Author's Note: I was driving home from work today when my iPod flicked over to Pat Benatar's "In the Heat of the Night". I had listened to it before, I love the song, but for some reason my mind started thinking about what things would be like if Troy was the one who she was singing about. And so as soon as I got home I started writing. Oddly while writing the only high school musical songs that played on the randomly shuffled playlist were "When There Was Me And You" and "Gotta Go My Own Way".

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical, or In the Heat of the Night.

The small motel room in middle-of-nowhere Nevada was dimly lit in red light from the digital clock on the dresser. The light gave everything a more ominous look, like something out of a bad 1970's horror flick. On top of the light there was a constant hum from the air conditioner that was apparently running. It's efforts seemed wasted, though, as the temperature in the room was surely hot enough to be used as an oven. The light, the sound, and the heat were three of the four reasons that Troy Bolton could not sleep. The fourth reason was laying next to him in his bed, her blonde hair sticking to everything.

After staring at the ceiling for what felt like forever Troy climbed out of bed and got dressed. He knew there was no way that he would ever get to sleep in that tiny room with all of it's annoyances. Once dressed he stood next to the night table, where a pad of paper and a pen sat, contemplating leaving his wife of two years a note explaining where he went. With a quick glance at the clock Troy discovered that it was 2:37. He figured that he would have plenty of time to do whatever it was that he needed to before Sharpay would awake. Without even a look at his wife Troy slipped out the door into the quiet hallway.

Whatever city he was in was clearly riding on the fame of the nearby Las Vegas. Bright neon lights cast their light out over an empty street, each one proclaiming that it's establishment was still open, and that they clearly had the best of something. Troy made sure to read each and every one, looking for the perfect place to stop and try and get over whatever he was feeling. Somehow, though, he knew that the best new england clam chowder in all of Nevada was not the way. He wandered for what seemed like hours, but a glance at his watch told him was only 20 minutes, before he found a place that might work.

It was a sports bar, or at least that's what Troy figured. The neon signs proclaimed 72 different flavours of chicken wings, served until 5 in the morning, and that there was 9 pool tables. The inside of the bar was not what Troy had been expecting. What Troy could see through the thick blanket of cigarette smoke was nothing like the bars that Sharpay forced him to go to back home. The pool tables were in a poor state of disrepair, most of them had tears all over the felt. Apparently their poor state meant nothing, as all 9 tables were occupied by people. Noticing that most of the booths were either occupied or dirty Troy chose to sit at the bar. He took the only open seat, the man to his right was passed out on the bar and the woman to his left was deep in conversation with the man next to her. He ordered a Jack and Coke before turning his attention to the tiny TV showing sports highlights from the day before.

Much to his dismay the highlights cut to a commercial for the latest CD release from Gabriella Montez. Troy turned his attention away from the TV to his drink, which he quickly drank and ordered another. Gabriella was the first girl, possibly the only girl, that he ever loved. He believed that they would be together forever and that nothing could take them apart. But Gabriella moved away right after graduation. On her first day at East High Gabriella's mother told her that they couldn't be moved again until after she graduated. Stupidly, the couple assumed that meant that she would never move again. They found out a month before grad that she would be moving away, and the two decided that long distance never worked. They spent every minute they could together, but when the day came for Gabriella to move they said goodbye. Troy hadn't talked to her since.

After finishing his second drink Troy turned to look back at the TV. He decided that Gabriella's latest CD would be better than the interview with Zeke Baylor, a man that he hadn't talked to in almost four years. He and Zeke had been close all through high school. They played basketball together and hung out almost every weekend. There was only one thing that Zeke loved more than basketball and cooking, and that was Sharpay Evans - the woman who would one day become Sharpay Bolton. The first time that Troy and Sharpay kissed they were interrupted by Zeke. 'I thought you were my friend," was what Zeke told him that night, it was the last thing Zeke ever said to him.

"Fuck you too, Baylor," Troy said into his drink, "you can have her if you want."

"Did you just swear at Zeke Baylor?" the very drunk woman next to him asked. The man that she had been talking to had left.

"Yeah," he replied bitterly.

"Why would you swear at a guy you don't know?" She placed her hand on Troy's shoulder as she talked to him.

"I do know him," he told her, the anger starting to build in his voice, "at least I thought I did. Why couldn't he be happy for me? Why couldn't he understand that I loved her as much as he did!?"

"You know Zeke Baylor?" the woman asked Troy, she leaned down enough for Troy to see the brown roots of her bleached hair, and to see straight down her top.

"He didn't even come to my wedding!" Troy slammed his fist on the bar, "He never even responded to the invite! We were best friends!"

"You're best friends with Zeke Baylor?" she slurred.

"I was," Troy said before he put his hands to his face, "I still would be if it wasn't for my wife," he could feel the cold metal of his wedding ring against his cheek. "I may have had a chance to get back together with Gabby. I wouldn't have had to find out about her wedding to some movie star by hearing about it from some blonde idiot on entertainment tonight, I would've been there."

"Let me get this straight," the blonde said as she tried to work everything out in her mind, "you were best friends with Zeke Baylor and you dated Gabriella Montez?"

"Yeah," Troy sighed. He quickly drank the last of his fifth Jack and Coke and ordered another.

"Do you want to go back to my place?" the drunk woman asked him, lust in her eyes. Troy stared back at her. He didn't want to cheat on his wife, but he had just realized that earlier he had said that he HAD loved Sharpay as much as Zeke. He wasn't sure if he still loved her or not. He assumed that there would be a bit of a walk back to the blonde's house and that he had some time to figure it out. He nodded and drank the drink that had just been put down in front of him. He gave the bartender enough money to cover his tab and followed the woman to the door.

Troy walked beside the woman who's name he didn't know in complete silence. She was trying to ask him things about Zeke and Gabriella but he was ignoring her. Troy couldn't help but think about his former best friend and the love of his life. Would things really have turned out better if Troy had never kissed Sharpay? Would Zeke and him still be friends? Would Zeke still be a basketball star? And would Gabriella still have her career? Troy didn't know if he would've been supportive of her trying. He would've been there for her, he would've helped her with anything that she wanted, but would he have been enough to keep her going? Could he be there after every turn down, after everytime some executive told her that she wasn't good enough?

"We're here!" The blonde stated as they came up to an apartment complex. 'The Eagles' was written in red neon lights on the front of the building. Under the name 3 eagle silhouttes were harshly backlit, also in red. Troy couldn't take his eyes off the birds as the woman grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the door. She dragged him through a long empty hallway and up a flight of stairs. She paused on the second floor in front of the door marked 14. Troy would have laughed had the situation been a bit different.

The woman unlocked the door and stepped in, flicking on the lights. The bright white was enough to cause Troy to squint as he stood in the hallway. He went to take a step, but couldn't. The woman had dissapeared somewhere into the apartment, all Troy could see was a blinding white light. He looked into the light, and as his eyes slowly adjusted he could start to make out the silhoutte of a bird, one of the ones from the sign, just infront of the window. He took a deep breath, contemplating his options. He could step into the room and cheat on his wife whom he didn't love, or he could turn away and head back to the hotel and try and convince himself that he loved her on the long walk back.

"You gonna come in?" the woman asked as she stepped into Troy's field of view. She had stripped down to her undewear, and was doing her best to look sexy. In her drunken state, though, she wasn't pulling it off all that well. Troy opened his mouth to say something, but wasn't sure what he wanted to say, so he quickly closed it. "Well, are you gonna come in?" she asked him again.

All Troy could hear was the sound of his footsteps as he made his way back to his motel room. The door creaked slightly as he opened it and stepping into the sweltering hot room. The air conditioner was still humming along, and the clock was still casting an odd red light over the room. It was now 5:48, Troy knew that Sharpay had set the alarm for 6, looking to get an early start on the rest of their trip. He glanced at the woman that he now knew he didn't love. He quickly and silently undressed and slipped under the one light sheet that she had left on the bed. He turned his head to look at her.

"I hate you," he whispered before turning his head away from her.