#in that Ten was so far gone in S3 he couldn’t have been paid to recognize Martha’s feelings

[crookedfivefingers]

“Impossibly thick, I was.”

Doctor Who . Titan Comics

The Thirteenth Doctor | Read: 201/204

[27emailsicantsend]

Movie Night: A Rina One Shot

Author’s Note: This is my Valentine’s Day Gift exchange for @psycho-crazy-pineapples. If you would like to participate in other HSMTMTS fan activites, please go to @hsmtmts-s2-countdown blog and contact them! 

This is just for the Valentine’s Day gift exchange, but I imagine this actually taking place in the fall around Halloween (S3). Ricky and Nini just broke up that summer because Nini postponed going to the acting school until her senior year, so he’s still somewhat fresh out of the break up. Ricky’s been hanging around Gina more now that he isn’t dating Nini. (I apologize for any typos!)

“Any word on Ricky?” Ashlyn asked Gina as she leaned into the piano from where she was sitting on the piano bench. Gina had both of her arms propped on the back of the piano, her body gracefully leaning up against it. 

“No, but I’m sure he’ll be here. He never shows up on time- you guys know this,” Gina said as she flicked her wrist up, double checking her phone for a notification from him.

“He is,” Big Red piped in, “but he is never this late and we all know it”.

“Well, he better get here soon. This is more of a difficult choreographed number and I need all hands on deck for it to be perfect by opening night,” Carlos said, grabbing his arm, trying to stretch his hip.

“Guys, relax. I’m sure he’ll be here any minute,” Gina tried to reassure the cast. Unfortunately, her words didn’t reassure herself. She had to admit that something felt off about him being gone. He had avoided Gina’s attempts to talk to him twice today, didn’t respond to her messages or anyone else’s, and she knew his mom was back in town.

Wait! That’s it! Gina thought to herself. His mom is back in town. Of course he’s not here. 

He hadn’t seen her since Beauty and the Beast and even then her visit was short and sparing because he was still upset with her dating Todd over his dad.

“Carlos, is there any way I can learn the choreography with you tomorrow? We don’t have rehearsal and I think I know where Ricky is.”

Carlos hesitated but said, with slight irritation laced in his voice, “Fine. But only because you’re one of our best dancers. If any of you other rag-a-muffins try to pull this on me, I’ll make you write me a hand written apology letter and give flowers to Miss Jenn. Do I make myself clear?” Everyone except Seb gave a frightened nod, whereas Seb walked over and threw his arm around Carlos, giving his boyfriend a giggling kiss on the forehead.

Gina decided not to change clothes and left on her black sweats, white tennis shoes, and gray t-shirt on- her t-shirt dangling off one shoulder, revealing a light blue tank top underneath. She threw on her black puffer coat and ran outside.

Gina decided to make a pit stop along the way at a grocery store to buy some things she thought would cheer Ricky up from his hard day. She was happy to own her own car she bought herself, even though it was a slightly junky black pick up truck. 

Her truck sputtering to a stop in Ricky’s driveway, Gina hopped out of the truck and made her way up the sidewalk to his front door. She was trying to balance the hot pizza box in one hand and her grocery bags in the other. The night was unusually cold leaving Gina’s breath making white clouds in the air. When she finally got to the door, she was about to put her bags down to knock when she heard Ricky yelling.

“THIS WAS NEVER WHAT I WANTED, MOM! DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? STOP PRETENDING LIKE YOU ARE DOING WHAT IS BEST FOR ME! YOU THINK IT’S THE BEST FOR ME WHEN IT’S ONLY BEEN THE BEST FOR YOU. IT’S ALWAYS BEEN THE BEST FOR YOU!”

Gina scrambled to get her bags readjusted and tried to run down the front steps quickly back to her truck. She had never heard Ricky this angry in his life- she’s pretty sure she’s never heard him yell. She knew her timing was absolutely off as she prayed silently to herself that they wouldn’t hear her getting back in the truck.

But as fate would have it, as she was running down the steps she heard the front door open; it left her frozen in her tracks.

“I need some fresh air,” she heard Ricky’s voice mutter in the background.

“Gina?” That same voice called out not even three seconds later.

Gina’s eyes widened as she bit her tongue and swung around. Ricky was standing behind her in blue basketball shorts and a grey hoodie. He had a bewildered look to his face. Giving Ricky an awkward smile, Gina said, “Hi, Ricky...”

Ricky gave a short breath through his nose. “W-wh-what are you doing here?”

“I just came to see if you wanted to do something but it looks like you’re busy so I’ll just get going-” Gina tried to say in one breath. But as she was speaking she noticed water forming in Ricky’s eyes. She set the items in her hands on the ground and walked over to Ricky.

Lovingly wrapping her arms around Ricky, Gina tried calming Ricky with her words. “H-hey, it’s ok. I heard what happened, just thought you wanted space”.

Ricky wiped a tear from his eye, “you knew my mom got engaged to Todd?”

Gina pulled back quickly, leaving her hands resting on his upper arms. “No, not at all! Are they really?”

Ricky broke eye contact as he looked out into the distance, “y-yeah”. Sniffle. “They’re getting married and my mom said she’ll move back. That it was ‘best for me’ since she’ll be back around. But I don’t want her back around. At least, not with Todd in the picture”.

Gina remained quiet. She wasn’t really sure what to say. She wished her mom would move back. She loved living with Ashlyn, but she missed that stability. She knew Ricky wanted it too, but with Todd in the picture it wasn’t anymore unstable than Lynn staying in Chicago.

Just at that moment she saw Lynn open the door and run down the steps. Gina wasn’t sure what made her do it- whether it was her protecting Ricky, showing him she was there for him, or more- but she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him in close. Ricky responded positively by wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Lynn eyed the two of them as she walked by. She looked slightly annoyed, but even more-so remorseful.

Without saying a word Lynn got in her car and drove off. Ricky and Gina were still holding each other tight when Mike walked out about five seconds after Lynn drove off, trying to quickly pull his wool jacket over his arm.

“Hey bud, you ok?” Mike asked Ricky once he made his way over to the teens. Ricky nodded quietly. Mike acknowledged Gina with his eyes, but all he said was, “I need to clear my head. Don’t stay up too late ok?” Ricky nodded again and just like that, Mike was clearing his car quickly out of the driveway too.

“Ricky, I can come back at another time...” Gina said as she broke free of his embrace, reaching down to grab her items off the ground.

“No- stay.” Ricky urged. Gina gave him a puzzled look. “I mean... who’s going to finish this delicious five dollar pizza you bought?” Ricky tried to joke off, bringing the mood of the night to a less serious manner.

Gina decided to play along. “Oh right. We can’t let this culinary masterpiece go to waste, now can we?” Ricky giggled and put his arm around her shoulder. 

“Oh, come on,” he said as he led her into his house.

Once inside, Gina put the bags and pizza on the counter. Ricky popped open the box, taking a giant bite out of a Hawaiian slice of pizza. “What all did you bring?” he asked, his full mouth slurring the words.

“Well,” Gina smiled as she began to model the items, naming each one as she pulled them out of the grocery bags. “I figured you could really use a movie night. Since you like horror films and I like 80′s movies, I figured we could settle on a comedy. Dumb and Dumber ok?” Ricky nodded, a wide grin across his face. “And what good is a movie night without Twizzlers, popcorn- butter and kettle, Milk Duds, and... let’s see... where did I put it... and brownies?”

Ricky’s face flushed as he walked over to look at all of the goodies Gina got. She had to have spent at least twenty or thirty dollars on everything. He knew her job paid well, but he didn’t know it paid this well.

“Gee... Gina... you didn’t have to do all of this... I don’t know what to say...”

“How about ‘my DVD player is in the living room?’“ Gina suggested with a playful smirk.

Ricky rolled her his eyes as he complied. “Gina, my DVD player is in the living room”. He gestured his arm towards the entrance.

Gina put the movie in while Ricky popped some popcorn. He came in a few minutes later and set the bowls down, sitting down on their large L-shaped couch. When Gina turned around she became really uncomfortable and began to overthink.

If I sit by Ricky, that could look like I only came over because I like him. But if I sit too far away it will look like I don’t care that he just had a hard night. Oh no.. think. Think. What says friendly, but not too friendly?... ah hah! Gina, panicking, scurried to the middle corner of the couch, where the the couch flipped perpendicular to it’s other part. 

Ricky looked over at Gina, perplexed. “Umm... Gina?”

“Yeah Ricky?” Gina asked, grabbing a throw blanket from behind her and putting it over her legs.

“You... know you can sit by me? Right?”

Gina uncomfortably giggled. “Oh... y-yeah... right. Sorry, just wasn’t sure if you were... claustrophobic-”

Gina cringed. Claustrophobic? Suffering from embarrassment she picked up her blanket and sat upright next to Ricky, making totally sure they didn’t touch. He casually leaned back into the couch and began to eat hand fulls of popcorn out of the bowl in his lap.

About ten minutes into the movie, Gina took some deep breaths and leaned into the couch, trying to act natural. She felt Ricky look at her a few times over the next ten minutes after that. She felt him sit up and then felt an arm around her shoulders. Ricky tried to pull her in but when he did, Gina’s elbow hit the bowl of popcorn on his lap as she fell into his chest. They both bust up giggling as they couldn’t believe how uncoordinated Ricky’s effort was.

Gina picked up a piece of popcorn that fell out and tossed it at Ricky’s chest. “Smooth”.

Ricky rolled his eyes, “I tried. I really did.”

Gina couldn’t help but look lovingly at him. He wasn’t trying to cuddle her for comfort or because he was looking for the next new thing- he really meant it. He appreciated her and everything she helped him with this last year. In that moment she realized he was her stability.

Ricky sat up, his face becoming more serious as he let out a couple more breathy laughs. They stared at each other, eyes not breaking contact. Ricky began to lean in as Gina slowly shut her eyes. She couldn’t believe it. Was she really about to kiss Ricky Bowen? This felt impossible for almost a year now, but now they were finally going to do it when-

RINGGGGG.

Ricky’s phone went off, making both of them jump out of position. “It’s my dad... I’ve got to take this”. Ricky walked out swiftly, his voice fading as he talked on the phone.

Gina sighed. She knew the moment was too good to be true. She paused the movie and grabbed the blanket, squeezing it in her hands while she waited for Ricky to return.

About five minutes later he came back in. “I am so sorry. That was my dad. He wanted to tell me he was sorry about earlier and that he’ll be back in a couple of hours”. Ricky sounded slightly upset.

“It’s ok, Ricky. No worries,” Gina said- but she only meant for herself. She still felt worried for him. “Is everything else ok?” She asked, consolingly. 

Ricky sat down on the couch and gave Gina a hug. When he pulled back, he slid his hand into hers, lacing their fingers together. “Yeah, it’s all good. Thank you for being here.” Gina smiled sweetly at him and then used her free hand to push play on the TV.

Ricky leaned back into his original position, but this time Gina didn’t hesitate to lay her head on his chest. The two finished the movie still laying in the same position. When the credits finished rolling, Gina picked at Ricky’s shirt, pulling it into little mounds on his stomach. 

“Carlos said he would teach me the dance number tomorrow, do you think you can make it?” she asked.

Ricky smirked. “For you, maybe. For Carlos, definitely.”

Gina rolled her eyes as she tried to sit up. “Well, if that’s the way it’s gonna be then I guess I don’t need to be here,” she playfully guilt tripped him.

Ricky pulled her back to his chest, “no, no, no! I want you!” Gina knew he was talking about the next day, but hearing him say that made her heart race. He wasn’t saying that to Nini or to his pizza slice or to a helmet at the skate shop... he was saying it to her. Gina Porter. He chose her. Head on his chest, she looked up and made eye contact with him, both grinning kindly at each other.

Just then the door swung open to Ricky’s dad. Gina hopped up and both teens uncomfortably stood up, standing with an over-correct posture in the living room.

“Oh Mr. Bowen! Welcome back!” Gina exclaimed, trying her hardest to be casual. “I better get going Ricky. We’ve got school tomorrow”. She winked at Mr. Bowen- he winked back.

“I-I’ll walk y-you out,” Ricky stuttered. He slightly tripped over the corner of his couch as he escorted Gina to the door. Once outside he closed the door behind them. “Thanks again for tonight, Gina. I really appreciate it”.

Gina smiled. “You’re welcome”.

“Oh, and I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Of course. Thanks for choosing me over Carlos,” Gina said playfully.

“It was never a choice,” Ricky said as he smiled softly. Ricky then leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

Blushing, Gina said, “Good night, Ricky”. As she walked down the steps to her truck, Ricky watched her closely. Honestly, he wanted to be surprised about tonight. He wanted to be surprised about Gina showing up and helping him feel completely normal again within a couple of hours. But he couldn’t be- because this was who she was at her core. She’s Gina. She’s always shown up at the right time for him.