He had to go. Ryan Evans did not give up that easily. He called up Kelsi, asked if she wanted to get pizza with him after school. And then he tried to promise himself that if he got there and saw that Chad really, convincingly did like Taylor, he would leave.

So that's how he came to be sitting opposite Kelsi, tapping his feet nervously under the table and trying to get a better look at Chad while she told him way too much information about Zeke, her new crush. What he really wanted to see was Chad's eyes. Every so often, he thought he remembered what they'd looked like when they played baseball on Halloween (or, more accurately, when they'd stopped playing baseball). If Chad looked at Taylor like that, like he'd never seen anything more wonderful in his life, then Ryan might believe that this was for real.

'Ryan!' called Kelsi, bringing his attention back to her. She smiled. 'We didn't just come here for pizza, did we?' she asked, knowingly.

'Well…'

Kelsi laughed. 'Tell me why we're really here,' she said. But she knew. Ryan knew she knew, she just wanted to make him say it.

'We might be here to… spy on a double date?'

'Whose double date, Ryan?' Kelsi pressed.

'Oh, you know…' Ryan said. 'Just some kid from the basketball team.'

Kelsi smiled. 'Someone you kissed in Spin the Bottle?'

'Maybe.'

'I KNEW IT!' she yelled, looking like she was about to collapse, or maybe run around waving her arms?

'OK, OK,' Ryan whispered, a little taken aback. 'Calm down. We're spies, remember? Got to be quiet.'

'How can I be quiet when this is happening? Oh my god it's happening!' she gushed. 'You guys are perfect. Perfect.' She looked like she might cry. Ryan was beginning to regret bringing her here. He turned his attention back to Chad, who was looking blankly at Taylor while she talked. Ryan couldn't see his eyes that well from where he was sitting, but he was prepared to bet that Chad was bored as hell.

Kelsi suddenly gasped. 'You disappeared towards the end of the party, were you with him?'

Ryan went red.

'What happened? I need details!'

'No...you don't,' Ryan said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryan saw Chad get up and leave his table. He was going to the bathroom, this would be a perfect opportunity to confront him and to get away from Kelsi's questioning!

'I, er...I have to go to the bathroom,' he said, getting up and following Chad.

He slowly pushed open the door and was greeted by the sight of Chad pacing, his hands in his hair, and muttering to himself. He couldn't catch most of what Chad was saying until he suddenly raised his voice.

'I don't! I don't like-' Chad cut himself off when he turned around and saw Ryan. His jaw dropped and eyes widened. He turned away, leaning against a sink. Both of them were silent for a few moments. Ryan regretted following him in here. What was he thinking? This was a terrible invasion of privacy, completely inappropriate-

'You knew I would be here,' Chad said suddenly, still facing the wall.

'Yes. But I don't understand why you're here,' Ryan said.

'Isn't it obvious? I'm on a date,' Chad snapped, spitting the word date out like it was poison.

'Doesn't sound like you want to be,' murmured Ryan.

Chad turned around then, and advanced towards him. 'How would you know what I want?'

'Well it's not like you know what you want, is it?' Ryan shot back, finally snapping. Why was Chad being like this? 'You seemed to know what you wanted at that party but then you just went and changed your mind the very next day!'

'I never wanted that, it was a mistake!' Chad shouted. 'I'm not gay!'

Ryan gasped and felt tears prickling behind his eyes. He took a deep breath, tried to calm down. 'You kissed me, Chad,' he said. 'That was you. You started this whole thing. And maybe it didn't mean anything to you but…' He took another breath. 'I thought someone had finally chosen me.'

Chad stared at him. Ryan, feeling brave, held his gaze despite the tear running down his cheek. He had a clear view of Chad's eyes now, and hey, there was that look again, the one he'd thought he'd understood. He must have been wrong about it, he'd been wrong about how Chad felt after all. But if that was true, then why was Chad so angry?

'I'm not gay,' Chad whispered, almost to himself.

'Yeah, you said that already, why is that what you're stuck on? Don't you care that you broke my heart?' Ryan asked. 'Oh wait, of course you don't, you don't care about me, nobody does. I'm just the weird gay kid, keep away from him!' Ryan laughed self-deprecatingly and wiped away a few tears.

'That's not true, how can you say that!' Chad shouted.

'What, like you've given me reason to believe otherwise?'

Chad was visibly furious, his fists clenched and his breathing heavy. 'I didn't want this,' he said. 'I didn't want any of this, but I want you and that's the worst part!' Chad buried his hands into his hair again. 'How did this happen? How did you get into my heart? I don't want this!' he shouted, and surged forward, grabbing Ryan round the waist and kissing him. Ryan was too shocked to move for a moment but he was soon pulled into the passionate kiss, their mouths moving perfectly together, as if they did this all the time. Ryan wound his hands into Chad's hair, pulling him even closer as their tongues battled for dominance.

As suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. Chad pushed him away.

'I can't do this right now,' he said. 'I'm not ready.' Chad turned away from Ryan once more. 'Leave me alone… please,' he begged.

Ryan had pushed him enough for one day, it was obvious he was in far greater turmoil over this than Ryan was, even though Ryan was now unsure where this left them.

'I'll go, but we need to talk about this again, when you're calmer,' he said, and left the bathroom.

'FUCK,' shouted Chad, and punched a mirror. He stood back, surrounded by shards of glass, a searing pain across the knuckles of his right hand. He tried to flex his fingers and discovered a sharp corner wedged into the skin between his middle and ring fingers. Well shit. He kicked open the door to a toilet stall and grabbed some paper to stop the bleeding. He was probably going to have to go to the ER for this. They won't let him play basketball for weeks! How could he have been so stupid!

I told you no good would come of this 'thing' with that boy chided the basketball. And now look what you've done, idiot. This could ruin your basketball career! What have you done?