𝟐𝟒. 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐏
( CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR ) — 𝐑.𝐁.
1, 2, 3... 1, 2, 3... 1, 2, 3...
Ricky Bowen repeated the sequence in his head for the millionth time. Matching the sound of the heart monitor, he fought the urge to drift off and forced himself to watch whatever soap opera that was playing from the hospital network.
With his chair as close to the bed as possible, one of his hands laid atop the mattress, his fingers interlaced with Indigo's. Checking to ensure there was a steady rise and fall from her chest, his eyes blurred from the lack of proper sleep.
It had been six days since the accident. The first night had everyone compiled in the waiting room as it took a near eight hours before Indie's state was in critical, but nonetheless stable, condition and placed in the ICU. The severity of Indie's injuries varied from a broken femur to internal bleeding and head trauma. With this, she had been placed under a medically induced coma to ensure her head trauma wouldn't cause her brain to rupture.
Even with the precautions, Indie had managed to flatline twice since she'd been in the ICU. The first time Ricky was at home, catching up on needed sleep upon staying awake for more than a day but the second, he was in the room when he heard the monitor stop with her body falling into a seizure.
Since then Ricky promised himself that he wouldn't leave Indie's side. He'd be there to see her wake up, that's what he told himself. Even when the nurses and his friends forcibly dragged him out of the room every-so-often to attempt to freshen up and get proper sleep in anything besides a chair, he would come back after a few hours waiting to be by her side and hold her hand.
His eyes glanced around the room. The sun shined brightly from the window, the golden honey color seeping in as it was nearing sunset. Numerous amounts of stuffed animals and balloons filled the corner. Each of their friends had popped in to pay their visits, dropping off a gift for the girl to see once she'd wake up. EJ in particular taking the cake as he came tiptoeing in with a bouquet of balloons, a life size teddy bear, and a handful of smaller stuffies even after Ashlyn's protests to get a simple get-well-soon present.
There was a ping from his phone. Ricky slipping the device from his pocket with his free hand. The notification from Flynn, a picture sent and he felt a faint smile come across his lips.
The single flower that was taped to the front of Indie's locker at school, curtsy of Nini and Carlos, had grown. A countless amount of sticky notes and get-well-soon cards captivated the metal, making the color behind it essentially invisible due to the papers. On the ground, there were small stuffed animals and flower bouquets.
His eyes flickered up to the unconscious girl beside him. Ricky gently squeezed Indie's hand, dropping his phone and stoking a strand of hair from her face with his other.
"You gotta get better Blue," Ricky mumbles quietly. His fingertips grazing over her skin, the faint warmth brining him comfort. "We're all here waiting," He adds, a small sigh leaving his lips. Carefully standing up, he leans over the side of the bed, his lips placing a delicate kiss to the crown of her head. "I'm here waiting,"
There was two faint knocks that caught Ricky's attention. Turning his head to the sound, his eyes fell upon the curly haired brunette who stood in the middle of the walkway holding a plastic bag in her hands.
Gina smiled softly, gesturing to the contents within as she lingered outside the door. "I brought Chinese?" She offers, waiting until Ricky cleared his throat and nodded for her to come in.
Carefully stepping into the room, Gina Porter smiled at the overflowing collection of stuffed animals that would've been an overwhelming sight for anyone besides Indigo. The two girls had only spoken a handful of times, each conversation fairly short but it wasn't because neither liked the other. In fact, Gina thought highly of Indie, especially after seeing her wrangle both EJ and Ricky into getting along for the first time during their rehearsals.
She knew far more about Indigo than needed, the key to the abundance of information coming from Ricky himself who somehow drifted each conversation back to her in one way or another. The first few times, she passed it off as a coincidence seeing as how dead set on Nini he seemed, Gina just assumed that he and Indie were just that close to have an unimaginable amount of stories to tell and refer to. But then she realized how he spoke of Indigo more than anything else.
Prior to their first encounter, during the first few weeks of the rehearsal, Gina nearly bashed her head into a wall having to listen to Ricky pout over Nina every day.
And then it began to fade out, slowly but surely, one name was replaced over time. The spark and looks of longing had shifted, instead of desperately clinging onto his ex-girlfriend, going to drastic measures just to get her attention, all of it stopped.
The day Gina Porter saw Ricky Bowen and Indigo Carmelo interact for the first time, she knew.
They were in the halls between passing periods, the short brunette had her gaze focused on her phone, managing to weave her way through. From her locker, Gina watched as Ricky quickly slipped between the crowd of people, mumbling quiet sorry's over his shoulder as he bumped into a few.
She watched as he came up behind Indie, throwing his arm over the girls' shoulder and the two fit like puzzle pieces together. A bright smile flashed across his lips as if it were the most natural thing in the world while Indie jumped at the contact. Her look of surprise was replaced with a scowl as she took note of who ambushed her peaceful walk so abruptly.
Gina watched the two continue down the hall, the girl obviously scolding Ricky for whatever reason while he bantered back with an unwavering grin. His expression seemed to glow, as if being in her presence revived him from the draining school day. The two walked and talked, one of Ricky's arms still thrown over her shoulder as he took Indie's notebooks from her grasp and carried them with his other. The Porter girls' eyes followed them until they rounded the corner of the hall, the last glimpse of the pair having Indie rolling her eyes but smiling as she looked away from Ricky as he let out a laugh.
That was the first encounter. The numerous times after that, be it through merely bumping into them in the halls or the few times Indie tagged along to their rehearsals, Gina watched as the relationship evolved — well, for one side of it at least.
Ricky Bowen was hopelessly in... in something with Indigo. She didn't quite know what it was yet, be it puppy love or true feelings, all Gina knew was that his eyes searched for her constantly whenever she was around, and even when she wasn't, it was evident that Indie was clouding a portion of his thoughts constantly.
Ricky momentarily moved away from Indie to pull up a chair for Gina, helping her settle in and spread out the take-out, getting himself his own food, but as soon as he was done, he plopped himself right back in the chair he had claimed for the past few days. Almost magnetic, he was drawn to Indie with an overwhelming sensation that he couldn't seem to shake no matter how hard he tried.
"I heard you've been living in that chair for the past week," Gina broke the silence, her eyes focused on Ricky who was poking at his box of noodles.
He shrugged. "Six days,"
"Six days?"
Ricky's gaze moved up to the girl across from him. "The accident happened six days ago," He explains, swallowing harshly before adding on. "I've been here the entire time.. well, besides the couple of hours they've kicked me out to go home but mostly the entire time,"
Gina scrunched up her nose. "When's the last time you've slept?"
Ricky shrugged once more. "Earlier,"
"I said slept not napped, and especially not in a crappy hospital chair," She retorts awaiting for a remark back but Ricky merely casted his gaze to the floor without a word. Gina rose her brows, eyeing the obviously exhausted and mess of a boy sitting in front of her. "When's the last time you went home? Last time you showered? Have you even been brushing your teeth? Have you been eating?"
Ricky paused, rolling the noodles onto his fork and taking a bite. Thickly swallowing the food, he sent Gina a pointed look. "Tuesday, Tuesday, Everyday, and I am now," He lists off. "Anything else?"
"It's Thursday," Gina says aloud earning a nod from Ricky. "Jesus Ricky, when is the last time you've had proper sleep?"
"I can't sleep," He says shortly.
"What'd you mean?" She questions while his tired eyes flickered up. Fully viewing his features, Gina was able to see the obvious redness that surrounded his scleras. Ricky seemed tired, utterly exhausted but more than that, there was a hint of annoyance clouded behind his expression.
"I was there," Ricky began, swallowing the words harshly. "Every time I close my eyes it's like the memory replays. I thought she was gone," His voice wavered between the vowels. Taking a deep breath, Ricky blinked slowly while running his hand over his face. "I thought she was on the roof. I don't even know how Vivian got to her and now, now she's here and it's feels like my fault because I couldn't keep her safe," He adds in a soft tone. "I promised I'd keep her safe,"
Gina paused, taking in the full weight of his words as her eyes scanned the room. Leaning over in her chair as far as she could, her fingers caught hold of one of the many stuffed animals that filled the room. Holding a proper grip on it, her vision flickered back to the Bowen boy who was amidst a pity party for himself before she launched it at him. The soft plushie flew across the room, nailing Ricky on the side of the head causing him to whirl his attention to her with an incredulous look.
"What the hell is you're problem dude?"
"What the hell me? What the hell you!" Ricky retorts, gesturing to the stuffed toy that had ricocheted down to the ground. "What was that for?"
"Stop acting like that!" Gina states.
His face contorted with confusion. "Like what?"
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and stop blaming yourself for something you have no control over," She says as if it were the easiest thing in the world to comprehend. "God, Ricky, do you seriously think that Indie would want you feeling like this? She went with her mom willingly, she got in the car willingly. There's nothing you could've done to stop the accident nor could you stop bad things from happening. As much as it sucks, shit happens. And when it happens you can't just shut down and blame yourself for it, especially not for her. If she were awake, she'd be pissed at you for not taking proper care of yourself,"
Ricky blinked, allowing himself to process the scolding Gina gave him. Looking between her and Indie's unconscious body, a hint of a smile appeared across his lips. Shaking his head, Ricky let out an airy laugh, the action only lasting for a split second but it caused Gina's brows to frown with confusion.
"Why're you laughing?"
"Sorry, it's just—" With another fond smile falling upon his lips, he shook his head as he leaned down to place the food carton on the floor beside him. "You're right, she'd be pissed," Ricky agrees, his familiar boyish laugh filling the room as he gazed upon Indie. "I've been eating strictly hospital jello for the last couple of days," He announced, the words meant for Gina. "You know, sometimes I'd get so busy during the day that I'd forget to eat. I'd maybe eat an apple at school, maybe some snacks from Big Red, but I'd go from school, to work, then to rehearsals, and then home to do homework before passing out. And it's not like my body wasn't hungry, it's just, I never had time to think about eating so it'd go away. One, two, three days, I'd forget to eat until someone said something or I actually had the time to sit down,"
Gina sat quietly, allowing for Ricky to tell his story without interruption. She was confused by his sudden urge to change the subject but she assumed it correlated somehow, and if it didn't that wouldn't matter. Ricky was talking more than he had in a near week, the livelihood of his expression slowly coming back and that's what mattered. If he wanted to spew a random, and rather concerning eating habit, story for the hell of it, she'd be there to listen because that's what he needed.
Besides, by the way he was looking at Indie, it seemed like the more he spoke the happier he became from recalling whatever memories in his mind.
"When Blue found out, we had only been friends for, like, a week. She said she noticed how I never ate during lunch so she came up to me that Monday, throwing a granola bar she got from the vending machine at me and told me to eat it. I was in the middle of doing homework but she forced me to take a break and sat watching me until I ate both bars that came in the pack. I was hungrier than I thought and she seemed to notice so she pulled out a second one that was in her pocket handed it to me as if she knew. She proceeded to ask the last time I actually ate and when I told her—" Ricky snapped his fingers between the words, a chuckle leaving his lips as he replayed the memory.
"I remember how mad she was. It was only two days but right away, she got me up and dragged me to the cafeteria. It was crappy food so I only ate an orange but she made me promise to go home and eat after school. She even texted me as a reminder," He paused momentarily, a hand scratching the back of his neck with a sheepish smile. "As soon as I got home that day I went into the kitchen and I made myself food. By the time she texted me I was already eating so I sent her a picture. She replied with one back with the happiest smile and a close-up shot of her face in the frame," Reaching for his phone that was tucked away into his pocket, Ricky unlocked it and clicked his way to the messages shared between them.
Scrolling through the conversation, there were numerous pictures sent and he held up the screen for Gina to catch a glimpse of the shared photos momentarily as he swiped. The Porter girl smiled at this, both at the shared pictures between the two and at how joyous Ricky seemed to talk about it.
"It just became a thing. I-I don't know, just daily. She'd send me a reminder and I'd send a picture back as proof and each time without fail, she was right there smiling back at me and saying how proud she was and how great I was doing. And eventually I started to make time to eat, at least twice a day. Not for myself but for her, just so I could get that response. She takes care of me without even trying," Ricky clicked his phone off and dropped it into his lap. Pursing his lips, he threw his head back to lean against the back of the uncomfortable hospital chair as he stares ahead at the ceiling. "God, I'm a mess and she's only been in my life for a few months. If she were awake she'd probably throw more than a stuffed animal and scold me for worrying about her so much but I can't help it. She'd hate how much I care,"
Gina smiled softly. Looking down at her lap, she felt a sense of warmth spread through her chest at his words. Ricky Bowen's true and genuine feelings for Indie were enough to be contagious, she could only imagine how ever-bright she was in his mind even with the added flaws. And for that, she felt happy, a second-hand happiness that she only wished to feel for another one day.
"Ricky," Gina began, pulling the brunette boys attention back. Humming in response, Ricky tilted his head slightly to the side as he glanced at her. "You like her, don't you?"
His smile seemed to falter at the words. Straightening up, he shifted in his seat, his eyes falling to the tiled floor as he ran a hand through his hair. The silence between them caused Gina to pause, unaware of the meaning behind the subtle shift but he looked up with a bittersweet gleam in his gaze. Raspy words left his lips in a soft mumble.
"I think I'm in too deep to just say that," Ricky admits.
The confession led to a range of emotions to flow through Gina. At first, it took her a second to properly ensure she heard his words correctly and then a wide grin and small squeal left her lips. Practically jumping in her seat and fawning over the the idea of the two together, she began to spew words of encouragement and ensuring how utterly perfect Indie and Ricky seemed. The normal stoic Gina Porter who had a hard time letting people in was nowhere in sight.
After all, she was a teenage girl who had a soft spot for romances made for the movies and it seemed that this particular love story she was watching unfold had unintentionally allowed for them to be fully let into her heart.
"Alright alright," Ricky laughed, interrupting Gina's incoherent scramble of words that he couldn't understand the further she went on. Reaching down for his previously discarded box of food, he fumbled with the cop sticks and pointed at it. "Let's eat, yeah?"
She merely rolled her eyes, taking a bite of her own food and quickly chewing. "C'mon, you can't just say that and expect me to not want to know everything else,"
Ricky shrugged, stuffing a spoonful of noodles into his mouth and gesturing to it to indicate he couldn't speak with his mouth full. Letting out a whine, Gina began to pout over his lack of cutesy details but Ricky's eyes fell upon Indigo once more.
There was a sense of relief that flowed through him. A confession, a very first confession to Gina Porter about his more-than-known feelings had lifted a weight off of Ricky's shoulders. He had know, he had know for a while, maybe even from the first time he saw her that day she showed up behind him in Chemistry.
His Blue that wasn't really his for her heart belong to someone else.
But that didn't matter. No matter how much he denied on the surface, deep down Ricky knew. And here he was, finally sharing the truth with another and he couldn't help but feel elated. It was wrong, wrong of him to feel the way he felt but it wasn't as if he were ever to act upon his feelings.
Instead they would stay hidden. For now, he and Gina would be the only ones to know and that would be okay. He'd pin over Indie a million times over as long as it kept her happy with another.
And so Ricky Bowen would be Indigo's person as she was his, just not in the same way.
— AUTHOR SPEAKS "
edited ( 24 september 2021 )
lol hi
be mad at me, i don't care i love indie
and ricky and i shall die on this hill
also gina porter my beloved who i stupidly
haven't included as much as i should've has
FINALLy made her debut <3