In Chapter 27 we see Brianna finally getting to confront Jordan about the things he’s been telling Ricardo. It was something that Brianna needed to happen to really release him from her life and put that much-needed distance between them now.
At the end of the chapter, we see Ricardo finally able to start to break through his shyness around Brianna to compliment her more and tell her how he feels about her. He mentions how he’s always found her sexy, for many different reasons and not just physically. She feels weird that she likes the way it feels when he compliments her. He reassures her that it’s not weird and then asks her how it makes her feel. She responds by telling him it feels like Pop Rocks inside.
Being able to tell someone how we feel about them can be difficult, depending on the situation. Ricardo has never really had the chance to say these things to someone in person. The fear of denial has always plagued him. Even knowing how Brianna feels about him now, he still struggles with it. But he also knows that he can’t hold it in and when he hears how it makes Brianna feel, it will only empower him to do it more.