Just Desserts (a sequel to "November 15, 2008 -- Txting Txting 123") -- by phoebenpiper
"So Troy, have you made it to San Francisco yet?" Taylor asked.
Before Troy could answer, the waitress arrived, covering the table with plates full of desserts. Ryan grabbed a spoon and immediately started stuffing brownie sundae into his mouth, so he wasn't really listening when Troy finally answered.
"Are you kidding? Who has the time? Every free moment out of class I'm either practicing basketball or rehearsing for the fall play."
Ryan would've asked Troy what play they were doing at Cal-Berkeley, but he'd just stuffed his mouth with a bite of Gabriella's chocolate cake.
Chad, however, didn't have a problem with talking with his mouth full. "What about you, Gabs? Seen Frisco yet?"
Gabriella nodded. "I've been busy, too, but I've made it up to the city twice. Back in September I went for a Saturday with my friends from the dorms to do all the tourist-y things -- you know: cable cars, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz. It was a blast."
"That's the only time *I* know about," Troy said, eyeing his girlfriend suspiciously. "When ELSE were you there?"
Gabi smacked Troy on the shoulder. "Two weeks ago? For the 'No on Prop 8' rally?"
"Oh yeah," Troy mumbled under his breath.
Ryan could tell Troy felt uncomfortable with the subject. Not that Ryan could really blame him. After all, Troy went off to California, and the moment he was gone, his best friend of thirteen years suddenly came out of the closet -- Ryan could see how that might be a little unnerving for anyone.
Chad, however, didn't seem at all phased by his recent coming out or Troy's reaction to it. "So how was it, Gabs?" he asked eagerly, leaning forward so he could catch every word of Gabriella's answer.
She started to tell her story of the rally, but Ryan wasn't really paying attention. Not because he'd heard it all over the phone from Gabi two weeks ago but because Chad's movement had brought Ryan's focus back to Chad's thigh, which was pressed tightly against his in the small corner booth.
When they'd arrived at the diner and the waitress had brought them to the booth, Ryan had requested a bigger table because he'd thought they wouldn't all fit -- he'd never been so happy to be wrong!
Of course, seeing Chad in person again had been a bit awkward. Flirting while texting was one thing, but Ryan wasn't sure if Chad was really interested in him or not. By chance they'd ended up sitting next to each other tonight, which had thrilled Ryan at first. However, they'd now been sitting together for so long that he'd forgotten that the warm object pressing against him was Chad's muscular thigh.
Until Chad leaned forward, rubbing Ryan's thigh against his. Now Ryan was once again extremely aware of Chad's presence, so it was hard to focus on anything else, even his good friend Gabi.
"…and SO tiring," she was saying when Ryan finally tuned back in. "We marched almost twelve miles."
Sharpay snorted. "Yeah, RIGHT!"
Ryan turned and gave his sister a warning look. She'd INSISTED on joining him at the diner, and he'd given in to her convincing argument: "I haven't seen you in three months and you're home for less than four days -- I'm NOT gonna let you waste our time together by going off without me." But Ryan knew how Sharpay could be around Gabriella, so he'd warned his sister in the parking lot that he'd make her walk home if she didn't behave.
Now, Sharpay took her brother's hint and quickly smiled, saying, "Twelve miles -- go you!" as she gave Gabriella two exaggerated thumbs up. She then glared back at Ryan and, reaching across him, took a huge bite of his dessert.
To distract everyone from his sister's rude behavior, Ryan quickly said, "How about you, Taylor? How'd the rally in New Haven go? New Haven, right?" he double-checked, suddenly worried that he'd gotten the wrong city again.
Taylor nodded. "Yeah, New Haven was great, but the wind was hellacious! 20 mile-per-hour gusts! It was nearly impossible to hear the speeches!"
"Speaking of speeches," Sharpay burst in, obviously taking any opportunity to change the subject to her, "*I* totally helped fix the PA system here at the Albuquerque rally. Organized by a bunch of amateurs!" she scoffed, rolling her eyes in disdain. "But still -- I suppose getting a thousand people to show up isn't bad."
Troy choked. "A thousand people?! In Albuquerque?!"
"See?" Gabriella said, elbowing her boyfriend. "I TOLD you it was a big deal."
"Yeah, the crowd was huge," Chad enthused. "It was really cool to be a part of it. I hadn't really felt that connected to something since…since the spring musical, I guess."
Taylor smiled and gave Chad's hand a friendly pat. But Ryan was more interested in the whereabouts of Chad's OTHER hand, which had suddenly appeared on Ryan's knee. After the initial shock, Ryan surreptitiously lowered his own hand under the table to do the same. But with Chad's arm in the way, Ryan couldn't directly put his hand on his friend's knee, so he was forced to place it on Chad's upper thigh instead. This elicited a slight gasp from Chad that was quickly followed by a sly smile in Ryan's direction.
Luckily, no one seemed to notice that their hands were missing from the table because Sharpay was busy showing everyone photos from the Albuquerque rally.
"And that's me again," she narrated, straining to see the screen as Taylor and Gabriella paged through the photos on her phone. "And that's some of the marchers. And that's me. Oh, and that's Boi."
Taylor laughed as she reached the next photo. "Nice shirt," she teased Chad, elbowing him.
"What's it say?" Troy asked, leaning over Gabriella to try to get a closer look at the small screen.
"'Someday I will marry the man of my dreams,'" Chad pronounced grandly as he puffed out his chest with pride.
"Oh," Troy said as he sat back, obviously wishing he hadn't asked.
"I think it's sweet," Gabriella said pointedly in Troy's direction before turning her smile back to Chad. "And I hope it's true, Chad."
"The shirt was MY idea!" Sharpay interjected.
"Then it was a good one."
Ryan couldn't help but laugh at his sister's shocked expression at Taylor's unexpected compliment.
Next it was Gabriella's turn to laugh as they paged to the next photo. "Oh goodness, Sharpay -- your poster is totally awesome!"
"I know." Humility had never been one of Sharpay's strong points.
"Yeah, but look at the picture of me she used for it," Ryan said, pointing at the poster. "Could I look any gayer?"
"That's kinda the point!"
Ryan couldn't tell which of the three girls looked more surprised at their unison reply.
Taylor, however, was the first to recover. "But your poster makes a good point, Sharpay -- why should twins have different rights? It makes no sense! Stupid California voters!"
"Hey, don't go ragging on California voters," Troy protested. "Remember, I was one of them, and so was Gabi."
"But did you vote for Prop 8, Troy?" Sharpay asked, leaning across the table towards Troy. "Did you vote to take away civil rights? Because that's what Prop 8 did -- it took AWAY rights! Rights that were already guaranteed by the state constitution. Rights that were being used by ordinary citizens. Did you vote to take those rights away, Troy? Did you?!"
Troy looked very uncomfortable by her line of intense questioning, but he was spared from answering by the sudden appearance of the waitress.
"Here's your check," she said, placing the ticket down on the table. "Just pay at the register whenever you're ready."
"Thank you," Troy said, clearly more grateful for the interruption than for the check itself, which he slid over to Gabriella. "Tell us what we owe."
"Why me?" Gabriella giggled, sliding it back in front of Troy.
"Because you're the 'freaky math girl'," Troy teased, sliding it back once again as his girlfriend elbowed him playfully.
"Here -- give it to me," Taylor said in a no-nonsense tone, having already pulled a calculator out of her purse.
Once the tab was figured out and everyone had put in their share (except Sharpay, who forced Ryan to pay for her), Troy grabbed the ticket and money and stood up to go pay.
"I gotta go to the restroom," Gabriella announced louder than she needed to as she slid out of the booth after her boyfriend.
"I'll come with," Taylor added, sliding out after her best friend.
"I'm coming, too," Sharpay snapped before hurrying out of the booth from the opposite side.
Ryan might've noticed his sister's odd behavior if he hadn't been so focused on the fact that, the moment the booth had opened up, Chad had slid far away from him. Ryan was disappointed, not just by the sudden cold draught against his thigh but by what it implied. Chad, it seemed, wasn't interested in him after all and had only been pressed against him because of the tight quarters.
'But he put his hand on my knee,' Ryan reminded himself, but that small hope wasn't enough to fill the space that now existed between them.
"So...," Chad said awkwardly from what seemed like a million miles away.
"So...," Ryan responded back, not knowing what else to say.
"So…uh...I was wondering…would you like to go somewhere together after this?"
Ryan's heart skipped a beat. "Sure," he said, trying to hide his desperate enthusiasm.
Chad breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good. 'Cuz I've been dying to talk to you all evening."
"Talk?" Ryan repeated, trying not to let his disappointment show.
"Yeah. You know, it felt so good to talk to your sister at the rally a few weeks ago. This whole…thing…my whole...coming out, or whatever you wanna call it...isn't something I can really have heart-to-hearts about with the other guys on the team. I mean, they KNOW, but it's not something they want to talk about, you know? And Troy...well...." Chad trailed off.
Ryan gave his friend a sympathetic smile -- he'd seen for himself how weird Troy had been acting towards his best friend all evening. Ryan couldn't imagine how difficult it would've been for him without the constant love and support of his two best friends, his mom and sister.
And while he was disappointed that Chad didn't want more, he was still eager to help out his friend. "Yeah, of course we can talk. And I'm glad talking to Sharpay helped." Ryan knew that most people never saw the supportive, caring side of his sister because she was usually too guarded to let it show, so he was glad she'd been so open with Chad.
"Yeah, I learned a lot from Sharpay," Chad said, and then a wicked grin spread across his face. "Like, for instance, the name of your secret crush last year."
Ryan could feel the redness spreading across his face all the way to the tips of his ears. Damn Sharpay and her big mouth -- why'd she have to be so open about THAT?
But Chad didn't see it that way. Leaning over, he whispered in Ryan's ear, "That crush wouldn't have anything to do with a certain baseball game last summer, would it? Because man, I gotta tell you about all the dreams I had that night!"
Ryan's embarrassment instantly faded away. He'd KNOWN that there'd been sexual tension between the two of them at that game, and it turned out he'd been right! Ryan smiled smugly -- perhaps they WOULD be doing more than just talking tonight.
But not if he had to drive his sister home!
"Uh…I'll be right back," Ryan said, catching sight of Sharpay exiting the restroom. He rushed to her side and, grabbing her by the elbow, led her towards the door, away from prying ears.
"Shar, I…" "Ry, I…" they began in unison.
Sometimes Ryan hated the whole twin thing.
"Ladies first," he said, knowing his sister would go first anyway.
"Ry, can you do me a huge favor? I need you to drive Chad home tonight."
Ryan just stared at his sister, not believing what she'd just asked.
"What…? I…? But why?"
"Because Troy OBVIOUSLY needs a good talking to about Chad and Prop 8 and, well, about EVERYTHING, and we figure it'll be easier if you and Chad aren't around for it because it's liable to get pretty ugly."
Ryan smiled. This was exactly why, despite everything, he still considered Sharpay his best friend.
"I guess that explains the pow-wow in the bathroom," Ryan teased, adding melodramatically, "And yes, I SUPPOSE I can take Chad home, even though it would be wasting OUR precious time together."
"Oh, don't give me that, Ryan! We both know YOU'RE the one who owes me! You think I didn't notice your hands under the table? Puhlease!" Sharpay rolled her eyes before smiling warmly at her brother. "Just don't stay out all night -- Mommy's made us all appointments at the spa for 8:30 tomorrow morning."
Ryan smiled warmly at Sharpay as their friends started to pile out of the diner. If anyone could talk some sense into Troy, it was Shar, Gabi, & Taylor! Ryan actually kind of pitied Troy -- the poor boy had no idea what was about to be unleashed on him! Of course, he would only be getting his just desserts. Ryan wished he could be a fly on the wall for that conversation, but he knew Sharpay would fill him in on every detail tomorrow.
And hopefully he'd have his OWN stories to share over facials in the morning!
THE END