┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘

chapter six:
all's well that ends well to end
up with you !

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

ATHENA HAD DECIDED that just a picture frame for Ricky wasn't enough. Well, no amount of gifts could possibly equal the amount of love she had for him whatsoever, but she guessed that she could show some appreciation for him by doing what she did best — writing a song. All of the emotions Ricky made her feel made the song writing process even easier. She had managed to write one in the span of about an hour while Violetta was getting ready at her house, the song even inspired by something the girl had said. Athena was pretty proud of it.

After Violetta had left (very excitedly, might Athena add), Athena had Artemis drive her over to Ricky's (Athena also really had to get her drivers license.) She hadn't seen much of Artemis lately. Artemis was always out with her friends, but Athena got it. She just wanted to spend as much time as possible with them before going off to college. And Athena, well, she was getting busy with the musical again. It was hard to catch the two of them at home at the same time.

Athena sat in the car, nervously fumbling with the strap of the bag that her keyboard and the picture frame was in. She stared out the window at the passing cars and trees. Every so often, she would see Artemis glance over at her.

Finally, Artemis spoke up. "Are you okay?"

Athena turned to look at her sister, her eyebrows knit in confusion. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You seem nervous," Artemis told her as she turned down a street.

"Violetta said the same thing."

"Then she was probably right. Athena, you shouldn't be nervous. It's Ricky. In fact, he's literally the one who makes you less nervous."

"I know, I know, it's just . . . it's my first Valentine's Day being with someone," Athena responded. "Yeah, sure, it's with Ricky, but he's had Valentines before."

"And yet I can assure you that he doesn't care that it's your first Valentine's Day," Artemis reassured her. "You two are so perfectly perfect for each other 'Thena. So go out there and make this the best Valentine's Day both of you have ever had."

Athena smiled gently at Artemis. "Thank you, Artie. I really needed that."

Artemis pulled over to park in front of the apartment complex. "That's what big sisters are for." She turned to face Athena and placed her hands on her shoulders. "You got this."

Athena nodded once. She took a deep breath before unbuckling herself and getting out of the car. Athena swung her bag over her shoulder before getting out her phone. She quickly checked which apartment it was in the text that Ricky had sent her. Athena finally found it at the corner of one of the buildings and walked up the sidewalk.

She knocked on the door three times. Athena clasped her hands in front of her and waited for someone to answer. Finally, the door opened to reveal Ricky standing there. He seemed to be a little crestfallen, but a grin appeared on his face once he saw her.

"Attie, hey," Ricky began.

She smiled up at him. "Hey." He stepped aside to let her in, but once Athena stepped inside, she noticed the other girl standing there. "Oh. Uh, hi, Gina."

Gina waved. "Hi."

Athena glanced between her and Ricky for a moment. "Sorry, am I interrupting something? I can, um, go."

Gina grabbed her jacket off of the table. "No, I was actually just leaving." She quickly put on her jacket and gave Athena and Ricky a forced smile. "Have a good Valentine's Day, you two."

"Happy Valentine's Day, G," Athena replied.

She swiftly walked towards the door and left. Athena stared after her for a second with a confused expression. Well, that was weird.

"I'm sorry," Athena apologized to Ricky. "I didn't know she was coming over."

"Neither did I," Ricky admitted. "We were just talking about . . . you know, mom stuff. With both of ours being away, and all."

Athena took a step forwards, looking around at the barren apartment filled with nothing but boxes and some random pieces of furniture. "Have you talked to her recently?"

"Yeah, she called this morning to tell me happy Valentine's Day." Ricky put his hands in his pockets. "So, this is my new apartment. Real exciting, huh?"

Athena shrugged and turned back to him. "Could use a couple of pictures." He chuckled, making her smile at the sound. "It's honestly so weird not living next to you anymore. I mean, we've been neighbors for forever. Now I have nobody to bother at all hours of the night. I tried to do it with Artemis but then she yelled at me to go away."

Ricky shook his head. "I'm always a call away, Athena. Plus, when you get your drivers license, you can come over whenever you'd like." He held out his hand to her, which she took. "Now, come on. I promised you a date, so I'm taking you on one."

He grabbed his jacket before leading Athena out of the apartment. The two of them swung their hands in between them as Ricky navigated them down the sidewalk of his apartment complex.

"So, where are we going?" Athena inquired curiously. "Because my present — well, one of my presents — isn't exactly material—"

"I'm not telling you," Ricky interrupted. "We'll be there in maybe a minute. Just wait. You'll love it, I swear."

Ricky led them around the corner to a small pond by the apartment complex. And finally, Athena set eyes on what was set up by the tree, and she gasped a little. A red and white picnic blanket was spread out underneath the tree. There was a bouquet of red roses laying on one of the corners and some petals were scattered around the rest of the blanket. A heart-shaped pizza from Salt Lake Slices sat next to two bottles of water. Ricky's guitar rested in the very middle of the blanket with a speaker next to it.

Athena stood there in shock. Nobody had ever done anything this nice for her before. Just the fact that Ricky actually set all of this up for her made her heart burst and her stomach flutter with butterflies.

"Surprise," Ricky said.

"Ricky, I . . ." Athena trailed off, clearly at a loss for words. "I don't even know what to say. This is beautiful." She put the hand that wasn't holding his on the side of his face and pressed up onto her toes, kissing him softly. "You're the best."

"There's a gift, too," Ricky admitted.

Athena scoffed a little and looked back to the picnic blanket. "Mine won't even compare to this."

"No way, I'll love whatever gift you got me." He tugged on her hand. "Let's go sit."

The two of them made their way over to the picnic blanket. Athena set down the bag with the keyboard and picture frame before sitting next to Ricky.

"You really did all of this?" Athena questioned.

Ricky shrugged. "I had some help. Big Red helped me get the pizza — obviously — and I ran this idea by Vi just to make sure you'd like it." His eyes then focused on the bag next to her. "Is that your keyboard?"

Athena sighed. "Yeah. Remember how I said one of my gifts wasn't material?" Ricky nodded. "Well, I wrote you this song." Athena pulled the keyboard out of her bag. "Basically Violetta saw how I was a little nervous for this date thing, and she said, you shouldn't be nervous, 'Thena, you two like each other so much it's kinda gross."

Ricky rolled his eyes playfully. "Of course she did."

Athena laughed slightly. "So I took that and I ran with it. This song is called Gross, and it's a little silly, but I think it kind of captures us perfectly. I hope you like it."

Ricky nodded encouragingly to her. Athena took a deep breath and made sure her keyboard was on before beginning.

Athena pressed her fingers down for a quick chord before clapping her hands to the rhythm she had come up with. "Not long ago, when I saw you there, with your brown-eyed grin and your messy hair, and every girl at the party was looking at you, ooh, ooh, ooh. I wonder what I'd say if I knew back then that the brown-eyed boy'd be my best friend, and the one I'd give my heart to, ooh, ooh, ooh. Now everything reminds me of you, your pictures framed all over my room, and if I hate someone, you'll hate 'em too."

She looked up at Ricky. He was smiling widely at her, which made even more butterflies flutter throughout her stomach. Athena stopped clapping and began to play a full melody on the keyboard.

"As long as I'm your darling angel, I don't need anything in the world, 'cause I feel like the luckiest every second that I'm your girl. I wanna do everything with you, take the highs, I'll take the lows, I'll keep you close, give you the most. Oh, baby, I like you so much, it's kinda gross. Yeah, I like you so much, it's kinda gross."

Athena continued onto the next verse, this time without the clapping. "And driving in your car, I feel all grown up. Is it me or does it feel more than high school love? Not gonna lie, your last name sounds so nice. I love when you complain about things like traffic, love when you're tired, baby, I like all of it. Honestly, I can't believe you're mine. I bring you up in every conversation, we're young, I know we gotta be patient, but I know I want my life to have you in it. Ooh, and as long as I'm your darling angel, I don't need anything in the world, 'cause I feel like the luckiest every second that I'm your girl. I wanna do everything with you, take the highs, I'll take the lows, I'll keep you close, give you the most. Oh, baby, I like you so much, it's kinda gross. Yeah, I like you so much, it's kinda gross."

Once she finished, she clasped her hands together in front of her and gave Ricky a tentative grin. He was staring at her with so much wonder and adoration that her heart began to race.

"That was absolutely adorable," Ricky commented, leaning forwards and kissing her gently.

"And just to prove just how lucky I am that I'm your girl . . ." Athena trailed off, reaching into the bag and pulling out the picture frame. "Here's part two of your gift."

She handed the frame to him. Ricky stared down at the picture, one that Artemis had taken of the two of them. He had his arms wrapped Athena's waist while pressing a kiss to her cheek while Athena had the widest smile on her face.

Ricky held up the frame. "This is for sure going on the nightstand next to my bed."

"I'm glad you like it," Athena responded.

He cleared his throat after setting the picture down. "So, uh, I actually have a song for you, too."

"No way," Athena replied. "Ricky, come on. This will now be the third one you've written me and I've only written you two. You just had to beat me again."

"I know, I know, but I actually wrote this before one we were dating," Ricky revealed. "It was after Nini and I broke up, during that whole weird period was when I found myself falling for you. At the time I knew that being with you was so far out of reach and that I should try and focus on getting back with Nini, but I realized that I didn't want anyone else. I let you think that Perfect Harmony was the first song I ever wrote you because I wasn't sure if I would ever show you this song, but . . . looking back on the lyrics, I thought it would be the perfect Valentine's Day gift to you. So, Attie, this is Anyone Else."

Athena leaned back on her palms and watched as Ricky picked up his guitar. She nodded encouragingly to him, just like he had done to her, as he placed the guitar on his lap.

Ricky played a couple chords on the guitar before starting to sing. "You say you gotta think it over, I can't stop thinking of you. Is he the guy you want to hold ya? I'll be here when you need me to. Make you feel beautiful in the morning, light you up when the rain won't stop pouring. 'Cause there's a million little things I haven't told ya, it kills me every time he's with you, so. How am I supposed to think about anything else? How am I to go on keeping this to myself? I am done pretending I want anyone else, anyone else, anyone else. Ooh, anyone else, ooh, anyone else."

Athena had honestly felt the same way back then. Violetta had always told her she would find somebody else, but Athena always responded with how she didn't want anyone else. She always sacrificed her own feelings for Ricky's when him and Nini were dating because that was just what she had to do. Often times she would try and suppress those feelings, but they never went away, because she really couldn't think about anyone or anything else but Ricky.

"And now the days are getting longer, I'm caught daydreaming of you," Ricky continued. "I'm still waiting for my happy ever after, when you're ready, I'll be ready too. Make you feel beautiful in the morning, light you up when the rain won't stop pouring. 'Cause there's a million little things I haven't told ya, it kills me every time he's with you, so. How am I supposed to think about anything else? How am I to go on keeping this to myself? I am done pretending I want anyone else, anyone else, anyone else."

Ricky looked back up at her. Athena's heart beat against her chest just at the sight of him. Despite dating for a couple months, Ricky Bowen never failed to make her weak to her knees. He could make her blush with a single comment and made her feel all giddy inside whenever she was around him — especially on Valentine's Day. The fact that they were exchanging songs with each other made it even better.

"The world melts away when I'm with you, and I know you're afraid to jump too soon, oh," Ricky voiced, his eyes never leaving Athena's. "But I promise if you would, I'd love you better than he ever could. Girl, we'd have it good, we'd have it good. How am I supposed to think about anything else? How am I to go on keeping this to myself? I am done pretending I want anyone else, anyone else, anyone else. I keep hoping it'll only be a matter of time, till the memory's faded and the feeling subsides. Time won't help, I can't settle for anyone else, anyone else, anyone else."

He played the final chords on the guitar. Athena stared at him in complete and utter amazement. Words couldn't even describe how proud she was of him. He had started off as this skater who didn't like to musicals to finally showing off his guitar and song-writing skills. It all just came to show that once a person found something they really loved, they would soon come out of their shell. Words also couldn't even describe how much Athena loved the song.

"That was incredible, Ricky," Athena complimented. "You're so talented."

Ricky pointed at her. "Hey, so are you."

Athena looked down at the entire setup around her. "I just don't know how to repay you for all of this. Next time, let me plan a date, okay?"

"Deal," Ricky confirmed with a small laugh. "But there is one more thing."

He turned on his speaker and opened his phone. Ricky tapped his phone screen, and suddenly, the familiar tune of Lover by Taylor Swift began to play through the speaker. He stood up and offered his hand out to Athena, who looked at it curiously.

"May I have this dance?" Ricky asked. "This song is only appropriate for today."

Athena smiled and took his hand, allowing him to pull her up. "Of course."

"We could leave the Christmas lights up till January," Taylor Swift's voice rang out through the speaker. "And this is our place, we make the rules . . ."

Ricky placed his hands on her waist while Athena wound her arms around his neck. The two of them began to gently sway to the song that ultimately described their relationship, just as Seb had said a couple of months ago. They continued to dance without saying a word until the chorus, where Athena was the first one to speak up.

"I don't know how I got so lucky to get a boyfriend as amazing as you," Athena told him sincerely. "I love you."

"To the moon and to Saturn," Ricky promised. "Happy Valentine's Day, Attie."

He leaned down and rested his forehead on hers as they swayed. And with Taylor Swift singing you're my, my, my, my, lover in the background, the two of them spent their Valentine's Day wrapped up in each other's arms, just like it should be.

═ • ° • ✧ • ° • ═

GUYS I POSTED AN ATHENA & BELLE (HSMTMTS AND PJO) CROSSOVER IN MY SPAM BOOK ATLANTIS IF YOU WANNA GO CHECK IT OUT TEEHEE

anyways

ricky & athena: CEO's of writing each other songs

but like gross and anyone else???? look at what I've fucking created. and them dancing to lover???? this chapter gave me all the butterflies

anyone else is the best joshua bassett song 🧍🏼‍♀️ change my mind. and olivia HAS to release gross I need that song in my life

and yes I know athena wrote drivers license about ricky so technically she wrote three songs for him but athena forgot about that song once her and ricky made up so she only thinks of two that she's written him officially . . . but drivers license WILL reappear hehehehe