AN: OMG HOLLA. I haven't posted one of these since July. YES, JULY. But, to be fair, I'd been primarily writing "Forget Yesterday," which I think most of you enjoyed, so hopefully that makes up for it.

Also, I know I said I was gonna try and include Zeke in the next Kiss, but... I came up with a better one for Taylor and Ryan (one of my new fave couples!). This was originally supposed to be a Taylor/Zeke kiss, but... Zeke warped into Ryan.

THIS IS AN AU, by the way. It takes place during HSM 2.

Title: Kiss
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: A compilation of various couples' first kisses.
Genre: Romance
Chapter: Taylor and Ryan

The black sky was littered with bright silver stars; the cloudless night allowed the stars to be illuminated even brighter than perhaps normal. The breeze in Albuquerque was a bit stronger and colder than normal, especially in summer. Mother Nature seemed to be aware that the participants in the Lava Springs staff baseball game were still a bit tired and thus overheated, even if darkness had fallen.

Ryan Evans smiled against the wind, his eyes closed. He was sitting on the edge of the golf course, where a boulder was stationed. His back was against it, his legs bent and his knees about a foot above the ground; he rested his elbows on them.

"Hey."

He opened his eyes and glanced up, spying Taylor, who was still dressed in her Activities Coordinator uniform.

"Can I sit down?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sure." He scooted himself over a couple inches, allowing Taylor to take a seat next him. She leaned against the boulder as well, and took a breath. "It's really nice out tonight."

"Yeah," he agreed. "It's a little cool, but it feels good."

"Especially after that game." Taylor turned to him with a grin. "You did great."

Ryan chuckled. "Yeah, I did so great that I lost," he joked.

She smiled. "Oh, you know what I mean. You guys pulled off some pretty impressive plays."

"Thanks." He smiled back appreciatively.

She leaned her head back, so that she could straight up to the sky. He followed suit.

"So, what are you still doing here?" he asked after a few moments' silence.

"Oh, well, Gabriella's my ride home," Taylor responded.

Clearing his throat, Ryan asked, "Where is she?"

Taylor was quiet for a few seconds before answering. "She's trying to get a hold of Troy. Her boyfriend," she emphasized.

Ryan sat up straighter and blinked at her. "I know who Troy is."

She straightened up too and stared at him. "Do you? Because, I happened to notice a couple of interesting glances you were sending Gabriella earlier..."

Ryan forced a laugh. "What? Are you crazy? I don't... Gabriella and I... she doesn't --"

"I know she doesn't," Taylor interrupted, and he fell silent. "Look, Gabriella and Troy... they might be having problems, but she's happy with him. You can't... like her, you know."

"I don't --" he began immediately, but she cut across him again.

"I know you're drawn to her, in some way," she said. "But you... you just can't."

Ryan sighed deeply. He turned slightly to the right, so that he was facing Taylor. "I know that. I know that I shouldn't, but, it's... I just haven't had many friends aside from Sharpay. You know that, we've known each other since elementary school."

She nodded thoughtfully. "You like Gabriella because she's the first person to approach you for friendship?" she mused thoughtfully. Ryan said nothing. "Well, Ryan... I mean, it's not like none of us like you."

He gave a small smile. "Yeah. Okay."

"Seriously!" she cried, turning her own body to face him. "Well, I don't know about everyone else, but I'm personally a little afraid to approach you sometimes when you're around Sharpay," she admitted bashfully.

He laughed loudly. "Really?"

"Hey!" she exclaimed defensively. "Sharpay's pretty intimidating, okay?" she retorted, but she giggled.

Ryan shrugged. "Nah, I mean, I guess I can understand that. I'm almost afraid to go up to her sometimes, and we're related. So I get what you mean."

She nodded. "It's funny how different you are from Sharpay."

"Yeah... I get that a lot."

She laughed. She turned back again, so that she was leaning against the large rock. "But seriously, Ryan. You can't like Gabriella."

"No, I know," he said quietly. "I don't think I even do like her. Just... her willingness to accept me kind of... set off an infatuation. A very brief one."

Taylor nodded. "Yeah. I know how that is. It's happened to me before."

"Really?" He glanced over at her in interest. "With who?"

She sent a sad smile his way and looked over him, sending him a gaze that told him he knew who it was.

"Chad?" he voiced in confusion, and she nodded. "Really?" he said again, incredulously. "I thought... you two actually had something going on?"

"Well..." She bit her lip. "I thought so, too. It was all very spur of the moment... back in January, when he asked me to go to the after-party with him, I thought there was something. But it's been, like, six months now and nothing. I'm really starting to think that it was just the idea of having a boyfriend that I liked, not necessarily... him."

Ryan stared at her. "So..." he contemplated slowly. "You like guys who are assertive, then? Who'll make the first move?"

She was silent for a moment, letting his words roll around her mind. "Yeah, I guess so."

Quite suddenly, Ryan bent down and captured her lips in a kiss, and she was so surprised that she didn't kiss back. He pulled away, blushing deep tomato red. "I-I'm sorry," he sputtered nervously. "I-I just... sorry."

She blinked. "What are you doing?" she asked blankly.

He swallowed. "I – I don't know... I've kinda felt like... for you... a while ago, and then Chad... and you... I stopped... but now... I don't know," he finished lamely.

Despite her surprise, she half-grinned. "Wow, Ryan, that made a ton of sense."

He didn't smile back; his embarrassment was palpable. "I... well..." he began deliberately. "I kinda had a... crush on you, I guess... last year..." He avoided eye contact with her at all costs. "But then the whole musical thing, and you guys all hated me and Sharpay, and Chad asked you out, so I just kinda... stopped."

"Well," said Taylor, a teasing grin on her face as she knew she was humiliating him further. "You clearly didn't stop, if you just kissed me."

Ryan blushed even darker red, which Taylor hadn't thought possible. "I... sorry."

Before he even knew what was happening, Taylor had kissed him, this time with her doing the initiation. He wasted no time in wrapping one arm around her waist and cupping her cheek with his other hand.

She pulled away first for breath, being the less athletic of the two. They took deep breaths and didn't speak for a few seconds.

Ryan was the first one to break the ice. "... wow."

Taylor smiled sheepishly.

"So, uh... I guess we..." he stammered. "I mean, are we...?"

Licking her lips, Taylor said, "You know... I think, for now... we should just keep it on the down-low, okay?" Noticing his frown, she quickly added, "Not for, like... anything bad. Just... some people kind of think Chad and I have something going, when we don't, so I have to take care of that. And there's kind of a bit of drama going on right now with Sharpay. Let's just take it easy for a couple days."

He sighed. "I guess that's probably the best thing to do..."

"How about after the staff party?" Taylor suggested. "That'll be a few days after the talent show --" at the mention of said performance, she rolled her eyes, "-- so whatever 'drama' goes down will have cooled by then."

He was still for a half a second, and then nodded. "Yeah... that makes sense."

They lapsed into another short silence. Taylor slid her hand into Ryan's and smirked at him. "Well, that doesn't mean we can't make out a little bit more."

He grinned at her and leaned in for another kiss.