Dedication!: This lovely little piece is dedicated to sister101, who is my real-life sister. She was the one who gave me this idea. I chewed it up, spit it out, and made it something totally new; but the thanks goes to her. :D Love ya, dude!
Secondly, this story goes out to my HBH fans who had to suffer through the recent discontinuation. It's a sweet (hopefully realistic) Troypay to make for the loss of their witty conversations in HBH. I hope it suffices. :)
Also, for the soundtrack, the song is: Someday by Nickelback.
Enjoy!
-BeautifulDanger
Worth the Fight
A Troypay One-shot
-00-00-00-
Troy Bolton rolled over in bed and slid his arm around a soft, warm object.
But the sudden, easy mold the weight of his hand left, made it clear that the object was not his slumbering wife, but in fact, a feather pillow. His eyes popped open and he patted her empty spot, still dazed with sleep. Finding she was not there, he inwardly groaned. Sadly, these days it was a common occurrence to wake up alone and not to mention, cold from the missing body heat. And although he had gotten used to it, and was not surprised, that only scared him. It was a bright neon sign that his marriage was deteriorating faster each lonely morning.
Shuffling out of bed, he stumbled to the bathroom to clean himself up for work. Sharpay had already dressed and headed to the office an hour earlier and would not be home until late at night. This is just how life goes, Troy tried to tell himself, as he scrubbed the sleep off of his face. But something continued to nag at the back of his mind. And it was saying that he was wrong.
Shaking away the thought, he quickly changed into his uniform for the auto shop he spent all greasy day at. Even if it did not pay too well, he did enjoy fixing cars for a living. It was like a calling. A cheap, stigmatic calling, but one nonetheless. And really, he didn't give a darn what anyone else thought about him and the redneck color of his career. But his wife did not hold the same view. Sharpay had always been the one to feed on the opinions of others.
Maybe that was the reason why they couldn't seem to get along anymore.
Troy decided he was late enough as it was, and so breakfast had to be sacrificed. But that was alright, he would just have a big lunch. He paddled his way into the garage, and upon finding his rusty pick-up truck still haphazardly parked inside, he quickly opened the garage door. To his dismay, he found no Volvo, out for display in the driveway. Just an oil spot where it rightfully should be. He was steaming.
Hopping into the clunky truck, he speed dialed his wife, backing out of the driveway and onto their street. After a few rings, yet not enough time to cool his heated mood, she picked up.
"What is it, Troy? You know Ricky doesn't like me to make personal calls."
He spat out a crude, unkind remark about where her boss could go.
"Troy!" she horse-whispered. "What has gotten into you?"
"You took the Volvo. Dang it, Shar—dang it!—you knew it was my day!"
"Why does that even matter? You're being overly-sensitive about this, and I think you need to calm down."
Troy screeched to a halt at the red light, hands gripping the wheel with rage. He was flabbergasted.
"Why does it even matter?! It's my day! How would you like to drive this piece of crap to work everyday? But I guess since you wear the suit that makes you entitled to anything you want, regardless of your husband's feelings on the matter."
"I thought you liked that truck. Didn't your dad give that to you when you were seventeen? It's not the least bit sentimental to you?"
"This is not! About! The truck!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, what is this about then, Troy?" Troy turned the corner and slid into a parking spot, the anger spilling out of his every action.
"This is about you completely disregarding our agreement, not just about the cars, but our marriage for Christ's sake!" He quieted down when he noted her silence.
"I can't imagine what you mean by that, but I can't talk about this now. I have to go."
And she hung up.
-00-00-00-
"Hey man."
Troy's best friend since high school, Chad Danforth, approached him as he sat in a shady restaurant booth. Troy gave him an unenthusiastic nod, turning right back to the only bottle of beer he could afford with his sad amount of pocket change. Chad took the seat facing him.
"You don't look too happy."
"Huh. What a shame." Noting his friend's unpleasant, sarcastic demeanor, Chad paused to consider his next words.
"How's Shar? …Is everything alright between you guys?" he asked genuinely. Troy slugged a sip of the brown liquid.
"Nope, Chad it's not," he said, fiddling with the label on his bottle.
"…What's up?"
Laughing bitterly, Troy said, "You know, sometimes I wonder what in God's name I was thinking when I married that woman." Chad scratched his head and leaned back in his seat.
"You love her, Troy—that's what you were thinking." He crossed his arms.
"Yeah, that was dumb of me, wasn't it?" Troy finally looked up from his beer. "Getting married over something so stupid. …Love doesn't last."
Chad sighed and got up from seat, surrendering.
"I know you don't really mean that, man." He put a hand on his shoulder. "Because I'm positiveyou've never stopped loving that woman." Chad patted him affectionately and walked out, leaving Troy to his sobering thoughts.
-00-00-00-
After spending the rest of his lunch break pondering the words spat back and forth between him and his wife, Troy returned to the shop disgruntled, tired, and confused. He decided it would be best if today he kept to himself, tweaking the truck no one else wanted to go near. It would afford him the opportunity to cogitate the life-altering decisions floating around in his mind.
Chad was right. He loved Shar—of course he did. But was he still in love with her? If he was, would they argue the way they do? Would each passing day bring more stress than the previous? And worst of all, would he be considering ending their marriage all together?
There was only one thing that rang out as clear. Something was wrong between them. And he didn't know how to fix it.
"Troy!" Chad called from the inside office. "Phone!"
Wiping the grease onto his jeans, Troy ran inside to take the call. He looked around the small, cluttered, thankfully empty reception desk. There was a wall, the top-half glass where he could see out into the dirty shop. No one seemed to be watching, and since he already knew who it most likely was, he picked up the phone and pressed the "1".
"Troy here."
On the other end, he suddenly heard loud sniffling and sounds of choking sobs. Then his wife's distressed, cracked voice rang in his ears.
"Troy … I-I did-n't tell—"
"Shar!" his heart was racing, "What's wrong? What happened?" He gripped the receiver steely, fingers sore.
"I-I … I need you … to come," she paused to suck back the tears, "…pick me up, please…" Just the wavering in her voice was enough to crack him.
"Shhh, baby, I'll be right there. Where are you? Are you still at the office?"
"Yeah, but—"
"I'm coming right now."
He slammed the phone down, fished his keys out of his pocket, and bolted to his truck. His wife, his wife, his girl was in trouble. She was his, and no one was going to forget that. Whoever did this to her was going to be sore tomorrow morning.
-00-00-00-
In only five minutes, foot to the floor, he arrived at Sharpay's office.
Pulling into a parking spot right out front, he caught a glimpse of his wife loitering outside the building, tear-stained face and knuckle to her lips. He jumped out of his truck and raced to her. As soon as she saw him, she ran over and snuggled into his chest.
Troy wrapped his arms around her, rubbing circles into her back.
"What happened, baby?" She mumbled something into his shirt, but it was too quiet to hear clearly. "What?"
Shar lifted her face, turning her head to the side.
"I was … fired." Troy's jaw hardened. "Ricky was … well, he started coming … on to me and I … slapped him—"
"And that little dirt bag fired you," he finished the thought for her. She nodded. Troy let go of her. "Stay right here," he told her, determination in his features. He marched to the office door and nearly knocked it down when Sharpay called out to him.
"No, wait! There's something else…" Troy could hardly calm himself enough to turn back and wait for her to finish. Sharpay stood there, looking so unsure of herself, an emotion he had not seen in this woman for too long.
"I'm…," she sighed, trying to push out the nerves, "I'm pregnant."
Troy's keys dropped from his hand.
"…What?" he whispered.
"Please don't make me say it again."
"But I … how?"
"Troy…," she sighed, coming to him, gentleness in her stroll, ginger in her face, clouds in her eyes. "I love you, that's how." She smiled and curled her arms around his waist, holding him tight. Troy stood there, frozen, a deer caught in the highway headlights. His mind was a void.
Sharpay couldn't help but laugh. But as soon as it left her lips, she sighed.
"I know, I know this is a shock. And-and I meant to tell you as soon as I found out but … I didn't know how."
"Yes, this was a much more effective channel," Troy deadpanned, still staring out into space. She chuckled.
"I'm sorry. I can't say much else." Finally, Troy began to drift from his daze, slowly pulling her closer, sticking to her for support. He felt her shed a tear.
"What're we gonna do?" she whispered.
Suddenly, the office door, where they stood right by, burst open.
"Mrs. Bolton, I believe you were ordered off the premises long ago. Shall I have security escort you?" Ricky said, a smirk rising in his face. Troy was absolutely livid. He glared so hard at the man, that her boss's entire demeanor suddenly shrank, and he now was acting as a very timid, cornered mouse.
Troy unhooked himself from around his wife, stood in front of Ricky, and plunged him backward with one fist-to-face movement.
Yeah, that was gonna leave a mark.
-00-00-00-
The drive home was suffocating with silence.
They arrived home in silence. They got out of the car in silence. But when Sharpay stepped down from the truck, Troy grabbed a hold of her hand, easing her down as if injured, keeping his other hand on her waist. Sharpay smiled.
"I'm fine, Troy. It's alright," she said softly. Troy nodded.
He honestly did not know what to do with himself. He was going to be a Dad. He was going to have so many other things to worry about now. How, how could he handle this? What was to become of them? Would they pull it together for their future child? Or it would it all fall apart? He was whirling with so many emotions and they all made sense. Except for one. Amidst all of this turmoil, he could not understand why this feeling plagued him.
Troy unlocked the door. The couple stepped inside. He threw the keys on the coffee table and sat down on the couch. And cried. Shar covered her mouth with her palm and crouched down in front of him, sitting on her knees. She laid her head on Troy's knees, taking his hands and gripping them tighter than she thought possible.
"I'm so sorry," she said, surprised by her calm tone. "I know how hard this must be on you. And I wish I could take it away—"
"Shar," he whispered, caressing her blonde hair like the wind on a summer's day. She gazed up at him. "I'm not mad." He smiled as a few more tears streamed down his cheeks. "I'm happy." He laughed. "I'm so happy."
"What?" she squeaked.
"I know this is sudden and we'll have to make adjustments, but this…," he pulled her up from the ground and snuggled with her on the couch, touching his hand to her stomach, "…this baby is worth it all."
She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. Instead, she kissed him softly and curled up to him, resting, peaceful. Troy held her close until she fell asleep.
He couldn't predict the future. He couldn't say that everything was going to turn out okay. And he couldn't say that somewhere down the line they wouldn't end their marriage. But he was willing to, and he was going to, fight for her. Fight for them.
Because now he knew.
It was worth it.
Well? Did ya like it? If so, please review. :D