"Ohh, this is gonna be so good, Carlos would wear it." Kountrey gushed as she held the fur to Seb's arm.

"Does he just walk around in Armani sweatpants?" Ashlyn asked Seb curiously.

Seb smiled, "I guess."

The girls laugher died down as Kourtney gave a odd look, "Uh, Sebby?"

Nini driped the fabric, "Is something going on with you guys?"

"As much as I love Carlos, despite him calling me crazy, I will take a baseball bat to him if you want me to." Nova turned from where she'd been upside down on the couch.

Seb sighed as he faced them, "I guess you could say he met a group of extremely photogenic guys when he was down in Mexico, and he seemed pretty happy. So, now i'm pretty sad."

Nova gushed, "My poor little Chippikins."

She stood and wrapped an arm around him tightly.

"Seb, come on." Gina frowned.

"You wanna see him happy. That's with you." Ashlyn nodded quickly.

"They're right. I'm not completely sure who belongs together and who doesn't, mainly because I seemed to mess that up every time. But I know for a fact that you and Carlos show all of us up, you two are beyond perfect." Nova encouraged from leaning onto his shoulder.

Seb shrugged, "But I guess he has to be, out of default, right?"

Kourtney gave a odd look, "What does that mean?"

"There's not a lot of other choices for a boy like Carlos here, at East." Seb gave a knowing look as he sat down onto the couch.

"No, Seb." Nini shook her head.

Ashlyn sat next to him, "Have you told him how you feel?"

"No so good at saying the feeling part out loud." Seb gave a giggle.

Nova nodded, "Felt."

"Never hurts to put yourself out there." Gina nodded her head.

"While we're on the topic." Nini looked over at Nova with a smirk across her face. "You'll have to tell us what's going on in your love life."

"Please, i'm so tired of hearing it." Gina laughed slightly. She'd simply meant she was tired of hearing EJ talk about Nova, how he was wanting her back. But to Nova, she took it as in Gina was tired of hearing about Nova and EJ since they'd been together.

The ding saved her, Nova giving a fake smile. "Cheese puffs are ready!"

"I-I-I-" Ricky began, doing the scene after they hooked him to the harness.

"Please, I love you." Ashlyn cried over his body.

Ricky gave a choking noise. Nova cringed as she whispered to Big Red. "Still need to work on that."

Ricky rolled over quickly to the ground. EJ grabbed hold of Nova to pull her back from Big Red as he began rolling the harness upwards. He didn't let her go as Big Red rolled Ricky off for ground, the boy floating in the sky. The group began to gasp, looking in shock. Novas jaw was nearly on the ground as she looked up.

"Y'all, this is sole Broadway stuff!" Kourtney yelled out in a cheer.

"We're gonna win. You guys, we're actually going to win." Natalie gapped up at Ricky.

"We're gonna win!" Nova yelled as she pumped her fist into the air, just as the rope began to snap. "Ricky!"

The Bowen boy crashed to the ground with a groan of pain.

"My boxy queen!" Kourtney yelled as Nova was in her costume, opening night here. Novas eyes went wide as she looked at her. "How do you feel?"

"Hoping no baseballs hit me in the face." Nova spoke, flustered in the face.

"Half hour call!" Natalie called.

Nova let out a yell, her body shook slightly in nerves. "I think I should go ahead and throw up."

"Nova, pull yourself together." Nini grabbed her shoulders. "You have been the lead all your life. You out shine every single one of us and no one is gonna play the wardrobe better then you. So, take your good luck card, and go give your dad a wave in the crowd."

Nova exhaled. "Nini, you're my anxiety pill."

"Wildcats! Villagers!" Miss Jenn called for them as she walked behind stage. "My friends and allies. As you know, there is a judge out there in the audience tonight who is very important to the future of this theater program. He is going to score every performance, our music, our sets. Lord help us, even me. And in two weeks, at the Menkies, we could win $50,000."

The group of students cheered loudly at her words. Nova shook Ninis shoulders as the cheered.

"So tonight, we are going to put the U in Utah!" Miss Jenn announced, the group falling silent with awkward looks. "And to Ricky and Ashley, some words of inspiration. My deep and shameful disappointment to your recent accident has mellowed to a sort of numbness, so there's that."

Ashlyn and Ricky shared a look. "Oh, were those the words of inspiration?"

"Yes, they were." Miss Jenn hummed. "Okay, where is LeFou?"

Big Red ran into the room, Pepto in hand. "Sorry, i'm late. Just some dry heaving."

Ricky gave him a look of disbelief. "Dude."

"Big Red." Nova gapped at him.

"Dry!" he defended himself.

Ashlyn picked the flowers off the ground. "Biggie, I got you a little something for your big debut."

Nova gushed at the pair.

"Oh, wow." Big Red grinned before his face fell, a gagging leaving his lips as he took off.

"Romantic." Nova nodded.

Nova peaked out of the curtain as the shows began, focusing on Ricky as she watched him preform better then he had before. Her eyes went to the crowd, looking over. She saw her dad on the front row, making her smile. Just when she thought he'd been perfect, he'd made it all better, her heart dropped to her stomach and she felt like puking.

Right next to her dad sat her mother.

Before Nova realized what she was doing, she was running off behind stage. Hurrying away from everyone as she disappeared into the hallway. EJ, panicked that she was heading for a car, bursted through the doors after her, "Nova!"

To his luck, he found her still in the hallway, pacing.

Nova eyes went to his, shaking her head. "I'm fine. I need a minute."

"I thought you were about to-" he began but stopped himself, realizing she didn't need even more stress on her right now. EJ pulled her in so he'd hugged her, "What's wrong?"

Nova took ragged breaths as her head pressed against his heart. "My moms out there."

He didn't expect her to be here, he knew this was hard. "Want me to make her leave?"

Nova pulled back to give him an odd look. "What?"

He gave her a grin, "You aren't the only one with baseball skills."

"Well, considering you hit me in the eye with you, i'd say you're on the right track." she joked, smiling and wiping the single tear she had. "God, that was pathetic. Pulling myself together now."

"You're allowed to feel however you want to. Her being here isn't easy on you, I know." EJ nodded sincerely, waiting for her to go on before pushing her to say anything.

Nova exhaled with a forced smile. "She brings out a not so pretty side of me."

The Caswell boy cracked her a grin. "Well, I think you're always pretty."

Novas face fell as she looked up at him. "How can you say that when your girlfriend is out there preforming right now? Where is your loyalty?"

EJ gave her an odd look. "Girlfriend? What girlfriend?"

Nova rolled her eyes. "Gina."

EJ then let out a laugh that bounced off the hallway. "Oh my god, Gina? Nooo, we're best friends. There's no way she could be my girlfriend with how much I talk to her about you. I mean, she's practically my relationship therapist at this point."

Nova stared at him as he went on. "But-the hallway, at north high. I heard you call her your girlfriend."

EJ thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Some creepy North High guy was giving her a hard time, I was just saving her from that."

Nova stared a moment as she looked away. "So you were just being a good guy and I totally freaked out and ignored you for weeks because I thought you lead me on and had a new girlfriend."

"Nova." EJ shook his head with a grin. "I don't want anyone to be my girlfriend unless it's you."

A soft smile went across her face. "You mean that?"

"We went from forced to date, to liking each other, to being terrible together, hating each other, friends, development, and then I ended up right back where I was. Only this time, I don't feel obligated. This time I don't just want to date you because everyone around is pushing us to, because it's just a stereotype we're trying to fill." EJ went on, looking down at her with a shake of his head. "I want us to get back together because I love you. Seriously, I love you. I'm at 100%, you told me you'd tell me when you were too and I keep waiting but I just wanted you to know-"

EJ was cut off by Nova grabbing the sides of his face and pressing a kiss to his mouth. His eyes went wide, not expecting it now, not so sudden. This kiss was different, it wasn't like the times they'd kissed before. Before, they'd been missing something, lacking a certain ingredient. Love. They'd been missing love. But now, this kiss had so much love in it.

Nova kissed him a moment longer, melting away when he finally kissed her back. Pulled away, she grinned at his flushed and cheeky smile. "I'm at 100%. I love you too."

So, they kiss again.

•

kylie speaks

thirty-six chapters
later and my slowburn
finally tied the knot, finally
got back together and said
what we've all been waiting
for!!!