Gift for tara1031 (Part 1/4)
Author: hilaryscribbles
Recipient: tara1031
Title: Galveston Grad Gala 08!
Pairing(s): Chad/Ryan, Zeke/Sharpay, Gabby/Troy
Summary: The Evans parents send the kids off to Galveston for a pre-Grad Night Grad Night celebration. Drunken run-ins with gravity ensue.
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Underaged drinking; purple prose.
Word Count: 710
Disclaimer: All High School Musical characters herein are the property of Disney. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: This fic is part of two other (separate) stories: It Happened One Grad Night (The Galveston Version) and It Happened One Grad Night (The Long Beach Version). This is Part One of the Grad Night Arc. Enjoy!
*
Galveston Grad Gala 08!
**
In Galveston, Grad Night is two weeks before East High's official graduation day, and everything is a little bit raw, a little bit muted, historical and theatrical where home is bright linoleum suburbia. There are no twinkling lights hanging from the eves on Main Street, no Disney music trickling from hidden overhead speakers like there will be at East High's official Disneyland Grad Night in Southern California (so similar to Albuquerque), but Chad likes this better, the cobblestone under his feet, the dirty alleyways where Texan high schoolers are kissing in secret. It's like his first glimpse into adulthood, his first taste of freedom. (His carefree attitude is aided, of course, by the fact that the Evanses are paying for everything.)
"This is so much weirder than Disneyland," says Troy, observing a be-sequined woman bouncing a monkey on her back. Chad wonders if the Evanses planned things this way. This is the real world, he can imagine Mrs. Evans saying, patting them all on the head, beaming pridefully, before sending them off to man the Lava Springs kitchen.
“You okay there, Ry?” asks Gabby, and Chad snickers, stumbling a little.
"Who wants to go to Disneyland when you can come here?" demands Ryan, words slurred and mashed together, and he is wearing a stupid looking powder blue boa around his neck (courtesy of Gabriella), Taylor on his left arm, and the remnants of Chad's first beer on his shirt. The dock lights reflect in his blue eyes, his face framed in light and shadow, and Chad, still reeling a little from the combination of ferris wheel weightlessness and illegal Budweiser, wants to trace the crescent moon of his cheekbone. His fingers itch as his mind transforms the silver tourist-trap basketball in his hands (GALVESTON GRAD GALA '08! it proclaims) into a representation of Ryan's flesh, and Chad wonders if Ryan shivers when people touch him like he does the ball.
Sharpay squeals at the open mic a few yards down the boardwalk, and suddenly Zeke crashes into Chad's back, sending him skittering into Gabby and Troy's linked arms; the street swirls into a mess of color and light in front of his eyes, the neon blue fish sign above his head practically leaping into the air. Troy and Gabriella fall in a tangled mess of Wildcat body paint (another commemorative souvenir) and sweat-drenched formal attire; Ryan's free hand clamps onto Chad's elbow, saving him from turning the fall into a mid-street dog pile. Gabby and Troy shriek with laughter. When Ryan yanks him back up to his feet, Chad can feel expectant eyes on him (Sharpay's? Taylor's? Both, probably) and the thud of Ryan's heartbeat against his chest.
"I'm never leaving this place," Chad says drunkenly, and isn't sure if he means the island city that seems nothing but a great big blur of promise and celebration, or the circle of Ryan's arms still protecting him from the seductive pull of gravity. No longer fighting the urge in his hands, Chad reaches up to touch Ryan's cheek, following the shimmering line of light outlining it, studying the dock light sparkles in Ryan's irises.
Ryan wants to kiss him. He doesn't understand why he knows this, but he does. He doesn't mind, really, no different than Taylor wanting to kiss him, so he lets him.
Well, perhaps he doesn't let him. Perhaps Chad kisses Ryan. ("I knew it!" Troy and Sharpay declare at the same time.) He's a little drunk, though, and a little wild with the thrill of Grad Night in a beach town he's never seen before, two states away, so far away from the life that high school in Albuquerque built for him; he might have kissed Ryan, but it was more him interrupting Ryan's smile with his mouth. He could blame this if he wants to.
When Ryan's dazed eyes flutter open, he doesn't need to blame anything, though. That's what Ryan is: he's promise. He's potential. He's a white hat with black stripes that looks great on top of Chad's favorite bandana, and it's a shame, really, that they'll all be split up in two weeks.
That makes it all the more interesting, he supposes, as Ryan's startled little smile morphs into a sweet, expectant pout. Chad's pulse quickens as he buries his fingers in Ryan's soft feathers and tries again.
**
Part 2
Recipient: tara1031
Title: Galveston Grad Gala 08!
Pairing(s): Chad/Ryan, Zeke/Sharpay, Gabby/Troy
Summary: The Evans parents send the kids off to Galveston for a pre-Grad Night Grad Night celebration. Drunken run-ins with gravity ensue.
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Underaged drinking; purple prose.
Word Count: 710
Disclaimer: All High School Musical characters herein are the property of Disney. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: This fic is part of two other (separate) stories: It Happened One Grad Night (The Galveston Version) and It Happened One Grad Night (The Long Beach Version). This is Part One of the Grad Night Arc. Enjoy!
*
Galveston Grad Gala 08!
**
In Galveston, Grad Night is two weeks before East High's official graduation day, and everything is a little bit raw, a little bit muted, historical and theatrical where home is bright linoleum suburbia. There are no twinkling lights hanging from the eves on Main Street, no Disney music trickling from hidden overhead speakers like there will be at East High's official Disneyland Grad Night in Southern California (so similar to Albuquerque), but Chad likes this better, the cobblestone under his feet, the dirty alleyways where Texan high schoolers are kissing in secret. It's like his first glimpse into adulthood, his first taste of freedom. (His carefree attitude is aided, of course, by the fact that the Evanses are paying for everything.)
"This is so much weirder than Disneyland," says Troy, observing a be-sequined woman bouncing a monkey on her back. Chad wonders if the Evanses planned things this way. This is the real world, he can imagine Mrs. Evans saying, patting them all on the head, beaming pridefully, before sending them off to man the Lava Springs kitchen.
“You okay there, Ry?” asks Gabby, and Chad snickers, stumbling a little.
"Who wants to go to Disneyland when you can come here?" demands Ryan, words slurred and mashed together, and he is wearing a stupid looking powder blue boa around his neck (courtesy of Gabriella), Taylor on his left arm, and the remnants of Chad's first beer on his shirt. The dock lights reflect in his blue eyes, his face framed in light and shadow, and Chad, still reeling a little from the combination of ferris wheel weightlessness and illegal Budweiser, wants to trace the crescent moon of his cheekbone. His fingers itch as his mind transforms the silver tourist-trap basketball in his hands (GALVESTON GRAD GALA '08! it proclaims) into a representation of Ryan's flesh, and Chad wonders if Ryan shivers when people touch him like he does the ball.
Sharpay squeals at the open mic a few yards down the boardwalk, and suddenly Zeke crashes into Chad's back, sending him skittering into Gabby and Troy's linked arms; the street swirls into a mess of color and light in front of his eyes, the neon blue fish sign above his head practically leaping into the air. Troy and Gabriella fall in a tangled mess of Wildcat body paint (another commemorative souvenir) and sweat-drenched formal attire; Ryan's free hand clamps onto Chad's elbow, saving him from turning the fall into a mid-street dog pile. Gabby and Troy shriek with laughter. When Ryan yanks him back up to his feet, Chad can feel expectant eyes on him (Sharpay's? Taylor's? Both, probably) and the thud of Ryan's heartbeat against his chest.
"I'm never leaving this place," Chad says drunkenly, and isn't sure if he means the island city that seems nothing but a great big blur of promise and celebration, or the circle of Ryan's arms still protecting him from the seductive pull of gravity. No longer fighting the urge in his hands, Chad reaches up to touch Ryan's cheek, following the shimmering line of light outlining it, studying the dock light sparkles in Ryan's irises.
Ryan wants to kiss him. He doesn't understand why he knows this, but he does. He doesn't mind, really, no different than Taylor wanting to kiss him, so he lets him.
Well, perhaps he doesn't let him. Perhaps Chad kisses Ryan. ("I knew it!" Troy and Sharpay declare at the same time.) He's a little drunk, though, and a little wild with the thrill of Grad Night in a beach town he's never seen before, two states away, so far away from the life that high school in Albuquerque built for him; he might have kissed Ryan, but it was more him interrupting Ryan's smile with his mouth. He could blame this if he wants to.
When Ryan's dazed eyes flutter open, he doesn't need to blame anything, though. That's what Ryan is: he's promise. He's potential. He's a white hat with black stripes that looks great on top of Chad's favorite bandana, and it's a shame, really, that they'll all be split up in two weeks.
That makes it all the more interesting, he supposes, as Ryan's startled little smile morphs into a sweet, expectant pout. Chad's pulse quickens as he buries his fingers in Ryan's soft feathers and tries again.
**
Part 2