𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 [a rini au]

- FOURTEEN!

"ej, shut the hell up. that is a horrible take!" gina looked up and backwards at her boyfriend, the fellow model sitting behind her on the floor with his legs spread open. lying between them, the girl leaned further into his chest as she shot the rest of the room a disapproving glare.

the friend group was scattered throughout the common room of ricky's apartment following the announcement of the vma performers. ricky implemented a rule for there to be no talk about the surprise received tonight regarding the show's closing performer; he wanted to spend time with his friends peacefully. little did he know that chaos would ensue in some other form as they gathered around the television, flicking through potential disney movies to begin watching.

"it is not," ej whined, throwing his head over his shoulders. "can someone help me here?"

"unfortunately, i cannot," kourtney rejected, the photographer sprawled across the couch. she drew her hand through the bowl of kettle corn she protected against her chest. "it is scientifically proven that the first high school musical is the worst of the three."

gina playfully slapped ej's leg, sitting up abruptly. "see," she twisted her body to face him. "keep your bad opinions to yourself."

margo let out a snort, the blond resting on the other end of the couch. "i actually can't believe you just admitted that, eej," she sipped her soda. "not thinking the third movie is the best? embarrassing."

"i think i see where he's coming from," aaliyah commented with a hint of sympathy that couldn't quite be determined as true or disingenuous. "the first one comes with this nostalgia that can't be topped."

"thank you, aaliyah!" ej clapped his hands before playfully shoving gina. "at least someone gets me."

"i'm still stuck on the fact that no one thinks the second movie is the best," ricky wondered aloud, pulling aaliyah's legs closer to his chest. the actress sat comfortably on top of him in the arm chair, welcoming his tracing of shapes on her skin. but, as she waited for more, ricky began yanking a buzzing phone out of his hoodie pocket. he looked at it quickly, eyes hardening for a moment before starting to remove aaliyah's legs from his lap. "i gotta take this. carry on."

gina scoffed. "good! i can't listen to any more support for the second movie."

white noise traveled up the staircase as ricky jogged to his room. he wanted to be far out of reach in the case of any sort of eavesdropping for this call in particular. after being secured in the comforts of his bedroom, ricky slid to the right on his phone screen. "hey."

"hi, honey," lynne bowen's soft voice swam through ricky's right ear. "i'm sorry for calling so late, but i just got back from work and i wanted to congratulate you on the vmas."

it wasn't often that ricky heard his mother's voice. it wasn't involuntary, though; it wasn't like he didn't have the chance to. he made sure that he kept his distance from his mother, and despite how she felt about it, it made him content for the most part. ricky's chest hardened as he listened to her compliments, poisoning his veins as he grew baffled over her persistent disregard for the past, indicated by her unbothered tone in the singer's mind.

"i saw that nini is closing the show," lynne brought up hesitantly, hoping desperately it would pull some emotion out of her practically estranged son. "have you talked to her recently?"

one of the many things ricky condemned his mother for was her stance on nini. lynne always loved nini, and that love didn't seem to fade much following the breakup. lynne would say it came from a place of maturity, but ricky knew it was favoritism, perhaps even relation; the similarities between the two women stung the boy.