Redlyn One Shots

Season 1. Kind of.

EJ Caswell. One of the most popular guys in school. Water polo team captain. Always the lead in the school play. Everyone's crush.

Ashlyn Caswell. Unknown to basically everyone, except as 'EJ's little cousin.' In too many clubs to count, but still no one cares. Has been in no relationships.

The second one is me. I don't mean to complain. It's not that bad, but sometimes it's annoying. I'm always helping EJ. Only a few people know me as someone who isn't just... there.

I'm not someone who needs tons of friends, or needs to be in a romantic relationship. But neither would hurt. More people to have fun with and lean on.

Despite this, I didn't get crushes very easily. But there was one person who caught my eye. There's a few reasons.

A) He always seemed to care about everyone.

B) He was sometimes clueless, but he would always keep trying just to support someone.

C) Similarly to me, this year he had been trailing around someone.

The boy was Big Red. He was Ricky Bowen's best friend, but I'm sure he would hate to be identified as that.

One catch: All the reasons I like him are faulty. I've only talked to him a few times, so his perfection was probably wishful thinking. He definitely was supportive, as he kept helping Ricky try to get his girlfriend back, but I was probably glorifying him in my mind.

I had to find out. I needed to talk to him. The only problem is that we're always busy in theatre, and I had no idea how to talk to him outside of theatre. So I'd have to shove it in, and there was no reason not to do it that Monday.

I sat down as we watched some others block their scenes. I fidgeted with my pencil, accidentally dropping it. Big Red was sitting in front of me, and it rolled under his seat. As I grabbed it, he looked behind himself and at me. I gave him a small wave, which he returned.

Miss Jenn started giving everyone tips, resulting in time for everyone else to chat. Time to make a move. Or at least start talking to him.

"Hi." I quietly said, making him turn around.

"Oh, hi." He smiled.

It's not like I wanted to be called EJ's cousin, but sometimes I did it to myself. I was just used to it, and at least it helped people identify me. "I'm EJ's cousin, Ash—" He cut me off, finishing for me.

"Ashlyn, right?" He asked. I nodded. "I'm Big Red."

"I know." That sounded creepy, didn't it? "I've, uh, seen you around."

"When?"

"Uh, here. And you're Ricky's friend." I said.

"Oh, yeah." He looked behind him for a moment. "Not my favorite way to be identified though."

"Oh, yeah, that's not what I meant." I nodded. "I get that too. I'm EJ's cousin a lot of the time."

"Sucks sometimes, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. Especially know that there's this big love triangle thing with Nini and EJ and—" His best friend. With his best friend. "Ricky..."

"It's pretty weird, isn't it?"

I was so relieved he agreed. "Yeah."

"Okay, quiet everyone!" Miss Jenn said. I smiled at Big Red, then we both turned back to the stage.

A successful first conversation. So far everything I believed about him seemed to be true. He was even cuter while talking to him.

Homecoming passed by. It would be a lie to say I didn't want him to ask me, but it made sense he didn't. We had only talked a few times now.

I went to Big Red's house, but I wasn't in the mood to flirt or even talk. Miss Jenn could be fired.

Thanksgiving. The perfect time to keep talking to him. I ended up throwing a party, and to my luck Big Red volunteered to help set up. I opened the door to him, about 30 minutes before guests would start to arrive.

"Hey."

"Hi." I smiled.

One of the few things I could think about during the party was him. "The only thing I'd ever throw at your face is a brighter spotlight, because I like the way you sing." It seemed like flirting, and I really hoped it was.

After the party was similar. I fell asleep to thoughts about him as well. Lots of compliments were shared as we cleaned up. My attempt to flirt had positive reactions, and he flirted back. Things were going well.

Until the next week. A fire had started in the theatre. Now the show was in jeopardy. Again.

Somehow, I managed to find the positives of the situation. And one was Big Red. The sad experience resulted in comfort being shared between others. Big Red wasn't as upset as most people were, but that did make him even better at cheering people up.

"Oh, hey." I quietly said as Big Red sat next to me. We were sitting in the lunchroom, waiting for Miss Jenn.

"Hey." He scooted even closer to me, making me blush slightly. "How are you?"

"Disappointed. No venue, no show."

"The show must go on, right? We'll figure it out. Our teacher almost got fired and we kept the show going."

"I hope so."

"There's always next semester if we really can't do it. Plus, we still made great friends." He smiled.

"We really did." I couldn't help but smile a little too. "Thanks."

"I'm always looking out for my friends." He paused. "You too."

"Thanks." I said, before realizing what he had said. Was I really different than a friend to him? We had flirted...

For such a bad day, it didn't turn out too badly. Plus, we did find a venue. I had gotten to help Big Red a bit, which was super fun.

Soon enough, it was opening night. This meant half of the cast having nerves, lots of emotions, lots of chaos, and everyone enjoying the time on stage while a part of them being impatient to go to Denny's.

Not to mention, Big Red and I had only been flirting more. This actually left my mind as we performed, but entered it again as I found out the beautiful basket of flowers was for me. From him.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't internally squeal.

Then his performance. I didn't know he was so good at tap dancing. Wow.

I kissed him. I walked over and I kissed him. And he kissed me.