Disclaimer: The movie High School Musical and all the characters that are in it are NOT mine and I do not claim to own them. Mickey Mouse owns them…sadly.But all characters that were not in the movie are my own creation.
A/N: Wow, guys…fifteen reviews on just one chapter. I'm so happy right now; I'm doing my happy dance (Thank god none of you can see it…). So here's Chapter Six, fully equipped with way more Troy and Sharpay…together. Although there is a lot of arguing and screaming, a little crying but none the less, it's Troypay! The last chapter was at first so long that I couldn't possibly make it only one chapter so I split it in to two and added a little more. And sorry about the sudden cliffhanger, I just had to end it somewhere and that seemed to be the best part to do so. I thought I was about to get pelted with rocks by like five people. But I'm glad everyone is enjoying this as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Love all of y'all and keep on reviewing. Oh, and make sure you periodically check my profile. I'll be posting reviewer shout-outs, author notes and recent news there within the next few days.
Details: Years after graduation, Sharpay Evans moves to New York City. She changed professions and has quit what she knew best, theater. But will an unexpected encounter with a long lost friend make her life change back to the perfect one she once had? Or will he only bring more drama back into her life?
Chapter #006: Writer
In one ear, Sharpay could hear dripping water from her kitchen sink. In the other, she could hear Jackson's heart beat. As her head rested on his chest, she closed her eyes. She could feel a warmness coming from him. To her, it was comforting. Something she hadn't felt since Troy held her the night she had drank too much. His head was down, hanging next to hers. Every now and then he would kiss her gently on her temple. They stood there in an embrace for what felt like forever, but it was merely only a couple of minutes.
Sharpay pulled away and looked up at Jackson. He smiled at her and put his hand on her waist. "I guess I should go. I have an early morning tomorrow," He looked at his watch and laughed when he saw that it was quarter to midnight. "And it's almost tomorrow." Leaning down, he gave Sharpay a soft kiss on the cheek. "Give me a call sometime. Don't be a stranger, ya hear?"
"I'll try not to be." Sharpay was feeling weird. She hated Jackson's guts for years and now she feels comfortable with him like she felt when they were dating in college. "I might try to get something worked out for Friday, okay?"
"That would be awesome, sweetheart." The smile on his face reached from one ear to another. He made his way over to the door and let himself out, Sharpay watching him the whole way.
Outside of Sharpays loft, Troy stood on the staircase, contemplating what he was going to say to her and waiting for the guy she was with to leave. He peaked around the corner and watched him walk out of the third story home and up to the elevator. Troy couldn't help but stare; he knew who this guy was. It had to be the guy Sharpay wrote about in her notebook.
Luckily, I decided to go home instead of on an audition and stumbled upon my naked fiancé, with a naked woman, in OUR bed.
He told me I was self-centered, inconsiderate of his feelings and I didn't know how to take care of a man.
For what he did to Sharpay, he hated him. He didn't even know the guys name but to Troy, no woman should be deceived that way. On the other hand, Troy couldn't help but call himself a hypocrite after thinking that.
Yes, he does have feelings for Gabriella. But he doesn't know if he is with her because he loves her or if he's just scared to leave her. He and Gabriella have been together for nearly six years on and off but something was always missing to Troy. The past couple of weeks with Sharpay felt like the past six years with Gabriella but with that extra something added in. He didn't know what it was but he liked it, even loved it.
Hearing the elevator going down, Troy stepped up a couple of steps before reaching the hall way leading to the door of Sharpays loft, the only loft on the floor. He walked up to the door and fixed his hair. Nerves ran threw his whole entire body and he immediately turned around, not knowing if he would be able to face her.
Meanwhile, Sharpay was putting away dishes in her kitchen, humming a song she had heard on the radio. Her mind was finally calm and serene which it hasn't been in the last few days. Jackson, in some odd way, made her mellow and not so angry or confused anymore.
To her, he's changed but was it legit or just another 'Jackson Mind Game'? She shook her head, trying not to think too much. Her migraine was finally dying down to a mere headache and she didn't want to worry about anymore drama in her life. God knows she already has enough of that.
Continuing to finish up the dishes, Sharpay reached her hand in to a sink full of soapy water. Suddenly she winced in pain, quickly pulling her hand out of the sink. She looked down and saw blood run down her palm and then all the way down her arm before dripping down to the floor from her elbow.
"Dammit," She whispered under her breath. She grabbed a wash cloth and placed in on her palm firmly, trying to stop the bleeding.
The door bell then rung and Sharpay was beginning to get a little frustrated. She took a deep sigh before grabbing the door handle with her uncut hand and swinging it open. Troy stood there with his hands in his pockets and with a look of confusion when he noticed Sharpay holding a once white towel on her hand.
"What happened to you?" Troy said, rushing up to Sharpay and grabbing her hand. "Did he do this to you?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" She snapped her hand away from him and walked over to her kitchen sink, placing the cut under some running water. "And what are you doing here?"
"I'm talking about that guy that was just here. That's your ex right; the one that cheated on you?" Troy was close to yelling as he entered Sharpays loft, closing the door behind him. "If he did this to you, I swear to…"
"Calm down 'Mr. Hot and Heavy Temper Tantrum', I accidentally cut myself on a knife in the sink. Plus, Jackson would never…" Sharpay then stopped and thought about what Troy had said. He slipped and by the look on Sharpays face, she wasn't very happy. "Wait, I never told you he cheated on me. Where did you hear that?"
"Uh," Troy didn't know what he could say that would make Sharpay not kill him. He was busted and he knew it when he took a glance over at the notebook still sitting on the small table near the window.
Sharpays eyes followed his to the notebook and immediately her jaw dropped. "You read my notebook?" Troy didn't even have to answer her for her to know he did. "I can't believe you looked through that."
To Troy, she seemed more hurt then angry. He stepped a little closer to her, but making sure he was a good arms length away from Sharpay. "Look, I only read a couple of pages. I just wanted to…"
"To what Troy? Find some dirt on me so you could go tell your fiancé that my life is screwed up?" Sharpay finished wrapping her hand in a gauze bandage and walked over to the table, snatching the notebook from on top of it. Her face was bright red due to the fact that not only was she angry but she was fighting back tears. Sharpay was never really one to cry in front of people.
"Listen Sharpay," Troy wanted to calm her down. Her back was facing him as she stared out the window and making glances at the notebook in her hands, "I'm sorry. I should've told you about Gabriella and I. But the truth is, I never thought I would feel this way about a person I haven't seen in five years. I assumed we were just going to meet up, catch up and go on our merry way. I didn't think I would ever..." Troy paused, feeling a lump in his throat. He didn't want to say what he wanted to. If he did, he would feel guilty. He knew though, that deep down in his heart, he loves Sharpay.
"Troy," He could hear the trembling in her voice. She turned around, her eyes red from the tears. Stepping towards him, she reached out the notebook, handing it over to Troy. "Please leave." Sharpay tried her best not to show any kind of weakness in front of him. She tried to stay strong even though it was very difficult for her to do at the time.
Troy was in shock as he took the notebook in to his hand. Tears were welling up inside of his eyes as he made his way to the door. He looked over his shoulder and watched Sharpay turn back around so that he couldn't see her cry. With that one last look, Troy walked out and shut the door behind him.
When Sharpay heard the door click shut, she fell to the ground. Her uncontrollable sobbing could be heard from outside her loft where Troy still stood. She sprawled herself across her shag rug and just laid there, staring at the ceiling. Closing her eyes, she could only see one person in her thoughts as she drifted in to sleep.
Two hours passed by and it was two in the morning when Troy walked in to his moonlit apartment. It was small, a lot smaller then Sharpays, and it didn't have much furniture. It was your basic bachelors pad, and Troy liked it. As long as he was comfortable and had a roof over his head, he was happy. But tonight he wasn't happy and he knew it wasn't going to get any better when he saw the answering machines red light blinking with a big number five next to it. He knew who it was and what all of them were about.
Ten o' Three PM
Hey Troy, this is Gabriella, it is about seven thirty here in Albuquerque which makes it about ten there in New York. I just wanted to get your input on the dinner menu. What do you think; lobster and steak or chicken and shrimp? Call and give me your opinion. Love you, bye.
Ten Fifty Seven PM
It is me again sweetie. I need to know about the invitations. Who do you want to invite? I really need to send these out as soon as possible. The wedding is in a little less then a month and I need to get the guest list made up. Two hundred and fifty is our limit and almost a hundred are taken up already with just our family. Call me so we can work this out.
Eleven Twenty Nine PM
Troy, its Gabriella, I know you're probably out working or something so give me a call back. My mom and I are going cake shopping tomorrow and I wanted to know what you think we should have.
He sighed and smashed down the delete button, knowing the other two messages were from the same person about the same damn thing; Gabriella and the wedding. The last thing on his mind was the flavor of his cake and weather or not he wants chicken or steak.
Troy, making his way to the bathroom, threw Sharpays notebook on his bed. He wanted to wash away any kind of emotion he was feeling at the moment; frustration, sadness, anger and most of all, love.
Steam poured out of the bathroom door when Troy opened it a good forty-five minutes later. He had a towel wrapped around his waste with another one in his hand, using it to dry his hair off while he walked over to his dresser. As he opened the top drawer and grabbed a pair of boxers, he noticed something on the floor out of the corner of his eye. It was an envelope and after putting his underwear on, Troy bent down and picked it up. He took a seat on the edge of his bed before pulling out a folded up piece of notebook paper from the envelope.
Her gaze was blurry as Sharpay awoke on the floor of her living room. All of her lights were on and for a second she thought it was morning before she looked at her phone; three o' clock. She rubbed her eyes, trying to make all the dots around the lights go away. Once her vision became clear, she looked around her loft. It was quite and she was all alone. She tried thinking of something to do, something to take her mind off of things. The first thing that came to mind wasn't an option, especially since it involved Troy. She decided to go with plan B and after getting changed in to a pair of ripped jeans and a vintage tee, she found herself inside of an apartment building twenty minutes away from her loft.
Standing outside of the door with the numbers seven one seven on the front of it, she quietly knocked. She stood there playing with a loose strand of her blonde hair while the rest of it was pulled back in to a ponytail. With no response to the knock, Sharpay turned around, ready to walk back down the stairs she had just walked up a few moments before.
"Sharpay," A voice from the door made her spin around. Jackson stood in the door way in nothing but pajama pants. He had no shirt on and his dark brown ear-length hair was shaggier then usual, letting Sharpay know that she had just woken him up. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I'm sorry if I woke you. I just wanted to see you and I don't know….talk for a little bit."
Jackson squinted at her, his eyes still blurry from being half asleep. "At three in the morning?"
Sharpay blushed and was a little embarrassed. "Yeah, you're right. It's late so…I'll just go and call you sometime."
"No, stay; I'm just a little surprised that's all." Through Jackson's shady vision, he could see Sharpays bright white teeth smile. "C'mon in, it's cold out here."
Meanwhile, Troy laid down on his bed, reading the letter he found over and over again. He was still only in boxers and hadn't moved from his spot for nearly two hours. After reading the letter one more time, he set it down and turned off his lights, closing his eyes with the words still running through his head.
My Dearest Troy,
It's funny when you think about what has been going on for the past couple of days. I mean, I don't how it happened but it was like this weird spark. We hadn't seen each other for what, five years, and we never really were 'friends' in high school and now all of a sudden we're like best buds. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining but to tell you the truth, I never thought it would happen. It may have been obvious but I was crazy about you in high school. But once Gabriella came along and you two started dating, I knew I would never get to be with you. And now I am. Kinda. I feel like I've finally gotten what I've always wanted. And when I asked you to stay with me, you did. So please, never leave me.
I love you Troy Bolton, always have and always will.
-Sharpay