Carlos' POV
Another day of choreography meant another day of waking up earlier than usual so I could pick up Seb and bring him, but I didn't mind. Since I already was up early, we always went out for coffee.
I had already picked up Seb and we were both sitting down with our iced coffee's. "So how are you?" Seb asked.
"Pretty good."
"Me too." He smiled.
"I'm glad." I leaned over and kissed him, completely ignoring the few looks we were getting. On the other hand, after kissing me back, Seb looked embarrassed as he glanced around. "Sebby, we gotta ignore them."
"I know." He nodded.
"We can go if you want, we're kinda close to being late anyways."
"Yeah, that sounds good."
"What is going on?" I asked Seb. We were both last to rehearsal, for once, and almost no one was talking. Nini wasn't there that day; she was sick. Kourtney wasn't there either, because she was with Howie. Ashlyn and Gina were on one side of the garage, but they weren't conversing. Similarly, Ricky, EJ, and Big Red were on the other side, barely talking either.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "Hey!" He waved to everyone. Most of them waved back, mumbling greetings.
"Okay, why is... no one happy?" I sighed. "We can't work like this."
"Stuff happens." Gina mumbled.
"Sure does." EJ nodded. She glared at him.
"I don't know what's going on with anyone, to be honest." Ricky said. "But everyone seems to be in the middle of an argument."
"Oh come on, communicate. Make up."
"It's not that easy." Ashlyn piped in.
"I like optimistic Ashlyn."
"We all do." Big Red muttered.
"Optimism's pretty nice." EJ added.
"God, I can't do this right now." Gina said.
"Honestly, same." Ashlyn took Gina's hand and they both walked away.
"What's going on?" I asked the boys.
"Gina needs space, apparently." EJ said.
"So does Ash."
"Normally the girls would keep their spirits high, but no one happy is here right now." Ricky explained. "Plus, neither of them seem to be happy anyways. I assume. Howie's leaving town again and Nini's sick, so..."
"Okay, well, can any of you rehearse?" I asked. Seb held my hand.
"I don't think anyone's up for it today." He said quietly.
"Yeah, not exactly feeling great."
"I have no idea what's happening with all these couples, but I don't feel good on my own, so... yeah, I'm not up for it either." Ricky said.
"Oh. Where's Miss Jenn?"
"Not here today."
"Okay, great, no one can do anything." I sighed. I noticed Seb going to talk to the girls, who hadn't actually gone further than the sidewalk.
"I bet Gina or Ashlyn would do something. This kinda thing probably cheers them up." Big Red inputted.
"I guess."
EJ's POV
"Yeah. Gina will probably be fine to dance. I don't even know why she's upset." I added.
"Sometimes there's lots of sides to stories." Ricky said.
"I'm just gonna..." Carlos walked to the girls and Seb.
"I know that, Richard." I sighed. "But I don't think it was my fault."
"At least you know what happened." Big Red mumbled.
"Can you stop coming for my cousin?"
"Can your cousin please talk to me?"
"As far as I'm aware, you didn't call her back." I replied. "After Ricky told you to."
"Don't blame that on me." Ricky said.
"I'm not."
"I'm not even coming for her, EJ, but I haven't had a good talk with her in a good while." Big Red said.
"Then, I don't know, talk to her?"
"You talk to Gina."
"She has to come to me, there's nothing more I can say to her." I told him.
"I doubt that." Ricky said.
"You don't know what happened."
"Then tell me."
"I told her I loved her. She pulled a... you." I said simply.
"Well you're pulling a Nini, then. Talk to her, instead of having her pine after you for months. If she's upset, then she clearly wasn't ready to say it."
"Whatever." I shrugged.
"Trust me. I know her."
"I know her too, she needs space."
"You guys are so loud." Big Red mumbled, walking away.
"I'm just saying, be a good boyfriend and talk to her." Ricky said. "I've learned bad communication sucks."
"If she can't talk to me then she doesn't want to be in a relationship. She knows I love her, she knows what I think about our relationship."
"Sometimes things are more complicated. Gina can very well kiss you and move on pretty quickly."
"What are you talking about?" I crossed my arms. "Because it sounds like..."
"She kissed my cheek after homecoming."
"Cool. Whatever. She did move on. But did you?"
"I was with Nini after that, of course I moved on."
"But do you have feelings for her now?" I questioned.
"No, I'm just saying, talk to her."
"We'll see." I muttered.
Big Red's POV
I separated myself from both groups of people, annoyed by everything going on. I can't blame Ashlyn for me not calling her, but why did she even want me to?
I watched Carlos, Seb, Gina, and Ashlyn begin to rehearse. All I saw was my beautiful girlfriend, who was probably about to break up with me. So maybe I was looking at my beautiful ex. I don't know at this point.
Rehearsal felt incredibly long, but when it was over everyone quickly split up, besides Gina and Ashlyn going home together. I hesitated.
"Ashlyn!" I ran after her.
"What?" She turned to me. Gina walked away.
"Can this please count as me calling you?"
"You didn't call me, but you can talk."
"Hi." I said.
"Hi." She replied. There was silence. "What did you want to say?"
"You told me to call you, what do you want to say?"
"I don't know anymore."
"Can you please try to say something? Look, I want things to be good."
"I do too!" She exclaimed.
"Then why won't you ever talk to me?"
"I don't know!" She sighed. "I get snappy when I feel threatened."
"I know. But you've been nothing but snappy."
"I've been nothing but threatened."
"Then that's a problem!"
"That I can't fix!" She groaned.
"Why can't I help you fix it?"
"Because then I'll snap at you and mess everything up more! Because that's awkward, because I can't even explain what's going on to my therapist, I just— ugh!"
"Do you want to talk or not, though?" I asked.
"I can't right now, I've gotta be somewhere."
"Actually?"
"Actually. Family thing. My dad's new coworker or something."
"Actually call me?" I asked.
"Yes. But if I don't, that's not a bad thing. I might... I'll try to call you today but it might have to be tomorrow."
"Okay." I nodded.
"Bye."
"Bye."