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𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘
chapter twenty-three:
but then she's never looked at
me that way before !
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛
ACT TWO WAS starting in literally ten minutes, and Athena was kind of freaking out again.
Her mind kept replaying how good Lily sounded in Something There the previous night. But it wasn't only that, no — it was the fact that Athena was singing Something There with Ricky. That whole song was about Belle and the Beast falling in love with each other, and now Athena and Ricky, who were playing Belle and the Beast, were also falling in love with each other in real life . . . at least, Athena hoped Ricky felt the same way.
Now in Belle's green dress (which was Athena's favorite costume besides Belle's gold one) with her hair down and a green ribbon it it, Athena ran into the bomb shelter where she knew the piano was, her skirt clenched in her hands so she wouldn't fall. She passed Kourtney and gave her a fleeting smile before approaching the piano, where Nini was standing by.
"Can you give me the starting pitches for Something There?" Athena asked frantically. "I know I probably could do it, but my mind's a little scrambled right now."
Nini looked down at the piano for a second before playing two very familiar notes.
Athena nodded. "Okay. Cool."
Nini chuckled slightly. "'Thena, you've got this song down pat. Why are you so worried?"
"I — um, I may or may not have been thinking about the riffs Lily was adding into the song and how she sounded like a literal Disney princess."
"Athena, listen," Nini began, taking a step closer to her. "You are the best person to play the role of Belle, and that's coming from someone who's been in the show before."
She smiled gently. "Thank you, Nini."
Nini's eyes then studied Athena's face a little more, clearly noticing something else was wrong. "Do you want to tell me what's really bothering you now?"
"I'm terrified," Athena blurted out. "Not just of this whole competition, but of singing Something There with Ricky."
"Why? You two seemed to be doing well lately, especially tonight. Do not think I missed your interactions backstage."
Athena sighed. "I love him, Nini. More than anything. And now I have to sing a love song with him, one that quite literally describes how I'm falling for him all over again? For the sake of the Menkies, I cannot let my feelings get in the way of this."
"Don't push it away," Nini replied. "Instead, use that love for him to make this performance better. You two have a sort of chemistry that Howie and Lily don't. Continue looking at him like he's the only one in the room and let those butterflies in your stomach fly, just like Belle."
Athena blinked. "You're really good at this advice thing."
Nini shrugged casually. "One of my specialties. But Athena, I'm serious. I have never seen Ricky look at someone the way he looks at you. He didn't even look at me like that when we were dating. You? You're his entire world. I don't doubt that he feels the exact same way as you right now."
"Yeah, okay," Athena voiced quietly. "Have you, um, seen him though? He kind of knows how to calm me down . . ."
Nini shook her head. "If I see him, I'll let him know you were looking for him."
Natalie then entered the room. "Athena, sound needs to check your mic before Act Two."
Nini gave Athena two thumbs up. "Break a leg."
Athena crossed her fingers before leaving the room, her green skirt billowing behind her. Sound quickly checked her mic backstage, and all was well, so she decided to get out of the busy area and go back out into the hallway to try and at least calm down a little.
She began to pace in front of the stage door. Athena could hear the audience through the doors. Sitting out there was a judge who could potentially change their lives if they did this right. One little slip up . . . no. Athena couldn't afford to think like that. She just had to believe that everything would turn out okay.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard while Athena was pacing. She looked up to see Ricky walking towards her, now in full costume again.
"Heard you were looking for me," Ricky announced. "Nini saw me in the hallway."
She nodded, fiddling with her fingers nervously. "Yeah. I'm kind of freaking out again." Athena shrugged, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. "You sort of have this sort of way of making me feel better."
Ricky offered her a small grin. "Attie, you were amazing in Act One. You'll be even better in Act Two."
"Maybe, but North High was incredible yesterday and Lily's voice during Something There was so good and she looked great in Belle's gold dress and I know I'm confident but now I'm thinking about if I'm actually good enough and my mind is spinning in circles and it feels like I'm gonna pass out—"
However, Ricky didn't give her a chance to finish. Because he approached her, and right in the middle of her panicking, he placed his hands on her cheeks and immediately pressed his lips onto hers.
Athena froze, clearly not expecting that at all. Ricky pulled away as soon as he felt her do that. They stayed close — his hands still in her cheeks, their faces still mere inches away from each other's. Athena's eyes trailed across his face for a moment before she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again, trying not to disturb any of their costumes.
Maybe they had only been broken up for a couple of weeks, but God, it felt like they had gone years without kissing each other since that night in the treehouse. It was quick, urgent, and frantic, but sweet, gentle, and passionate at the same time. In some sort of way, it was kind of like Ricky and Athena were just trying to get all of their feelings for each other out in the short amount of time that they had before they had to go on stage. But the two of them momentarily forgot about the show — because right here, right now, their focus was on each other.
Finally, after a couple moments, they pulled away. Athena's eyes slowly fluttered open. She stared up into Ricky's comforting brown eyes, her heart racing and butterflies fluttering throughout her stomach.
"Um," Athena stated quietly. "Okay."
He laughed a little. "I didn't know how else to calm you down."
"It worked."
"I can tell." Ricky paused for a second. "I've been wanting to tell this to you for the past couple of days, but . . . I didn't want it to mess with your head and the show—"
Athena nodded. "Say it."
"No more songs, no more front porch redemptions, no more treehouses," Ricky announced. "This needs to be told with just us — right here, right now." He let out a deep breath while shaking his head. "I'm not giving up on us. You told me you needed space and I gave it to you, but the past couple of days . . . they felt normal again, and it only made me realize how much I love being with you. Athena, you mean the world to me. No matter what, you've stayed by my side. My mom told me over spring break that not all couples are meant to be together." Ricky shook his head. "But that doesn't apply to you and me."
Athena tilted her head at him. "I think we may be on the same wave length, because I was literally going to tell you all that later."
Ricky's face broke out into a huge grin. "For real?"
"For real," Athena responded, laughing a little. "I meant what I said that night. We feel right, you and I. Because the heart wants what it wants, and . . ." She took a step closer to him — if that was even possible — and inclined her head. "Mine wants you, Ricky Bowen."
"And mine wants you, Athena Blake."
"But, can we maybe talk about this in more depth later? It's uh . . . it's really had to take you seriously with your Beast makeup on."
He sighed and threw his head back in frustration. "Athena."
She chuckled. "I'm kidding. No, but seriously. Act Two is starting—"
Natalie then opened the door and glanced in between the two of them in confusion, making them drop their hands from each other. "Um . . . places."
"Now," Athena finished. "Come on."
The two of them entered the stage door. However, as it shut behind them, Ricky and Athena paused and looked at each other again. Athena held out her pinky to him. With a small grin, Ricky interlocked his pinky with hers.
"I love you," Athena said.
Ricky nodded in agreement, a small, lovestruck smile on his face. "To the moon and to Saturn." They let go. "You okay now?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Would now be the right time to compliment how stunning you look in that costume?"
"It would, but we've got a show to put on. Let's do this."
The two of them definitely didn't notice Violetta and EJ, secretly spying on them from their spot around the corner as they walked on stage. Violetta's face held a huge grin and stared at them, meanwhile EJ was looking down at her in adoration.
"Well look at that," Violetta muttered quietly, nudging EJ's side. "There may be something there that wasn't there before."
EJ rolled his eyes playfully. "I think it's always been there, V. They just needed some time to come together again."
Ricky and Athena settled themselves down on the table for their picnic courtyard set. The curtain rose, and the audience applauded once they noticed Ricky and Athena there. Instantly the upbeat music for Something There began to play from the orchestra.
Together, Ricky and Athena pretended to drink their soup out of their bowl rather than with a spoon, just like in the original movies. Natalie roped in one of the napkins with a fishing line to make it seem like the wind was merely blowing it away. Ricky caught it, and he offered it back to Athena. Athena smiled gently and grasped it. Their eyes met, and Ricky sent her the smallest of winks before sitting back down, staring at his paw like he couldn't believe she had touched him so casually.
"There's something sweet, and almost kind," Athena sang, turning her body so that she was facing the audience. "But he was mean, and he was coarse, and unrefined. And now he's dear, and so unsure." She looked over at Ricky once more. "I wonder why I didn't see it there before."
Ricky then stood up and walked a little to the right, making Athena stand up and walk to the left, still staring at him. "She glanced this way, I thought I saw. And when we touched, she didn't shudder at my paw." He held his paw up for the audience to see. "No, it can't be, I'll just ignore." The two of them locked eyes from across the way, and Athena felt her heart flutter tremendously. "But then she's never looked at me that way before."
Athena then approached center stage, throwing both sides of her skirt dramatically as she stared out at the audience with an adoring expression — not that it was hard, because all she did was think of Ricky. "New, and a bit alarming." Her face slightly fell to show Belle's conflict. "Who'd have ever thought that this could be?" She sat down on the bench, and Ricky suddenly joined her, offering her a single white rose. Meanwhile, Natalie blew some fake snow into the fan as Athena took the rose and held it close to her chest. "True, that he's no Prince Charming." Athena looked up in wonder at the snow, and Ricky quickly stood up, taking off his cloak to drape it over her instead. "But there's something in him that I simply didn't see."
She then walked up to Ricky, straightening out his collar and brushing some fake snow off of his costume. The two of them shared a quick smile before moving on.
"Well, who'd have thought?" Carlos inquired as Lumière, standing at the back of the stage with the boy playing Cogsworth, Gina, Kourtney, and Seb.
"Well bless my soul," Kourtney added.
"Well, who'd have known?" the boy playing Cogsworth continued.
"Well, who indeed?"
"And who'd have guessed they'd come together on their own?" Carlos voiced.
Meanwhile, Ricky and Athena began to dodge from each other from around the fountain. Athena let out a real, genuine laugh. It reminded her a lot of the snowball fight her and Ricky had that one night after putting together Something in the Air. That literally felt like an eternity ago. So much had happened since then . . .
"It's so peculiar," Kourtney began.
"Wait and see, a few days more," Carlos, Kourtney, and the boy playing Cogsworth harmonized. "There may be something there that wasn't there before."
Ricky then offered his arm out to Athena. She linked their arms together, and Ricky got their picnic basket before the two of them began to walk off the stage.
"Perhaps there's something there that wasn't there before," the boy playing Cogsworth admitted.
"There may be something there that wasn't there before," Kourtney stated alone.
"What, mama?" Seb questioned as Chip, his voice slightly fading as Athena and Ricky got off stage. "What's there?"
The crowd applauded.
Athena raised her hand for a high-fived. "Nailed it."
Ricky obliged. "Ricky and Athena take on the world."
--- ☆ • ♫ • ♪ • ♫ • ☆ ---
FOR ONCE, ATHENA actually thought that everything would be fine.
Oh, how wrong she was.
Right before the big moment of their show, also known as the part that got Ricky and Athena injured — the transformation — Ricky's harness decided to disappear out of thin air. Everyone was gathered backstage, frantically looking for it while the orchestra played music to try and stall.
"How?" Violetta inquired in frustration. "It's not like the harness could just grow legs and walk away."
Athena laughed nervously. "Well, I mean, this is Beauty and the Beast. Inanimate objects can actually talk—"
"You know I love you, but Athena, now is not the time."
"Right, sorry."
"You guys, the orchestra hasn't vamped this much since Bop to the Top," Carlos announced.
"I know it's here," Natalie insisted. "I preset it."
Miss Jenn ran in. "What's wrong?"
"My harness is missing," Ricky answered.
"The new one for the transformation," Ashlyn explained.
"What?" Miss Jenn exclaimed. "No, no, this can't be happening."
"It was here," Natalie revealed.
"What else can I use?" Ricky inquired.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, can't you just jump off something high?" Miss Jenn snapped.
The whole room stopped. Athena blinked in shock as she stared at Miss Jenn incredulously. There was no way she just said that . . . Athena glanced over at Ricky nervously. He was looking at Miss Jenn, hurt flashing across his face.
"Nope. Forget I said that. I will be . . . not here."
She ran out of the room.
"I knew something would go wrong," Ricky admitted.
Athena pressed her palm to her temple. "I just want to go to sleep."
"Hey, hey, you guys!" Nini shouted. "All of you, stop it! Richard, let's just spin you around without the harness and you can toss the mask into the wings, okay? Just like rehearsal."
"Right, which I never got right once," Ricky responded. He then held up the wrist that had the brace on it. "And now I'm supposed to do it with one hand?"
"Little harsh, Ric," Athena told him quietly. "Uncalled for."
"Sorry. Second acts haven't traditionally been my strong suit."
Nini sighed. "First time for everything, right?"
"I can spin the table," EJ offered.
"Ooh, I can throw snow," Carlos added.
"And I'll catch your mask," Nini finished.
"Okay," Natalie said. "Our judge is literally doing sudoku." She grabbed Ricky's arm. "I'm pushing you on stage. Aim for my face."
"Ricky," Athena called, and he paused to face her. "You got this."
He pointed to her. "To the moon and to Saturn, Attie."
Ricky finally left with Natalie. Athena let out a nervous breath and smoothed down the skirt of her dress.
Nini blinked at her. "To the moon and to Saturn? Athena, you don't say that unless—" Her eyes then widened. "Wait—"
"I'll tell you later," Athena reassured her. "Right now, we've got a show to finish."
Little did they know the cause of Ricky's missing harness — it was because of that same blonde girl, who Athena was right about from the very beginning.
═ • ° • ✧ • ° • ═
IT WAS ATHENA'S BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY SO Y'ALL BETTER WISH BABY GIRL ATHENA A HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY 😡
also I LOVED how ricky just kissed her like BAM to calm her down. and that, gentlemen, gals, and non-binary pals, is how you reunite a couple.