𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹 [ 𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘪 𝘢𝘶 ]

as it was .01

✧ ricky;

"actor and singer, ricky bowen, was seen boarding a private plane at the LAX airport on thursday morning. ricky arrived an hour later at the SFO airport. nobody knows why the celebrity has suddenly left los angeles or why he has decided to take a break from filming and music. but fans are wondering how long this break will be," the news reporter announced as pictures of me leaving the airport filled up the screen. ej turned the television off and they all looked at me with awkward smiles.

"could be worse," ej simply said, tossing the remote to the side.

"wish they didn't have to say anything at all," i whined, finally getting up from the couch again. seb followed my actions and patted me on the back.

"it'll get better," seb reassured me, "san francisco isn't as brutal as la. people could care less that you're here."

"way to boost his ego, honey," kourtney chimed in, earning a laugh from carlos. i let out a soft chuckle and nodded my head.

"honestly, that is why i moved back home," i confessed, "it's just different here. i mean this is where i grew up and... everyone here isn't as superficial as la."

they all nodded their heads and looked at me with pity. "like how you got cheated on," ej blurted out. everyone looked at ej with annoyance and shook their heads at the stupid boy's remark.

"you don't have to say every thought that comes through your little brain, you know?" carlos said but ej just shrugged his shoulders in response.

"ah, i missed this," i cooed, letting out a sigh of relief.

everyone let out a little laugh and we continued on unpacking my belongings from the brown boxes that overfilled my room. we worked mostly in silence. a few conversations would start when my friends would ask where i wanted certain things. but other than that, music did most of the talking.

"oh my god," kourtney blurted out, pulling out a stack of yearbooks from a box. we all huffed out a breath of shock, circling around kourtney as she opened up our elementary yearbook.

"holy shit, i remember this," ej said as he pointed to a picture of the four of us. our parents thought it would be cute if we dressed up as the teletubbies for our second grade halloween parade.

"we were so small and adorable," seb softly uttered as we admired the old picture of us. kourtney opened up our middle school yearbook and we continued to reminisce on the old days.

"ricky! your talent show performance is on here," kourtney pointed out.

it was an old picture of me playing the piano on stage — my first time performing actually. my mom put me in singing and piano lessons since i learned how to talk and basically think.

"can't believe my first time hearing queen was from ricky bowen in the fourth grade," carlos said, earning a laugh from everyone.

"can't believe i performed bohemian rhapsody at like nine years old," i said, shaking my head.

"and the rest was history after that," ej answered. we all quietly nodded our heads.

my mom put the video on youtube, reaching a whopping 16 million views. nothing else needs anymore further explanation.

kourtney flipped through the pages again, "our class!" she yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"so tiny, oh my god," seb said again. we eyed each line and i started to realize i haven't seen anyone since i left later that year.

"wow," i muttered under my breath, "do you guys like... still see these people or did they all go to different high schools?"

"um... well some of them are still in the same class as us," carlos explained, "like that kid big red, gina, ellie—"