𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐁𝐎𝐘! ricky bowen

iii. Just Because

────chapter three
just because

VERONICA DAVIES WAS EIGHT years-old when she first met Ricky Bowen.

She had been at one of her mom's friends' house that night. Her mom, Cassidy, having insisted that Veronica should try opening her social circle instead of only surrounding herself with Ellie, thus arranging with her friend to invite Veronica to the party he was hosting for his daughter Thea.

So Veronica had found herself stuck at Thea Carter's sleepover. Don't get her wrong, Veronica had no problem with the sleepover itself: the food was great, they were having a marathon of Disney movies, Thea's dad was nice... The problem was the other people she was surrounded by...

Veronica and Thea had never exactly gotten along, which was unfortunate since their parents were such good friends. They saw each other sufficiently often to drive the other insane, but luckily Veronica went to East High while Thea studied in North High.

Cassidy, not wanting her daughter to have animosity towards the other girl, made the two meet quite often as kids, which often resulted in one of them going back home with their shoes full of rocks (don't even ask).

Anyway, going back to the absolutely dreaded sleepover,

Veronica had been sitting at a corner of the room, bored out of her mind as the other girls at the party played with Thea's mom's makeup. Veronica played with her hair as she hummed the lyrics of Once Upon a Dream, Sleeping Beauty having been the last movie of their marathon.

"I'm telling you, Maya," Thea was saying to the girl she was painting the face of. "Pink looks ugly on you, so I'm not gonna waste it."

Veronica shook her head in disbelief. Maya didn't even argue!

She was about to get out of the room and maybe convince Thea's dad that she wasn't feeling too well so she could leave, but the door opened abruptly before she could even get up.

"Come on, Rick!" a woman's voice sounded from the hallway as a boy barged into the room. "You know your dad wants us to try his new bread recipe! We just came to pick up something from work!"

The boy immediately closed the door behind him, his messy brown hair bouncing. He pressed his back against the wood, then his brown eyes widened when he finally noticed all the people staring at him.

"Um, hello," the boy grinned lopsidedly, and Veronica watched him in curiosity. He seemed her age, maybe a bit older. "I need to hide. The last time my dad cooked anything he burned the kitchen down, I can't go through that again."

Silence filled the room as every girl in the party looked at him, most with rather annoyed expressions on their faces. Then the tension was cut by one single, barky laugh.

"Finally!" Veronica laughed. "I've been looking for an excuse to leave! Come on,"

She stood up, grabbing the boy's hand and dragging him to the open window.

"I'm gonna tell your mom that you left through the window again!" Thea yelled as Veronica slipped out of the house, the boy following suit.

"Maybe this time she won't make me come back!" Veronica argued back, then turned to the boy beside her. "Hurry up, my house is just down the street."

"You are my savior," the boy breathed out. "Honestly, I really don't want to be there for dinner. My parents always end up arguing about something."

"You live near here? I've never seen you around before."

"We just moved, but yeah, my house is not too far away."