theplaymaker | Troy not alone in New York

It wasn't so much that he was nervous that Kelsi was here. On the contrary, he was perfectly fine with making arrangements to see her and drag her out to the city to get food but at the same time he knew she was going to ask him questions. He had to brace himself for the interrogation and his fingers twitched at the lack of phone still.

But when the knock came on the door he practically pounced, flinging it up and staring down at the shorter girl. Okay…bright, sunny grin in five, four, three…

"Hey!" He kept one hand on the doorframe, grip tighter than usual as he struggled to think of the appropriate way to greet her. Hugging usually would work, but with Kelsi…with everything really? He was a little more uncertain. "That was fast."

Kelsi paused for long enough to let Troy get out the greeting, watching his face. Then she just stepped forward and pulled him into a tight hug, never mind that it made her feel really tiny. Why did she have so many tall friends?

"You shouldn't act around me. I haven't written you a script yet." The words were quiet, but loud enough for him to hear. She didn't want him faking for her, that couldn't be what he needed right now.

As soon as she hugged him though he completely dropped the act, not hesitating to return the gesture. It was a longer hug than he gave Chad, though that probably had something to do with the fact that Kelsi was so tiny and a girl.

"The scary thing is I have no idea if you're serious or not," he murmured.

"I'm terrifying that way." Kelsi wasn't letting go, instead waiting for Troy to be ready. She didn't mind hugging him, any way she could help she was ready for it.

"When did you get here?"

"Always the quiet ones." The mildly alarming thing was that Troy wasn't exactly interested in letting go yet. Being in a relationship with someone like Gabriella had made him pretty prone to hugs and touching other people and seeking comfort that way. But he knew his limits. Just…a few more minutes. His head dropped onto her shoulder, forehead pressed there as he spoke.

"Last night? It was pretty late when I rolled in. I didn't think I was gonna get here til today but the drive was faster than I thought."

It didn't alarm Kelsi, who was used to Ryan clinging to her for comfort. She just kept holding Troy and let him hold her in turn, willing to let that hug go on for however long he needed it.

"You're so crazy for doing that. I'm just glad you didn't get into an accident!"

He wasn't even thinking about Ryan at the moment and how similar he was being, how parallel this situation was to Chad's with Ryan just in the summer. He didn't cling for much longer, lifting his head to look at her with a small shrug.

"You and Chad both seemed pretty convinced I'd crash. It wasn't that bad, guys. Besides I was already on the road…figured I should make the whole journey." He grinned again, but it was definitely still forced. "Chad won't shut up about New York. I had to come see it."

"It's a great place, especially for frozen yogurt. Do you want to go get some?" Not that she was entirely letting go just now, just in case. But at least she allowed Troy to pick his act back up this time. For the moment.

His stomach growled, rational part of his brain telling him that he should have actual food, but he was more than happy to ignore it. He pulled back enough but kept an arm around her shoulders anyway.

"Yeah. Yeah, let's go. Lead the way, Playmaker."

He knew that perhaps Kelsi had outgrown the nickname but he didn't care. Troy liked expressing fondness through nicknames. Troy also liked that at least Kelsi was very much the same. Stable. He needed that at the moment.

If it had been Ryan, she'd have taken his hand or arm, but she didn't want to freak Troy out so she just smiled and started walking down the hall and stairs, simply walking next to Troy.

"I'm really happy to see you. Even if you coming here is crazy, but I'm sure Chad already told you that."

He didn't object, knowing that she was still just respecting boundaries and he appreciated it. He didn't remove his arm from her shoulders though as he followed her out of the dorm.

"I don't see what's so crazy about it. I was already partway here. Not like there's much going on on the west coast anyway. Tell me about stuff here, that's what I'm interested in."

"You have Disney and Hollywood though, that's pretty cool." Kelsi laughed and shook her head. "It's so embarrassing everyone keeps asking me about it, I still think the greatest thing to do is to hide out somewhere with a piano. But there are some really nice places. Like the place we're going to now. And I just like that you have a bit of everything and everyone here, you know?"

"I haven't been to Disney that much, it's still a far drive." But he was falling into the conversation with ease. "It's pretty cool though, Gabriella and I--" He stopped short, blinking in surprise. Okay, ow, that still hurt to talk about. He just shook his head. "It's a fun place."

He was quick to change the subject then, tilting his head to get a better look at Kelsi. "You can take the girl out of Wildcat country, but you can't take the Wildcat out of the city girl. That doesn't surprise me at all." He looked ahead again. "It's so…big. Like compared to home, I thought home was pretty big and California's huge but this is ridiculous. I can see why everybody wants to come here."

Kelsi looked at him from the side, not commenting on his slip-up, but reaching out to put a hand on his arm and give it a slight squeeze. The upside to being a girl, she didn't have to pretend to be too cool for things like that.

"I know, it's gigantic. I was so lost at first. Scared, too. I'm so lucky Ryan was here, too, I think by myself I'd have just ended up huddled in a corner somewhere."

A tentative grin was enough to let her know he appreciated it, hand massaging her shoulder briefly. This was acceptable. He didn't feel weird about this with Kelsi, he was a lot less awkward knowing she sort of understood he was a mess.

"Ryan's sort of good at dragging people out." The comment was said without much thought, and suddenly he stopped and laughed. "That's. Not really what I meant. But you know what I mean…New York's probably like his back yard. But now look at you showing us tourists around."

"He is, though, that too. But, yes, he had a lot less trouble getting used to it all." Kelsi shrugged and looked at the street, watching the cars go by. "It's a good city for artists, I think. Especially for anyone in musical, of course. Broadway and all that. And you have that energy everywhere."

She shrugged and slowed down as they approached the shop she'd been leading him to. "There you go, frozen yogurt. They have waffles, too."

"Makes sense for you guys to be here then." He was busy taking in all of the sights, trying to make sense of what he was seeing and take it all in. New York and California were vastly different and even though initially he was here to hide, he wanted to get in some good memories.

When she stopped though he looked up at the sign for the shop, peering in the window without really breaking contact with her.

"So if I wanted to get frozen yogurt on top of waffles…could they do that? And better yet you'd be joining me right?"

"Makes sense for you to drop by here, too. If you stay that long, you'll have to come and practice with me. Okay?" Kelsi wasn't actually scheming to have everyone be in New York and obviously the circumstances here were terrible, but she was still glad to have Troy be here.

"They could do that, of course. And yes, I will! Haven't had breakfast yet."

"Sure." The idea actually didn't sound that terrible. The nice thing about UC Berkeley was that he was scratching that itch for the theatre life…not that it was anything compared to East. The people made a world of a difference. "Name a time and place and I'm there."

His eyes lit up a little bit though not only at the idea of a frozen yogurt-topped waffle but also at the idea of having Kelsi's company. "Cool. Let's get food and rub it in Chad's face when he gets out of class. Bastard left this morning without waking me up."

Which was probably because he desperately needed the sleep. He still looked like he needed the sleep truth be told, but he was more functional today.

"New York, Juilliard. We can do just the two of us or some others I'm working with, whatever you prefer. It's so great here, having all these facilities and all that talent, but it's still not the same as East." She grabbed Troy's wrist and pulled him inside. "My treat, by the way."

While standing in line she looked at Troy, inspecting his face as if it would help her read his mind. "How is it for you that Chad figured out so many things away from you?" Brain to mouth filter. Oops, she really needed one.

"...sorry. Thinking out loud."

"Can I see Juilliard?" There was a hint of excitement in his voice. Even though it was a year later and they were sophomores now, he still thought about the "what if" of Juilliard and New York City. When she grabbed him though he didn't resist the tug, following right along. "Not even. I'd be a lousy date if I made the girl pay."

But when they were in line, he didn't say much. Instead he allowed his guard to drop again. He was still pretty pathetic, pretty broken if he was honest with himself, and he hated that description so much. His fingers were flexing inside his pocket like he still had a grip on his phone and he was allowing his eyes to roam but not linger too long.

At the question he focused on Kelsi though. "…smooth, Kelsi." He wasn't too disturbed though, giving her another easy-going grin. "…and I don't know. I'm pretty proud of him but it's…I don't know. I don't know a whole lot right now." He was lacking his own brain to mouth filter, it seemed.

"…sorry. That didn't come out right."

"Think it did, Troy. I think I get it." Kelsi was still watching him, really trying to read his face. It worked less than she'd have liked, but enough to worry her. There wasn't much else she could do though, aside from being there, taking him out to eat frozen yogurt and talk, because she did think he needed to talk.

"It's not easy. I don't know a lot of things, either."

Despite his claims that he wasn't the captain, the fact of the matter was that Troy Bolton was still the alpha dog of the Wildcats. The longer he stood in line with Kelsi though the faster he was starting to crumble and he silently thanked whoever was listening that he wasn't prone to public meltdowns. Instead he just slipped his hands in his pockets, fiddling with his wallet and his keys.

"I think you know a lot. You're a conductor, Kels. You know more about all of us than I think you've ever let on." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "For example, I know you know more about Ryan Evans than even his own twin does sometimes. You might even know the new Chad better than I do."

"It's not difficult to see more than Sharpay does. She wants to see what she wants to see, not what is actually there." She paused for a moment, worrying her lower lip before continuing. "That's probably the one point where you are similar. Only you always try to see the best in other people, not what'd be best for you."

She shook her head as she continued. "Chad... He hasn't changed that much. He only changed what he had to and then, what he wanted to. All because he figured out who he liked. It's coming together, but he's still the same Chad. Promise."

"She's not that bad," he cut in, once again proving Kelsi's point exactly. "I saw her this summer, she's changed a lot. It's just…hard to see it sometimes." He shrugged again, watching Kelsi a little more closely.

"Not that I don't wish she'd lay off Chad a little. Ryan knows what he's doing…I think." But at that he visibly looked a little more relieved. "Is it dumb that I wasn't really sure? About Chad, not about Ryan. Ryan's exactly the same."

Troy not alone in New York

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