Ricky Bowen Sickfics

3

this is the first prompt from the list i just posted

Nini's POV

Rehearsal felt like it was dragging on forever. Everyone was so done with it because it was a Friday and we all wanted to be somewhere that wasn't school. However, the person that seemed to be the most done with it was Ricky. He seemed really run down and he hadn't been acting like his normal, bubbly self. 

He only spoke when he had to and his singing was lacking the emotion it usually carried, plus, he sounded a little flat. 

We finished up the song we were working on and Ricky rubbed his temples. It was then that I noticed the bags under his eyes. Why hadn't I realized that he looked so out of it earlier?

"Okay everyone, I think that your work today has been amazing and we've really been cranking through these pages so I've decided to finish rehearsals early today," Miss Jenn said. 

The look of relief on Ricky's face was indescribable, but the look of fatigue returned soon after. 

"Pack your things up and I'll see you Monday!" 

Everyone started wandering over to their things and getting ready to go home. Ricky was taking a longer time than he usually would to get his stuff and get out. 

I walked up to him and asked, "Hey, are you doing alright? You seem kind of out of it."

"I think I'm coming down with something but I think it's just the sniffles. You should probably keep your distance to be safe, though. I'm mostly just tired but you never know," Ricky said. He cleared his throat and sniffled. 

I let him go after that. He seemed to be alright.

Saturday, however, the entire drama club was talking about getting together at Ashlyn's house for a movie night. We started talking about it early in the day and mostly everyone had responded by dinner time. Except for Ricky. I found that bizarre because Ricky was almost always on his phone and it wasn't like him to ignore something that the drama club was talking about. Even if something was going on he usually would at least let everyone know that he couldn't make it. 

I remembered something Ricky had said about his dad being out of town for the weekend, something that he had to finish up for the divorce papers in Chicago because his mom couldn't take any more time off her new job to come back and finish it up. 

Then I remembered how strange Ricky was acting during rehearsals the day before and I started to get worried. I figured that there would be no harm in me stopping by Ricky's to check on him on my way to Ashlyn's. 

So, I told my moms that I was going and I made my way to Ricky's house, which was thankfully on the way to Ashlyn's but I probably would've gone even if it wasn't. 

When I got there I got out of my car and went up to the front door. I knocked a few times, but there was no answer. This was really worrying me. I realized that I knew where the Bowens kept their spare key and Ricky had told me a few months ago that it was there in case there was ever any emergency. I figured this constituted as enough of an emergency for me to use it. 

I let myself in and locked the door behind me and then I started walking around looking for Ricky. The kitchen was the closest to the front door so I started there. Ricky wasn't there. 

When I stepped into the family room, I saw something I wasn't quite expecting. Ricky was lying down on the couch, curled up in a ball with a blanket covering about 35% of his body. He was surrounded by crumpled tissues and bottles of water. There was medicine and a tissue box on the coffee table.