dear, ricky [rini au.]

𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

chapter fourteen: fine, i'll go.

Red walked into the diner
where his best friends were currently for their hundredth time this week. Immediately, a chain of apologizes left his mouth as he took a seat at the booth they usually resided at whenever they went there.

They went there to eat, hangout, and as mentioned before, so EJ could see Gina.

It was the same cycle with EJ. Go there after practice, order food, complain about the price, and then tip Gina more than most waitresses got. Though, no one was complaining about that.

Red noticed something was off about their dynamic today, though. Usually, it was just the three of them, and maybe Gina if she decided to use her break then and there, but no. Someone else was there. A familiar someone he hasn't seen in a bit.

"Kimberly... Hi?" Red cautiously greeted as he approached the table, quickly giving his two best friends a confused stare before she could notice.

"Biggy!" Kimberly exclaimed from her seat, sitting up in, slightly nudging Ricky a bit, to which he very discreetly rolled his eyes at. "I haven't talked to you in a while! How's it hanging?"

Kimberly... Where does one even start with her? Well, for starters, she's definitely the most two faced person Red has ever had the bad luck of meeting. Though, he wasn't planning on meeting her. It was all Ricky's doing.

"I'm... I'm good." He smiled with a nod as he took the vacant seat next to one bright eyed boy, which was across from his curly headed best friend, for whom he had many questions for, but those were for later. "What're you, uh... What're you doing here?" He asked, rather nicely for the way it was playing out in his head.

"Oh! Well, I let G and the rest of the girls off of cheer practice early so we could all catch some breakfast with the boys before our big game in three weeks!" Kimberly exclaimed, which caused Gina to call over from the cash register she was stationed at.

"Y'know, tradition?" She tried to remind the once confused redhead, "We all eat breakfast here and I try to slide EJ some free waffles every Saturday leading up to the game."

The boy beside Red decided to join in on the conversation, now, "And then she tries to slide me something else while you're all preoccupied." EJ jokes in a suggestive way as he sips from his cup.

Everyone started laughing, EJ being the first one to laugh at himself, and Gina jokingly flipping him off while Kimberly and the rest of the people in the restaurant - who Red didn't notice at first, but quickly identified them as his teammates and the cheerleading squad - started laughing along at Ricky's joke, Red soon laughing along with them. Everyone was there. All 14 of their team members, and all 22 cheerleaders. Just like every year.