A/N: AT LAST!! This was one of my favorite chapters to write, and I hope you all may enjoy it as well.
At nearly 1,000 hits for this story alone, it seems you all do, but nonetheless… Title says it all. This chapter does contain slight Gabriella bashing, but hopefully I won't lose a few fans because of it. Now, in the words of a certain blond boy, "It's Showtime!"
Chapter 11: Celebrating Thanksgiving With A Break-Up
Since Thursday was Thanksgiving Day, Chad stopped over to pay to the housemates a visit, Sharpay also promised to be over when she was done eating dinner with Zeke and their parents. Mrs. Evans called Ryan expressly to wish him a "Happy Thanksgiving" and luck with Troy. She was overjoyed for her son, and his father also approved, both parents wanting the best for their boy who had always been trapped in his sister's shadow and now finally discovered himself in the light of the golden boy.
Ryan missed his sister, and his parents whom he rarely saw, especially his mother, but Troy and Chad were able to quell those forlorn feelings.
Troy also got a call from his parents, having to assure them everything was all right at the house and he hadn't trashed the place with any parties. His father also inquired if his son had had anyone "special" over. The younger Bolton male replied "Yes", puzzling his father by adding, "No, it wasn't Gabriella".
Chad and Ryan exchanged a glance, once again ready to leap to Troy's aide, but it wasn't required. The brunette golden boy left off the conversation by telling his parents he had something important to tell them when they got home and he hoped the were having fun. With a sigh, he clicked the phone off, then put it down. Immediately, Ryan and Chad were at his side.
The blue-eyed male took his taller lover's larger hand into his delicate one. "When you're ready, Troy…" he murmured in soothing, even tone. "You don't have to tell them until you're ready."
"I know, Ry." Troy nodded wearily; but was able to put on a smile so as not to upset the blond. 'Thanks."
"Look, man." Chad broke in. "Not to interrupt, but they're your parents. If being with Ryan makes you happy, even though he's another guy, they should be cool with it, right? Look at how happy Ryan's folks are!"
"I know, Chad…" Troy sighed. "I just hope you're right, dude."
"Hey." Chad laid his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You know I've got both yours and Ryan's backs through this."
Troy smiled. "I know." He said once again. "Thank you." His blue eyes passed over both his boyfriend and his best friend. "Both of you."
"Don't mention it." Chad told him.
Ryan hugged Troy affectionately, not needing words to get his feelings across.
Later into the evening, the three of them were sitting down to a meal Ryan had made. As an Evans, he explained to Troy earlier, "We're rich, so we're not supposed to be completely self-reliant. We have servants who do laundry, cook, and clean for us. I, however, wouldn't trust our maids as far as I could throw them. So I clean, do my own laundry, and learned to cook from my mom. But-" he added hurriedly "that's a secret. You're the only one outside the family who knows."
Troy had raised his right hand and put it over his heart in a jestful solemness. "I'll take it to the grave."
While Chad enthusiastically, with a hint of contempt in his voice, told them how Sharpay was attempting to pay people to carry her books for her in Ryan's absence, Troy's phone rang again. All three of them raised an eyebrow. "Who the heck could that be?" Troy wondered aloud, fishing his phone out and answering it. "Hello-?"
"Troy." A cold female voice cut him off.
"Gabriella?!" he questioned incredulously.
"Troy, what's going on?! You haven't showed up at school all week or called me! You ignored my calls last weekend and didn't return them! Has something changed? Did I do something wrong?!" the girl cried in a shrill voice.
Troy hoped she wasn't crying. He would feel bad and somewhat guilty if so.
With a strong sense of intuition, Ryan was attune to the heavy, tense weight of the situation. He looked into Troy's eyes, and though some distress was visible there, he showed no inclination of desiring assistance yet. Shakily he settled back into the seat that he was almost ready to leap out of.
"No, Gabriella. You didn't do anything wrong."
"Then what's going on?!" she almost wailed in fury and upset." It's not like you to just flake out on us!! Your team needs you at practice! Sharpay needs you for support until Ryan turns up and I need you!! Don't I matter to you?!!"
Troy's body began to shake with the anger building inside of him. What the hell? Who does she think she is?!
Ryan's soft features hardened with bitterness. Dark fury and battle filled his eyes. He was not just going to stand by and tolerate Troy being lashed out at.
Chad's hand flew out and seized his arm. "Easy, Evans." he mouthed. Despite his own eyes being clouded, he said in a low voice, "Troy can hold his own."
Sighing, Ryan slumped back into his chair. I know he can. He told himself. I just can't stand doing nothing and allow someone to yell at him and rile him up.
In response to Gabriella's question, Troy merely sighed, almost groaning.
"Troy, is there someone else?!"
She had probably meant it as a way of receiving assurance in the form of false "of course not"s, and "I only care about you"s. More stupid, murdering expectations. He was sick and done. What Gabriella Montez was going to get was the truth. "Yeah." He told her firmly. "There is."
She gasped so loud, both Ryan and Chad could hear it. Chad's jaw hung open in awe. Ryan silently cheered Troy on, wearing a near invisible smile of triumph. To think he earlier almost felt sorry for Gabriella. Ha! After harping on Troy whose one mistake in life was trying to live up to other people's expectations of him, she deserved every bit of the ugliness coming her way.
Struggling to for a few moments to find her voice again, she choked in a strangled, icy tone, "Troy, I'm outside, let me in."
Ryan wanted to stand by his boyfriend, but he had to prioritize his own safety as well. He was "missing-presumed dead", after all. Slinking out of the room, he went halfway up the stairs so he remained out of sight, but within earshot. If Gabriella got too rough with Troy, he'd blow his cover if he had to and show her there was someone else in the jock's life far more deserving, even if he wasn't entirely sure he himself was.
As Troy pulled open his door to reveal a wrath filled Gabriella on his porch, he wished silently for Ryan's support, knowing he couldn't have it. The other boy's safety was far more important.
Seething with rage, Gabriella snapped, "How could you?! What about us, Troy! All the songs!! I'm your girlfriend! You kissed me!!!"
"Wrong, Gabriella." Troy retorted. "You kissed me. And for the record, a kiss doesn't mean anything unless it's from the one you love. That kiss didn't mean anything to me!"
"What?!" the hurt in Gabriella's brown eyes faded away to more anger. "You lead me on!!" she spat, a vicious, shocked inflection in her voice.
"Yeah. I guess I did. And I'm sorry." Troy told her in a confident, sure of himself voice. "But, I don't love you, Gabriella. I never did. Dating you was a huge mistake that I am never going to make again. But, there is someone I truly love now, and even though he's not here, I want him to know that he means the world to me."
Ryan was rapt with attention, his hands clinging to the banister and his heart a flutter. Troy's talking about me!
Gabriella must not have been prepared for such a revelation; that her perfect boyfriend was gay. "'He' ? A g–guy?!!"
"Yeah. I'm gay." Troy's tone was icily calm. Chad and Ryan knew they could have cut the tension in the air with a knife. "I know you don't wanna hear this right now… but Gabriella,"
The petite, dark-haired girl looked up, her brown eyes stinging with tears as her curls fell over her shoulders. Troy was really going to do it.
'It's over." The three syllables clapped into the room, temporarily immobilizing the brainiac who was now the ex-girlfriend of East High's top jock. Troy still had his composure despite the fact that Gabriella, someone whom he used to think so highly of and admire for her control, had long ago lost hers. Ryan's not a selfish pansy that cries over everything. He told himself. Not like Gabriella. "I'm tired of pretending to be something I'm not. I'm not "perfect", and I'm not your boyfriend. Not anymore. But I am one thing. I'm free." Another lovely little word. That's right. He was free. Free!
Her chest heaving, Gabriella's dark gaze bore into her ex-boyfriend. "It's-It's Ryan, isn't it?" she whispered harshly in a quavering voice.
Troy didn't answer. She couldn't read his thoughts like Ryan could. Ryan understood everything with gestures or expressions. He understood how Troy's life had been controlled by expectations without ever being told so.
Gabriella's tiny body shook and trembled as she cried. Before, Troy would have gone forth to comfort her… now…he was too disgusted to even fathom such a thing.
"Gabriella, I'm sorry, okay? Really. But, it's time we went our separate ways. I've found someone and now you can."
"Troy!" she whimpered, her voice strained with grief. "C-Can we still be friends? …Please?"
He wasn't cruel enough to dash all her hopes to pieces in one night. "Yeah…" he answered in a low voice. "That's fine… but … I want my necklace back."
Gabriella's eyes widened. A few more tears trickled down her burning cheeks. "Fine." She muttered coldly. Reaching around, she unhooked the clasp of the silver T-pendant Troy had given her the summer vacation of their junior year. Before I found myself. Troy recounted. She cupped her small, delicate, dark-skinned hand around the necklace and dumped it into his open palm. The instant the necklace was back in Troy's hand, it was really over. Shared relief filled the bodies of the three males in the house as the tension began to melt away.
"Good-bye, Troy." Gabriella whispered.
"Bye."
He didn't walk her out. She simply turned on her heels and walked out the door, disappearing into the blackness of the night. Gabriella was gone. Troy was free. Closing his front door, he rejoiced. Taking the stairs two at a time, Ryan leapt, flinging himself into the brunette jock's arms. Once again, cliché as it was, they were caught up in the moment, and Troy spun the blond around, the two of them kissing passionately.
When at last they broke off and Troy returned Ryan to his feet, the two of them embraced. Holding the blond's head tightly to his chest, Troy said "Now, on Thanksgiving after seventeen years, I finally have something to be thankful for. You."
"Oh, Troy. I love you so much." Ryan choked, his blue eyes glistening with tears of pure happiness.
Troy rested his chin on Ryan's hat adorned head. Closing his eyes, he told him, "I love you, too, Ryan."
Playfully grinning, Chad rolled his eyes, and called, "Get a room, you two!"