AUGUST | RICKY BOWEN

𝐯𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫

( 𝘨𝘪𝘧: 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 )

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒔 : 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 

𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒐

"I'm sorry, I should've said I was coming over instead of showing up out of the blue." Ricky broke the silence, awkwardly smiling. While Ricky had climbed the ladder, August had grabbed a few pillows and blankets to sit on, an attempt to make it more comfortable. Now there the two sat, as August wasn't too sure about inviting Ricky into the bedroom. Last time he had been in her bedroom it was late July, and the thought made August blush bright red.

August gave him a smile, waving a hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about it. I was awake anyways." an awkward beat of silence made the two teenagers gulp. It had been a while since they had been completely alone. "So, your parents? What's that about?"

"I'm really scared." August was surprised to hear Ricky's voice crack. "It feels different already."

"Different doesn't always mean bad, right?"

Ricky turned to look at August, who was staring at the bright stars. "It was really bad when we broke up. And I know it's my fault, but you're the only one I can talk about it with, and Nini kicked me out. Again, I'm sorry for being here so late." at the mention of Nini, August looked down, clenching her jaw slightly. 

"Before anything, we were friends, right? And I can forget about summer for a while." August joked, and Ricky cracked a smile, making her heart slightly race. August looked away, slightly shivering under the slight night breeze. Ricky, who saw this from the corner of his eyes, shrugged his jacket off and handed it to her. "No, I can't. You'll be cold. Besides, I can grab a blanket-"

"Just take it. You would look better in it anyways." August blushed, and hesitantly grabbed his jacket, wrapping it around her arms. Ricky grinned; he had been right. "Don't you still have my green sweater?"

August laughed, digging her blush in her hands embarassed, making Ricky laugh along. "That sweater brings me good luck. Besides, that one definitely looks better on me."

"I completely forgot! I'm really sorry about the sappy voicemail from the other day. We can just, you know, forget it ever happened. It was stupid honestly." August frowned, confused for a quick second about what he meant.

"Oh! Well, I never got to hear it. Gina, uhm, accidently deleted it." the last was a lie, but she couldn't be bothered to explain the whole story. Besides, she'd be exposing her own vulnerability of falling for Ricky again when he was so obviously chasing Nini. Ricky seemed to sigh in relief, making her curiosity prickle. "What did you say? In the voicemail."

Ricky hesitated, caught in a moment of panic. Did he tell her the truth? Or was this fate telling him that they had the voicemail deleted for a reason? "N-Nothing much." he stuttered, scratching the back of his neck. "Just about rehearsals, and what not."

August nodded, unconvinced but with no reason to continue the conversation. She was scared of the truth. And hiding behind lies felt so comforting in that moment. And she could always pester Gina into telling her. At least that way she'd have time to process the voicemail before having to talk to Ricky. Or just omit ever knowing in the first place. The evasion of truth had so many options. But August knew at the end of the day, that the truth always managed to find its way to the spotlight.

She just hoped she had time.

Ricky smiled softly at August's focused frown, scuttling slightly closer. "Thank you, Auggie. For distracting me." the smile on August's face faltered as she turned away, making him frown.

"Yes, well, I seem to have been doing a lot of that in the summer." she stood up, shrugging his jacket off as Ricky frowned.

"That's not what I meant-"

"It's getting late. You can stay the night if you want, I have an air mattress in the wardrobe." Ricky sighed, rubbing his temple as he checked his phone. Nearly one am. His parents wouldn't be happy if he walked back home alone. He climbed through the window, watching as August pumped the air mattress with her feet. "It's not much, but-"

"It's perfect." August gave Ricky a tight lipped smile, nodding as she handed him a few blankets to keep him warm. August made way to her own bed, avoiding his gaze. Ricky sighed softly, laying down on the air mattress as he stared at the dark ceiling above him.

"Ric?" August's soft whisper interrupted the silence. Ricky grinned at the nickname, which went unnoticed by the curly haired girl.

"Yeah?"

"Talk with your parents. About everything you're feeling. They'll understand." silence followed again, and it was not broken until the break of dawn, where Gina had been unable to sleep and headed over to her sister's room to apologise once again, only to be met with a sleeping Ricky on the floor, his hand subcounciously stretched out, reaching for August.

She raised her eyebrows surprised, weary of the curly haired boy who had broken her sister's heart before. By the smile on August's exhausted face, Gina was scared she was letting her guard down too soon. But she couldn't meddle again.

It was time for August to make her own decisions and learn the consequences. That was the only way she'd be able to learn.

August woke up an hour later, to find Ricky long gone. The only trace of him ever being there was the still inflatted air matress, the green sweater August still wore and a small note stuck to the mirror. Reaching to grab it, she turned the yellow sticky note in her fingers before reading it.

auggie,

thank you so much for letting me stay over. listening to your advice, i left early to go talk to my parents. if it goes wrong i'm blaming you!

sorry for leaving without a goodbye, but you looked really peaceful, and...well, i've disrupted your world and peace a lot already, haven't i?

see you at rehearsals,

ric

p.s. you snore

August chuckled, shaking her head. She definitely did not snore. Must have been his imagination.

thank you for 3k!

if you like gilmore girls, i posted a fanfic for jess mariano. it would mean a lot if you read it, and you can find it on my profile.