CHAPTER 8
Troy was standing on one of the moving stairs of the escalator. He had been wandering through the mall for the last half hour with no real guiding purpose. He had been at his house all morning and finally when he got bored just sitting around there and decided he wanted to do something all of his friends were already busy with their families of significant others. And so, he had thrown caution to the wind and driven his beat up, old pick up truck to the nearest mall and went on an adventure all his own.
Usually he would be self-conscious about going to a place like this all by himself. He usually wouldn't go anywhere by himself. He felt that doing something like going to the movies by himself was the ultimate no-no. What would people thing of him? But desperate times call for desperate measures and this was one of those times. His mother wouldn't leave him alone around the house and had no desire to do yard work with his father, so even though he was breaking a cardinal rule of the social order, he ventured to the mall on his own.
He had walked from one end of the mall to the other already and was just leaving the food court, soda in hand. He didn't really know what he was going to do in the mall for much longer; it's not like he had a ton of extra money to throw around, regardless of the fact that he was working full time, so he couldn't really buy anything. And even though he had come to the mall on his own, there was no way in hell he was going to see a movie in the theater located in the back of the mall.
As he got off the escalator, he had just about made up his mind to just throw away the soda from which he had barely dank anything and head back out to his truck to take the quick ride back home. He spotted the nearest trash bin, which was situated next to a bench and a fake plant. He never really understood the purpose of fake plants in the concourses at large malls, but that was beside the point. He walked over to the tall metal container and was just about to throw the cup in when he was startled by a voice coming to him from his side.
Apparently, the person sitting on the bench next to the trashcan knew him. He hadn't been paying too much attention to his surroundings, just trying to blend in with everyone else, and so didn't notice the mystery person who was now calling out to him. He turned his head and looked over at the bench, a smile spreading across his face when he realized who was talking to him.
"Hey, Troy," Ryan said, smiling from his seat on the bench. "What brings you to the mall today?" He then started looking around where Troy was standing, confusing the basketball player a little. "Who are you here with?" he asked, erasing the confusion from Troy's mind.
He blushed a little, hating that he had been found out for breaking one of his cardinal rules. "I actually came here by myself," he said, shuffling his feet a little while moving away from the trash can and over to his friends. "I was really bored at home and everyone was busy, so instead of being bugged by my mom and dad, I decided to just do something on my own." He finished just as he came to stand directly in front of his friend.
"Oh," Ryan said in acknowledgement. "I hate going places by myself. I don't think I would have been adventurous enough to come here by myself." At that a little shiver ran through Ryan's body, as if he was repulsed even by the idea of it all. "And don't even get me started on going to the movies by myself. I know that some people can do stuff like that, but I just hate going places by myself."
Troy chuckled lightly, thinking it was funny that he and Ryan shared that particular point of view, but then started looking around to see who Ryan was with. "Are you here with anyone?" he asked.
"Yeah," Ryan said, looking away from his friend. Troy thought he saw the hint of a frown cross his features. "I'm here with Austin. He wanted to come and look at some new clothes and that has turned into more than three hours of me following him around and carrying his bags," he finished as he gestured to the stacks of bags that were sitting next to him. Troy cringed a bit as he thought about what Ryan must have been going through and was then thankful that Gabriella had never made him do that with her.
Troy's attention was brought out of his thoughts when Ryan spoke up again. "I didn't think I would ever say this, but I'm not having a fun time shopping," he said, smiling when he saw the look of shock on Troy's face.
"Wow," Troy replied. "Stop the presses; Ryan Evans doesn't want to be shopping. Don't let your sister hear that. You don't know what she'll do to you."
Ryan blushed a bit and then looked back up at Troy. He just then realized that his friend was still standing and he felt kind of awkward just sitting there looking up while talking to his friend. "You know," he said, motioning to the part of the bench next to him, "there is plenty of room on the bench here. You don't have to keep standing. Unless you're afraid I'll try and shove you off after I've lured you into a false sense of security."
Troy laughed and moved to take a seat next to the blond. "So, other than today, how has your weekend been going?" Troy asked. He hadn't seen Ryan since their group lunch at the club the other week and was interested in what he had been up to.
"Well," Ryan said, heaving a sigh, "I had dinner with Austin and his family the other day, but that was before we all had lunch together at the club. Still, it's the only real big thing that's happened. As you can tell, I lead an exciting life."
"The dinner must have been fun, though, yeah?" Troy asked.
"I don't know if fun is how I would phrase it," Ryan said, looking back over at his companion. "I spent most of the time dodging peas. Austin's brother and sister are demon spawn."
Troy laughed at the mental image Ryan's story created. "But you had Austin there with you to retaliate, didn't you?" he asked, thinking that was the most obvious situation. It's what he would have done.
"I wish," Ryan replied. "Austin and I argued about it after dinner. He doesn't think they could do it. I stick by my assumption that they are not children, but spawn of the devil." Ryan crossed his arms over his chest as he crossed his legs, giving the outward impression that the conversation on the matter of Austin's siblings was indeed over.
Troy put his hand on Ryan's shoulder in a show of sympathy. "Well, if we ever run into them together, I'll be sure to team up with you," Troy said. "We'll take on the evil together."
Ryan looked at Troy's hand on his shoulder and blushed. He never really knew how to deal with public displays of affection, regardless of whether they were just friendly or romantic. And even though this small gesture couldn't possibly be construed as romantic, the fact that it was Troy made the butterflies in Ryan's stomach start flying around like miniature concord jets. "Yeah," Ryan said, laughing to hide his nervousness, "I'm sure the big, bad Troy Bolton would take on a few 12-year-olds just to defend my honor."
"Hey, you've got to show those little kids who's boss or they'll just end up walking all over you," Troy said as if he had experience in dealing with kids like these. Then Ryan realized that he actually had. He gave golf lessons at Lava Springs, and if Ryan knew anything about rich little kids, he knew that they would probably be worse than Austin's siblings.
"Well, I'll let you be my knight in shining armor next time all of us cross paths at the same time," Ryan said.
Troy laughed and removed his hand from his friend's shoulder and the two continued talking amicably for several more minutes. They were planning another round of golf when Austin emerged from the clothing store. He looked over and saw the two of them sitting together on the bench and found his blood boiling. Rationally, he knew the two were just talking, but he knew about the crush Ryan harbored and he didn't want anything coming between the two of them, not even a friendship.
He could tell after their last night together that something was off with Ryan. He didn't put any effort into their lovemaking. In fact, Austin was hard-pressed to even call it that. He couldn't bring himself to call something that only had one willing participant in it lovemaking. Earlier he had thought that something so intimate could only bring the two of them closer together, but now he didn't even know if that was working. But he wasn't going to let all his hard work go to waste just so the brown-haired god could steal away his man. He had to show this Troy Bolton exactly who he was up against and that he would not go down without a fight.
"Ryan!" he yelled from his place at the entrance of the store. He watched as Ryan's head turned in his direction and then stood up from the bench. "Can you come here and grab one of these bags for me?"
Ryan walked away from Troy and the bench and up to his boyfriend who stopped to place a languid kiss on his cheek. He knew Ryan wasn't a fan of public displays of affection, but he had to stake his claim in front of Troy, and that meant being overtly obvious in how he interacted with his boyfriend. As soon as the kiss was placed on Ryan's cheek, he felt the shorter blond tense, but he didn't care. He chanced a look over at Troy who was still sitting on the bench and was glad to see that his face was flushed and he was trying his hardest to look anywhere but at the couple.
Austin held out a bag for Ryan to carry and then lifted up another one himself before linking arms with his boyfriend and walking back over to Troy and the rest of his purchases. "Hello, Troy," he said, unlocking his elbow from Ryan's and extending his free hand to shake with Troy. "I didn't expect to run into you today."
"Yeah," Troy said, standing up from the bench and taking Austin's proffered hand and shaking it soundly. "Well, I wasn't really planning on coming to the mall and then it was just coincidence running into Ryan here."
Ryan noticed the appraising look his boyfriend gave Troy and knew that the interaction between them all wasn't going to be anything good. He also knew, however, that there was nothing he could do to stop it, so he just heaved a sigh and listened as Austin began speaking again.
"It just seems that whenever I try to spend time with my boyfriend, here," he said, as he put his arm around Ryan and brought him close to the side of his body, "you show up. You're not trying to steal him away from me, are you?"
Well, Ryan had been expecting something, but he certainly hadn't expected that. He spluttered for a second and cast a glance over at Troy to make sure that he wasn't offended or anything before looking back at his boyfriend. "Austin," he said. "Troy is straight. And there is nothing going on. You're just embarrassing me and yourself every time you say something like that."
"I'm just pointing out what everyone else is probably already thinking," Austin said in his defense, still holding his boyfriend tightly around the waist. "If I were the jealous type of boyfriend, I don't think I would allow you to hang out alone with Troy all the time."
"What do you mean not allow me to hang out with Troy?" Ryan asked angrily, removing Austin's hand from around his waist and turned to face his boyfriend. "What gives you the right to tell me who I can or cannot hang out with?"
Now, if Troy was feeling awkward when he saw Austin kiss Ryan, words couldn't describe his feelings right now. He shuffled nervously as he watched Ryan stare down his boyfriend. Austin on the other hand, looked calm, which was even more disturbing.
"Oh come on, babe," Austin started, but was cut off by Ryan, who started speaking again.
"Don't try to 'oh babe' me, Austin," Ryan said, swatting away Austin's hand, which was trying to wrap itself back around his waist. "You have no right saying anything like that to me."
"Ryan," Austin started again, trying to placate his boyfriend. He had obviously crossed a line that he didn't know was going to upset the blond so much. "You know I didn't—"
But he was cut off again. "Look," Ryan said, "I don't want to talk about this anymore. I just want to go home. Grab your bags and let's go."
Troy watched the whole situation unfold in front of him, wishing he didn't have to hear everything that was going on, but unable to actually stop. It was like a car wreck. After Ryan's last line, however, he felt the perfect opportunity to bail. "Yeah, you know I should get going, too," he said.
Ryan looked up and Troy could tell from the look in his eyes that he wanted to apologize, but more than he wanted to apologize he wanted to leave. He mouthed 'I'm sorry' to Troy and then turned on his heel to walk away. Troy looked down at Austin who was still gathering his bags and nodded to him when he glanced up before taking off in the opposite direction Ryan had just gone.
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Troy walked in through his front door and tossed his car keys on a nearby table. He was glad the house was quiet; it was a good sign his mother wasn't home. Right now, he just wanted to be in silence. He hadn't even turned on the radio in his truck on the way back from the mall. For some reason, he just wanted to be kept company by his thoughts—and boy did he have a lot of them.
He had really been weirded out at the mall when he saw Austin being overly affectionate with Ryan. And that bothered him. He thought himself to be a very tolerant person, so he didn't understand why the two of them kissing would make him feel so weird. He thought back to the moment when he saw Austin go in for the kiss. He could tell by Ryan's reaction that he didn't really want to be affectionate in public, but he couldn't understand why when he saw them kissing he couldn't look away fast enough.
He wasn't really a fan of ridiculous public displays of affection, but he couldn't argue with a little kiss here and a little hand holding there. But as soon as Austin's lips touched Ryan's cheek, he couldn't find another place to look fast enough.
Maybe he just didn't like watching two guys being affectionate. That thought had passed through his head a few times, but he couldn't accept it. Sure, he had been surprised when Ryan actually came out to him, but that fact didn't change his opinion on the blond. The only reason he was surprised was because he had never taken a moment to consider Ryan as a sexual being—and why would he? He was dating Gabriella and had been for almost nine months. Now, apparently, that had changed. Maybe his breaking up with Gabriella had caused Troy's perspective on relationships in general to change.
He was just so frustrated. He walked into the kitchen and over to the refrigerator and opened the door. He looked around and rummaged through some leftover foods before deciding to just take a bottle of water. He unscrewed the cap and took a long drag from the bottle before putting the cap back on and standing still in the middle of the empty room. Why was this bugging him so much?
He was friends with Ryan. Ryan had a boyfriend. Troy used to have a girlfriend. He was pretty sure that Ryan never had any problem when Troy used to kiss Gabriella. So he couldn't wrap his head around why he kept thinking about Ryan kissing someone else.
He placed the bottle on the counter, no longer wanting anything to drink. He leaned against the tiled surface and ran his hands through his hair, which, by the way, needed to be cut soon. He was trying to think of something to do that would distract him from his thoughts when he heard the front door to the house open. Several seconds later, he watched as his mom came in, carrying several paper bags full of groceries.
"Oh!" she said in surprise when she turned around and noticed her son standing in the middle of what she thought was going to be an empty room. "I didn't know you would be in here."
"I was just thinking about something," he replied.
At hearing that, the Bolton matriarch set the bags she was carrying on the counter and took a good look at her son. "Is there anything you want to talk about?" she asked, ignoring her son's sigh. "You look as though something is bothering you and I know you usually think I'm just being a nagging old mom, but sometimes I might surprise you and actually know what I'm talking about. Especially when it comes to teenage angst."
Troy gave his mom a look. "I am not being angsty," he said. "If anything, I'm being contemplative. And I'd rather not discuss it with my mom, if that's okay with you."
His mom held up her hands in a surrendering motion. "Okay, okay," she said. "Don't get your panties in a bunch."
Troy shot his mom a look that clearly said that he was not amused by her foray into humor. "Look, mom," he said, pushing off from the counter and motioning to leave the room, "I'm just thinking about some things, and I promise if I ever want or need to talk about it, you'll be the first person I go to."
"Okay, honey," his mom said as she watched him walk out of the kitchen. She just shook her head. Something was going on with her son, and she didn't even know if he knew what it was. She could only hope that when he did figure it out he would do what he said and come to her.
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Ryan hadn't waited for Austin to catch up with him as he left the mall. He was just so pissed. There was no reason why Austin should have acted like that in front of Troy. No reason whatsoever. Troy had never done anything to him and Ryan had never given him any reason to act like such a possessive jerk. Not to mention the fact that he was pretty sure Troy would want nothing to do with him anymore when he had such an incredibly psychotic boyfriend.
And he had just started to become friends with Troy. But why would he want to continue doing that if he had to deal with Austin who didn't have any problems with being out-and-out rude to him whenever they were with each other. He could feel the sting of tears at his eyes as he was walking through the parking lot to his car. He had finally started becoming content with his life and the direction it was taking, and Austin had just tried his damnedest to throw it all into disarray. Why couldn't he just have this one thing? It's not like he was asking for the impossible, asking for Troy to be in love with him. All he wanted was the friendship. He didn't even care if his boyfriend was a jealous ass hole, as long as it didn't interfere with that one thing. That one, small, important thing.
And then it hit him. Like a ton of bricks, it hit him. He stopped in the middle of the parking lot and stood still for a moment. It finally made sense to him. Everything that Kelsi had said, everything that Gabriella, Troy and Sharpay had been talking about when they spoke about relationships. If he wasn't willing to put his boyfriend above everything else, if something as little as a newly formed friendship with someone else was more important to him than his established romantic relationship, then maybe that wasn't what he was looking for. Maybe he was staying in this relationship for all the wrong reasons—something all his friends had been talking about since they started this whole relationship shuffle more than a week earlier.
And that realization caused him to understand what his sister had been talking about all those weeks ago. He really was stringing Austin along. There was no way he would ever be able to give Austin what he wanted, and by staying in the relationship he was just giving his boyfriend a false hope and making the whole situation that much more messy. He wasn't doing anybody any favors, least of all himself. If he wanted the opportunity to find that one person he really, truly wanted to be with, then he would have to give up the temporary comfort that being in a relationship right now was giving him.
He slowly began walking again. His hands were shaking and his steps weren't really all that sure, but he knew what he had to do. He just didn't know how he was going to get through it.
He finally reached his car and unlocked it, swinging the driver's side door open slowly and gently seating himself in the car. A few moments later he heard the passenger's door open and a slightly winded Austin plop himself down along with all of his bags. Ryan quietly closed his door, followed by Austin. He shakily put the key in the ignition and started the car. They had still said nothing to one another.
Ryan pulled out of his parking spot and slowly started driving out of the parking lot. As the drive continued, Ryan could tell that Austin was nervous. He kept fidgeting with his bags and the seatbelt and was trying his hardest to not look over at him. He knew he had done wrong. Ryan wasn't about to put him out of his misery, though. He thought his boyfriend could use a little while to stew. Of course, things probably weren't going to go over well when they decided to speak anyway.
After a while, Austin finally decided to speak up. "Look, babe," he started, "I really am sorry about what happened back there. I just get so jealous sometimes and I know that you've had a crush on Troy for such a long time. I just don't know what to think when I see you with him."
"You should think that I would never cheat on you, that's what you should think," Ryan said a bit testily. "But I really don't want to talk about this right now."
"But babe," Austin protested. "We have to talk about it. I don't want you to stay mad at me."
"I know," Ryan said. "But I still don't wan to talk about it."
Austin finally took the hint and closed his mouth, sitting back in his chair and staring out the windshield. He didn't say another word for the rest of the trip, which would have been awkward if it was any longer than 10 minutes.
As Ryan pulled into Austin's driveway, he shifted his car into park and finally turned to face his boyfriend. He took a deep breath before speaking. "I don't think this is working," he said. At first he didn't think Austin heard him because of the lack of reaction, but then when his boyfriend turned to face him, he could see the resignation in his eyes.
"I knew this was going to come sooner or later," the blond said. "I just hoped I would be able to convince you of something else before you realized it."
That actually surprised Ryan. He had expected begging, yelling, maybe even some crying. But he certainly wasn't expecting a calm Austin. It actually kind of unnerved him a bit. A mad Austin, he could deal with; but he wasn't so sure about this sad and resigned Austin.
"Just tell me it wasn't because of what happened today at the mall," Austin said. "Because if it is, I think you should really reconsider. I can work on the whole jealousy thing. I really can."
There it was. There was the Austin he knew. "It's not about what happened today," Ryan said, giving his now ex-boyfriend a sad smile. "What happened today just made me think about things I've been putting off for a while now."
"Oh," Austin said, looking down at his lap. "You've been thinking about this for a while then?"
The tone of Austin's voice made Ryan empathize with him. It wasn't going to make him reconsider, but he could understand why he was upset. It was always sad when something you had seen as a huge part of your life goes away. "I haven't been thinking about it," Ryan said. "I just felt like there was something missing. I thought that if I just pushed my feelings aside whatever it was would have just fixed itself. But it didn't. And I Just realized that I couldn't keep doing this. We would have just ended up hating each other. And I don't want that."
"Ah," Austin mumbled. "I guess I just need to know one thing before I go. You're not seeing Troy are you? I don't know if I could handle that right now. Although I couldn't really blame you for wanting it."
Ryan let out a sigh. "Look," he said. "I've told you a million times. Nothing is going on between me and Troy. He is as straight as straight can be. It hurts me more that you would think I'd actually do that to you. Even if I don't love you, I'm not a bad person. I would never do something like that."
"I know, I know," Austin said, rubbing his forehead. "I just, I don't know, I hate that this is ending. And I hate that it's not even because of someone else. I can't even be angry at you for all of this. And that's what's so frustrating."
"I know," Ryan said. "But I can't help what I feel."
"I know," Austin said. He then gathered all his bags and opened the door. Before he got out, however, he turned to look at Ryan one last time. "Is there any way I can talk you out of this?"
"I don't think so," Ryan said, shaking his head softly.
"Well," Austin started, "you can't blame me for trying." And then he started getting out of the idling car. Once he had gotten all his bags, he made to close the door, but hesitated for a moment and then stuck his head back down. "If you ever want to give it another go, I'll be waiting for you. I love you, Ryan."
"I know," Ryan said. It was all he could do. Austin gave him one last sad smile before shutting the door and walking up to his house. Ryan watched until Austin had entered the building before putting the car back into gear and pulling out.
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Ryan walked into the living room to find his sister sitting on the couch, flipping through the television channels. He had just pulled his car into the garage a few minutes before. He stopped to watch his sister for a moment before he spoke up to alert her of his presence. "I broke up with Austin," he said.
Sharpay's head turned so quickly, Ryan thought she had surely given herself whiplash. Her eyes searched through the dark room to find where her brother's voice had come from. When she found him, her eyes softened and she patted the spot next to her on the sofa.
Ryan walked over to where his sister was seated and plopped down next to her. He brought his legs under his body and leaned against Sharpay. "So, you finally did it?" she asked. "I didn't think you were ever going to break up with him, that you'd just spend the rest of the year stringing him along and then use college as an excuse to break up."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Ryan replied.
"It's not that," Sharpay started clarifying. "I just didn't think you'd ever realize what everybody else already knows."
Ryan lifted his head off his sister's shoulder to look at her questioningly. "And what exactly does everyone know that I don't?"
"Didn't," Sharpay restated. "I didn't think you'd ever realize that Austin wasn't the one for you. Everybody else could see that. I know for a fact that both Kelsi and Zeke have talked to you about this. I just thought you would remain oblivious to all of that for a little bit longer."
"I guess I'll have to remember never to tell Kelsi or Zeke any big life secrets anymore if the first thing they do is run and tell you," Ryan said, shoving his sister playfully.
"It's not like I gave them much of an option," Sharpay said, laughing. But he probably already knew that his friends would never give up any secrets about him without Sharpay putting her Prada-clad foot down and pumping them for information.
"I just knew that I didn't love him," Ryan said, changing the course of their conversation. "And I couldn't ignore it anymore. I was beginning to not like him, and I didn't want that to happen."
"Well, you can't force love," Sharpay said. "And it's best that you realized that now instead of later. It would have just made everything a whole lot messier in the end."
"You're telling me," Ryan said. "It's not like Austin is the most calm person to begin with. Can you imagine if we had kept dating and then I broke it off with him because I found someone else?"
"There would be a lot of yelling," Sharpay said. "He'd probably end up giving me a run for my money."
The two of them laughed at that and continued talking for a while before they settled down to watch some stupid infomercial that had caught their attention. "Do you think mom would ever let us get one of those bullet thingies?" Ryan asked.
"Are you kidding me?" Sharpay asked looking over at Ryan with shock plastered across her face. That look was wiped off, however, when she saw the laughter in Ryan's eyes. She then shoved him off the couch and resumed watching the television program.
A/N: And here is chapter eight! I wanted to get this chapter up really quickly to kind of make up/apologize about not getting a chapter up last week. And look! Austin and Ryan are finished! What's going to happen now? And what is going through Troy's head? Questions that we will be addressing soon, friends.
Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter. Please don't forget to review! They let me know what you all are thinking and give me ideas for how to improve later chapters.
Please enjoy!
