"You have to teach me everything you know!" Ashlyn explained with wide eyes, just finding out she got the lead and latched onto Nova immediately.

"I'll teach you everything I know!" Nova hollered, the pair giving a clique squeal and wrapping each other in a hug, "Okay, okay, I'm gonna find all my notes from the play when I get home."

Ashlyn grinned again as Nova let her go, walking over toward EJ and punching him gently in the shoulder, "You look like him."

"Like Gaston?" EJ grinned down at her, earning a nod, "Is it a compliment?"

"Please, Gaston was my very first childhood crush, that is the biggest compliment." Nova reassured with a cheeky smile, "Wanna go get some pizza before you take me home and make sure all the childproof cabinets are locked and all the sharp objected are put away?"

"Of course." EJ spoke causally, grabbing his bag and throwing a arm over Novas shoulders, "I could just stay the night."

Nova gave a look of disbelief, "You stayed the night a few days ago and I woke up to you putting bubble wrap around me. Not gonna happen."

"Is that Nini?" Kourtney gasped as she looked over at Ricky on the phone. When he faced the phone to her, the booth of drama kids all hollered their hellos her way.

"EJ, what is this?" Nova asked, watching him take the straw out of her drink.

"Don't want you to choke." he gave her a silly expression, "That would be a nightmare."

"You guys are literally my goals." Carlos was suddenly gapping at them, earning uncomfortable looked from the pair across the table. Nova removed her hand off EJ's arm with a clear of his throat as he took his arm off her shoulders.

"Pizza tonight for the worlds best kiddos!" Big Red's mom grinned as she walked over with two dishes of pepperoni, "Don't forget to tip your waitress."

"Mom!" Big Red gave her a flustered expression.

"You love me and you know it." she gave a pop of her hip and walked off.

Nova gave a soft smile and glanced Big Reds way, "You're mom seems so supportive."

"Oh, yeah. She's the best." he grinned, ears red. Nova nodded, a smile on her face that said she'd been jealous but not in a way she wanted to ruin everything for him. Nova still was yet to talk to her mom, no matter how many ignored messages she was send. She always was so close, and then she saw her and turned away. EJ caught her lost in though, touching Novas thigh to bring her back.

"Neeners, we miss you so much." Kourtney explained as she took Rickys phone and walked off a bit.

"Nova." Big Red suddenly spoke with wide eyes, "I have all this planned out for you. All the right buttons, sorta like a blueprint."

He passed her a large paper that had been a drawing of the control panel for the play, "You should catch on pretty quick as long as you did okay in physics."

"I did fantastic in physics." Nova answered, looking over the paper a second longer, "Thanks, Big Red."

But it was impossible to not realize she'd been bummed out about this role instead of being on stage.

"Nini!" Carlos snatched the phone from Kourtney as she walked back over, "You are looking at Latinx Lumière!"

"And LeFou!" Big Red added in.

"And Chip!" Seb was next.

"And Babette see feather duster." Gina gave a chuckle with a wave of her hands, a change in her tone.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Carlos laughed at her.

"A French accent?" Gina asked with a odd look.

"Oh, G." Nova shook her head and rubbing her back with a laugh.

"Nova, who'd you get?" Nini asked from the other line as the table went oddly silent, "Hello?"

"I didn't audition this semester." Nova shrugged with cringe worth, fake enthusiasm in her tone, "Have to focus on other things, you know?"

"Oh!" Nini tried to sound proud from the other line, "Of course, totally get that."

"Nini! What's going on at your big fancy boarding school right now?" Ashlyn broke the awkwardness quickly, "Make is jealous."

"Oh, um, nothing nearly as exciting as what's going on with you!" she called from the other line and Ashlyn sat down at a different booth. Novas phone buzzed, making her look down.

"Everything okay?" EJ asked her in questioning.

"Yeah, dad is just having a late night at the office again." Nova reassured with a nod of her head, "Wanted to remind me to lock up."

"How is it still living over at the lake house in this weather?" Seb asked, taking a slice of pizza, "You can come stay in the barn."

"Oh, honey, she is not staying in the barn." Carlos shook his head and rubbed his back.

"It's fine as long as I don't sleep walk out to the water again." Nova nodded her head with a chuckle, "This has happened."

"This has happened?" Gina gapped.

"Yes, it has." EJ shook his head and gave a worried expression, "Gave me a heart attack."

"EJ I think you're getting stress winkles." Carlos laughed at him.

"Maybe he needs a chill pill." Big Red suggested.

"Before you get desert, mom gets a picture." Big Reds mom walked back over, laying the cupcakes down on the table. Big Red tried to protest, "That's the rule!"

"Watch those hands, Kourtney." Nova joked as they all leaned in close, getting a slap in her arm before smiling widely up at the camera.

"EJ, do you wanna watch a movie or just go to sleep?" Nova called as she walked through the hallway, heading toward the living room after putting up the few cup cakes they stole, "EJ!"

"Yeah, i'm coming!" he called from up stairs, running down the stairs in the process of yanking a shirt over his head, "What happened?"

"Nothing." Nova said, looking up the staircase at his sleeping attire, "I asked if you wanna watch a movie or if you're tired?"

He gave a sigh of relief, "I didn't hear that."

Nova gave a frown, seeing the amount of distress in his face, "Can we talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about." EJ shrug as he walked past her, "Do you still have that voice resting tea?"

"You're driving yourself crazy trying to take care of me." Nova ignored his words and followed close after toward the kitchen, "I know something bad happened, and I'm sorry I put you in a position where you have to worry about me. But I'm okay, I can take care of myself."

EJ was the one to ignore her now, looking through the cabinets to pretend he'd been doing something.

"Can you just tell me what it is you want me to do?" Nova spoke up with a guilty look in her eye, "I'm never gonna drive again if that's what you're worried about."

"I'm not-" he started but stopped himself, shutting the cabinet and turning to her, "It's not just the car, Nova. I'm constantly worried about you, like constantly."

"I know." she said back in a softer tone and sad eyes, "I don't want that for you."

"I almost lost you!" his voice rose her way with wide eyes, "You almost died, do you not understand that? It can never happen again, never. I don't want to loose you, Nova. I can't loose you."

She paused, her heart thumping and stomach doing flips. He had sad eyes, red in the face and was watching her every move. Nova stared at EJ with a guilty expression, "You won't."

"How could you even know that?" EJ circled the island in the middle of the kitchen to be infront of her, "It's not like you planned the car accident."

"I'm not gonna make a stupid mistakes like that again. I'm not." she shook her head quickly, latching onto his forearms immediately. The kitchen was dim, only the stove light on but it was lit up enough for both of them to see each other, "You aren't gonna loose me, you're not. Can you just trust me on this? Work with me? I hate that i'm doing this to you. I mean, when was the last time you slept more then five hours at night?"

"When I stayed here with you." he answered her immediately with a nod.

"At home?" Nova asked, EJ shrugged and Nova sighed, blinking before her hands cupped his face, "We have to figure something out."

"I can't stop worrying about you." EJ said honestly, "It's not like I mean to. I just think the worst has happened when I'm not with you, it scares me to death."

Nova went silent a second, holding his face, "I know what's happening. We're getting back into these horrible, toxic habits and that is the last thing I want. You're worrying about me and I'm worrying about you and sooner or later we're gonna start yelling and acting like we use to. That can't happen, we're too close."

Too close, too close to what? Apart of him knew, another wasn't sure.

"Well, what do you suggest?" EJ leaned against the island when Nova let his face go.

"Things are gonna happen, no matter what you do to try and stop them." Nova broke the truth to him and it had clearly annoyed him, "That's just life. People get hurt, and they learn. I'm taking so much more caution when I do things, I really am. The car accident really messed with my head, I keep avoiding a lot now and I know you don't realize it because you're too worried about making sure I don't drive or swallow a straw."

EJ had a pant of guilty, because now that she said it, he realized everything she changed. Nova didn't audition for the play because she didn't want to get emotional and crash again, she rode a bike everywhere, she woke up with nightmares, was sleep walking, avoided the street she crashed on now even though it was the quickest way to school, her eating habits changed to softer foods, changed her career path, changed her reckless ways. A lot had changed, and he didn't stop to realize it.

"You can worry, and I can worry. But you still need to take care of yourself, just like I need to be doing me." Nova spoke, her hands pulling on the hem of his tee slightly as they stood close, "Let's just work on it together. Like, baby steps."

EJ sighed, "What if it doesn't work?"

"Gotta start somewhere." she shrugged in return, "Starting with a very early night for a very early morning."

EJ latched onto her hand and followed her up toward her room.

•

kylie speaks

babies.