I’m in a mood. This scene is dedicated to @amesscott who inspired it and @missezramay who has been so kind as to exchange rants with me. I kinda love the outcome, I hope you do too and enjoy a laugh.
What if EJ leaves instead of joining in on Everyday?
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41822976
—— EJ Leaves The Building ——
EJ thought for a split second whether he should turn around and join in on the group breaking out into song.
Because this moment’s really all we have / Everyday / of our lives…
He thought he might have felt Corbin’s hand on his shoulder to lure him back into the dulcet tones of sudden acapella singing, but after the two weeks he had had, he was over it.
Because almost everyday of these last two weeks of his life felt like a marathon. He had barely slept. Unless it was fun, hardly anyone had helped him. Even Val, he had to remember, casted him as Sven on top of everything. His girlfriend had broken up with him because he hadn’t had time for her in the last week and a half even though he told her he was going to be busy. Plus, she was probably still interested in her co-lead, the guy his previous girlfriend had been interested in.
He was good without more days like these. What were they going to do? Reward him with sparklers and marshmallows? Yeah, sure, that was gonna make up for things.
He kept walking and grabbed his stuff from the bunk. After all these years he had learned to pack with efficiency. In the distance he could hear them still singing as if they didn’t care that he had left the building.
He wasn’t a total jerk. He checked in with Red if he could take everyone back in his truck. Assuming of course that some folks might want to head out with Ricky.
EJ: Just let Ashlyn know the game plan. I owe you.
He packed his car and before he drove off, he opened up his card from Nini.
EJ — Mr. Director! I am so SO proud of you. You’ve come so far from our “Music Man” summer - what an amazing show you gifted our friends (and the world!). I know you’re not sure where your next chapter will be, but don’t ever forget that there are people who believe in you. We may have had our up’s and down’s but count me in that crowd always. -Nini 😊
Beneath her name was an arrow to indicate the back of the card. There was an additional note: “If you need it, go here” and an address of a nearby diner.
EJ affixed his phone to his car with the address and headed down the road, stopping eventually at the diner an hour later. He hadn’t eaten dinner. In fact, he hadn’t eaten much of anything the last two weeks unless he was shoveling food in his mouth while trying to learn the book and making notes on every page.
He walked into a brightly lit restaurant that had a few customers and was surprised to see Nini sitting in a booth.
He slid into the booth, ordering some bacon and eggs and coffee with the waitress as he did, “You’ve been waiting for me?”
“Not for very long. I figured you’d get here in the next hour - sometime before the last song and before some jump cut out of nowhere.” She took a sip of her coffee and leaned across the table. “I’m so glad you figured it out.”
“So my current theory is that there’s some vicious cycle and I think it involves Ricky? I think he tried some spell when his parents divorced to get them back together, but it backfired and caused all of our lives to revolve around him?.”
“I know it sounds crazy, but did you notice how easily I quit going to YAC? Like I don’t know how my parents have the money for me to make that costly decision. I would have thought one of my Moms would have told me I had to finish out my semester.”
“Huh…” he said as the waitress handed him his coffee. At this point, this theory was better than any he had come up with. EJ also thought perhaps he was maybe delirious from sleep deprivation. “So does that explain the whole EJ/Gina retcon that somehow happened?”
“Oh, did I miss that? Dang, I was so ready with my Portwell sweatshirt.”
“Porter…Caswell…Portwell? It’s pretty cute you have to admit,” she said.
“It has a certain ring to it.”
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, I mean, the lead guy has to get the girl, right?” Nini said, stealing bacon off of EJ’s plate as the waitress plopped it down in front of him.
“Is this real?” He said chewing on some eggs that tasted like eggs.
“Erm…you just left a group that breaks out in perfect harmonies and knows all the lyrics on cue. Was it ever real?”
“California’s really changed you, Nini.”
“It’s just getting out of the vortex - something just exists over East High and Camp Shallow Lake. Part of me went to Shallow Lake just to test it.”
“Well you should come back with me to my Moms’ AirBNB and have a good night’s rest. It helps to shake the vortex off, plus to start on catching up on two weeks where you were clearly not sleeping if you got that amazing show off the ground.”
EJ realized suddenly how nice it was to hear someone actually say that aloud, “Thanks, but what about after that?”
“Marvin, my bio dad - I’ll tell you more about him later, works in the film and theatre industries…conveniently. I’m sure he can set you up with something.” She leaned her head to the right and then added, “We could probably try and get you work as a model. How’s that smolder?”
EJ gave her smoldering look.
“There it is!” She said, slapping his face gently as if she was a grandma.
“Nini, is any of this real?”
Her smile broke a little and she admitted, “Eh…only the part where I’m here and I have a place for you to crash. We can figure it out if you need a place to stay for longer.”
“I sat here making it up before you arrived in case it made you feel better.”
EJ nodded, “It might sound stupid, but yeah…it did. It’s been a crazy two weeks I didn’t see coming. You’re a good friend, Nini.”
“And you should remember that what you did tonight means you’re a good one, too. But sometimes you just gotta know when to let it go.”
Nini’s first music video plays across all devices of East High. EJ portrays the role of the ex-boyfriend, complete with perfect smoldering expression.
It doesn’t matter what their exes think.
