━━━━ ( 𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐏 )
chapter one. summer.
LUCIA BUZZED IN the front seat of her father's car, hands drumming along the dashboard anxiously wanting time to pass faster. Rhythmically tapping her fingers along to the beat of a song playing on the radio, she softly hummed the lyrics as she stared out the window. She replayed scenarios in her head, thinking of all the things she and her friends could do before the last two weeks of summer ended.
"Luce," Her dad spoke, a small hint of amusement lingering in the air. "You're gonna make a dent in the car at this rate," He teases causing the girl to playfully roll her eyes but nonetheless refrain from doing it any further.
"Sorry," Lucia mumbles out, nervously scratching the back of her neck. "I'm just excited. I haven't seen Ricky in almost a year,"
"I'm sure he's just as excited to see you kiddo," Daniel reassures, turning at the intersection along to the familiar street that led to the Bowen house. Pulling up to the curbside that led directly up to the front door, Lucia turned to her father and let out a squeal, repeatedly hitting his shoulder. "Okay, okay! Stop hitting me and go before you give me a bruise and I tell the twins to eat all the Goldfish,"
"You wouldn't," Lucia dramatically gasps, narrowing her eyes at Daniel who nodded back.
"Oh I would," He muses. A silence fell over the duo before Daniel let out a snort, causing the two to fall into a series of laughter. "O-okay seriously, go on before you make me late to pick up your mother. You know how she is, if I get in trouble I'm dragging you down with me,"
"Just, speed a little," Lucia suggests, unclipping her seatbelt while opening the car door.
"I feel that I should be concerned now when you get your permit," He ponders, leaning over to place a kiss atop the girl's head.
Waving him off, Lucia smiles innocently stepping out of the car. "Don't worry about that. Bye apa, love you, I'll text you later,"
"Love you too!" Daniel calls out, the words passing over Lucia absent-mindedly as she practically runs to the house ahead. Awaiting till she swiftly opened the front door and let herself inside, he smiles softly before pulling away.
The first thing Lucia saw was the messy stack of dishes that was overflowing the sink as she walked in. The second thing was Mr. Bowen who was half asleep on the couch with a box of pizza on his lap watching a generic soap opera on the television.
With a smile, Lucia pried off her shoes and left them by the door. Tip toeing toward the older man, she grabbed the lone water bottle that she presumed was his at one point and uncapped it. Carefully pouring a small few drops along his head, Mike Bowen sprung up in his seat and whirled around to see a cackling Lucia holding her stomach and the bottle used to commit the crime.
"Lucia," Mike begins to scold, quickly wiping the remaining water from his skin before registering the name that left his mouth. Doing a double take, his eyes lit up seeing his practically-adopted-daughter who stood in the living room. Quickly rushing over, his arms encased the girl in to a tight hug, one that caused Lucie to smile at as she returned the gesture. "When did you get back?"
"Last night," Lucia grins. "Ricky didn't tell you? Here, I'll go yell at him for you. We agreed to hang out right when I got back home," She explains, detaching herself from the older man and already making her way toward the staircase all the while Mike Bowen began to purse his lips.
"Uh, Luce?" He calls out, stopping the girl short before her feet could even reach the first step.
"Yeah Mr. B?"
"Ricky's not here," Mike spoke quickly, deciding to rip the band aid off and blurt out the information. Lucia's smile stayed put on her lips, blinking slowly to process the sentence.
"I'm sorry Mikey, I don't think I heard you right. What'd you say?"
"Ricky's.. not.. here," Slowly creeping back, the older Bowen grabbed one of the pillows from the couch in preparation for an infamous Lucia-fit that he was sure to come. It's not that the girl got mad often, but when she did it wasn't a pretty sight and was best to stay out of arms length unless one wanted to get accidentally swatted at amidst her rather passionate rants that involved far too many aggressive hand gestures and vivid descriptions.
Straightening up, Lucia shook her head and stepped away from the staircase. "W-what do you mean he's not here? I told him last week and that's all we talked about, he texted me last night asking if we were still meeting up,"
"I don't really know, he left this morning saying he'd be back tonight," Mike shrugs, wincing as he could practically see the anger and confusion building up within Lucia.
"Well.. do you know where he is?"
"I think he said he was hanging out with Nini today," Mike answers softly, watching as Lucia's face contorted with further confusion.
"Nini? Nini Salazar?" She echos earning a nod from the older man. "Why would he be with Nini? They barely even talk,"
Mike's face paled significantly. Awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, the older Bowen cautiously decided it was best to break the news to her. "Nini and Ricky are dating, Luce,"
⤾·˚ ༘ ◡̈
LUCIA MITCHELL HAD only been mad at Ricky Bowen a handful of times throughout their ten year friendship. Like the time when they were eight and he broke her favorite snow globe on accident, or the time when they were twelve and they agreed to go on the tallest rollercoaster together but Ricky backed out last minute leaving her to go on by herself.
Lucia wasn't just mad this time around. Oh no, far worse. She had arrived at the Bowen household at a mere ten and it was already nearing seven pm. Throughout the hours, Mike Bowen allowed for Lucia to stay at the house and burn through the large range of emotions she felt. It started with confusion, not believing the fact that Ricky truly got a girlfriend and didn't even have the audacity to tell her about it. Then followed hurt, a sense of betrayal for the same reason.
And of course there was anger. Lots of it. Lucia sat in Ricky's room for an expected hours, her eyes darting around taking note of all the things that changed in a matter of a year and how utterly pissed off she was that he was standing her up. She texted, numerous times, and called enough she was sure she was going to be labeled as a spam caller. She even texted Big Red, the boy confirming that Ricky was in fact with Nini for the day but he couldn't get ahold of him either.
And after all that, all Lucie felt was sad. She had went from the upstairs bedroom to sitting at the island in the kitchen. With a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, freshly baked cookies on the counter, and the house looking better than it has in weeks thanks to her stress cleaning methods that she picked up from her mother, Lucia sat slumped over chewing at a cookie with a tightness that began to fill her chest.
She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that Ricky forgot about her. Even in the busiest of moments that made it hard, he never forgot about Lucie. It was them, two peas in a pod attached by the hip. Anywhere one would go, the other would be right beside following. Lucie and Ricky, Ricky and Lucie, it was always them.
But now it seemed like that wasn't the case. It was silly really, the intrusive thoughts that began to circle throughout Lucia's head progressively grew louder with each passing hour. At this point, they were screaming at her, so certain that she was being replaced. If it were so easy to forget her coming back after a year, there was no hope.
Rationally, she knew she was being melodramatic. It wasn't that serious, it must've slipped his mind unintentionally. It wasn't like Ricky would purposely stand her up nor would he intend to hurt her. Besides, he must've thought that they agreed to hang out the following day, yeah, the dates must've got mixed up in his head.
She knew that wasn't the case though. Nearly a year ago Lucia moved back to California, it was only temporary. She had just started her freshmen year, things were going great and her and Ricky were closer than ever. He had even managed to teach her the basics of riding a skateboard, something she worked on so hard so she would be able to skate to school with Big Red and him.
But her grandma had fallen sick on her father's side. The doctors had thought it was a clear end to her mere 60 years of life, cancer almost untreatable being the cause. So Lucia, her mother, and her little two brothers and one youngest sister had flown back to spend their Grandmothers last days together. Her father would come later, having to resolve the issue of putting in his leave of absence and getting a proper replacement for however long he'd be gone.
The month that the doctors had given her grandma was wrong. In fact, she was able to stay alive long after her presumed death date. The month turned into six, allowing for the entire Mitchell family to be rejoicing at the improvements she had been making.
But unfortunately, the extended time she was given only lasted so long. Lindsey Mitchell had died at the age of 61, passing away peacefully in the midst of night just as she had been transferred back home. Her last days spent surrounded by love and her husband who held her hand that night, almost as if he knew it was the end of the line.
It was bittersweet to say the least. And after the six months of staying in California came another having to deal with the funeral, settlements, will, and other minor details along with rehousing their grandfather as he found their old home too big for him now that she was gone. Daniel had insisted on staying back to ensure his father settled in properly before his sister had taken over that responsibility.
The end of their stay in California occurred during the end of the school year, each of the kids finishing online thanks to their parents communicating with the districts and allowing for everything to run smoothly. And as summer came around, the Mitchell family decided to spend some time in Mexico, visiting their other half of extended family before finally coming home to Utah.
Eight months she was gone. In truth, it shouldn't surprise Lucia that she didn't know everything about Ricky anymore.
The first few months the two were inseparable. Just like how they grew up as kids attached to one another. The easy access of the online world of the internet allowed them to call and text constantly. But by the fifth month, Lucia began to notice how Ricky wasn't replying as much as he used to. Sometimes his words were short, making her feel as if she were bothering him, something she expressed and he assured her many times that that wasn't the case, he had just grown busy that's all.
And when she needed him most he was there. He listened to her over the phone when she cried over her grandmothers death, whispering words of comfort the best he could and helping her ground herself when she began to develop panic attacks that followed soon after. Ricky Bowen had done a lot for Lucia, in more ways than one, and she was forever grateful for it.
However that didn't erase the fact that they were growing apart. The last two months were the key indicator, Ricky barely responded to her texts and when he did, they were very short lived and unlively. He had stopped asking about her day and the goodnight messages had came to a halt as well. Soon the updates on his life came through social media posts instead of having actual conversations.
She was forced to watch her best friend's life from a screen hundreds of miles away and it felt like she cared about this fact more than he did. Even so, Lucia didn't let this ruin things. She kept trying and pushing, determined to make things go back to the way they were and once she had confirmation she'd finally be coming back to Salt Lake City, a new spark of hope filled her.
Now they'd be back in each other's lives. That was what she was grasping onto. They'd be in the same state, a mere 5 minute drive from each other's houses and spend their sophomore year onward with one another just like they planned when they were kids. But things didn't seem to go as planned as Ricky managed to ghost Lucia even when she was in his own house for the entire day.
With a small sigh, Lucie picked up her phone. Scrolling through her contacts, she was looking for her mother's number. Originally, she intended to stay the night with Ricky, deeming they had a lot to catch up on and already spoken to her parents about it but now all she wanted was to go home. The ever-growing headache and overwhelming urge to cry won her internal battle to give up, at least for today.
"Hola mamá," Lucia spoke softly, giving a greeting to her mother who answered the phone enthusiastically on the other line. "Can you tell dad to come pick me up?"
"¿Porqué mija? I thought you were staying at Ricky's?" Marisol spoke, her accent slightly showing through her words and Lucia could only imagine her brows frowning with concern. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, I just don't feel good," Lucia lies although she knew her mother would see right through it. "Please mamá, I want to go home," The plead allowed for a break in her words, voice wavering while Lucia mentally scolded herself knowing well enough she'd be interrogated as soon as she stepped inside her home.
"Okay mijita, we're going now," Marisol says softly. "We'll talk later, te quiero mucho mi vida,"
"I love you too," Lucia says quietly before hanging up the phone. Letting out a small sigh, the girl rubs her eyes in attempt to keep the desperate tears she wanted to shed at bay. Going to stand up, she searched around for a pen to write a note to Mike. He had gone off to the store seeing as how once Lucia began her baking spree, he noticed that they were low on numerous things, including flour and sugar which he needed to restock for the girl's sake.
Just as she finished off the short note on a slip of paper, she clipped it to the fridge with a magnet. Gathering her things and folding the blanket she was using, Lucia left the cookies neatly placed in a container for the Bowen's to eat when they wanted before she sat at the table waiting.
The front door opened, Lucia getting up assuming it was Mr. Bowen as she went to help him but stopped short seeing two bodies at the doorway instead.
"Are you sure this is okay? It's late Ricky," Nini spoke softly, concern written across her features but she couldn't help but smile upon Ricky pulling her hand inside with him.
"It's alright, my dad loves you. Besides, it's only till your moms come to pick you up," He reassures. Stepping in through the door, the couple hadn't noticed Lucia who stood frozen in place by the island. Getting a whiff of the chocolate chip aroma that filled the home, Ricky let out a small laugh. "That's weird,"
"What?" Nini questions as she shrugged off her coat. Sniffing the air as well, she lets out a small hum. "Oo, it smells good. Did your dad make cookies?"
"He doesn't even know how to cook," Ricky snorts as he closes the door. "It's weird though. It smells exactly like-" Finally turning around and allowing his eyes to roam the house, the Bowen boy notices the girl who stood watching the entire conversation as if she were invisible. "Lou's," Ricky finishes, word coming out airy with reality striking through his body.
Noticing the way the short girl's eyes were glossed over and the smallest of pouts that one had to search for claimed her lips, Ricky felt his stomach drop remembering what today was. God he was an idiot.
"Lou? Oh, wait you mean Lucia?" Nini echoed, twirling around and nearly jumping at the sight of said girl who she had no idea was in the home. "Oh! Oh my gosh, hi! You're back in Salt Lake!" Smiling brightly at the Mitchell girl, Nini walked forward and wrapped Lucie in a warm embrace.
"Hey Nini," Lucia mumbles out, voice raspy and quiet as she did her best to keep a smile tugging at her lips. "I got back last night," Sparing a look to Ricky as she spoke, the girl cleared her throat and let a forced laugh leave her lips. "It's good to see you, really happy that you and Ricky are finally together," There was a clear edge to her words, one that Nini would never catch on to simply because she didn't need to. It was directly to Ricky for the two presumed best friends weren't really as close as Nini thought. Hell, he never even told her that they were dating in the first place.
"Right? Thank you, I'm sure you know that we had been talking for months. I'm just glad we finally got past that weird limbo stage and are together now," Nini laughs, her innocent small talk doing further damage to the unspoken friendship between the other two without her knowledge.
Sparing a look to Ricky, Lucia rose a brow. Months, huh? The words were clear through her expression, him being able to read her like a book and the hollowness that filled him grew more than before knowing how well he was going to get his ass chewed out once they were alone to talk.
"Well, I gotta use the bathroom so I'll be back. You two should probably catch up anyway," Excusing herself, Nini let a final smile flash across her features. Completely unaware of the obvious tension between the two, she made her way up the stairs and once Ricky deemed her out of earshot, he took a few steps toward Lucia.
"Lou, I am so sorry," He began, the words spilling from his lips with evident worry across his features. "I-I forgot about today, it's just Nini called me this morning and had plans set up so I just went with it because I wasn't thinking,"
He forgot. Lucia repeats the words in her head. It was a mistake, one that shouldn't have held as much weight as it did but all she could think about was how he forgot about her. The realization hit both with an immense amount of strength. Never in his life did Ricky believe that he'd forget about Lucie. And he saw the way his absentmindedness affected the girl.
The simple words shattered her thin exterior that she was desperately attempting to stay latched to. She refused to cry, far too caught up in her own stubbornness but that didn't mean she was able to keep the melancholy from washing over her features. Keeping her head turned and eyes averted to the wood floor, Lucia chewed on her bottom lip to the point where she was sure she could taste blood. It was certain she would crumble if she opened her mouth so she chose to do the obvious thing, ignore him until she'd be able to run away.
"C'mon Lou, say something," Ricky urged. The silence became her savior but for him, it struck further to his core and indicated just how wrong he messed up. "At least look at me," He pleads, hand going up to tilt her chin but she shrugged him off. "Lucie," Ricky sighs, attempting to guide her face to look at him once more.
This time, she didn't resist. Instead she slowly fluttered her eyes to his own. The evident need to cry was clear through her expression, enough to make Ricky nauseous at the fact that he was the one making her feel as such.
Noticing the familiar car pull up outside the house, Lucia felt a small sense of relief wash over her. Stepping away, her gaze averted back to the floor. "I gotta go,"
"You're leaving?" Ricky frowns, following the girl to the door as he got a mere nod in response. "I thought you were gonna spend the night,"
"And I thought we were gonna hang out today," Lucia retorts, the words coming out before she could refrain. She nearly began to apologize seeing the way Ricky's eyes softened but her stubbornness won once more. Instead she turned, swinging the door open without interruption this time.
"Lou," Ricky called out, watching her figure continue onward without a second glance back. He felt Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell's eyes fall upon him as they sat in the car, the former holding more sympathy for the boy knowing how his wife was fuming in her seat seeing the broken look upon her daughters features.
Watching as the car began to pull away with Lucia tucked away in the back seat, Ricky Bowen let out a small sigh and ran his hands anxiously across his face. Shutting the front door, he leans against the wood and sucks in his bottom lip between his teeth.
God, how he fucked up.
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the gif looks so fking weird bc wattpad
isn't uploading them correctly???
anyway, story now begins yay
(ps happy new year)
「 02.01.22 ━━━ edited 」
© 𝗷𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘂