Note about the meal at Ryan's apartment:: my mom has made that combination of sautéed onions, sautéed zucchini, and beef stroganoff. It's AMAZING, and one of my favorite meals my mom makes : The shirt I describe Ryan wears when Chad and him first arrive is the one he wore to the signing in Australia (http://i100. factoid about this story:: it had been going through my head for quite a while, but this is how my writing turned out—on Saturday I wrote a page and a fourth, on Sunday eight pages, and Monday about six pages (all single-spaced and typed). Normally I never write that much, but I'm cooped up in my grandparents with nothing better to do, so I was writing pretty much brunch to dinner (which, in my grandparent's house is a long time).
The inspiration to the beginning of this story came from, as you can really tell, my own experience skiing at Camelback Ski Resort for around three days (that's why the slope names may sound familiar). Being from Texas, I actually got pretty good at it and made it to double greens doing rather decent parallel turns, if I do say so myself. My dad grew up in PA and lived in Switzerland for two years next to ski slopes, he's the ridiculous expert of the family. My sister Laurel was off in Mexico with her boyfriend, my mom was in the lodge writing our Christmas letter, and my brother Stephen snowboarded every day at was actually on black diamonds (only single ones) by the end of the week; pretty good for a 17-year-old who had been on the snowboard only a few days two years ago and then three this year.
So anyhoot, here's a nice little Christmas present for you all. Hope you all got good presents and have an terrific day! Enjoy this fluffy, kind of bittersweet Chyan :
Upon a Christmas
"Yard sale, hahaha!"
Blushing furiously, Chad propped himself up on his elbows and shook snow out of his bushy mane. "Yard sale" was indeed the proper phrase to use for his condition on the beginner slope. He had been skiing a grand total of three days and still not been able to get parallel skiing down. The taunt had been made by a child who, by the looks of it as it sped by, was about eight and obviously had grown up on the slopes. Living as he was in Albuquerque, Chad, on the other hand, had little to none experience on the foreign planks. This would explain why he had wiped out after going too fast and hitting a bump. Both of his skis had popped off, and his ski poles, mittens, hat, and ski goggles lay in the snow around him. This state was properly designated as a "yard sale."
Chad swore viciously underneath his breath as he gathered everything back together and reassembled his outfit. He balanced himself against the slope with his poles as he arranged his skis with the tips pointed towards the side of the hill at slightly upward, as he had been told. Placing his toe in the set position of his ski, he heaved all of his full body weight onto the heel of his foot, resulting in a satisfactory snap that meant the ski was back on. He had no such luck with the other ski, however. He set his toe and pushed his heel and pushed and pushed, but the ski would not snap. Or, if it did snap, it was not with Chad's ski boot securely in it.
After trying for at least ten minutes to relock his ski, Chad gave up and in a move of frustration kicked the free ski. The only thing it accomplished, in the end, was the oldest Danforth child sitting down hard on his rear, and not on purpose.
"Did you check your boot for snow?"
Chad looked up coldly at a skier who had halted to a perfect parallel stop directly next to him.
"What do you mean?"
"Sometimes the ski boot won't go in because you have too much snow stuck on the bottom of it and it won't fit"
"Really now," Chad said with painful sarcasm. "Well, thank you, Bodie Miller, but I do know enough about skiing to have already checked my boot." He actually had forgotten the instructor telling him that, but he wasn't about to admit it. "I'll try it again anyways." He half hoped the ski wouldn't snap on just to spite the young expert, but, to his disappointment, it snapped on as easily as if it had never caused his trouble.
"Have fun," the rather short skier bid, and zoomed on his way, easily turning back and forth to check his speed as he lapped all those around him from a safe distance.
Grumbling to himself, Chad carefully turned himself back downhill and made very slow turns, using the entire width of the slope. Every three turns managed to be a parallel, but the others stayed stubbornly as wedges.
At last he reached the bottom, and was about to turn to go back up the lift when he heard a voice from behind.
"Aren't you going up to the top of the mountain?"
He turned around to see the same skier who had helped him get up standing five feet to his back right, looking expectantly at him through ski goggles.
"No, I'm still working on perfecting The Meadows," Chad sighed, pointing towards the slope classified as a green circle. "The easiest paths you can start on up there are double circles"
"They're not that hard; just narrower than plain circles and longer"
"Yeah, and a lot steeper"
"Not really"
Chad stared at the person he barely knew in mild shock. "Look, I just don't think I'm ready for that yet, okay? So go bug someone else, and why are you so interested anyways?"
The skier shrugged.
"I just thought you might want some help"
"Thanks, but no thanks; leave the instructing to the instructors," Chad said dryly, turning his back on the guy and propelling himself towards the three-person-per-seat lift. Halfway there, he groaned to nobody, and reconsidered the situation. He really could use the tutoring, and the guy seemed to know what he was doing. Besides, actual lessons cost a jillion dollars, which his family did not exactly have on hand. Since the guy seemed eager to help him anyways, why not take advantage of it?
"Hey…ski guy." The young man turned around. Now that Chad thought about it, they were about the same age. "Tell you what; I'll see what you can teach me. If it turns out you suck at teaching or…I don't know, do something weird, you'll stop bugging me, 'k?"
"Okay," the guy shrugged, and turned around his skis to face slightly down the hill.
"Where are you going now?"
"Over to the main lift. We're going to the top of the mountain"
Sighing and surrendering power at last, Chad followed him over to the faster, longer, four-person-per-seat lift. They waited for about five minutes in line before they were able to ski up to the designated line, hold their poles in one hand, look over their shoulders and sit down on the seat when it came around the corner from a trip back from the top. They had three seconds to get settled before the seat pulled out a little and zoomed up the lift. The first few seconds they were back on the incredibly sturdy cable carrying the seat to the top reminded Chad of a gentle jerk of a roller coaster.
To Chad's immense surprise, the guy wasn't that bad of a teacher. With his help, he was able to survive a double circle and make it down to a nice single circle, semi-steep slope. He found his balanced stance, loosened up his legs, and started making decent parallel turns three-fourths of the time.
On the fourth trip down the mountain, Chad managed to keep in control almost the entire time, parallel turning beautifully at a slightly faster speed than he had before.
"I think you're good to go, now," the skier said, sliding to a speedy, but safe stop right next to the basketball player. "Have fun skiing"
"Are you not going up the mountain again?" Chad asked in a slightly disappointed tone. They had been having some fun and interesting conversations on the ride up, and when they weren't talking about skiing when they stopped halfway down the slope (which became less and less frequent as Chad got better), it was about another random topic.
"I am, but I didn't know if you were"
"Yeah, I'll probably go up a few more times before taking a lunch break"
"Then how about we just take the same lift up, and then I'll go off to the black diamonds and you can stick with double greens?" Double greens and double circles meant the same thing. The order of slopes went as follows; green circle, double green circles, blue square, double blue square, black diamond, double black diamond.
"Sounds good. But damn, you're on the black diamonds?"
"Double black diamonds, actually, but yes"
"And how old are you?"
"Twenty-one"
"Same here…that's ridiculous"
"I've just been skiing longer than you, it's not a big deal"
Chad only laughed, and shrugged. By this point they had pulled up to the red line by the lift indicating where they should stop so as to best get on their seat.
"I was raised in New Mexico, so I really haven't had that much of a chance to try out of my winter sport skills"
Away they went, yanked by the power of the never-stopping cable that towed them up the tall mountains of the Pocono's.
"Really? I was raised in that state too. What part?" the skier asked, removing his ski goggles for the first time. Chad got a strong jolt of remembrance by the soft, but strong blueness of his make-shift teacher's eyes.
"Ummm…Albuquerque"
"What a coincidence, that's where I'm from too!" The skier shoved down his neck gaiter, and Chad had no doubts left in his mind of who he was really talking too.
"Ryan Evans, what are you doing all the way up here in Pennsylvania?"
Ryan turned to him with eyes wide with shock.
"How do you know my name?"
Chad hurriedly shoved off his goggles and pushed his neck gaiter down. "It's me, Chad Danforth from East High…homeroom with Darbus, remember?"
"Oh my God," Ryan ogled, his mouth hanging slack. "It's been almost five whole years since I've seen you! You've gotten taller, and your voice got…a lot lower." He laughed at the last part, still in shock.
"You've gotten taller too," Chad was quick to add.
"Don't go lying, you know I may have grown to a solid 5'7" since you last saw me," Ryan said with a smirk. "But how've you been, and what've you been up to lately? Where to you go, anyways?"
"I'm going to Standford, and really, nothing interesting has happened. I got a basketball scholarship there, am passing all my classes…and here I am. What about you?"
"New York Film Academy, though I'm still surprised I made it there. It was really my dad that pulled a few strings that got me accepted at all…and, as you can imagine, nobodies' really too happy with me because of it"
"Really?"
"Mhmm, pretty much all the guys in my dorm and all my classes hated me. In the beginning, everybody in musical theatre hated me too---"
"And you winning the lead role in the first musical you tried out for didn't help very much, right?" Chad teased as they stood up and skied away from the lift and over too the left, where the double greens and double diamonds lay.
"You shut up"
"What role did you get?"
"…."
"What role?"
"…Curly in Oklahoma!"
"See? See?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, as I was saying, eventually everyone grew up and now I'm dating again, so all's well"
"Oh, that's cool." He couldn't explain why, but Chad suddenly felt very awkward with the concept that Ryan was dating someone. In the back of his memory he vaguely remembered Ryan dating a girl back in seventh grade and it not working out, and then Ryan and some blonde, nerdy girl had seemed oddly close the summer before Gabriella came…but other than that, Ryan had been single for as long as he could recollect. "I'm back to being unattached, so all's good on this end," he laughed.
"So Taylor and you didn't work out?"
"Nope; she went to Purdue and I went to Standford, and we both didn't like the concept of long-distance dating. So we broke up and stayed friends, and I chat with her online about every other week." He decided to leave out the part about the three boys he had dated between then and now, not 100 sure how Ryan flowed or thought on the subject.
"Well that's not too bad"
"Nope"
"Any new prospects?" Ryan said sarcastically, stopping next to The Big Pocono Run, and Chad remembered that at the bottom of the hill they had agreed to go on different runs.
"Not one." 'Or, I could start hitting on Ryan Evans. That's not such a bad thought, he's always been a cool guy. Too bad he's dating…and is probably straight,' Chad thought as a side note.
"Mmmm," was all Ryan said in response. "Well, since I'm holding up traffic for this slope, what say we rendezvous at the café at the bottom of the mountain?"
"See you there," Chad bid, and pushed himself farther down the path and closer to his destination, the double green Marc Antony.
"Why am I so out of shape?" Chad panted, leaning against his poles as he took a small break halfway down the slope. "Basketball season just started, this is stupid"
It was later on the same day, and he and Ryan were skiing down separate slopes, meeting at the bottom, riding to the top (without the safety bar, of course, seeing as how they were college guys who were somehow incapable of being hurt) on the same seat, and then separating at their set slopes. Chad could now ride down The Meadows with great ease, and was steadily getting better at Marc Antony, Burches, and The Nile Mile (all double greens). He and Ryan had had fun catching up over a lunch, quizzing each other on what they knew of their old East High classmates, from Sharpay to Jason.
All of a sudden, Chad heard a loud commotion from downhill to his left, where Honeymoon Lane (the beginner slope he switched too halfway so as to get back to the main express lift) and The Asp (a black diamond) combined into one wide, slightly steep stretch. He skied carefully down to where the commotion was coming from, and turned his skis uphill at the last second so as to pull to a quick stop.
Two skiers had collided at fast speeds, resulting in a ski colliding with one of the unfortunate college student's head. The injured skier was lying on his side in the snow while the other took off his skis and walked uphill very slowly (he was wearing ski boots, and they were way closer to the top of the hill than the bottom) to get help. Chad side-stepped up the hill to make sure that help was on it's way; his mom had drilled manners at least that much into his brain.
For one horrible second, he thought it was Ryan lying on the ground with his head bleeding into the snow. No, it couldn't be him; this guy had short dark brown hair, and Ryan had always been a blonde. But the clothes matched exactly what Ryan had been wearing earlier…the coincidence was probably owing to the fact that everything the Evans ever owned was designer and the hottest—and probably most expensive—thing on the market.
"What happened? Is everything alright?" he called up to the alarmed skier who was still walking.
"I was going to fast, and lost control, and he couldn't swerve out of the way fast enough, and I went flying head over heels, and one of my skis hit his head…he hasn't been moving since"
Chad sucked in his breath sharply. That did not sound good at all. "Is help coming?"
"The rangers should be here any minute." The poor guy looked like he was a freshman in college and petrified out of his mind from what he had done. Chad took him back down to where their injured colleague lay.
After their short, one-worded conversation died down, Chad turned his attention to the still-unconscious chap. I have to know. He sighed and had the other skier—whose name was Dylan—help him set the hurt skier in a more comfortable position and help take off his askew goggles, hat, and neck gaiter. And, sure enough, there lay Ryan's slack face, his once-blonde hair now an extremely dark brown, the edge of his scalp covered with a nasty, deep scratch that was leaking dark liquid onto the pure white snow. 'I suppose he dyed his hair just because he can; he is in college'
"You know him?" Dylan sounded even more scared from the fact that the skier he had knocked out was a friend of the random person stopping to help.
"He's an old classmate of mine. But it's fine; just don't go so fast until you can control your stopping skills, 'k?" Chad asked rather shakily, and Dylan was quick to nod his head.
At last a mountain ranger skidded to a fast stop next to the two worriers. Dylan quickly explained what happened to him, and the ranger took immediate action. He helped take off Ryan's skis and instructed Chad to carry Ryan up to the first aid building at the top of the hill; the ranger needed to escort Dylan to the front and have him banned from the slopes for at very least a month or two for skiing recklessly and injuring another person. He would also take care of all three of their skis.
Feeling more awkward than ever, Chad inched his arms underneath the classmate he barley knew, when he thought about it, scooped him up, and started a very slow trek up the slope. But Ryan made it a ton easier by the fact that he weighed no more than if he was still a junior in high school. 'How can he healthily way this much?' Chad thought in confusion. 'He sounded plenty happy all day, so he couldn't be eating because he isn't happy…but still, why is he THIS light?'
He was soon distracted off that train of thought by his arrival at the first aid shelter, where professional soon took the unconscious Ryan away to be revived and bandaged accordingly. Chad was ordered to speedily report what had happened, and once he did so he was put in the waiting to either go about his way or to wait for Ryan to be fixed. He chose the latter, to his own astonishment.
'I just re-met the guy, for Pete's sake, why should I bother to hang around? Sure, we talked and stuff, but he's an Evans…I'm a basketball player. The most we ever hung out before this was during the summer after Gabriella arrived, and then we sort of drifted….why did we drift? We were about to be really good friends…and then it was school, and I hung out with Troy, he hung out with his sister, I played basketball, he did musicals. The most we ever saw of each other was in the hallways, since we didn't share homeroom as seniors. All the same…I should be nice and stick around for him. If Sharpay's on the premises, she would kill me for doing anything but.' And so Chad convinced himself into waiting.
Finally Ryan remerged, a length of fabric tied around his head to secure some gauze over his ugly scrape.
"You're still here?"
"Yep; I just wanted to make sure I could tell Troy that I actually saw an Evans with black hair," Chad voiced as his excuse.
Ryan chuckled softly, and ran a hand through his dark hair self-consciously. "It's not that bad, is it?"
"I suppose not…but the concept of it is still growing on me," Chad smirked, standing up from where he had been vegetating. "How are you going to get to the bottom of this mountain?"
"A snowmobile. Why?"
Chad's face lit up.
"Count me in then; I don't know where my skis went anyways, I think the ranger took them back to the rentals. Who knows." Ryan rolled his eyes, but didn't object to Chad hitching a ride.
The mountain ranger did, however, and firmly gave Chad back his skis despite all the athlete's protests.
"You are not hurt in any way, so proceed with your skiing"
Grumbling, Chad bid Ryan a disgruntled 'goodbye' and skied back over to Marc Antony.
As fortune had it, Chad wouldn't have to ski all the way down the mountain. At the very bottom of the slope, when he had just stood up so as to ride it out (so he could get enough speed to make it to the lift), he hit a large bump and fell down hard on his stomach, the handle of one of his ski poles jamming cruelly into his stomach. Naturally, he vomited because of the sudden impact. A ranger was luckily zooming by just as he did so, and helped escort him over to the first aid shelter at the bottom of the hill, where he was given a glass of water and a cot to lay down on. If he wanted medicine, he would have a butt load of paperwork to fill out, so he decided to wait it out and see if his stomach settled.
"Hoping to ride the snowmobile?"
Chad looked up in surprise to see Ryan standing above him, looking mildly curious and concerned. He opened his mouth to respond, but instead felt bile rising in his throat and knew it was too late. Luckily for Ryan, the dancer spotted a bucket at the last second and was able to get it in to Chad before his nice ski pants became disgusting.
"I tripped and launched my ski pole into my stomach," Chad croaked when he could control his spasms. "And I already felt disgusting today"
"You did?"
Chad nodded. He had woken up in the hotel feeling like his forehead was going to explode, but the fresh air of the slopes had driven the feeling away. And now, with the help of his untimely fall, the sensation was washing all over him again. He told this to Ryan.
"Smart one…can you walk?"
"I tried on the way down here, but the ranger pretty much had to drag me in"
A momentary pause.
"Where are you staying?"
"Well, I was staying at a Howard Johnson hotel, but I checked out earlier today because I was planning to fly to my grandparent's house, where my family and extended family is meeting up for Christmas"
"You can't possibly navigate in the airport in a state like this!"
Chad snorted. "You're telling me"
Another awkward moment of silence.
"Tell you what; how about you come stay at my apartment for a few days until you feel better, and then you can be on your way? That way you don't have to pay for a hotel room"
"You don't live in a dorm room?"
"No, are you kidding me?" He laughed. "Everyone on campus who's not in musical theatre hates my guts. Staying in my dorm room would just be giving them a chance to do something horrible"
Chad titled his head with a smile in agreement to the fact, and thought about the situation for a long time.
"Are you sure it wouldn't be a problem? Like, I wouldn't be getting in the way or anything?"
"I don't see how you could. Really, I think I have come back and work tomorrow, and then I'll have the night of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off"
"Where do you work?"
"Here, at the lodge. I'm either rentals or snowboard lessons"
"I didn't see you on a snowboard today…or wearing the instructor jersey"
"I got this afternoon off too, and felt like skiing. I usually always wear the jersey, but today for some reason I didn't feel like having the responsibility of being smart"
"I can see how that would get annoying," Chad joked, laughing slightly. "But…I guess if you're positive I wouldn't be a problem…it would be nice to have a place other than a hotel to recuperate at"
"Then as soon as you're good enough to walk at least a little bit, you can call up the airport and cancel and then return your equipment"
"The only bad thing about this is how much it costs to cancel flight plans"
Ryan thought about it for a minute, and then grinned.
"My credit card is directly linked to my parent's account…they wouldn't even notice the money's gone"
"Ryan, I haven't seen you in, like, five years! You can't go through all this trouble for me, it's stupid!"
"I'll be nice when I want to be, so take advantage of it while you can. Christmas is coming up, and I'm trying to get a decent stocking load." Ryan sounded quite serious, but his large smile gave away everything. "Just waddle out when you're ready to go, and we'll go. I'm all set to go whenever…and besides, my head does hurt." He raised a hand tentatively to his head, wincing when his fingers touched the sore spot.
"Oh yeah, I meant to tell you earlier; the ranger was busy escorting the guy who gave you that 'small scratch' to the front of the ski park, so he made me carry you up to the first aid shelter"
"Oh…umm…wow." Ryan didn't seem sure how to take the information. "You did that?" When just a second ago he had seemed so bold and sure of himself, he had suddenly turned almost shy, and a flame caught on his pasty pale cheeks. "You didn't have to; he could have easily called another ranger or something"
"But I was right there, and I was already out of my skis, and it wasn't that far to the top of the mountain…and I was kind of worried," Chad said slowly, also feeling slightly bashful because of the way Ryan was acting.
"Still…I mean, thank you. Very much," Ryan laughed unsurely, rubbing his arm. "I honestly like the idea of someone I actually know carrying me while I was unconscious instead of some random old man"
"I can see why you would feel that way," Chad also laughed. Ryan smiled, and things became far less awkward.
"I'll…be right out in the waiting room…whenever you're ready. Don't forget to let your folks know where you are." And with that, he was gone again, and Chad was left to himself.
'If only he wasn't dating,' Chad thought as he stared off in daydreams up at the ceiling. 'If only he could be gay…then we could fall in love and go do something naughty in a bed somewhere…that'd be a nice way to the holidays'
Ryan's apartment was slightly on the small side way back in New York state (about an hour's drive away from teh slopes), and even though it was on the bazillionth floor in a huge apartment building in the middle of buzzing downtown, it somehow managed to still be rather cozy. The walls were a stylish grey-blue, and most of the furniture was on the brown side. Some walls were covered with ancient records that might have been popular thirty years before present day, and pictures were everywhere; all in all, not a half-bad place to live.
After they had removed all their layers, Chad saw he hadn't been imagining things when he thought Ryan seemed pretty light on his trek up the slope. Ryan had already greatly trimmed up from fall of junior year all the way to graduation, but it seemed to have become ridiculous. The guy's shirt (it was mainly blue, he noticed, with fat red lines, and then there were tiny white lines intersecting all across it) hung loose on his already small frame, and surprisingly simple belt was tightened several notches to hold up his pants (which were baggy but form-fitting at the same time). In a strange way, even the bandage around his head seemed to add to the appealing look. Overall, Chad judged the guy as having become ten times more attractive than he ever had been back in senior year…if rather unnaturally skinny. No wonder he was dating.
"Sorry that all I have is one bed," Ryan apologized, hanging up their coats and dropping off his bags in what was presumably his bedroom. His skis and snowboard, which he personally owned and evidently brought to the slopes every day, were already stored in the coat closet. "I suppose you'll have to camp out on the couch. It doesn't fold out or anything, so I hope you're not a picky sleeper"
"Not at all," Chad assured him, setting down his bags next to the furniture piece; they had picked up his things on their way over. "I could sleep on tree roots"
"You want anything in particular for dinner?" Ryan asked as he made his way over to the section of the main room that was the kitchen. The only thing that separated it from the living room was a round wall with large open windows that left Chad able to follow Ryan through all of his actions in the kitchen.
'He would look so hot with an apron.' "Not particularly, I'm good with anything"
Feeling rather sickly again, Chad lay down on the couch and started through what turned out to be a total of eight channels.
"I'm guessing daddy didn't help pay for the apartment?"
"Nope; it's all out my own pocket. I'm going through an insane phase of actually paying for everything myself"
Chad smirked. "You're a rebel, alright"
"You know it"
At that moment, the door to the apartment was heard to be unlocked and opened. Who else has a key to this apartment? Chad thought in bewilderment.
"Hey babe," said a man's voice. Wait, a man's voice?
Chad craned his neck around in time to see a college student their age with fairly dark skin and shaggy copper hair pull Ryan around for a fairly violating hug. Ryan giggled cutely, and the unknown male kissed him very deeply. 'Holy crap, Ryan is gay. He's gay. He's really gay!' The poor queer basketball player was unable to tear his eyes away and Ryan and a stranger who was evidently his boyfriend suck each other's faces off for a good two minutes in the kitchen only a few yards away from him.
"Miss me?" the boyfriend asked smugly, swatting the East High graduate fondly on the rump.
"A little," Ryan teased, his eyes glittering beautifully as he continued with making dinner for three.
"What happened to your head?" the boyfriend asked him concern, lightly kissing Ryan's temple where the bandage was secured. "An accident on the slopes?"
"Yeah, I was going down a black diamond and some idiot lost control. His ski hit my head"
"What?!"
"It doesn't hurt that much…really! It just stings a little now. But I have someone for you to meet"
The boyfriend's eyes narrowed abruptly. "Who?"
"An old classmate of mine. We found each other today on the slopes by chance, and he's going to hang out for a few days until he gets his health back." Ryan's eyes clouded over swiftly. "That is…if it's alright with you"
The boyfriend quickly regained his composure. "Anything to please my pretty actor. Now, where is the old classmate, I didn't see him as I came in"
"He's over on the couch." Ryan led his boyfriend over to Chad, who was still gaping up at both of them idiotically. "Karl, meet Chad Danforth. Chad, meet Karl Hightower, my boyfriend"
"Hey," Karl said friendly enough, though his smile didn't reach his eyes. One arm was wrapped protectively around Ryan's waist, bringing their hips in close contact.
'Ryan Evans is gay and living with and probably sharing a bed with his boyfriend in an apartment in the middle of urban New York somewhere.' Chad was still trying work through the fact.
"Chad?" Ryan asked timidly, showing the first real signs of nervousness about his former colleague's reaction. The old friend forced a response out of himself.
"Sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me. Nice to meet you." Chad and Karl shook hands, yet Chad felt like there was some tension between them; the reason for which he couldn't fathom. "Thanks for letting me crash here for a little while"
"No problem," Karl said with the same incomplete smile, and Chad shifted uncomfortably in it's presence. Ryan hurriedly changed the subject.
"What are you in the mood for?" he asked his boyfriend, tugging him back to the kitchen by their locked hands.
"You," Karl responded bluntly, using their hands as an easy way to pull Ryan in for another violating kiss. They really are cute…in a weird way, Chad couldn't help but notice.
"I meant for dinner," Ryan said when they separated, blushing attractively. "F-food wise." It came out as a stutter, for Karl had given him a hard pinch.
"Whatever your making sounds goods, cook," Karl shrugged, making his way over to the coat closet to dispose of his large winter coat, galoshes, and other such things necessary in the winter up North.
The dinner turned out to be beef stroganoff mixed with sautéed onions and zucchini. By the looks of it Ryan was not unfamiliar with a kitchen; the concoction was exemplary, and both of the boys told him so. He only flushed prettily again and muttered small phrases of gratitude for their compliments.
As for the evening, it turned out to be a splendid one. While Chad relaxed on the couch, Ryan and Karl turned on the radio to a channel playing all Christmas music, and the three of them (with some reluctance on Karl's part) split the songs that came on. Chad decided that his favorite part had to be Ryan and Karl splitting "Baby, It's Cold Outside", Ryan taking the main and Karl on harmony. Karl had a decent singing voice, but of course it sounded like nothing next to Ryan's. After all, the guy had had private singing lessons since he was four.
Seeing as how it was late, Ryan help Chad set up his make-shift bed on the couch and gave him some drugs to see him sleep peacefully through the night. After everything was all set up, Ryan wished Chad a pleasant "goodnight" and closed the door to the bedroom behind Karl and him. Chad spent the time before he dozed off creating tons of imagery in his mind about what the gay couple might be doing behind the thick door in their bed…and not one of the ideas was less than R-rated.
'To bad he and his boyfriend are so happy, we could really hit it off…but WHY is he so unnaturally skinny?' Chad thought on both subjects as well for most of the night, but no solution revealed itself to him.
Chad was woken up early in the morning by the sounds drifting from the kitchen and front of the apartment. Evidently, Ryan and Karl were both getting ready for work. Chad had rather hoped that Ryan might keep him company during the day, but he had known deep down that the guy probably needed all the money he could get his hands on if he was really living on his own.
"What time will you be home tonight?" Ryan was asking while he helped Karl put on his coat.
"Probably around 10…why?"
"I was kind of hoping we could curl up and watch some old Christmas movies; it's Christmas Eve, you know," Ryan grinned, pecking his boyfriend fondly on the lips. "Or did you forget?"
"The days do fly by," Karl said seriously, vaguely hinting to the fact that he actually hadforgotten what day it was. "I'll try to get home earlier, but I might have to go back. The office doesn't care what time of year it is"
"But you will try to work it out so you have tonight and tomorrow off?" Ryan asked unsurely.
"I don't have a flexible schedule like you do, Ry, being an actor. One day you have a job, the next day you don't. My days are a bit more uniform, babe, you know that"
Chad wasn't overly fond of the boyfriend's condescending tone to Ryan.
"But you will try, won't you?" Ryan persisted, his eyes getting a familiar cloud over them.
Karl smiled affectionately, and brushed a dark strand of Ryan's hair behind his ear. "Yeah, cutie; I'll try"
Ryan smiled again, and the cloud was gone as Karl brought their lips firmly together.
"See you when you get home then?"
"When I get home," Karl assured him. One more hug and he was gone, and Ryan was standing alone in the front hallway, staring at the closed door with an odd look on his face. After a few minutes, he walked back to the kitchen and popped something in the microwave.
"Hey Chad, you awake?" He walked over to the couch, and Chad looked up at him, remembering at the last minute to smile encouragingly; the look Ryan had on his face threw him a curve ball. It wasn't sad, but it wasn't happy either the way it had been the previous day. The expression was…somewhere in between. Slightly depressed, but refusing to allow the feeling to stay, and forcing a positive outlook on life. Chad found it hard to smile into a face like that.
"Yep; I've been awake for a while"
"Want breakfast?" Ryan asked politely, motioning over his shoulder to the humming microwave. "I'm warming up some breakfast tacos"
"I'll have a few, yeah"
Ryan walked back to the kitchen area, and Chad's eyes followed him. The guy was wearing extremely baggy, black pajama pants with "DRAMA" written in white down one pant leg so that Chad had to turn his head to read it. For a shirt, he had a familiar navy blue short-sleeved shirt with "New York" written in silver and surrounded by sparkles. It still fit him.
"You're not going to work today?"
Ryan shook his head.
"I thought you might need some company, and a sick guy shouldn't be left to himself." He returned shortly with a glass of orange juice in one hand a paper plate with three breakfast tacos in the other. He set them both down on a table near Chad's head. It was all so perfect and nice that Chad couldn't help but smile broadly.
"You really didn't have to do any of this"
"Why not?" Ryan asked innocently, sitting in a recliner with his own single breakfast taco.
"It makes me feel downright terrible; I should do something to repay you," Chad insisted. Ryan rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Just accept it as a random nice act of Christmas and forget it"
'He's such a sweetheart'. "But you already used up your random-nice-act-of-Christmas excuse by even allowing me to stay with you"
"I'm not allowed more than one?" Ryan asked with a mocking smile.
"Sure as hell ain't; I'm still trying to catch up for the first one," Chad grinned just as mockingly. 'WHY do you have to be dating someone?'
"Do what you want, Mr. Danforth," Ryan laughed, standing up to throw away his napkin. "I won't stop you"
'If I could do what I wanted, I would be kissing you right now,' Chad thought bitterly. But life wasn't fair like that; Ryan had a boyfriend, and it would be horrible of him to do anything that might mess up what they had going on.
"You want to take a shower first?" Ryan asked, fixing his pants a little. "Or do you not care?"
"You can go first"
Ryan shrugged his shoulders and made his way back into his bedroom, and a minute or two later Chad could hear running water. He downed a few Tums with some water from the night before and flicked on the TV, but muted it. Over the running water, he began to hear a clear tenor voice singing, unaware that it was being heard.
Stupid Cupid, you're a real mean guy
I'd like to clip your wings so you can't fly
I am in love and it's a crying shame
And I know you're the one to blame
Hey hey, set me free
Stupid Cupid, stop picking on me
Can't do my homework, and can't think straight
I meet him every morning 'bout half past eight
I'm acting like a lovesick fool
You've even got me carrying his books to school
Hey hey, set me free
Stupid Cupid, stop picking on me
You mixed me up for good right from the very start
Hey, go play Robin Hood with somebody else's heart
You've got me jumping like a crazy clown
And I don't feature what you're putting down
Since I kissed his loving lips of wine
The thing that bothers me is that I like it fine
Hey hey, set me free
Stupid Cupid, stop picking on me
Hey hey, set me free
Stupid Cupid, stop picking on me
Chad chuckled quietly to himself. 'Now isn't that just too cute; he's singing about his boyfriend in the shower, and the guy isn't even home!' But then his thoughts turned more melancholy. 'This is why I need a boyfriend; to sing about someone or have someone sing about me in the shower. Those two have no idea just how lucky they are…'
Ryan soon came out again, dressed for the day with cheeks still flushed from the hot shower and hair wrapped up in a towel.
"Your turn"
Chad had a serious inward debate as he stepped in the already-steaming shower whether or not he should sing. Not only would his voice sound like complete crap next to Ryan's trained one, but what in the world would he sing about? The only songs he knew were hip-hop and rap—nothing as cute and fluffy as Ryan's "Stupid Cupid". Besides, he had no one to sing the lyrics to. He would have to go with just a random song.
Clearing his throat and still unable to believe that he was actually go to sing, Chad plunged into song.
People, keep on learnin'
Soldiers, keep on warrin'
World, keep on turnin'
Cause it won't be too long.
Powers, keep on lyin',
While your people, keep on dyin'
World, keep on turnin',
Cause it won't be too long.
I'm so darn glad He let me try it again,
'Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin.
I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then.
Gonna keep on tryin' till I reach the highest ground.
Teachers, keep on teachin'
Preachers, keep on preachin',
World, keep on turnin',
'Cause it won't be too long.
Oh, no
Lovers, keep on lovin'
While believers, keep on believin'.
Sleepers, just stop sleepin'
'Cause it won't be too long.
Oh, no!
'That should be a motto,' Chad thought to himself as he stepped out of the shower. '"When in doubt, sing Red Hot Chili Peppers'"
"Interesting choice of music," Ryan said with a smirk when Chad emerged from the bathroom. "I didn't think you would even know 'Higher Ground'"
"Never underestimate a Danforth," Chad said arrogantly, shaking some water out of his ear.
"Or an Evans," Ryan added, shaking his head and laughing. "We are a mischievous clan"
"Don't tell me; I know plenty well what the Evans are capable of"
"I'm sure you do." They had made their way back into the living room. "I have a bit of cleaning and organizing to do—I haven't done that kind of thing in ages—so is it okay if I turn on the radio for a while?"
"Be my guest"
By 3 o'clock that same day, Chad had decided that Ryan was officially the cutest person he had ever met, quirk- and look-wise. When a favorite song of his came on the radio, he would usually abandon whatever he was doing and dance around the house belting out the lyrics, being sure to take full advantage of all of his lung capacity; which, considering his stature, seemed to be pretty big. And when "Life is a Highway" (the version sung by Tom Cochrane) came on, he insisted that Chad sing along as well.
"But why?" Chad protested as Ryan dragged him off his resting spot on the couch.
"Because this song is the best song in the entire world!" Ryan said as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world.
"I really can't sing!"
"Or dance?"
Chad glared at him, but Ryan only smiled and continued singing into the TV remote and skipping around the apartment.
"You're a dork, you know that?"
"Probably," Ryan said smugly, not stopping his wild tromping through the hallways.
"Ryan—"
"Shut up and sing! Life is a highway, and I want to ride it awl night lawng!" Ryan sang cheekily and very loudly.
"Do you not care what your neighbors think at all?" Chad asked in exasperation.
"Not at all. Most of them aren't home anyways, and the ones that are could care less! Now hurry up and sing, or the song will end before you have the chance!"
Giving up at last, Chad followed Ryan's lead and sang at full volume as they danced raucously around each other.
'If there is a heaven, I bet this is it,' Chad thought blissfully as Ryan shot a breath-taking, untamed, unearthly, crazy smile at him in passing, all the while still singing at the top of his voice. It was obvious Ryan lived for singing piercingly to his favorite song and dancing spontaneously and outrageously. It was his heart's reason for beating. 'Sing like there's no tomorrow with a friend and dance like there's nobody else in the world'
Chad and Ryan were in the middle of eating take-out Chinese food on the couches when Karl came in from work at 11:15 that night. This time, he offered no affectionate greeting to Ryan, but dropped off his coat and went straight back into the bedroom. When Ryan tried to open the door, he found it locked. He looked worried, but wasn't panicking yet.
"Karl," he said coaxingly through the door, making Chad wish a hundred times that Ryan could speak to him that way, "what's the matter? Will you open the door for me?"
It took several more minutes for Ryan to persuade Karl to let him in, and the couple shut the door behind them. After a few minutes of inward debating, Chad was about to strain his ears to hear the conversation when the couple burst forth and there was no need for eavesdropping.
"But why won't they let you take tonight and tomorrow off?" Ryan asked, his eyes looking dangerously close to tears of frustration.
"Because it's an office, and that's life!" Karl snapped harshly, zipping up his coat again. Ryan tried to pull him into a hug, but the supervisor coldly unhooked his arms.
"It's Christmas Eve, for God's sake!" Ryan said heatedly, his eyes getting damper by the minute. "You can't seriously—"
"But I am serious, Ryan!" Karl barked, whirling around on the petite performer. "I do take my job very seriously, unlike some people in this world! Christmas or no Christmas, I've got to work. It pays, so I work! If it asked me to work on my own birthday, I'd do it! We need the money!"
"Not this badly!"
"Yes 'this badly'! Unlike you, I actually need stability, which includes earning money and not having my boyfriend tramping around alone in an apartment unsupervised with some old classmate!"
"What do you mean, 'tramping around alone'? We're old friends, are we not allowed to hang out in the same building for a day?! You don't trust me to stay loyal to you?"
"I trust in stability, Ryan, and so far you're not helping it much! So pardon me while I go actually work hard. I know you haven't done that much, so I'll understand if you don't understand what I'm talking about"
Mr. Hightower turned his back his boyfriend, who, as a last ditch effort, hugged him tight around the waist. Karl surprised the entire room by promptly turning around and, in the passion of the moment, violently shoved Ryan to the kitchen's linoleum floor. Glancing once at Chad, he turned his back for a second time on his now-sprawled boyfriend and slammed the door behind him.
Ryan pushed himself shakily to his feet and supported himself against the counter, his back to Chad. The apartment was silent.
After what seemed an eternity, Ryan's shoulders began to shake, though the silence stayed intact. Chad gradually stood up and began to walk over to the kitchen where his old friend stood. He finally came into Ryan's perception, and when Ryan slowly raised his head the basketball player met his broken gaze. The twin's nerve broke, and Chad was there to catch him as he sank to the floor, a mess of tears and arms.
"H-he's…really…not…like…this…n-normally," Ryan managed to state between hiccups as tears streamed freely down his face. "It's just…I want stability too!" he at last burst out. Chad sat next to him in stunned silence, finding it hard to believe that someone could cry that hard. "I want it too! With everything else…well, you can imagine what it's like trying to find a job when your name's not known…I really rely on him to make everything even out! But…" Ryan's words descended into obscurity as he fought to regain his composure. "He really loves his work, and I sometimes just wonder if…if…"
"If he loves work more than you?" Chad finished timidly.
Ryan nodded weakly, trying desperately to make himself stop crying, but his eyes kept right on leaking.
"I mean, I know he loves me, and he tells me so all the time, but…h-h-he's just n-never here when I need him to be…he's always at work…a-and I j-just wish, that he could be home f-for Christmas Eve, or at least Christmas." He died away into silence again, sniffing loudly.
Chad didn't know what to say. Girls had always been the ones wise to the whole comforting thing, but he doubted even Gabriella would know what to say to comfort their miserable classmate. 'So this is why he's lost so much weight; he's worried about his relationship that's between breaking point and deep intimacy, as well as surviving without his dad's money.'
"Ry…I…" he tried in vain to voice something—anything—but to no avail. To his large astonishment, Ryan chuckled weakly.
"I'm sorry, I'm scaring you off, aren't I? What do you care about the petty troubles of Ryan Evans? Eh…" How Chad longed to kiss him and tell him that it was nothing like that, he wanted to make Ryan feel ten times better and know that he was loved…but he couldn't bring himself to do it. "What time do you need to be at the airport tomorrow?" Chad sent Ryan a confused look. "I'm sure you'll want to spend Christmas with your family, stomach flu or no stomach flu," Ryan explained, his eyes looking desperately to Chad for assurance that he was doing the right thing.
Never had the oldest Danforth child been as certain about something as the decision he made on that tear-covered kitchen tile on which he sat. He didn't have to think about it twice; he knew it was the right thing to do, and he wanted to do it. If he couldn't fulfill Ryan's romantic needs, he could at least do this.
"No...there's no need for me to call." Ryan looked at him in bewilderment. "If you wouldn't mind it to much, I would like to spend Christmas here, with you, in the apartment"
Ryan stared at the jock, unable to believe his ears. Chad presented a serious face, showing that he was dead serious in his request. And then…Ryan's eyes fogged over once again, and hugged his old friend as tightly as he had his twin sister on graduation day.
"…Thanks"
"No problem. And look over there." The said baby actor looked up. "It's midnight; it's Christmas"
"Oh!" Ryan said in surprise, glancing over to the oven clock, where it indeed read 12:00 a.m.
"And Ryan?" Chad said this much softer, and Ryan looked over at him in mild puzzlement. "Look above us"
Hanging over their heads in the doorway to the kitchen, where they had been sitting this entire time, was mistletoe. Karl had hung in there a few nights before as a joke, considering usually he and Ryan were the only ones on the premises, and he was always looking for an excuse to kiss the triple-threat.
"May I?" Chad almost whispered, gesturing up towards the greenery. After a moment's pause, Ryan slowly nodded his head.
Chad delicately took Ryan's smooth, baby face in his hands and after another small hesitation, leaned down and kissed him gently on the mouth. It didn't last very long, and both their mouths stayed shut, so they pulled away a split second later. Maybe it was just how innocent and short the sweet kiss was, and how it significantly contrasted to the earlier violent boy's violating kiss that made Chad tenderly wrap Ryan up in his arms…and made Ryan not protest in the slightest.
They both knew that was all they would ever do, and nothing was to happen after it. The two of them couldn't possibly have happened even in the remotest dream, and they both had their own lives to think of. But for just that one, special day of the year, they could be together in blissful happiness.
"Hey Ry?"
"Yeah?"
"Merry Christmas." 'I love you.'
"Merry Christmas, Chad." 'I love you too.'
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!