Gift for coffeewordangel (Part 2/3)
Part 1
They-or Ryan, really-had picked out all sorts of crap: shirts, pants, a belt or four. Ryan simply tossed it at the woman who followed them around and muttered something about the 'usual address.' She promptly disappeared, then immediately reappeared holding a more modest bag emblazoned with the insignia Chad kept seeing on all the shirts. Ryan took it and meandered toward the door, but Chad had this nagging feeling that-
"Wait...what about that stuff you said I should get? I didn't pay," Chad protested at the door.
Ryan widened his eyes dramatically. "Eee gads, you're right. Quick; let's run for it."
"But I didn't want you to buy anything for me!" Chad hissed. "I was gonna-"
"Oh, trust me, you couldn't afford a sock in here."
"But-"
Ryan finally showed the faintest signs of embarrassment. He came back to Chad, still blocking the doorway. "Look, my family has tons of money and they insist I use it to make myself happy."
"Yeah and what? You're using it to buy me clothes. How does that-"
A dazzling grin made Ryan light up. People were, like, looking at him. "You joking? I'm euphoric I won't have to see you in those t-shirts ever again."
"Hey! Be serious. You could be doing good for the world-"
"I am! Especially my world." He gestured to their immediate surroundings.
Chad rolled his eyes. "And you only bought me new clothes. It's not like you burned the old ones or-"
Ryan clapped. "That's a brilliant idea! We should go-"
"Dude, you're not burning my clothes," Chad said, finally giving into the amusement, which was probably what Ryan had wanted all along.
Ryan sniffed like Chad had sucked all the joy from his existence. "Fine. But my point stands: this was fun. So quit your bitching and say 'thank you.'"
Chad shook his head and finally moved out of the doorway. Not that anyone else had tried to go in or come out, he'd like to mention.
"Thank you, Ryan, for being a controlling, psychotic dictator who makes the fashion gods cry."
"You're welcome. Now come buy me a latte. I'm practically dehydrated after all that."
"Coffee will just dehydrate-" Chad was interrupted by someone calling out from down the street.
"Hey, New Money! Shopping spree for your boytoy?" Chad zeroed in on the too-slick asswipe actually wearing a suit and tie as he passed them.
"Original, Kensington. That kinda creativity will make you famous one day," Ryan shot back.
Chad turned to Ryan who remained glaring at the dude. "You have a nickname, too?"
"Don't even ask," Ryan grumbled.
***
"Kensington called me New Money again," Ryan said.
This apparently had some meaning to Will and Katie because they both nodded. "Old money kids are such douches," Will decided.
"Except you, Liam, you're a lovely boy," Katie said, then returned to sucking Coke through a straw in a very...distracting way.
Will straightened and basked in the attention. "I am," he agreed.
Katie turned and hung onto Ryan in that way she had. "I'm sorry, Ry. Want me to destroy his manhood for you?"
"Yes. But Verve would be better."
"Ooh, I love Verve!" she enthused.
"That's all settled, then. Kensington's going on the list and we're going to Verve. And I'm lovely," Will added.
"And an old money traitor kid," Chad added.
"Yeah, but so's Katie. And Walker. But he's named Walker, so what the hell do you expect?" Will rambled.
Wow, Chad had so lost the plot. "I'm, like, the normal, focused, straight-down-the-middle jock. How'd I end up in the psychotic, orgiastic, stoner, trust fund, drama kid group?"
"You have a really pretty mouth," Katie offered, as if this was all the explanation needed. She bit her straw.
Chad turned to Ryan in despair. Ryan would make sense of it all.
"Orgiastic is a good word," Ryan said idly.
Chad gave up. Truly.
***
Verve was what they called a 'lounge' and was happily way less pretentious than it sounded. It catered to the sincere ecstatic drunken college kid, rather than the ones who wanted to be "seen."
Katie didn't care to be seen, but she'd be noticed anywhere, bounding up to him like she did.
"Chad, I love your hair!" Said like she'd never seen it before. Hands were thrust into his hair and Chad started to protest...only Katie was still talking and kind of pressed up against him, so he got distracted. "Really very pretty. Can I cut it?"
"What? No!"
"Good choice, man. She's an artist. You never know how you'd end up," Will chimed in as he appeared behind her.
"Beautiful. He'd end up beautiful." She pulled at one of his curls and kind of bit at the end.
"Oh, my God, you are never having cocaine again," Will stated with the air of one who had the right to make such a decision.
Katie ignored him completely. "Come dance with me," she decided, in that insane, non sequitur, not-even-a-question way she had.
Chad blinked. "But I don't-"
Katie wasn't even listening, instead she pulled him out to the dance floor and spun. Her skirt and hair and jewelry flared out and she was so not wearing a bra and that may have caught Chad's attention again-
-and then he was in a jumble of people and Katie was spinning him and he might have gone a little insane because then he was dancing, or at least spinning with Katie, her smile flashing bright every time the lights caught on her.
She moved in and out and against him and away, hands all over, and every time she left again it seemed like he'd lost more buttons until his shirt was hanging off him and she was stroking skin. And then Ryan was next to him, Will with him, and Ryan had lost half his clothes somewhere and Will didn't mind at all. It was a mish-mash of skin and hands and feeling Ryan behind him and Katie against him and hands running over his shoulders and then out to Katie who laced their fingers together.
Chad was caught between the two hottest people in the history of ever-dancing-and that was just fine. So long as he could stay with the beat and the hot and the incredible feeling.
"And you said you didn't dance," Ryan breathed into his ear. Katie bit his chest and pulled Ryan closer, hot skin all along Chad's back...and Chad wasn't capable of a response, not with the feeling making his brain swim.
"Thank you for my pretty boy, Ryan," Katie said above the din.
Ryan didn't answer and Chad felt him melt away, pull back into the crowd, only the odd stroke of a hand against his skin a reminder that he was still nearby.
Chad was hard-pressed to explain the sense of loss he felt.
***
"Back to the dorms," Chad said glumly. "Back to my roommate snoring like a lawnmower. If he's not screwing his girlfriend again." These were the college stories he'd wanted, he needed to remind himself of that.
Ryan didn't reply and instead rattled off an address to the cab driver. It took Chad a second to descramble it in his brain.
"That's not the dorm," he said.
Ryan's teeth flashed bright as they passed under a streetlamp. "Nah, we're going to my apartment."
"You...have an apartment." Not a question.
"Of course. I'm an artist, you know. I need my space."
Chad sighed and slumped in the seat. "I love your parents. Even if they did create your sister."
***
Ryan's 'apartment' was, like, a penthouse suite or something. Not in a hotel, but the building could have been a hotel. There was a doorman and everything.
Chad kept blinking at the open space-space that reminded him of home, space like there never was in New York. Or, it seemed there was, you just had to pay mega, beaucoup bucks for it.
Ryan walked them down the entry hall and that's when Chad realized: it smelled like someone was cooking.
And if this was Ryan's apartment he could guess who that someone would be.
"Oh, God, my eyes," Ryan said suddenly, covering said eyes with his head and tossing his head away as if that would give him an added barrier.
Chad blinked and turned to look in the kitchen-and oh.
Oh.
"Dude, that's hot."
Had he said that? A quick flick of his eyes to Ryan, who was looking at him like he'd just committed a mortal sin, and yep. Must have been him.
"Never say that in my presence again," he demanded.
"Ryan? Chad?" Zeke was properly horrified, pulling his white button-down shirt back into place quickly and backing a couple steps away from Sharpay.
Sharpay who was on the kitchen table. Sharpay who had propped herself on one arm and skipped straight to glaring. Part of Chad's mind-the part that didn't recognize that she was the incarnation of pure evil-quite appreciated the fact that she wasn't making any move to pull her skirt down or her slinky top up.
"What are you two doing here?"
"I'm gonna need therapy," Ryan whined some more. Chad just stared.
"You were supposed to go clubbing and then collapse drunkenly into a cab. That would take you to your dorm."
"This was closer."
"And my roommate snores," Chad added. He sniffed the air. "Is there food?"
Zeke nodded and enthusiastically ran with the change in subject. "Tomato bisque with homemade croutons. There's also spinach fusilli in a light-"
"Don't reward them," Sharpay interrupted. "They're ruining our date."
"This was a date?" Chad asked blankly.
"This could be more painful...but how?" Ryan asked the ceiling.
Zeke shook his head, half-grinned in the way he had, and shuffled back to Sharpay. He helped her stand, brushed her hair over her shoulder, and kissed the tip of her nose. "C'mon. It's Ryan's place, too."
Sharpay huffed...and amazingly settled into baleful acceptance. "Fine. But I get to have the tiramisu first."
Zeke smiled indulgently.
***
"I can't believe we walked in on your sister and Zeke canoodling."
"Canoodling?" Ryan looked at Chad like he'd grown another head.
"What? It goes with the Italian theme. Or something."
Ryan smiled and shook his head. "Fine. But you could be a little more sympathetic seeing as I'm scarred for life over here."
"Oh, please. It wasn't like she'd lost any clothing. Yet," he added.
Ryan threw a pillow at his head. "Thank you for that."
"Anytime. So. Where am I sleeping?" Chad asked. He nodded to the sole bed in Ryan's room. Or suite. Whatever you called it.
Ryan also eyed the-really quite large-sole bed. "The couch," he said idly. Then he turned and smiled at Chad. "Unless you want to share."
"Awesome. How thick are the walls?"
"I think we're about to find out," Ryan said, peppy like he was finally finding the fun.
Chad grinned. It was about damn time.
***
Chad tugged the pillow out from underneath his head and sighed. Sharpay moaned. Again.
Fine. No more teasing Ryan. This was obviously retribution for-
"Shar! Wha-oh, God," Zeke gasped.
Chad firmly told his dick that it didn't want to know what Sharpay was doing. Really. Incarnation of evil and all that.
Zeke moaned something garbled, but full of praise, and that was it.
Chad sat up and grabbed his pillow. This was not on. Also, Ryan should totally feel his pain if he had to live through this.
He padded to Ryan's door, opened it, and slipped in. The slow snick as it shut was the last thing Chad heard beyond Ryan's breathing and blessed silence.
He let out the breath he'd been holding.
"Couldn't resist my manly charms, could you?"
Chad started as the light clicked on, illuminating Ryan. "Gah, I thought you were sleeping," Chad hissed.
Ryan chuckled. His voice was sleep-worn and gravelly and made Chad want to shiver. His hair was mussed and he wore no hat...which felt wrong. But Chad supposed you couldn't really sleep wearing a hat and all.
Ryan sat up as Chad shuffled over and plopped down on the bed. "Dude. All. Night. Long."
"All nii-ight," Ryan sang.
"Mocking me. You're mocking my pain." Chad shoved his pillow to the empty side of the bed and tugged the comforter down.
Ryan watched this oddly, but voiced no protest. "Darn right I'm mocking your pain. I seem to remember someone else mocking my pain. Turnabout."
Chad forcefully threw himself down onto his pillow and crossed his arms. "Now I'm taking over your bed. How's that for turnabout?"
Ryan rubbed at his eyes. "You were always welcome to it." He pulled at the comforter, still half under Chad's weight, until Chad shifted up and he could loosen it. Then he flicked it up so it covered Chad and turned toward the nightstand and the light.
Chad blinked in the sudden darkness. Huh. That was easy.
***
Chad slept deeply, but still had brief impressions of ever-present warmth, something solid to anchor him, something tickling at his nose. He woke to muted sunlight and an empty bed.
He was also on Ryan's side of that empty bed. He frowned at the implications, but shrugged it off. At least there weren't gonna be any awkward non-morning-afters.
Chad wandered out to the kitchen area, scratching at hair he was sure was everywhere, and he blearily nodded at Zeke in front of the stove and Ryan at the table.
"I hope you cleaned that table," he mumbled as he walked past.
Ryan paused with his coffee cup halfway to his mouth. He looked wide-eyed at Zeke.
Who smiled, embarrassed. "Yeah, this morning. Before you got up."
Chad made an approving noise and kept on going until he reached the coffee. Poured himself a cup, sugared it, and drank it down.
He made a pleased sound; Ryan and Zeke snickered.
Chad opened his eyes. "What?" he asked.
"Good coffee?" Ryan asked innocently.
"Shut up," Chad shot back. Then he pointed at Zeke. "And you should be fixing my coffee since you're the reason I'm so tired."
The smile slipped away from Zeke's face and Chad nodded, triumphant, before leaning around him to peer at the stove. "Are those eggs still hot?"
"Oh! Yes, of course." Zeke sprang into action, serving up some eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Chad grunted his appreciation, then dropped both the plate and his cup onto the counter and dug in.
"'S good," he mumbled. Zeke smiled and half-bowed his thanks. "Where's the sex goddess?" Chad asked.
"She's right here and appalled by your manners." Sharpay appeared, wearing what looked like Zeke's white button-down from the night before...and not much else. No make-up, hair tousled, in a word: hot.
"Part of my charm." Chad toasted her with his coffee and kept right on eating.
She wandered up to Zeke and pressed against him for a moment, something soft murmured between them.
"Can I look yet?" Ryan asked plaintively. He'd shielded his eyes, but angled so that he could still look at Chad.
Chad grinned at Sharpay's rolled eyes, but she stepped away from Zeke so he nodded. "All clear, dude."
"My brother, the prude," she said fondly. She walked over and gave him a loud kiss on the forehead. Then she sat down-providing Chad with evidence that she was wearing something else: a nice, lacy little thong-and snatched the Arts section away from Ryan.
"And just think of where that mouth has been," Chad said.
Ryan made a face. "Now I am. Thanks for that, too."
Zeke set a plate in front of Sharpay with some eggs, whole wheat toast, half a banana. She smiled in thanks and there weren't even any edges to it. It was...weird.
Zeke joined them at the table with his own plate and suddenly it was like a little family scene, with Chad as the outside observer. Ryan pretended to be enraptured by the front page while Sharpay ate half the banana and handed Zeke the Sports section. He grinned and stole a piece of her toast.
"Oh, my God, can you quit being so cute?" Chad demanded.
"I can't help it; it's in my blood," Sharpay said.
"I guarantee you that isn't true," Chad shot back. She smiled her viper smile at him and all was right with the world again.
***
"You slept with Ryan!" Katie crowed.
"What-wait-I did not!" Chad protested.
"Did, too. Did, too," she sing-songed. She used their linked arms to twirl them in a tight circle, which got a couple choice looks from the passersby. Katie made a face at them and they hurried on, away from the mentally-unbalanced girl who might just murder them in their sleep.
It was so possible.
"I crashed at his place-"
"In his bed after you walked in on Zeke and Sharpay getting groovy on the kitchen table. Ooh, Will will be so jealous. I can't wait to tell him."
"Dude, I already told him that Zeke has been after Sharpay for-"
"Oh, yes. He'll be jealous of that, too. I must mention it." She pulled out her phone, which Chad promptly confiscated.
"It's for your own good," he said. She pouted. Chad remained staunchly unaffected. Really. "And why else would Will be jealous?"
A fawning smile bloomed on Katie's face. "He's wanted in Ryan's bed forever. My poor slutty boy," she said fondly. "Ryan's much too much a prude. Sex with Will should not be missed, but nooo, he's so sentimental about it."
Chad blinked. "Huh?"
"With his friends," she clarified, clarifying nothing at all. "He certainly jumped Tim quickly enough. They were very pretty. Would have been prettier with Will, too, but then Ryan's so sentimental."
"Okay, you know I don't understand half of what you're saying, right?" Chad asked just 'cause, well, he liked being clear about things.
"Sure you do. You just don't want to."
"Katie-Kate," someone called and then a guy wrapped his arms around Katie from behind. She instantly let go of Chad, whirled, and pushed him back. Hard.
The guy stumbled back into a couple people behind him. "Whoa! Okay, fine. Simmer down."
Chad stayed by Katie's side.
"No touching without say-so, Marks." As she said it her eyes narrowed and she was no longer in the clouds and breezy and light.
She whirled again, hair swirling out, and then she snuggled up to Chad, linked their arms, and walked them on.
Marks, whoever he was, stayed behind, still befuddled.
"Let's have tea. Do you like tea? Tea would be lovely," she decided and it was like flipping a switch-this girl or that girl, nothing in between.
Chad laced their fingers together. "I could do tea."
***
"Aw, crap." Chad had thought Alice's Tea Cup was a place only Katie could pick. He was really, totally wrong because there stood Sharpay, the last of her companions to get up. She completely fit in with the décor, waitresses wearing fairy wings and all.
Oh, God, agreeing to tea was getting worse by the moment. He'd already spent breakfast with her. Did he have to be subjected to more?
"Sharpay!" Katie cried in delight. She skipped over a few steps and engulfed the other girl in a hug and you'd swear they hadn't seen each other in ages. Her friends rolled their eyes and ducked out to the small hallway that led to the stairs and the outside world.
Sharpay merely smiled at the adoration and let herself be hugged. "Isn't this a little far from your usual territory?" she asked.
Katie pulled back and grinned. "We decided on tea." Ha! As if it were a joint decision.
At the 'we' Sharpay looked over at Chad, standing a little ways back from Katie, and not cowering at all. Sharpay's eyes narrowed. "Ugh, you brought him?" Her eyes flicked over him. "At least he's dressing less like a street urchin."
"Sharpay, so sorry to hold you up. I'm sure you have other places to be," Chad said sweetly.
Katie leaned in then. "Chad slept with Ryan," she whispered. Then brightened. "And you and Zeke look pretty on the kitchen table. Why won't you let me take pictures?" Katie tugged on one of Sharpay's blonde curls, then wrapped it around her finger.
Sharpay blinked at that sudden influx of information. "Maybe later," she said absently.
Katie giggled and hugged her again. Sharpay couldn't help but smile and she looked almost...soft like that. It was very, very wrong.
But then she snapped out of it and pulled back. "Right. I've got very important things to do. Let's have lunch later, okay?" she asked Katie, apparently genuine.
"Yay! Chad and I are having tea."
"I know. Good luck with that." She disentangled herself and walked by Chad. "Try not to break anything."
"Good tip. I'll remember that. Ta!" Chad shot back.
The hostess came to collect them and redistributed them to another little wooden table and hmm, had anyone ever informed them that the cups and little plate things didn't match? Did he need to tell someone about this? He shot surreptitious glances around him, but all the other-exclusively female-tea drinkers didn't seem bothered.
Chad's phone rang and he picked it up automatically. "Yo."
"Why is my sister asking me if we had sex last night?" Ryan asked.
Chad slumped. "Aw, man. Dude, it wasn't me."
"Something I should know, Chad?"
Chad lowered his voice, but this was New York. These people didn't know the meaning of personal space. "Katie said we slept together and your sister might have taken it the wrong way."
"Okay, thanks." He clicked off. Chad shrugged and put his phone back in his pocket.
More annoying ringing, like, annoyed him. Katie drummed her fingers on the table and grinned at him. Chad flushed at the way the other tea-goers were starting to send them looks. He quickly pulled the phone open.
"Hello?"
"Why are you answering Katie's phone?" Ryan asked this time.
Chad looked at it to confirm that yes, this was Katie's phone, then brought it back to his ear. "I confiscated it so she couldn't tell Will the same thing. Apparently he's jonesing after you."
Katie noticed her phone and pointed to it. "Is that Ryan?"
Chad nodded. Katie leaned over the table and grabbed the phone from his hand. "Ryan!" she said happily.
Now they were getting even more stares. Chad slid down in his seat. Not that it would help since he could, like, reach over and grab the next table's chicken salad if he really wanted to. Ooh, that looked good, actually...
"Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm," Katie said. "Awww." Would Chad pay to hear this scolding? Yes, yes he would. "No fun," Katie pronounced. Then she hung up.
She looked at him, confessional: "I'm not supposed to say you slept with Ryan because he doesn't want to embarrass you and also, I'm a very naughty girl. Why would sleeping with Ryan embarrass you?" Wow, from confessional to shit-eating to confused. Like, in two seconds.
He was relatively sure she wasn't high. How long did drugs last, anyway?
Chad blinked. "It wouldn't embarrass me. But you know Ryan," he said vaguely.
"So sentimental." She sighed, woebegone. But then their waitress appeared and handed them bound tea menus with no less than five laminated pages just listing tea and did he mention the waitress had sparkly, pink fairy wings and glitter on her eyes?
Needless to say, Katie perked right up.
***
Tea took forever. He could have died sitting there, trying not to get his sleeves in anything. Which wasn't to say it wasn't amazing...because it was. Chad was pretty sure he might never eat again-or at least not before breakfast-and the dark chocolate mousse was pretty much the awesomest thing ever, but holy crap did it take a long time. Their bewinged, beglittered fairy-cum-waitress seemed to be unfamiliar with things like time and schedules.
Granted, in general so was Chad, but now-
Now he was gonna be late for Ryan's class.
"I knew we should have taken a cab," he muttered as he tapped his foot and waited for their subway stop to appear.
"Just breathe, sad-Chad. All will be well," Katie opined.
"All will not be well. I'll be late and Ryan'll be pissed." His voice might have been a bit loud because several of the other passengers looked up from their blackberrys and iPhones. He smiled sheepishly and they turned back to their business. Amazing, really. They were practically in each other's laps and yet each had created his own universe just by plugging in.
"Ryan doesn't get pissed; he knows the virtue of equilibrium."
"You didn't see him when Sharpay kicked him out of the summer talent show. That was pissed," Chad said, more lowly this time.
He'd piqued Katie's interest, he could tell. "Really?"
Chad nodded. "He plotted her downfall and everything."
"Hidden depths. No wonder he has such an intuitive grasp of the villain. I'll need to think of some proper punishment for keeping things from me." The subway slowed as it approached the right street and Chad made sure he was right in front of the doors and gripping a pole so that he didn't knock over anyone at the final jerk as they came to a full stop. Not that he had any experience with that or anything.
"C'mon, c'mon, yes!" The doors opened and Chad shot out of them, running full on, even up the subway stairs, dodging people who got in his way. He spared a brief thought for Katie, who he could hear distantly laughing behind him. She was nowhere close to keeping pace, but then he sighted his building and the thought withered and died.
Chad banged into the doors, ran up two flights of stairs, and paused right outside the door to the class. Maybe he wasn't so late; maybe he was just being paranoid.
The moment he walked in, he knew he was totally, truly late. And not paranoid at all. Everyone looked up at him. A couple people were already rolling around on the floor...for some reason.
"Sorry," he said, catching his breath.
Ryan raised an eyebrow. "You're late."
Chad hurried to his usual seat. "Sorry, sorry," he said to those he passed. Ryan was still watching him, like he was waiting for something. "I was-I-"
The door banged open again and-dear God-Katie entered, ends of her purple and red scarf flying behind her, coordinated with the purple and red streaks in her hair. "Greetings, fellow thespians!" she cried, waving her arms in a hello like everyone should know her, would know her, they were all bestest buds.
A room full of people looked at her askance. Ryan sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Everyone, this is Katie. She'll be very famous one day. Today she's just crazy."
"Eccentricity is another virtue. Equilibrium, eccentricity-I think e is our magic letter today."
Several twitters fluttered throughout the crowd. Ryan shot them an Evans look and they quieted. "To what do we owe the pleasure?" Ryan asked and turned back to her.
"Sizing up the competition. Any majors present?" A few people raised their hands. "Musical theater?" she continued.
"Please don't encourage her," he instructed the class. "And now for the real reason..." Ryan prompted her.
"To offer my sincerest apologies on making your student/pupil/advisee person late. And I wanted to say hi. Love the beret," she added.
Ryan sketched off a salute. "Goodbye, Katie," he said sternly as he turned back to the rest of the class.
"Ta!" she said grandly. She met Chad's eyes as she moved to leave. "Equilibrium, darling. In all things." That thought seemed to cheer her. She cheerfully bopped on out.
Which left Chad with a not-greatly-pleased Ryan. "We're doing a partner exercise. You can hand in your journals at the end," Ryan said.
Aw, crap. "Umm, about that..."
***
"So I know I already suck-" Chad started.
"At least we've got that cleared up."
"God, I'm sorry! I didn't know Katie was going to follow me-and-and-" Seeing Ryan's annoyed look again, he decided it was best not to go further down that road. "And I shouldn't have been late anyway. Again."
"This is also true." Not warming up at all. Damn.
"But I'd just like to say that we're friends and you like me."
Ryan sat up straight. "Uhh, okay..."
"Because I'm gonna have to bail on you again."
Something glinted in Ryan's eyes, but he blinked and it was gone again. "Oh. Everything all right?"
"Yeah, but coach just called an extra practice and I have to be there. I'm really sorry, man. I totally wanted to do the-cultural, ethical, meteorological excursion thingy with you guys."
"I can tell," Ryan said dryly.
"Next time, I swear."
Ryan shrugged. "No biggie. The residence hall activities are voluntary, anyway. You don't have to do anything."
"I know and I want to and I said I would and I suck. But now I gotta run before Coach kicks my ass for being late. Again."
"That seems to be going around. Go," Ryan said and he was half-smiling, so that was good.
"We good?" Chad asked, just to check.
"Go," Ryan said and shooed him out.
Chad went.
***
There was something pure about basketball. It was a purity of movement and form, just him and the ball-and all the other guys, but it was Division III, please-and at the end of it all, Chad shooting and scoring.
Things were simpler on the court. They made sense.
"That was a less-than-good practice. Next time I expect better," Coach said to him as they walked to the locker room. He wasn't yelling, but he was far from praising, either.
Chad nodded and pushed through the door. "Yes, sir." His muscles ached from several hours of drills and Chad found it oddly comforting.
"Just remember what I said, Danforth."
"There is no 'i' in team," Chad repeated dutifully. Coach was all over the basketball clichés. He used them as if the wisdom came directly from his own brain and Chad should whip out a pen and start transcribing.
Chad might be more worried if he didn't know he was one of the best players on the team. And really, how seriously could you take a guy who looked at you somberly and said 'you play for the name on the front of your jersey, not the name on the back of it?'
Not. Very.
Coach clapped him on the back. "Good man. Tomorrow: same time, same place."
Chad waved him away with a grin and grabbed his crap. "Yeah, yeah." He headed out of the locker room, just behind a couple of the guys exhaustedly giving each other crap.
"Hey, Danforth, 'there is no 'i' in team,'" Rivers called out as they spilled onto the street.
"You can spell? I'm so proud." Chad laid a hand over his heart, just to prove it. The other guys cracked up and continued on with the ribbing. Chad grinned and stopped to pull on his jacket since-
"Making friends?" Ryan's voice drawled from behind him.
Chad whirled and grinned at him. "Ryan! What are you doing here?" Stupid question, stupid. He'd obviously been waiting, propped against the building and all.
He glanced around him pointedly. "Practicing method acting."
"Become one with the brick building," Chad mocked. "Gotta say, Ry, you don't exactly blend in."
Ryan cocked his head and the sparkly newsboy hat thingy he wore winked at Chad. "Good thing I'm not playing a secret agent, then, huh?"
"Nah, then you'd say you were hiding in plain sight. What's up, man?"
"Hey, speaking of acting-"
"Smooth. Very smooth."
Ryan shot him a look but continued on. "I'm here to offer my tutoring services."
Tutoring? In...acting, which would mean Chad probably wasn't doing all that well, which, well, was hardly surprising. Chad sighed. "Look, man, if it's about the journals-"
"It's not about the journals," Ryan said firmly.
"Okay, then what?"
Ryan nodded his head in the general direction of their residence hall. "Walk with me."
"Oh, God, this isn't a 'we need to talk' talk, is it?" Chad asked. He dutifully followed Ryan out into the flow of traffic-steady even at this hour.
"Had a lot of those have you?"
Chad snorted. "Look, I'm sorry about the journals. Like I said-"
"It's not just the journals, Chad," Ryan said quietly. "It's-you're not...trying."
"You mean I suck."
"Well. That's one interpretation."
"You think I should drop?"
"No. I think you should try."
Chad let out a frustrated grunt. "I do! Seriously. I just-I'm not good."
"And thus, I offer my tutoring services. It'll be fine. You'll see." Ryan patted his arm in a way that was probably supposed to be reassuring.
It really wasn't.
***
"Ryan told me I'm, like, failing out of acting."
"Ryan's gonna fail you out of acting? Dude, that's awesome," Troy crowed at him.
Chad rolled his eyes and switched his cell to his other ear. "Yeah, thanks, man. Appreciate it."
"What? It's not like the first time you ever failed a class."
"Yeah, I dunno. It's just weird, I guess."
"Well, why are you failing?"
"I'm not good at it. You have to, I don't know, perform in front of loads of people."
"And that's different than basketball how?" Troy's tone told Chad that Troy thought he was being an idiot.
Stupid Troy not grasping the totally obvious.
"Because when it's basketball, that's me. With acting it's like you have to become another person and then...be that person." Chad sighed in annoyance. "It's hard to explain."
"Good thing 'cause you are not making sense, bro."
"I don't know what it is. I just get up in front of people and say the lines and it-doesn't work."
"'Cause you get twitchy in front of Ryan," Joey suddenly said, from where he was hunched over a Calculus book. Requirement to graduate, obviously.
"Huh?" Chad asked.
"What?" Troy asked back.
"No, not-hang on, Troy."
"Oh, fine. I'm just here," Troy muttered like the bitchy prima donna he was. Which Chad would tell him just as soon as he was done with more important things.
"Joey, what was that?" he asked again.
Joey dropped his pencil and turned in his seat. "Why you-you suck. You get, uhh, self-cons-nervous. Stiff."
Huh.
"Helloooo," Troy called into the phone.
"Yeah, I'm here. Look, can I call you back?"
"Uh-oh. Are you having a crisis? That's your crisis voice."
"No, it's not."
"Is, too, is, too. And now you're defensive about your crisis. Need me to hold your hand?"
"I hate you. And you're a freakin' prima donna, you know that?"
"Gabi mentioned it once or twice. Call me back after the crisis."
"I'm not having-" But the stillness on the end of the line told him Troy had already clicked off. "Ass," he muttered.
Joey kind of laughed awkwardly.
"Stiff, huh?" Chad asked him.
"When-uhh-Ryan watches you. Practice and stuff."
Chad tapped the phone against his bottom lip. Huh.
***
"You've got to be kidding me," Will called out. Chad looked up. And frowned. Nothing unusual except some random guy walking by.
...or not so much walking by as walking toward them. And not so unfamiliar. Chad vaguely recalled him from some of Ryan's pictures-tall, dark brown hair, square jaw, and he must play some kind of sports. Maybe something weird like polo or squash or-
But Will had a smile in his voice. "What are you-mmph!" His question was cut off when the guy grabbed Will's jacket and pulled him into an enthusiastic, biting kiss. Will made another little sound and gripped the guy's wrist and held on. Kissing back.
Chad blinked a couple times. Yep, still kissing.
He turned to look at Ryan-
Ryan, who watched them with some kind of unreadable expression. He looked over at Chad and seemed startled to find Chad already looking. Then he rolled his eyes.
"Hey, can't you two afford a room?" Ryan called. Then threw his pen at them.
Will wasn't nearly done with the kissing, not by the way he followed down the other guy's jaw when he pulled back and that was-something.
"See what he did there? He was mocking our combined net worth," he said to Will. Then to Ryan: "It was very funny."
"Better than telling the two drama queens to get a room. Despite how true it is," Ryan shot back. "Good to see you, Walker."
"Oh, you're Walker," Chad said...and then immediately hated himself for it.
Walker grinned a crooked, friendly kind of grin. "Guilty as charged. Chad, right? Good to meet you." He reached over and shook Chad's hand-firm, strong, capable-and then pulled Ryan into a friendlier hug. Back-slapping and all.
Will still appeared to have hold of his belt, though.
"I should go to Argentina for a semester more often," Walker quipped, still lightly holding onto Ryan's shoulders. Then he made a grab for Ryan's ass.
Ryan shoved him away, but he was smiling. "What are you doing here? I figured on at least a few more weeks of peace and quiet."
"I got bored."
"No, seriously," Will prompted.
Walker settled back against him and gave him a slow smile. "Would it be cheesy to say I got homesick?"
"Yes," Ryan said as he sat back down.
"Fine, fine. I couldn't take it anymore. Argentina's the Paris of South America, did you know? Oh, also? They still say there were no native peoples they offed or moved in the colonial days. And they eat all their meat bloody. No, not red. Bloody. You have a pool of blood left at the end of the meal. I'm never eating raw food again," he declared. Will's grin had gotten bigger the longer he talked.
"You missed me," Will said fondly.
"I finished classes early. They have a weird schedule," Walker sniffed.
Will tugged at his belt, pulled him closer. "You missed me a lot."
"Live in your fantasy world, but don't expect me to participate. I don't perpetuate delusions." He hmphed and crossed his arms, but Will had already gotten an arm around his waist. Walker half-smiled and Will smiled back and it was too-
Chad glanced at Ryan again, who was also smiling at the two of them in a kind of half-amused, half-nostalgic way.
"Oh, my God, Walker!" Katie squealed from afar. Then she ran over and jumped on both he and Will and kissed Walker like way more than a friend. And then it was a tangle of arms and legs and Katie giggling.
"Oh, my gosh, let's go have sex," Katie said. Chad's breath stuck in his throat, and no, that was not said to him.
It was directed at Will and Walker...who didn't protest at all when Katie tugged on their hands and started leading them away.
"Umm, see you guys later," Will called back to Chad and Ryan, left forlornly at their table.
"Guess we're the odd ones out," Chad muttered.
"I'm sure they'd love to have you join," Ryan said.
Chad blinked and looked over at him. His smile was off. "I can't tell whether you're kidding or not," Chad said.
Ryan just smirked at him.
***
Ryan's door was open so Chad ducked his head in and grinned at the boy bopping along to some kind of musical.
Chad knocked on the doorframe. "Hey, pizza tonight?"
Ryan's head snapped up and like that he was Mr. Serious. What the hell? "Oh, hi, Chad. Actually I can't make it tonight. Raincheck?"
"Yeah, sure," Chad said, uneasy. He lingered in the doorway and tried to figure out how to ask 'what the hell is wrong with you' without, like, offending him or anything.
"Did you need something else?" Ryan asked.
And-ouch. "No. It's cool. Thanks." He smacked his palm on the doorframe in some kind of goodbye and wandered off.
Chad shook his head as he walked away. That was-bizarre. They'd made plans. They had standing plans. And Ryan never skipped out on those, not without a good reason.
***
And so it went for the rest of the week. Ryan was the most pleasant, bland, inaccessibly accessible RA ever. He had papers to grade, rehearsals to plan, private tutoring to give. And apparently no time for Chad.
None of the others knew what the hell was going on, either. Not that he could really get ahold of Will or Walker since he was pretty sure they were spending most of their time in bed. But Katie and blown a raspberry at him when he'd asked her-which he took to mean she didn't know, either, so he was nowhere.
And now Ryan had even canceled their usual Thursday New York-acclimation night-still called as much even though Chad was pretty well acclimated-which was just an excuse for Ryan to take him to some awesome new place to eat. They'd gone to Artisanal last week, some renowned cheese place or something, but all Chad knew was that they included cheese in every single freakin' thing and there weren't words to describe the awesomeness. Or the way Ryan looked trying to get the fondue cheese to stop stretching out and just let him eat the damn tri-tip already.
The food in New York was just ridiculous. There were practically more restaurants than people and they were all brain-meltingly good. Hell, even the cart on the street was, like, freakin' gourmet food. And they were for such random things. Ryan had said there were at least three places that just served dessert. Chad had wanted to try them all-he missed good brownies, dammit-and now Ryan was bailing on him.
Thursdays were theirs. It was he and Ryan, hanging out. Always. Plus, canceling with a text message was not cool.
Which Chad was gonna tell Ryan, like, now. Because he should know how not cool it was and also, why the hell was he blowing Chad off?
And perfect. Ryan's door had the deadbolt out so it couldn't close all the way, which meant Ryan was available but probably alone because most people didn't look closely enough to see that the door wasn't actually shut. So Chad could tell him everything he was thinking without Alan-the-annoying-freshman playing the peanut gallery.
He pushed into Ryan's room...and stopped cold.
Because Ryan had his back to the door and that was definitely another guy kneeling in front of him. Kneeling and-
"Tim," Ryan hissed, but not hissed in a good, give-me-more kind of way. Hissed in a what-are-you-doing kind of way.
So Chad went with his gut, grabbed the back of Ryan's shirt, and pulled so he fell back against Chad's chest, where Chad kept him with the hand anchored in his shirt.
"What the fuck?" Tim asked, standing quickly, hand wiping at his mouth.
"Get out," Chad growled.
Ryan breathed in once, then started shifting, readjusting clothes, but not trying to get away. Chad refused to look down and anyway, he and Tim were a little busy glaring at each other at the moment.
"Fuck you. In case you hadn't noticed, we were a little busy."
Chad would probably be pretty pissed if some random guy came in and cockblocked him...but Chad would never be such a dick to be screwing with someone when they obviously had something going on, so it so didn't count.
"Yeah and now you're not. So get out." Chad nodded at the door.
"Who are you? You've got to be-Ryan-"
"Get out," Ryan said, low. Tim didn't move. It only belatedly occurred to Chad that Ryan might mean Chad should...
"Now, Tim," Ryan clarified.
Oh, good. Chad's fingers flexed in Ryan's shirt. Ryan kind of started.
Tim threw Chad a poisonous glance, but straightened and brushed himself off.
Chad simply raised an eyebrow.
"Fine. I'll call you later," he said as he walked around them.
Chad let go. "Don't bother," he called after Tim. When he turned back, Ryan was already halfway to the bathroom. Chad supposed that yeah...
Ryan slammed the bathroom door just as Chad shut the outer door. Then Chad flipped on whatever horrible musical had been playing last and kind of flopped onto Ryan's bed to wait. 'Cause if Ryan thought that Chad was about to leave he had another thing coming.
Chad was subjected to the musical for, like, ever by the time Ryan finally opened the bathroom door. And stood there. With his arms crossed. Watching Chad uncertainly.
"What's wrong with you?" Chad asked. Ryan blinked, but didn't say anything.
So this could be going better.
He leaned up on his elbows and started right in: "You've bailed on me the whole week. I was gonna tell you how not cool it is. And then I find you with your ex-who you say is such a jackass-and so now I wanna know what's wrong with you."
"Nothing."
Chad grunted and sat up straight. "Ryan-"
"Nothing is wrong. Moment of weakness. He caught me at a bad time."
"What was so bad?"
Ryan rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This has been the longest week," he muttered.
Chad frowned, but kept silent.
"I'm trying to figure out how to thank you for, you know." Ryan's illustrative hand-wave didn't really illustrate much...but Chad still got what he was talking about.
"Being a royal cockblock?" Chad guessed.
A hint of a smile touched at Ryan's lips, but it was gone just as quickly. He wouldn't look Chad in the eye. "Yeah. But I actually have a lot of work to get done, so..."
A lot of work-oh. Ryan was kicking him out?
"Oh. But...you sure?" Chad was completely confused. Completely. This was so not his area.
"Yeah. Thanks, though."
"Oh...kay." He scooted off Ryan's bed and stood. Then walked to the door when Ryan didn't move. "See you later."
Ryan didn't say anything as he left, either.
Totally, utterly confused. So Chad decided to do what he always did when that happened.
***
Part 3