Authors Note: Thank you to all my reviewers! I hope most of your questions are answered in this chapter. Again, special thans to FallingWithGrace who was also my editor for this chapter aswell.

Chapter 2: Biting the Bullet

"Ryan, long time no see," I mustered the courage to say. He looked at me with those eyes and it still was the same gut wrenching stare. He smiled at me.

"Too long." He came up to me then and hugged me. I hugged him back, trying not to inhale his scent, but it was useless. He still smelt like peaches.

"Uh Daddy, why are you hugging Mr. Bolton?" Riley interrupted. Damn, I had momentarily forgotten she was there. We broke apart and he squatted down to her level.

"Well Riley, Mr. Bolton and I used to be good friends back in high school." He looked back up at me, his smile still present on his face. The sight warmed my soul, and everything I had felt that night in front of the window came flooding back to me.

"Like Sammy and I?" Ryan chuckled a little bit before he answered her.

"Yeah. Listen Ry, can you go get your stuff together? I want to talk to Tr-uh Mr. Bolton for a minute, okay?" She nodded and ran to her desk making sure she had all her homework in her bag. He stood back up to his full height. "So, how have you been? Good I hope."

"Yeah not bad, I love my job, life can't get any better." Wow, that sounded lame, I thought. "What about you?"

"Same."

"We should catch up sometime."

"Yeah, we should." We stood there, neither one of us too sure what to say to the other.

"I'm all set Daddy." Thank God for children. He picked her up and rested her on his hip. "Can we go for dinner now?"

"It's too early honey."

"Can we go play basketball then?" Immediately Ryan's face went red.

"Basketball? You?" I had to ask.

"Uh...yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck, and looked at the floor, but his smile was still there. "Sure we can Peanut," he said to her, but then an evil glint came into his eyes. "You know Ry, back in high school Mr. Bolton here was captain of his team and won them the state championship."

"Really?" It was my turn to become red in the face. I nodded at her. "Can you play with us Mr. Bolton? Please, please, please?"

"Yeah Mr. Bolton, please, please, please?" Ryan mimicked. Then they did the worst thing imaginable. They both gave me the puppy look. I caved.

"Sure. Let me just grab my stuff."

I found myself driving behind Ryan's SUV on our way to his house to play basketball with him and his daughter. How messed up was this? I haven't seen the guy in ten years, and now I'm going to his house. I wondered who he lived with, if he had a boyfriend, or even a wife. Hey, Riley had to come from somewhere, right? My train of thought ended up causing even more questions. I was getting in way over my head.

Eventually we pulled up in to a moderately sized home, no where near the size of Ryan's mansion that he grew up in. It was set back from the road, and surrounded by a big rolling lawn. He had to have been sitting on at least two acres of land. But it was, almost cozy looking.

Riley came bounding up to me as I got out of my car, excited that I was going to play with her.

"Come on Mr. Bolton, the basketball court is in the backyard!" Then she took off around to the back of the house.

I titled my head to the side and looked at Ryan. "Court?" All he did was shrug his shoulders and said, "Follow me."

We walked around to the backyard, and no word of a lie, there was a half sized court there. That's right; Ryan Evans had a basketball court in his backyard. I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Riley was already shooting baskets with her dad, by the time I snapped back to reality. I joined them and started to do some free throws, but instantly felt embarrassed. You see, I hadn't played in over five years, and a lot of my shots missed. Ryan looked at me over his shoulder as he sunk a three pointer. Where in God's name did he learn to do that?

"Uh Troy, you okay?" Ryan asked, as Riley made a lay-up. I nodded at him with a smile, as I prepared another shot. It missed. "Get your head in the game!" he said as he started to laugh.

"I'm rusty, I haven't played in awhile. And where did you learn how to shoot like that?"

"Ex-boyfriend in college," he replied as another shot swished through the net.

"I see."

The three of us continued making shots for about half an hour before Riley got bored and suggested I play her Dad at one-on-one. She sat on the side of the court while Ryan and I played a game of 21. I finally got my game back, but not in enough time to win. I, Troy Bolton lost to Ryan Evans, RYAN EVANS, in basketball. The score was 19 to 21, and I was whipped. Riley however, thought this was the greatest thing ever and hugged her Dad.

"I don't know about you Troy, but I'm starving. You want to stay for dinner?" Ryan offered, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Sure."

Ryan showed me into his house, and gave me a quick tour, before showing me the guest bathroom, and offering up the shower as he ran to his room to do the same. When I was done, I walked past Riley in the family room watching TV, and headed into the kitchen where Ryan was already there starting dinner. I sat down on the bar stool at the island and watched as he cooked.

"Okay, go ahead and ask. I know you want to."

"Ask what?" I replied, trying to play dumb.

"What ever it is that has been puzzling you since I stepped foot in your classroom." Oh he meant those questions.

"Alright, where is Riley's mom?"

"Finally he asks." Ryan says, looking up from chopping vegetables and smiling at me. The domestic look suited him well. "Riley's Mom and I were friends in college. We were both in the business program, and usually we were partners for projects. We were always together, think Sharpay and I but at a bigger school, and Jaime wasn't referred to as the 'Ice Queen'." We both laughed at that reference. "Anyways, she ended up getting pregnant by her asshole boyfriend who wanted nothing to do with her. So, she had Riley, naming her after me, and I helped take care of her." Ryan took a ragged breath. I could tell the next part of his story wasn't going to be pretty. I braced myself for it, as tears started to form in his eyes. "When Ry was almost one, Jaime started getting pretty sick; she went to the doctors and found out that she was dying from cancer."

"You don't have to-" I started to say but he held up his hand to cut me off.

"Anyways, before Jaime died, she told me she wanted me to raise Riley for her, and I promised her I would. I adopted Riley a week before Jaime passed away. Her full name is Riley Jaymes Mitchell-Evans, but I want her to go by Mitchell in memory of Jaime."

I just looked at him, at a loss to say anything. He just smiled at me. "Best thing I ever did. Riley is my whole life. She makes everything easier." He glanced to the family room, where Riley was sitting. He looked at her with a far away look in his eyes.

"So how did you just kick my butt out there?" I asked trying to lighten the mood.

"Date the star player of NYU's basketball team?" He laughed. "Chris had one rule, if he went to musicals, I went to games, and eventually I had to play against him. The real question is how did you lose your game?"

"Finding out I couldn't be a coach like my Dad I guess."

"Why not?"

"I'm gay Ryan," Ryan just looked at me as if he already knew. "Teaching guys how to play sports doesn't really go over well with parents." He didn't say anything to that, knowing full well I was right.

"When did you know?" he asked sincerely.

"Your eighteenth birthday. But I didn't actually accept it until my freshman year, when one of the cheerleaders tried to hit on me, and all I wanted from her was her ex-boyfriends number." He laughed at that. "Does Riley know?"

"Does she know what? That I'm gay? Of course she does. I don't think she fully understands what it means, but she gets the idea of it. Granted, I haven't dated anybody since she's been around." He left it at that, and finished cooking dinner.

I still had many questions running through my head, but from the looks of it, Ryan was done talking about it. He smiled at me with a knowing look on his face. He knew I still had questions. It was as if he could read me like a book. I shuddered at that thought, but luckily he wasn't paying attention to me anymore. I helped set the table, as he put the finishing touches on dinner. Thankfully Riley came in to break the silence, asking if she should wash up for dinner.

Once we started eating, the conversations were focused on Riley. Mainly her homework and what book she was going to do on her book report.

"She gets the school thing from her mother." Ryan said simply as Riley continued to practically recite her book report to me. I just laughed and continued listening to her. God, she was a smart kid. As much as Ryan credited Jamie, I could tell that she was smart because of how he raised her. He spoke differently to her than most parents I had run into. He spoke to her like an adult, but still let her be a kid. I admired that.

I thanked Ryan for dinner, and left after the dishes were done and Riley was starting her homework. Yeah, he made her do her homework on Friday night. Blame Jaime all you want Ryan, but she's smart because of you.

When I got back to my apartment, it seemed like it was missing something. I turned all the lights on and got a head start at grading papers, anything to keep my mind occupied, and off of a certain blonde father. As much as I tried to deny it, I was crushing on Ryan Evans for the second time in my life. This time however, if I got a second chance, I wasn't going to let it slip between my fingers. I was determined not to repeat history.

- Disney-Kid