Maybe A Little

Chapter 16

"What am I supposed to do, Ryan? There's no way I can face Troy, let alone the entire team!"

Ryan sighed. "I know it sucks Chad, but it's not like you can just drop out of school. I'll be with you as much as I can, and Zeke already explained what happened to Coach Bolton, so... What?" Ryan trailed off as Chad glanced up sharply.

"Zeke told Coach what happened? Oh, shit. Fuck, Ryan, oh my God, no," Chad rambled.

"Chad, breathe, relax. What's the issue?"

"The issue is that Coach Bolton is Troy's dad," Chad grounded out. "People aren't born homophobic, Ryan, they're raised that way. Oh my God, I'm gonna get kicked off the team!"

Chad continued to mumble into his hands about what a disaster this was, and Ryan sat next to him silently, contemplating the situation. After a moment, Ryan spoke quietly.

"Maybe we should break up."

It was phrased as a question, but Chad didn't notice the uncertainty in his boyfriend's voice over his own rapidly growing panic.

"What did you just say?" Chad asked. He wanted to sound angry and demanding, but was painfully aware of how shaky his voice sounded.

Ryan shook his head, refusing to look Chad in the eye.

"If we break up now, we can pretend it never happened. You can play it off as Troy just being jealous of you having other friends or something. No one needs to know, you can keep playing basketball, everything'll be fine."

Chad stared at his boyfriend, eyes wide with disbelief. He took in what Ryan was saying, recognized the way he clenched his fists and attempted to cover up the way his voice broke at the end.

"Ryan... is that really what you want?"

Ryan kept his eyes trained on the floor, attempted to start speaking several times. Finally, his eyes flicked up to meet Chad's, and Chad's heart broke.

"No," Ryan croaked.  He steeled himself for a moment. "No, it's not what I want, but that doesn't matter. This is basketball we're talking about, Chad. You've got offers to play college basketball - this is your dream, your future we're talking about, and I'm not gonna let you throw that away on me."

By the time Ryan finished he had gone back to glaring at the ground, but Chad couldn't look away from the blonde. After everything Chad had put this boy through, Ryan was still willing to put Chad first. Chad was constantly amazed at how selfless Ryan was, but he knew that this was a place he needed to draw a line.

"You're right," Chad began, and rushed to continue as he saw Ryan flinch. "College ball has always been my goal because I love basketball, but Ryan, I love you so much more. You are worth entirely more than that. You deserve better than to be thrown away over a game, okay? You are the most caring person I've ever met, and I cannot thank you enough for being as sweet to me as you are, but honey you've got to put yourself first once in a while. I'm not giving this up, and unless you truly want our relationship to end, I'm not going anywhere. We'll figure something out, but I am not going to let you cause yourself heartache because of what you think is best for me," Chad rushed out.

Ryan stared at Chad carefully as he finished speaking.

"...are you sure this what you want?" Ryan questioned softly. Chad gave him a small smile.

"Never been more sure of anything."

                        -----------------

In the end, the boys decided to play things off as if there was nothing between them at all. Chad would return to lunches with the basketball team and attempt to sell the story that he had only been hanging out with Ryan for his money, and Ryan would simply tell Sharpay that he and Chad had broken up - she was always a softie when she worried Ryan was upset, so if he asked her not to say anything to anyone, he trusted she would follow his wishes.

Of course, Chad and Ryan were both aware that this could blow up in their faces if they weren't careful, so they decided to avoid one another as much as possible.

Ryan was able to convince Sharpay fairly easily, quietly telling her that he didn't want to talk about it.

Chad had a slightly more difficult experience. First, he received several odd looks as he sat down at the team's table. Troy wasnt there yet and Chad knew that no one else would dare to say anything, so he set his tray down quietly next to Zeke and began eating his meal as if nothing had changed.

Then Troy arrived at the table.

At first, Chad couldn't tell whether Troy was purposely ignoring him or if he genuinely hadn't noticed his presence. Chad assumed it must be the former because even Troy had to have picked up on the tension around the group - it felt and sounded as if everyone were holding their breath.

Finally, Troy glanced up from his food and froze as he noticed the cautious glances being sent his way. He cleared his throat.

"What, guys? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Someone - Chad couldn't pinpoint who it came from - let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like Chad's name. Troy's eyes flew around the table once before landing on Chad.

Chad willed himself not to react, knowing that if he didn't play it cool his entire cover would be blown.

"Hey, stranger," Troy began. "What, did your boy toy finally get bored of you? Is this you crawling back for forgiveness?"

Chad internally winced, and he very much wanted to defend his boyfriend and himself, but he forced himself to stick to the plan.

"Okay, Troy, listen," Chad began. "I don't know what gave you the idea that Ryan and I were "together" in any way; I never said that, and you can't just go around assuming that when two people hug they're in a relationship. I hung out with Ryan Evans because he's rich as fuck, not because I wanted to make out with him or whatever the hell you thought I was trying to do. You're the one who's been blocking me out for months essentially without reason, so can we please just get over this and move on?"

Chad had been looking Troy right in the eyes throughout his monologue, and was extremely annoyed when he noticed Troy wasn't reciprocating the eye contact. Instead, Troy seemed to be staring at something just behind Chad's shoulder. Chad whipped his head around, furious at whatever was distracting Troy, and was met with Sharpay, six inches from his face, looking more pissed off than he'd ever seen her.

"What the fuck is your problem?" She hissed. "How dare you use my brother like that?! You think it's okay for you to lead him on for months and then brag to the rest of your friends about it? He loved you, you total fucking asshole!"

And with that she stormed away, leaving Chad frozen at a table full of people trying poorly not to laugh at him. The last thing Chad heard before he was ushered from the cafeteria by Zeke was Troy's laugh and him muttering to the rest of the team, "Told you he was a fag."

Thanks for the encouragment. Enjoy :)