i believed in you || rini au

20. what if's

"i don't get it bella," nini said in character as she sighed, leaning back against the lockers "why can't i just tell john?"

"are you kidding?" gina asked with raised eyebrows as she folded her arms "v, you're part of the pack that killed his family. what do you think he's going to do?"

"i didn't do anything though!" nini exclaimed

"of course you didn't do anything but-look, mason and kayla are his best friends and if they find out, they'll also tell him. you can't tell anyone about you."

nini sighed heavily and nodded, looking up and seeing the curly-haired boy standing further away with ej as they talked. he looked tired.

gina waited for nini to say her last line of the scene and the girl opened her mouth

"oh!-um-" she swallowed "uh...it's-"

"okay, cut," the show runner said calmly with a smile "the line was only 'easier said than done'"

nini let out a breath "i-i'm sorry-"

"it's alright," the show runner replies calmly "how about you just take a break while we run dani and ricky's scene?"

nini and gina nod as they both make their way off of the set place, the girl stopping in her tracks when she saw ricky a few steps away

ricky looked away from ej when hearing his name and his eyes met nini's. they haven't properly seen each other in three days since the breakup.

they both had their eyes still slightly red that and their bags under their eyes were barely visible from the makeup they had to wear for their scenes

gina linked her and nini's arms together, pulling her in the other direction when noticing ricky and the curly-haired boy cleared his throat and looked down at the floor before ej frowned

"you okay man?" he asked

ricky cleared his throat "uh-where's dani? we need to run our scene-"

"ricky-"

"plus we want to all finish quickly if we want to be at yours for dani," the boy continued as he made his way towards the directors and show runner.

ej sighed, seeing dani meet up with them before he made his way over to gina who seemed to be on her phone after nini went off to her trailer.

"hey, can i talk to you," he said quietly

gina turned her phone off and folded her arms, looking at ej in annoyance "what?"

"seriously? what did i do?" ej questioned

gina sighed "you're ricky's best friend, and i'm nini's best friend. i'm sort of obligated to be against you."

"we weren't a part of the breakup. and you don't have to pick sides. they're both hurting." ej reminded her

gina scoffed "yeah, okay. he shows it real well."

"lily's his fake girlfriend gi. what do you expect him to do? he signed a contract. they both did!"

"they didn't sign off for the fact that ricky had to be distant with her and do the things he does with nini with lily. they don't actually have to hang out in real life, they only have to for the public, you know? and asking her to dani's birthday tonight was uncalled for." gina told him firmly

"she's also his friend." ej told her "and by the way, ricky deserves to be upset because he was the one who was broken up with."

gina looked at him "it's not like she wanted it to happen ej."

"but they're both still the reason for their breakup. it's not one or the other. and you're also ricky's friend too," ej told her with a frown

gina sighed "look, i know it's always been the four of us ever since middle school. but nini's like my sister and she's really hurt. and to top it all off, she has to watch everyone fan over lily and ricky."

"but he doesn't like her gi, he's crazy for nini. you know that, i know that, hell-i'm pretty sure the show runner knows that seeing as it was his idea to cast her."

"then when is he going to stand up to jenn and benjamin?" gina asked "when are they both going to? they're supposed to be together."

"i know." ej frowned "i feel like it's my fault too..."

gina knitted her eyebrows "why would it be your fault?"

ej looked at her "well...if we-you know..."

gina took a deep breath and cleared her throat, looking down

"if-that drama hadn't happened, then maybe they would be able to be public and that they'd still be together now." ej said, his eyes on the girl

gina looked back at him and awkwardly tapped her phone "yeah...well, it's-it's all over now. and it's not your fault." she assured him

ej nodded before they heard the director yell cut, causing for him to turn around to see dani and ricky walking towards them

"your girlfriend's waiting." gina said with a smile "i'm gonna-go get nini. for the scene."

ej opened his mouth as he watched gina rush off before he turned to face dani and ricky

"where's gi?" dani asked confused

"she went to get...nini." he muttered

ricky nodded quietly "i'm going to get some food."