Sorry it took me so long to update! All last week I had tech rehearsals 4-10 at this college drama studio AGES away from my house after school, so I literally had no time to do even homework. I was in the musical "Guys and Dolls", and it was so much fun!!! I made really, really good friends there and the cast party after the sixth and final performance was so emotional and sad! I am still depressed and missing them all terribly. Grg, all my best friends don't go to my actual school!!
Another reason the late posting; finals are coming up, aaack! I get to exempt Latin, which is a major HALLELUJAH moment for me—I had no idea I had improved my grades enough to pass it. That's what's so annoying about my school; at most schools, to exempt a final, your year average in that class needs to be above an 85. At my lamo school, it's a 95. What's up with that??? Anyways, I'm trying to exempt Biology, since that's another hard and evil final. I'm literally a fourth of a point away from exempted (94.25—another .25 and my teacher is allowed to round up. How annoying is that??)
Anyways, I'm rambling. Hope you all enjoy this chapter, and please keep up your wonderful reviews!
Chapter Six
Ryan bit his lip with nervousness. Here he was, standing right outside her house, and he couldn't muster up enough courage to even ring her doorbell. Lilly was safe in her bed, and Tabitha was only a wall away. His neighbor was ready 24/7 if one depressed sound came from the apartment, and she most likely knew where he was. It was not his baby girl that worried him. It was the other girl sleeping in the house before him that made his knees knock.
Maybe he could do a Troy and call her…but when he dug through his cargo pant pockets he seemed to have left his cell phone at home. Perhaps it was time to do things the old-fashioned way.
After a bit of inspection, Ryan found what he was looking for. A little preparation, a good swing, and the pebble hit her window dead on. But it took five more pebbles for her to come to her window. He waved her to open her window.
"Ryan!" she gasped in surprise, tugging on a light jacket over her pajamas. "What are you doing here so late?"
"I wanted to talk to you in person, Kelsi," he whispered loudly. "Can you come on down?"
"…I don't know if my parents would let me," she responded after a minute of thought. "Here; I'll climb down through my window"
The only flaw to this marvelous plan was the fact that Kelsi was terrified of heights. Halfway down the side of her house she got stuck and refused to move.
"Just let go; I'll catch you!" Ryan assured her, his arms outstretched.
"Are you sure about this?" Kelsi called shakily, trembling from head to toe.
"Trust me!" Kelsi glanced unsurely over at him. She didn't move. "You don't trust me, do you." It was a statement, not a question. She looked away, embarrassed, from him and somehow managed to climb the rest of the way unassisted. "Come on, Kels; we need to talk"
Hand in hand, they strolled together in silence until they reached the neighborhood park.
"I was going to just call you with the answer. But my conscience told me to do otherwise…what I'm saying is it all come down to this—" Ryan paused. Till then he had talking mostly to Kelsi's hands entwined in his, but now he looked her directly into her soft, sea blue eyes. The moonlight shone on her pale skin, and without her long-gone glasses Kelsi Neilson looked heavenly in the silvery glow.
"I love you more than any other girl in the entire world, and I refuse to ruin our relationship over old memories from the past. I am completely, always, and forever yours, and yours alone." Kelsi took a shuddery breath; tears flooding her eyes. She suddenly noticed by the choking sound coming from Ryan that the words had not be easy in coming from his mouth; but they were utterly heartfelt and honest.
It was one of the rare moments in Kelsi's life were she knew exactly what to do at exactly the right time. She pulled Ryan to her with her eyes. It struck his suddenly how much emotion could be portrayed in a single look; all of Ryan's heart was in his eyes. Such was the power of look in his gaze at her that Kelsi's own eyes brimmed over, and she kissed him gently on the lips.
"I love you more than any problem that might ever come up. I don't care about what the future might hold; as long as you love me, I don't need anything else"
Their eyes never leaving each other's faces, Ryan and Kelsi sat down together on a park bench. Kelsi rested her head against Ryan's shoulder, and it was as if puzzle pieces had at last been fitted together. His arm clicked into place around her place, and with a tender hand Ryan stroked her head, his lips against her ear. When Kelsi closed her, relishing in the safest place in the world, Ryan almost felt as if the moon had gone behind a cloud. If her eyes didn't open, the world would be flung into darkness. Ryan also closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of her hair. Watermelon and vanilla.
"Ryan?" she suddenly whispered gently.
"Hmm?" he mumbled, his face still buried in his hair.
"How can you know you love me more than Gabriella until tested?"
This new problem pricked Ryan directly between his eyes. "We'll just have to see, I suppose." He kissed his on her head, and felt her relax once again. They would find out when the time came. As long as he imprinted this memory eternally in his memory, he should have no trouble anymore.
They stayed in his position so long that Ryan could feel Kelsi's breathing slow down and saw her chest rise and fall in a gentle, repeating pattern. He let the mood of the enchanting night and the feeling of Kelsi's hand in his pull him into the welcome blanket of real sleep.
---
The opportunity for Ryan to prove himself came sooner than he thought it would. His cell phone went off right next to his ear but two mornings later. He had had a very late, seeing as how he and Kelsi had had a night on the town until early morning the previous night.
Blearily unraveling himself from the covers, Ryan rubbed the sleep out of his clear eyes and grabbed his alarm clock. 4:35 a.m. Yawning, he accidentally knocked his phone off the bedside table before answering it.
"'lo?" he said, stifling another yawn.
"Ryan, it's Sharpay. I just wanted to let you know that a bunch of old friends from East High are having a small part at Chad's condo tonight; his parents are letting his use it for a week"
"And you had to call me at 4:35 in the morning for this??" Ryan groaned, dropping back onto his pillow.
"I just thought you'd like to know ahead of time. Remember—are you writing this down?—8 o'clock, 7391 Fire Oak Lane. See you there!" Ryan hung up the phone and turned over on his back.
"Girls," he murmured before he went straight back to sleep.
An hour and a half before the party officially, Tabitha and Lillian delegated themselves head of Ryan's clothing department for the night. Together, they picked out a dark pair of ripped jeans, a gray shirt reading "Rebel Yell", a not-too-formal black jacket, and agreed that gelled hair would look best for the situation (A/E: muahaha, did anybody catch the joke here? Probably only us LG freaks :)). Ryan still did not one to go to the event at all because of the possibility of seeing a certain mother there, but his desire to catch up with old pals overcame his uneasiness and he had been convinced into going after all.
When Ryan reached the condo, the rap music almost burned a hole in his eardrums. He had become so accustomed to living the quiet life of a kindergarten music teacher that he had almost forgotten what it was like to behave like a regular college student. As soon as he stepped inside he was enveloped by a huge poof of hair.
"RYAN!" Chad bellowed at the top of his lungs, pounding his old classmate on the back. Kelsi stood awkwardly behind him, hoping she would not receive the same rough greeting.
"Hey Chad," Ryan said weakly, his knees buckling beneath him. Danforth had acquired much more muscular, burly birth to him since high school—his tall form took up most of the doorway. A pretty Asian girl Ryan didn't recognize bounced up next to Chad and threw her arms around him. (A/E: did you catch this joke too?)
"Who are you friends?" she giggled, blinking at Ryan with wide brown eyes.
"This is Ryan Evans and—oh sorry, didn't see you back there—Kelsi Neilson. Ryan, Kelsi; this is Angela"
"Nice you meet…you…" Kelsi began, but Chad and what she hoped was his new girlfriend began to passionately kiss each other.
"Besides new faces and taller people, it almost feels like high school," Ryan whispered in Kelsi's ear. She squeezed his hand and nodded.
21-year-old Ryan stood firmly on his feet, an empty glass clasped tightly in his hand. He was now really wishing he had not come at all; he had really only come because Kelsi and Lillian had wanted him to. He had one glass of the only thing he trusted—tap water. He didn't drink anything anyone gave him.
The music pounded into his head, and he was highly disgusted by the activities on the dance floor. Ryan amused himself by chatting with the few people not intoxicated people he knew, and stayed by Kelsi almost always.
Kelsi was pulled away by a gaggle of old music buddies who constantly pestered her who the unfamiliar hot guy with was with her. She wouldn't tell.
Thinking Ryan now single, many girls (and a few guys) bluntly made moves on him, and one particularly persistent Puerto Rican girl managed to slip her hands into his jeans.
When it got to this point, Ryan bolted away in a direct line to a spare room to escape the scary place (he had to go through three to find an unoccupied place). He flopped onto the comfy comforter on the bed, exhaling in the relief of being free.
"Hey there." Ryan almost jumped out of his skin. He had had no idea that Gabriella Montez had been invited to this party. He hadn't even spat a word out when he lost all personal space he had ever owned. She was all over him once again; her hot mouth slammed against his own, her hands running over his entire body while slipping out of her tube top.
Caught of guard for the second time, Ryan opened his mouth to the tongue pressing for an entrance. But unlike four years ago, a picture unexpectedly popped into his mind. Blue eyes gazing into his, a innocent kiss, a gentle brush of a smooth, soft hand…Ryan bolted upright, firmly detaching Gabbi from himself.
"Baby," she whispered with a velvet voice, running her hands slowly up his leg, painfully arousing him. "What are you so upset about?"
"This. I can't do this"
"Yes you can; we've done it before…we love each other, remember?"
"Do we?" he asked harshly. "Did we ever? Do we really? Because I know in my book, this is a one-way relationship. I am in love with someone else"
She snorted with disbelief. "Oh really? With whom, may I ask?"
"Kelsi," the teacher answered simply and walked determinedly out of the room, not looking behind him.
When he emerged, he looked across the throng to discover a pair of shining eyes meeting his own. He smiled with victory.
Ryan had passed the test.
---
Ryan Evans hummed to himself as he walked away from Kelsi's home. He had walked home with her; they had had a lot to talk about. But now he need to be going home and checking on little Lilly; if she had inherited anything from him, she didn't sleep very soundly.
Not a block away, a startling smell tickled his nose. It brought back memories of visiting his great aunt Martha, who always reeked of black coffee and her long cigars. Cigars…smoke…Ryan tore down the road faster than he had known he could sprint.
The blonde stared at the scene in front of him with unbelieving eyes. Half of the Neilson home was engulfed in flame. Not thinking about it for a second more, he kicked the door open and ran inside. Mr. and Mrs. Neilson, being on the bottom floor, were already running towards the door. Kelsi, however, was stuck on the second floor; the staircase was on fire.
"Kelsi; jump!" Ryan called up, running closer to the wall. "I'll catch you!"
She shook her head violently, shaking from head to toe. "I can't!"
"Trust me!" Kelsi gazed down at him, struck by the significance of his words. At last, she nodded, squeezed her eyes tight and jumped over the railing. She fell safely into Ryan's sturdy arms. He carried her out onto the lawn and had set her gently down when a fire truck pulled up. By now the night sky was black and red with the smoke of the burning house, and concerned neighbors were out on their own lawns.
"My songs!" Kelsi squeaked, her hand flying to her mouth. "I forgot my compositions!"
Ryan looked worriedly from Kelsi to the house to Kelsi, and back to the house.
Kelsi read his thoughts. "Ry—don't; it's too dangerous!" But she was too late. Ryan sprinted across the grass and back into the blazing building, ignoring the shouts of firemen's warnings.
His eyes immediately stung from the wave of heat that flooded over him. Blinking back his watering eyes, Ryan ran resolutely into the flaming living room. Snatching the yet untouched sheet music off the piano, he was about to run back when a large plank came smashing down on his left hand (the floor boards from the room above were eroding). Stars danced across the father's eyes and he cried out from the searing pain. Again he turned to leave but found the doorway framed with orange and red flames. He bit his lip and accidentally inhaled a lungful of smoke. Coughing uncontrollably, Ryan staggered towards the window. More and more boards began hazardously falling, until one came crashing down on the back of his head. Ryan fell unconscious to the floor.
Kelsi twisted her hands nervously. "Why isn't he coming out? It wasn't all that hard to find!" Another 15 seconds, and still no Ryan. "He wasn't supposed to go get it in the first place! I was just thinking out loud!"
"Would you like me and my men to go and get him out, miss?" the fire chief asked respectfully.
Go and get him out…no, Ryan was strong enough to come out on his own! Wordlessly, Kelsi nodded. Two and a half nerve-racking, hair-pulling, bleeding lip, white knuckled minutes later the fireman returned, cradling the limp form of Ryan's body in his arms.
"One of the boards collided with his head; he's just knocked out." Kelsi gingerly touched the back of his head for herself. She felt a large welt developing there, and when she pulled away her hand there was blood on her finger tips. Tears slipped unnoticed from her eyes.
"Please be alright," she whispered hoarsely. A stack of papers clutched securely in his hands drew her attention. Unfolding the corners, she identified the objects as her sheet music. A month ago she would have been relieved to see them safe and sound, but now she could not have cared less about the bars of song. Her main focus was the pale, single father in the fireman's arms opening his beautiful eyes once again.
I hadn't planned on the fire or park scene happening; they just popped into my head once I reached this section. This story continuously surprises me, haha. Is it surprising you? So, what do you think should and will happen next? Too cheesy? What could I use more of? I always need advice, of course, and LOTS of it, haha. Thank you all so much for your reviews! I love every single one of your comments (especially the longer ones, teehee. I love long reviews). Thanks again for all the support you've shown me!