Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I in any way associated with, High School Musical.
AN: Part of one of the many conversations in this story was inspired by a banner made by Catt001 over on PRUnited. Some day I'll have to go through and count up all the stories I've written that were inspired by Catt's banners, I guess our bunnies just like to breed or something.
AN2: I've had this written ever since the day after I saw HSM3 but I've been holding off because I didn't want two of my ryelsi stories listed in a row. I couldn't wait anymore because I knew I'd forget about this story if I did. Moral of the story: go out and write some ryesli, people! This ship needs love!
AN3: I am again shamelessly promoting the ryelsi group on LJ. Link's in my profile.
The Uncommon Ryan Evans
Kelsi knew the minute she saw him that something was wrong. Granted, seeing Ryan Evans in the theater was not at all uncommon but something about the slump of his shoulders and the way he was twisting his brand new fedora in his hands told her that she was in for trouble.
"Practice ended an hour ago," she said, walking down the aisle towards him. He looked up abruptly and tried to smile, it ended up looking more like a grimace. She stopped ten feet away from him and crossed her arms over her chest, bracing herself for whatever was to come. "Something wrong?"
"I need to tell you something," he said and she winced at the way his usually smooth voice grated.
"About prom?" she asked. She'd assumed they would talk about it at some point; after all, prom was the next night and their planning had ended at "I'll pick you up at eight."
"Sort of. I just --" He rolled his head back and closed his eyes. "I have a confession to make. Sharpay told me to ask you to prom," he said in one quick rush. He opened one eye to see her sitting dumbly at the end of the third row.
She licked her lips, swallowed, and asked, "What?"
His stomach clenched at the way her voice caught. "But I didn't do it because of her. I did it --"
"Why?" she cut in. "Why did she want you to ask me?"
"You always write the best songs for Gabriella and Troy. She wanted you to give those songs to her." Truthfully, he wanted those songs too. He wanted to sing one of Kelsi's best and deep down it hurt that she never put the effort into his songs that she put into theirs.
"I don't," she said angrily. "All the songs are the same, it's just -- Troy and Gabriella are just so good together that they make the songs sound better." She shook her head and turned watery eyes on him. "So, now that Gabriella's gone you don't need me." She pushed herself up from the seat and turned towards the doors. "That's good. I needed the extra night to work on the closing number."
"Kelsi!" Ryan said and leapt off the stage to race after her.
He caught her elbow and spun her around the way he had during the prom number. She stiffened in his arms and looked determinedly over his right shoulder.
"I didn't ask you because of Sharpay! She just -- she gave me the idea, okay? And once she did I couldn't stop thinking about it. What would it be like to take Kelsi Nielson to prom? How could I let anyone else do it?"
She met his eyes. "Was that it or did you want to dig a deeper hole?"
He let her go and she stepped quickly away.
"What do you want me to say, Kels? I never would have asked you if I didn't really like you. You know I'm not that guy. I want to go with you!"
She turned and walked away, leaving him alone in the theater.
Heavy footfalls in the park on a Saturday morning were not uncommon. What was uncommon was seeing Ryan Evans in grungy sweats, no hat, and mussed hair. He stopped beside a tree, bracing his hands on his knees and panting heavily.
"Dude."
The voice startled Ryan, making him look up sharply. Chad, Zeke, and Jason were standing several feet away. Chad held a basketball and Ryan could just see a court through the trees behind them.
"I told you it was him," Jason said, elbowing Zeke. Chad and Zeke glared at him before turning back to Ryan.
"What are you doing out here, man?" Zeke asked.
"Running," Ryan said gruffly.
"We can see that," Chad said, his voice hardening. "But we never see you out here."
Ryan frowned at them. "I just wanted to get out and run, is that so wrong?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I'm sorry, I just --"
"We know," Jason said. "The girls."
Chad nodded with a smile. "They've got us good." He cocked his head towards Zeke. "Him especially."
"Hey!"
Chad ignored him and tossed Ryan the ball. "Wanna play?"
"Where's Troy?"
"California hopefully. He left right after practice yesterday to surprise Gabriella. So, you in?"
Ryan nodded slowly.
It turned out that Ryan sucked at basketball, but since the point of the exercise was to tire himself out it didn't seem to matter. When they were done the sun had risen high above them and all three boys were dripping sweat. Ryan struggled to his feet and began walking slowly away across the grass.
"See you tonight, man," Jason called with a tired wave.
"No, you won't," Ryan said, just loudly enough for the others to hear.
"What!" Zeke cried. "What about Kelsi?"
Ryan stopped walking but didn't turn around. "She doesn't want to go with me."
The three boys exchanged looks. As Ryan walked away Chad pulled out his cell phone.
"What are you doing?" Jason asked.
"If Taylor knew about this she'd already have told me and if I don't tell her, she'll castrate me."
Kelsi sat on her bed, staring at her closet door -- or, more precisely, at the dress hanging on her closet door. She'd made it herself in exchange for not having to do any other work in Home Ec. When she made the deal with Ms. Mason she'd assumed it would sit uselessly in her closet, a testament to her mousey tendencies. The dream that someone might ask her had danced playfully at the edge of her mind but she'd pointedly ignored it. Now, after everything that had gone into the dress and all the emotions pent up in tonight she really didn't think she could go, even just to be with her friends.
Four soft taps echoed through her door and Kelsi sighed. It was time to face the cavalry.
"Come in," she said hollowly.
Taylor and Martha stepped so carefully through the door Kelsi wondered if her mother had sprinkled eggshells in the hall. They took seats on either side of her bed, facing her.
"Chad called," Taylor said.
Kelsi nodded.
"But he didn't tell us why," Martha said, gently taking Kelsi's hand.
"I'd rather not say," Kelsi said, keeping her eyes on the dress.
"He didn't --" Taylor began and the odd tone to her voice made Kelsi meet her worried eyes.
"Wha -- no!" Kelsi cried, realizing the train of thought Taylor was on. "No, he didn't do anything to -- hurt me -- except regress."
"Regress how?" Martha asked.
"He listened to Sharpay," she sighed.
Taylor whistled. "That'll do it."
"But," Martha said, "do you really want to let Sharpay ruin your prom? Hasn't she ruined enough already?"
"Girls," Kelsi said, looking between them, "I'm not going to prom. You are. And I'm sure you have a lot to do to get ready."
"Kelsi --" Taylor began.
"I wasn't going to go to prom even before Ryan was a jerk, so it really doesn't matter. Please."
Taylor nodded and stood. "If you need us."
Kelsi grabbed her cell phone from the table beside her. "I have your numbers."
Martha hugged her before they left and Kelsi convinced herself that the squeeze had been too tight and that was why she was crying.
Ryan stepped up to the door and knocked. Prom was little over an hour away and it had taken him this long to figure out that he needed to do something drastic. Mrs. Nielson had been nice enough when he came in and that gave him hope for what he would meet on the other side of this door. She'd told him that Kelsi was napping and that he should be gentle.
"Mom?" Kelsi called from the bedroom. Her voice was thick and he hoped it was just from being woken up early.
He turned the knob slowly, giving himself time to gather his courage as the door swung open. At the last second he realized that Kelsi was alone in her room and threw a hand over his eyes.
"Are you descent?" he asked when he heard the door knock against the wall inside.
"No," she said evenly.
"Could you be?" He really didn't like the idea of pouring out his heart when he couldn't even see her.
"No."
He sighed then rolled his shoulders back determinedly. "Do you have a new date?"
"No."
"Then I am here to demand that you honor your commitment to let me take you to prom."
"Demand?" she echoed. "And I never actually said I'd go with you anyway."
Ryan's mouth snapped shut. He hadn't thought of that. "Okay, how about this: I told you about Sharpay because I didn't want us to be some cliché romantic comedy. I didn't want this to keep going -- us to keep going -- until one day it comes out that my sister's evil scheme brought us together and you hate me for never telling you. I wanted you to know up front."
"Up front would have been four weeks ago in the practice room."
"Kelsi," he moaned, "can't you just let me take you to prom?"
"No. If you want to go so badly, go on your own."
"But I don't want to go, not without you."
He heard the mattress shift and then Kelsi's voice considerably closer than before. "Why do you want to take me? The truth."
He swallowed. "Because you're the only one who liked music first and -- who isn't Sharpay."
"Not helping," Kelsi said, but Ryan was pleased to note that her voice was slightly teasing.
"You're kind and sweet and you can take Sharpay's crap without having daydreams about strangling her --"
"You don't know what I daydream about."
He smiled. "-- and you know what makes music great. You have the best taste in movies and you're as good at skullduggery as Sharpay and I am --"
She giggled.
"-- and -- You know, I really would like to be looking at you when I tell you how much I really, really like you."
Ryan had only a split second to realize that the warm feeling on his lips was her lips before she stepped away and said, "Give me an hour."
The door shut and Ryan did a quick jazz square of joy. Assuming Kelsi really meant an hour when she said it they'd be fashionably late to prom but wouldn't miss much. He spun, intent on dancing his way down the stairs, when he saw Kelsi's father standing at the end of the hall.
"Hi," Ryan said, coming to a sudden stop.
"You made my daughter cry."
"Yeah …."
"That ever happens again, you won't be doing jazz squares anymore."
"Understood, sir."
Mr. Nielson nodded and headed down, Ryan following a safe distance behind.
The next hour was spent with Ryan sitting uncomfortably on the Nielson's couch, trying to both avoid Mr. Nielson's angry glare and not fidget too much. Mrs. Nielson had tried to force some civility when he first came down (Ryan suspected that if it wasn't for her he wouldn't even have been offered a seat) but shortly thereafter she was called up to help Kelsi prepare.
Ryan looked up sharply when Mr. Nielson stood. He followed the man's shocked gaze and found himself rising slowly from his seat. Kelsi was walking down the stairs and Ryan could no longer form a coherent thought.
"Wow," he said when she stopped in front of him.
"You too," she said, smiling.
He vaguely registered the sound of a camera clicking but ignored it. "Oh!" he cried, and raced out the door.
"What?" he heard Kelsi cry from inside the house. "All that work and --"
He raced back inside and held out a corsage. "I wasn't sure you'd say yes, so I left it in the car."
"Oh," she said and held out her hand. "I had one for you too -- well, it was a boutonnière, but --" She met his eyes and wrinkled her nose. "I threw it out."
"It's okay," Ryan said.
"Yes, it is," her father cut in and held out the small plastic box. "I rescued it, just in case."
"You said he was a jerk who didn't deserve to live," Kelsi said as she took the box from her father's hands.
"Yes, but I knew I'd raised you with at least some sense where boys were concerned."
Kelsi smiled wryly at him and then turned to Ryan. "You're too tall."
He pointed to his chest. "I'm not that tall."
She reached up and pulled his hat from his head.
"Hey!"
A moment later she returned the hat, the flower now pinned to the brim. "Okay," he said, examining his reflection in the television, "that works."
She grabbed his arm. "Now, let's go show those wildcats how to dance."
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