In chapter 15 we see a slight breakthrough for Ricardo. In his mind, he wants to tell Brianna so much, but his nerves and shyness won’t let him. He wants to tell Brianna that he’s there at the games for her and only her. He wants to let her know that he doesn’t care about the game or anything else going on at the stadium. Ricardo is only there to see her.
When he sees Brianna’s sadness as he tells her that they’re there because his dad loves high school football, he quickly tries to recover. When his fumbling doesn’t do any good he finally blurts out the truth when he says he’s there to see her. Even after that, he tries to smooth it over so as not to make it sound so desperate but by that time Brianna has already caught it.
Even with his nerves and shyness, Ricardo does not stand a chance when it comes to Brianna and we start to see this wall breakdown in this particular scene.