Meeting Me Halfway (HSMTMTS Fanfiction)

Chapter 55

Ricky
  "Hey. Is your mom all good?" I ask as she walks in. She sits down on the chair.
"Yeah she's fine. I just hate that she can't move for shit."
"Well..that's what paralysis means." She arches a brow at me. "Sorry."
"And you know. You being in here isn't helping."
"I know. And I'm sorry."
There was an uncomfortable silence between us. We were both waiting for the other to talk.
"Why were you drinking anyway?" She questions. It would've been a relief but the question wasn't a good one to necessarily answer right now.
"I..don't know. I don't remember the part of me drinking." I lie. "But I do know it won't happen again. I promise."
"Please don't make promises you can't keep, Ricky."
"I keep my promises."
"Alcohol is an addiction. I don't think saying that you want to stop will actually stop you. It's way m-"
"Then help me. Help me stop."
"I didn't sign up for that."
She didn't sign up for a lot of things. This is just the first time she spoke up about it.
"I-I know. And I'm sorry but sometimes it's nice to have you by my side."
"I am by your side. But, I don't feel.." she pauses and makes eye contact with me. "Safe when your drunk. I didn't make you sleep in your truck for no reason."
Oh. That's why.
"I'm sorry you d-"
"Stop apologizing. Please." She was upset.
"Well I'm sorry okay? What else am I suppose to say? There's so much we need to talk about and I feel like with each sentence, I need to say sorry because I fucked up so many times. It's mistake after mistake with me and I don't know if you noticed, but I finally met back up with you merely 4 weeks ago. And I managed to fuck up how many times?"
"No. You d-"
"I did Nini. And you know what. I'll probably do it more, but I already know you will be there by my side. You know how I know? Because your amazing. You Nini, are amazing." I get a smile to cross her face. "And it's okay if you don't know. Because I do. Everyone knows Nini Salazar Roberts is amazing. We're just waiting for you to figure it out. And okay, you don't want to help me with my alcohol problem. That's fine. I'll work for you. Just for you."
She leans back in the chair and grins.
"Ugh, you asshole. I was trying to be mad here."
"I noticed. Did I stop you?"
"Maybe. I'm sure I'll find a reason to be mad at you later." I fake scoff before slightly thinking about it.
"I..huh. Maybe." She giggles, causing a grin to spread my face. "Your shaking. Why are you shaking?"
"It's.." she looks around, "cold as hell in here. Jesus."
"Come. Lay down. It's already what? 8? How long have you been here?"
"A long time. A very long time. I'd say...5 hours.." she comes over to the side of the bed and lays down next to me. "I didn't expect our thanksgiving break to be like this."
"Me either. I think we just don't come back here after this." I joke. "Oh. And I told everyone that we're staying for the performance..so.."
"Of course you did. Whatever, it's fine." She says.
  I think for a while. This might be the time to admit somethings.
  "Okay so..uhm. Remember when you had..your seizure."
  "Vividly."
  "Oh jeez okay." She looks up at me.
  "Why what about it?"
  "Y'know. I lied about not being able to visit you. Wait no. I couldn't visit you but I lied about the reason."
  "Okay. Well why couldn't you visit me?"
"I had a disease..and Jesus we are really just going tell everything now. Mkay."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"No I want to. It just seems selfish."
"I'm sure it won't."
"Okay. So I had a disease..and a hearing problem. I couldn't hear anything and for the longest time, I thought it was going to be permanent. Obviously it wasn't..as you can tell but yeah. That's the reason."
She gives me a funny look.
"What?"
"Don't you think I should've been on the one visiting you? Instead, you let me lash out on you in front of the entire drama department?"
"I..yes?" I didn't know the right answer.
"Your such an idiot oh my god." She giggles as she lays her head down on my chest. "Your okay now though right?"
"I think so." I pause. "I hope so."
"Well Don't say it like that."
"It's the truth. I don't know if I am or not. I'm not going to lie to you."
"Sometimes a lie is better. Just because I said that, doesn't mean you lie to me. Okay?"
"Gotcha. For sure. No..lying."
"You paused."
"What?"
"You paused between no and lying."
"I did not."
"Yes. Yes you did. Are you lying to me?"
"What? No."
"That was a lie."
"Was not."
"Was too. Don't lie to me."
"I'm not."
"Liar."
"Jesus woman."
I kiss her on the head.
"Are you trying to make my life hard?" I ask.
"Depends on how hard it is now."
"It's very hard."
"Hm. Well, I'm probably still going to make it hard."
"Figured."

Lachlan
I paper clip all of the photos and throw it with the other photos. I obviously can't use them as evidence. They're worthless at this point.
  "Lachlan, hey man." A voice says from behind me. It was EJ.
"Uhm. Hey. W-what're you doing here?" I close the drawer.
"I need some help."
"Yeah, sure. With what?"
"It's nothing too big. It's just that there's going to be a performance at East High and the normal security guard there is off sick, so I was wondering if you could take over. It's not a big job, your just standing at the entrance and making sure no one is going through without paying."
  "Yeah sure. When's the performance?"
  "November 24th at 6:45. 3 days from now. You free?"
  "Am I free?" I go through my phone and calendars. "No meetings and my shift ends at 6:30. Your in luck."
  "Sweet," a grin crosses his face, "do you mind if you can sign this? The school signs on new security guards for safety. I don't know why but, if you don't mind." He pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket.
  "Yeah I don't mind at all." I feel around my pockets for a pen, but I soon realize I dropped it in the mail room. "Hold on. I'll be right back. I don't got a pen on me."
"No problem."
I get up and go into the mailroom. It looked much cleaner with the envelopes gone. I look around and grab my blue pen off of the ground but before I could go back, another yellow envelope lays in my mail box. I don't go for it, it was bound to have some useless shit on it anyway. I make my way back to EJ, who was still waiting.
  "Alright, here." I sign the paper on the bottom. The top said East High, so I'm not bothered. "All done."
"Thanks a lot. You'll get paid, I promise." He chuckles.
"I better man."
"Alright, see ya then." He holds his hand out for a hand shake. I take it and let him go off.
 

So I decided to release the 1st chapter of the sequel the same day the last chapter is released. It just easier for all of us. Anyways, as you know, I'll be releasing the information on the sequel this chapter. I guess..it sort of spoils some but..if you don't want to read it, just skip on by :)

Married. On Broadway. A Beautiful Daughter. Ready. The Perfect Life. Ricky and Nini, finally safe from the heap of junk they were in 5 years ago. After a couple of problems and their tour, they head back to Salt Lake where some of they're friends and family remain. Unexpectedly, old memories return when the photos of Nini lay on their doorstep. The photos supposedly destroyed and their enemies in jail, their name fame causes them to wonder. Are they safe? With the situation held off, newly profound marriage problems settle between the 2, but not ones they have time for.

The thought of being separated in more ways than one haunt the 2. Is being on Broadway too much, or is their worry for safety too little? A memory can change a lot of things.

Sorry if I spoiled some things😂 I'm sure there will be around 70-80 chapters. They keep changing but I'm positive those are the right numbers😂
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