Part Fourteen: Stressed

I shook off my limbs as I walked out of the gym. It felt so good to have a proper workout. It was only once I’d gotten onto the mat that I’d realised how tense I’d managed to get. I felt so much looser now. I walked up to my room, and took a quick cold shower in order to boost my adrenaline. I was just doing up my trousers as there was a knock on the door. “Yeah?”

Troy poked his head round the door, smiled at me, “Hey.”

“Hey.” I turned to face him as I tugged my belt into place, “What’s up?”

“You busy tonight?”

I shrugged, “No.”

“Great,” Troy enthused as I turned away to pick out a t-shirt. “‘Cause Gabi and I were planning to go and see a movie, and we thought you might want to come along.”

“As long as it’s not that new explosion flick,” I remarked. “I’m still trying to convince Chad he doesn’t want to see it.”

He laughed as I finally found a black t-shirt and pulled it on. As I turned back, there was a faint flush in his cheeks, but I let him away with it. Couldn’t really stop him from being flustered by my bare chest when he had no control over the matter… “It’s not. Gabi doesn’t want to see that, either. Maybe I’ll go with Chad.”

“Would you?” I asked eagerly. He just grinned at me, obviously not realising that I was being deadly serious. I sighed, turning away to tug my silver-pinstriped navy blue shirt out of the wardrobe. I shrugged into it quickly, and buttoned it. Now, where was my Union Jack cap…? “What time?” I asked, opening a drawer and shuffling through it.

“About eight?”

I pulled the navy blue cap out of the drawer with a cry of triumph, ignoring his badly concealed snort of laughter. “I’ll be there,” I told him, pulling it on and adjusting it so that the stitched Union Jack was facing straight out from where it covered half the peak.

“I’ll pick you up,” he suggested.

*****

“Why does she always insist on getting popcorn?” I commented to Troy as we took our seats in the cinema later that night. Gabriella had told us to come and claim seats while she queued.

Troy shrugged, looking bemused, “She likes it…?”

“Yeah, but it’s so expensive,” I complained. “Complete rip-off.”

He chuckled as he leant on the armrest between us, a mocking look on his face, “I wouldn’t think that money would be your concern.”

I cocked my head slightly to regard him, “If you have money, you see the importance of holding onto it, and are less inclined to waste it on cinema popcorn.”

He grinned, “Tight.”

“Am not.” I turned so that I was facing him, “Next to Shar, anyone would look tight.” I stared into his eyes. How had I never noticed how blue they were before…? It must be the fact that he’d just redone the brown dye in his hair recently. There was more of a contrast.

I found myself watching his lips curve slowly. “That’s true.” I wrenched my eyes off them and sank back in my chair. What the hell was wrong with me? Since when did I stare at Troy’s lips?! “Are you okay?” he asked, sounding confused.

I shrugged, feigning casualness, “Fine.”

There was a moment of silence, before I felt him sit back as well. He was choosing not to question me- probably a wise move on his part. “So has Sharpay gone into crackdown mode?”

“Hm?” I was distracted by my own thoughts.

“Your audition. It’s in…what? Two weeks?”

“Well remembered,” I complimented, relaxing a little again. “And, no. Surprisingly, she hasn’t.”

Troy nodded, “Well, that’s good. She clearly thinks you’ll clinch it.”

I made a thoughtful noise, “Maybe. Or she was just waiting until the last fortnight to go nuts. Only time will tell.”

“I’m sure you’ll get it,” he said confidently. “You’re a natural stage presence.”

I snickered slightly, shifting in my seat to get more comfortable, “No, I’m not. She’s the natural stage presence. Takes a lot of work to be noticed next to her, believe me. Nothing natural about it.”

He smiled at me wryly, “Then we agree to disagree.”

“Fine, then.”

Gabriella collapsed into the chair next to Troy with a ‘whumph’. “Maybe one of you two should have stayed with me. I looked so greedy! He probably thought I was going to eat all of this by myself!”

Troy perked up, “You’re not?”

“Go away. My popcorn.”

*****

I jumped as I came out of a spin to find Chad watching me in amusement. “Oh, hi! Did Sharpay let you in?”

“Your butler,” he corrected, and I grinned. Ever since Mom had gotten back from her holiday, all the staff that we had temporarily dismissed had been called back to work. “He said you were down her, practicing obsessively.”

“He did not say ‘obsessively’.”

He rolled his eyes, “Okay, so that was me. But he did say you were practicing.”

I sighed, flicking off the sound system, “In the loosest sense of the word. I can’t quite get the- Never mind.” He didn’t want to hear about my dancing toils. I smiled at him now as I grabbed my towel, “What’s up?”

“I wanted to catch you before you made plans for tomorrow,” he said. “There’s an amazing concert on downtown, and I want to get tickets.”

A frown formed on my face as I wiped my face, “Are there still decent tickets available?”

He nodded, “It’s standing, so it doesn’t matter when you buy tickets.”

“Mm. Sweaty crowd…”

“Prude.”

I smacked him with my towel, “Who’s the band?”

“Not telling.”

I laughed now, “Seriously?”

“Come on…” He grinned at me, “Where’s your sense of adventure, Evans? I promise that you’ll love it.”

I rolled my eyes, “Okay. But, if I hate it, I’m never letting you do this again.”

His smile was bright as he leant in to kiss me softly, “Just have faith.” Then he slicked a hand down my arm, “And take a shower. You’re disgusting.”

“Always good to hear off your boyfriend…”

*****

The next day, I took to the stage during my free periods, going over the routine until my legs ached from the strain. I was getting stressed now. Every time I messed up, I seemed to convince myself further that I was going to flunk this audition, and I didn’t like that thought one bit. I swore loudly, kicking the stage.

“That’s not very nice. It’s not the stage’s fault.”

I spun around to see Troy standing at the front of the stage, leaning on it as he watched me. How long had he been there? How many mess ups had he seen? Why hadn’t I noticed him coming in? “I know it’s not,” I admitted. “I’m just not doing very well.”

“What’s up?” he asked, swinging himself up onto the stage.

“I just keep messing up everything.”

He shrugged, “Maybe you’re taking it too seriously.”

My eyes narrowed, “‘Too seriously’?! Troy, I have never had an audition this serious before! I can’t treat it like a walk in the park!”

His eyes rolled up towards the ceiling, “Nice to see that you still have your dramatic side. What I meant was: Isn’t dancing meant to be about the joy of it? You’re meant to enjoy yourself, or it just looks like something you’ve memorised, which is boring.”

I considered this for a moment, “I guess…”

“Teach me the routine.”

“What?”

He grinned at my blank look, “Come on. You know what they say: You remember ninety-five per cent of something by teaching it to someone else. It’ll take your mind off messing up for a moment.”

“You suck at making people feel better,” I remarked dryly.