Drama (And some acting, too)

They sat at lunch, glancing off in different directions. It was much the same as the drive to school had been. Awkward, silent, unspoken somethings passing between them.

Sarah coughed. Ryan cleared his throat. He opened his mouth, then shut it. Her eyes flickered to him, and away again. What in the world is wrong with you? He asked her mentally. He concentrated on shoving the thought into her head with his eyes.

It was something they played with every once in awhile. Sarah had, at one point, become convinced of their obvious telepathic connection and urged Ryan to join her in a practice round. They had been seated facing each other on his couch, her hazel eyes boring deeply into his dark brown ones.

Apple, he had thought. Apple. Apples. The red ones. No, ew. Those kind are too mushy. The reddish ones. Fuji. Fuji apples. Apples. Apples. And he had pictures the apple, and had thought about all things apple, and concentrated so hard on it that it started to hurt behind his eye sockets.

“Does it start with a ‘K’?” She had asked him.

“No. It starts with an ‘A’.”

“Apple,” Ty guessed.

Ty was Ryan’s little brother. Or, as Sarah liked to refer to him, Ryan’s mini-me. Indeed, Ty was an almost exact carbon-copy of his older brother, minus about six inches and three years. Ty wanted to be a standup comic when he grew up. Or a professional wrestler. He never failed to interject his wry humor into every conversation.

“Ty! Sarah was supposed to guess it!” Ryan threw his shoe at his brother.

“I was going to say that next,” Sarah mumbled.

“Yeah, okay.”

“No, really. I totally was.”

Now, back in the lunchroom, Ryan tried to employ this magical telepathic connection that they so obviously had. Are you okay? He thought at her. Please, tell me what’s wrong.

He was getting frustrated now. He had asked her three times in the past twenty-four hours if there was something upsetting her. Not that he needed to ask. She was never this quiet unless something was up.

The bell rang then, startling Ryan back into reality. Sarah picked up her backpack and purse and stood to leave. “Have fun in dance,” she said mildly, and left.

“I will…” Ryan whispered at her retreating figure. It was so strange. She usually told him everything that bothered her.
Oh well. Time for dance. Dance was definitely Ryan’s favourite class of the day. Apart from his awesomely fun teacher and the cool abstract dance they were rehearsing, Ryan particularly enjoyed class because he shared it with Finn. Finn plus tights and no shirt plus compromising dance positions equaled fantastic.

The only downside to being in advanced-intermediate dance was that you were expected to dress out every day. Ryan was not too fond of having to wear tights. They were uncomfortable and tragic looking. Except on Finn.

Ryan pulled on his black tights slowly and sadly, scrutinizing his legs and feet. His feet bothered him, too. My toes are so weird, he thought.

He left the changing rooms and immediately brightened at the sight of Finn stretching. Thank God for tights, he relinquished. Finn’s right leg was being held up by the ballet bar against the windows, and he was leaning over it, allowing for a rather nice view of his butt.

Buns of steel. His butt was the perfect shape, Ryan decided. Round, but firm and oh-so-cute. His fingers curled as he imagined the sensation of squeezing the cheeks. Oh, yeah. If only. Ryan sighed, and sat down on the marley behind Finn to start… stretching. Yeah.



As always was the case after a good dance class, Ryan arrived in 7th period chorus smiling. He took his place in the tenor section between Matt and Adrian. At this point in the class, Ryan was still in too much of a daze to care too much about Adrian’s tendency to go flat at the top of his range, or even notice the subtle “not gay” flirting that always went on between Matt and his best friend, Alex.

Sarah loved to watch their physical banter. Matt would nudge Alex with his foot. Alex would shove him. Matt would shove back. Alex would tweak Matt’s nipple. It was adorable, Ryan had to admit. He and Sarah were in agreement that they were secretly in love with each other and were probably hooking up in the practice room on Saturday mornings.

It seemed highly likely. And quite an attractive proposition, as they were both drop-dead gorgeous. It was a wet-dream come true imagining the two of them shacking up with the upright piano. But on days like this, when Ryan was still on a high from dancing in such close proximity to a near-naked Finn, he didn’t really pay them any mind. He hardly noticed Farmer, the chorus teacher, telling them all to have a nice evening, until Sarah was standing in front of him, arms crossed.

“You ready?” She asked him.

They were in the car again, and Ryan’s Finn high had worn off. He now sat silently staring out the passenger-side window, trying to pretend that there wasn’t a giant gaping silence filling the car.

To his surprise, Sarah was the first to break the silence. “I’m sorry,” she said simply.

“Sorry?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah. I don’t really know what’s been wrong with me. I just haven’t been feeling right for the past couple of days. I feel kind of… empty. Like, not in a depressed way,” she paused, shaking her head a bit. “No. More like… like I’m just kind of existing. Like I’m floating through life. I dunno. It’s not a bad feeling. It’s just not good either.”

He looked at her then, and realized what it was in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before. Sadness. The deep kind of sadness, The kind that you didn’t even notice until it was bearing down on you.

“So anyway, I’m really sorry I’ve been so distant,” she said, looking at him with a small plaintive smile.

“It’s ok,” Ryan said, trying to smile back. I’ve just been really worried about you. If you want to talk about it, just let me know.”

“Okay,” she told him. And he could see a little of the sadness vanish from her eyes.

“Hey, let’s go to B and N,” Ryan suggested. I’ll bet Taylor the latte boy is working today!” Taylor the latte boy, as they called him, was not actually named Taylor. They’d really never found out was his name was. But he worked in the Starbucks in the local Barnes and Noble, which was their favourite hangout. It had been about three months ago that they first saw him. Sarah was in line in front of Ryan, checking out the baked goods in the display case. Ryan was checking out the adorable blonde behind the counter.

He was about Ryan’s height, maybe 5’10”, maybe an inch taller. He had a cute, childlike smile and Ryan noticed that everyone leaving the line was a little bit cheerier after having met him than they were before.

“There’s a boy who works at Starbucks,” Ryan sang under his breath so that only Sarah could hear. It was from a song that they both loved by Kristin Chenowith… called Taylor the Latte Boy.

“…who is very inspirational…” Sarah sang back at him. He directed her with his eyes, and she had looked up to see their Taylor. She glanced back at Ryan. “Wow! Cutie!” She mouthed.

“I know!” He mouthed back.

There they were again, in the very same line, gawking at the very same boy. Taylor. Or… whatever his name is.

“Hi there!” TtLB said in his oh-so-cute-and-friendly way. “What can I get for you?” He asked Sarah.

“Tall honey frappuccino, please,” she answered.

He smiled again. “I should have known. You always order the same thing. $4.25. But of course, you already know that,” he laughed.
Sarah smiled. She already had the four dollars and a quarter ready to go. “Yep, I know. Thanks. Hey, by the way,” she gave Ryan a sly grin, “What’s your name? We’ve never asked.”

“It’s Taylor,” he told her, and went about making her latte.