seventeen,
selfish
WHEN SEB CAME back with permission from his mother to sleep over, they got to work while using him as a mannequin. "Ooh, this is going to be so good," Kourtney smiled. "Carlos would wear it."
"Does he just walk around in Armani sweatpants?" Ashlyn wondered.
"I guess," Seb answered.
Kourtney frowned. "Uh. . . Sebbie?"
"Is something going on with you guys?" Nini questioned.
Seb sighed. "I guess you could say he met a group of extreme photogenic guys when he was down in Mexico and he seems pretty happy. So, now I'm pretty sad."
Gina stepped closer to the others. "Seb, come on."
"You want to see him happy, that's with you," Ashlyn added.
Seb hummed. "But I guess he has to be, out of default, right?"
"What do you mean?" Clara tilted her head.
Seb sat down. "There's not a lot of other choices for a boy like Carlos here at East."
"No, Seb," Nini softly told him.
"I'm sure you'll work this out," Phoebe assured him. "Just tell him how you feel, yeah?"
"I'm not so good at saying the feelings part out loud."
"Never hurts to put yourself out there," Gina said. "Or so I've heard."
"Okay, I'm sorry, you totally do not have to answer this, but what happened with you and EJ?" Nini inquired, turning towards Phoebe. "I thought you guys were doing great."
Phoebe looked down at her lap. "Um. . . the communication wasn't awesome between us."
"You guys will figure stuff out," Nini encouraged. "I mean, with what you did on Valentine's Day, you have to be soulmates."
Ashlyn gasped. "The chocolates!"
Nini stuck a pin in the pin cushion. "What are the chocolates?"
"Oh, um, I. . ." Gina awkwardly chuckled. "I thought Ricky sent me some chocolates on Valentine's Day and I kind of melted a little — as a friend. But he didn't send me chocolates, Nini. It was my mom."
Nini forced a smile. "Why'd I never hear about this?"
Gina froze. "It wasn't a big deal."
Phoebe furrowed her brows. "But why would you think that Ricky sent you chocolates when he had a girlfriend?"
Kourtney stood up, eager to end the conversation. "I think we should move on."
"Y'know, I'm going to get a root beer," Nini walked into the kitchen.
○●○
AFTER HOWIE GAVE Kourtney the Broadway plans for the Beast transformation, everyone met up at the auditorium. They opened the blueprint of the transformation, which was a lot more underwhelming than Phoebe thought it would be.
"So, in the Broadway show, all they did was suspend the Beast in the air, and then he takes his mask off?" Gina repeated.
"Wow," Nini scoffed. "Look's like today theme is secrets."
"But, combine this with the wire from Getcha Head in the Game, and we're golden," Ashlyn voiced. "Do we still have Ricky's harness?"
"Oh, it's in the costume shop," Kourtney replied. "Somewhere."
"Everyone, let's meet back in 15," Natalie instructed.
"Thank you, 15."
"Hey," Phoebe felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Ricky. "Can you come with me?"
"Sure," she nodded. He grabbed her wrist and led her into the bomb shelter.
"I need to borrow your voice."
"Okay, Ursula, what for?"
"Carlos and Seb," he explained, handing her a piece of paper. "I don't know if you've noticed, but they've been having some problems."
Just then, Carlos dragged Seb into the room. Seb eyed everyone as he sat down. "Am I in trouble?"
"Just listen," Carlos exhaled. "I mean every word of this. Even the ones Ricky wrote."
Seb shifted in his chair and gave a look that what is going on?, the most she could do was shrug. Carlos turned around and gave Ricky the okay to start.
"I scream at the top of my lungs," Carlos started. Ricky smiled at Phoebe, obviously very proud of himself. If he couldn't fix his own relationship, at least he was helping Carlos fix his. "You keep it all bottled up. We're different that way."
Ricky nodded his head towards Phoebe, signaling that it was their turn. "Different that way."
Carlos shook his head. "But please don't ever change."
"Don't ever change."
"It might feel like it's only us looking for our kind of love, and maybe that's true, but I'm so glad that it's you." Phoebe's heart warmed as she watched Seb smile. "I wish you knew that you're fantastic. I'll be right here whatever happens." Carlos looked back at them and the music became a bit more upbeat. "When all's said and done, you'll always be the one that I keep coming back to." Carlos walked over to Seb's chair and crouched down. "In a heartbeat, I'd choose you."
Phoebe glanced over at Ricky and noticed how completely focused on his guitar he was. She lightly laughed. Thankfully, it was drowned out by the music.
"Hope you know, you'll never dance alone," Carlos grabbed another chair and placed it in front of Seb's. "So don't you worry, don't need to. In a heartbeat, I'd choose you. You make me feel like myself. Why would I go anywhere else? How crazy I am."
"Crazy I am," Ricky grinned, looking up at Phoebe as he tapped on his guitar.
"Somehow you understand."
"You understand," Phoebe repeated.
"Yeah," Carlos scooted forward. "You're the sweetest guy I've ever met. I'm as lucky as lucky can get. Too good to be true, knowing somebody like you." Carlos pulled Seb up out of the chair. "I wish you knew that you're fantastic. But I don't have to tell you this is magic." The two boys began dancing. "In a heartbeat, in a heartbeat, I'd choose you. Don't you worry, you can trust me, I won't loose you. The future we can't control, but it all I know is everything that I need, I have with the boy who chose me."
Phoebe thought she was selfish.
As she watched her two friends be insanely happy and read over the lyrics to the song, she made it about her. It was always about her, wasn't it? She chose to break up with EJ. Did she even have the right to be sad? To be heartbroken after she broke his heart?
A part of her wished EJ had fought harder for them, proved that he wanted them to work out as much as she did. He didn't. He'd simply obeyed her wishes and she felt horrible that she was upset with him about that.
"When all's said and done, you'll always be the one that I keep coming back to. In a heartbeat, I'd choose you," Carlos spun Seb around. "Hope you know, you'll never dance alone. So don't you worry, don't need to. In a heartbeat, I'd choose you. You. . . you. . . I'd choose you. . . in a heartbeat."
The song came to an end as Carlos and Seb hugged. Carlos then walked over to Ricky and gave him a hug. "Thank you. . ." he weakly punched Ricky's arm. ". . .bro." He and Seb held hands as they left the room to talk.
Phoebe wiped the tears from her eyes.
"You okay?" Ricky furrowed his brows.
"Yeah," she nodded. "That was really. . . happy. I needed something happy after the past few weeks I've had. That was a really amazing thing you did, Ricky." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm proud of you."
She pulled away and suddenly became very aware of how close they were to each other. The next thing she knew was that Ricky was leaning in and she was leaning in. And that she was a horrible person. She was upset with EJ for the whole thing with Gina but she was kissing Ricky Bowen now.
Who was also one of her best friend's ex.
Phoebe immediately pulled away and shook her head. She turned and walked away, heading back to the auditorium. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she screamed at herself repeatedly.
Not long after, Ricky and Big Red joined the group. Ricky put his mask on and Phoebe got her cloak on. They got into position and began the scene.
"I — I — I. . ." Ricky forced out.
"Please," Phoebe begged. "I love you." He began choking and dramatically turned over. Phoebe looked over to Big Red and nodded.
She stood up and watched as Ricky was lifted in the air. The only problem was that it was incredibly squeaky. Their excitement was soon cut short when the rope snapped and Ricky came falling to the floor.
𝒎𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒍 !!
you guys are staying fed. you're welcome🫶🏽