I saw people discussing when they think Ricky knew about his romantic feelings for Gina, and honestly I feel like him (and Gina) knew from the pretty much the beginning.
In 105 Ricky is upset Nini rejected his kiss and ‘friendzoned’ him so he decides to stop pursuing her and goes to homecoming with Big Red. He makes a pact with his dad that they would put themselves out there and Red says “So put yourself out there. Like, tonight”. and the next shot is Gina and EJ asking to sit.
The show establishes that Ricky is in the mindset of looking for a romantic connection and then places Gina in front of him.
He lashes out at her, and when he goes to apologise he basically tells her that he felt a connection with her, and he kind felt disappointed because he thought she felt it too (he was jealous 😭) and he has a high opinion of her. “I thought you were classier than that,”
After the convo and kiss on the check in the car, I think that he knows there’s potential there, but might be hesitant because she had just told him she that doesn’t date.
When Big Red asks ‘what happened with Gina, Ricky says “I’m not sure yet,” again, confirming that Ricky is deciding on if it’s a crush or not.
And then Gina asks to hear him play her the song, and he KNOWS that he likes her.
like look at his face, he is cheesing. This whole scene is SOOOOOO excellent. The way Gina asks him to play so they could stay for 5 minutes more because the night before the had confessed how much they enjoyed having a place to go after school, (him being flattered because nobody takes him seriously) ALSO WTWMAY is such a loaded song choice
After they both shower each other in compliments (because they are so 🥰🥰🥰) Ricky says to her:
“I kinda can’t forget about anything that happened at homecoming,”
Which I feel is Ricky telling Gina that he has a crush on her.
Look at the way he says “anything,” with the raise of the eyebrow, the small step towards her, as he tells her he’s been thinking about her, and the kiss with a hopeful smile.
And Gina understands it. You can see her process the information.
I’ve seen people joke that S1 Rina were dating without labels- and I literally think it’s true. Ricky tells Gina he felt a connection with her, she asks for a ride home and kisses him on the cheek. He tells her he can’t stop thinking about her, she walks him to a party and makes him a hat. They were courting each other, and that’s why they were both devastated when she got the call from her mom and she cut him off.
Gina’s confession on opening night is her verbally confirming to Ricky that she felt the connection too, and she was really sorry (heartbroken) that she had to give up on it.
Just like in the s3 finale, where she understood his confession in Kristof’s Lullaby, she verbally confirms that she wants to be with him.
Ricky doesn’t blink when Big Red thinks he wrote a song about Gina, because he knew he was romantically pursuing her. When Ricky says he let Gina slip through his fingers, I think means he’s sad he didn’t fight when they both knew they liked each other, and it’s why he feels EJ stole her. In s2 Gina says “Nini’s back and he’s so happy now,” she was a sad because he moved on, not because her crush was unrequited! And he only moved on because she had told him to, he doesn’t see her as an option after she moves (he thinks the follow my dreams resolution was about Gina) and he bury his feelings for her. He put himself out there and got disappointed again, and Nini was the safer option for a moment (i’m just saying Ricky wasn’t particularly heartbroken over his first break up with Nini)
Ricky is very open with Gina about his feelings for her in s1, he has always known that they were romantic and he basically tells her he has a crush on her after singing WTWMAY.
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