COMPLETED! Gina is now beginning to work on Romeo and Juliet in Salt Lake City while juggling friendships, family drama, relationships, school, and the Spring musical. It's Winter break, and this is my take after season 4 of the show!
August 9th 202...
Gina's POV After an interesting conversation with EJ, I had to get inside and start blocking. I was a mess, there might have been some tears involved, so I went back to the yurt quickly to clean up my face and change my hair out of the pigtails I'd put in earlier. to cover myself more.
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"Hey, Bubba, you okay?" Ricky immediacy walked over to me, pulling me into a hug.
"Not now, Ricky." I pull away, walking off and onto the stage.
•••
"Gina!"
"What, Ashlyn!?" I sigh. "Sorry. What do you need, Ash?" I ask again.
I was walking to the yurt after rehearsals, but she caught me just in time.
"Did I do something wrong, Gina?" Her voice cracked.
I stared at her blankly. "...No."
"Oh. Okay, good. So got any romantic middle of the night plans with Ricky?"
"Ashlyn, please, stop. What Ricky and I do is none of your business." I finally say.
"Gina, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was such a big deal."
"It never had to be."
"Well your the one who's making it one!" She raised her voice.
"No, it's all you!"
"Gina, it's just friends teasing each other! God, you're so sensitive, this shouldn't be such a damn big thing!"
"Ashlyn, just stop! I don't understand why you're doing this!"
"I'm not doing anything! For the last freaking time, Porter, you're starting this!" Heads began to turn at this point.
"Why are you acting like this, Gina? People have always done this, it's not that deep." She started to lower her voice.
"It's because I'm scared, Ashlyn!"
"What?"
"Ashlyn, I've never been loved before like this. My relationship with EJ barely counted, and I have a lot less experience with this stuff then the rest of the people here. I'm so f***ing scared, Ashlyn, that I'm going to mess this up, or that Ricky and I are going to do something that we're going to regret! So no, Ashlyn, Ricky and I don't do those things that you joke were doing. I'm scared to be vulnerable in that way, Ash! He's about to be nineteen, and I'm still seventeen and in high school. So though it may be a joke to some people, it isn't funny to me! Because I'm so freaking terrified and I don't like to think about those things right now! So please, Ashlyn, just don't do this to me anymore!"
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Ashlyn's POV And then she was sobbing.
She threw herself on the ground, throwing multiple curses at herself. That wasn't like Gina.
"Oh, Gina." I knelt beside her, immediately wrapping my arms around her trembling body.
"I'm sorry, Ashlyn. I'm so sorry, I yelled at you."
"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm so sorry."
"No. No, you were just joking around, and I made it a huge disaster. And now I'm gonna lose another important person, my sister. I love you so much."
"I'm not going anywhere, Gi. I love you so, so much. I promise. This doesn't have to change anything between us. Thank you for just telling me. You can always talk to me, honey."
"Can we go inside."
"Let's go." I helped her stand up, and walked her all the way to her bunk, making sure she climbed up safely, and then following her, thinking we should talk more.
"I'm so scared."
"I know. You're seventeen, and things seem uncertain, I know they do, but the best is yet to come, Gigi. I promise you, things will get better."
"I don't know about that."
"Shh...you need rest. I'll be here when you wake up. Just go to sleep, Gina."
Gina's POV "She's okay. I don't know if this is a conversation for you and I, it's probably more of a discussion for the two of you to have, and I don't know when she'll be ready for that."
"Thank you, Ashlyn. And I promise, she's not mad at you. She hasn't been talking to me about it, but though I know she's really happy right now, she'll always have those insecurities and sad thoughts in the back of her mind. Oh, hey, Gi? Are you up?"
I woke up to the hushed whispers of my boyfriend and best friend.
"Yeah." I groaned.
"Are you ready to talk, or do you need more time?" He asked.
"Can we go for a walk?" I asked him.
"Absolutely." He grabbed my hand as I climbed down the ladder of the bed.
•••
"Do you want to talk about what happened?" He asked eventually.
"It all just kept building up, and then it became too much, and I just- I just let it collapse on me."
"What was Ashlyn saying the main issue was?"
"She's just been teasing me about what you and I do, you know? Like friends are supposed to. But I'm too freaking sensitive, and I just-"
"Take your time."
I turned to face him, grabbing his hands. I smiled at him, letting him know that none of what I'm going to say is his fault.
"I'm scared, Ricky." I finally admitted something I'd been trying to figure out for so long.
Each time Ricky were to touch my bare skin, or accidentally brush against a sensitive spot on me, or kiss me neck, or get one of those sounds out of me, I was trying to figure out what that uneasy feeling in me was.
And now I knew.
"I'm really scared to be vulnerable with you...in certain ways. And I don't want to take things to slow for you or let you down."
"You're never gonna do that, Bub. Each time I can even have a conversation with you, I'm happy. If you didn't want me to even peck your lips, I'd listen. Because I love you, Gina. And I will always be here to take things at your speed. It's okay to be scared, but I want you to know that I'm not going to do anything unwanted to you, Love."
