Chyan

8

Zeke considered himself a lot of things, and clueless was one of them. It wasn't that he din't pay attention sometimes, it's just that he got a little distracted. But ever since he noticed Chad and Ryan's behavior in the Evan's residence, a little thought in the back of his head had been nagging him.

So, he started paying attention. Whenever the blonde boy strolled into the kitchen to chat with Chad-which was a lot- he cast as many glances as he could, trying to figure out what could be going on between them. They were close, that was true, and Troy's new found personality just seemed to drive them closer. And since the show was coming up, Ryan had been cracking down on everyone during practice. Out of love, of course. But he did seem to be a little easier on Chad. During one of his lunch breaks with Jason, he couldn't take it anymore.

"What do you think about Chad and Ryan?" He asked, glancing over at him. Jason paused mid-chew and looked over at Zeke and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. When he realized his friend was serious he swallowed his food and shrugged.

"Well, Chad's our friend and Ryan's pretty cool. And he's awesome at baseball," he added. Zeke sighed and rolled his eyes before continuing.

"No, I mean, what do you think of them...together?" He whispered, leaning in close.

"What like friends?"

"No, man, like..boyfriend and boyfriend?" Jason paused before bursting out laughing. He quickly stopped once he realized that Zeke, once again, was serious. He shrugged and took a sip of his soda.

"C'mon, Zeke, Chad dated Taylor. There's no way he could be into dudes."

"Key word, dated. Past tense, y'know. They broke up and now he's been hanging with Ryan. I can't even count on both hands how many times he was late or cancelled plans with us just to hang out with him."

"Yeah, but at least he's not being a dick about it like Troy. He makes up for it."

"I know he does, but, it's weird."

"Him hanging with another dude is weird?" Jason asked, that same quizzical look appearing again. Zeke huffed and rubbed his hands over his face.

"No, him hanging with Ryan is weird. And trust me, I don't have a problem with Ryan it's just...he's never done this before. Before that baseball game Chad probably didn't know he existed-"

"Dude, it's Ryan Evans. Kinda hard not to know he exists. Plus his parents do own the place we work at and-"

"You know what I meant," Zeke interrupted. Jason nodded before eating a couple of his fries. "But like I was saying, nowadays it's Ryan this, Ryan that. Don't you find that a little odd?" Jason frowned, irritated that he had been asked another question in the middle of eating.

"No," he paused to swallow, "and I personally don't care. And you shouldn't either. It's their business." Zeke scoffed and leaned back in his chair.

"Since when do you care about staying out of other people's business?"

"Since Kelsi and Martha have been giving me shit about it," he replied matter-of-factly. Zeke rolled his eyes and grinned as he pictured Jason getting lectured by two of the sweetest girls he'd ever met. They both drifted into a comfortable silence as they finished their food. When they got up to throw away their trash and return to work, Zeke finally spoke up.

"I'll ask him later." Jason groaned and shook his head.

"Dude, no-"

"Dude, yes." When he didn't get a reply he tried another approach. "Think about it this way. How awesome would it be to know something everybody else doesn't?" Jason went quiet as he mulled this over. Finally he grinned at the thought of the praise he would get from Martha, and the apology he would also earn from her for all the times she called him clueless.