126ATTENTION: There is some vulgar language at the end of this chapter. If you are offended by such words, please let me know and I'll send you a modified version of this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, but I do own the situations they find themselves in.
The Party
Ryan opened his eyes slowly. He wasn't sure how long he'd been awake, if at all. He just knew that it was morning and his body was very sore. But then again, not much was new.
Rolling over onto his side, he groaned and clutched his stomach, hoping that its contents would not insist on coming up. That was the one part he didn't like so much. But it was not enough to make him stop.
Ryan paused taking a deep breath and hoisted himself up into a sitting position where he proceeded to repeat this ritual. Pause, deep breath, hoist self onto feet. Pause, deep breath, take three steps to the dresser.
This is where the routine altered. Upon reaching the dresser, Ryan put his hands onto the surface and leaned most of his weight onto their weak support. He looked into the mirror that was mounted on the wall just in front of his face and studied his appearance. His eyes were sunken in with dark circles outlining their dulled light. His skin was pasty with a gleam of sweat covering the surface, making his angular features shine. His cheeks were thin and sunken in and his hair was dull, less prominent than it had been in high school. Ryan smirked at his reflection, an action that did nothing to improve his appearance, and quickly looked away.
On the surface of his dresser, between his two sweating palms, was a pile of various pills. Not knowing which pill was what and not, anymore, caring, he grabbed two of the pills and popped them in his mouth, swallowing without any need for water.
Though none of their effect could yet be felt, Ryan sighed in contentment. Just knowing that he'd soon stop feeling anything at all relaxed him and allowed him to smile more softly, enabling him to fix his physical appearance for his ever critical family.
"Morning, Ducky," Mrs. Evans crooned over her tea as Ryan sauntered into the dining room just in time for brunch.
"Morning, Mom," He replied in a similar tone, his eyes bright and his smile radiant.
Sharpay rolled her eyes and hunched her shoulders even further over her toast. Why didn't Ryan seem at all upset about their parents abandoning them? It was almost like he hadn't even been present throughout that entire conversation; like he doesn't remember it.
Ryan stared at the available food on the table for a short moment, a look of nausea flickering across his features, before he reached over Sharpay's plate to grab the tea pot.
"Excuse you," Sharpay mumbled, though she didn't dare say it loud enough for their mother to hear, she just didn't have the energy for that argument.
"So, what are your plans for today?" Mrs. Evans asked Ryan, just as she had every morning before he'd left home for Julliard.
Ryan thought for a moment, seeming to search through his brain for a piece of information that he'd intended to remember.
Surprised by the prolonged silence, Sharapy finally tore her eyes from her plate and looked at Ryan for the first time that morning. Ryan had frozen in place, his tea cup half-way to his mouth, his lips pursed, ready to speak once he knew what he wanted to say. His eyes momentarily went dead and his expression completely blank. Sharpay shuddered. He looked like a corpse; there was absolutely no sign of life in any of his features.
But in that same moment his grin reappeared and the life came back to his eyes. "I almost forgot," he said. "There's a party at U of A that Sharpay and I are going to."
Sharpay balked. What did he just say? And when was she even asked about this?
"That's nice," Mrs. Evans replied. Her attention had already been pulled away from the conversation as she didn't care how Ryan responded. And, unlike her daughter, she hadn't noticed anything odd about his behavior.
Satisfied that their conversation was complete, Mrs. Evans stood up gracefully, swooping down to give her perfect son a kiss on the cheek and said, "Have fun at the movies, ducky."
Sweeping out of the dining room, Mrs. Evans had unknowingly left the room just as a thick layer of contempt was building up around the twins.
"A party? Are you kidding?" Sharpay exploded the second her mother's dressing gown disappeared around the corner.
"Yes and no," Ryan replied calmly, not turning his head to look at his sister.
"What the hell makes you think that I'm even going to go? Not to mention the fact that I was never actually asked?" Her voice reached a hysterical octave on the second question. It was a level that she didn't often allow herself to reach, but her frustration surrounding her brothers' behavior toward her caused her to momentarily lose all control over her emotions.
"Jesus, calm down, Sharpay. I'm not forcing you, you could just not go," Ryan sneered and turned his head to look at her for the first time since he'd arrived home. "Of course you won't."
"Won't what?" Sharpay asked, her breathing heavier than usual as she forced herself to appear calm.
"You won't not go," Ryan shrugged, looking away again as though he couldn't bear to see her any longer. "I know how miserable you are. This party is your one chance to escape from life." Ryan explained calmly, as though this answer were the most obvious thing in the world, then stood with his plate and stepped towards the door. Once he reached its threshold, he turned and said, "be ready by nine," then turned back and walked the rest of the way out of the room.
Sharpay stared at the now empty doorway for a moment, her mouth hanging open as her mind was busy on other things. Of course he knew how miserable she was. She'd been leaving him voicemails all semester. And he was obviously checking them because his mailbox was never full. Sharpay's face burned with humiliation. At some point during the semester she'd forgotten that these messages were actually reaching him, considering he never responded, and she'd stopped editing her stories like she normally would. He knew more about her miseries than she'd ever normally have him know and it seemed as though he wanted to use that against her.
Terrible mistake.
Sharpay looked down at her toast, her stomach cramping uncomfortably and her appetite forgotten. Reaching for her phone, she searched for Josh's number and hit send, an action she'd avoided since her night with….
But if she had to go to a party tonight, she would need back-up.
The truck rolled to a slow stop in front of a row of houses. They were built so closely, they were almost connected, yet there was a small space in between each that was used to store broken glass bottles and soggy cardboard boxes. The houses were rundown, some of the floors obviously sinking, and long cracks breaking through the poorly constructed plaster. Though, despite this, they were each painted in bright, sonny colors, fooling the eye into thinking that these were nice places to live.
Troy gazed at the house that was obviously the one containing the party. It was the only house with every light on, rows of cars parked in the front lawn and, most telling, the exaggerated pounding of base making the windowpanes shutter. There were a few people out front, each laughing loudly and standing casually with plastic cups in their hands, but the real party crowd was in the back. Rumblings of conversation could just be heard over the music.
Troy turned off the ignition and climbed out of the truck, still staring apprehensively at the party house. He hadn't really wanted to come, but he had allowed himself to be convinced that it would be better than just moping around at home like he'd originally planned.
Just then, Gabriella made an obvious noise of disgust, breaking Troy from his revere, and wrenched her door open. She had been waiting for Troy to rush to her side of the truck and help her out, but he was too busy lost inside his own head. She rolled her eyes, annoyed at his distraction, and stomped around the steaming front of the truck, ending up at his side and instantly grabbing onto his arm. Troy felt the familiar sense of annoyance when Gabriella did this, but he did not have the energy to shrug her off.
Sharpay sat forward on the couch, her head resting on her hand, her elbow resting on her knee. She really thought this party would lift her spirits, or at least provide an opportunity to re-bond with her brother. However, as of yet, neither seemed to be happening. Upon arrival, Ryan had disappeared somewhere out back and her constant association with Josh was making her more depressed than ever.
Josh was sitting on the same couch as Sharpay but after realizing that she wasn't interested in paying him any mind he'd soon decided to return the favor. His back was slightly turned to her, and his attention was focused on a leggy girl with hair teased to the sky and a teeny-tiny mini-dress barely covering her assets.
"Yo, Josh! You made it!" Sharpay heard a familiar voice cut through the dull conversations around her, perking her up for at least some second-hand entertainment through eaves-dropping.
"Chad! My man! You weren't at our optional basketball practice yesterday." Josh stood and clasped hands with Chad while simultaneously patting him on the back in what he seemed to think was a manly manner. Forgetting that she was sitting right next to this exchange and could, thus, be heard, Sharpay snorted.
Chad looked at her with a curious expression but didn't say anything, instead opting for a nod of recognition. Turning his attention back to his teammate, Chad and Josh talked about basketball for a few more minutes before Chad excused himself to grab a drink. Josh instantly turned back to the fawning girls that were fluttering around his and Chad's conversation and Sharpay distracted herself with a different conversation. Second-hand entertainment just isn't that entertaining.
"Trouble in paradise?" A voice said, not in continuity with the conversation she'd been listening to.
It took Sharpay a moment to realize that this voice was addressing her directly. She sat up and looked around, blinking, before she realized that Chad was holding out a drink for her. She took it and glanced in Josh's direction as Chad took a seat on top of the homemade, wooden coffee table positioned crookedly in front of the couch.
"More like boredom in paradise," she responded, being sure to keep her voice down so that Josh wouldn't overhear.
Chad nodded, "Yeah, I never took you to be content in just one place for very long."
Sharpay narrowed her eyes and was about to retort with a clever comeback, but was distracted by the couple who just stepped through the front door. Troy stood awkwardly, squinting his eyes to see through the hovering cigarette smoke and crowd of milling bodies, possibly in search of anybody he recognized. His attention was pulled from this search as Gabriella joined him, pulling on his arm and causing his stance to become lopsided.
Sharpay groaned and quickly looked away.
"Maybe I'm wrong," Chad mused, seeing the hurt in Sharpay's eyes and remembering her obsession with his friend in High School. Sharpay fidgeted in her seat for a moment before excusing herself to Chad and standing up, escaping the room and finding refuge in the open air on the back porch.
Ryan gazed at the array of pills sitting out on the relatively flat rock. He was sequestered in a private clearing just beyond the back yard of the party house, a few rows of trees blocking their view. There were two other people present, one of whom he'd found out about the party from. They were all quiet, enjoying the dulled thump of the base rustling through the leaves and echoing off of the trees around them.
"What are they?" he asked, indicating the drugs with a wave of his hand. He only mildly cared, as the answer would not persuade him against taking one. He'd really just felt the need to start conversation.
"Nothing too interesting," Kelsi responded, speaking through a puff of smoke that she finished exhaling at the end of her sentence. "This is Albuquerque, after all. Most of it's from my Gran's medicine cabinet…so…I don't know. I guess there're some blood-thinners, probably some painkillers. She's really sick, you know." She giggled maniacally, throwing her hand holding the cigarette out wildly, almost lighting the third persons hair on fire. "Something in there is really strong, I can tell you that," she said, laughing some more and appearing to have trouble holding herself upright.
"Cool," Ryan responded, reaching down and picking the big, oval-shaped pill and popping it into his mouth. "Cool," he said again, a huge grin on his face as he pulled out a fresh cigarette from the half-empty carton in his back pocket.
"TROY!"
Troy looked into the crowd before him, searching for the body belonging to the voice. Over by the mess of couches to his left, he saw his best friend from High School jumping up onto a tattered coffee table, a plastic cup in his hand, the other waving at him high in the air.
"CHAD!"
Leaving Gabriella at the door, Troy rushed over to his friend in excitement. They'd seen each other in short intervals throughout the semester, mostly with basketball related encounters, but they hadn't had a chance to really catch up. Troy was surprised by his own rush of happiness at this chance to reconnect, but it didn't bother him. It was the same way he had felt when he saw Sharpay for the first time in the coffee shop; as though all his worries and anxieties had just melted away and there was nobody to live for except himself. The two boy's embraced comfortably and quickly began laughing and joking with each other as though they had never stopped, easily picking up where they had last started off.
The party continued on around them, but they were so deep in memories they didn't bother to notice. Gabriella hung around Troy's side for a while, nervously shuffling back and forth before she decided that she'd had enough of waiting. Venturing out on her own she found the kitchen where the bulk of the alcohol was located. Helping herself, she grabbed a blue plastic cup and poured herself a hefty amount of vodka and cranberry juice.
Taking a big gulp of her drink, Gabriella refilled the cup before she walked away, surveying the crowd and nodding to familiar faces. Yes, she was comfortable at parties, as long as the cup was always in her hand
"….and I just don't think that school's my thing. I think I'm gonna keep working at my job, see where that leads."
"You have a job?" Sharpay asked, her interest peaked as she remembered the small, life changing fact that she needed to find a job.
The small group of boys that were talking all turned and stared at her in confusion. She had forgotten that she wasn't actually participating in this conversation before now, considering she had never been invited to join. But she shrugged off the strange looks and stared intently at the boy who had been speaking. The boy who looked vaguely familiar. "Where do you work?" she continued, hoping to get some good ideas from him.
The boy shifted his eyes from side to side before answering, "Leonard Tire and Auto Repair."
"Oh," Sharpay responded in disappointment. There was no way in hell she'd work there, whether she had the knowledge to or not. No, that wasn't going to work. She looked down, deep in thought and extracting herself from the conversation once more. She turned and wandered away slowly, faintly overhearing the next line in their conversation.
"So, Jason, you really quit?..."
Sharpay stepped back inside the house, placing her empty plastic cup on the nearest available surface and, feeling happier now that the alcohol had gone straight to her head, searched out Josh, secretly hoping that Troy would be near enough to witness.
Ryan wandered slowly over the backyard lawn, trying to approach the house. That is a difficult task, though, when the house keeps disappearing. Or is he just closing his eyes? He can never tell, the two happen so often. Taking another step, he stumbled over the long tail of a sleeping dragon, waking the beast and causing him to shoot fiery hot flames onto Ryan's hands.
"Sorry," Ryan mumbled, afraid to anger the dragon more. "Sorry, Mr. Dragon."
He started to laugh, realizing that he was being ridiculous. Of course, the dragon wouldn't understand him; he only speaks French!
Finally, after a long trek through the magical kingdom of Rock 'n' Roll, Ryan reached his destination. It only took slaying a dragon, traveling on foot for thirteen years, and an intensely parched mouth, as the gods forbade him to drink water ever again.
But now he'd finally reached the three steps onto the porch of the party house. Three big steps, that only took him a few extra tries to successfully climb.
Ryan laughed, again, seeing all the admiring faces of his fans, watching his every move. He found the door, narrowed his eyes and focused really hard in order to get it to stop moving. He then reached his hand out quickly, needing to grab hold of the handle before it started dancing again and yanked it open, allowing him access to the inside of the house.
"Shar?" he called, sensing that his sister was near. Suddenly, an overwhelming fear washed through him. He didn't know if it was because of the dragon that had come back to life just outside the door, or because he wasn't sure what, if any of this, was real.
"Shar?" he called again, his voice rising in panic.
He stumbled into the room where the most people were and tore through the crowd, all the while shouting her name and glancing behind him to be sure he wasn't being followed. "SHAR!"
Then he saw her, standing on the coffee table, arms wrapped tightly around Josh's neck. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked, though it was only in a whisper. He stared, astounded. Was she just letting him eat her face? He watched as her skin was being ripped away from the bones, revealing squirmy, oozing maggots. Shaking his head, he refocused his eyes and realized that her skin was still attached and she seemed to be enjoying herself.
The sound of a door slamming echoed through his brain, and Ryan vaguely registered the fact that Troy had just stormed out of the house, likely disgusted with Sharpay's behavior.
"STOP IT!" Ryan screamed, his fear being pushed aside to accommodate his overwhelming anger. "JESUS, FUCK! Just STOP, SHARPAY!"
Ryan ran forward and grabbed Sharpay's arm, pulling her off of the table and out of Josh's arms. She lost balance and came tumbling down, hitting her head on the couch and crashing onto the floor.
"Fuck! Sharpay!" he continued to yell, now staring down at her from his position atop the arm of the couch. "Why is the whole world about you? What the Fuck are you even Doing here? And with HIM?" Ryan gestured wildly in Josh's general direction.
"Ryan?" Sharpay asked, fear and confusion clear in her tone.
"You're such a whore! I HATE you so much! You take EVERYTHING from me! Just….fuck….just leave me the fuck alone. I wish you'd just – "
But Sharpay never found out what he "wished she'd just" because at that very moment his eye's rolled into the back of his head, revealing only the bloodshot white's as his knees buckled and he fell to the floor in an almost graceful way, landing lifelessly on top of Sharpay's still outstretched legs.
"Ryan?" Sharpay asked, her voice more easily heard as the other party goers halted their own conversations to watch.
Tears sprung to her eyes, "Ryan?" she asked with more panic evident in her voice. She shook her legs, trying to rouse her brother by force. He didn't move, his heavy weight a burden to her both physically and emotionally.
Somebody turned the music off and a deadly silence fell over the house. Sharpay tried to shake Ryan awake one more time before absolute terror took over her entire being and she let out a blood-curdling scream.
Well, you guys wanted to know what was up with Ryan. There ya' go. I had started the chapter intending his behavior to be kind of funny, but then it got real and that's not so funny.
I don't have much to say about this chapter. I'm more interested in what you have to say about it. So please let me know, even if it's criticism. It's all appreciated.