Ricky added a final brushstroke to the painting. Another melancholy landscape that Miss Jenn would probably reject. But, it felt fitting for the situation.
What better way to capture the moment he realized that love was dead?
Ricky had kept himself busy for months after he moved to New York. It was a new city, he was young, and he left all his friends behind in Utah when he decided to go to art college. He wanted his first project to capture the magic of entering a new city with a fresh start.
He met Gina at Dolly's, back when Ricky only worked there three days a week, and one of them was a Wednesday—one of the only two days in the week Gina gave herself a rest from rehearsal. She even walked in with her pink gym bag, a high bun, and her leotard she wore as a shirt under a leather jacket.
They hit it off after he gave her a BLT on the house for her number. Ricky vaguely remembers himself saying several cheesy pick-up lines, but he remembered a smile appearing on the grumpy ballerina's face every time she entered the diner.
So, Wednesday became Gina-and-Ricky days. They would talk about anything and everything, including how Gina felt insecure around the snobs on campus, so she'd chosen to live off it, and how Ricky hated every day of art school, even though it was the whole reason he moved to New York.
Gina was his first friend. Big Red, her roommate, was his second. Then, they introduced them to Carlos—a fellow ballerina and future choreographer.
Soon, Ricky had made a whole new family in New York. Weekend baseball games to see Jack and Jet, late-night picnics in Central Park with Red, and surprise visits to the Upper East Side to see Kourtney.
And, even when Ricky had given up on college after only three months, and decided to work on his own art full-time, Big Red and Gina let him move into their apartment. They had supported his art career, even though he offered dog scraps for the rent, and Carlos had invited him to take pictures of their ballet class.
When he finally took Carlos up on his offer to see their class, he saw Lily. She was pirouetting and plié-ing in rosy tulle like a fairy from The Nutcracker when he finally took her up on the offer. She was new. She was magical.
Lily was a weird addition to the group. She got on everyone's nerves. She was snippy, erratic, and a little bossy. But, she was pretty and had big blue eyes and Ricky had a hard time stopping himself from defending her to the group.
When they decided to date, it made things in their group a little weird. They fought a lot, they didn't act like they liked each other, let alone loved each other.
"They weren't right for each other," Big Red had said nicely—Gina had told him to his face, less nicely, Carlos too. They did, and it didn't make things better.
It was just awkward. Everyone knew what Lily did, but they still kept her around. And now Mack was hanging around, he knew it would be even more awkward. He'd missed Jet's baseball game for the first time in months.
A knight, decapitated, on a field of wilted roses captured his emotions. He dipped his brush in water, cleaned the paint off it one last time, and got up to go to the sink.
He turned on the tap and washed the pain of his fingers. Ricky watched the water turn pink from all the red paint he used (a lot). So, he almost missed the ping of his phone over the sound of the water splashing.
Over the kitchen top, and past the small dining table, Ricky saw where his phone screen lit up on the couch. And, he saw the Love Byte notification.
Ricky shook his hands, then wiped them on his thighs, smearing more paint and water on his 'work' jeans.
He scrambled to look at his phone. His heart raced all of a sudden.
Were his hands still wet or were they getting clammy? He wiped a hand on his jeans again, going straight into the app.
There was a message.
Rocketman69: Hi :) I promise I'm not crazy. I'm in New York all week. I really want to meet you. Lmk when you want to. Whenever you want. Here's my number: ##
Ricky stared at the text for five minutes, trying to take it all in. But it was too much to take in at once. His soulmate was in New York. Right now. To meet him.
His heart rate got faster.
Did Ricky want to meet him? What if he was the internet creep Ricky accused him of being?
Should he call the number?
Did he want to hear the voice of this mystery man to discover he had to disappoint a perfectly normal guy who'd suffered a username glitch?
Was he going to meet one of the richest guys in the world right now, and tell him his app was a dud? That he'd made a mistake?
Or, worse—was it not a mistake at all?
No. An "I got this app because of my crazy ex and her batshit boyfriend who invited me to their wedding in a moment of childish jealousy" conversation...was certainly one to have in person.
He took a deep breath and composed his text.
Ricky Bowen: are u free today?
He didn't wait long. Ricky watched the clock go from eleven to two minutes past eleven.
Rocketman69: Yep. You wanna grab breakfast?
Ricky smiled, but he wasn't sure why. He thought maybe the fact it was only a few minutes until breakfast time became lunch meant this guy was so eager to meet him felt a little nice. Then, he rolled his eyes—because the fact this guy was so eager to meet him was only going to make explaining this harder.
Ricky Bowen: no. i don't eat breakfast. we'll do dinner. meet me at dolly's. 334, Lexington Ave, Frnt 1. it's the diner opposite the kebab place.
Rocketman69: Great. I'll see you there at six.
Ricky Bowen: no five sharp
Rocketman69: Whatever works best
His heart sank. This guy did want to meet him.
Ricky Bowen: what's ur name btw?
Rocketman69: All will be revealed.
Cryptic.
"Hey, Ricky. You alright?" Big Red emerged from his bedroom, half awake. Ricky had jumped.
"Yep. No. Nothing."
✘
Ricky sat with the phrase in his head for every minute of his shift. While he took a break, Gina called to ask him to get some milk on the way home, when his boss told him to work a little faster, or when he'd forgotten the drink of a regular. All will be revealed.
Five thirty came, though, and nothing had been revealed yet. He shrugged on his jacket and was walking out of the diner until Natalie popped up in front of him.
"Hey, Ricky..." she tied an apron around her waist and tapped on her notebook with a pen. Natalie always came in half an hour late. Part of the reason he was still there was because he needed to wait for her to take over his shift before he could go home, and think about how much of a waste of time this was.
"I'm just about to head out, what's up?"
"A dude sitting in the back...navy suit...says he knows you," Natalie pointed without turning around. "He said to say his name was Rocketman? I dunno. It's weird—he's hot, though."
"What?" Ricky wanted to ask more questions. Like, how long he'd been there, or if he'd said anything else. Natalie walked away after she nudged him on the shoulder.
At the back of the dinner, Ricky saw him sitting there as Natalie said. The only person sitting in a row of empty red chairs and white tables. He looked too good to be in a dingy place like Dolly's, in his deep blue two-piece made out of that expensive-looking material Ricky had only ever seen on TV that fitted his broad shoulders perfectly and shone like silk. He looked up from his phone, and Ricky recognized EJ Caswell's dark hair in a slicked-back quaff, and the green eyes that jumped at him from a screen threw him off a little more.
EJ smiled at him, grinning excitedly.
Ricky hesitated before he walked up to him. He smiled back, as much as he could without showing any teeth. "Rocketman?"
"Ricky Bowen?" His smile got bigger when Ricky nodded and took a seat opposite him. He left his coat on, cramming himself and his backpack into Dolly's small booth.
"I need to..."
Ricky began but was cut off. "I'm sorry I just have to say...meeting you..." EJ started saying like he was telling an old story, still smiling ear to ear. "It's everything I've dreamed of since I created the app. I mean, I'm not expecting anything, but I need you to know that meeting you, my soulmate, is what I looked forward to the most when starting the company. And, I can't believe you're—"
"I need you to go to a wedding with me."
"You're asking me to marry you?" His grin turned playful. "We've just met, but okay."
Ricky's face got hot. "I don't...I didn't mean our wedding."
"Not yet." EJ wiggled his eyebrows.
Ricky chuckled, unable to stop himself. "I don't even know your name."
"You don't?" EJ's hands gestured to himself, and Ricky's smile dropped. "No...it's just, I thought you knew who I was—you didn't seem that surprised to see me."
"Why should I?" Ricky retorted, and EJ's smile dampened. "Rocketman69 isn't a name."
EJ's mouth opened like he was going to say something, then closed it again, clenching his jaw.
Whatever cool and calm demeanor (that Ricky was only somewhat sure was fake) he'd been trying to keep up with had started to crack. He seemed annoyed—the thought that Ricky had no idea who he was too ridiculous for him. Ricky wasn't sure why, but seeing him riled up made him smile a little.
They locked eyes and they were both unsure what to say. Ricky's eyes narrowed, pointedly, but EJ's gaze didn't falter. He wasn't sure if they were having a friendly staring contest, or about to argue.
"Would you like anything?" Natalie appeared next to them, ready to write their order down.
"Yes, please." EJ kept his eyes on him when he answered. "What's your favorite food?"
Natalie looked between them.
Ricky took a while to answer. Their eyes stayed locked.
"Pancakes, please," Ricky answered, with another big smile. "Thanks, Natalie."
Something switched in EJ, and his eyes darkened. He sat back, and tucked his bottom lip under his teeth, all while he kept his eyes planted on Ricky's. EJ folded his arms, hugged them to his chest, the muscles in his arms his biceps pressed up against the fabric of his well-tailored suit.
"Um." Natalie looked between them, perplexed. They hadn't even turned to look at her. They stared at each other, unyielding, the entire time they had ordered. She stood and wondered if everything was alright, for a moment, before leaving them alone again.
Something was in the air, different from the love and magic EJ's app had promised. EJ looked away, choosing to be the one who lost whatever battle they'd started.
EJ sat back, folded his arms, and tucked his bottom lip under his teeth.
"Okay. Let's start over." He stretched a hand out to him and Ricky wondered if it was a force of habit. Shaking hands at tables to settle a score. He accepted it, anyway, giving his hand a firm shake.
"I'm Elton John Caswell," he introduced himself, still gripping Ricky's hand. "EJ for short. It's my nickname...that and Rocketman, for some people. I'm twenty-one. I'm the CEO of Love Byte Tech, so I hid my identity on the app. I guess that's it...oh, and I live alone in LA. I've been single for a year."
"Nice to meet you, Elton John." Ricky initiated another handshake. "Ricky Bowen. My real name's Richard, but no one calls me that...except my family. And, everything else I said on the app was true. I'm twenty. I live and work here in New York. And, if you want to know, I've been single for three months."
"Well, good to know." EJ let go of his hand. "It's nice to meet you too, Richard."
EJ paused. Ricky couldn't tell if he'd pissed him off enough in the last ten minutes to make him never want to speak to him again, or if he was thinking. But, he had the same look on his face--furrowed brows and pursed lips while they sat there in silence. The pancakes came while he was still pondering over it. Ricky dug eagerly into his food, pouring maple syrup on top of the stack and digging in with a fork.
"So, who's wedding is it then?" EJ asked, and he'd had to add, "That you need me to go to?" Ricky was confused, for a minute, because they'd talked about so many things he forgot he had brought it up.
"It's my ex. The same ex...from three months ago. She, um, invited me to her wedding with her soulmate...who she left me for. I said yes. But I told her I had already met my soulmate..."
"Why?"
"She's always believed in true love and all that jazz..."
"No. I meant why did you lie about it?" Ricky evaded EJ's question by taking another bite. He only shrugged and kept eating in response. "Are you jealous?"
Ricky shook his head, then shrugged. "I guess I just didn't want to show up alone."
"Then. That's it, then?" EJ raised his shoulders. He dropped his knife and fork on his plate, still full of pancakes. "You just need a date?"
"Yeah..." Ricky said, absent-minded, about to take another sip. He laughed, incredulously, into his cup when EJ looked at him like he said something crazy. "I'll be honest. I need a date. I guess I just wasn't expecting..."
Ricky trailed off because he wasn't sure what he hadn't expected. Everything about this...a tech nerd? A typical vain egotistical prick? Well, he didn't want to give EJ the impression he had not expected a guy.
"A guy like you." Ricky decided to say, and apparently, it was still a little too harsh, because EJ looked a little sad after he said it.
"Am I...disappointing?"
"No," Ricky said, and he took another bite to avoid the pure joy in the smile EJ gave him. "Surprising, maybe. You're pretty famous, and rich, and known for being a bit of a playboy..."
"Is that all?"
"I read about you," Ricky admitted. "Saw some story about you getting arrested at some party...and your reputation doesn't exactly sweep me off my feet."
"You don't know me, though."
"Maybe I don't need to."
EJ bit his lip again and did a small thing where he brought attention to his tongue wetting his lips which made Ricky's skin tingle all over.
"Did you lie to me?" he asked, out of the blue.
"About?" Ricky asked, with a confused laugh.
"You told me you don't eat breakfast...pancakes are for breakfast.."
"Okay, and? It's not morning. You can have iHOP at one am..."
"How long did you date your ex?" EJ asks again, another seemingly random question.
"About a year."
"Really?" Ricky nodded in answer before he could decipher the meaning behind his disbelief. Was he questioning his commitment? EJ was the one who showed up half an hour late. But, then he asked, "Do you still love her?"
"Definitely not," Ricky answered, swallowing so hard he almost choked. He took a big sip of orange juice to clear his throat. "No—why are you asking?"
He waited for a response.
EJ picked up his coat, which Ricky didn't know had been tucked beside him, but it was black and wool, and looked expensive and smart, like the rest of his clothes. He stood to his feet, sliding out of the booth and putting his arms through his wool coat.
He straightened out his collar, shaking out the sides in a huff. "You clearly only agreed to meet me because you're jealous of your ex. Honestly, you could've just hired someone to fake it for you instead of wasting my time. You should have never downloaded the app if you didn't want to meet me. Call me when you're ready to take something seriously."
"But..." Ricky started to say. EJ walked away from him, swung open the door, and walked out of the diner. "Shit."