don't give up | ricky bowen

eleven

☆

"come on, dude! this is your chance."

taryn shoved her head into her locker when she heard her two best friends walking down the hallway. she knew that hiding her head in her locker wouldn't completely shield ricky from seeing her, but she could always hope.

"the last thing i'm going to do is ask nini to homecoming the day of the dance."

the blonde's heart dropped just as the mention of the possibility of ricky asking his ex to homecoming. it had been a couple of days since the... incident and ricky and taryn were barely talking to each other. there was such an awkward tension in between them that they just didn't know how to act around each other. however, the thought of nini and ricky going to homecoming together still upset the girl.

would he ever get over nini?

"but she's single and ready to mingle!" big red almost shouted.

"yeah, and i had to hear it from ashlyn, who heard it from seb. i'm telling you, nini hardcore friend-zoned me."

the read head shouted something about asking the girl as friends before the conversation ended. that, however, was when taryn felt a presence beside her.

"taryn, can we talk?"

taryn's mouth went dry. unfortunately, her locker hiding place wasn't successful. she cursed to herself before stepping away from her locker, closing the door, and leaning up against it.

"hey, ricky? what's up... bro?"

the boy just reached out and grabbed the girl's wrist, pulling him with her. ricky knew that she wouldn't try to get out of talking to him since he had already confronted her, but he wanted to be in a more secluded area. he found a classroom that wasn't being used at the moment and pulled his friend in there with him.

once the door shut, ricky began talking, "we both know what happened the other night, okay? and i want us to talk about it so we can go back to being best friends. is that too much to ask for?"

taryn's hands began sweating at the topic. memories from this summer surged back into her brain as she recalled when her and ricky actually did kiss and how much she enjoyed it. her heart, however, ached because she knew that her curly-headed best friend had no recollection of that night.

"can we... just forget about it?" she mumbled, rubbing her palms on her leggings, "like if we forget about it then we can just go back to normal."

ricky stared down at the ground. he didn't want to forget the moment they almost had. something about it felt so familiar, but he just couldn't place it. since they almost kissed he had been thinking nonstop about if they did and if them kissing would help him find what felt so familiar about being so close to her.

"sure."

he didn't want to agree to his friend's wishes, but he did. for her sake anyway, since he'd much rather taryn joseph by his side as his best friend than not by his side and in his life at all.

ricky bowen was tired of people leaving him.

after a few minutes passed, the boy spoke up again, this time making eye contact with the blonde, "so, are you going to homecoming?"

"i thought about it." taryn shrugged, "that senior, merrick tyler, asked me a couple of weeks ago and i immediately went out and bought this really cute dress and you know how much i hate dresses. but, he told me earlier this week that he was skipping so he could get drunk with his friends. so, i don't think i will."

ricky's eyes went wide, "you bought a dress?"

"totally not the point, ric."

"right, uh... would you wanna tag along with me and big red?"

taryn just shrugged and hopped off of the desk she was sitting on. her feet carried her over to where her best friend stood and she patted him on the cheek, leaving him thoroughly confused.

"pick me up at 7."

★

ricky walked into his house that day after school to see it completely dark, that and his dad laying on the couch surrounded by piles of takeout.

"dad, i'm concerned. it smells like my bedroom in here."

mr. bowen looked up at his son from his spot on the couch, "why aren't you at rehearsal? where's taryn?"

"why aren't you at work?" ricky ignored his father's question and began cleaning up the living room.

"i'm taking a mental health day."

"this is like your fifth one in a row! that's like a mental health week."

ricky opened the curtains to let the light in, successfully earning a groan from his father and a plead for 10 more minutes on the couch. the boy definitely was not having his father's behavior.

"hey." ricky yanked the covers off of his father, "mom's not coming back, this is the way it is now, okay?"

"no, it's not okay."

"i don't like it either, but, i really can't look at you like this. you need to, like, take a shower, rejoin civilization."

mr. bowen didn't like being called out by his son, so he decided to fight back.

"i don't exactly see you putting yourself out there post-breakup."

ricky pointed at his father, trying to prove him wrong, "that, good sir, is where you're wrong. because, i am going to homecoming tonight."

the man's face lit up. he was happy for his son.

"really, with who? taryn?"

ricky's heart dropped at the sound of his best friend's name. sure, he was going with her to homecoming, but he really wasn't going with her.

"i'm going with taryn... and big red."

"oh, son." mr. bowen looked down at the ground.

he knew how ricky felt about taryn even though ricky didn't know how ricky felt about taryn. the man knew that his son secretly wished to be more than just best friend's with their blonde neighbor.

call it a father's intuition.

"we're in this together, okay?" ricky dropped the previous subject and continued cleaning the living room, "think of it as a bro pact."

"does this mean i need to make a dating profile?"

ricky just laughed at his father's question before walking into the kitchen.

"first, make your bed, dad. baby steps. baby steps!"

☆

so so sorry for the long wait AND
the short chapter :/

i've been super busy and uninspired
lately — mainly with this story.
but don't worry, i'm going to finish
it for y'all!! i won't leave you hanging.
there may be, however, sort of long
pauses between updates...

i'll try my best.

tell me what you love/don't love about
this story!! also, any content
recommendations for this book??

ANNOUNCEMENT:
i may or may not also be starting
another joshua bassett book...

it'll be called 'common sense' !

it should be published in the
next few days so keep an eye out
for that! also, if you haven't yet,
go check out my story 'adore you'
which is also a joshy bassett book!