"Hey Carlos, I forgot my-" I stop in my tracks as I enter the bomb shelter, where all of our dancers are blindfolded, dribbling basketballs, and dancing, "why are they blindfolded?"

Basketballs scattered the floors as the dancers attempted to dance and dribble, all without their sight, "Carlos, when can we take the blindfolds off?" One of the dancers asked, lifting it up to see.

"Until you're able to dribble and pirouette at the same time," Carlos shook his head as if the answer was obvious; he signaled for them to continue before stepping back to talk to me, "It's important to set up impossible situations in rehearsal." He began explaining, nodding towards the dancers, "that way, by opening night, they've been through every possible emergency scenario. Someone has a heart attack in the audience? Keep dancing. The sound system goes out because of a tornado?"

He pauses, waiting for me to finish his sentence, "Keep dancing?"

Carlos nods widely, "Exactly, tornadoes come and go; dance is forever. I learned that in the-"

"Big book of Broadway?" I ask; Carlos was obsessed with that book; I've lost track of how many times he's read it. "Well, who am I to question this? You're the expert." I knocked hips with Carlos before retrieving the bag I'd left on the floor, swinging the straps over my shoulders.

"Good luck, see ya in a bit Carlos" I called out to the dancers before exiting the room and retreating to the hallway; it was practically empty now, full of students leaving their extracurriculars and clubs.

As much as I wanted to go and curl up next to Laurie; Miss Jenn had asked Carlos and I to stay behind and help mark spots on the stage, and I wanted to find Ricky; he'd seemed off his entire rehearsal, acting even more awkward around Nini then usual.

I nearly gave up on looking for him until I heard a familiar voice coming from a nearby staircase.

"Hey, it's me, your... buddy, Ricky." I quietly walk up the steps, careful that Ricky doesn't see me, "sorry to bother you, I know we don't really do voice convos." He was leaving a message for Nini, "but I saw you singing that song with Eloise and Ashlyn today; and I felt like we shared a moment or a thing. I don't know; maybe a moment is kind of a thing?" He mumbled something under his breath that I couldn't pick up before continuing, "anyway, whatever. If this voicemail is too much for you, or too soon, or you're not into it... we can just ignore this whole thing and pretend nothing ever happened, okay?" I peeked over to look at him; he was pacing by the large window, "poof! Gone!" He cringed, shaking his head, "okay, bye."

I froze as I heard Ricky's footsteps approach. Would he be upset I eavesdropped on his message to Nini? "Nailed it," He mumbled under his head, "I crushed-"He paused when he finally saw me, "Eloise?"

I stood up from my crouched position, "I didn't... I, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I was coming to find you and talk about earlier, and I didn't want to interrupt, so I stayed. I should have left, I'm-"

"How much did you hear?" He asked; I could tell by the way his cheeks were flushed he was embarrassed.

"Not that much," I shook my head; Ricky quirked an eyebrow at me, unconvinced, "okay, fine, the whole thing."

Ricky sighed, tugging at his curls frustratingly, "So, on a scale of 1-10, how embarrassing was my message?" He asked, relief floating through me; he wasn't mad, "and be honest."

"It wasn't embarrassing," I reassure him, sure he sounded nervous, but honestly, if I were Nini, I'd find Ricky's message adorable and endearing. "I thought it was sweet," I shrug, offering him a reassuring smile.

"Let's hope Nini thinks so too," He shakes his head, walking down the steps, "I just can't stopping thinking about it," He admits, shaking his head, "the way she looked at me, she hasn't looked at me like that since-" he paused as if he were reminiscing better times with Nini.

"You were together?" I ask; Ricky nods sadly, "then that's a good sign, right?"

I wasn't used to being the optimistic one, "Yeah," he let out a breath, "I mean, it has to be, right?"

"Right." I nod, but in reality, I have no clue.

Ricky and I walked in silence towards the exit of the school, "So, how long have you been playing the piano?"

"For as long as I can remember," I shrug, not able to think of an actual age; mom liked to say I've been playing since birth, even if all I did was bang on the keys. "My mom loved the piano," I informed him, "so as soon as I was able to, we started lessons; she was a piano teacher before-"

I pause; I hate how normal it was to talk about mom in the past tense.

"Before?" Ricky asked, his voice laced with concern.

Mom had been gone for two years, and I still have a hard time talking about it, having to tell people about what happened to her. It was personal, one of the hardest things I'd ever have to go through. And once people knew, they treated me differently, as if I'm some fragile doll.

"There you are," Miss Jenn rushed up behind me before I could answer, "I've been looking all over for you; I need your opinions on some things before we meet with Carlos."

I'd never been so grateful to see Miss Jenn, "Yeah, of course." I nodded towards her before turning to look at Ricky, "I gotta go, but I'll see you tomorrow?"

Ricky only looked more concerned now, "Yeah, I'll see ya."

I felt guilty leaving Ricky like that, but I'm not ready to share that part of my life with him; people treat you differently once they learn you've lost a loved one, and I'm not prepared for that to happen with Ricky, not yet at least.

Hope you enjoyed!!!

Also... I already have the chapter where Ricky learns about Eloise's mom planned out, and y'all aren't ready for it.