Hi guys! Thanks for all your kind reviews. They really make me smile J

You might be getting the impression that not so good times are ahead for Ryan and Kelsi… and you might be right. I hope you enjoy the read anyway.

I also posted a Ryelsi oneshot called 'Thinking of you' a while ago. Please check it out. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Ryan

"I can't believe it hasn't chipped yet!"

"Yeah I've been swimming three times!"

"What did I tell you girls? One layer of this base coat and then the colour on top and it lasts at least four days."

"How much did the base cost?"

"Thirty dollars. But it's definitely worth it."

Ryan stared at the girls in front of him in horror.

"Thirty dollars for nail varnish!" he exclaimed. The Sharpettes looked back at him, all wearing 'duh' expressions.

"It IS worth it though, isn't it." Emma said, wiggling her polished nails in front of him and fluttering her eyelids. Ryan tried not to sigh in frustration. Whenever they were around him without Sharpay it was like this. His sister had abandoned the Sharpettes this summer. He could quote, "I can't be hanging around with high school girls now that I'm in college!"

Therefore, whenever Sharpay decided to rendez vous with Zeke, the girls tended to latch onto him.

"Well I had mine French manicured yesterday!" Leah butted in, also thrusting her hands beneath Ryan's face.

"No offence girls but I'm not exactly a nail expert." Ryan said as flatly as he could manage.

"Yeah! Ryan's not interested in that stuff! What do YOU want to talk about Ryan?"

Jackie then simpered. All three girls leaned towards him eagerly. Ryan leapt out of his chair. There was only so much of this dribble he could take.

"Actually girls, I'm going to go have a lie down." he said quickly. It wasn't really a lie. He had been intending to chill in his room in the hour before he met his mother for yoga class. As he past Sharpay and Zeke's table (they were sharing a romantic dinner as Zeke's shift had ended) he tapped his sister on the shoulder.

"You owe me. I just had to sit through a forty five minute long conversation about nail varnish." he muttered bitterly.

"Enjoy your yoga class." Sharpay grinned widely before turning back to Zeke. Ryan rolled his eyes at his sibling's annoying sense of humour and made his way back to his suite. It was just past seven o'clock and the sun hadn't even started to set yet. Kelsi would still be at work. She didn't finish until nine. Ryan felt his heart swell a little as he thought of Kelsi. He hadn't seen her for a full week. In the second week of her working at the music shop someone had left for a month's vacation. Her boss had asked her if she would work full time until the employee came back. Kelsi had of course been unable to say no but insisted to Ryan that she needed the money anyway. Because of the hours she worked, Ryan had been unable to see her all week. She had a day off the next day and then he wouldn't see her for another three weeks after that so they had vowed to spend the whole day together tomorrow.

Ryan eventually reached his suite and flopped down on his king size bed, pointing a remote at the CD player in the process. He smiled to himself as he heard the opening of 'Straighten up and fly right'. He'd been devising a tap routine to the song earlier. Ryan lay completely relaxed, the only part of his body moving being his feet lightly marking out the movements he had choreographed earlier as they dangled off the bed. He found himself looking back at the week he and Kelsi had spent together when she had only been working part time at the shop. She had still worked four days that week and Ryan was obliged to spend his days with his family at lava springs but the evenings were theirs. It had been a week full of movies, late night scooter rides, trips to get ice-cream, walks and playing music at Kelsi's house. The music he was listening to even resembled being with Kelsi. Happy and carefree. Everything was easy with Kelsi. He had even enjoyed spending some time with her family. Her brother was out most of the time but he had enjoyed a lengthy discussion with her dad about music producers they both enjoyed. Kelsi had definitely inherited her kindness and selflessness from her mother. Whenever he entered the house, the petite woman always managed to get his coat, sit him down and insist he had something to eat and drink in the space of about thirty seconds. Ryan felt a small stab of guilt as he reminded himself that he had avoided formally introducing Kelsi to his parents. It wasn't that they didn't know who she was. They knew she was going to Julliard too and that they met up a lot. But Ryan was eighteen and they didn't exactly watch every move he made. He doubted they thought of her as anything other than a friend. He wasn't entirely sure why he was putting it off. It was as if he had kept it to himself for too long now and he was at the point of no return…

Ryan shook his head violently. He didn't want to think about this right now. He was seeing Kelsi tomorrow! He would cross certain bridges when he came to them. Right now he just wanted to think about seeing his girlfriend.

Just then Ryan's phone buzzed in his pocket. His heart suddenly sped up as he noticed it was Kelsi calling him. He instantly answered.

"Hey! I thought you didn't finish till nine."

"I don't. I've got a fifteen minute break so I thought I'd give you a call." Kelsi replied.

Ryan instantly beamed. It was nice to hear her voice, even if she did sound really tired.

"Hard day?" he asked. He could almost see her lounging in her seat.

"You have no idea." Kelsi said through a yawn. "At least there's no customers in from seven, otherwise I'd really be pulling my hair out. There was a seven year old hammering my steinway today."

Ryan bit his lip as he imagined what Kelsi's reaction to a small child beating up a piano would be.

"You know it's not really your piano right?" he joked. Kelsi seemed to have bonded with the baby grand that resided in 'Scales'.

"Yeah." Kelsi said, sounding genuinely quite put out. "But it took all my self control not to physically drag this kid away from it. His mom was just WATCHING." she ranted. Ryan laughed in response. As much as he sympathised with her, it was amusing to listen to her venting.

"Anyway, how was your day?" asked Kelsi, a little breathless.

"I dunno if you want to know." Ryan grinned, thinking about his relatively stress free day.

"It's fine I won't be jealous."

"Well, if you really want to know, I went for a swim in the morning. Then me and Sharpay had a game of tennis. She beat me in front of loads of little kids. Very embarrassing. Then we had lunch with our parents and we visited Zeke for a bit afterwards. Then I went to the driving range with Dad and Shar went to get a pedicure."

"Are you any better at golf yet?" Kelsi interrupted him. He could almost see the smirk on her face.

"I'll have you know that some of the balls went further than ten yards this time." Ryan laughed. He had never got the hang of golf but his dad seemed determined on teaching him.

"I went back to the room, made up a tap routine to some of 'straighten up and fly right'…"

"I bet the neighbours loved you." Kelsi replied teasingly.

"Oh I had to practise in socks. It was rubbish."

"Poor you." Kelsi laughed.

"Hey how would you feel having to practise on a keyboard that wasn't plugged in?" Ryan challenged her.

"Yeah fair point. You could show me tomorrow if we go to my house. You could use the patio outside!"

"It's nowhere near done yet but you can see it if you want to." Ryan grinned. He loved how she was always so eager to see what new choreography he had come up with. Just like he loved to hear what pieces she was composing. Ryan frowned to himself. There was that word again. Loved. It was becoming such a natural way of describing…

"Ryan. Are you there?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Ryan said hastily. "Where was I? Oh yeah. Then I went to dinner but Sharpay and Zeke were having some romantic time alone because he had night off and my mom and dad decided to have dinner earlier so they could go to the ballroom."

"So who did you eat with?" Kelsi asked.

"I had to sit through the Sharpettes in depth debate on nail polish." Ryan grumbled. He hadn't been joking when he had said his sister owed him…

"Thank goodness you call them the Sharpettes too." Kelsi laughed. "I thought that was just me!"

Ryan laughed along with her and felt a gentle smile play on his lips. Everything was so natural and easy with her.

"I miss you." he said honestly.

"I miss you too." she replied and Ryan grinned proudly as he heard the smile in her voice. There was the rumble of deep voice on Kelsi's end of the phone.

"Sorry Ryan I've got to go. I'll call you later about tomorrow." Kelsi said quickly. He could hear her getting up from her chair.

"Can't wait. See you later."

"Me too. Bye!"

Ryan glanced at the clock on his phone. He still had fifteen minutes before his yoga class. Smiling to himself he began to get changed out of his dinner clothes and into some looser garments. He and Kelsi would have the whole day tomorrow! At precisely five minutes to eight he heard a rapping on his door.

"Ready for yoga dear?" his mother asked from the other side of the door.

"Just coming mom." he called back, throwing his water bottle and towel into a bag. Slinging the bag over his shoulder he opened his door… then promptly stepped back.

"Mrs Walker!" he borderline shrieked. Ryan quickly cleared his throat. He really had to stop shouting in her face. What was she doing here?!

"Hi Ryan." she smiled pleasantly. "We were in the neighbourhood and your mother kindly asked the family to join you all at the ballroom tonight. I thought I'd maybe sneak in a yoga class before then. I've not been in ages you see." she smiled good naturedly, clearly having no idea that Ryan was desperately trying not to make eye contact with his mother.

"Sounds great." he grinned, trying to look as natural as possible.

An hour later Ryan stood outside the lava springs gym staring down at his phone. It was Kelsi's finishing time but she hadn't called yet. No doubt she had been asked to stay on for an extra hour. It had happened before. Apparently a girl at her workplace was good at making pitiful excuses to get away early. Eventually his mother and Mrs Walker re-emerged both sipping bottles of water.

"Well we better get back to freshen up." Ryan's mom stated, looking at her watch.

"We'll meet around half past?"

"That sounds wonderful." Mrs Walker replied. "We'll all be there."

As Ryan and his mother made their way back to their rooms Ryan couldn't help but ask,

"So is it just Mrs Walker?" he asked hopefully. His mother sighed.

"You're eighteen Ryan. I think it's time to start calling her Samantha. And no, Alan and Laura will be there too." she said, a mischievous glint in her eye. Ryan couldn't be bothered arguing.

"Right." he said flatly, before entering his room to get ready for what was sure to be an awkward evening.

On entering the ballroom Ryan scanned the room, pulling at his tie nervously.

"Stop fidgeting." Sharpay snapped, snatching his arm away from his collar. "I can't believe you're getting all worked up about… Laura!" she squealed and ran, as best she could in her killer heels, to greet the girl walking towards them.

Laura hadn't really changed in looks. She still had a tall, pale and willowy frame and she seemed to be naturally graceful. She had very dark brown hair and a set of brown eyes to match. The only change was that Ryan felt… nothing. Granted it was sort of nice to see her. They hadn't talked in a while after all and she was a nice enough girl. But as Ryan remembered the tight knot that had resided in his stomach as Kelsi had walked down the stairs in her prom dress… there was no comparison. She was just Laura. And Kelsi would never be just Kelsi.

"Hey Ryan." she said with a warm smile. "How've you been?"

"Not too bad I…" Ryan began before grimacing over Laura's shoulder. Laura instinctively looked behind her and groaned in unison with Ryan at the sight of their mothers scurrying over to them.

"I asked them to play a waltz." Mrs Walker, or Samantha, was saying giddily. "I thought it was so nice when you taught Laura how to waltz Ryan…"

"I could already waltz mom." Laura said calmly but through gritted teeth. "Dad taught me when I was six remember?"

"Oh but Ryan made you so much better." Mrs Walker gushed.

"She didn't need much help." Ryan said quickly. "She pretty much had the basic…"

"Oh please just humour us." Ryan's mother chipped in, clasping her hands together in delight. Upon realising their mothers were relentless, the two teenagers exchanged a weary smile and went to dance.

"I'm really sorry about that." Laura murmured as they moved casually around the dance floor. "My mom's still crazy about you." she laughed.

"Yeah believe me I know what you mean." Ryan sighed. After a small silence Laura spoke again.

"It's so annoying. I mean, I'm dating this guy from school now and they still keep bringing you up." Laura said exasperatedly. "No offence." she added quickly. "I mean, you're cool and everything it's just…"

"It's fine." Ryan replied. "I've kind of got the same problem. I've not told them about her yet. I don't know how they'll react to be honest."

Laura looked at him sympathetically.

"Hate to break it to you, but when I told my parents about Todd, all I got back was 'But what about Ryan?'."

Ryan laughed at her impersonation of her mother's voice but then stopped abruptly. Was that what would happen if he told his parents about Kelsi?

"They… they really said that? After you told them you had a boyfriend?" Ryan checked curiously. Laura nodded vigorously.

"Yep. It was so awkward having him over at the house that I've just stopped bringing him!"

She seemed to notice the concern on Ryan's face.

"I'm not saying your parents will be the same Ryan. That's just what happened to me." she said carefully. Ryan just nodded and they finished their dance in silence. After Laura excused herself to get a drink, Sharpay flounced over with Zeke on her arm.

"So, how was your dance?" she asked wickedly. Ryan just shrugged.

"Fine. A bit awkward. No thanks to our wonderful parents." he said sarcastically. Zeke frowned in confusion.

"Awkward? How come?" he asked curiously.

"Laura and Ryan used to date." Sharpay said matter of factly. She then giggled as Zeke's eyes widened in surprise. "It's fine they broke up years ago and she's got a boyfriend and everything. Mom and dad are just obsessed with her." she laughed.

"I'm glad you find it funny." Ryan muttered darkly.

"Man that is awkward." Zeke commented bluntly.

"Oooh Zeke this one's faster. Let's go dance!" Sharpay said excitedly as an upbeat jazzy number started to play. As soon as she dragged Zeke to the dance floor Ryan's mom made a beeline for him.

"There you are ducky." she said sweetly, taking his arm to watch Sharpay and Zeke dance. "Good news and bad news I'm afraid. The Walkers agreed to stay at lava springs tonight… But they have to leave after tomorrow!" she said sadly.

"No way!" Ryan exclaimed in false shock. "And we had so little time to see them."

"That's what I thought!" his mother piped up. "So I asked them to spend the day with us tomorrow."

"W-what?" Ryan asked, now in genuine shock.

"The whole day." she said enthusiastically. "Won't it be fun!"

"Mom, I can't tomorrow. It's Kelsi's day off and…"

"Oh really Ducky! You see your friends all the time. And isn't that young lady going to Julliard too? You'll be jetting off to New York in a month. Why not spend some quality time with your family and their friends while you can." she reasoned with him, her eyes now looking a little sad. Ryan tried not to focus on them. They reminded him of Sharpay's puppy dog eyes.

"It's just, it's her only day off in ages and…"

"I'm sure she'll understand." his mother went on. "Your father and I used to love spending time with the Walkers and they'll be on the other side of town again after tomorrow! I'm sure they're counting on you to be there."

Ryan knew the only way out of this was to tell her about Kelsi. But he could only imagine what would follow. She would be angry and confused as to why he had kept it from her. She would be embarrassed for her behaviour the last few weeks and she would feel extremely awkward throughout the rest of the Walkers day (goodness knows what she had been discussing with Laura's mother the whole evening). As Ryan watched his mother observing Laura and her dad dancing with a fond look in her eyes, he found he couldn't tell her. He just couldn't.

"Ok mom I'll be there." he said quietly. His mother flashed him an ecstatic smile as she squeezed his arm affectionately.

"There's my son." she said proudly. "Now, I owe your father a dance." she said before striding away. Ryan stared down at his feet, contemplating what he had just done. He was digging a grave and he knew it. He was an Evans, therefore it wasn't supposed to be in his nature to be intimidated by the likes of his parents and the Walkers. He was one of them after all. But he was. He didn't want to confront him, and he knew fine well how weak he was being. Like he could never openly go against his sister, he couldn't go against his parents either.

Suddenly his phone rang in his pocket. Ryan looked at the caller ID and winced. It was Kelsi.

Kelsi

"Hey Kels."

Kelsi felt a warm glow inside her as she heard his voice and she instantly found herself smiling. It had been a hard shift. She was meant to have finished at nine but as usual Christine had managed to find a way to get away early and she had been stuck closing up the shop. The fact that it had prevented her from speaking to Ryan hadn't pleased her. She was just glad tomorrow was her day off and they would have the whole day together.

"Hey!" she replied a little breathlessly. "You would not believe the shift I just had. Not that you'll ever need to… but take it from me Ry, don't ever go into retail." she joked. Ryan chuckled on the other end.

"I don't know about that. I'm going to pay my own way in New York remember."

Kelsi smirked to herself. Ryan was adamant that he was going to pay his own way just like any other student, but Kelsi wasn't entirely sure how he would adjust without a butler and his parents' credit cards.

"Hmmm we'll see how that goes." she said teasingly, secretly wondering how long they would last in New York before Ryan was begging her to cook him something.

"Still don't think I can do it huh? You know that even if it turns out I can't cook I can still live on takeaways." he pointed out.

"Aaah but you're a dancer. You have to stay in shape." Kelsi shot back with a laugh.

"Kind of ironic how I can cook yet I'm the one that can eat as much junk food as I like."

"Then it's settled. You'll cook for me." Ryan laughed. Kelsi shook her head and laughed harder. She was suddenly aware of how much she had missed his company. As nice as their phone conversations were, she knew it was nothing compared to having Ryan with her.

"Hey are you near a window?" she quickly asked as she looked up at the sky. The day was in the period between night and day, making the sky a riot of beautiful colours.

"Yeah." Ryan replied. "The sky looks really awesome."

Kelsi grinned at Ryan's unconscious ability to read her mind.

"Twilight's definitely my favourite time of day." Kelsi said softly, still looking at the sky. It just made her feel so peaceful. Just like Ryan…

"So what's the plan for tomorrow? I miss you." she said shyly and honestly. There was a long silence on the other end.

"Ryan?" she checked, wondering if his phone had cut out.

"Ummm… about tomorrow." Ryan began slowly. "I'm really sorry Kels but I can't make it. Some family friends that we haven't seen in ages turned up out of the blue and my mom's insisting we spend the day with them tomorrow. They're leaving the day after tomorrow." he explained.

Kelsi felt a sharp jolt in her chest. He was cancelling.

"Oh." was all she could utter. She didn't quite know how to react. Part of her wanted to shout at him for getting her hopes up. Part of her was trying to adjust to the fact that she was in fact NOT seeing Ryan tomorrow. Part of her kind of wanted to cry… Instead all she managed to do was sound awkward. She wanted to be understanding. She needed to be. That was who she was.

"Oh… well, I guess we can meet up on my next day off." she managed to murmur.

"I'm really sorry Kelsi." Ryan said on the other side of the phone. And he sounded it. "Honestly I feel awful. I promise I'll make it up to you when I next see you okay."

Kelsi nodded then realised she was on the phone and he couldn't see.

"Okay." was all she managed to say. There was another silence. Kelsi had missed Ryan. And more than anything she wanted them to be able to go back talking nonsense again. But they couldn't now. Right now she needed to get away from the conversation.

"I better go actually Ryan. My credit's low." she said hastily.

"I could phone you back." Ryan instantly replied.

"Emm, no the battery's about to go. It's fine I'll speak to you tomorrow." Kelsi said, doing her best not to sound upset.

"Oh… okay." Ryan replied, sounding put out. "Well have a good night. Be careful walking home. In fact, text me when you get home if you've got any battery left." he said kindly.

"I will." Kelsi said, trying to force a smile into her voice. "Have a good time tomorrow Ryan."

With that she hung up the phone. Weeks of looking forward to seeing him and he was bailing on her! She understood that these were his family's friends and stuff but he had promised…

"Why couldn't I go too?" she whispered out loud as she strode along the deserted street walk. It was a selfish question, she knew that, but it made a lot more thing occur to her. Why hadn't she been introduced to Ryan's parents? Why did they never go to Ryan's house? Why had not been invited up to lava springs on her day off? Kelsi had never let these thoughts cross her mind. Why would she? She was selfless by nature and naturally invited Ryan to her place most of the time. She had never had a boyfriend before and had no idea when she was meant to meet his parents. And yet… something seemed wrong. It reminded her of a feeling she had experienced a few months ago. Then it occurred to her and she winced at the memory. The fact that Ryan had been happy to let his sister believe he was manipulating her just to get her music. Kelsi had no doubt that Ryan had not intended to steal her song. Yet for some reason, he was unable to let his sister believe he actually liked her.

Kelsi quickened her walk as she felt her throat start to tighten. She had pushed these thoughts away at the time. They hadn't seemed relevant when she and Ryan seemed to be going their separate ways anyway. And they definitely hadn't seemed relevant when she had been so happy with him. Now all these thoughts she had kept hidden from herself were emerging and she didn't like it one bit. She especially didn't like the niggling thought at the back of her mind. It told her that regardless of whether she liked it or not, it was still the truth.

Kelsi had been up early most days to get to work and this hadn't changed despite it being her day off. She was too in the habit now and could not get back to sleep after waking up at eight. After having a shower and getting dressed she found herself unable to have her usual breakfast cereal due to the lack of milk in her fridge. Deciding she would just go down the street and buy some milk herself rather than wake up her parents, she left the house. As she blinked in the morning sunlight Kelsi decided she didn't really mind being up so early. She enjoyed walking outside when there was no one round. Everything just seemed so peaceful. Almost like twilight. Kelsi bit her lip upon realising that she did not feel nearly as peaceful as she had last night before calling Ryan. She had tried to eliminate any worries or doubts from her mind. Ryan wasn't a bad guy. More than that he was the best guy she knew. So he had maybe made some wrong decisions. He probably didn't even realise he was doing it. She could always talk to him if it kept bugging her. He'd understand.

As she neared the small convenience store she saw a familiar car pull up beside the sidewalk and saw an even more familiar tall person step out.

"Zeke!" Kelsi called from across the street. The boy spun round and waved enthusiastically as she ran over to meet him.

"Hey Kelsi, how's it going?" he asked brightly.

"There's a milk shortage in the house that prevented me having my cereal." she explained, pouting for effect. Zeke laughed and Kelsi couldn't help but join in. What she liked about Zeke was he had such a contagious demeanour of optimism. Nothing ever seemed to get him down.

"I'm at lava springs again today, so I'm just picking up some ingredients for today." he explained.

"You have to bring your own ingredients?" Kelsi checked as they entered the store together. Surely Zeke wasn't expected to buy any of the food they served.

"Naah. There's just something I'm dying to put forward to Chef Michaels. Hopefully he'll include it in the kitchen's official recipe." Zeke said enthusiastically.

"That's really great Zeke." Kelsi smiled. It was almost inspirational how into his work Zeke was. It was then that Zeke let out a tremendous yawn.

"Not a morning person huh?" Kelsi grinned. Zeke nodded.

"Not really, but I've been asking for earlier shifts so I can go to the ballroom with Sharpay on some nights." he said, grinning widely. Kelsi forced a smile on her face but felt a sharp sting in her chest.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be at work?" Zeke asked. Kelsi shook her head as she picked up her milk.

"Nope. It's my day off." she said meekly.

"And Sharpay and Ryan have to see the Walkers." Zeke said, nodding understandingly.

"Yeah… you know how they are?" Kelsi said in surprise.

"Yeah, Sharpay filled me in on them last night." Zeke told her as they approached the counter, his arms laden with ingredients. "I gotta say I feel so sorry for Ryan." Zeke stated. Zeke missed Kelsi's look of confusion as he was paying for his items.

"Why?" she asked lightly.

"Well usually when you break up with someone you don't have to see them." Zeke laughed while Kelsi paid for her milk.

"Yeah… I guess." Kelsi said, looking at Zeke curiously. She felt kind of stupid that Zeke knew more about Ryan's family friends than her and naturally pretended that she knew what he was talking about. He seemed to think she did after all.

"That's only a dollar actually." a voice said. Kelsi looked up at the man behind the counter and noticed she had given him here one dollar bills.

"Sorry." she muttered, hastily taking back two of the notes. She really hadn't been paying attention.

"Or their parents." Zeke added, nudging Kelsi. Kelsi laughed with him, trying to mask her uncertainty.

"Well I better let you get to work." Kelsi said, plastering a smile on her face. "I'll…Ill see you around Zeke." she said, before power walking out of the store. She vaguely heard Zeke call, "See you soon Kelsi!" behind her and shook her head violently as she realised what an idiot she must have looked running off like that. However, she had suddenly decided what she needed on her day off. Digging her cell phone from her pocket she went straight for the number she needed right now.

"Hey Martha." she said in relief as he best friend answered. "Sorry it's so early. Want to go see a movie later?"

Ryan

Ryan let out a huge sigh of relief as the Walkers' car drove out of sight. That was one seriously awkward day finally over.

"Coming to the ballroom?" Sharpay asked, looking at him sympathetically. Ryan shook his head dejectedly. He really didn't feel like socialising.

"It'll cheer you up." Sharpay said, putting a comforting hand on his arm.

"Thanks Shar but…"

"I get it." she nodded and went to join their parents. Ryan smiled after her then started to make his way back to his suite. When Ryan was down he either needed her or needed to be alone. And when he needed to be alone she either ignored this and pestered him, or realised he needed his space. Luckily this was one of the times she understood that he needed to be alone and he appreciated it. Ryan was walking past the kitchen when he suddenly sopped in his tracks. He then found himself robotically making his way to the music room, ignoring the strange looks he received from the late night kitchen workers. Once inside, he sat himself down in front of the grand piano that Kelsi had rallied the wildcats around last summer. He placed his hands on the ivory keys but did not play anything. He couldn't ignore the horrible feeling of guilt that rested in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to text or call Kelsi and talk to her, maybe even grovel some more, but he almost felt scared to talk to her. She had tried to pretend she hadn't minded him cancelling but it would be obvious to anyone, let alone him, that she had been deeply hurt. Ryan looked down at his stationary hands in frustration. Why had he come here? To feel some connection to Kelsi? Undoubtedly. But why did he miss her so much and why was the guilt almost unbearable? The thought of her getting upset over this… of her perhaps crying… It made him want to jump on his scooter, race over to her house, hold her in his arms and tell her she would always come first. But he wouldn't do that, because he was a coward.

Ryan played a depressing sounding minor chord as if to show his feelings, then went back to staring at the keys. Having had enough of dwelling on how much of an idiot he had been the last few weeks, he let himself drift of and thought only of Kelsi and the last time he'd seen her. Ryan had been trying his hand as song-writing and it hadn't been going too smoothly. In fact that was a small understatement.

"Stupid, stupid song!" Ryan ranted, stabbing his paper violently with his pen. "Does this EVER happen to you?" he asked the girl leaning against his out-stretched legs, with a hint of desperation in his voice. Said girl looked up at him humouredly.

"Sometimes." she said with an amused smile on her lips. She sat up and leaned over his shoulder, inspecting his paper. Ryan breathed in the scent of her hair contentedly. The song suddenly didn't seem that important anymore.

"Okay there's a reason this sounds a bit odd." she said slowly, running her slender fingers across the notes on Ryan's page. "A lot of your notes aren't fitting with the chords." she said softly, easily slipping the pen from Ryan's hand and changing some of the notes on the page. Ryan looked down at his music, which suddenly looked a bit more complicated.

"Oh." he said worriedly. He couldn't even understand his own composition now.

"It's a bit obscure." Kelsi laughed, presumably at his bewildered expression. "But if you want we can just change the key and it'll be a lot easier to play." she said casually. Sitting back down on the grass, Kelsi took the pad of manuscript paper from Ryan and started to transpose his piece.

"And easier to sing." Kelsi added with a frown. "Another key should suit you better."

Kelsi smiled up at him apologetically, her eyes swimming with intelligence.

"You're so clever." Ryan blurted out without thinking. Kelsi looked at him in surprise then looked down at the paper again with a smile.

"It's no trouble." she said kindly.

"Aah see now you're just going to get more compliments." Ryan grinned at her, hoping for… Yes he'd managed it! Two pink circles had emerged on her cheeks.

"You've just proved to me that you're kind and considerate and modest and…"

"Ryan!" Kelsi protested, though she was laughing and trying to fan her red cheeks. "This is just like you helping me dance." she pointed out, tapping him on the head with the pen.

"Oh yeah I forgot, you're a great dancer." he added cheekily. Kelsi immediately burst out laughing.

"I hope the last time I dance it looked great, 'cause I'm still recovering." she joked. Ryan watched her for a minute as she made adjustments to his song, her forehead creased slightly in concentration. A small breeze blew a few locks of her hair in front of her face. Ryan instinctively brushed them away.

"You're amazing." he said softly, looking into her eyes sincerely. "I mean that."

He saw emotion glaze over Kelsi's eyes, her expression a mix between surprise, happiness and disbelief.

"I was just thinking the same thing." she smiled.

"Wow I take back that modest comment." Ryan laughed. Kelsi poked him in the ribs.

You know what I meant." she laughed. Ryan then did the thing that made most sense and kissed her fondly.

As Ryan smiled at the memory he vaguely thought to himself that the words 'You're amazing' weren't quite enough. Ryan then looked down at his hands to find them moving. He was honestly not sure what he'd started to automatically play. He listened and sought out the words.

"I've never had someone as good for me as you, no one like you."

It was then that Ryan abruptly stopped playing and looked at his hands in shock. It was clear that he was no longer just in danger of falling in love with Kelsi. He loved her.