the dance routine for ‘Stick to the Status Quo’. Gina stood in the center of the floor, dancing like her life depended on it. “Everybody hold!” Ms. Jenn called out, walking up to Nini who was an hour late. 

“I am so sorry! I lost my phone and basically spent last night living as a hunter-gather, which by the way, did you know that there are things that are only on TV at a certain time? Okay anyway, I finally picked it up in the lost and found and wait did you say an hour?” Nini asked, the realization hitting her.

Ms. Jenn went onto explain how Gina sent them both a message if they could show up early since Gina came up with a whole new dance for Taylor and Gabriella.

_______________________________________

"I asked her how her night was and she said, ‘not too hot’. Was that her answer? That was definitely her answer. This is really not good.” Ricky said as the trio hung out in Big Red’s room. Ella was laying on the floor, face up, throwing a tennis up into the air.

“Yeah but it’s not news either. Look you broke her heart, you crashed her play, you bugged her for a little but then you accidently left her an extremely sad voicemail.” Big Red casually said.

“You guys think it’s time to move on?” Ricky asked, Ella stopped tossing the tennis ball into the air. Ricky was quietly hoping she would say yes.

“I wouldn’t, but you have that other thing. Pride.” Big Red offered the truth to his friend.

“Ricky, this is your decision. If you really feel that strong towards her then keep it going, if you don’t then you know what to do.” Ella said, sitting up and resting her back against Red’s bed.

“Just be yourself you know? Be the bigger man.” Big Red said, only to realize they were not the same thing. "So be myself or the bigger man?" Ricky asked.

“Bigger man.” Big Red concluded, “You’re the lead in the play dude, it’s time to act like it.” 

“He’s got a point Rick.” Ella said, plucking at the fuzz on the ball.

“It’s like that scene from the movie where Troy tells his teammates, ‘you’re my guys, and this is our spam.’ “ Ella snorted out a laugh that she couldn’t hold in.

“When does he say that?” Ricky asked, confused as if Troy actually said that.

“He doesn’t.” Ella giggled.

“You know I just realized my allergist keeps the sound off in the waiting room and maybe I can’t read lips.” Big Red deadpanned.

______________________________________

While Ej and Ricky were practicing a scene, Carlos had the rest of the cast rehearsing, some of their dance moves. Ella was standing against the wall when a hand grabbed onto her arm and pulled her out of the auditorium. “Woah Ricky!” 

Ricky dragged her around a corner before he stopped them. “I just threw a basketball at Ej’s face and now he’s bleeding.” Ricky said, there was the slightest tone of guilt in his voice.

“Wait. okay explain what happened?” Ella asked softly.

“So we were practicing our scene but Ms. Jenn thought there was no ‘bromance’ or whatever so she made us use a basketball to ‘pass some energy back and forth’ and things just took a turn and I threw the ball right at his face. I didn’t mean to throw it that hard something in me just snapped.” Ricky explained, not taking a single breathe until he was done.

“Okay where is Ej right now?”

“Bathroom, I think.”

“Okay you need to go find him and explain that you didn’t mean to throw it that hard. Just apologize, okay?”
_______________________________________

Ricky was in shock after hearing Ej talk about the voicemail he accidently left Nini. Ella pushed him in the direction Nini was walking out of the building.

She ran back into the bombshelter to grab both her and Ricky’s belongings before rushing back out to see the two talking.

“...do me a favor and keep it to yourself. I don’t need to hear from EJ that it’s wrong and stupid.” Ricky pleaded. 

“Wait, what voicemail.” Nini asked.

“The one I meant to send to Ella.” Ricky said, pointing at the girl walking out of the building carrying their stuff.

“You heard this from EJ?”