Mrs Danforth sighed, shook her head and yelled up the stairs for the third time.
"Chad, hurry up! Your ride's been here for 10 minutes already!"
The crash of something being knocked over upstairs, a door slamming and finally Chad leapt down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
A small smile played across Chad's mother's face as she watched her son checking his hair in the hall mirror. He'd never been one to care much about his appearance, in fact, as a child she'd had to force him to change his underwear everyday, but here he was, dressed in an almost crease-free shirt, clean tshirt underneath and new jeans.
She kept these observations to herself, although she doubted her husband would notice if Chad shaved his hair, tattooed his head and grew a handlebar mustache. She suspected that this change was in someway connected to that Evans boy, and if it meant dirty sports kit wasn't left in his room for days, she couldn't complain.
Outside a car horn sounded and Chad, after kissing his mother on the cheek, dashed out of the house and raced down the driveway.
Hat shading his face fromt the hot summer sun, fingers drumming a rhythm on the dashboard, Ryan oozed an aura of wealth and style. This was soon broken when Chad slammed the door of the Porsche and, checking that his mother wasn't watching from a window, placed a forceful kiss on the other boy's lips.
"Hello to you, too," Ryan replied, somewhat breathlessly, after Chad had pulled away.
Chad grinned and couldn't resist pecking him quickly on the cheek.
"I've resigned myself to the fact that you'll never let me drive this beauty, even though Gabi only lives a few streets away."
His tone was hopeful, but Ryan revved up the engine and sped off, disregarding the speed limit completely.
****
The Montez house was well kept and fairly large, although compared to the Evans mansion it was bordering on average. Ryan smiled when he saw the Romeo & Juliet style balcony, remembering the routine he had choreographed for the musical. Chad tramped through the neatly arranged flowerbeds as he made his way to the side gate, with Ryan following behind, stepping delicately between the plants. Before Chad lifted the latch he glanced over his shoulder and noticed the small frown etched on Ryan's brow with concern.
"What's the matter, dude? If we don't hurry up all Ms Montez's brownies will have gone."
Ryan shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and continued walking towards the gate. Chad's hand on his shoulder stopped him and a finger under his chin forced eye contact between them.
"Seriously, Ryan, what's up?"
"I'm just a bit.......nervous. I – "
" – you? Nervous? You've never had a problem with Gabriella before."
"Not it's not her, it's all you Wildcats. I know I'll feel so out of place."
Chad took hold of his hand and wrapped his arms around him.
"Maybe before Troy got into theatre, it would have been weird, but they've accepted that now, so they'll accept you too. Troy won't have a problem as long as you convince him you aren't after Gabi, Jason won't notice anything, and Zeke........well, he is obsessed with you sister so I doubt he'd have issues with another Evans. Now, come one, I'm serious about all those brownies disappearing."
Chad led Ryan by the hand through the gate and into the Montez back yard. Greetings were called out immediately and Taylor came forward to give Chad a hug. After only a second's pause, she hugged Ryan as well and handed him a glass of lemonade.
"Hey, Ryan. I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, well actually it's Sharpay I've always disliked, but if you make Chad happy, who am I to judge?"
Before Ryan could open his mouth and reply, Zeke had rushed forward and thrust a package of cookies into his hand.
"Can you give these to Sharpay, please? Do you know what her favourite flavour is? What was she wearing today? Does she – "
" – alright, alright, that's enough, Zeke," Chad interrupted. "Stop pumping my boyfriend for information."
Zeke backed away with a sheepish grin as Ryan's eyes widened in surprise. Chad turned and smirked at him.
"Well, what did you think you were? My wife?"
Ryan flushed a little at that and replied,
"I thought you wouldn't want to be so open about me.....well, us. You were so tense before prom."
"Yeah, but these guys weren't bothered by us there and, if you haven't already noticed, any opinion they hold is copied by the entire school."
"That's slightly creepy, you know."
"It's not my fault everyone else acts like a sheep and follows whatever Troy does with enthusiasm. I never thought you were really concerned about homophobia; you've been flaming since freshman year."
"That's acceptable for a theatre geek, I was actually worried about you."
Chad stopped smirking and considered Ryan silently for a few minutes.
"It's true that jocks don't exactly welcome gay team mates, but East High's different, I don't think there will be any huge issues there, but, Ry..." He paused. "It really does mean a lot to me that you thought about that and if there were any anti-gay sentiments, I will never give you up or regret this."
Forgetting his previous anxiety and the Wildcat team surrounding them, Ryan pulled Chad closer, placing a soft kiss on his lips. It was one of those moments from a movie where all the other characters should start wildly applauding and wolf whistling, but this was reality so obviously that didn't happen (although Ryan couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed). Instead, Taylor's voice rang out loud and clear,
"That's all very cute, but I don't think I could take it if another ridiculously soppy couple joined out group. Then I'd only be left with a hopelessly devoted chef and gormless baboon."
The tension, if there had been any, was well and truly broken and Ryan felt himself beginning to relax. Who'd have thought that after years of avoiding the Wildcats, he would feel more at ease with them than he ever did at home?
"See, I told you it would be alright," Chad murmured, but Ryan felt the hand in his clench as Troy approached.
For one fleeting moment, Ryan thought punches were going to be thrown, but realising that they weren't in fact living in a soap, that was highly unlikely. However, he was very surprised when Troy took in their linked hands and stated quite simply,
"You're gay."
"Oh, thanks for pointing that out, Troy. I never would have figured it out by myself, what with Ryan having a dick too."
Troy may not have been the brightest crayon in th box, but Chad raised his eyebrows when his sarcasm went unnoticed except for a shrug and a casual,
"Okay."
"So.......what? This doesn't bother you at all?"
"Just means there's one less person with their eyes on Gabi."
Chad often despaired at the Bolton logic, with it's sole focus being Gabriella, but for once he was grateful for it, although he couldn't resist adding,
"What if it's you I've got my eye on?"
Troy's calm demeanour changed abruptly and he appeared to go visibly white, even under all that orange fake tan. Chad laughed out loud and Ryan stifled a giggle with his hand.
"I'm just kidding, man. I prefer the pale, skinny types." He drew Ryan closer. "Now, where's the food?"
****
Later that afternoon. When the sun had reached it's peak and everyone had retreated into whatever shade they could find, Chad and Ryan sat close together, swinging slightly, on the hammock. Taylor came out of the house, talking with Gabriella, but turned in their direction and observed the pair of them with a small smile playing across her face.
"Are you going to let us in on the joke, Tay? Or stand there grinning like a lunatic all day?" Chad called over.
She crossed the grass towards them and drew up a chair.
"I'm just so happy that the two of you are back."
"Back?" Chad repeated, bemused. "We haven't been anywhere."
"Well, physically, no, you haven't. I meant back to your usual selves, especially you, Chad." She glanced apologetically at Ryan. "Sorry, I didn't really notice you before. I could tell something was on your mind; you were rather preoccupied and for once you weren't solely focused on basketball. I have to admit, you did have be worrying, when all it was, was a crush on Ryan Evans, of all people!"
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with Ry! And it's not a crush, it's – "
Taylor raised her hand, cutting Chad off.
"I already said that I didn't have a problem with him, remember? Perhaps now that you're officially 'out' and together, you'll start paying attention in Chemistry!"
Ryan snorted in disbelief.
"I doubt that'll happen anytime soon."
"I happen to agree with you there, Ryan," Taylor added, reaching over to shake his hand.
"When you two have quite finished insulting me, I'd like to remind you that science isn't exactly top of the list of qualifications for a pro basketball player."
"Knowledge is power, Danforth, even a drama geek like me knows that, and I don't need science for Julliard either."
The talk soon turned to universities and Taylor's hopes for Yale and Political Science. She questioned Ryan in depth about Julliard and what he hoped to achieve and he answered eagerly, his passion becoming apparent. Chad scuffed his toe against the ground, letting their conversation wash him, a knot forming somewhere in his chest.
****
Ryan drove Chad home for his 11 o'clock curfew, chattering all the while about New York and their upcoming graduation. Staring out of the window, breath misting up the glass, Chad tried to ignore the one-sided conversation and inwardly cursed Taylor for mentioning the future.
Pulling smoothly into the Danforth driveway, Ryan finally stopped talking, the silence falling heavily in the car.
"Er......did I say something?"
Chad swallowed hard and, without looking him in the eyes, answered,
"No, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong."
Even to his ears it didn't sound convincing, but not wanting to hear Ryan's reply, he kissed him briefly and slammed th car door.
As he hurried towards his front door, Chad was aware of Ryan's puzzled gaze following him. Once inside he ran up the satirs, not stopping when his mother warned him that he'd wake up the whole neighbourhood, crashing around like that.
Reaching his bedroom at last, Chad threw himself down onto his unmade bed and buried his face in his pillow.
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