Part Two
Sunday had finally arrived and after two major shouting-matches with his twin (they couldn't agree on what to tell the others about the cause for their days-long row) and after three hours of browsing through his walk-in-closet for the perfect outfit the hands of Ryan's watch had finally moved to quarter to seven.
As if on cue the doorbell rang and with one last look into the mirror to check his hat Ryan went to open the door.
"Hey!" Gabriella was the first to greet and pull him into a big hug. Troy, Zeke, Jason and Martha followed and spilled one after the other into the entrance hall, slapping him friendly on the back in walking (at least the boys did… Martha had a hug of her own for Ryan).
"Hey guys," Ryan smiled, "come on in! Good to see you all!"
"And you, too!" Martha replied and with a look at his head she added: "Hey, I like your new hair."
"Thanks," Ryan beamed and took everyone's coat, only to hand them over to Marie who'd waited in the background to put them away.
"New hair?" Troy asked and took a closer look at Ryan's head. He didn't see any difference.
"Yeah, I've let it grown out since graduation," Ryan emphasized his statement by pulling out a blond strand from under his black hat. The hair went down to his earlobe by now and he was quite proud of not having cut it off (especially when it looked quite stupid in the mornings and he had to get up twenty minutes earlier than usual only to tame the blond mass or otherwise he'd look like having bed-hair all day).
"Oh," Troy mumbled and threw a quick glance at the other guys to see if they'd noticed the new hair. Jason obviously hadn't either and Zeke was busy looking for Sharpay in the living room already. So no help from there. Well, it was probably a girl's thing to comment on things like that because next was Gabriella chiming in:
"It really suits you, Ry."
"Thank you, Gabs. I may be starring as Baby John next spring and I didn't wanna ruin my chances by not having the hair for it. Oh, and you're looking lovely by the way."
They'd all entered the living room by now and when Ryan motioned for them to sit Gabriella asked curiously:
"They're doing 'West Side Story' at Julliard next spring?"
"Not at Julliard, no," Ryan replied slowly. "But I kind of joined a small theater crew and… it's all in my spare time, you know? They wanna do 'West Side Story' and… well, maybe… I get lucky."
"Wow, Ryan… that's so cool," Gabriella gasped while Zeke muttered under his breath:
"You actually have spare time? How come I don't have spare time?"
"How did you join them, Ryan?" Martha wanted to know.
"Oh, well…" Ryan fidgeted and… was he blushing? "You see, Robin from my vocal class…"
"RYAN THOMAS EVANS, don't you dare talk any further!" Sharpay stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, glaring fiercely down at her twin.
"But…"
The blond girl shushed him with a wave of her hand and walked into the room to sit next to Zeke on the couch.
"Not until everyone's here, Ry. We agreed on that!"
"Calm down, Shar." Ryan dared to reply, "I was only telling that Robin introduced me to the theater company, that's all!"
"Oh," Sharpay had the grace to look embarrassed for a second before she continued:
"Well, now you said it, so… let's change the subject, shall we?" And with a sudden sweet look she addressed Troy opposite from her.
"Troy! How've you been?"
"Hey Sharpay," the boy greeted her back, "Nice outfit!"
"Thank you, you're so… observant!"
Jason let out a snort and when everybody looked at him he shrugged and said:
"Troy? Observant? He didn't even notice Ryan's new hair!"
"Ryan has new hair?" Sharpay wondered surprised and threw a closer look at her twin. "Oh, right. Now I see it, too."
Well, so much for observant.
Half an hour later Kelsi had also joined the party at the Evans' home and was chatting amiably with Martha about her music classes. Troy and Gabriella sat with Ryan in a corner and the three of them were lost in a discussion about living away from home.
Or rather… Gabriella and Ryan were discussing. Troy sat by, not really listening but lost in his own thoughts.
Where was Chad? He hadn't talked to him at all since returning home and now he wondered if he should have perhaps checked on his best friend (they still were best friends, weren't they?) to make sure he was alright.
But Chad had said in his mail that everything was fine, hadn't he? And he'd also said that he would be here by seven. So… what was taking him so long?
Why was he…
The doorbell rang and pulled Troy out of his thoughts. Everybody else stopped talking, too and when Ryan walked away to answer the door all eyes followed him.
It had to be Chad at the door.
So now their little reunion would finally be complete and they would all at last hear the much looked-forward-to news Chad had announced in his mail.
Sharpay smiled gleefully and clapped her hands in anticipation. Now the fun was about to start.
Ryan opened the door and…
The greeting he'd had on his tongue stuck in his throat at the sight of Chad. He looked…
"Hey Evans!" Chad smiled slightly. "Am I late?"
'Wow,' was the only word on Ryan's mind right now but he forced his brain to work and managed a breathless "Hi" instead.
Stepping back to let Chad enter gave Ryan the chance to look his friend up and down without being too obvious.
What was it about Chad that was different?
The clothes? No, Jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with a warm wool-jacket over it. Nothing extraordinary.
The hair? Still the same untamed mop of curls he'd sported in High School.
But Ryan just knew that something was… off.
And then he suddenly knew nothing anymore, nothing but the feel of Chad's warm body pressed against his in a friendly hug. Ryan's precious new hat was knocked slightly askew by Chad's head when they leaned into each other briefly but… right now Ryan couldn't care less.
What, oh what was it about Chad Danforth that made Ryan feel like he was melting into a puddle of warm goo whenever he wasn't concentrating hard enough?
It had been like this since their summer at Lava Springs and ever since then Ryan had worked hard on not letting his feelings for the jock be noticed by anyone (apart from Sharpay of course). Over the last year he'd perfected the art of suppressing his feelings all the time… until he'd one day realized, a few weeks before the prom, that he'd managed to squash them down to a comfortable and strictly friendly level and he'd been able to act normal around Chad again and work with him on the Musical just like friends.
Or so he'd thought.
Now he wasn't so sure anymore. Ryan sighed involuntarily with another look at Chad who'd now broken the embrace and was looking at Ryan expectantly.
Oh, wait… was he expected to say something?
"Ugh," Ryan stammered, "what did you say?"
"Nothing, Evans. I was just trying to get back your attention," Chad smiled. "You spaced out on me for a second."
"Sorry," Ryan mumbled and motioned for Chad to follow him into the living room, where the rest of the gang was waiting for them.
"Chad!" Gabriella was the first to break the silence that had fallen over the room. She jumped from the sofa and crushed her small body to Chad's.
"Hey, how are you? Are you okay? It's so good to see you!"
"Wow, Gabs!" Chad smiled confused, "Missed me that much, did you?"
"Of course I did, you silly! All of us did, am I right?"
She released her hold on the jock and gave others the chance to welcome him. Troy had stood as well and was the next to pull Chad into a friendly hug.
"Hey," he whispered only for Chad to hear, "sorry, dude, for not being in touch more often. Are we okay?"
"Sure," Chad replied and made his way over to greet the rest of the party.
The conversation that had haltered on Chad's arrival was now gradually picked up again and soon enough they were all back to chatting about College and Red Hawks, about Julliard and Music in general and… everything seemed back to normal.
Until Sharpay suddenly stood up from her place on Zeke's lap to walk into the middle of the room and get everyone's attention with a wave of her hand and a shout.
"Okay… enough!"
Everyone looked at her, confusion written all over their faces, and waited for her to go on:
"Now that the pleasantries have been exchanged let's get to the good stuff."
She threw a pointed glare around and when her gaze had found Chad's she smiled sweetly and added:
"Out with the news, Chad!"
"What?"
"You wanted to tell us something, didn't you?" Sharpay clarified.
Eight pairs of eyes fell instantly onto Chad and the jock could feel his body temperature rise and his face start to heat. This was so not how he'd pictured the scene in his head.
Chad rose from his seat and shook his head quickly.
"No, I mean… yes! But first I wanna know what's been wrong with you two for the last few weeks." He glared first at Sharpay and then his gaze landed on Ryan before he went on:
"I mean, dude! We all know that you've got this weird twin-thing going on that nobody really gets but… the week-long silent treatment was a bit much, even for you Drama Queens!"
"Hey!" Ryan exclaimed with his hands crossed over his chest defiantly.
"Sorry," Chad corrected, "Queen and… King. So… what was that all about?"
"Ugh, well…" Ryan stammered and broke off helplessly.
"Oh come on, Ry!" Sharpay growled. "You have to come out with it sooner or later. And I can't wait to hear what they all think about this."
"Why not later then?" Ryan asked but a brisk huff from his sister shut him up again. Sharpay looked at him for a second, shook her head disappointedly and said:
"It was a stupid thing and Ryan here totally overreacted!"
"I did NOT overreact, Shar!" Ryan threw back. "Not from my perspective. You have to tell how it really was!"
"Why don't YOU tell them?" his twin replied but before Ryan could so much as take a breath she added:
"Never mind, I'll tell them! Okay, a few weeks ago Ryan told me he was dating Robin," Sharpay started and waited for a reaction.
"So?" Troy asked confused.
He'd always wondered, and he sure as hell hadn't been the only one, when Ryan would eventually start living a little. As far as they all knew Ryan hadn't had one date in High School (apart from the prom but… he'd gone with Kelsi, as friends, so that didn't count, right?). It had been high time for him to start acting on his sexuality, or so Troy thought. And he seriously couldn't see the problem Sharpay seemed to have with that. Unless… she hadn't known Ryan was gay. But that was impossible, wasn't it?
Everyone had known (even without Ryan actually saying it).
"I don't see…" Troy filled the silence at last.
When Ryan motioned for Sharpay to go on she sighed and continued:
"Well, I called him a few days later and there was suddenly this strange girl on the phone. I demanded to know why she had my brother's cell and she said that Ryan was in the bathroom and…"
Sharpay made a dramatic pause before she continued: "And that she was Ryan's girlfriend! I couldn't help but laugh at that and tell her in no uncertain terms that it could be in no way true because my brother has always been and will always be gay!"
Nobody even blinked at that and so Sharpay went on:
"Only now Ryan suddenly thinks he's not."
"Huh?"
"Ryan is dating a girl!" Sharpay cried and waited for the others to react.
Silence.
"Oh," Troy mumbled at last and looked around to see how everyone else was taking this revelation. Zeke, Jason, Martha and Gabriella seemed to be in the same kind of shock that was speaking out of Chad's face. Kelsi was the only one not looking too surprised, but then… she'd probably known for a while since she was the only one seeing Ryan on regular basis in New York.
"Well, say something!" Sharpay prompted when the silence stretched longer and longer. "See Ry, they're all shocked. They don't believe it either!"
"Guys," Ryan addressed his friends at last, "come on! What's so wrong with me dating a girl?"
"Well, you're… I mean," once again it was Troy who phrased what they were all thinking. "We all thought… ugh, you know…"
"That I was gay?"
"Yeah!" the girls confirmed.
"Sure," Troy nodded, "and hey, it's cool man!"
"No, it's not cool, man!" Ryan exclaimed and jumped up from his seat to start pacing back and forth. "Why would you think I was gay? I never said that! "
"Well, no…" Gabriella relented just when Zeke, Jason and Troy started pulling things off their fingers.
"You didn't have to… the outfits…"
"And the hats… with the sparkles and rhinestones and all…"
"And don't forget the knee-length boots!"
Ryan glanced down his body, his gaze going from the extra-crinkled pastel-pink designer-shirt he was wearing over his skinny black jeans and the pink belt complete with rhinestones down to his shiny black Alexander McQueen boots.
"Just because I like to dress up…" he shrugged.
"Dude, you don't dress up… you flame!" Chad forced out between clenched teeth. It was the first comment he'd made on the whole issue.
"And then the whole Musical thing… you sing, you dance…" Troy broke off when a pointed stare from Ryan reminded him of his own choice of career. Oh, right!
"But what about the Ashton Kutcher posters your room was once plastered in?" Martha asked cautiously. "I thought you had a crush on him!"
"He did!" Sharpay exclaimed forcefully. "And not just on him, all of last year he was pining for…"
"Shut up!" Ryan shouted suddenly.
Now everyone was back to staring at Ryan in shock. They'd never ever heard him shout before, he'd always embodied the more calm and reserved half of the twins (unless he was on stage acting). But now he was fuming, eyes as cold as ice, and actually staring his sister down.
"That doesn't matter anymore, Shar! I'm dating Robin now and… I really like her!"
"O-kay, everyone calm down!" Gabriella broke the staring contest with a kind smile and jumped up to pull Ryan into a spontaneous hug.
"I don't care if you're gay or straight or… suddenly start sprouting tentacles out of your head! You're you and I missed your company."
She released him to smile around the room and the tension flowed away instantly. Then she took Ryan's wrist in her hand and started pulling him over to the stereo system to put on some music.
"This is supposed to be a party, so… let's have some fun, guys!"
"Thanks!" Ryan smiled down into her pretty face and when the music started and Gabriella pulled him into dancing position Ryan suddenly felt really back home for the first time in days.
For a short while Troy watched his girlfriend dance with Ryan through the living room before he made his way over to where Chad sat with shoulders slumped, apparently lost in his own thoughts.
"Hey," he said and plopped down next to him, "are you okay?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Chad groused. "I wish you would all just stop!"
"Okay," Troy relented and quickly searched for another topic to talk about. "So," he finally asked, "do you think Ryan was serious earlier? Do you think he's straight? Like… seriously?"
"Dude," Chad answered and stood up swiftly, "so not the thing I want to talk about right now!" And with that he started walking away.
"Chad?" Troy shouted after him.
"Leave it, Bolton. I need some fresh air!" Chad replied without turning back, went into the entrance hall and out of sight.
Troy stared after his friend for a moment. There was definitely something bothering Chad big time but… well, he would come out and tell sooner or later, wouldn't he? Best not to pressure him too much. Troy shook his head to drop the thought and focused his gaze back onto his beautiful girlfriend.
So, still like it? Let me know before you go to the last part.