hey everyone :) how've y'all been?
now, this is one of those longer 2,000+ word chapters, just as a forewarning. its one of my favourites, the ending especially. things get even more heated between our developing love triangle, in more ways than one.
and to Tertiary Genesis, dont risk the life of your computer! my story isn't worth that! if your computer dies, then you'll never be able to post the next chapter for Lockdown :(
anyways, hope you enjoy!
It's Called Crime and Punishment, Bolton
It didn't really come as a surprise to anyone that the leads went to Ryan and Troy. Troy's audition seemed to be a bit bumpy, and he seemed very distracted, but Ms. Darbus thought it best to save everyone's ears from Jason's horrendous singing.
With the play now officially underway, rehearsals were in full swing. Being the two leads, Ryan and Troy spent almost every day after school practicing with each other. They spent a lot of time talking with each other. Ryan surprised Troy with his breadth of golf expertise, another mutual passion of theirs'. And Ryan was delighted to hear Troy used to take music lessons, an obvious passion of Ryan's. As time passed, Ryan slowly forgot about the annoying Troy Bolton that tapped his pencil and stared at him in class, and got to know the funny, charming, well-rounded Troy Bolton. And Troy was just happy to talk to Ryan. He had known him all his life, but it seemed like he only just met him, and he really loved spending time with him.
And the best part was, Gabriella was completely oblivious to all this. Since she only landed a minor role, she had few rehearsals with the boys. Usually, she would be with the rest of the supporting cast, which included a disgruntled Sharpay, practicing ensemble numbers.
It was a few weeks before Gabriella started to get really suspicious. With rehearsals being the way they were, she was seeing less of her boyfriend with each day. Not only that, but even outside of rehearsals, Troy was almost always with Ryan. Something had to be done.
One day after school, Gabriella cornered Troy at his locker.
"Hello loverboy." She said, batting her lashes.
"Hey." Troy said distractedly. "No time to talk, I have to meet with Ry—"
But Troy didn't get to finish his sentence as Gabriella forced her lips onto his in a rather unexpected and awkward kiss.
"Why don't we forget the play for one day and just have some fun?" She said.
Troy, still taken aback from Gabriella's kiss, gave his girlfriend a questioning look. "Skip rehearsal? What did you have in mind?"
"Do we really need to plan it?" Gabriella said. "Why not just let loose and be spontaneous?"
"Spot-what?" Troy asked confusedly. Having Einstein's great great great great granddaughter as a girlfriend was not easy sometimes. Gabriella let out a sigh and took hold of Troy's hand.
"Come on!" Troy followed Gabriella down the hall. As they rounded the corner and entered the foyer, they bumped into Ryan.
"Oh, hey Troy!" Ryan greeted cheerfully. "Ready to rehearse?"
Troy gave Gabriella an uneasy glance. "Actually, Gabriella and I were going to be, uh… spot-a-tious…"
"Spontaneous." Gabriella corrected.
Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Spontaneous? Does that mean you're skipping out on rehearsals today?"
Gabriella huffed. "You make it sound so terrible. We're just gonna take a break, that's all. Besides, a girl needs to spend time with her man every once in a while."
"Yeah but, Troy's a lead. It's kinda important that he shows up to every rehearsal."
"Oh Ryan, don't be such a killjoy." Gabriella whined. Troy frowned.
"Gabriella, take that back."
But Ryan shook his head. "No, that's okay. You're right, a guy needs time to spend with his girlfriend. I'll cover for you guys…" Ryan's voice was filled with rejection and sorrow. He hung his head as he walked away.
"God that kid's annoying sometimes." Gabriella sighed, steering Troy out of the building. He ripped his hand from her grip.
"If you're not aware, that annoying kid just helped us out of rehearsal."
"Look Troy, if you'd rather hang out with Ryan, then go ahead but—"
"Gabriella, you know I don't mean that." Troy said. "I love you, okay?"
"Yeah?" Gabriella asked. "Good to know, 'cause you haven't been showing it lately." Troy sighed. Even if she didn't put it in the lightest of terms, she was right. He had been a terrible boyfriend as of late. "Okay, I'm sorry. I've been a jerk to you."
Gabriella's expression softened a bit, and she accepted Troy's apology. "I'm glad you finally clued in. Now come on, let's spend some quality time together."
Unfortunately, 'quality time' meant going to Gabriella's house and watching sappy chick flicks all night long. Troy knew he had to make it up to Gabriella for ignoring her so much, but did any guy really deserve this? He tried to block out the garbage Gabriella called 'really good movies' and focus on something else. Ryan drifted into his mind, and Troy couldn't help but feel guilty for leaving him at the school. He knew Ryan was excited for their rehearsal that day, and was counting on Troy to be there. And then Gabriella had to ruin things for him, and he still had the heart to cover for them. Ryan was truly an admirable person, and Troy felt like scum sitting next to the one who had shipwrecked their plans for that day. Gabriella let out a loud sob as they watched their third movie. Troy rolled his eyes and passed her another tissue. As he did, a loud ringing punctuated the tense scene.
"Turn that thing off." Gabriella growled. "It's getting to the good part."
Troy ignored Gabriella and pulled out his cell phone. "Hello?"
"Hey Troy! It's Ryan."
"Oh… Hey dad." Troy cast a nervous glance at Gabriella, who was staring lasers into him. "What's up?"
"Dad? It's Ryan…"
"You wanna talk about something? Sure, just a sec." Troy pulled his cell phone away from his mouth and looked at Gabriella. "Sorry, this sounds important. I'll only be a few minutes." Troy then excused himself from the room and resumed his conversation in the hallway. "Sorry about that. I didn't want her to know it was you."
"Are you still at Gabriella's?" Ryan asked incredulously. "It's already past nine!"
"I know!" Troy groaned. "She's making me sit through a chick flick marathon for being a bad boyfriend." He could almost hear Ryan flinch on the other end.
"Oooh, ouch. So I guess there's no chance of you coming by to catch the end of our rehearsal."
"What?!" Troy exclaimed. "You're still in rehearsal?!"
"Yeah. After you didn't show up, Ms. Darbus got kinda pissed off, and she went into a two-hour rant about how true artists never neglect the theatre. And then after that she's been working us to our limit as a reminder of what's really important in an actor's life."
This time it was Troy's turn to flinch. "Yikes. Women can get pretty scary sometimes."
Ryan groaned. "Tell me about it."
"Well…" Troy gave the living room door a tentative look. "Rehearsal's sounding pretty good given my current circumstances. I'll see if I can ditch Gabriella and swing by."
"Are you serious?" Ryan sounded absolutely delighted, which made Troy feel a lot better. "Okay, I'll let Darbus know so she can come out of Slave-Driver-Mode. See you later?"
Troy laughed. "Yeah, see ya later." He shut his cell phone and pocketed it. He reached for the doorknob and turned it.
"Well it's about time you—"
"Sorry Gabriella." Troy interrupted. "Family emergency. Gotta go!" And without waiting for her response, Troy shut the door and bolted out of the house. He jumped into his rickety pickup and sped off for the school.
Ryan slipped his cell phone into his bag, now sporting an impossibly wide smile.
"RYAN!" Ms. Darbus screeched. "Are we forgetting our lessons in discipline so soon?"
"No!" Ryan cried out. "Uh, um... Troy's coming!" Ryan hoped this would suffice his use of the 'cursed' cell phone. Ms. Darbus' eyebrows lifted.
"Is he? Well then…" She turned to face the stage where the whole cast was performing the finale for the millionth time. "Take five everyone!" There was a collective sigh of relief, and the auditorium shook as everyone collapsed in exhaustion. This was their first break in six hours. "We'll take it from the top again once Bolton shows up!" This was met with many groans of displeasure, and Ryan was pretty sure he could hear his sister sobbing. He grimaced and joined his friends onstage.
"Troy better have a good reason for putting us through this." Sharpay growled, massaging her worn out feet.
"Trust me, he does." Ryan looked at his sister, who was looking a bit pathetic sprawled out on the floor whining about her aching muscles. He propped her up and sat her between his legs.
"Thanks Ryan." Sharpay said, as her brother massaged her neck. Soon, they had attracted other people's attention, and they weren't about to be left out. A line started forming in front of Sharpay as they formed a long train of massages. Sadly, Ryan was the caboose, and without someone to tend to his aching tendons. Suddenly, the auditorium doors opened, and everyone turned to look. They were afraid Ms. Darbus had already come back to resume their rehearsal, but to everyone immense relief, it was Troy. He was met with a chorus of greeting. He politely smiled back and waved. "Sorry I'm late guys."
"SHH! Not a word!" Sharpay hissed. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again."
"It wont." Troy said, taking a seat behind Ryan. "Hey."
"Hey." Ryan replied tiredly.
Troy chuckled. "How did you get suckered into being the caboose?"
Ryan would have shrugged, but then his arms might have fallen off. Realizing this, Troy inched closer to Ryan and grasped his shoulders. He gasped.
"Uggh, my god Troy. You have no idea how good that feels."
Troy smirked. "You're way too soft for your own good, you know that? I bet you worked harder than anyone else here today."
Ryan didn't reply, as he basked in the relief Troy brought him. Suddenly, he was conscious of the fact Troy Bolton was practically straddling him and giving him a very good neck rub. He was reminded of that rehearsal weeks ago when he had help Troy with his Twist. Now the tables were turned on him and Troy was behind, massaging his body and whispering to him.
"I'm really really really really really really sorry about today." Troy said, feeling the need to emphasize it.
"That's okay." Ryan mumbled.
"And I'm super sorry about Gabriella. She had no right to—"
"Just keep massaging and we'll be good, how's that sound?" Ryan said. Troy laughed.
"Sounds good." Troy worked Ryan's shoulders, then slowly inched his hands to the base of his neck. Ryan let out a shuddering breath from the pleasure this brought him.
"Oh Troy…" Troy really needed to consider becoming a masseuse. His touch was so warm and strong, it drove Ryan up the wall.
Troy was really starting to get the hang of massaging, and he was really getting into it. Maybe too into it. He squeezed Ryan noticeably harder, and he heard Ryan gasp loudly.
"Sorry, did that hurt?"
"No." Ryan said in a low growl. "Do it again."
Troy raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?'
"That felt good." Ryan sighed. "Do it again." Troy shrugged and squeezed Ryan's shoulders again, forcing another moan from the blond. It felt good to be able to make it up to Ryan, and in a way that didn't involve relaying Kleenexes while watching chick flicks. Ryan made it quite clear that he was enjoying himself, oblivious to the fact his sister was sitting inches in front of him. Troy was taking in every word, and sigh, a groan, and was freakishly reminded of how he used to make out with Gabriella. Used to as in, it rarely happened anymore…
"As it should be. She's been so moody lately."
"Hmm? Did you say something Troy?" Ryan asked quietly.
"Shh." Troy said calmingly. "Just sit still and let me take your pain away."
Ryan swayed. Did Troy just say that? That was HOT. Ryan thought, clueless the fact it was a cheesy line Troy stole from one of the movies he watched with Gabriella. Ryan let out another sigh of pleasure, wishing this could last forever.
"Well I certainly hope I'm not interrupting." Ryan jumped and looked at Ms. Darbus. He then looked around. The massage train had broken up, and almost the whole cast was staring at him and Troy. His eyes widened and his face went scarlet. Despite this, Troy laughed.
"Give him a break guys, he's done the work for both of us all day." Ryan sighed. Leave it Troy to always know what to say. To his great dismay, Troy's hands lifted off his shoulders. He held out his hand to Ryan, he took it and heaved himself up.
"Well now that you've all had a chance to unwind, it's time to get back to rehearsing." Ms. Darbus said. She clapped her hands and got everyone in position for the opening number. Ryan gave Troy a grateful look, to which Troy replied to with a wink.
daang!
at this rate, they'll be in bed together by next chapter! heh... heh... heh...
this chapter drew inspiration from 'The Road to HSM 2', in which they showed the cast in a long massage train that ended up being in the movie as part of the dance for 'What Time is It?' kinda cool, eh?
im really satisfied with this chapter as a whole. it was a bit hard to write, i was having trouble with how i wanted it to go. but it worked out in the end an im pleased with it :) i hop eyou all enjoyed it too:)