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itsasweater · 10 months

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I'm honestly not bothered by Portwell's shipping Mack and Gina because they are doing exactly what I expected lol. Portwell's have always been very transparent.

I remember posting on here during season 3 if people ship Gina and EJ because they actually like them or if they just did it because it kept Ricky and Gina apart, it certainly seemed like the latter to me. The reason for making that post was because I got the feeling that many Portwell's were just undercover Rini's shipping Gina and EJ together because of the same fact that it meant keeping Ricky and Gina away from each other. I got some responses to that post denying that was case and that they actually really did like Portwell for legit reasons, which is fair enough. However, after the season 3 finale and the way it ended with Ricky and Gina kissing, my suspicions seemed justified because Portwell's started posting the Rini finale kiss from season 1 comparing the two. Even that hqportwell twitter page was tweeting about Rini and Portwell's liking a bunch of Rini posts, the likes are visible to the public people if your account isn't private lol.

Also, after season 3 all I saw from Portwell's was that the show made Gina totally different from season 2 and that she was not the same. Mind you these comments were only made once she broke up with EJ and kissed Ricky, funny that. If you actually cared about Gina as a character and actually understood her you would realize she was not her actual self in season 2. I mean, Gina had a song called Balance in season 3 where she mentions that the real her is going to shine, not the old her (season 1) or the 2.0 her (season 2) but the combined version. Also Sofia even mentioned in an interview how Gina wasn't herself in season 2, she knows her character better than anyone else. Let's be honest, yall only liked her in 2b once she cut off Ricky because it meant she was no longer a threat to Rini. Even during season 3 I remember people shipping Ricky with Jet and Val but once the show started hinting at him and Gina again it changed, all of a sudden it was Ricky needs therapy before he is with someone else lol. If Ricky needs therapy before getting in another relationship because of his home life, why was it/is it not the same for EJ? Is his relationship with his dad not terrible and strained? He should be in therapy as well according to yall instead of being in a relationship. This way of thinking is also very dumb, to suggest that someone who needs or is in therapy can't also be in a relationship or in love.

So, this was a long way of saying that I'm not surprised that Portwell's/Rini's/Jolivia's are shipping Gina with Mack because they have always been very transparent. They don't care about Gina or her happiness, they care about her not being with Ricky be any means necessary. This was obvious by immediately blaming Gina for everything during and after season 3 while believing EJ handled everything perfectly. Once Gina was not paired with EJ anymore, propping him up or giving him more screen time they went back to hating her. I know it can be annoying for some people to see Gina being shipped with Mack but try not to let it get to you, they refused to see or just didn't understand the story the show was telling with Ricky and Gina since the homecoming episode. This fandom has a big media literacy problem.

While I love Rina, Gina is more than just who she is with. I think she is the best character on the show, she is super talented and a star. I'm excited too see the show finally dive into more detail on her home life with her mom and how that has affected her.

I seem to always go on a tangent and these posts end up being longer then I intended them to be lol My apologies. Thanks for reading all of this if you did.

#hsmtmts #ej and gina #gina and ricky #ricky bowen #rina #ej caswell #highschoolmusicalthemusicaltheseries #gina porter #ricky x gina

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youarentamaybeyoureayes · 9 months

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rina was always gonna be the second choice, and was only made canon because olivia left, cope with that, their story was embarassing and they had been building up to ej and gina forever <3 everyone watching was disappointed except a tiny percentage

ok cool finally got my first round of anon hate from the losing side of the fandom and it only took approximately three weeks! i honestly thought it'd be sooner. so thank you for letting me reach a milestone, even if it's a little overdue.

so anyways, why is it that it's been almost 4 whole years and none of you can stick to one narrative? first it's "rina was never romantic" and their first prominent interaction on the show was supposed to end with a full on kiss. then it's "rina was just a plot device for r*ni" and despite several interviews dating back to december 2019 from the creator of the show himself stating otherwise, continuously reiterating that the car scene changed the trajectory of the show and when speaking about r*ni early on, he wanted to start a dialogue about how not all high school relationships last and that he wanted to depict breakups in a realistic way. all of the signs for r*ni's imminent failure were present. you were just choosing to ignore it because you were so threatened by a ship you wanted so badly to just be a plot device. and when you were rightfully proven wrong, you started shaking and panicking all because you were naive enough to think a season 1 endgame was supposed to determine the entire fate of the show.

i've already gotten more than enough into the fact that even if olivia had remained on the show, choosing to live in delusion by thinking that rina wouldn't have even been explored at the slightest when they were the only couple in the show to have unfinished business makes me think you either don't have much experience watching shows with similar character arcs, or you were just watching it with your eyes closed. tim envisioned the show to have about 5 to 7 seasons and you're genuinely convinced that rina would only remain a season 1 plot device. even seeing how they had to physically cut off their interactions in the later half of season 2 just for it to make sense for gina to pursue someone else, there's no way you thought that the characters that actually have the build up you're pretending p*rtwell had weren't ever going to address all of their history together, which has even been referenced in the show's universe on multiple occasions.

speaking of p*rtwell, if the "build up" in question was ej constantly mentioning how much older he was than her, shutting her down and blaming her for his relationship failing (something else that would end up paralleling their romantic relationship to no one's surprise but your own), and then having one moment of petting the dog by doing something mildly nice for her and we're all supposed to reward him for it as if he wouldn't later practically abandon her once their relationship made it to the next level, and all of that was supposed to be something that's not embarrassing, i'd take rina's build up any day than the mess that was.

notice how you can't find a single interview from season 1, the only season that was written before they had ANY audience to please, where tim mentions anything about ej and gina's relationship being vital to the show. there was a very clear difference between the relationship between ricky and gina and gina and ej. every season has shown this so far. all of the hoops they had to go through in order to attempt to justify their relationships outside of each other has shown this. i can't even be convinced you like either of the characters that much if you wanted them to end up with their season 1 or 2 endgames. you're advocating for the opposite of growth. and that's more embarrassing than crying over a dead and rotting ship almost an entire month after the show ended.

funnily enough, you claiming that only a tiny percentage enjoyed the show's ending actually makes me feel more confident and happy that my ship will continue to beat the fan service allegations even though there's actually nothing wrong with fan service if you're the fan being serviced. i haven't seen this outrage you speak of. even rina's rendition of can i have this dance has been excellently received in a way that even i as a fan didn't expect from the general public. the season in general has been praised for how it's handled certain topics, the growth the characters displayed, the more grounded soundtrack that was a refresher in comparison to previous seasons, the cinematography, and it remains one of the highest rated seasons for a reason.

eventually you're going to have to accept that you're only convinced that everyone is bitter, despite them having close to two years to cope with their mid-tier ships failing, because the crowd of losers you follow have been moping and complaining about their ships not working out because they ignored every warning sign no matter how much it was pushed in front of your faces. once you take those blinders off and even shift your focus outside of rinas getting the last laugh as we should, you'd realize that this season was one of their strongest because they stuck to their roots while also improving upon the things that were introduced in earlier seasons while they were still finding their footing. things weren't perfect because they never were, but i don't even see how you can watch the final performance of the show and think something negative about it.

most of you were retired nini stans who decided that you would vow to stop hating ej as long as he took gina out of the equation of ricky's life, which is 90% of the reason he has so many shooters now. even he had a satisfying ending, and you still can't find a way to cope with it and his new relationship with val because you want him to continue dating a high school junior he paid 0 attention to instead of furthering his studies in college. you don't even like nini that much anymore if you're disappointed over her no longer being with the same boy she used to feel trapped by. you're doing all of this because you were bitter that across four seasons, characters didn't remain frozen in the same place that they were in the very first season. and that's probably the most embarrassing thing of them all.

#what should i tag anon hate as #anyways this isn't a safe place for ej stans p*rtwells r*nis etc #y'all are annoying as hell and it's been 84 years #i've had my fair share of non endgame ships and even i've never been this bitter #HEALLLLL i beg #asks #anonymous

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dahlias-and-spidermums · 3 years

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do u notice something about the leads/ human characters.....

that’s a little different from the characters playing objects/castle servants.....

or even the character who’s offscreen most of the show now......

hmmm let’s review:

-straight

-white

-man

Ashlyn

-straight

-white

although also

-plus size

(from certain details of her lines in the show it’s become apparent that while julia is jewish ashlyn is not)

Ricky

-straight

-white

-man

Big Red

-straight

-white

-man

(is Jewish but also playing the lackey)

Now let’s look at the other roles

Gina

-black

-woman

We’ve all seen the “not innocent enough to play Gabriela” bs but now we have the very flirty kinda sexual Babette being played by the black girl who people have already previously criticized the show for making her into a Jezebel

Kourtney

-black

-woman

Let’s see if this sounds familiar: plus sized dark skin black woman who’s a servant and often cares for the children (in case it wasn’t obvious im talking about the mammie stereotype)

And if we remove the black part it sounds like Mrs. Potts who as we know is a plus size older woman who is a maternal figure to not only the other teacup children but even to beast as well. So in other words they have the plus size black girl being a maternal servant to the beast and the other kids in the castle...

Speaking of kids let’s talk about one of them

Seb

- gay

One of the only two canon gay characters playing perhaps the least significant of the side characters

Carlos

-gay

-latino

Lumiere is already known for being quite over-bearing and eccentric and LOUD but now we have the loud, over-bearing to the other characters, and eccentric role going to the gay brown latino...

And then there’s:

Nini

-asian

-woman

who’s away for most of the time.

In other words, you know what isn’t in their show? Poc playing human non-servant characters. But you know what IS in their show? ✨Incest✨

Yup. With nothing more than an offhand comment this show is gonna have two literal cousins play love interests. Idc if they change the cast later on like how was hinted at in an interview the normalization and nonchalance attitude about COUSINS playing those roles was already established as just something u can brush off with a “not thinking about it”.

And there’s a lot of servant object roles and also a lot of poc/minority roles so obviously it was bound to happen for a myriad of reasons that some of the white characters get leads and some of the poc get the objects. That’s normal. What ISNT normal is how they could bend over backwards to justify why the plus size white girl getting belle is revolutionary and inclusive but not even attempt to 1. Not have incest and 2. Cast even one poc character as a lead.

They tried to make us out as crazy when people got mad Kourtney wasn’t Belle by trying to be like “oh we were throwing you off” but the reason that excuse fell short was because they didn’t throw us off at all. The case scenario was NOT that one week they dropped something that had us thinking it was one girl and the next week had us thinking it was another. It was that they always had us thinking it was going to be Kourtney. They weren’t throwing us off they were leading us on. In the end it comes off as we rather have a weird incest vibe going on than have the black girl we baited you with be an actual lead.

And Tim would probably see this and say something like “That’s not what I meant. I didn’t think of it that way when I cast this person as this and that person as that.” and it’s like of COURSE you didn’t. Of course you didn’t think of what the black people, and the latino people, or the asian people might think of how you’re portraying the characters that look like them on screen. You’ve never had to. Tim may be gay but he is also white and a man and that awards him privileges even within his own minority group. So of course it’s not even slightly surprising to me that all these things slipped by him without any notice. It’s cuz he can afford not to notice. But it being unsurprising doesn’t make it any less upsetting. It’s still bullsh** that they would literally rather contradict their own plot points than have the minority characters be anything other than harmful stereotypes just because THEY don’t see why it’s so bad.

P.S. this is not for any hate directed towards the actors. All of them are just workers locked under contract trying to do their jobs and get payed. They have no control over the stories that Tim and his writing team decide to write. If you take anything other than that the writers are responsible and try to go after the actors for just doing their jobs then you’ve completely missed the point of ALL of this.

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gracestone · 2 years

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Underrated PW moment in 2.11? When Gina looks down at her phone w/ her brows slightly scrunched up where you cant even really see the expression on her face but EJ IMMEDIATELY knows s/t is wrong and softly says 'G?' Hes so attuned to her feelings. Im honestly so excited for their angsty moments next season cuz I know its coming lol😅 Matt and Sofia do these really subtle and intricate expressions on their faces in scenes that brings SO much to Gina and EJs characters. Ughh I miss PW so much.😭

I love this scene so much! It starts so light and flirty, but then shows us how attentive EJ is and how he makes sure to check in with her as soon as he notices something is off. And Gina in turn feels comfortable opening up to him and doesn't try to hide that she's disappointed her mom can't make it, which is a big contrast to how she kept hiding her feelings in 2A pretty much all the way up to 2x06. It's such a great scene that really shows us just how well they get along, how closely EJ pays attention to Gina, and how comfortable they feel with each other 🥺 And it makes me all the more excited to see what S3 has in store for us!

I know this isn't exactly a part of your ask, but I might as well take this opportunity to talk a little bit about the contrast between this scene and Gina's scene with Ricky in 2x03, because I think the show deliberately contrasts those by showing how Ricky and EJ react differently to Gina needing comfort when she misses her mom.

The scenes obviously start very differently. 2x03 has Gina go to Ricky when she misses her mom because she feels like he's the only one who will understand her since he too misses his mom. In 2x11, on the other hand, she gets the news that she won't see her mom during a conversation with EJ.

In both scenes, she opens up about missing her mom. But with Ricky, she had to bring it up herself because he didn't notice it. He was both busy thinking about Nini and was trying to avoid having to talk about Gina's opening night confession, which he initally assumed is why Valentines Day was hard for her. EJ, on the other hand, notices the change in her mood and asks her about it, because he can tell something's off. And because Gina has learned throughout season 2 that she can open up to people even if they haven't gone through the same experiences, she opens up to EJ about this.

I'm not even sure how to describe Ricky's reaction, exactly, but it doesn't look to me like he's all that concerned for Gina. Like I said above, his mind is elsewhere. Plus, he can't deal with missing his own mom, so how can he help her deal with missing hers? EJ, on the other hand, does show concern for how Gina is feeling and is trying to find words to say. He may not get exactly what she's feeling, but he's still compassionate towards her.

In both situations, Gina then starts defending her mom and justifying her absence, which gives me the sense that she feels like she shouldn't act ungrateful or have any negative feelings about her mom missing out on her life because of everything her mom has done for her. Terri is a single mom, after all, so it makes sense that Gina would feel that way.

Ricky's response is to say that he gets the feeling of missing your mom. That's where he leaves it at. He doesn't try to comfort her or attempt to say anything to make her feel better, probably because he doesn't even really know how to make himself feel better when he misses his mom. Gina takes a moment after that line before she responds, probably because she was hoping he'd say something that would cheer her up, and even after her response she doesn't get anything from him. She doesn't leave that scene feeling better. If anything, she probably felt worse because Ricky clearly didn't want her there and had his mind on Nini the whole time. Their situations being similar ultimately didn't mean that he'd be able to help her deal with missing her mom.

EJ may not be able to understand what it's like to miss your mom as Gina does, but he does make her feel better in this scene by simply making a joke. He didn't need to "get it" in order to be there for her. It was enough for him to just listen and try to cheer her up. Which is what was missing in the 2x03 scene, and one of the many reasons why I adore the 2x11 scene so much.

#hsmtmts #ej caswell #gina porter #portwell #portwell meta #my gifs #ask #don't take this as me full on criticising ricky btw #he has a lot of things to work on but i also understand why he felt awkward and was distracted in that scene #and why he can't give advice on that subject #this is all written mostly from gina's pov

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pulaasul · 3 years

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Apologies

A/N: Credits to @redlyncentral and @cadetcama for providing my co writer the necessary corrections and creative juices for the story.

After opening night, Ricky confronts Gina about her treatment towards him, ever since Carlos's Quinceañero. Gina opens up to Ricky.

FFN I Ao3

--------

Days have passed since opening night. East High's Drama department has just finished dismantling their props and sets from their final showing of their production of 'Beauty and the Beast'. Everyone was heading to the school's pool to celebrate a successful three-night showing of their musical.

Gina was in front of her locker, storing up some things that she won't need at Ashlyn's, while EJ was in the nearby bathroom.

"Gina, c-can we talk?"

EJ made his presence known by leaning on the side of the lockers but he did not approach his girlfriend or the boy who approached her.

"Okay." Gina stoically answered.

"Like… Talk-talk?" Ricky tried again.

"Meet me at the bomb shelter in two minutes," Gina provided. "We can talk there privately, everyone's already at the pool"

Ricky simply nodded and immediately headed towards the rehearsal room.

"Are you sure about this?" EJ approached his girlfriend as soon as Ricky left.

"I have to tell him why at some point, he needs to know what he had done to hurt me."

"Do you want me there with you?"

"No, I can handle this." Gina shook her head. "Just wait for me here, or you can go on ahead to the pool and wait for me there."

"I'll wait here for you." EJ nodded.

---------

"You want to talk?"

"Right," Ricky nodded as he stood up to face Gina. "Can I ask what changed between you and me?"

"Changed? Nothing changed between us, Ricky." Gina shook her head. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know," Ricky sighed. "Before this, you've been giving me one-word responses if you don't outright ignore me," He answered.

"Are you really that oblivious?" Gina questioned.

"E-excuse me?"

"You are excused." Came Gina's automatic reply.

"P-please, Gina, can you please tell me if I did something wrong?" Ricky begged. "I'm tired of trying to puzzle out everyone's thoughts and feelings." He sighed. "Please, do me a favor and lay it out straight to me?"

"That's fair," Gina agreed. "Okay, Ricky, what you did during Carlos's Quinceañero was not cool. You hurt me a lot when you asked me about Nini, Ricky."

"H-how did I hurt you?" Ricky gulped as he tried to rack his brain during that time, but he came up with nothing.

"Tell me, Ricky, were you aware of the gravity of my words during our HSM opening night?" Gina asked.

"That was a lo-"

"Yes, it was a love confession, I confessed my feelings to you, Ricky." Gina cut the boy off. "It was bad enough that half of your attention was on Nini but I accepted that you both were back and happy together, I didn't want to be in between the two of you."

"What did I do that hurt you so much then?"

"The fact that you casually threw in the 'if we were dating' line." Gina bluntly replied. "I can't believe that you, of all people, would say that to me, when you know what I did months ago."

"Tha-"

"I gave you a chance to leave the conversation, Ricky, I gave you plenty of chances, but you still pushed it."

"But I thought, you were okay with me confiding in you? You granted Big Red's question about Nini."

"Tell me, Ricky, does Big Red know of what happened during that night?"

"Of course, not!" Ricky was quick to reply. "The only one who knows is Nini, even then I don't think she quite knew of what you really meant."

"And for that, I thank you," Gina expressed her gratitude. "But that doesn't change the fact that I was hurt by your actions." She shook her head. "The reason I gave the okay to Big Red asking me about what you want to text to Nini during the snowstorm was because of the simple fact that Big Red was there."

"Huh?"

"Big Red did not know about that night, frankly only EJ and Ashlyn knew what happened." Gina shared. "I didn't want him to suspect something going on between us, to avoid any uncomfortable questions, I gave the okay to continue."

"I-"

"You thought, because of that, you can confide in me with everything that has to do with Nini." Gina summarized Ricky's thoughts.

With Gina laying everything down, Ricky finally realized that he made a huge mistake. He knew he was selfish when he went behind Nini's back to get her into the show, he didn't think that his selfishness hurt one more person, in the form of Gina.

"I-"

"I'm sorry, Ricky, I don't think I can forgive you anytime soon," Gina admitted. "What you did to me hurt a lot, maybe in time I can, but not now."

"I…I see." Ricky looked at his shoes. "For what it's worth, Gina, I'm sorry for hurting you in that way."

Gina simply nodded.

Ricky turned around and left the rehearsal room.

As soon as Ricky was out of the room, EJ went inside and immediately engulfed his girlfriend in a hug.

"Let it out, just let it out."

Gina buried herself more on EJ's chest as she cried. Ricky was really the first friend she made during her time in East High and for it to end this way, it hurt so much.

"You know, he tried asking for my permission or blessing to talk to you," EJ shared. "His exact words were, 'Would you be mad if I talked to Gina?'"

"W-why would he do that?" Gina sniffled as she looked at her boyfriend. "What did you tell him?"

"I told him no, I won't." EJ answered honestly. "The last time I got angry with someone for texting my girlfriend, it ended with me broken-hearted."

"Aww EJ, you do learn." Gina teased. "The question still remains, why would he do that?"

"I have some inkling of an answer but I don't really know for sure." EJ admitted.

"Why do you think?" Gina urged as she wiped her tears from her face.

"I think it has something to do with Nini," EJ admitted. "It's no secret that Ricky tried to break Nini and I up, in hindsight, he felt he was justified because all he knew was that they were just on a break and didn't break up."

"But she thought it was a break-up," Gina interrupted. "Those two are very bad at communicating their feelings." She sighed.

"You can say that again." EJ agreed.

"So?"

"So, when Ricky sent Nini a voice message, I confronted and told him to stay away, I think that's where he got the idea from." EJ admitted.

"If you hadn't told Ricky to stay away from Nini, you wouldn't have been found out." Gina informed.

"True, and I probably won't have my confidence crushed by Nini's incredible ghosting abilities." EJ chuckled.

"Wait, she ghosted you?" Gina exclaimed.

"After ignoring my texts, calls, and voice messages, even got Kourtney to lie for her, she blocked my number and my social media accounts," EJ informed. "It felt like she was literally breaking my ribcage and went for my heart."

"I don't know if I should call that petty or something else?" Gina admitted.

"Definitely something else." EJ chuckled.

"Eej, why does it hurt?" Gina sighed as she slumped on a nearby chair.

"Because he was the first friend you made here in East," EJ answered. "You didn't think that he could hurt you much more than just seeing him with Nini."

"But I'm used to moving around, I should be used to this," Gina tried to counter. "I should be used to this." She repeated.

"No one can really get used to this, Gi." EJ shook his head as he knelt on one knee in front of her. "You felt like Ricky betrayed you, that's why it hurt so much."

"How do you know so much?"

EJ fished a book from his bag and gave it to his girlfriend.

"I've been reading that book as my pastime." EJ admitted.

"Do you even sleep?" Gina exclaimed. "You have so many clubs, so many sports, and you're the senior class treasurer to top it off!"

"I'm just good with managing my time," EJ shrugged. "Ashlyn and I are."

"It does help that the both of you are intelligent."

"I won't go that far, I can't find words to rhyme with sorry." EJ shook his head.

"Vary? Starry?" Gina listed.

"Clearly, you know more than I do." EJ chuckled.

Gina chuckled alongside her boyfriend.

"So are we good to join everyone by the pool?" EJ asked.

"How you managed the principal to let us use the pool to celebrate will forever remain a mystery to me, I've overheard other clubs groaning that we can use the pool."

"It probably has to do with the fact that I did not cheat at Waterpolo during tournaments," EJ answered. "No one probably knows, but after those self-exposing videos I posted on Instagram, I was banned to play the sport for months as the tournament officials investigated my claims."

"Why would you do that?" Gina was full-on grinning.

"It felt freeing at the time," EJ shrugged. "In any case, what I meant in those videos was whenever the school had us play against our teammates."

"You, EJ Caswell, are one bizarre person."

"That, and my father is on the school board." EJ chuckled. "I still got an earful from both my parents and Ashlyn's parents." He shivered.

"Thank you for Everything, EeJ." Gina smiled as she stood up.

"It's what boyfriends do." EJ grinned. "Be there for their girlfriends."

"Aww, that's awfully sweet of you."

“Hey, it’s what boyfriends are for, being awfully sweet.”

#ricky bowen #ej caswell #gina porter #portwell #hsmtmts #apologies #story

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hearteyesbowen · 4 years

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twenty dollar baby III ☆ ricky bowen

ricky does whatever he can to apologize to y/n, and has to face someone else

warnings: swearing, angst

part I , part II , part III

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

“I’m such a fucking idiot. How could I be so fucking stupid?”

Your soft cries echoed through the bare halls. The iciness of the cold tiles underneath your palms tingled through your arms, causing you to shiver. The inside of your head felt cloudy, racing in circles and trying to keep steady. Gravity overcame you, making it nearly impossible for you to get up on your own. Slowly, you managed to sit up from the ground, leaning your back against the metal lockers and bringing your knees to your chest. You rubbed your swollen eyes, harshly running your hands across your skin. You steadied your breath, wiping off the remaining tears from your cheeks.

“Y/N?”

You didn’t bother to turn your head to see who called, the familiar high-pitched voice gave away who it was.

“Oh my god, what happened?”

Carlos’ rapid footsteps grew louder, and soon he was kneeling down in front of you. He pushed back the strands of hair covering your face.

“Where’s Ricky?”

You rolled your eyes, running your hands through your scalp and throwing your hair back. Carlos stood up, holding his hand out for you to hold. Taking his offer, you lazily got up from the floor and bit the inside of your lip. It didn’t take long for him to figure out what happened, so he immediately threw his arms around your shoulders and brought you into his grasp. You clutched your arms around him, feeling the build up of another breakdown release. He stroked your hair soothingly while you cried into his shoulder.

“Let’s go back inside the auditorium. We can talk somewhere more private.”

➢➣ ➢➣

Ricky ran through every inch of the school’s hallways. After you had stormed out of the library, Ricky panicked as to what he should do. Big Red’s advice was to find you and apologize.

Here he was, running around for about ten minutes trying to find you again. His last resort was to go to your locker, hoping you would be there like this morning.

He was about to turn the corner, until he rammed into another person on the other side.

“Sorry about that.”

“What’s wrong, Ricky?”

He turned around to look back at the voice who called for him. There stood Nini, giving him a worried look.

“You and Big Red ran off. Red came back a while ago, so I came to look for you. And I was hoping we could continue our conversation earlier.”

Thoughts began to race around his head. The girl that he believed he really liked and would be with for a long time wanted to be with him again. But why was it so different for him this time? He wasn’t the same person he was weeks ago, he felt a lot different.

“Nini, I’m sorry.”

She looked at him confusingly. “Why?”

“I know you broke up with EJ for me, but we can’t get back together.”

Her smile dropped, feeling a wave of sadness hit her.

“You were such a good girlfriend, but we weren’t meant for each other. We’re two totally different people, and you deserve someone better than me.”

She hugged her arms together. “I guess you’re right, we were never good at the romantic stuff together, huh?”

His shook his head, “We were always better at friends, maybe it should stay like that.”

She smiled again, “You’re looking for Y/N, right?”

Ricky nodded his head quickly, hoping she knew where you were. “Do you know where she is?”

“Carlos took her backstage, but I think Red is talking to her right now. She looked pretty upset.”

“I wonder why.” Ricky mumbled, “Thank you, Nini, for everything.”

She stood in front of him, reaching her arms up around his neck and hugged him tightly. Hesitant at first, he wrapped his hands around her waist.

This feeling was something that he wished for for a long time after they broke up. He always wanted to hug her like this, but now he was more than happy that he was hugging his friend again.

➢➣ ➢➣

Carlos tossed a water bottle towards where you sat on one of the chairs by the makeup counter. You caught it, struggling to open with your unsteady hand. He took you to dressing rooms, making sure everyone was out with Miss Jenn running through the scenes. He sat down next to you, turning his body to face you completely.

“What kind of sick person makes a bet on a person? He’s such an asshole.” He sneered.

Your head throbbed from the dehydration you felt. You tried your best to massage your forehead, hoping to get rid of the pain.

“I’m just an idiot.” You sighed.

“No, Y/N, Ricky’s the idiot.”

“I really thought that he liked me. He made me feel so special.”

“That’s what guys like him do. They make you feel like nothing matters but you, but they just want to get inside your pants. I know you liked him, but Ricky and his friend are just the scum of the world.”

Two quiet knocks from behind the door interrupted your conversation. You both looked at each other before Carlos got up. He turned the door handle and opened it slowly, groaning when he saw who stood by.

“Y/N, it’s one of the scums.”

You looked ahead to see Big Red. He held hands together in front of him, slouching his head towards the floor. Once he finally looked up at you, his breath was shaky.

“Can I talk to Y/N alone, please?” He muttered sadly.

“And what makes you think you deserve to talk to her?” Carlos snapped.

“I don’t, but she deserves an apology.”

“You can talk to her in the corner while I sit and watch over you.”

Red nodded his head as he made his way to the chair next to yours. Carlos sat two seats away from you, making sure to be close and ready to comfort you if you need him.

“Y/N-”

“You’re sorry, I know.” You mumbled.

“What I did, it was a real dick thing to do. I should have never made that deal with him. I just felt so bad that he couldn’t get over Nini. He needed to move on.”

“So you made a bet for him to get a girlfriend?” You cut him off.

“I don’t know what I was thinking. He’s my best friend, and he was so stuck up on her that he needed to find someone new. I shouldn’t have picked you, especially since I knew how close you two were.”

You shook your head, “That doesn’t justify it.”

“It doesn’t. I’m an idiot, I know that. But he became a different person with you. When he passed by Nini in the hallway he barely noticed her. He wouldn’t shut up about you. He really did like you.”

“That’s not what I heard in the library.”

“What you heard wasn’t the complete story.”

Your phone dinged on the counter. You read the screen, seeing as it was a text from your mother asking where you were. You breathed heavily through your nose.

“I have to go now.” You said, getting up from your seat and motioning for Carlos to come with you.

“Wait,”

You and Carlos turned back towards Big Red. He walked up to you frantically. “I’m really sorry, for everything.”

You felt your body tense, your eyes began to water again. “I know, it’s fine. I just have to think.”

Red nodded, staring back down at the floor again.

“Thank you,” You started, “for apologizing. It means a lot.”

“I just hope Ricky does the same. You didn’t deserve to go through with what we did.”

Your breath hitched, you didn’t want to even think of seeing him again. Carlos wrapped his arm around your shoulder, nodding towards the door.

“Bye.” Red waved.

You gave him a half smile, turning around and leaving the dressing room and out the auditorium.

➢➣ ➢➣

“You want to get something to eat before we go home? I could really use a breather before I have to explain everything to my mom.” You offered.

You and Carlos had just exited the school’s main doors. The sky was bright, burning your eyes the moment you looked up. The breeze brushed through you, sending a refreshing shiver to your skin.

“Sounds perfect, but I’m paying. I’m treating you for, like, the rest of the year.”

A small smile grew on your lips. You grabbed your car keys from your jacket pocket, searching for the button to unlock your car. Once you found it, you looked ahead to point the button in your car’s direction, only to see Ricky standing by your door.

Your smile dropped, and suddenly you felt your body start to shake like earlier. The heavy breathing that come out your mouth and welled up tears building in your eyes made you feel dizzy.

Ricky watched you, slowly getting teary eyed as he watched you slowly break down in front of him. He wanted to run up and hold you in his arms like before. He wanted to tell you he was so sorry for everything and tell you that it would all be ok.

“I’m going to murder him.” Carlos began to stomp towards Ricky, making him back up farther in the parking lot.

You yanked at Carlos’ shoulder, preventing him from going any closer to Ricky. He looked at you in confusion.

“I left my phone in the dressing room. Can you get it for me, please?”

“There is no way I am leaving you alone with him.”

You gave him a look, letting him know you would be alright. He sighed in defeat, squeezing your hand before he sped back inside the school.

Ricky carefully shuffled towards you, watching each step to see if you would stop him. He managed to stand close enough to you that he could see red in your tired eyes. It broke him how much you were in despair. You looked more pale to him, as if all the life inside you had been sucked away. The only one to blame for this was him.

“Why did you do it?” You whispered.

He was startled by your question, he expected to do all the talking and for you to just stand there.

“I don’t know.”

“Did you even like me before that stupid deal?”

Your voice raised slightly. It was still soft, but enough to show your frustration.

He was silent for a few seconds, he didn’t know what to say or how he felt.

“I don’t know.”

“You can’t keep saying you don’t know. You have to know something.”

He took another step closer to you. “I know that what I did was the stupidest thing I could have ever done. And that I should have never agreed to Red’s stupid bet.”

You groaned, “You used me, Ricky. You made me believe that you actually liked me. Was all this just for you to get back with Nini? Because if so, then congratulations. She broke up with EJ just for you, how exciting.”

“I would never use you to get back with her.”

“But you would for $20.”

You believed you just cry involuntarily now. You hadn’t even noticed the stream rolling down your cheeks until it hit your palm.

Ricky was now also breaking down. His face was as red as his bruised lips. You could tell how much he chewed his lips since you saw him before.

“That bet was wrong, but everything I did after was real. You’re one of my closest friends, Y/N. What I felt for you on our first date was something so different. I really like you, and I think I-”

“I have your phone, Y/N.”

Carlos ran up next to you, holding your phone in his hand. You wiped your eyes for the hundredth time today, feeling a sting. He rubbed your back slowly, checking to make sure you were ok.

“Please, listen to me.” Ricky pleaded, holding your hand.

You felt something rough in between both of your palms. You looked down confusingly at your hands, making Carlos believe you didn’t want him to touch you.

Carlos roughly smacked Ricky’s hand off of yours, making him pull back and wince.

You looked towards Ricky, biting the inside of your cheek.

“I’m worth a lot more than $20.”

He only nodded at you, his eyes full of sorrow and pain.

“Come on, I’ll drive us home.” Carlos rushed, getting the keys from your other hand and leading you inside the passenger’s seat of your car.

Ricky watched as you pulled out of the parking space, hoping that you would forgive him.

➢➣ ➢➣

Once you got some quick food from a drive-thru and dropped off Carlos at home, you managed to get home without causing some sort of traffic jam. You left your food on the kitchen table, alarming your mother when she saw the state you were in.

“Are you alright?” She worryingly asked.

You simply nodded, not feeling the energy to speak. Whenever she knew you were sad, she knew that you wouldn’t want to talk to anybody. She rushed to your side and planted a sweet kiss to your forehead. You smiled at her before slugging your way to your room.

You collapsed on your bed, feeling suffocated by the sheets that covered your face. It didn’t bother you, for some reason. You turned on your back, staring at the ceiling above. Should I have forgiven him, or should I have slapped him?

Suddenly you remembered that Ricky had slipped something inside your hand, but you tucked it away in your pocket before you left so you wouldn’t forget it. You reached inside the pouch of your jeans and pulled out a small paper ball.

You sat up from your bed, messing with your hair before you slowly tore open the crunched paper. It was soon revealed to be another flashcard that Ricky would always throw at you to talk during class. The note was from the day Ricky asked you out.

we should definitely go on a trip to the beach like soon

ricky ur too dumb to drive that far

ur too dumb for being friends with me so who’s the loser now

Reading the front side of the note made you scoff. You flipped it over to see new writing from him, making you raise an eyebrow.

ur right, ur worth a lot more than twenty dollars. so let me prove it to u.

the pier, tomorrow at 2.

A/N - a long awaited update for sure . im so sorry for being so behind in updates . im going to finish the last of my requests and the last part to this series as soon as i can . next update either monday or tuesday !! love y’all

taglist: @whoseblogsthis @ggclarissa @lulueliott24 @write-from-the-heart @september-ctd @ashwarren32 @languorlust @underwaterworlds @deadpoolgirl23 @differentsoulrascalsalad @imjustboredso @bitch-im-a-fangirl @love-joshy @lllyyysss02

#ricky bowen imagine #ricky bowen x reader #ricky bowen #ricky bowen fluff #ricky bowen angst #ricky bowen oneshot #ricky bowen blurbs #joshua bassett x reader #joshua bassett imagine #joshua bassett #joshua bassett oneshot #joshua bassett blurbs #joshua bassett fluff #joshua bassett angst #hsmtmts imagine #hsmtmts

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cadetcama · 4 years

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RINI #60

Ok this one absolutely got away from me and also ANGST ALERT. Ricky’s doing some processing of his mom leaving and he’s upset (and not thinking rationally but hey hes 16 so we’ll cut him some slack) but its a good thing his BUDDY Nini is around to listen.

Thanks for the prompt, anon!

#60 - “There are plenty of people out there who love you.” “Yeah, like who?” “Like me.”

Ricky was throwing himself a pity party. That’s what Nini was calling it, anyway. Ricky thought he was perfectly justified in moping. His mom was moving to Chicago. What had started out as one temporary assignment for work had turned into a more permanent offer that she accepted. That had been weeks ago, but it was this week that her stuff was finally all out of the house and that the legal separation papers (which made way for the divorce papers) were signed.

So naturally, Ricky was in a mood.

“She isn’t leaving you, Ricky.” Nini was very patiently trying to talk him into not feeling so sorry for himself. “She’s just moving—“

“To Chicago. Yeah.” Ricky cut her off, bitterly. They were in the drama room, after school. Ricky was avoiding going home to seeing so much stuff missing from the walls or his mom’s favorite throw blanket that had been his Nana’s not in its usual spot. “People get divorced all the time. I get that. But her job was here. She chose to transfer to Chicago. To leave. And I guess I just don’t…” he huffed and kicked out at the leg of a chair as he walked by it.

“You don’t what?” Nini asked softly, from her spot on the piano bench.

Ricky paused. He hated what he was about to admit but it had been weighing him down and he had only recently been able to put the feeling into words.

“I don’t understand why I wasn’t enough to make her stay.” He said finally.

Nini was on her feet in a second, making her way over to him. “It wasn’t anything to do with you.”

“But wasn’t I a factor? Shouldn’t I have been?” Ricky gestured aimlessly. “I love people and I’d never move away from them.”

“Ricky—“ Nini tried, sounding heart broken, but now that he had started, rational or not, he was having trouble stopping. He just needed to stay it and get it out of his system so he could stop being so mad at his mom.

“And I get not wanting to see your ex, I do, okay? But it’s not like she had to live next door or even in the neighborhood. She was always complaining about her commute.” Ricky was on the verge of tears now. “She could’ve moved closer to her office or downtown and I could’ve spent every other week there. There were so many other ways this could’ve happened. But she just left. I guess she didn’t love me enough to stay. So now it’s just my dad…”

Nini took his face in her hands, making him look at her. “There are plenty of other people out there who love you.” She was crying now too, and part of Ricky felt bad for putting all of this on her. The other part of him was still spiraling.

He snorted softly. “Yeah, like who?”

“Like me.” She looked at him fiercely, daring him to disagree. And he didn’t dare, so he just nodded, wiping his nose on his sleeve and trying not to start crying all over again.

But Nini wasn’t done: “And Big Red loves you too. And my moms. And Ms. Jenn. And Carlos, though he’d never admit it. And the rest of the drama club.”

He cut her off with a weak attempt at a joke: “Except EJ.” He was feeling a little better and had pulled out of his downward spiral enough for his defense mechanisms of making jokes to go back into effect.

“Except EJ,” Nini agreed with a smile.

After a long pause, Ricky broke the silence: “Thanks for listening.”

“Any time. What are buddies for?” She took a step back, grinning as Ricky threw his head back, laughing, feeling lighter than he had in days.

“Oh no! We’re not going back to that, are we?”

#rini #ricky bowen #nini salazar roberts #hsmtmts #hsmtmts fic #camawrites #Anonymous

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gracestone · 2 years

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1/2 B/c I love ur metas I figured Id ask u this (no pressure to respond quickly, take ur time). Do you have any thoughts on EJ and Nini's scene in the library in 1.03? I can't help but laugh every time I see how scared EJ is when he sees Nini stole Gina's shoes but the convo gets deeper soon after when he's trying to convince her to do the right thing. Obvs it's before any real development in his character arc but still such an interesting scene.

2/2 Also it's just so funny to me how terrified he is that s/t of Gina's been stolen knowing it could lead to war. 😂 Of course hes disappointed in Nini since it's not like her to do that but I just love the way he freaks out over the stolen shoes. I know the scene isnt about PW but this drought got me desperate. 😭 Any thoughts on EJ/Ninis relationship or S1 PWs relationship on this? Love ur takes BTW. ❤

Thank you so much, anon! Your sweet words mean a lot to me ❤️ I saved your ask for a while because I wanted to answer you after getting to 1x03 in my rewatch, which is why I hadn't responded until today.

I'm actually so glad you sent me this ask because it got me to stop and really appreciate just how good this scene is! Not just because Nini is hilarious in it (I love seeing her own her actions, even if they're questionable sgjdklg), but because we also get some great insights into EJ's inner conflict. 1x01 introduced EJ as this perfect boyfriend, but we could already see his insecurities bubbling underneath the surface when Ricky auditioned. In 1x02, we got our first glimpse into EJ's real feelings during his convo with Ashlyn early in the episode, and that ep also made his very clear that he wasn't as perfect as he seemed, because he kept acting on his insecurities and allowed those to lead him to doing questionable things (trying to bribe Miss Jenn and stealing Nini's phone). But to Nini and his online followers, he was still acting like everything was fine and trying his best to hide his true feelings. Those feelings start to catch up with him in 1x03, and his scene with Nini in the library is a great example of that.

(Side note: EJ's development is very much already happening in these first three eps. We see him talk about being real and wanting to be better, and realising that he's not being better or real in the choices he makes here.)

EJ was attracted to Nini because she seemed so real to him. He thought that by being with her, he'd become more real too. That he'd become better. But in 1x03, not only does he have to face that being with Nini didn't make him better, he's confronted with the fact that he made her worse.

Nini unknowingly holds up a mirror to EJ in this scene, and he hates what he sees. Just look at his reaction to Nini saying she plays to win now:

He's not proud of his own behaviour, but he kept trying to justify it to himself. So seeing that Nini is now (unknowingly) repeating that behaviour hits him hard. Especially because she's under the impression that he'd approve of it.

For the most part, he can't even look at Nini as he says those last two lines (he looks at her during "a little low"). Because he's not just talking about her behaviour here, he's talking about his own as well. Just like he is during the bathroom scene with Ricky. Nini, to EJ, represents a real, good person. The kind of person he aspires to be. Which is why he almost says that she's better than him:

But then decides against it and sticks with "You're Nini", because he still really struggles with being open and vulnerable. Talking about his feelings is hard for EJ, and it's even harder for him to talk about his own flaws. It takes him a long time in the show to get to the point where he opens up like that to someone who isn't Ashlyn. And that's Gina in 2x08. EJ didn't believe Nini when she said he's a good person, because he hadn't shown Nini the side of him he didn't like. He wasn't being real with her. But Gina had seen that side of him and still saw him as "a really good guy" in 2x08, which is why EJ was finally able to see himself through her eyes and really believe her.

As for what this scene may tell us about season 1 Portwell, I don't have much to say about that. EJ knows that Gina plays to win like he does, so he's understandably worried that she may respond poorly to Nini stealing her shoes. Mostly for Nini's sake, I imagine. So this tells us that EJ recognised that same "I'll do anything to get what I want" attitude in Gina that he himself had at this point.

#hsmtmts #ej caswell #nini salazar roberts #gina porter #portwell #hsmtmts meta #ej caswell meta #nini salazar roberts meta #portwell meta #ask #hope this was worth the wait anon!#i focussed on this scene because idk where i'd start with writing down thoughts on ejnini as a whole #ej x nini meta #anouk rambles

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