Chapter 6: Messages
Los Angeles
God, it was like watching a train-wreck happen.
Sharpay had her arms tightly wrapped around the sandy-haired boys' waist. He was clinging onto her too; his head buried in her golden hair.
Jesse grimaced and took hold of one of Sharpay's arms and gently pried her off Troy.
"Well, this has been cute." Jesse smiled fakely. "You must be Troy. I'm Jesse. Sharpay's best friend. And we are late for lunch; so we'll be seeing you."
With that, he gave Sharpay's arm a stiff tug as he turned away from Troy's bemused expression. He felt a tug back as Sharpay resisted. She pulled her arm away from him and barely even registered what he had said. Her mind was too busy spinning. She couldn't take her eyes off Troy. It was like she'd seen a ghost. He was looking back at her, knowing the effect he'd had on her; the way he'd made her heart stop beating, made her lips go dry and her legs turn to jelly... and he was smirking slightly. He was pleased. She was overwhelmed.
"Wha-how?" She shook her head in bewilderment at him as she felt tears sting her eyes. "How are you here?"
Now it was Troy's turn to be confused. He frowned slightly. None of this seemed to make sense. Sharpay was genuinely surprised to see him. Had she not taken Ryan seriously?
"I told you I'd come." He smiled sheepishly. "I mean, I told Ryan. Ryan told you. And now here I am."
Oh shit. Jesse sighed as he watched everything deteriorate before him. Well, now I'm fucked.
Sharpay looked at Troy with confusion, not comprehending.
"No..." She shook her head, her blonde curls bobbing. "I... I didn't. I didn't get anything from Ryan."
She looked at Troy and their eyes met. A look of anger and annoyance flitted across Troy's face.
"He said he'd pass on my messages." Troy frowned. "I mean..." Troy was about to speak when he stopped and looked over at Jesse. He suddenly felt uncomfortable. He looked at the dark-haired boy with unease.
"Um, can we do this somewhere more private?" He asked Sharpay, trying not to meet Jesse's glares.
"Yo, fairy, we got lunch plans." Jesse stated impatiently. "Come on, you don't keep The Ivy waiting."
Sharpay looked at Jesse in annoyance. He really was ruining this reunion for her. Then again, it wasn't much of a reunion. She was so mixed up right now at what she felt. What the hell was Troy doing here? She was finally starting to be OK without him, finally starting to find some focus in her life and accept the fact that he was riding off happily into the sunset with Little Miss Goody Two Shoes and Goody Two Shoes Junior. Then again, the minute she felt his skin on hers, felt his breath on her neck, those penetrating eyes meet hers... reason and logic went out of the window. She needed to talk to him, sort this out, sort her head out... away from Jesse.
"So go." She frowned, hoping he'd get the message.
"What?" He looked at her in shock. "I'm not lunching at The Ivy alone! It's a table for two. You know how lame that'd look – especially at The Ivy!"
"So we'll go." Sharpay smiled.
"WHAT?!" Jesse's mouth fell open in shock.
"See you later." She smiled widely and hurried into her car, digging out her keys. Jesse looked at her with wide eyes and shook his head.
"No, no you don't!" Jesse grimaced.
Troy chuckled a little; Sharpay didn't need to tell him what to do. He quickly threw his bags into the backseat and then hopped into the front seat beside Sharpay as she started the engine.
"Not if I fucking beat you there!" Jesse yelled as he started sprinting towards his car; digging his keys out of his pockets.
Sharpay pulled out and onto the road just as Jesse got into the driver's seat. She hit the gas pedal and they were off. Troy found himself laughing. Sharpay gave him a sidelong glance and then found herself laughing too. As their eyes met, their laughter slowed and then the silence became awkward. Sharpay quickly looked away and up into the rear-view mirror. Just as she turned the corner of their road; she saw Jesse finally pull out to the road.
"I think we might beat him." She smiled a little; keeping her eyes on the road.
"What's his deal anyway?" Troy asked, taking a quick look behind them.
"He's... complicated." She still smiled. "He's a good friend though."
"That's good." Troy nodded a little.
Then the talk thinned down again as Sharpay found herself stuck in traffic. Hopefully the same traffic will push Jesse further back.
"Listen, I, uh..." Troy started to speak up but then stopped, uncertain of himself. "I'm sorry for today. I didn't mean to spring up on you, especially seeing as you already had plans..."
"It's cool." Sharpay replied, not daring to look at him. She was too nervous. "Ryan has some serious explaining to do. I haven't even heard from him in days."
Troy raised an eyebrow now. He had felt anger before at Ryan's incompetence and blatant lies but now it seemed like Sharpay was even more ignorant about the drastic change of events that had occurred than he had previously thought. This made him nervous. How did he say this to her face to face? Of course, the idea that the baby might not be his was one of optimism but what if it turned out the baby was his? Then he would have put Sharpay through that whole rollercoaster of emotions for nothing. She seemed alright sitting here, knowing that he had a biological son back home in Albuquerque. She didn't seem... Well, he couldn't really judge. He sighed. He would tell her over lunch. At the Ivy. The Ivy. He found himself smiling.
"So lunch at The Ivy, huh?" He smirked. "That's... impressive."
Sharpay found herself giggling. "It's really not."
"Isn't that where all the big Hollywood stars go to eat?" He pondered. "Must be hard to get a reservation. You must be doing something right out here."
Oh, God. Sharpay thought. If only he knew the half of it.
Yet, she had no intention of telling him. He could be free to wonder away with his imagination about how great life was for her here and how easily things came for her out here. It was selfish but a part of her wanted to make him feel jealous; it wanted to make him feel like he had missed out. So she just shrugged nonchalantly and kept her eyes on the road as they turned another corner. They had been traffic free for the last few blocks. It looked like plain-sailing to lunch.
"Well, I'm glad... you know, that you're doing OK." He stated sincerely. "You really deserve it, Shar."
She felt herself melt at his words. A sadness struck her chest. As she pulled into the parking lot; she could see a glimmer of sadness in his eyes and something else... he looked really, really tired. Not just tired in the sense of jetlag but just... emotionally drained. For the first time, she allowed herself to consider how hard the last two months must have been on him. It was a thought she'd blocked out of her mind as she had refused to let herself feel any sympathy for him but now as she watched him undo his seatbelt and pull open the passenger side door to step out... she felt her chest tighten. She just wanted to hold him and never let him go. She wanted to make everything better.
She felt her throat tighten and tears sting her eyes. She swallowed hard as she unclipped her seatbelt and stepped out; grimacing. She wasn't going to start blubbering. No, she couldn't do that.
"Looks like we beat your new best friend." Troy chuckled, looking around the parking lot as they walked towards the restaurant. It was beautiful and grand. It screamed 'Hollywood', that was for sure. Sharpay smiled a little.
When they got inside the restaurant; Sharpay gave Jesse's name as the reservation name and Jesse's cell phone number as confirmation. The two were then escorted to a neat table for two at the back. It was nice, cool and intimate. As they sat facing each other, Troy took a look through the menu and raised an eyebrow.
"So I think just ordering the water alone will leave me penniless and broke." He joked.
Sharpay was about to tell him not to worry about it and that she would pay but she knew Troy well. He was too much of a gentleman. He'd probably financially cripple himself trying to pay the bill.
"Don't worry about it." She shrugged. "Jesse has a tab here, we eat here a lot; it'll be charged to him."
It was so easy for her to lie to him now that they had been apart for a few months. She didn't meet his eyes though, knowing her own eyes would undoubtedly give her away.
"So... there's um, some stuff we should clear up that Ryan probably didn't tell you." Troy stated, clearing his throat a little. There was a serious look in his eyes as he put his menu to one side. Sharpay's heart skipped a beat and she suddenly felt scared. What now?! Her mind demanded. She wasn't sure she could take anymore bad news. All of sudden, she was convinced he had come out there to tell her something horrible. Why else would he have flown all the way out here? He had made it clear he wanted to support Gabriella and his baby because it wasn't right to knock a girl up and then run away... so it must be something serious to make him leave Gabriella so soon after their son had been born. She felt like she was going to start hyperventilating. Troy noticed and his hand reached across the table and rested above her own.
"Hey." He said comfortingly. "Calm down. You look terrified."
"I am terrified." She sniffed, looking down at the table and shaking her head. "So... what is it?"
"Gabriella's speaking again." He stated. "I mean, a little here and there but um, she's getting there and I think with her therapy; it's really going to help..."
"Oh." Sharpay's heart rate calmed down. That was his big news? Well, maybe it was big for him because Gabriella was so freaking special to him that any progress she made had to be ranted and raved about, she thought bitterly.
"Gabriella kind of um, bought some new stuff to light about her son." Troy looked into Sharpay's eyes. "She slept with Nathan Strong and he might be the father."
Sharpay's mind whirled at the news. Her brain tried to make sense of it but everything seemed to be spinning so fast... and for the second time that day, she was completely and utterly overwhelmed.
"So, we've done a paternity test and the results should be here in another three or so weeks... but I just had to see you in the mean time." He continued, not noticing her mental frenzy. "I-I hope you don't mind, I know you probably didn't want me coming here, messing up the great life you've got... so I guess I've been kind of selfish on my part but... Sharpay? Shar?"
Sharpay looked up at him at the sound of her voice.
"The baby might not be yours?" She repeated. Troy nodded slowly. Sharpay began to cry and shook her head. Concern flitted across Troy's face.
"Why-why would Ryan not tell me this?" She demanded, the tears running down her cheeks hot and fast now. "Why?"
Troy patted her hand gently, gritting his teeth in anger at Ryan as he did so.
"You know now, that's the important thing." He stated.
Now that the initial shock was over; an angry look flitted across Sharpay's face. She snatched her hand away from Troy and dug around in her purse for her cell phone. She was so angry right now... ugh, words could not even describe. She scrolled down her contacts' list until RYAN came up and then hit call. Troy passed Sharpay a tissue and she dabbed at her eyes as she held the phone to her ear; she could hear it ringing on the other end.
New York
"Well, this is nice." Abigail smiled; her brown eyes twinkling.
Ryan was sitting at a table by the window at a Starbuck's with Abigail Berkeley sitting in front of him. The two of them were nursing cups of coffee in their hands and staring out at the street; watching people hurriedly pass by.
"Starbucks?" Ryan questioned and looked around the busy coffee bar. "It's alright."
"No!" Abigail laughed that tinkling laugh and amusement lit up her eyes. "This. Just sitting here and watching other morons in expensive suits run around for once."
Ryan smiled in agreement.
He had left work early today; about twenty minutes after Abigail had hurriedly departed from her office. Cara had, typically, forgotten to pick up his coffee order because she'd gotten a call from her child's playschool telling him no one had come to pick him up and it had sent her into a frenzy; she had called up everyone she knew and begged for them to go pick him up. She had given Ryan a whole lecture on how tough it was to be a single mom because he had dared to question where his coffee was. So he had ducked out of the office early, it was a slow day; he spent most of it on the Internet checking the comments on his new blog from the weekend; so he wouldn't be missed. He had stopped at the Starbucks right opposite his building. A lot of people from his office were there at the end of the day as well as people from neighbouring skyscrapers so he wasn't surprised to bump into Abigail. And now here they were, sitting sipping decaf and swapping life stories.
"So how long do you think you'll be here?" Abigail queried, taking a sip.
"It's an internship, my father owns the company so..." Ryan shrugged. "I haven't really thought about it."
Abigail laughed. "Wow. I think you are very rare, Mr. Evans. I don't meet a lot of men in power suits who don't have the next five years planned out."
"Spontaneity keeps me alive." Ryan answered honestly.
"Hmm." She nodded in agreement. "I never thought I'd wind up doing the nine to five, you know? Yet, here I am. Twenty-eight and stuck."
Ryan almost choked on his coffee. It burnt his throat. Twenty-eight?! She looked twenty at the most. She had a very young appearance... but then he looked into her questioning eyes and saw there was wisdom there, the kind of wisdom gained only through time.
"Y-you're twenty-eight?" He queried.
"Yeah." She said, straight-facedly. "You?"
"Um..." He blinked. "Twenty-four."
She blinked back at him for a moment and then burst into laughter again. That beautiful, infectious laughter.
"I'm kidding!" She shook her head. "I'm twenty-eight."
He sighed the biggest breath of relief. "Oh, good. I'm not twenty-four." He laughed back. He knew it, she looked way too young.
"I'm actually thirty-five but I normally say I'm twenty-eight and I can get away with it." She giggled.
Ryan raised an eyebrow. Was she joking again? No, she seemed dead-on serious. She was thirty-five? What was he thinking?
"So come on." She nudged him playfully. "Fess up. What're your real digits, Ryan?"
"Twenty-eight." He lied, laughing. "But I get away with twenty-four."
"Well, I'm not surprised!" She chuckled and reached for his face. "You have a real boyish charm about you."
As she held his face in her hands and jokingly pinched his cheeks; he looked at her and found his breath was taken away by how beautiful she really was.
A ringing interrupted their moment.
"Ooh, that's you." She smiled, letting go of his face and putting her hands back on her coffee.
It took Ryan a moment to regroup and then pull his phone out of his breast pocket. He flipped it open, not looking at the caller ID; he was still distracted by her.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Ryan? HOW COULD YOU?!" Sharpay's voice came through. Abigail raised an eyebrow at the female voice. Ryan chuckled nervously.
"It's my sister." He stated, covering the mouthpiece with his hand.
"Ah." Abigail nodded; she didn't seem to believe him.
"No, really." Ryan laughed and showed her the caller ID. "Sharpay Evans. She's at UCLA."
"Impressive." Abigail raised an eyebrow and then stood up, taking her cup. "I'll give you some privacy."
She walked over to another empty table, Ryan smiled thankfully.
"Sharpay, what's going on?" He demanded, frowning now.
"Why the hell did you not pass on any of Troy's messages?!" She yelled.
"What?!" Ryan was pissed now. "Is he there right now? Of course I passed them on. I sent you texts."
"I don't have a single text from you for the past few days, Ryan." Sharpay argued. "How could you do this? WHY would you do this?!"
"I wouldn't!" Ryan snapped. "I sent you messages. I have them in my outbox. I'll take a damned picture of them including the time and date if you're that willing to believe I'm a liar!"
There was silence on the other end. Ryan felt furious now. He hadn't wanted to be the messenger because it put him in an uncomfortable spot but he had done it anyway for Sharpay. It pissed him off how she could be so childish and accuse him of something so pathetic. She needed to grow the hell up. He was sick of drama.
"Well then.. what happened to the messages?" She asked, seeming more calm now. "I-I mean I'm one hundred percent certain I didn't get anything."
"How am I suppose to know?!" Now it was Ryan's turn to yell. "You might've deleted them accidentally or I don't know, your new stupid friends might've been messing with your phone, I don't know, I don't care. Goodbye Sharpay."
With that, he clicked the phone off and slammed it down on the table.
Los Angeles
Sharpay opened her mouth to say something when Ryan snapped at her. A moment later, the phone clicked off. She felt like she'd been slapped in the face. Silent tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Ryan was being so mean. It hurt. Yet, something else was pushing its way through her emotions. Suspicion.
Troy was watching her carefully.
"What is it?" He asked. "What did Ryan say?"
"He sent me those messages." Sharpay stated. "I just didn't get them."
"Why?" Troy frowned. "I mean, how could that happen."
"I leave my phone lying around a lot." Sharpay said slowly, feeling the hairs rise on the back of her neck. She didn't like the conclusion she was coming to. It terrified her. It reminded her of the horrors Kelsi Nielson had put them all through last year... but it was the only conclusion that made sense.
"So..." Troy wasn't following.
"Jesse's not a big fan of you, huh?" Sharpay stated with a raised eyebrow. Her face was tear-stained. Troy's face stiffened as her words sank in.
"You think he's been messing around with you..." His fists clenched. "He's been... playing games...."
Sharpay gritted her teeth and she sniffed.
"He must have deleted them." She sighed. "Oh, God. The only friend I make out here and he's a Kelsi Nielson replica!"
Troy's hands banged on the table with a deafening crack that made a few people look over. His face was full of rage.
"I'll fucking kill him."
He stood up but Sharpay grabbed his arms and pulled him back down.
"Stop, stop!" She sat him down and shook her head. "I-I just don't get it... he does so much for me... he's so... nice."
"He's been messing with you head." Troy shook his head. "After everything we've been through... don't make excuses for him. He's sick."
"I-I know." Sharpay nodded in agreement. She was getting shivers up and down her spine. She was just scared. Jesse didn't seem dangerous but she couldn't help but suspect the worst of him... especially after everything she'd been through. Those kinds of emotional scars didn't heal easily. Troy moved over to her and hugged her. There was no awkwardness. Sharpay was too consumed with her thoughts to feel weird about the hug. It just felt natural and right.
AN: Hey, everyone. I just wanted to put in this pesky little note to say a big thank you for your reviews. I know I abandoned you guys for such a long time and I didn't really expect anyone to bother with this story anymore so the fact that quite a few of you did quite so soon and with so much enthusiasm really lifted my spirits. I was on such a high, I managed to write a whole other chapter in half an hour! You are all amazing, thank you and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Oh and... Reviews equal love, people. Yes, they do. When you review (which you will); I'd like your help. A new male character is popping up in Albuquerque and I need a name for him. Suggestions? Thank you.
