SHILOH PICKED at her mashed potatoes as the loudness of her family, Mack, and Gina, all smile, talked, and just laughed as they ate.

"So, yeah, I was discovered at a Chuck E. Cheese when I was only three years old." Mack smiled, "Being a celebrity has its perks. But it's also a big responsibility."

Shiloh's brother Weston slammed his fork onto the table, looking over at Mack. "But it's fun, isn't it?"

"Honestly, that's not the goal, little man." Mack answered, "Watching your sister go for it today reminded me that I need to keep pushing myself to be the very best at all times."

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out." Jonathan smiled.

"Oh, for sure." Mack smiled, "Sitcom star at ten, comeback role at seventeen. Emmys buzz at nineteen. Oscar disappointment at twenty-two. Married at twenty-five and twins by thirty."

"Speaking of disappointment..." Jonathan chuckled, "Where's Ricky, Shiloh?"

Shiloh glanced up from her plate to look over at Jonathan. She didn't bother to say anything as she shoved her fork in her mouth.

"I think what Jonathan is asking, is where is Ricky?" Her father, Joseph said, clearing his throat. "Thought he was coming over?"

"He's... away at the moment." Shiloh answered, "He- he really wanted to come."

"Has he run away again?" Jonathan asked.

"Do you have some sort of problem with him?" Shiloh rebutted, "Like, genuinely, what's your problem? I'm so, so sorry that my relationship isn't up to your very low standards."

The problem with Shiloh and her family is when someone went lower, they went lower.

"The day you realize I'm only looking out for you like I had to do with Dylan and EJ and you actually can find a guy who's willing to actually be here, you'll thank me."

Silence grew between everyone besides the mumbling of their younger siblings who didn't know and hadn't bother to care that their two oldest siblings had been arguing.

Shiloh's dad, David looked over at the girl and sighed, "Shiloh." He called. The girl only looked over, her face still stoned as tears threatening to fall. "You're excused."

Shiloh licked her lips, dropping her fork and headed upstairs into her room, absentmindedly slamming the door behind her.

She stood in the middle of her room, her hands resting on her hips. She dropped her head once she heard soft knocking on her against her door.

"Come in." She muttered.

The door gently opened and Mack slowly poked his head inside of the room. He stepped inside of the dimly lit room as Shiloh turned, facing him.

"Didn't know family dinners could be so intense." He joked.

Shiloh sighed, nodding her head, "Only with him."

"Ricky seems... cool." Mack sighed, "I can tell you care about him."

Shiloh softly smiled. "I do. My love life isn't ideal, I guess. On and off again boyfriend, dated a guy for less than two weeks."

"And what makes Ricky different?"

"That he tries. And he tries really hard to me very happy."

"Then do you care what your brother thinks?"

She sighed, "I don't. Not really, but Ricky does and I guess that's why I do too." She shrugged her shoulders, playing with the beaded bracelets her and Ricky had made, "He just wants to be liked by everyone in the house."

Mack nodded, pressing his lips together. "You're lucky, you know? To have someone who cares about you so much."

Shiloh looked up at Mack. giving him a soft smile.

She was beyond lucky to have Ricky in her life, they met in a very unconventional way, but he fell for her and maybe she fell a little harder.

"Maybe he'll stop by... wherever he may be." Shiloh spoke, "Thank you for checking on me."

"We're friends." He smiled, "Besides, your brother kept asking me if I knew how to do a kick-flip and I didn't know how to tell him no."

Shiloh chuckled, turning her back on Mack as she opened her closet and grabbed an umbrella.

"What are you doing?" Mack asked.

Shiloh looked over at him, shutting the closet door and opened a drawer and pulling up a synthetic sunflowers.

"Ashley has always been the one for sweet gestures. She's always scared of things that she can't always change and she hates being alone at night. She loves watching Madagascar when she's scared." Shiloh explained, wrapping a yellow ribbon around the flowers. "It's supposed to rain pretty hard soon and her parents won't be home until late tonight."

Shiloh handed the umbrella and flowers to Mack.

"She lives three house down on the right and if you really care about my friend, my best friend, you'll go over there now and tell her how you feel." Shiloh said, "She's never been in a relationship before and she will tell you that, if you care about her, you'll reassure, just like you reassured me."

Mack gave the girl a soft smile and grabbed the faux bouquet and the umbrella.

"You just keep fake flowers in your room?" Mack asked.

"They're from Valentine's day, if you must know, plus none of us know how to keep flowers alive."

Mack chuckled, his grip around the flowers strong as he smiled, "Thank you, Love Club Girl."

"No problem, Oscar disappointment."

With that, Mack stepped out of Shiloh's room, though he wasn't gone long, poking his head back inside the room.

"You said the left, right?"

"No, three house down on the right. Start counting when you leave my house."

Mack smiled, nodding and leaving her house all together.

And soon after, the rain started coming down hard.

Dinner had been cut pretty short and everyone separated into their own space.

Shiloh slipped Ricky's orange hoodie on and made her way downstairs.

She noticed her father, Joseph, sitting on the couch as he absentmindedly muttered at the card game playing on his screen in the living room.

He heard the creaking of the floorboards and looked over at the girl, a small smile on his face.

"Where are you going?" He asked

"I was gonna sit on the porch, clear my mind."

Joseph nodded and scooted over, gently tapping the empty spot next to him.

Shiloh sighed, taking the seat and Joseph sighed, "Don't take Jonathan's words to heart. He has a horrible way of showing it, but he really is trying to look out for you, Shi."

"Ricky's not a bad guy. He's... got stuff going on and instead of facing them head on he—"

"Runs away." Joseph sighed, "I was the same way until I met your dad. And I already had Jonathan at that point." He paused, "We know Ricky's a good kid, we know that Ricky cares about you more than anyone in this world. We'll talk to Jonathan, but for now, go sit, not too long, can't have the movie star getting sick."

Shiloh smiled, hugging her father as he kissed her temple.

She stood slowly and opened the front door, but was called once more.

"Did you hear from any of the schools yet?"

Yeah and she had been accepted into Duke, UCLA, and Berkeley due to apply early, but she had yet to hear from Penn State and University of Salt Lake, but she wasn't too worried about it... she was more so worried about telling her family and Ricky that she had been accepted in the first place.

"No, not yet."

Joesph smiled, "Don't worry. Any school will be lucky to have Shiloh Isabela Molina-Montgomery at their school."

Shiloh smiled in appreciation and headed outside, the rain falling harder and harder as she sat down on the porch swing.

She sighed, swiping through her photos on Instagram before hitting the post button and one picture and one video of her and Ricky was sent out to her now, one hundred thousand followers.

The caption simply reading: i love you very much, full stop and whatever comes next.

That was it.

She quickly shut her phone off and rested her head against the swing.

She soon heard a car coming from down the street. She opened her eyes and saw that damn orange beetle pulling to a stop in front of her house.

She quickly stood to her feet, angrily making her way off of the porch without putting Ricky's hood over her head.

The boy stepped out of his car, his phone in his one hand as he looked at Shiloh's Instagram post and a box of chocolates in the other.

He was so busy looking at her post that he didn't notice Shiloh marching her way over to him.

And as soon as Ricky snapped his head up, Shiloh and met him nearly halfway and pushed him back with force.

"Where the hell have you been?" She angrily asked. Her hair now drenched and stuck to the sides of her face. "I've called and texted you a hundred times and you didn't pick up once, you didn't even read them, Ricky!"

Ricky looked down at the girl, his own hair sticking to his face to his face.

He seen Shiloh angry, but never like this, never angry at him.

Shiloh knew Ricky's patterns. Ricky knew his patterns.

"Shiloh, I—"

"I've been calling you for hours, Ricky and you couldn't pick up the phone once to let me know that you were okay?"

"I can't tell you how sorry I am." He started, "I- I don't want to be any less than a man for you. You deserve so much more than what I've given you. And I want to be with you forever because you mean everything to me." Ricky sighed, "I'm sorry for calling you back and I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you and I'm sorry running away. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to hurt you. I want them to like me because I can see myself with you for a long time."

Shiloh sighed, her anger switching to softness as her and Ricky stood in the rain.

"It doesn't matter what they think, Ricky. It's you and me. It will forever be you and me." She said, "I have never felt more loved until I met you. I don't want you to feel like you have to runaway from that."

Ricky nodded, shoving his phone back into his pocket, "I want to be better for you."

"You are enough for me."

As they stood there in the rain, Shiloh leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. It was gentle, yet explosive, the sense of her lips on his reigniting something deep within him. Their kiss grew more intense, all the pent-up emotions and desires spilling over as they lost themselves in the moment.

Ricky swiped his tongue against her lips which caused the girl to almost jut away in shock, but he was quick to move his hands from her hips and placing one onto the nape of her neck to keep her in place.

Shiloh was almost shocked at his sudden boldness and though Ricky had always been affectionate towards her, she would have never imagined Ricky Bowen kissing her this way.

The rain fell harder and harder as the two of them continued to kiss on the rain, the hair and bodies soaking wet, but none of that matter as they stood there with each other, Ricky's right hand the nape of her neck to keep her in place and the other resting on her waist.

Shiloh's fingers traced subtle patterns along his jawline almost heightening his senses. He met her gaze, his eyes flickering with desire as he leaned down to capture her lips once again.

Her hands slowly moved from cupping Ricky's cheeks and slowly made their way down the soaking wet t-shirt that clung to his body.

Their breaths quickened, mingling with the sound of rain. Ricky's grip tightened on Shiloh's waist, pulling her flush against him, their bodies pressed together in a fervent embrace.

Their bodies glistened with rainwater, tracing rivulets down their flushed skin, amplifying every touch and sensation.

In this transcendent moment, they lost themselves in a world where time seemed to stand still, where only their desire for one another mattered. Every touch, every breath, every whisper.

Everything had changed, just like the midnight rain.

— lucy has something to say !!

(didn't know how to end this 😋)

can we talk about how big red and seb kissed like ???? that shit is so random and i don't think things like that happen in the sense of how they implied it.

it was very random and thought it turned out great for everyone in the end, it's still fucking odd especially with SEB AND BIG RED of all people

enough of them back to ricky and shiloh :D

bye :))))