" SURE THING, BABE. "

"troy and gabriella!" ms. jenn smiled as kendall and ricky walked through the auditorium doors. "you have been missed!"

"we're back and ready to rehearse." ricky smiled as he gripped kendall's hand rather tight, but the blonde wasn't complaining.

ms. jenn placed her hands on kendall's shoulders. "i'm sorry for you loss, sweetie. if you need anything or need a break just let me know, okay?" she pulled the girl into a hug and kendall was grateful to have a drama teacher like her.

they rehearsed for a few hours before the cast decided to go get ice cream. they took up every booth in the shop and started talking back how excited they were for the musical. they still had a month and a half of rehearsal before they started the shows.

kendall was quiet for a majority of the time and ricky felt bad. he knew she was still grieving and felt awful about it. he didn't like seeing her so sad. by the time everyone left the shop ricky and kendall remained in the booth. "you okay?"

she looked over at ricky and nodded. "yeah," she rose from her seat to throw her ice cream bowl away. "i'm just tired, i think."

"want to come back to my place and take a nap? my dad was planning on going out with jenn after rehearsals." ricky questioned as he followed her to the garbage can and the blonde smiled at him with a nod.

the two climbed in ricky's car and headed towards his house. the ride was short and when they arrived ricky grabbed kendall's hand and led her in the direction of his bedroom. the two laid down, ricky cuddling close to the blonde as they laid in silence for awhile. kendall couldn't sleep even though she wanted to so bad and ricky could tell. he hummed quietly, trying to help her get to sleep and when the blonde finally dozed off ricky could hear her light snoring.

he heard the front door open downstairs and quietly moved away from kendall to go down and talk to his father. he found his dad in the kitchen putting leftovers away in the fridge. "so jenn tells me that rehearsals are going really well?" mike leaned against the counter.

"yeah," he looked towards the direction of the stairs. "kendall's here, by the way. she's upstairs sleeping."

"how is she holding up?" he questioned and ricky shrugged his shoulders.

"she's still taking it pretty hard." he frowned. "i feel really bad. i wish there was something i could do to make her feel better."

"she loves you, ricky. just being around her is making her feel better. she may not show it, but you really do make her feel better." mike stated and ricky smiled.

"i know." the high schooler nodded. "i love her too, dad."

"really?" mike looked surprised. "after what happened with nini i didn't think--"

"i know." ricky repeated, waving him off. "it's different with kendall."

"good." mike smiled. "i'm glad to hear that."

"how did you know she loved me though?" he questioned, confused.

"it was quite obvious." his dad chuckled. "i mean, anyone could see it."

"oh." he pursed his lips and looked in the direction of the stairs. "i'm gonna go check on her. i'll see you later." he made his way back upstairs to see kendall still sleeping peacefully in his bed. it was moments like this that he wanted to cherish forever. he laid next to her again and draped an arm over her body, feeling her snuggle deeper into him. "i love you." he whispered as he pressed a kiss to the back of her head.

the two laid there for awhile before ricky fell asleep also. by the time kendall woke up and looked at her phone it was nearly midnight. she didn't want to wake ricky to bring her home, so she simply sent a text to her mom letting her know that she was staying over ricky's. her mom didn't seem to mind as she simply said an 'ok'.

"you okay?" ricky mumbled, still half asleep.

kendall nodded, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "i'm just letting my mom know i'm staying over."

he hummed, "okay."

"ricky?" kendall laid back down, facing the boy. he only hummed, not opening his eyes. "thank you for everything you've done for me."

he slowly opened his eyes and smiled at the blonde. "i do it because i love you, ken."

"i like hearing that." she smiled at him.

"i like saying it." he responded. "now come on, let's get back to sleep."

the two went back to sleep and though kendall had some difficulty doing so, being wrapped in ricky's arms helped and she was asleep eventually. kendall was content with the way things were. sure, she missed her father dearly, but she felt okay at the moment; being in ricky's arms.

ricky always seemed to make her feel okay. she felt at home with him. she felt at peace. she felt as though she could do anything and everything with him around.

she dreamt happy things and by morning she woke up to the sound of ricky playing the guitar at the end of his bed. "morning." she smiled and ricky turned around to look at her.

"hey, beautiful." ricky leaned over to kiss her.  "want something to eat before we head off to your place to get clothes for school?"

"i'm good." she yawned. "we should get going now."

"sure thing, babe."

"i like when you call me babe." kendall smiled and ricky did the same.

"babe."

THE END