Violet's Outfit

I was at Ashlyn's house the morning of opening night, and we were sitting in her kitchen, making gifts for the cast.

Since she was in baking club, she had made a shit ton of desserts for each cast member. I, on the other hand, had made everyone custom little photo collages of us at rehearsals and stuff. For Ricky, I had made him a gigantic photo album/scrapbook thing with pictures of us together throughout the years.

"Can I steal a cookie?", I asked Ashlyn, as she pulled another batch of double chocolate chip cookies out of the oven.

"Yeah, I guess. I think I made too much stuff anyway", she replied.

"You think? The whole kitchen is covered with ingredients and cooling racks and cookie tins. All my gifts smell like a bakery", I said.

"That's not a bad thing. I'd be pretty happy if I got a cookie-scented collage", she replied.

"Well, don't worry. You are going to get a cookie scented collage", I said.

"Hey, who's the big book of stuff for?", she asked.

"Oh, it's for Ricky. Now that we're dating, I kind of wanted to get him something a little bit more special. It has pictures of us from when we met in kindergarten until today", I said.

"Oh my gosh! I'd love to look at that. Just let me get this batch of cranberry white chocolate cookies out of the oven, then Im definitely gonna sit down and look through it", she said.

About twenty minutes later, once the cookies were out of the oven and I had "test-tasted" a few different kinds, the kitchen was all cleaned up and every cast and crew member had a tin of cookies waiting for them, Ashlyn sat down next to me at the table and we began to look through the album.

I opened the book, and the first page had a dedication and a letter to Ricky, so I skipped past that to the picture of us from my sixth birthday in kindergarten.

In the picture, I was dressed as Belle from Beauty and The Beast, and the two of us were sitting on the steps of a bouncy house. It wasn't a good picture-both of us were crying in it. That day, he had gotten one of his front teeth knocked out in the bouncy house, so he was crying, and I was crying because I had gotten dirt on my dress.
"Why does Ricky look the exact same as he does now?", Ashlyn asked.

"Honestly yeah. Except he has more teeth now. And he's taller", I said.

"You two were so cute together, even back then. Like, even though you're both crying, his arm is around you. That's just so adorable", she said.

"He was always super protective of me, even back then. I think it's cause I was the shortest in the class, and I had these gigantic glasses, and he was the tallest in the class, so I guess he felt like he needed to protect me from the other people in the class", I said.

"That is seriously the cutest thing I've ever heard", Ashlyn said.

On the next page, there was a picture of Ricky and I on Halloween in first grade. He was dressed as Spider-Man, and I was dressed as Cinderella. In the picture, Ricky is trying to climb up a lamppost to look like Spider-Man, and I can still clearly remember his mom yelling, "Richard Joshua Bowen, get down from there this instant", and him replying, "But I'm Spider-Man!".

"This is so adorable! I love your little dress", Ashlyn said.

"Yeah, I wore that way after Halloween. There's pictures of me from Christmas morning that year wearing that dress", I said.

"Honestly, back then, I think everyone wore their princess dresses way after Halloween", she replied.

The next page was a picture of Ricky and I on the first day of second grade, and then like a collage of us throughout second grade.

After that there was a page like that for both third and fourth grade.

The next page was a selfie of Ricky and I at my house from like fifth grade where we're using the dog Snapchat filter. Fifth grade was the beginning of my never-ending awkward phase, so the picture isn't the best of me, but it's whatever.

Then there's a collage of pictures from the sixth grade, including lots of obnoxious selfies that we took during our boring ass social studies class that year.

After that, there's a collage of pictures from when Ricky and I went with my uncles to LA the summer before seventh grade. Weirdly enough, both him and I had just gotten braces on mere days before that trip, so the thing that sticks out to me most from that trip was that both of us basically subsisted on Starbucks refreshers that week because we couldn't eat anything else. This was definitely during both of our awkward phases, so he's probably gonna hate me for including this pictures, but whatever. Regardless of the bad photos and new braces, it was actually a super fun trip.

"Aww! You guys are so cute. And Ricky with braces! I forgot he had braces actually", Ashlyn said.

"Yeah, because unlike me, he doesn't do a "Braces Off" anniversary post on his Snap and Insta stories yearly", I replied.

Then there's a picture from the first day of seventh grade, that I can remember BEGGING my mom not to take but whatever. Again, we both look super awkward. We both have braces, and Ricky looked even lankier then than he does now, even though he was way shorter back then, and then there I am, showing off my bra straps because I wanted everyone to know that I was wearing a real bra.

After that there's a collage of seventh grade awkwardness, including a picture of us with that SnapChat filter that makes your eyes and mouth real big, so all you can see in the picture is two sets of eyes and two sets of braces.

The eighth grade pictures are more middle school awkwardness, including a lovely picture of Ricky trying on my glasses and looking like a total nerd.

Then there's pictures from our eighth grade DC trip, where we were in a group with Nini, Big Red, and Kourtney. That trip was super fun, and all the pictures from it are way better than most of the other middle school pictures I've included. Probably because Big Red took most of the pictures, and he actually knows how to not make people look like shit with a camera.

After that there's kind of a time jump, as when my dad left that summer I was kinda MIA when it came to friendships.

Then there's a picture from the fall of ninth grade, when Ricky and Nini were officially dating, but dragged me on all their dates just to get me out of the house. From then on, Ricky towers over me in all the pictures, and we begin to look more like how we do now.

Then there's a picture from that November, after Ricky got his braces off but I still had mine, and he's smiling big at the camera while I'm pouting.

After that there's lots of pictures of Ricky, Kourtney, and Big Red with Nini and I outside various theatre things we acted in.

And then a picture that my mom took of Ricky and I outside Olive Garden right after I got my braces off.

Then there's tons of pictures of us with our friends from the summer between ninth and tenth.

Then there's one from Halloween of tenth grade, and it's my favorite picture of the bunch. Ricky, Nini, Kourtney, Red, and I had dressed up as Richie, Bev, Mike, Bill, and Eddie of the Loser's Club from IT. Our costumes are super good, because Kourtney spent hours and hours at different thrift stores throughout Northern Utah trying to find the perfect costumes.

Then there's a collage of tenth grade, and then there's a collage of pictures from rehearsals of HSM.

And then, at the very end, there's a selfie of Ricky and I on our first date just last week. Under the picture, in big cursive letters, it says "I love you".

"That was so adorable! I can tell that you guys liked each other even back in middle school", Ashlyn said.

"Do you think he'll like it?", I asked.

"He'd be crazy not to. I mean, if someone gave me a gift that was so heartfelt and creative, I'd probably melt into a puddle on the floor", Ashlyn said.

"Ooh, I'll let Big Red know that", I said.

"Shut up, Violet!", Ashlyn said, blushing.

"He likes you too, you know", I said

"I doubt it. Anyway, I don't need a great love story to complete me", she said.

"That's fair. But I've known Red for years now, and I know how he gets when he likes someone. He's so sweet, he'd make a great boyfriend", I said.

"Maybe. I did make him something a little extra, to just thank him. I've been thinking of telling him that I like him tonight", Ashlyn said.

I squealed, "Now we can double date! That's iconic!".

Ashlyn laughed, and then we simultaneously realized what time it was and that we should really get over to the school.

Only two hours until showtime.

Author's Note: Hi! This chapter probably isn't what you guys expected, with episode nine being released yesterday and all. I thought that this chapter would be a good preface to that, and I really wanted to do some snapshots of Violet and Ricky through the years. I had lots of fun writing this chapter, so I hope you guys enjoy it! The next chapter (episode nine) should be up in the next few days.

Lots of love, Beth 💛