Sweeney & Bowen

Chapter Thirty-Six: High School Musical 4

I am sitting at my usual table, in the middle of the cafeteria, with the drama club. Instead of the backless, circular chair, I'm sitting on my boyfriend's lap, with my arms wrapped around his neck, and feet on the end of my best friend's chair, who is right next to us.

He put the spoon of pudding in my mouth so I would not lose balance, paying no mind to our friends' conversation.

"Ew, it's banana!" I point out as disgust shadows my features.

"The best kind." He protests, shrugging as he lifts the spoon to my mouth.

"Gross!" As I attempted to swat his hand away, I almost my balance, so we laughed and he held me tighter.

"That's what you get for insulting the pudding." He teases.

Our friends were amused yet puzzled as the focus shifted to us.

"Uh," Seb playfully dismisses, "You do realize there's a seat right there?" He motions to the empty chair behind me.  

"You inviting someone?" I sarcastically question, tone serious.

"Yeah," Ricky goes along with it, turning his head as if looking for someone.

Carlos playfully shakes his head in shame, and reaches over my boyfriend to gently swat my hand. The four of us laugh lightly, as Ricky helps me shift to the open seat.

While Ashlyn and Gina are texting Maddox and EJ on their phones, respectively, they are both preoccupied and not paying attention.

"Okay, so," Ricky derails the conversation, "What exactly is Teen Beach?"

Seb and I look at one another, holding back laughter as we mentally decide not to correct my boyfriend thinking 'movie' is not part of the title.

Meanwhile, Carlos spoke up while shaking his head in shame, "I'm honestly not surprised you've never seen the gay surfer movie."

Ricky raised his brows curiously as he glanced between us, waiting for an explanation.

I knowingly elaborate, "Lela and Mackenzie were in love, Tanner wanted Brady."

Shock crosses his face, "That's a lot of new names to memorize for a movie I've literally never even heard of."

"Our next movie night movie." Carlos declares, nodding assuredly.

I smile wide, "It's only the most iconic movie of all time!" My best friend hums in agreement.

"I thought Enchanted was?" Ricky teases, playfully puzzled.

Ashlyn hums in agreement and lifts her head like she has something to say, but her eyes remain on the device, confusing us.

"I totally agree." She finally blurts.

When she looked up and saw our bewildered looks, she became flushed and huffed timidly.

"About Teen Beach Movie." Ashlyn elaborates, snapping out of it, "That entire movie is queer-coded." She nods assuredly as we agree.

"Yeah," Carlos adds, "The creators were too coward to make it canon." They share a knowing look and nod.

"Ooh," Gina admires, as she sets her phone aside, "Butchy was one of my first crushes!"

"Girl," My best friend playfully judges, with a hand up dismissively, "Not the time." Carlos teases.

The corners of her mouth quirk up in a guilty grin, considering she was not listening to our conversation before chiming in. We all share a gentle laugh.