𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 [𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙞 𝙖𝙪]

07

nina turned her phone off and got up from her position in bed before heading downstairs. she saw ashlyn in the kitchen, and walked up to her.

"oh hey," ashlyn greeted once she saw her, "los and red are in the living room. could you grab the popcorn and i'll take the drinks?"

"sure," nina smiled before she did what was instructed and took the popcorn into the living room.

"hey nina," carlos chirped once he saw the girl.

"how was your meeting yesterday?" red asked causing all eyes to shift over to her.

"ugh, it was awful," she groaned, setting the bowl down on the table and sitting on the couch, "the guy we're supposed to be signing with just kept staring at me like he's seen a ghost the whole time."

"red flag," carlos stated.

"why?" red questioned, earning a shrug from nina as she gots a piece of popcorn and popped it into her mouth.

"what's his name?" ashlyn asked.

"richard bowen or something? i don't know, i just already know he's gonna be problematic," she casually said, situatiating herself more comfortably on the couch.

a loud silence grew in the room and when nina looked up, she could feel the awkward tension between everyone as they all stared at her, frozen once again.

"what just happened?" nina asked, "was it rude of me to say that i knew he was gonna be problematic? i'm sorry, it's just with the way he was acting, it was like we were close but in the worst way? and then he brought up my moms but i cut him off cause like, what did my moms ever do to you?" she paused to take another breath, "and then he just kept staring at me the whole meeting and it was so creepy and-"

"nina!" carlos exclaimed, cutting her off and grabbing everyone's attention.

"sorry," she mumbled.

"richard bowen?" ashlyn softly asked, "you're going to be working with richard bowen?"

"yea?" she hesitated, "why? is that bad? do you know him? is he a bad person?"

"no- no it's not that it's just-" ashlyn stopped and let silence take over.

"he tends to hold onto memories and he pours them out through his songs. especially with-" red paused as he looked nina in the eyes, her clueless eyes, "with someone special to him."

"okay?" nina replied, "what does that have to do with him being an asshole during the meeting?"

carlos saw ashlyn and red exchange looks before he answered her question himself.

"you look like her."

all eyes were now on carlos. ashlyn and red gave him wide eyed looks and he could tell they were mad and confused. nina gave him a light furrowed look as he avoided her gaze and stared down at his fingers.

"you knew her?" she asked, "so you guys know richard?"

"no," ashlyn scoffed, "we don't know richard."

"what do you mean?"

"we grew up with him," red answered, "but not that version of him. someone different."

"and the girl? wouldn't it be about his girlfriend?"

"girlfriend?" ashlyn stifled a laugh, "i know damn well bowen doesn't have a girlfriend, he's still too hung up on-" she stopped herself before she could say anything else.

"on who?" nina softly asked, "the girl you were talking about before?"

she nodded.

"so he's not dating gina porter?" nina asked to clarify.

a smile grew on the three of their faces and they all chuckled at the memory of grade school when gina would continuously ask ricky out, despite her many rejections.

"no," red answered, still with a smile plastered on his face, "he's not dating gina porter, they're just really good friends."

"oh."

"yea, don't you remember when-"

carlos was interrupted by ashlyn hitting his arm and he scrunched his face, realizing what he said.

"sorry, not remember, just um... gina gave him a nickname in kindergarten and since then they've just had this certain... dynamic."

"aw, that's nice. well, if they do end up together, that would be a very cute love story," she grinned before turning to grab the tv remote and scrolling through netflix, "so, what are we watching?"

the three friends looked at each other with sympathetic looks, knowing everything that had happened two years ago, lead to nothing, and all went down the drain in just a matter of minutes.

"um," ashlyn cleared her throat and turned to face the tv, snapping the three of them out of their thoughts, "spider-man: homecoming?"

"ooh sure! i love marvel movies!" nina exclaimed.

"never would've guessed," ashlyn smiled.