Olivia and Ricky's Odyssey to Rock Bottom

7. Drenched

Students were circling the large ballroom, moving between tables, enjoying the free snacks and soft drinks as Big Band music played over the speakers. Olivia had joined Roxie and her brother at a poker game with Ricky and Sebastian, along with a small handful of other students.

Lincoln was very intent on the game, but Ricky quickly lost interest. He kept missing his turn and wasn't genuinely trying. He couldn't stop himself from glancing over at Olivia repeatedly, hating the idea of her ending up in a corner with Mitchell Hagen—or worse, alone in a room at the hotel with him. Hagen was a dick when it came to girls.

Ricky finally decided to leave the table, throwing away his hand, and went outside to smoke a cigarette, clearing his head of Olivia. He stopped by the bachelor party on his way back, which was getting loud and unruly, using his charm to persuade the waitress at the bar to serve him a drink.

Back at the First Dance, he'd removed his blazer as the ballroom was growing hot, keeping to himself by one of the small cafe tables—playing with his phone—when Sebastian found him.

"So, Linc's a pretty sore loser."

"Noted," Ricky mumbled uncaringly and stuck his phone back in his pocket. "Do you wanna get some fresh air?" He pretended to inhale from an invisible cigarette. Sebastian nodded, so Ricky emptied his drink and grabbed his blazer off the table. They were headed for the doors when someone suddenly tumbled into Ricky's side, taking his breath away and replacing it with a pain that turned his vision white.

"Shit," he groaned hoarsely and tried to push the person off him. "Will you let go of— Casini." Ricky stopped his complaint when he realized it was Olivia, and instead of pushing her away, grabbed her arm before she fell to the floor, steadying her. "Watch it." It came out harsher than he intended.

"I'm so sorry. It's these shoes." Olivia tried to excuse herself with cheeks turning pink, feeling embarrassed as she tugged on her strappy silver heel. It had managed to twist itself around on her foot, the heel sticking out to the side, her toes awkwardly tangled in the straps.

"Are you all right?" Roxie asked Olivia, quickly coming up to them.

"Um, yeah." Olivia still wobbled on one foot, working on getting the heel in place on the other, feeling thankful Ricky helped her balance.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm fine," Ricky said with coarse irony, the pain in his ribs only slowly subsiding.

"I'm really sorry," Olivia apologized again, trying to look up at him as she was bent down, fumbling with the straps.

"Yeah." Ricky would have said, 'that's okay,' if his side didn't hurt so damn much, making it impossible to breathe normally.

"I just tripped and—"

"No, you didn't," Roxie cut in. "It was that stupid Porceline. She stuck her foot out again. Why does she keep doing that?" Roxie complained, sounding frustrated.

"Move!" Sebastian suddenly exclaimed and pulled Roxie to him. However, Olivia and Ricky didn't stand a chance before they were drenched in what felt like a torrent of water.

"Oops," Nicolette said, sounding insincere, standing with a large empty glass in her hand.

"What the fuck was that for, you stupid bitch?!" Ricky shouted angrily, which didn't help the pain in his ribs. A fair amount of water had drenched part of his shirt, making the fabric see-through as it clung to his skin.

Olivia finally let go of him, standing with a shocked expression on her face, trying to shake the water off her arm and leg. The entire left side of her dress was soaked.