Fountain of Roses ~ a rini au

Chapter 10~

Sunday afternoon, Ricky, Gina, and Red were sitting around playing monopoly. Gina was winning but just as she was going to pay Red 100k, they heard the doorbell ring. Shooting Red a smirk, Gina got up from her seat to answer the door.

"Hi Carlos. What's u-," Gina greeted before being interrupted.

"Hi Gigi. Now if you would excuse me," he said as he pushed past her. "RICHARD FUCKING BOWEN!" 

Just then Carlos' boyfriend, Seb, ran in. "Sorry, I tried stopping him." He said to Gina, who shrugged. It was a known fact that no one can stop Carlos when he's on a rampage.

Ricky and Red walked out of the living room to meet a fuming Carlos.

"Okay young man, why was I not informed that you are in contact with the princess," Carlos asked sternly.

"Oh, now your call yesterday makes more sense." Ricky acknowledged under his breath.

He shot Gina a look in which she just mouthed back, 'I didn't say anything.'

"How do you know that?" Ricky directed to Carlos. Carlos simply just pointed to Red, who had found his way to the fridge. "But I didn't tell Red, and I made sure his shift was over before we went to the skatepark yesterday," Ricky stated. 

"Well about that," Red said, pizza in hand, "Prince EJ came to the shop yesterday and told me."

"BUT THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT," Carlos butt-in. "The point is, you didn't tell meeee."

"Well sorry, Carlos. I didn't want everyone making such a big deal about it. But if you know... who else knows?"

"Only the people in our group know. I mean, Carlos was trying to tell everyone in school, but, by some miracle, I was able to stop him," Seb chimed in.

Ricky and Gina both mentally facepalmed at their over-enthusiastic friend's attempts.

"Alright, call Ash and ask her to meet us here. I'm sure you all have a lot of questions." Ricky said, a bit scared of how his friend was going to react.

About half an hour later, Ashlyn had joined the rest of them. "Okay. Just so that we don't all talk over each other, raise your hand when you have a question," Ricky instructed.

"What are we? A bunch of third graders?" Carlos mocked. Glancing at the way his friends were seated like an elementary class ready for storytime, Ricky moved on.

"Who wants to go first?"

As the question left his mouth, all his friends' hands shot up. Ricky glared at his sister, whose hand was raised, but she just shrugged in response.

"Um Seb, you first."

"What are three words you would use to describe her?"

After careful consideration, Ricky answered, "Beautiful, mature, and elegant." He rolled his eyes when he heard Ashlyn, Seb, and Gina coo.

"Next, Red."

"Why don't you have her number?"

"Her moms have access to her phone and would flip if they saw she was in contact with me."

"Or maybe it's because you were too scared to ask," Red mumbled, barely loud enough for Ricky to hear. Ricky just threw a crumpled piece of paper at Red before asking Ashlyn what her question was.

"Does she like reading?"

"Oh my God, she loves reading. She told me her favorite book is Pride and Prejudice, and she's currently reading The Fault in Our Stars. You guys would totally get along!" Ricky replied.

Ricky glanced over to his sister, who had begun shaking her arm in the air, trying to get his attention. "Alright, Gi? What question could you possibly ask considering you met her yesterday?"

Gina pretended to ponder her question before shooting her brother a smirk. "When are you going to ask her to be your girlfriend?"

Ricky flushed bright red and shot his sister a glare, triggered when he saw she was unfazed and proud of herself. The rest of his friends cooed. "Uhh- I don't know. H-hopefully soon." He finally answered after regaining his composure.

"When will we be able to meet her?" Carlos quickly asked, not bothering to wait his turn any longer.

Ricky pursed his lips, not knowing how to answer his friend's question. "Well," he started, "I don't really know if she will ever be able to visit again. Her parents are really strict, and she was barely able to visit yesterday." Looking at all his friends' disappointed faces, he quickly added, "I'll ask her though. Maybe she'll be able to convince them again."

They spent the next couple of hours answering questions, which eventually led to everyone staying over for a movie. As they all watched the moving colors on the screen, Ricky gazed at his friends, grateful he had such understanding people in his life.

***********

Nini was peacefully reading her book, like always, after a long day of studying. Just then EJ burst into her room, causing her to fall off her bed in shock.

"I have a plan!"

***********

Hey everyone.... here's chapter 10!! Sorry for the inconsistent updates. Your girls moving so I'm super busy with packing and whatnot. I'm also sorry about the crappy chapter lol. It's kinda a filler, so (hopefully) in the next few chapters, it will be more exciting. 

So... to anyone who has watched The Lord of the Rings movies... what do you think of them? I haven't read the book (dw, I plan to), but I just finished watching the movies with my family. Idk if I've formed an opinion on them yet, so let me know what y'all think. :)

Aha well, thank you for reading! (Also thank you for 1k reads. Y'all really had me crying <3) Lots of love to you all! <33

~ Jojo   6/9/2021