Part Eight: Disbelieved

“I’m late! I’m late!”

“For a very important date,” Sharpay quipped from the couch, where she and Troy were curled up in a very cutesy manner, watching a movie.

I paused by the sofa, pulled a face at her, “Cute. Have you seen my jacket, White Rabbit?”

She gave a pretty pout as Troy leaned back on the couch, hanging his arm off the back, “Think I saw it in the kitchen.”

“I just looked in there.” I stiffened as a hand slid down my lower back, creeping onto my ass, and I brought my hands back, digging my short nails into his arm forcefully, yanking his hand off me.

“Well, look harder!” she pressed. I rolled my eyes, and turned to stalk out again, bumping Troy’s arm purposefully as I went. I walked to the kitchen, looked around for a moment.

I gave Troy a dark look as he walked in, “I don’t want to talk to you.”

He gave a chuckle, “Come on, Ryan…”

“No.” I spotted my jacket on the chair across the room, strode to it. “I warned you! I warned you not to touch me, and what d’you go and do?”

“Yeah, but we both know you didn’t mean it!” he insisted, putting his hand on my jacket so I couldn’t get it off the chair.

Tugging on it nonetheless, I stared him down, “Oh, I was deadly serious… I think it’s awful that you would hit on your best friend’s boyfriend.”

He slid his hand down so it covered mine, “But you can’t deny that we have a-”

“We have nothing,” I hissed. “Do you think any guy’s gonna be attracted to the guy who’s using his sister?”

Troy stroked his thumb over my hand, his eyes pleading, “Ryan…”

“You’ve made me do this… I didn’t want to,” I told him.

“Do what?”

I pulled my hand away, holding my coat, “I have to tell Chad.”

*****

“What did you think of that?” Chad asked as we left the cinema.

I let out a derisive snort, “That wasn’t a movie. It was a sequence of explosions.”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“There was no discernable plot!”

“Yes, there was!” he defended. “The plot was…”

I laughed as he faltered. “Was…?” I prompted tauntingly.

“About loads of explosions,” he finished lamely, and I burst out laughing again, making a hurt look come onto his face. “Oh, shut up. I liked it.”

“You would. You’re such a typical guy. Anything with either explosions or attractive people and you’re in there!”

He shoved me on the shoulder, “You’re such a bitch…”

“You only mind when it’s directed at you,” I told him with a grin.

“And even then I can’t hold it against you,” he lamented, putting his arm around my shoulders and squeezing.

I couldn’t help the way I tensed up, but he didn’t seem to notice, either that or he ignored it or interpreted it as something else. “Chad?” I ventured.

“Mm?”

“I don’t know how to say this…” I trailed off, brushing my fingertips over his hand absentmindedly.

“Say what?”

I shook my head, “Forget it. It’s not important.” What had I been thinking? I couldn’t tell him that his best friend was being so vile towards me! It would crush him! He couldn’t learn that Troy would do that to him….

He stopped, turned me so I was facing him. “It’s clearly important to you. What is it?” He gripped my arms, stopping me from turning away.

I trained my eyes on my shoes, “It’s Troy.”

“What about him?” He used two fingers to prop up my chin, “Ryan, what’s wrong?”

“Troy keeps hitting on me,” I whispered as he forced my eyes to lock into his. He frowned, confusion coming into the dark brown orbs.

“What?”

I reached up to take the hand that supported my chin in mine, “It started a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve told him to stop it.”

He shook his head, “He wouldn’t.”

“Chad,” I said firmly. “He hasn’t liked this relationship since the start.”

Chad backed off, shaking his head still, “No. He was freaked out at first, but he’s fine with it now. He’s not homophobic.”

“No, he’s not,” I agreed. “He told me to break it off with you, though. More than once.”

“You must have misunderstood,” he insisted.

I sighed, “Talk to him if you don’t believe me. Ask him to back off, please.”

He nodded, “I will.”

*****

“Hey,” I greeted as I came up behind Chad the next day. He jolted, before turning to face me. I read the look on his face in a moment. “What?”

He shifted on his feet, purposefully avoiding eye-contact with me. Something was definitely up. “I spoke to Troy.”

“Oh,” I said slowly.

He worked up the courage to look me in the eye now. “Look, Ryan,” he began, taking my hand in his and rubbing his thumb over my fingers. “I know you might have thought that he was hitting on you, but-”

“Wait,” I spat harshly, wrenching my hand from his. “What did he tell you?”

Chad swallowed nervously, as many did when faced with a glimpse of the Evans temper, and I hadn’t even let it loose yet. “He said that he didn’t know where you’d gotten that idea from. He was just trying to be friendly, and he’s sorry if you took it the wrong way.”

I rocked back on my heels, letting out a laugh, “You’re so naïve, Chad. So gullible. No wonder he strings you along so easily.”