Disclaimer: Just because I forgot last time... business lawyer people in suits, please don't sue me! I don't own HSM, the characters, or Apple/Macbook. I do own one Macbook and the plot for Finding Eternity... if that counts for anything.
AN: Okay. I messed up. So on the fake Wikipedia entry, I put the The Shoe premiere in February as opposed to October 19. It is October 19, NOT February... sorry. And the time the story takes place is around September-ish. And happy early Halloween everyone!
...
"Hey, Kels," Lori said, back in their dorm room. Kelsi hurriedly closed the lid of her laptop. Lori didn't need to know why she was Googling Ryan Evans. "Are you free tonight?"
"Um, yeah," Kelsi said. "Why?"
"You see, Henry invited me to go to L'Eau, this hot new nightclub in the city, but I think you should come too. You know, to protect me or something." She delivered the last sentence with a laugh, so Kelsi knew she was kidding. "I mean, come on, right? I've only known Henry for like, a week."
"Are you sure you want me to come?" Kelsi asked. Only a week?, she thought to herself. Yeah, right. As if I didn't see you two making out on the quad yesterday. But she said nothing.
"Totally. It'd be fun. Come on, please?" Lori begged, pouting. Kelsi knew that this was probably one of Lori's plans to make her cool enough to be seen out in public with. But she wasn't busy tonight, and she didn't have anything better to do. "You could work on your composition there."
"I guess I can come," Kelsi agreed reluctantly.
"Cool!" Lori squealed, rummaging through her closet. "Oh my god, wouldn't you look awesome in this? You have to look hot tonight. Not all covered up like you usually are." She held up a bright fuchsia minidress. Really, really mini. Kelsi doubted it would cover her butt if she leaned forward too much.
"No, it's okay." She shook her head. "I can find something from my own closet."
"I have to make you over, though," Lori said. "How are you going to get guys if you're dressed all prudishly?"
"But…" It was no use. To Lori and the rest of the girls in the world, cute clothes were confidence. The more skin showing, the better. Kelsi was probably the only girl who broke the rule.
"He's coming in only three hours to pick us up," Lori said, taking out clothes and holding them up to her face, then tossing them onto the growing pile of rejects on her bed. "And we have to pick outfits and do our hair and makeup."
Three hours later, Kelsi was sitting in the backseat of a tan Honda sedan, wearing a midnight-blue babydoll dress with eyelet lace trim that Lori swore made her eyes look bluer. It reached more than a foot above her knees, so Kelsi had insisted on wearing pants or at least leggings on underneath. So she also had on a pair of dark skinny jeans, plus the killer (literally) black peep-toe stiletto heels that Lori had forced upon her. She'd topped the entire ensemble off with one of her signature hats. Her brown hair was blown dry and straightened, her eyes surrounded by smoky shadow, and her lips coated with shiny gloss. She looked undeniably hot. Too bad she felt exactly the opposite.
"Ready, ladies?" Henry offered Lori his hand and ushered the two girls into the club. Kelsi didn't know how he'd managed to swipe three VIP passes from some random relation of his father's, but the bouncer at L'Eau let them skip the huge waiting line and go directly inside.
As soon as she stepped in the club, Kelsi felt a little sick. She'd never been a big fan of dancing and getting wasted all night, and the most she'd ever drank was a sip of fizzy champagne at her second cousin's wedding. As soon as Lori and Henry disappeared somewhere into the crowd, she wanted to hide from pulsing frantic beat of the music and flashing lights. She clutched the sheet music she'd brought with her apprehensively, wishing the night would end already.
…
He was a coward, of course he was. He had been in New York for four entire hours and he had made no effort to find her. He could have asked the administration staff at Juilliard. He could have asked Troy or Gabriella; both were going to college in California and they still talked sometimes. So why, Ryan asked himself, was his sitting in a booth at some nightclub and not over at her place flirting with her? Because he was a coward, that was why.
And because he would at least let Sharpay be happy, if he couldn't be, and she was the one who told him going to L'Eau was a must.
Flashback:
Ryan Evans was excited. Excited and scared, and most of all, he was nervous. He was barely eighteen, fresh out of high school, and now, four months later, he was sitting in a limo about to walk onto the red carpet. He was attending his very first premiere for the very first movie he had ever filmed. Ryan took a deep breath.
"Come on, Ry," Sharpay urged. She was sitting next to him, watching as he gripped the limo's cushy leather seat. Sure, they had been in many limos before. But she had never seen her brother look so nervous. Not even before their very first performance together back in kindergarten. Because this was big, bigger than anything either of them had achieved yet. "It's now or never. You know I'll be there for you. And seriously, we both know that Finding Eternity is going to be bigger than Harry Potter. So stop looking like you're going to throw up, okay? Go out there and make me proud!" She gave her younger-by-seven-minutes brother an encouraging push.
The chauffeur opened the door for them. This is my moment, Ryan thought. Better take advantage of it. He plastered a huge grin on his face and stepped outside. Sharpay hooked her arm around his and they walked down the strip of red velvet together. They were bombarded with flashes of light from cameras and people screaming—both fans and paparazzi. "Ryan Evans! Ryan Evans! Look this way!" "This is your first movie. Care to comment?" "OhmyGAWD! It's Ryan Evans! Will you marry me?" "What was the experience of filming like?" "Ryan, I heard you graduated from high school five months ago. What are your plans for the future?" "Who's on your arm? Is she your girlfriend?" Even Sharpay had to laugh at that last one. After Ryan had answered the reporters' questions and calmly explained that Sharpay was, in fact, not his girlfriend but his twin sister, they were escorted into the theater. The lights dimmed, and the opening scene of the movie he'd shot four months ago, Finding Eternity, started playing.
One hour and fifty-eight minutes later, when the closing credits of the movie had finished rolling, Ryan and Sharpay climbed back into their limo for the après-premiere party.
"Look," Sharpay said, once they were at the hip nightclub the producers had booked for the party. They were sitting in the back booth in a corner of the club, discussing plans. "This is by far the best thing that has happened to us. I mean, we—okay, you—starred in a red-carpet-worthy movie with Scarlett Johansson! How could you not brag? Not even a little! Let's see: practically everyone at East High thought I was the Ice Queen. Practically everyone thought you were borderline gay. This is our—your—chance to rub it back in their faces!"
"Shar," Ryan said. "I don't think that's the best idea. I'm not going to exploit my fame just to take revenge or for my own personal purposes, okay?"
Sharpay rolled her eyes but nodded. "Do you always have to be the good guy?"
"Yeah," he said, smiling at her. "I guess I do."
Ever since then, Ryan had kept his promise. He never drank, partly because he was underage and partly because he never found the taste of alcohol particularly appealing, he never did drugs, he was never put in rehab. He donated to charity every year and made it a point to call his parents back in Albuquerque at least once a week. But, he thought as he leaned back in his booth at L'Eau not unlike the way he had that fateful day two years ago (although it had been at a different club), if he planned to win Kelsi over with his fame, wasn't that breaking his oath to himself? And besides, would he ever know if Kelsi really liked him for him?
His head hurt, from a combination of jet lag, the pounding beat of the music in the club, and worrying about Kelsi. He sighed and shook his head from the flashback, set his hat on the table in front of him, and ran a hand through his blond hair. Sometimes he wished he could go back to being normal. Maybe then things wouldn't be so complicated.
...
AN: Ooh, cliffie!... sort of. If you remembered, they're both suffering at the same nightclub (L'Eau means "water" in French. I really have no idea how I came up with the name). It's only a matter of time... *evil laugh*. BTW, can anyone imagine Kelsi in a fuschia mini? It's so... un-her. My mind is weird sometimes.
