For what seemed like the millionth time that day, Kelsi heard her laptop bleep, alerting her to the fact that she had a Facebook notification. She groaned but didn't even look over at her desk to see what it was.
"Chad's going." Martha announced, grimacing at the screen. "So that's everyone…"
Kelsi reluctantly looked up from her tea and found her best friend looking back at her sympathetically. They had met up today with the purpose of going to the gym and then having some lunch at Kelsi's house, catching up with each other's lives in the process. Kelsi hadn't anticipated that the Evans' upcoming get together at Lava Springs would be the main topic of the day. She had received the Facebook invite the same day she had arrived home in Alburqurque, a few days later than Martha. This gave her a sneaking suspicion that he had been deliberating whether or not to invite her and she didn't blame him. They were supposed to be meeting up on a strictly professional basis, not to sip champagne in the Lava Springs ballroom.
However, in Ryan's defence, her intentions hadn't exactly been easy to follow at the moment, especially when she was finding it difficult to follow them herself. It had come as a surprise to her that she had been invited at all, given how she had snapped at him during their last rehearsal. She still felt bad about that. She had honestly tried her best to be as business-like and civil with Ryan as possible, but once she had loosened up a bit and allowed Ryan to be his normal self they had been so much more productive. It had been too tempting to let herself have fun with him when it made tier creativity flow so much better. It wasn't just their productivity though. She had forgotten how easy it was to be with Ryan. They had both changed over the last couple of years, of course, but there still seemed to be that chemistry or spark that told her they just got each other. It was so easy and so enjoyable, but whenever Kelsi felt it had gone too far she would halt it immediately. Then she would have to witness that awful wounded look on Ryan's face as he struggled to understand what he'd done wrong. It was her own fault. She needed to realise earlier that things were going too far. That they were acting too much like friends. Because they couldn't be friends. Not after what had happened. But this whiplash effect was working either. And now she was invited to this party and she had no idea if it was a good decision to go or not.
"It's perfectly understandable if you don't want to go Kels." Martha said, eyeing her seriously. "If I were you I wouldn't even be able to be in the same room as him and frankly I don't even really want to see him after the way…"
"Martha." Kelsi cut in quietly, raising her eyebrows back at her friend. Martha just stared back unflinchingly.
"Just because you've forgiven him doesn't mean I have." she said haughtily.
"You've only heard my side." Kelsi reminded her quietly. "And besides, I've never told him I've forgiven him."
"Even though you're working together? Ouch." Martha grimaced.
They sat in silence for a moment, Kelsi frowning into her tea as if the solution to her predicament could be found somewhere in the murky brown liquid.
"I want to go." she finally said resolutely. "All my friends are going to be there and I don't want something silly like this to stop me going."
"But?" Martha asked, sensing there was more.
Kelsi looked up at her friend despairingly.
"It's going to be so awkward. His whole family will be there. I'm going to feel so…"
"We can solve this." Martha announced briskly. "All we need to do is find you an outfit that makes you feel like a million dollars. It's a quick confidence fix I admit, but at least we can get you walking into that ballroom with your head held high. What were you planning on wearing?"
Kelsi shrugged in a noncommittal way. Martha let out an exasperated sigh.
"It's a really fancy party Kels, do you have any formal dresses?"
"I had to buy a few floor-length dresses for my recitals…"
"And how do they make you feel?" Martha asked, her eyes twinkling.
"Pretty good." Kelsi admitted, finding herself smiling.
"Perfect." grinned Martha.
***************************************************************************************************************
It had been four years since she had worked at Lava Springs, but Kelsi found the place unchanged still seemed to know the layout like the back of her hand. In no time at all she found herself climbing the slope to the ballroom. She was quite late, having obsessed over getting ready and then attempting to convince her older brother to drive her there. She had absolutely no need to drive in New York and had never bothered getting her license. Now that she was back in Alburqurque she was starting to regret not having organised this sooner. The glass doors to the ballroom were pushed open, letting the music spill out into the dusty summer air. It had been sweltering since Kelsi had returned which, for the first time in her life, had seemed quite uncomfortable in comparison to the weather in New York. However, it was a nice novelty not to have to wear anything over her dress. Her dress! Kelsi quickly stooped down and gathered some of the silvery material to stop it dragging on the ground. She never wore these sorts of dresses unless she was giving a formal recital at Julliard and there was hardly dust and dirt to worry over in the extravagant, highly polished college auditorium.
She found herself frozen just out of sight of the open doorway, trying desperately to figure out why she was so nervous. She was excited to see all her friends of course, but the idea of being face to face with Ryan's family, who had previously almost been like her own family, made her insides squirm. Then there was Ryan himself and the tense way they had left things before they had returned home.
But, as Kelsi reminded herself, despite everything that had happened and everything they still had to go through, he was still Ryan. Before they had been a couple and before they had tried to conquer New York, they had been friends. She found herself gazing across the complex to the outdoor stage that was used each year for the 'Star Dazzle Award'. She remembered leaping from her piano stool and sprinting to Ryan's room to conspire with him on how to get Troy and Gabriella together. She remembered playing onstage and catching Ryan's eye as he sang along in the wings. As her eyes found the baseball diamond and the rehearsal blocks, she remembered whys he had become his friend in the first place. There was nothing to be afraid of here.
Turning towards the glass side of the building, Kelsi gasped at her reflection. In her rush to leave she hadn't properly looked at her appearance tonight. Her reflection with the brave look in her eyes gave her the final boost of confidence that she needed and she strode into the ballroom, her head held high.
"Obviously we would need to go over some finer details but some input from yourself and from Miss Evans would be greatly… Mr Evans. Mr Evans?"
Ryan had ceased listening to Mr Fulton a long time ago. Instead he was staring openly at the vision that had just entered the ballroom. It wasn't like in the movies, where Cinderella steps in timidly, modestly looking at the floor with a sweet blush. No, she strode in, dress sweeping along the floor, heels expertly clicking against the marble, her face bursting into an exhilarated smile as she found a group of her friends before her.
"Kelsi!"
"Playmaker!"
Kelsi closed her eyes in bliss as Gabriella and Troy barrelled into her and she flung her arms around them. As they disentangled themselves from her and stood back to appraise her appearance, Ryan admired from afar. She was wearing a floor-length, halter-neck dress of a silvery material that looked like it could be silk. It clung to her petite figure and Ryan gulped as she turned to reveal that the dress was backless, exposing her creamy white skin. No hat graced her head tonight. Instead it was up in a style that reminded Ryan fondly of Prom. Ryan found himself warily looking around the room at the guests. His prediction that he would have to watch Kelsi fall in love with someone else didn't seem so far off. Surely all the men in the room were falling for her already. Not that they would be able to get near her. Kelsi was now engulfed in wildcats as she received hugs and kisses from all her old high school friends. He was suddenly unsure of what to do. He was part of their group of friends and yet things had gotten quite tense last time they had talked. Should he approach her now, or wait? Just then he saw his sister whisper something in Kelsi's ear, causing her to raise her eyebrows in surprise and look up, catching his eye. Ryan was suddenly flustered and quickly shut his mouth, hoping she hadn't seen it hanging open. She gave him a small encouraging wave.
****************************************************************************************************************
"This outfit is impressively evil. You would have made a fabulous Evans."
Kelsi turned to find Sharpay smirking back at her. Confused, she followed Sharpay's eyes and understood. Ryan was at the opposite side of the room, but he was blatantly staring, his mouth hanging open. He seemed about to approach her when he was whisked into a waltz by his mother. Kelsi giggled at Sharpay's earlier comment. Of course she hadn't dressed this way to punish Ryan or 'let him see what he was missing'. She just wanted to feel confident. But she defied anyone to have the ex that dumped them look at them like that and not feel some level of vindictive satisfaction. Wrenching her attention from Ryan for the moment, Kelsi let herself enjoy the company of her friends. Troy wasted no time in pulling Gabriella onto the dance floor to join the waltz but everyone else hung back, watching them from the side.
"Does this make anyone else feel slightly nauseous?" Chad grumbled.
"Speak for yourself." Sharpay said airily, grabbing Zeke's arm. "C'mon Zeke."
Zeke threw one last apologetic look at Chad as he let himself be led to dance, though he didn't look truly sorry in Kelsi's opinion.
"Couples. Right?" Chad muttered, rolling his eyes for the benefit of the others.
"Yeah, we're not jealous at all." Taylor said with a playful grin.
"Seriously though." Chad continued. "We're young, we're attractive…"
"Oh Chad." Jason simpered, flicking his hair and making everyone laugh.
"And we're single!" Chad announced raising his glass and swiping another from a passing waiter to pass to Kelsi. She accepted and clinked his glass conspiratorially.
"Here's to fun with no strings attached… And hoping we don't die alone in an apartment full of cats." Taylor added jokingly
Everyone laughed, but as Chad, Kelsi and Taylor's laugh died out, Martha and Jason's continued. Somewhat hysterically…
"I didn't realise I was so funny…" Taylor said, frowning at the pair of them as they looked at each other shiftily. Kelsi eyed Martha curiously. Something was off.
"Dance is finished." Jason said quickly. "Chad, let's see if Troy's game for shooting some hoops tomorrow."
Jason promptly dragged Chad off across the room, leaving Kelsi and Taylor completely bewildered. They looked at Martha to give them some sort of explanation, but she just shrugged innocently.
Chad watched Jason chatter away to Troy, trying to place what was up with his friend. Jason had never been great at lying. He was noticeably jittery, small beads of sweat materialising on his forehead as he determinedly avoided Chad's eye. He was hiding something…
"Ok so tomorrow afternoon then." Troy nodded. "And then food after?"
"Yeah and we could invite the girls." Chad suggested.
"Why?" Jason cut in suddenly, his face looking panicked. "They're… They're not our girlfriends. Well except Gabriella and Sharpay. Well… they're not our girlfriends. They're Troy's and… What I mean is… Martha and…"
"Jeez Jason don't hurt yourself." Troy said, looking bewildered at Jason't nervous behaviour. Chad, however, felt he was honing in on what Jason was hiding.
"Because they're our friends." Chad said, narrowing his eyes at Jason, whose eyes darted around skittishly. "Unless you want to be more than…"
"Should we invite Ryan?" Jason cut in quickly, looking to Troy.
"Of course." Troy said straight away. "I mean, he stinks at basketball but he's fun to have around."
"No, I mean… because of Kelsi."
"What do you mean, because of Kelsi?" Chad asked, his suspicious demeanour vanishing.
"You know, with how they split and everything." Jason said, looking relieved that Chad seemed to have moved on from interrogating him.
"Kelsi told Gabby that it was mutual and that there were no hard feelings." Troy said slowly, looking at Chad. Chad gave him a dark look.
"What do you know Jason?"
**************************************************************************************************************
"Martha."
Ryan's dance partner stared stubbornly over his shoulder as if she hadn't heard him.
"Martha, if you aren't going to talk to me then why did you agree to dance?" he asked softly.
"Because it was polite." she said through gritted teeth.
Ryan sighed. He had expected this. What surprised him more was how accepting everyone else had been since he and Kelsi broke up. Of course Martha was closer to her than the rest of the group, but he had expected a hard time from Troy and Chad at least. But no one else had even mentioned it. It might have been easier if everyone had given him the cold shoulder but with it just being Martha, who he had always felt a certain kinship with, it stung a bit more.
"Martha I messed up, but surely if Kelsi and I are able to…"
"You're working together. I don't need to be nice to you." she snapped.
"Ok. Fair point." Ryan said submissively as they spun around the floor. No one outside of their personal bubble would have even guessed at their icy conversation.
"You don't need to talk to me." Ryan murmured. "But we've been friends a long time Martha and I've grown up a lot the last two years. If you want to give me a chance then we'll meet up and have coffee before I…"
Ryan stopped as he saw Martha frowning over his shoulder. He dropped his arm from her waist and turned to see Jason striding across the dance floor towards him, a hand clamped over his mouth in horror.
"Jason…" Martha said, her eyes widening. "What did you do?"
"Evans." said a low voice. Chad was suddenly behind Ryan and his voice did not sound friendly. We need to talk."
****************************************************************************************************************
"We'll come to see the show of course. It's so lovely that you two are working together."
"Ryan's told us all about it. We can't wait!"
"And you look stunning in that dress dear! Did you get taller?"
"Heels." Kelsi grinned, lifting her dress to show Ryan's parents the strapped sandals she was triumphantly managing to walk in.
"Well I never. They're nearly as high as some of Sharpay's!" Derby giggled, looking impressed. Kelsi laughed along, wondering why she had felt so nervous about seeing Ryan's parents again. They had always been warm people. Just then however she saw Martha and Jason to the side of the dance floor, having what looked like some sort of squabble. Kelsi excused herself quickly and strode over to them, hoping this wasn't an argument about their break-up from years ago.
"Is everything ok?" she asked in a low voice, putting a hand on Martha's shoulder anxiously. Martha gave her an exasperated look.
"Jason told Chad and Troy about how you and Ryan broke up." she said, her brow creasing in worry.
"You mean how it was mutual and we parted on good terms." Kelsi replied, giving Martha a meaningful look. Martha flushed and looked suddenly embarrassed.
"Ummm no. I… I told Jason what really happened and he…"
"Jason?" Kelsi asked, looking at the boy in question who looked equally bashful at the moment. "Why would you tell…"
"Well it doesn't matter." Martha said hurriedly. "What matters is that Troy and Chad have dragged Ryan off next door and…"
"They WHAT?!"
**************************************************************************************************************
"I don't know why she told you that ok!" Ryan said for what felt like the hundredth time. "It's news to me too."
Chad continued to glare while Troy shook his head sadly. Ryan cast his eyes warily around the dark room. It was almost like a scene in a movie when a card counter is taken into the back room of a casino and 'taught a lesson'. Chad and Troy wouldn't actually hurt him… would they?
"Well maybe you told her to say that."
"Chad! You honestly think I would do that?"
"Well i didn't think you'd treat her like crap and cheat on her either so…"
"I didn't cheat! I was… horrible. But I didn't cheat!"
"Dude… we trusted you." Troy's voice horribly thick with disappointment.
"You said you wouldn't hurt her again." Chad growled.
"I said I'm sor-"
"What the hell is going on here?!"
All three boys looked up in alarm to see Kelsi standing in the doorway, a blazing look on her face.
"Oh… Hey Small Person." Chad said, stepping away from Ryan guiltily.
"Don't 'Small Person' me! What do you think you're doing?" she growled marching over to Chad so they were nose to nose. Or as close as Kelsi could reach anyway…
"Nothing." Troy said, too fast to sound innocent. "Just… talking. Jason said…"
"I know what Jason said and he had no right. It was my business!" Kelsi replied, her voice raising in volume.
"Well why would you lie to us?" Troy asked, looking stung.
"Because I knew THIS would happen!"
Troy and Chad glanced at each other and their expressions were clear. She had a point.
"And if you actually knew the whole story, which you don't…" she added. "You would know that we both messed up and we both hurt the other person so..."
"Kelsi…" Troy said, walking towards her slowly as if approaching a wild beast. "We were just looking out for you."
Kelsi considered him for a few seconds then sighed, seeming to deflate a little.
"Yeah. Ok... maybe your hearts were in the right place." Kelsi acknowledged, glancing at Troy and Chad in turn and even offering them a small smile "But I do not need looking after. I'm an adult and this…" she pointed at Ryan "… is my problem. I know you want to help but it's actually sort of insulting that you don't think I can handle my own love life on my own. We've actually reached some level of civility so could you… could you just…"
"Butt out." Chad offered solemnly. This broke the ice and laughter broke out into the room, evaporating the tension.
"Ryan, let's dance." Kelsi said suddenly. Ryan barely had time to blink before she was dragging him out into the ballroom again and onto the dance floor. She whipped him round, still with that hard blazing look from earlier and before he even had a chance to think about when the last time they had been this close had been, his right hand was clasped in her left and his other hand on her bare back. He felt a jolt of electricity at the contact but didn't dare look to see if she felt it too and tried to focus on leading her around the floor. She had always enjoyed the waltz but her movements were even more fluid that they had been in high school. It seemed effortless to her now. In fact, her thoughts seemed miles away as she stared into space throughout the dance.
"Thanks for that." Ryan finally murmured. "You didn't have to…"
"They were being ridiculous." Kelsi sighed, shaking her head. "I know they want to help, but really…"
She giggled and Ryan laughed with her, meeting her gaze and seeing that the light seemed to have returned. They danced in silence for a while, listening to the soft tinkling of the piano. Ryan wasn't sure what Kelsi was thinking, but as for himself he was revelling in the familiarity. How incredibly easy it was to dance with her and not feel the need to say a word. Troy and Gabriella glided past them and although they were staring into each other's eyes, Troy spared a second to offer Ryan a friendly smile. It was enough to know he and his friends were ok.
The song finished and Ryan and Kelsi broke apart. She looked at him with a strange expression on her face. As if she was trying very hard to figure something out. Ryan opened his mouth to say… he wasn't sure what. Anything really. But he was interrupted by Troy whose voice was no amplified and filling the room.
"Hey everyone! Can I have your attention for a moment?"
The room steadily hushed and turned to face Troy who was standing with Gabriella on the stage with the band at the back of the room.
"First of all, thanks to Mr and Mrs Evans for having us here. I think we can all agree it's been a great night."
Many murmurs of agreement ached round the room, followed by applause and a loud 'YEAH!' that undoubtedly came from Chad.
"You might be wondering why I'm up here, instead of one of the Evans family. Derby is going to say a few words later on but..."
"We wanted a chance to make an announcement with so many of our friends and family in the room." Gabriella continued, smiling sweetly as she leaned over into the microphone. Troy caught her eye and for a second the couple shared one of those Troy and Gabriella looks. Where, for a moment, they fell into their own world. It was incredibly sweet… and it made Ryan's chest ache.
"Yesterday, I asked Gabby to marry me." Troy said, grinning triumphantly across the room. "And she…"
"And I said yes." Gabriella finished, grasping Troy's free hand and beaming at him.
An explosion of cheering and applause broke out at this news. Ryan beat his hands together furiously as the couple laughed together onstage. Kelsi jumped up and down next to him, her hands clasped across her mouth in delight.
Getting married. They weren't even out of college. And yet, as Ryan watched the couple happily share a kiss from the stage, encouraged by the crowd, it seemed to make perfect sense. Of course they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. As they left the stage they were instantly engulfed by Taylor and Chad and the four of them shared a long four way hug. In the meantime the music began again. As the piano tinkled back into another waltz, Ryan's eyes darted over to Kelsi and found her looking back. Her eyes were glassy, just holding in the tears of joy for her friends.
"Another dance?" Ryan hazarded, holding out his palm. "It looks like they'll be a while."
Kelsi looked over to Troy and Gabriella who hadn't quite managed to surface from their embrace with Taylor and Chad. She nodded in understanding and took his hand, allowing herself to be pulled back into the gentle waltz.
"It's amazing isn't it." she said quietly as they drifted round the floor.
"I don't know about that." Ryan murmured. "Now I think about it, I can't imagine things being any other way for them."
"No not that." Kelsi said. "Taylor and Chad. And Troy and Gabriella. They're still… They're still a unit. After everything."
Ryan considered this as he watched the four friends together from across the room. Taylor was wiping her eyes with one hand and grasping Gabriella's hand with the other. All the while Chad patted her comfortingly on the shoulder as he laughed with Troy. It didn't matter that one couple had made it and the other hadn't. They were still altogether. Still connected.
"Well… Taylor is Gabriella's best friend." Ryan said. "Chad is Troy's best friend. And yeah maybe they didn't work out as a couple but they still went through a lot together."
"Yeah I guess." Kelsi replied.
"And what's more… They'e getting married." Ryan said, adding a certain weight to the word. "They're family now."
"Yeah. There's probably not room for… grudges." Kelsi said softly. "Ryan, what are we doing?"
Ryan blinked and, in a sort of panic let her twirl beneath his arm.
"Dancing?" he asked, smiling innocently as he pulled her back into the waltz position. Kelsi raised her eyebrows at him but managed to give him a smile too.
"I don't think I said that I'd forgiven you. When you apologised." she went on in a low voice, looking at his chest instead of his face.
"I didn't expect you too." Ryan said stiffly, looking straight ahead.
"Well I do. If… If you can forgive me too. I don't think either of us dealt with anything well back then."
Ryan looked down at her and only realised then that they had stopped dancing. He wasn't sure how long they had been standing stationary in the middle of the dance floor, her hand still resting on the nape of his neck, his hand still lightly on her bare back.
"Is… friends out of the question?" he asked tentatively. To his surprise, and delight, Kelsi smiled warmly at him.
"It's my final year of college and I'm attempting to produce a musical. I could use another friend right now."
She promptly restarted their waltz, guiding them in the direction of Troy and Gabriella who finally looked able to talk.
"And it's like you said…" she added. "Our friends, they're family now."
***************************************************************************************************************
"If you're going to scowl at my brother Martha, can you at least do it discreetly?"
Martha flushed, whipping her face away from Ryan and Kelsi's dancing forms to meet Sharpay's arched brow.
"You knew Jason would tell Chad and Troy…"
"Well maybe everyone should know." Martha snapped. It frustrated and insulted her to no end that everyone was suddenly so… ok with Ryan. Granted, most of the gang didn't know the details of what had happened between them and yes maybe she had told Jason in the hope that word would get around. It just seemed so unfair to Kelsi that everyone still saw Ryan as this perfect guy, when actually, he was the guy that had single handedly transformed her best friend into a crumpled mess for a good part of her sophomore year. Most of all she couldn't understand Sharpay. She had seen Kelsi with her own eyes. Had witnessed first hand the damage her brother had done.
To her surprise, Sharpay sighed and nodded.
"Yeah. Maybe that's fair. But you chose a hell of a platform Martha." she said softly, jerking her head towards the filled dance floor. Ok, so maybe enraging Chad Danforth and Troy Bolton at a family get-together hadn't been one of her better ideas.
"It all seems to have blown over anyway." Sharpay said with a shrug, obviously spotting Martha's guilty expression.
"How can you be ok with this?" Martha asked under her breath, her eyes flicking to Kelsi and Ryan, who were still dancing closely. Sharpay's eyed widened innocently.
"They're just dancing."
Martha's eyes narrowed suspiciously while Sharpay's face remained impassive.
"What are you up to?"
"Nothing!"
"Every time they get within an inch of each other you grin like a cheshire cat." Martha spat. "Sharpay, you saw her…"
"Ok, ok I don't need reminding of that." Sharpay sighed, wincing. "She was almost family Martha. And when he was with her…"
Sharpay looked over at her brother who's eyes were alight as he spun Kelsi under his arm.
"He was so good with her." Sharpay murmured. "Until… until the idiot messed it all up. But I'm not trying to get them back together!" she insisted. "It's incredibly tempting but…"
"Why?!" Martha hissed back, smiling through gritted teeth at a passing couple who seemed to have senses the tension between the two girls. "Why would you want her to go through that again?"
"Ok you listen to me Martha." Sharpay snapped, her cool demeanour finally cracking as her eyes flashed. "Yes, my brother fucked up, but that hardly makes Kelsi blameless and it certainly doesn't make my brother a bad person. I know I'm his family, but I would have thought his friends could spare an ounce of forgiveness for this one mistake!"
Sharpay's eyes flicked over to Kelsi again, who was smiling at Ryan before leaving him to congratulate Troy and Gabriella.
"It looks like Kelsi has. Give him a chance won't you?"
With that, Sharpay stalked off into the crowd. Martha looked over at Kelsi again. She was holding the newly engaged couple in a close hug, the two of them swamping her tiny figure. Ryan, probably recognising that it would be a while before he had the chance to talk to the happy couple, had managed to shanghai Taylor onto the dance floor and seemed to be trying to teach her a complex swing step while she humoured him by giggling as she gingerly attempting the moves. He had even pacified Taylor, the cynic of the group. The scene reminded Martha of rehearsing for the star dazzle award, when they had first noticed Ryan's good qualities and become his friends. It was strange to think that Ryan had not always been 'one of them'. But then none of them had been at some point. They had all come together, from different backgrounds and lifestyles. As angry as she was with Ryan and with the whole situation, Sharpay was right. Ryan wasn't a bad person and the idea of them not being part of their East High family seemed wrong. She tried to imagine how it would feel if everyone had turned on her after her and Jason's break up. If they had believed she had hurt him too deep and couldn't be forgiven. The thought of losing this close group of friends made her stomach clench.
"You ok?"
Martha snapped out of her daydream and found herself gazing into her boyfriend's eyes. They were swimming with concern.
"Not really." she sighed, glancing over at Ryan who was finally making his way to a now vacant Troy and Gabriella.
"I guess we're all family now." Jason said. His tone was light but Martha caught his meaning.
"Yeah I guess." she agreed. "And they seem ok together now. But… what if they get back together?"
"Why not?" Jason asked with a frown. "We did."
"What if he hurts her again?"
"He won't. He made a mistake and he'll never stop trying to make up for it." Jason said softly.
Martha had a feeling they weren't talking about Ryan and Kelsi anymore.
"I love you." she said, her voice almost a whisper. The words had fallen from her mouth before she had a chance to be afraid or to even think about stopping them. Jason blinked in surprise a few times before his face erupted into a huge grin.
Kelsi finally left Troy and Gabriella to the rest of their well-wishers and went to join her friends at the side of the dance floor, still feeling elated for the happy couple. Gabriella's happiness was radiating from her so boldly that it was small wonder no one had noticed the ring on her left hand until now. Troy on the other hand barely noticed any of the congratulations he received as he was generally staring at his fiancee with an amazed grin etched on his face. Kelsi found Taylor and Chad and stood with them, watching Troy pull Gabriella into yet another sweet kiss.
"That's pretty cool." Chad sighed, sounding slightly defeated.
"We're young, attractive and single." Taylor mimicked, in a low voice that was presumably meant to be Chad.
"Well we are! Right Jason… Jason?"
Chad scanned the floor then his gaze settled something that made him screw up his face in disgust. Kelsi followed his eyes and found Jason and Martha in the middle of the dance floor, arms wrapped around each other and kissing enthusiastically. Kelsi beamed.
"Great." Chad grumbled. "And I suppose Zeke… "
"He and Sharpay stepped outside about…" Taylor checked her watch. "Ten minutes ago." she finished curtly. Chad looked positively insulted. However, Zeke soon reappeared and politely asked Taylor to dance as Sharpay skipped over to dance with her twin. Chad immediately executed an extravagant bow in front of Kelsi before holding his hand out in invitation. Giggling, Kelsi took it and let him lead her onto the dance floor.
"I hope you know I can only sway." Chad said uncertainly as Ryan and Sharpay swept past them, their complicated footwork a blur. Ryan swung Sharpay into a professional looking dip, causing Chad to snort.
"That's absolutely fine with me." Kelsi replied encouragingly.
"So Evans is ok then?"
"Stop worrying. And please don't give him a hard time."
Chad looked at Ryan again and sighed.
"If you're sure Small Person. I don't really want to lose either of you as friends…"
"You won't." she said, forcing a smile. She was about to add 'I promise.' but bit it back at the last moment. She couldn't pretend she wasn't playing with fire. She and Ryan had a very complicated past and she honestly couldn't predict what being close to him again would be like. Still, it seemed like the right decision and part of her felt warmed at the idea of having her choreographer friend back. Just like High School. She just had to make sure she didn't get in too deep…
Thanks again everyone for your wonderful support for this story! Lots of love.