Alternative

Alternative Chapter 2

((You have to forgive me. When I started writing this, I thought it would be a one shot, but I realized it was too big for that as the ideas expanded in my silly little brain. So, the point is, I don’t know if my update schedule will really be a schedule, more like whenever I can. But I will do so as much as I can, since I really like where it’s going. Just, if you feel moved to do so, rate and review. Love you all! Constructive criticism is always welcome))

“Paulo, it’s fine, I know him...”

Troy was still in shock. Ryan Evans? Ryan Drama King Evans? Ryan The More Tolerable Evans Twin Evans? Then it hit Troy. He had been trying to proposition a man. His cock still hard, he realized that he indeed was getting married to Gabriella. Safe, pretty Gabriella Montez. And it slowly sank in that Ryan was not only a man, but that he was also not a random go-go boy. Not at all. Ryan knew him, knew Gabriella.

Troy was frozen, but Ryan was smiling, and over the noisy club, he was motioning for Troy to follow him. Troy shivered and his feet decided for him.

And by decided, they decided to give out and send Troy’s body to the sticky club floor.

No, he was not going to pass out. Men who passed out looked like pansies who couldn’t take the truth or kids who couldn’t take their liquor. And Troy didn’t know which had sent him to the floor, but he didn’t want to give off either impression. So he wasn’t going to pass out.

So when did the club floor turn into a soft, cushy sofa, and when had the lights become so warm, and calming, and when had Ryan gotten dressed?

Troy groaned, blinking away the fuzziness in his vision, watching things spin a bit, but slow and still finally around him. Ryan was leaning over him, his face once so young and unsure now seems calm, collected, certain. Not to mention, more mature. Ryan didn’t look like a boy anymore. Was this really Ryan Evans?

“You took quite a fall, there, Troy. Just relax, I have coffee for you, but don’t try to sit up yet... Exactly how much have you been drinking tonight?”

Troy grunted, “Dunno... Ugh, what were you-...? You were-...? ‘M not gay...”

Ryan was laughing. Laughing at him. Troy didn’t think this was funny at all. “Of course you aren’t gay, Wildcat, I never said you were. Now relax...” There was a cool, damp washcloth on his forehead now, and Troy gave a groan of relief. Anything to quell the headache.

“Where-...?”

“My apartment. I got worried, you passed out in the club, so I took you back. You’ve been out all night.”

“All-... Wait, what?”

“Troy, why else would I have coffee for you?”

Troy moaned and glanced around what he could see, trying not to let his eyes roam over the bit of Ryan’s chest he could see where the bathrobe parted just slightly. Yes, good idea.

Ryan stood and had walked into the kitchen as Troy decided to sit up. He felt utterly woozy, his head full of cotton and pain. Thankfully, his characteristically strong Bolton stomach stood up to its ingestion of alcohol and he didn’t feel any complaints there. His shirt was off though.

“You threw up on it,” Ryan called, reading his mind.

So that was why his stomach felt fine this morning. Troy humbly sipped his coffee, not knowing what to say or do. This wasn’t necessarily the best of situations, and for once the Wildcat didn’t have any words to explain himself.

Ryan stepped from the kitchen, his own coffee cup in hand, but looking to be drinking something with far too much sugar, a double shot of espresso, and nothing but soy milk. And maybe that and the baby-blue fuzzy bathrobe would be Troy’s excuse for staring at Ryan. But truthful? Well. Troy would be lying if he said he wasn’t admiring how Ryan had grown up. He was all lanky, creamy skin, more defined than he was in high school, but still thin. What bit of muscle Ryan had on him stood out in his skin, though, and he looked to be entirely devoid of all body hair. The sweetly-cut boyish hair he once hair had become longer, platinum locks that put bottle blondes to shame. It had been moussed, Troy was surprised he recognized, into messy wind-swept spikes.

“See something you like?”

“Wha-, I-... Uh...”

“You certainly did last night... So spill, Bolton. I know you are here to get married. What were you doing in my club?”

Troy wanted to question why it was suddenly Ryan’s club, wasn’t he welcome? Was Ryan too good for him or something? But another statement was currently pressing his mind, “How did you know about the wedding?”

Ryan shoved a piece of car-stock into Troy’s lap, “I was invited. Honestly, Troy, don’t you keep up with anything Gaby does? Don’t you care at all?”

“I do to!” Troy growled in a voice even he could admit was far more petulant than he intended it to be. He cleared his throat and continued, “She didn’t really consult me for many of the wedding details... I think she was scared I’d freak over the price...”

“So... A gay club?”

“I didn’t know it was a gay club.”

Ryan let out a sharp bark of laughter which sizzled away into boyish giggles. He shook his head, sitting down in the recliner across from Troy, “Of course not.”

“Well, not when I first walked in...” Troy nervously twirled a finger in his hair, leaning into the couch, “I was out for my Bachelor Party and- why are you laughing?! Can’t I finish?!”

Ryan tried desperately to quell his giggles, purring, “I suppose so, since you never got to last night!” Ryan’s resolve hadn’t lasted long and he had nearly spilled his cappu-latte-frappe-whatever on his fuzzy robe with renewed laughter.

Troy continued, barreling through the snickers, “We started at this seedy strip club. Disgusting-looking women. I didn’t even want a Bachelor Party!! So I got out and wound up at Le Contraire. I didn’t know it was gay until I was well inside, and then...”

Ryan let a small smile crawl over his lips, “And then...”

Quite fed-up with the taunting, Troy put his coffee cup down and stood, “Listen, I’m going to head out of here. Thanks for taking my drunk ass in last night, but it’d be best if you didn’t mention this to Gabriella... Or anyone...”

Ryan was on his feet though, some of the guard in his eyes having slipped away, “Wait, Troy. Sit down... I’m done laughing at your expense, I promise. It sounds like you need to talk to someone about this.”

Troy stopped in his track, turning to look at Ryan skeptically. Ryan simply returned a neutral look. Giving up, Troy sat back down on the couch, “This?... It’s nothing. I’m just bi, that’s all.” Bi? BI? Troy had never even let the thought enter his mind. How could he be bi?! And sadly, a small part of his mind was still screaming that “bi” was a step in the right direction, but not quite the label he was looking for.

Ryan nodded slowly, “Okay... Does anyone else know?”

Troy laughed, “Um, I just found out?” He made it sound like a question, hoping comedy would break the seriousness of the conversation.

But Ryan was nonplussed, “You... Really?... Wow, Troy. So, you were there, realized you liked what you saw and felt, and found out you were gay.”

“Bi.”

“Bi, right.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Bullshit.”

“Which part? That I just found out or that I’m only bi?”

“Oh... Well, in that case, both,” Ryan smiled, then saw the look on Troy’s face, and like any good performing arts graduate, wiped the smile off as easily as he had put it on. “Ok, I meant, I personally don’t think you could have just found out last night. I mean, really, Troy? Who else are you going to spill to?”

Troy sighed, lowering his forehead to his hand and using the convenient position to rub the increasing headache. He needed to sit back down for this one. He walked back to the couch and sat down, pausing to put together his thoughts, “I’m happy with Gabriella.”

“Troy.”

“I am!”

“Okay, I accept that. You are attracted to Gabriella and happy with her sexually, right?”

“Yes.”

“But you are also attracted to men.”

“Uh...”

“Damnit, Troy, you have to fucking talk to me!!”

“Yes! I’m attracted to men, Ryan!” Troy growled, breathing a bit heavily from embarrassment and offense.

“It’s like pulling fucking teeth with you,” Ryan, himself, looked a bit huffy, which for the openly gay, well-put-together young man, simply meant a few locks were out of place and his cheeks were slightly flushed.

“I’ve been ignoring it. I love Gabriella, so I didn’t see any need to act on it. But then last night, I stumbled in, and... I don’t know, Ryan... It was just so much and-...”

“You’d been stuffing it in too long.”

“Yeah and it suddenly surged up inside,”

“Ready to explode.”

Troy paused, stopping to look straight at Ryan. Were they just finishing each other’s sentence’s. But Ryan didn’t seem effected.

“Same thing happened to me, Troy... Right after first semester finals at Julliard, I decided to stay for the winter holidays and just-... let loose... relax, for once, and-... I think I always knew. I mean, look at how I dressed! Anyways. I met a boy, a go-go dancer... It changed my life... Now it’s just a hobby when I’m in between choreographing jobs. I don’t need the money. But I feel alive there, Troy. I feel in touch with my sexuality. And in touch with the sexuality of every other man there. It’s powerful.”

Troy was transfixed, staring at Ryan. It sounded like something out of a story, or a porn. But Ryan’s tone rang true in him, it always had after all.

Troy got up all the sudden, “I should go, I-uh...”

Ryan stood up as well, as if on impulse, “Troy!”

There was silence for a long moment before Troy, surprising himself, whispered, “Do you want to get brunch and, you know... Catch up?”

Ryan smiled, “I’d like that.”