Love Songs: Ryelsi
AN: Neither HSM or HSM2 have taken place!
CHAPTER ONE: Nothing I've Ever Known by Bryan Adams
Ryan Evans leaned out of his bedroom window, his chin propped up on his flat palms with the fingers curled inwards and his elbows resting on the smooth marble windowsill. His blue-gray eyes traced the shape of a magnificent oak tree outside the house, a few yards from his very own bedroom window. Autumn had touched its leaves with scarlet and gold, and as he watched, the first leaf fluttered to the ground.
He smiled dreamily at the stray leaf as it twirled in the wind currents. His eyes were fixed on the scarlet leaf, but his mind was far, far away, in the music room of East High, where he had been not even half an hour ago. And something wonderful had happened there – so wonderful that he had walked all the way home, feeling like he was floating.
His thoughts had been in a mess since then – all he could think about was her. How her auburn hair gleamed in the rare instances that she took off her hat. How her brown eyes, flecked oh-so-faintly with green, had looked frustrated when he purposefully kept ruining the song they were practicing, just so he could spend more time with her. Finally, she had instructed him to sit down on the piano stool and had proceeded to sing the piece for him.
He hadn't thought it was possible for him to fall even more in love with her. But he had been wrong. Listening to her soft voice singing the romantic number he was supposed to be singing to Sharpay in the latest musical, he pictured her on the stage instead, her brown-green eyes wide as she listened to him sing perfectly for her.
Kelsi Nielsen was the girl of his affections - the introverted, quiet pianist of East High. Despite the fact that he and Sharpay went to her quite often to practice musical songs, they hadn't had much interaction. Kelsi preferred not to converse with the Evans twins, unless it was about a song they were working on – and never outside the music class. Ryan could see how cowed she was by Sharpay, and started to disapprove of his sister's harsh tone with Kelsi. But he hadn't actually fallen for her then. No, it had been a slow process, until he couldn't believe he hadn't been smitten with her earlier. But he longed for the times he wasn't awkward with her, always anxious to spend extra time with her. What if she suspected?
Ryan sighed as his eyes continued to follow the leaf, which was fast approaching the ground. Another almost inaudible sigh escaped him as it finally hit the ground, curving at the ends to form a cupped bowl shape. His gaze lifted from the fallen leaf and searched the distant horizon, as if hoping to see the school and the diminutive pianist still sitting at the grand piano, testing out a new song. His heart clenched suddenly, and he wondered why he suddenly felt so breathless thinking about her. It took him a moment to place the feeling – he was in love with Kelsi Nielsen.
He traced a pattern on the cold white windowsill, a dreamy smile spreading across his face again. He hadn't experienced anything like this before, and it made him wonder why he had waited so long to fall in love. But then again, surely love wasn't something you could choose to happen to you. It just… happened. He speculated if Kelsi felt the same way about him. How could she, considering how much she loathed Sharpay? Could she ever come to care for her tormenter's brother? He winced as he thought of how she must think of him – a cowardly lapdog, always trotting behind his sister.
It didn't matter, he decided. He'd wait for her.
He reluctantly pulled himself away from the window, finally realizing that East High wasn't in the direction of where his window faced. He sank onto his bed, flopping onto his back and fixing his gaze on the bright white ceiling. He wished the house wasn't so perfect and crack-free – he would have liked to trace out her face in cracks on his bedroom wall. Hadn't he read somewhere that that was what love struck youths did? He laughed silently to himself – Kelsi was on his mind so much, she was driving out all his sensible thoughts. He didn't mind – he liked the way his pulse quickened even as he mouthed her name to his ceiling.
He drew his hands together to lie on his stomach and played with them almost subconsciously. He'd always been Sharpay's poodle. As much as he hated the title, he didn't have any way of pulling free of it. He loved his sister, and felt that no one understood the person she was deep inside, but he didn't want to be her pet. For so long, he had wanted to break free of her and become himself. But he had finally admitted that he wasn't strong enough to be his own person. Maybe Kelsi was what he was looking for – someone who despised what he was now so much, she'd help him become what he really was.
The idea made him happy. He'd be Ryan Evans, not Sharpay's brother or 'the brother'. He'd be himself. He smiled at the ceiling and kicked his legs absently, almost like a little child. The thought of how Kelsi would feel to see the real Ryan Evans gave him strength. He could do this. He would do this, for her.
His eyes scoured his bedroom ceiling once more, and noticed, to his surprise, a solitary glow-in-the-dark star hovering right above where his pillow lay. He frowned slightly at it – he didn't recall putting up glow-in-the-dark anythings, ever. But soon his face relaxed into another smile. He liked the single star right above where he slept – it would be his guiding light. He made a mental note to look up that night, before he fell asleep, to see the star there. Almost instinctively, he saw Kelsi's brown-green eyes in the heart of the neon green star, looking down at him with gentleness. His heart thumped so loudly, he was sure Sharpay could hear it in the next room. But this feeling filled him with so much joy - it couldn't be wrong, could it? Ryan took his hands off his stomach and placed them behind his head, interlocking them and resting his neck on them. Maybe, tomorrow, he'd tell Kelsi how he felt. Or maybe he'd save it for another day.
Fin
AN: EDITED ON 9TH APRIL, 2009!