Disclaimer: I own zelch but the plot, Tad, and Steph. That means I do not own the following:

High School Musical, any of the songs used in this chapter, fmylife [dot] com, or Sergio's la Dolce Vita Bakery & Cafe

Lights Off

Chapter Two: Car Trouble

SHE HIT THE FLOOR AND MAKE THE CLUB IGNITE SHE'S LIKE A SEXY LITTLE FI-

Sharpay groaned and stretched, taking her time in getting out of bed to answer her phone which, at this point, was really pissing her off.

-BEGGING FOR MORE IF YOU PLAY IT RIGHT SHE'LL FULFILL YOUR EVERY DESIRE-

It certainly didn't help that for whatever reason, her ring tone was set all the way up on full blast. And although she loved Ne-Yo and his music, this would so not be anywhere near her first choice of way to be woken from a long, deep and comfortable sleep. She glanced sleepily at Troy's clock and noted the time being 10:37 in the morning. Sighing, she dropped her head as her cell continued going off from somewhere near the foot of the bed.

-CAN'T NOBODY STRUT LIKE HER-

"Damn," she cursed lowly to herself as she scrambled out of the bed, making sure to keep the sheet secure around her body as she ran over to the foot of the bed and searched frantically for her mobile- tossing discarded clothing items and pillows out of the way in the process. She finally found it after a few seconds in the pocket of her shorts from yesterday, shoved down under the bed carelessly.

Weird.

How did those get way down there?

-NOBODY TOUCH HER-

She glanced over at Troy, who was shifting positions on the bed- still asleep with his arms tucked under the pillow, laying shirtless on his stomach.

"Hello?" she asked in an out-of-breath way into the phone, as she'd been scurrying around quickly moments before so the call wouldn't be missed.

"Shar, are you still with Troy?" It was Ryan. Sharpay sat down on the edge of the bed, keeping the phone pressed against her ear.

"Yeah, I spent the night, why?" she asked, leaving out the part about the sex the night before; which, speaking of, had been a zillion times better than her time with Zeke.

"Okay well when you're ready to leave, call mom and dad. They want you to pick up some pie they ordered from the bakery for the party."

Sharpay rubbed a spot on her forehead near her hairline, feeling a zit coming on. Crap.

"Party? What party? Why can't they go get it?" she asked, not that she had a problem with running a quick errand for her parents, but weren't they home? And what party?

"They already left for Tad's and Steph's house."

"Since when did Tad live in a house? What about that crappy apartment of his?" Sharpay wondered. Tad was her older sister Stephanique's fiance and the two were getting married next weekend. (Yes, Stephanique. And freaked out if you accidentally called her Stephanie, which is why to play it safe, people decided to just call her Steph.)

They had lived together in this little old apartment of Tad's about a hour and a half away for the last twelve months. She'd moved in with him a couple of weeks after he proposed- which was about a year ago. They were just getting married now.

"OKay, their future house." Ryan rearranged his word choice. "Didn't you hear mom and dad talking about the house they're buying them as a wedding gift since his parents are paying for the honeymoon? That's what the party's for? The housewarming party?"

Sharpay didn't reply, so Ryan took her silence as a no. He sighed.

"Well they're buying them a house. I can't believe you missed all of that."

"Sorry," Sharpay said, not really sounding sorry. "I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"Like what? Just Troy's birthday?" Ryan challenged.

"It was important." His sister responded, looking at Troy as he slept. She smiled, remembering everything that had happened last night. For his first time he'd been pretty darn great. He was a natural.

"So is our sister getting married." Ryan's voice cut into her thoughts. She sighed.

"Okay Ryan. I'm sorry I forgot about their party or whatever.... where's the house again?"

"Get a pen," Ryan said, "I'll read you the address."

Sharpay walked over to Troy's desk and did as he told, pulling out a blue ball point pen and a blank sheet of computer paper from a drawer and the printer. Her brother gave her the address to their sister's new home and told her to remember to pick of the pie order a little later, which should be soon, since their parents wanted her over there at the party as soon as possible.

"Fine. But just out of curiosity, how come you can't run their errands for them?" Sharpay asked her twin. It took him a moment to respond.

"This is an hour earlier than I'm supposed to be up. It's too early for me."

"Lazy ass." Sharpay mumbled. What had probably happened was their parents had left to go to the party and then halfway there, remembered they needed to pick something up from the bakery which they'd forgotten, called Ryan and told him to please get it for them and get over to the house asap (since apparently according to Ryan it was still an hour and a half away), but that lazy bum had then called her and was making her do it since he still probably wanted to sleep.

"Well? I'm tired, Shar." Ryan said, proving his point with an overly exaggerated yawn. Sharpay rolled her eyes to herself.

"What, too wiped out after sex with Kelsi last night?" she asked him sarcastically. "I'm tired too."

"Yeah? And why's that? Too wiped out after...sexwithTroylastnight?"Ryan shot back quickly. Sharpay's eyes widened and her clutch on the phone tightened, her heart quickening pace. What the hell, how did he know?!

"What?" she sputtered, knowing she sounded shocked and eager, but she couldn't help it. Her twin snickered.

"Jeez I'm joking. No need to freak out." He said, and she let out a huff, realizing he was just trying to come up with some sort of comeback and that was the best he had.

"You're dumb." She scoffed, hanging up on him. She sat in silence for a minute, waiting for herself to calm down a little bit, before turning towards the sleeping guy in the bed.

"Troy?" She said, crawling over to him and nudging him gently in the shoulder. He didn't move or say a word. This was the worst part for Sharpay about sleeping over with Troy- he was literally the world's heaviest sleeper. Nothing could wake him up unless you had a blow horn or a megaphone or something. And, much like Ryan, he could and would sleep in all day if you let him. Especially now, with the wild and crazy night beforehand. But she had to get him up somehow.

"Wake up." She tried, failing miserably as she picked up the pillow she'd been using and tossing it on his back. He moved a little bit and buried his face deeper into his pillow, but stubbornly remained asleep. Sharpay groaned.

"Ugh, come on Troy. You have to get up," she said, looking back at the clock.

"It's almost eleven," she told his sleeping form. "You're gonna be late for your first day of work."

She didn't actually know what time he had to go to work, but she didn't know what else to say.

When he still didn't do anything, she rolled her eyes and grabbed his pillow, tugging it away from him so his head fell limp on the mattress. She giggled as he let out a tired grunt and reached his right arm out in attempt to grab the pillow back. What he grabbed instead was her arm, which was still holding the soft object.

"Geeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttt Uuuuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppppppp!" Sharpay sang, repeatedly poking him in the face and trying to annoy him into getting up.

"Ten more minutes, Shar." He tried to compromise in a sleepy voice, letting her arm go and scratching the spot on his cheek where she'd been poking. He turned on his side, away from her so she couldn't poke him again. Sharpay frowned. Maybe you could wake up Lady Gaga when you "poke-her-face" but apparently not Troy Bolton.

"Nooo, now," she insisted, crawling over him so she was laying in front of him again and manually opening his left eyelid with her thumb and index finger. She laughed as he blinked himself awake, squinting at her in in the morning light shining from the sun through his sliding glass doors that he was now facing.

"You're really annoying sometimes, you know that?" he mumbled to her. She smiled like it was a compliment.

"I know. But we have to get up now."

"Why?" Troy groaned, displeased with that piece of information.

"Because I've got places to go and you're coming with me 'cause I don't wanna be alone." Sharpay told him.

"Why?" he groaned again, pretending to be unhappy about having to go somewhere with her. She flicked him in the forehead, offended that he didn't want to go with her and he chuckled.

"Just kidding about that last one," he promised. She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Just come on, get up." She urged on, climbing out of bed with the red bed sheet still around her. Troy sat up and sighed, watching her intently as she circled the floor gathering up her discarded clothes, having vivid flashbacks and memories of what they'd done last night.

"What time do you have work?" she asked him, dropping to her knees at the foot of the bed and facing her bare back to him as she put her bra back on. He didn't reply as he was too busy staring at the tan flesh of her back, wishing she'd turn around so he could see the front of her. She glanced back at him.

"Troy?" she asked, snapping him out of his trance. He snapped his eyes up to hers from her shoulder blades.

"Hm?"

"What time do you have to go to work?" she repeated. He cleared his throat, wondering if she'd caught him staring at her.

"Oh, my shift doesn't start until three."

Sharpay nodded and turned back around, slipping her white and then pink lace tank top on over her head. He sucked in his bottom lip, watching as she pulled her long blonde tresses back into a messy ponytail using the black hair tie around her wrist, having an incredibly strong urge to grab and kiss her. He watched her fumble with something and when she stood back up, she was fully dressed in yesterday's clothes. She looked at him and placed her hands on her hips, making her all the more irresistible.

"Are you gonna get up?" she asked him, and he nodded quickly, looking around the bed to try and find his...

He looked back at her.

"I can't find my boxers."

She smirked and reached down before standing up again and throwing his checkered black and red boxers at him. He grabbed them after they hit him in the face.

"Thanks," he said as he slipped them on under the bed comforter before shoving the blankets to the side and climbing out of bed. She looked at him and said nothing for a minute and if he didn't know any better he'd say she was checking him out. Biting back a smirk, he asked

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing." She answered quickly. Too quickly. He chuckled lowly.

"Okay," he said, sounding unconvinced as he cracked his knuckles. She flinched at the noise. It sounded like marbles falling on a kitchen floor.

"That's disgusting," she said.

"You do it all the time."

"Nuh uh just sometimes."

"Haha sure. So where are you making me go with you?" Troy asked, sitting back down on the side of his bed, letting his elbows rest on his knees and deciding it was time to change the subject.

"I have to pick up some pie my parents ordered for Steph and Tad's housewarming party today." Sharpay explained, eyeing him as he sat back down.

"Housewarming party?" Troy repeated, confused. "When did they move?"

"I guess recently," Sharpay said. "Or they're moving in soon. I don't know, I just heard about it today when Ryan called me while you were still asleep."

"Where's it at?"

"I guess still somewhere around their old neighborhood, but it's an actual house and it's supposedly really nice."

"Well who paid for it?" Troy wondered.

"My parents..." Sharpay said slowly. Why did that information matter?

"Yep it's nice then."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Sharpay went on speaking with another change of subject. "Anyway, you should come to the party with me."

"I have to work." Troy reminded her, "and since you said it's still around their old neighborhood. Well, that's over an hour away, huh? I wouldn't make it back in time."

"Fine," Sharpay said unhappily, walking over to his bedroom door, "ditch me for McDonalds. I see how it is. Well hey, maybe you can bring me back a yogurt parfait. It's the least you could do," she finished with a smirk on her face, obviously joking around. Troy smiled at her from across the room.

"I'll be sure to remember that," he replied.

"Good. But in the meantime, I'm gonna go home and get ready real quick. I'll be back in like an hour and you better be dressed," Sharpay said, glaring at him since he was sitting back down again. "And showered!"

"Will do, mommy." Troy said sarcastically, standing up again, still clad in only his boxers. He went over to her and gave her a parting hug, whispering in her ear "and thanks for yesterday" before pulling away, figuring it should be brought up somehow. It was kind of weird waking up the next morning and acting as if nothing had even happened even though everything had. She gave him a small smile.

"It was your birthday," she replied simply. He nodded slightly, confused.

My birthday. Right.

Was that the only reason she'd done it? Because it was his birthday? Or was she even talking about what exactly went down between them like he was? Had she thought he'd just meant "thanks for the gifts you got me and for spending time with me yesterday?" because that's not what he'd meant. Those things were certainly kind of her, but he meant "thanks for yesterday" as in "thank you for an amazing night and leaving me not a virgin anymore." That's what he'd meant, and he wondered if she knew that.

He watched as she pulled the door open and let herself out into the hallway.

"Remember, one hour," she warned him. "I'll be back."

The second Sharpay was gone, Troy walked back over to his bed and stood next to it, wanting to fall back in it and let himself be consumed by it's warmth and sleep for several more hours. What time was it anyway? He looked at the clock. 10:54. On any other Saturday he would've been knocked out until well past noon.

He sighed, deciding to forget about his wishes of sleep and focus on covering up all evidence of anything sexual taking place in here in case his mom or dad walked in later. For one thing, the bed sheets and blankets were all messed up and twisted this way and that and thrown around everywhere. For another thing, there, next to his bed, lay the dirty, finally used condom in all it's nasty glory. He didn't know if he should smile or shudder because of that because of how germy it was now. Either way, he grabbed a tissue from the box on his desk and carefully picked it up before wrapping it securely in the tissue and stuffing it to the bottom of his wastebasket. After, he stripped his bed fully of the sheets and tossed them in his laundry basket in his closet, deciding he needed fresh ones.

Ten minutes later, after he was satisfied the room was clean enough (minus some of his clothes and various sports magazines scattered about the floor), he crossed the hall to his bathroom, ready to take a shower- carrying along the Sexual Pour Homme shower gel and after shave Sharpay had given him yesterday along with him, of course.

-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

"Boo." Sharpay greeted Troy in her normal everyday voice just over an hour later, welcoming herself into his bedroom without knocking.

"Ah, frightening." Troy responded sarcastically from his place at his desk, used to how she always just walked in like that. He used to do that too whenever he went to her house, but she'd become all paranoid about him walking in her changing at one point when Ryan had apparently walked in on her, so she made everyone knock first now. Troy, being a guy, didn't really care about that kind of stuff. He walked around shirtless around his house half the time anyways. For most guys, the worst case to be walked in on was while they were in the middle of...self pleasing. But not changing.

"Your mom let me in," Sharpay informed him walking over to him and sitting down in his lap as he turned away from his computer to face her. "Just in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't?" Troy responded. Sharpay looked at the computer screen.

"You're on this dumb website again?" she asked, turning her brown eyes back on him in wonder. He stared at her for a moment, letting all her beauty sink in. Her eyes seemed extra chocolatey today. His line of vision fell down to her clear gloss coated lips, and much like earlier, that familiar need and want to kiss her returned itself to him- teasing every part of his brain. He wondered how he'd gone so many years resisting that apparent used-to-be-hidden urgency to do it, because right now, it seemed pretty damn close to impossible.

"Troy?" Sharpay asked in a "hello? yoo-hoo? Anyone home?" kind of voice, "are you OK?"

"I'm fine," the brunette boy responded in an unconvincing voice, turning his head back to look at the computer screen and go on with reading about people's lame and horrendous life stories on fmylife [dot] com. Sharpay had always found that website stupid and a waste of time, while Troy had always found it hilarious and entertaining- besides, the point of it was pretty much to waste your time. It was pretty much designed to do that, but Sharpay still found it dumb anyways. They sat in silence for a little while as Troy pretended he didn't notice her still looking at him as he gazed at the computer screen until finally, Sharpay spoke up again.

"So are you ready to go?" she asked, deciding to forget about his slight sudden distancy for now.

"Sure," he mumbled back in response, exiting out of the Internet as she stood up off his lap and headed for the door.

-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

The car ride over to Sergio's la Dolce Vita Bakery & Cafe was pretty much silent the whole way there as far as the talking went, but the silence at the beginning was filled at first by the sounds of Pitbull's song Hotel Room Service when Sharpay started up the car radio as they were backing out of Troy's driveway.

"-grills in yo mouth trippin up yo blouse,and pull that g-string down south ooooh. OK shawty, 1's company, 2's a crowd, and 3's a party. A girl ain't with it, I got somebody, in my nature she's naughty. Now gimme that sweet, that nasty, gushy stuff. Ima tell you what we gon' do, 2 plus 2, i'm gon' undress you. Then we gon' go 3 and 3, you gon' undress me-"

Troy cringed at the lyrics of the song, having another one of those quickie quick flashbacks of last night with Sharpay at the whole "undressing" part of the song. Not wanting to think about that right now- how amazing she was, how perfect or sexy or kinky or freaking fantastic she'd been the way she'd moved both on top of and underneath him so breathtakingly- not with her sitting right next to him, he quickly leaned forward and changed the station as fast as he could.

"Why'd you change it?" Sharpay asked him as Lady GaGa's LoveGame filled their ears. Troy shrugged, keeping his eyes focused on the road.

"I don't like that song," he answered.

"Fine. This one's better anyway," the blonde girl answered and started to sing along.

"-some heavy touching yeah, you've indicated you're interest I'm educated in sex yes, and now I want it-"

Troy scoffed and once again changed the station. He should've figured Lady GaGa's songs were all about sex.

"Hey! I happen to like LoveGame!" Sharpay exclaimed as the disgruntled boy next to her ignored her protest and flipped through the stations for something else to listen to. Anything else.

"-awfully crazy, i danced my ass off and this one girl completely naked-"

Good God! Okay, anything else but that.

Damn you, Asher Roth, thought Troy as he multi tasked in pressing the channel station change button while at the same time driving.

"-irst I'm gonna take a dive into the water deep until I know I please that body-"

Or that. Especially not that. That song almost described his situation perfectly.

"Troy, just pick a station." Sharpay huffed, staring out the car window on her side. What was up with him today? He usually liked these songs....with the exception of weird pop GaGa music, anyways. But Sharpay liked her and would've been perfectly fine with listening to LoveGame. But Troy disagreed.

"I'm trying," he responded, still fumbling with the car radio buttons until he found a new station. This had to be the one.

"She be jumpin up and down, tryna fit that ass in, took her half an hour, just to get that belt to fasten, all they want to talk about is partyin' and fashion, every single night I have a dream that I am smashin-"

Or not. He changed it again, a million miles past aggravated at this point. There had to be something better then all this dirty sex music (which, under other circumstances, he'd probably be rapping right along. But not today)

"-on the dashbord, look at the mess we made tonight. Kick off your stilletos, kick off your stilletos and f--- me in the backseat, f--- me in the ba-"

But it wasn't that. He changed it again.

"-nts to touch me woah, she wants to love me woah, she'll never leave me wo-"

Not that either. The radio station was once again changed for the eighth time to, of course, no one other then Hollywood's one and only Britney Spears.

"Say what you want about me, but all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy! Love-"

Oh for the love of Christ!

He switched it again.

"-that I, could make you believe in love and sex and magic! So let me drive my body aroun-"

"Troy just pick a friggin' station!!"

Sharpay's outburst was quickly followed by an even worse one from Troy as he finally shut off the darn stupid radio, giving up:

"GAH! ARE THERE NO SONGS IN THIS WORLD THAT AREN'T ABOUT FUCKING!?"

The atmosphere in and around the car remained dead silent the rest of the way there.

-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

"Here," Sharpay said, approaching the table where Troy had seated himself at and handing him his cinnamon roll along with a cup of regular black coffee. They'd already both sat down after ordering their food, and Sharpay had been the one to get up and go get both their orders when the worker called their number. They decided- well, more specifically, Sharpay decided that they should eat here at the bakery/cafe first and then pick up the pie for her parents, Tad, Steph, and whoever else was at the housewarming party on their way out.

"Thanks," Troy said, pushing his cellphone that he'd set on the table away to make room for his breakfast. Sharpay nodded and slid into the opposite side of the booth with her croissant and cold caramel mixed coffee drink.

"So," she began as Troy tore into his cinnamon roll. He waited for her to continue but when she didn't, he glanced up at her and discovered that she was staring at him, not even touching or looking at her own breakfast.

"What?" he asked , taking a sip of his coffee to wash down the large bite of sweet icing coated bread he'd just taken.

"..What was up with you in the car?" Sharpay asked slowly. Carefully- studying him as if he were some fascinating exhibit at a science museum.

"What do you mean?" Troy asked, playing dumb as he continued eating away at the warm cinnamony pastry in front of him. Sharpay still hadn't taken a glance at her croissant. She leaned forward with her arms crossed over each other on the table.

"You know what I mean, Troy," she said. And when he stared at her all confused and adorable with his bright blue eyes and gave her his best "I-have-no-idea-what-you're-talking-about" look, she sighed.

"The angry outburst? The repeated changing of the music stations?" she asked, "what was that about?"

Troy shrugged and continued eating. "I didn't like those songs. Is that supposed to be a big deal?"

"It's not supposed to be anything." Sharpay said, her leaning forward and crossed arms position still true. "But you never had a problem with those songs before. Remember? I showed you the song I Love College. You said you liked it back then."

"Well maybe I was lying back then." Troy snapped at her. "Or maybe I just didn't feel like listening to it. Why does it even matter?"

Sharpay let out a small scoff of disbelief and leaned back against the cushion back of her seat, shaking her head at Troy.

"What's your problem lately? You just keep freaking out on me about stupid things- like yesterday with the whole job thing," she said, finally eyeing her caramel blended drink but not reaching for it. She only looked at it for a moment before snapping her eyes back up to Troys, whose eyes had turned blank and a blue-ish grey-ish color instead of their usual beautiful cerulean shade.

"If it's so stupid, why mention it?" The 17 year old challenged, stuffing a piece of his delicious fluffy pastry into his mouth with his plastic fork.

"Because I need to know what's wrong." Sharpay answered. Troy shook his head.

"You don't need to know anything," he said, "you want to."

"Fine! However you "want to" phrase it, just tell me what's up with you." The still 16 year old girl said, growing tired of his annoyance at her lately. He never used to get mad at her, but now it was like- every little thing she said, he either grew all silent, or annoyed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Troy said, "cut it out with the sensitivity bullshit."

"Stop." Sharpay said.

"What?"

"Don't cuss at me," she commanded.

"Don't nag at me," he shot back.

"I'm not nagging," Sharpay insisted defensively, "excuse me for caring."

"Again with the sensitivity bullshit." Troy remarked, reaching for his coffee for he'd finished his cinnamon roll. He looked at her uneaten croissant.

"Gonna eat that?" he asked her, gesturing to it with his head. She stared at him for a minute before standing up and grabbing her drink.

"I'm getting the pie," she told him, "hurry up. I'll be in the car."

Without bothering to wait for a reply, she turned and started away from the table.

You're kidding me, Troy thought.

"Why are you always walking off?" he called after her. She turned back and looked at him, but said nothing. Instead, she sighed and crossed her arms, knowing somehow that was not all he had to say.

"If you're just doing that again to get me to chase after you- it's not gonna happen this time," he told her. "I'm sick of you acting so spoiled."

Trying not to let the half-insult bother her, Sharpay fired back with an equally pissed "and I'm sick of you acting like a girl with your mood swings lately."

You PMS like a bitch, as Katy Perry would say, she thought to herself.

"I don't even know what this argument is about!" she then exclaimed. "It's sooo stupid."

"Then go ahead on back to the car," Troy snapped angrily at her. "Just walk away again!"

"Fine." Sharpay spat flatly, whirling around and stomping away, not even caring that she and Troy had just attracted the attention of several of the people dining around them. She stopped at the front counter on her way out to pick of the pie order, ignoring people's staring eyes, before heading back outside only to discover that Troy's car was locked and he had the keys.

"Damn it!" She exclaimed angrily in defeat, setting the boxed cherry pie on the hood of the car and figuring that it would be stupid to walk back in there and make him give her the keys after the scene they'd just caused, she had no choice but to stand there, leaning against the car, and wait.

-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

Troy came outside only and thankfully about five minutes later. Sharpay heard him snicker loudly upon seeing her standing there all pathetic and alone, and she knew he did it loudly on purpose so she would hear it, but she didn't care.

"Did you enjoy my croissant?" she asked him, her voice sounding sarcastic and snappy as he unlocked the door for her and she climbed inside and slammed the door shut after grabbing the pie again.

"I did actually, thanks." Troy responded half sarcastic and half serious as he jammed his key into the ignition and started up the car engine. Sharpay rolled her eyes and pressed her head against the cool glass window, but didn't respond to that because she wasn't even sure how to. They drove in silence for a few blocks. Troy's house was about two miles from the bakery.

"Take me back to your house so I can get my car and leave." Sharpay spoke up after a while. She heard him grunt rudely from next to her. She didn't turn to look at him.

"That's what I already was doing," he told her impatiently. Still keeping her head pressed firmly against the window, Sharpay snapped back

"Just informing you, just in case."

"Well, I don't need to be re-informed." Troy said brushing her right off his shoulder as if she were an unwanted piece of dust or lint in an uncaring manner. She whirled towards him then suddenly, something about his tone of voice bothering her. She glared at him hard, covering up the hurt that would've been visible in her eyes otherwise.

"And I repeat: what's your problem, Troy?!" she demanded to know. He glanced at her briefly out of the corner of his eye, but didn't reply to her. Oh but she didn't mind, she had plenty more to say. Plenty of more words to roll right off her tongue.

"Yesterday you were all sweet at first," she recalled, "and then a jerk! And then sweet again, and this morning you were fine but now what's up with you? I ask you one question about how riled up you seemed when we were on our way to Sergio's and now look at us. You're acting totally opposite of the way you were last-"

She stopped then, abruptly, the word flow/rant randomly coming to a halt. Troy's grip tightened on the wheel, and his jaw clenched.

"Last what, Sharpay?" he hissed through gritted teeth. She didn't continue.

"Last what?" he repeated, wondering if this could be it- the moment where she finally remembered what had happened between them last night, because she'd been acting completely like it never happened all morning.

She still didn't finished her sentence. So Troy took it upon himself to finish for her.

"Last night? I'm acting opposite of the way I was last night?" His voice was eerie, low and calm, and Sharpay knew that was a bad sign. His voice always got like that right before he blew up on someone. She stayed dead silent, staring without a blink out the windshield, struggling to keep her breathing regular.

"I thought you'd already forgotten about last night." Troy went on in mock tone. "I thought mentioning that was never gonna happen."

"Forget? How on earth would I forget?" Sharped asked him. Yeah right. She was never going to forget it. Never. Especially not only in one day.

"Got me." Troy said coldly, his eyes dead and emotionless as Sharpay dared to look over at him.

"Let me ask you something about last night," Troy deadpanned. Sharpay turned away, not being able to bear looking at him whenever the explosion came.

"Did it mean anything to you!!?? Any freaking thing at all!?!!?"

Was that it- the "explosion"? If so, it wasn't as bad as she'd anticipated, but still. Her eyes flew instantly to his face in shock at his question, and she was surprised to see him looking right back at her rather than focusing his attention on the road. She opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out.

"Well?!" Troy demanded, glancing back at the road for a few seconds before back at her to avoid crashing. "Answer me, Sharpay, did it? Or not? Was I just your screw toy for one night? Did you expect to be mine? What is it? Tell me!"

"I...." Sharpay choked out, "...what do you want me to say, Troy?"

"I want an honest answer, damn it! Why did we do it? What did you think of it- you know, the normal stuff people talk about after doing it. Just tell me!"

"You already know." Sharpay told him, her voice shaky. "You already know why we did it. We went over that last night."

Troy laughed dryly. Bitterly. "And yet, you wake up today, acting like it didn't happen."

"You're the one who made us promise it wouldn't change anything!" Sharpay pointed out to him, remembering their little promise from the previous day. "You said- promise me this won't change anything. I'm going to stay your best friend and you're going to stay mine. I'm just trying to keep my promise."

"By forgetting about it completely?" Troy shook his head in disbelief. "I didn't expect you to do that. I didn't want you to do that, and I didn't think you would."

"Then what do you want me to do? I already told you I didn't forget, but I didn't know what to say about it this morning! It's not like you did, either. You haven't brought it up all day until now when I almost did."

"Yeah, I did." Troy corrected her. "This morning, before you left. I told you thanks for yesterday. Your response was just telling me it was my birthday. What the hell was that supposed to mean?"

"That it was your birthday, what else?"

"So that's it then? You slept with me because of that? Was that supposed to be an addition to the other stuff you got me?"

"Call it whatever you want." Sharpay said, "Call it another gift. But I'll have you know the reason I ever suggested it in the first place. Because I love you, and I thought our friendship would be strong enough to not let it result in some fight. But I guess I was wrong."

"And I suppose that's your way of telling me this is all my fault?" Troy asked as they pulled into his driveway.

"I didn't say that."

"But you did pretty much call me a man-bitch with mood swings. So, no you didn't. You didn't have to, I get it, but you still haven't told me what you even though of it."

"Why does that even matter?" Sharpay exclaimed, wondering why he wanted to know so bad whether he was good in bed or whatever. That was just about the least of her worries right now- whether it'd been a joyful experience or not. They had bigger problems.

"I'm just wondering."

Sharpay sat there for a moment, trying to decide what she should say. If she told him the truth- that he was amazing, it'd probably leave him thinking she had some kind of crush on him now..............................................................................which she didn't. Pshh. Pfft. Pah.

But if she lied and told him he sucked- well, that in itself was rude and needed no further explanation. So she took a deep breath and answered

"Well fine, since you care so freaking much, you were okay. Happy?"

With that, she grabbed the pie in her lap in one hand, the car door handle in the other, and shoved it open as Troy climbed out of the driver's seat.

"Glad our opinions of each other in the sack are the same then." He said to her in regards to her last comment, starting up the driveway to his house. Why give her the satisfaction of actually thinking she was wonderful at sex when according to her, he was just "okay"? What the hell was that?

Sharpay watched his retreating form, clutching the pie tightly in her hands, his last sentence stuck on repeat in her mind.

Glad our opinions of each other in the sack are the same then.

That sentence actually hurt a lot. Far more then it probably should've. Even though she'd told him he was just okay, she didn't think it would hurt him all that much, but now she wondered if it did actually hurt him a lot the way it hurt to get it said back to her. She was actually disappointed that he apparently hadn't thought she was more than just okay. Of course..................his groans last night did say otherwise.

Sharpay shook her head to herself, deciding to forget about that for now.

But was he really just gonna leave her like that? Alone in the driveway and just leave it all unsettled? Before whenever they'd gotten in some kind of dumb fight, it was resolved minutes after. But it didn't seem like that would happen this time. This time, they weren't going to immediately hug, make up, and move on. This time it was different. This time was lasting longer then all the other times. How much longer, Sharpay didn't know. She just hoped not too much. But with no other choice of what to do, she picked the folded up paper containing her sister and future brother-in-law's new home address out of her pocket and crossed the driveway to where her own car was parked. She climbed in and set the pie down on the passenger's seat, unaware of how Troy was inside now watching her the whole time from his bedroom sliding glass doors, and tried not to cry the whole way there.

A/N: Troypay fights are always depressing. :(

fmylife [dot] com- REAL website! It's so hilarious, I go there on a regular basis. Check it out if you haven't heard of it before. You will be hooked.

"Maybe you could wake up Lady Gaga when you "poke-her-face"...- hah. Poke her face. Pokerface. Get it? It took me a minute.

Review? :)

-Serena/HeSaidSheSaidx