Chapter 7: Running
Jesse Strange laid back on the pool chair with blue-rimmed Ray Bans shading his eyes. Sitting on the table beside him was a cocktail. He reached for it and pressed his lips around the straw; sipping up the cool drink with a sigh.
"Well, it's official now."
He raised an eyebrow under his sunglasses at the red-head's words. Aliyah was seated opposite him on her own pool chair; sipping her own cocktail. In the background, the pool filter droned on as a pool boy in swimming trunks used a fish-net to scour the water's surface.
It was such a relaxing, lazy Monday evening. A cool breeze was beginning to blow.
"What?" Jesse asked, not really caring about what she had to say.
"You're now a certified joke." She chuckled and sat up on her seat; crossing her bare legs and pulling a jacket up over her shoulders.
Jesse's expression didn't change. He just took another calm sip and gave a satisfied sigh. Aliyah was still giggling at the humour of his situation.
"It's pretty sad, though." She continued, mock-pouting. "The fact that you were messing with her phone... that shows commitment. Idiocy too. But the commitment was there."
Jesse put his drink back on the table and stretched a little bit; trying hard not to hear her. Sometimes he really hated the effect Aliyah had over him. The logical part of his brain would never have told her about his ambition to be an agent and to mould Sharpay Evans into a success – his success. However, where Aliyah was concerned; the logical part of him didn't get a say. Whenever he was with her; he found himself telling her everything; all his plans, all his thoughts and feelings... he couldn't help it; she was a good listener. She mocked and ridiculed everything he said and did. It didn't matter though. It didn't matter because he knew he had a similar hold over her and her ridiculing was her way of dealing with it because she didn't really like the effect he had over her either. Technically... what they had... what they did... it was sick.
"It's cute you were committed." She shrugged. "So how long do you think it'll be until she figures it out and comes over to tear you a new one?"
The minute the words left her mouth; both their ears pricked up at the sound of a squeal of harsh braking and then a slam of car doors closing.
"Oh, show time." Aliyah smirked.
Jesse's teeth clenched. He stood up in a hurry and grabbed Aliyah by the elbow.
"Ouchie!" Aliyah frowned as Jesse yanked her up out of her seat; taking her drink away with the other hand. She was clearly more than a little drunk. He couldn't let Sharpay see her in this state for fear of what she might say... what she might give away...
"What are you doing?!" She whined.
"Get the fuck in the house." Jesse grimaced. "Up the stairs. And shut up. Go!"
Aliyah frowned at him. "But then I'll miss it."
Jesse rolled his eyes and cast a look at the pool boy.
"Hey, do me a favour; get her in the house and keep her there." Jesse stated.
The pool boy nodded and led Aliyah away into the house. She cursed at Jesse as she walked in; annoyed at being handled with kid-gloves.
Jesse pulled off his Ray Bans as he heard the click-clacking of Sharpay's shoes. Here it comes...
She was dressed in the same clothes as she had been when Jesse had raced them to lunch only for them to beat him there. He had then decided to come home and wait it out... and now the waiting was over. It looked like she had come straight from The Ivy.
"So, um, you didn't enjoy the VIP treatment at The Ivy?" Jesse chuckled moronically.
Sharpay's eyes had a murderous look in them and at the same time; a vulnerable look. Jesse didn't quite understand how that one worked but there was definitely some insecurity there. Maybe she and Troy had had a bust-up over lunch too... the thought made him a little optimistic. He knew Sharpay was angry now about having her privacy invaded but she would get over it; it wasn't like he'd murdered someone, jeez. It was a little thing that one day very soon she would forgive him for and then they could go back to the way things were before.
Sharpay, on the other end, was thinking the complete opposite. Jesse had been right to see insecurity glittering in her eyes. He didn't understand the effect his Kelsi-like behaviour had on her or the memories it bought back. Troy was standing behind her, looking over her shoulder and looking extremely pissed off. His hands were balled into tight fists.
"I need to know; have you been deleting my personal messages on my phone?" She asked; her voice shook a little. The seriousness on her face and in her tone of voice, plus the over-protective vibes he was getting from her boyfriend put Jesse on edge a little bit. God, Albuquerque kids needed to lighten up a bit. If she couldn't handle a little bitchy cut-throat behaviour then how was she going to survive in LA where people did a hell of a lot worse? Well, he know what he had to do. He wasn't a liar. This wasn't even a big deal to him.
"Yeah." He shrugged nonchalantly, frowning. "I deleted a coupla messages from your brother in New York."
"You fuck!" Troy lunged forward and Jesse glared at him in confusion. Overreaction, much? Sharpay put a hand to Troy's chest and he stopped dead. She shook her head, indicating 'no' to Troy and then looked back at Sharpay. He could see tears glistening in her eyes.
"How could you?" She demanded. The hairs on the back of Jesse's neck stood up. Oh, God, he was not feeling this guilt trip.
"I'm sorry, alright, but if I could go back in time; I'd probably do the same thing." He admitted honestly. He saw his honesty was just making Troy angrier. He didn't care. The dude looked too pussy-whipped to get violent on him anyway.
"Why?" Sharpay sniffed. "Why...?"
"Look, fairy, don't cry." Jesse shook his head. "C'mon. We're best friends, right?"
"What kinda best friend does this?" Troy spat. "You're playing mind-games with her. Do you know how sick you are?!"
Jesse did know how sick he was. He knew how sick he could be but in this context; he was definitely not sick. He felt defensive now.
"Hey, I wasn't playing mind-games! Hell no!" He looked at Sharpay now. "Sharpay, I wasn't trying to mess with your mind, I swear."
"Then what were you doing?" Sharpay queried.
"We had plans, didn't we?" He asked her. "We're gonna make it big, we've got a focus out here, right? Well, we were at lunch one day and you went to the bathroom; I saw a message alert on your phone; I saw it was about him and... and I thought it was a distraction. I was thinking the best for you."
Sharpay swallowed hard at this; making sense of it. Troy grimaced.
"You can dress it up however you want but you're still a liar and a manipulative one at that." Troy accused. "You're no friend."
"Hey, you're no fucking saint either!" Jesse shouted. "I don't give a shit what you think of me, you're fresh out of Hicksville. What I did was for Sharpay and for her best interests which is more than you're doing for her right now; showing up and messing everything up for her. She's got a life here, why'd you have to come out here and bring her down, huh?"
"Shut up!" Sharpay yelled at Jesse. "Just shut up! It's not true! Stop-stop speaking for me! Stop having my interests for me – I can look after myself!"
Jesse blinked in surprise at Sharpay's rant; hot tears spilled out of her eyes.
Troy barely heard Sharpay's words. What Jesse had said had hit a nerve; it stung him hard in his chest. Jesse was brutal but he was honest. This had been one of Troy's fears. Now that fear had been confirmed. Him turning up like this... it was probably doing more harm than good for Sharpay emotionally; especially if it turned out that the baby was his. God, he was going to put her through it all again; wasn't he? He was suddenly disgusted with himself.
"What you did..." Sharpay blinked back tears at Jesse. "Troy's right, it was manipulative and I-I don't like manipulative people. I-I can't do that again."
"I get it, I'm sorry." Jesse nodded sincerely.
"I-I can't and I fucking won't." Sharpay gritted her teeth; trying to control her tears. "So I don't want you around. Just... fuck off. Stay away from me. You do more harm than good – even when you're trying to be good. You're just warped. Stay away."
Jesse opened his mouth to speak but Sharpay shook her head at him and then lead Troy away. Jesse watched her go and felt like... well, he felt like crying. He could feel the tears stinging his eyes.
So that was the end of that.
"Jesse........!"
He looked over his shoulder to see Aliyah standing by the door. She was giggling.
"Aww, she made you cry." She chuckled. "I can't believe I missed that!"
Jesse sniffed and shook his head. "No one's crying, you're so drunk."
He smirked and walked over to her. She laughed.
Albuquerque
Talking was a strange thing.
Sure, it didn't seem so complicated. It came naturally; our lips move and tongues wag almost unconsciously.
Gabriella had that physical part of it covered. Sometimes she sat alone in her room, with the baby gurgling in its cot in the background; and moved her mouth soundlessly.
It was the words and sound part that failed Gabriella.
She moved her lips but nothing came out. Inside, her mind just froze up. Her heart rate increased. She felt trapped and she couldn't speak.
She had been speaking a little; sure. It had been a grand improvement from no talking at all but as Dr. Hargreaves was telling her now; she still had a long way to go to full speech recovery.
"You know, Gabriella, conditions like yours aren't very uncommon at all." He spoke informingly. He was a middle-aged man with an orange beard and flaming red hair. He wore round spectacles and a white shirt, grey tie and denim trousers. He sat on a comfy chair opposite her.
He had a warm presence about him. Gabriella felt relaxed in his small office. He didn't badger her or rush her. She had spent entire sessions in silence here and never once felt awkward or uncomfortable because he was such a relaxed man with a calming manner about him. Opening up to him came naturally. He was definitely in the right profession.
"Th-they aren't?" Gabriella raised an eyebrow.
"No." He smiled kindly. "It's not a physical ailment that you have here. This is your emotions going out of whack. That's understandable given the severity of your situation."
Gabriella swallowed and took this in. He looked at her and nodded a little.
"With the amount of stress you were dealing with, Gabriella; I would say something had to give eventually." He stated. "I admit it's not the healthiest expression of stress but that is what should be taken as. The good news here is that there is a time to be healthy again. Time will bring that about, I assure you."
Gabriella believed him. His office was lined with diplomas and books. How could she not believe him? She had to. She had to have faith that life wouldn't always feel like this... so draining.
He didn't expect her to respond. That was another good thing about Dr. Hargreaves. He never expected anything so Gabriella never felt like she was letting him down. He now glanced at his clock and Gabriella knew their time was up. She slowly got to her feet and he led her to the door; telling her he would see her next week.
As Gabriella stepped out into the waiting area, she pulled out her cell phone and gave her a mom a text so she could come pick her up. She went and sat on one of the green plastic waiting seats and tucked her phone away in her purse again.
She sat down in an empty seat beside a boy who must have been in his early twenties. He had wavy jet black hair and wore a bright red, tight-fitting tee shirt and denim jeans. He had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep but there was a lively energy in his dark pupils. He looked very much awake and buzzed. Gabriella sniffed a little as he looked at her. She considered that he was probably a druggie. Or an ex-con. All kinds of shady characters came and went by this therapist's office. There were a lot of sick people in Albuquerque; Gabriella was realising.
As Gabriella was deliberating this, she kept her eyes down and her hands in her lap. She didn't notice the boy inch closer to her side and a small smile spread across his lips.
"So, what you in for?" He whispered conspiratorially to Gabriella; making her jump an inch out of her chair and gasp. Her eyes widened and she looked at him with horror. He chuckled a little and leaned away from her again.
"Thought so." He smirked. "You're a druggie, huh. You're jumpy and paranoid. Those are symptoms. We learnt that in health class."
Gabriella looked at him with a shocked expression on her face. He looked at her again and chuckled again. Gabriella was still having trouble seeing the amusing side to it all.
"Not a talker, huh?" He continued just when Gabriella thought it was safe to turn her attention away.
You don't know the half of it. She thought bitterly to herself. Not that she wanted to talk to him. He was just so weird. She didn't need to make friends with people from the therapist's office of all places anyway. God, no she did not need that. She needed to get better herself and leave this world behind.
"It's cool." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll do the talking for both of us."
This time, Gabriella did smile. It was an odd twist of her mouth, a shape and curve that she wasn't used to anymore but somehow managed now to do. He looked at the awkward attempt of a smile on her face and decided against remarking on it. A lot of people in here weren't in the mood for jokes and he realised he came across as a little too enthusiastic. He smiled back.
"I'm Michael." He grinned. "And just so you know; I'm not a patient here. I'm an intern. I'm just on my break."
Gabriella looked at him with a mixture of relief and confusion.
"Y-you like sitting in here on your break?" She cast him a look of disbelief. It was such a depressing place.
"Sure." He smiled. "I find it... peaceful." He leaned back on his seat and smiled wider. Gabriella just stared at him; mesmerised by his attitude. Then again, he had a reason to be so cocky and confident. There was nothing wrong with him. He could just sit back and watch the crazies and loonies being ushered in and out and know he was a million worlds away from feeling the depression they did. He was a carefree onlooker. She envied that.
She almost jumped when her phone vibrated in her lap. She had almost forgotten about her mom. She dug out her phone to see a text confirming her mom was waiting outside. She quickly got up and headed out.
"Same time next week!" She heard Michael call after her. She didn't look back but she did smile a little as she walked out into the sun.
As Michael watched her go; he was also smiling contently.
A moment later, he felt a hand on his shoulder; startling him out of his gazing stupor.
He turned to see Dr. Hargreaves standing behind him. He smiled kindly.
"Hello Michael."
"Hey, doc." He smiled back uneasily.
New York
Ryan grabbed his bag and pulled on his jacket. It was getting late outside. It was peak time. Meaning this was the time everyone seemed to be clocking off from work and heading for the elevators, taxis and subway. Ryan was still in his office. He always tried to beat the peak time rush but somehow always ended up in the middle of it and today seemed no different.
His mind was elsewhere too. He was thinking about how nice coffee at Starbucks had been. How warm her eyes had been. Her laughter was just the best, wasn't it?
"Hey, slowpoke." Cara nudged him playfully as they walked out of their office together and headed for the elevators. "Someone's not running like a madman for their train today."
"Well, why fight what's inevitable?" Ryan sighed; not really in the mood for her playful banter.
"Hmm, and what's that, kid?" She queried, buttoning up her winter coat as they stepped into an elevator that was packed with around twenty people. Ryan grimaced.
"Why run like a crazy person trying to get the early train before every other fucker in a suit gets there and takes up all the seats or why bother running to get everything done so I can finish ten minutes early and get an elevator where it's not packed like a tin of sardines and stinks of farts? Inevitably, I'm going to get crushed by the crowd. Why fight the crush?"
The elevator doors closed just as he finished his sentence. Cara's cheeks turned a shade of scarlet from second-hand embarrassment. She shot Ryan an angry look. Behind them, the people standing in the elevator already were shifting around uncomfortably at his words. One pot-bellied man with grey, thinning hair sniffed at the air.
Ryan saw Cara's malicious look and rolled his eyes.
"I'm not even sorry." He hissed at her. It didn't matter; the elevator was deadly quiet and everyone heard his words. A few seconds of uncomfortable silence passed; Cara bit her bottom lip in annoyance and looked away; then the elevator pinged and the doors mercifully flew open. Ryan was the first to dash out and run. He ran like crazy. He must've looked crazy.
He suddenly felt the urge to run. Mainly, he wanted to avoid a lecture on good-manners from Cara but mostly; he realised despite the inevitability of never catching the right train or bus; he still felt compelled to try. At least he was beating out all the suckers from his office who were probably still standing at the elevator with their jaws on the floor in shock at the crazy kid in a designer suit running like a mad man through the lobby and out of the double doors.
The minute he flew out; he felt the cold wind whip across his face and it re-energised him; his lungs re-filled with fresh air and he kept running. He didn't know how or even the exact point in time when it happened but at some point between his building and the top of the road; he went crashing into someone. It was a real crash. His torso and elbow connected with something soft – a stomach? – and his legs tripped over the other pair of legs – female legs – and those legs tripped over his. He hit the pavement hard. It was cold. He swore under his breath as a sharp pain shot up his right arm with connected with the sidewalk. His vision was cloudy for a moment. He heard people's footsteps. People were actually walking past him. He just had flown across the street with another person and people were just walking by. Only in New fucking York, right?
He groaned as he sat up. The other person was a woman. Her dark hair covered her face as she pulled herself up from the ground. As she pulled her now messy hair back and winced slightly in pain; Ryan recognised who it was. Abigail. Shit.
"Abigail!" He breathed in surprise. She looked at him and looked equally surprised. They were both sitting on their asses on the cold pavement and just staring at each other with incredulity. A man and woman walking by shot them glares for taking up space on the sidewalk. Ryan ignored them.
"I'm so sorry." Ryan shook his head and got to his feet. Abigail, surprisingly, laughed that amazing laugh and let Ryan help her up. He swept up her handbag and held it for her.
"Are you OK?" He sighed. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking, this is my fault – are you hurt?"
She continued to laugh and shook her head now. Ryan was relieved she was taking it so light-heartedly. It meant she probably wasn't hurt either.
"I'm fine..." She smiled. "To think, only a few hours ago we were bitching about breaking away from the rat race and then you come racing into me... You are a liar, aren't you Mr. Evans?"
Ryan's heart speeded up as she looked into his eyes now.
"I..."
"You love being a part of all this, don't you?" She giggled. "You're here for the race. You live for it. I've seen you're type. Power-driven men."
"Oh, that's definitely not me." Ryan corrected, smiling now.
"Oh, then you don't know yourself." She smirked.
Ryan found himself just staring and smiling at her. She was thirty-something. She thought he was twenty-eight. This was so wrong. He didn't care. He was cut off from his emotions. It was easy to disconnect yourself from your heart when your line of work was so impersonal, so heartless.
"So, you're walking me to the subway." She said, entwining her arm through his as they fell into step. He still felt a little sore but that was the last thing on his mind.
"Sure, I was heading that way anyway." He shrugged.
"Oh, that wasn't a question." She smiled. Ryan chuckled.
"I am sorry." He said again after a moment.
"It's my fault too." She smiled. "I saw you running at me, you were kind of a blur. I thought you were going to mug me. I just froze in shock."
"You thought I was going to mug you?!" Ryan laughed.
"I didn't know it was you!" She laughed.
"If that's what you're natural instincts tell you to do in a situation like that then there is something wrong with your instincts." Ryan smirked. "You should've run! I hope you'll run next time."
"Well... my instincts are telling me you should take me to dinner to make up for this." She shrugged. Ryan's heart raced again. "But we're not listening to those pesky things anymore."
"Oh, well..." Ryan hurried. She laughed. Ryan cracked up too.
"Caro Joe's, Saturday night; 7PM." He smiled. "If you feel like listening to those instincts again next time you have a moment of stupidity."
She stared at him; a starry-eyed look in her own eyes. She smiled and her eyes lit up.
"I'm feeling pretty stupid right now." She breathed.
"Lucky me." He replied.
As they strolled arm-in-arm through the busy streets of New York; the crazy man in a plush designer suit running to his next stop felt literally like another man. Ryan felt different, changed... alive... when he was with her. It was nice that there was someone in a city of millions that was like him. Comforting.
Los Angeles
Troy looked around Sharpay's flat. He was seated on the couch in front of the TV. Sharpay was somewhere behind him; rouging around in the kitchen for food.
It was an odd sensation to be sitting there for several reasons. Firstly, there was an air of awkwardness between them due to what had happened at Jesse's house. She had been crying. It had been weird to see her cry and not be able to comfort her in the boyfriend-way he normally would have. So he had just sat in the car seat; hands in his lap and let her sniffle alone. Then there was the fact that now the initial shock of seeing each other again had worn off; the old animosities were surfacing again. There had been a reason why Troy had been away from her for so long and that reason wasn't entirely resolved. The two of them were in limbo about their relationship. They couldn't move forward until they knew what the situation was that they were dealing with and that situation wouldn't be known until the baby's paternity was resolved. Both of them were also too scared to look back into the past because it was just too painful and old, happy memories were now tainted with the pain of the present. So, here they were; sitting in her Los Angeles apartment; miles from what was once home and stuck. Stuck in limbo. Unsure of themselves and unsure of the future.
"I think we'll have to order in." Sharpay spoke after a moment; pulling him out of his thoughts. She came and stood by the couch; holding her cell phone. "I know a decent pizza place."
"Pizza sounds good." He nodded.
Sharpay punched in the number and walked away to her bedroom. He could hear her talking down the phone. She was ordering his favourite toppings. That made him smile a little. The fact that not everything between them had changed; that she still knew him.
A moment later, she came back into the room and flopped down on the couch beside him. "Pizza's going to be another forty minutes."
"That's fine." He replied.
They were quiet again. She trained her eyes on the TV. Her expression was blank but he knew from the sadness in her eyes that she was trying not to bow the pressure of him being here, of her new friend betraying her. He just didn't know what to say. He racked his brain for something to say. Anything. Once upon a time, conversation between them had flowed as easily as water in a river but now...
"You've got classes tomorrow?" He asked sheepishly. She seemed surprised to hear his voice.
"Yeah, um, I've got an early start." She sighed. "And a late finish."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Um.." He looked down at the couch. "I've got a hotel I can go to for tonight so..."
"OK." She replied; nodding in understanding. She was grateful he had made sleeping arrangements because it would have been awkward as hell if he was spending the night. That was one weight off her shoulders.
They sat in silence again. Troy chuckled a little at Tina Fey on 30 Rock. Sharpay looked at him but quickly looked away.
A second later; her doorbell dinged. She almost leapt up and ran to the door; grateful for the distraction.
"That can't be the pizza, can it?" He frowned.
"I doubt it, it's only been ten minutes." She shrugged. She pulled open the door and saw Jesse standing there; a big bouquet of red roses in his hand and a grin on his face. She immediately slammed the door shut on his face in shock. Troy raised an eyebrow.
"Was that... Jesse?" He queried.
Sharpay swallowed hard.
"Was he... was he carrying roses?" Troy asked again.
The doorbell rang again. Sharpay sighed.
"Yeah, it was him." She replied. "He's... weird like that."
"Weird is one way to put it." Troy grimaced. The more he found out about this guy; the more he found himself hating him. Who did he think he was, turning up with roses? Sharpay had made it clear they were best friends and nothing more. He was a nutjob. A Kelsi-clone. He'd proved that too. Sharpay wouldn't bother with him.
He was surprised to see Sharpay resignedly open the door again. Jesse was standing there, still smiling and wearing a smart suit.
"I fucked up bad." He stated. "Really bad. Can you forgive me?"
Sharpay frowned at him. Troy got up and headed over to the door too. Sharpay could feel his questioning gaze on the back of her head.
"You don't even know what you did." She sighed.
"I do!" He asserted. "I hurt your feelings and I'm sorry, fairy. Please accept my apology." He thrust the roses at her chest; beckoning her to take them. She stared down at them. She could see Troy glaring. Jesse was deliberately ignoring him and it was pissing Troy off even more; and Jesse knew it. He was a sly bastard. Sharpay sighed and took the roses.
"You didn't just hurt my feelings." She stated. "You messed with my head. I don't like being manipulated. I've had really... really bad experiences with that in the past."
Jesse looked at her with genuine sincerity. It was starting to fit in for him now. She had overreacted so much because she'd had someone bad do that to her before.
"Yeah, the last nut-job manipulating our friends back home stabbed Sharpay and shot another one of our friends." Troy spat. "So excuse us if we tell you to stick your roses."
He yanked the roses out of Sharpay's hands and shoved them at Jesse; crushing them against his chest. Jesse was shocked by what he heard as more pieces fell together and realised the severity of the situation. No wonder Sharpay was taking it all so seriously.
"Man, I had no idea." He looked at Sharpay; letting the bouquet fall to the floor. "You know I'm not like that."
Sharpay was looking at Troy with an irritated expression on her face. She couldn't believe he had just told Jesse everything. She had wanted to get away from that crap. Why?!
Troy didn't seem to realise. He had his eyes trained on Jesse; firing hatred at him. Stupid men and their stupid egos.
"It's fine." Sharpay stated through gritted teeth. "I know you're too stupid to be that malicious."
"Gee, thanks." His big grin returned. That goofy old grin. "I'm glad to hear that. So we're cool?"
"Maybe." Sharpay shrugged.
"Are you for real?" Troy turned on her. "He can't be trusted!"
Now anger flitted across Sharpay's face.
"I say he can."
"Yeah, but-but..." Troy shook his head. "He's-"
"He's what, Troy?" Sharpay folded her arms across her chest. "You do not just get to waltz back into my life and judge my friends. I can judge for myself just fine."
Troy shut up. He realised he had been letting his emotions get the better of him and he had probably come across as a jerk. He sighed. She was right. He had no right to barge in and disrupt her life. It was too late though; the damage was done.
Troy looked down in shame but could've sworn he saw a smug glint in Jesse's eyes. He still hated that guy.
"Alright." Jesse smiled. "Well, I actually came here because we still have that play we need to see for Drama class. Tonight. Now."
Sharpay suddenly remember The Duchess of Malfi and how she and Jesse were supposed to go. It felt like they had made those plans a million years ago now. So much had happened since that eventful class that morning. It had been a very, very long day.
"Uh, I don't know about that." Sharpay shook her head. She was tired as hell. She didn't think it was worth it.
"C'mon!" Jesse urged. "What happened to giving your classes 110%? This is your chance to get ahead of everyone in our class and impress Szasz. Trust me, nobody has tickets for this show from our class."
Sharpay looked at his eager face. It did sound tempting... He was right about one thing though. She had made a resolution to make the best of the education she was getting here; she was privileged to be at UCLA and it was time to make the most of that privilege. Why should she put all that on hold just for Troy? What happened to Troy and her past not holding her back? She suddenly felt a surge of urgency in her to go out there and succeed – to run away from everything in the past.
"You're right." She nodded.
Troy looked at her in alarm. This Jesse guy was a real piece of work. He had Sharpay bending in all directions for him. He was too scared to say anything to Sharpay though; he had already over-stepped his bounds today.
"What about the pizza?" Troy frowned; hoping she would change her mind.
"You have it." She stated dismissively; already putting her coat on. "You can leave when you're done."
"Bye." Troy stated as she walked out of the door. She didn't reply. She brushed past Jesse and headed down the stairs. Jesse turned and smirked.
"Bye bye." He stated; mockingly.
"You're a real good piece of work, you know that?" Troy stated maliciously at him now that Sharpay was out of earshot. Jesse continued to smile shamelessly.
"Nighty, night." He responded and walked off.
Troy watched him go; a murderous look in his eyes. God, he hated that guy.
He closed the door behind him and went back to sit on the couch. The ending credits of 30 Rock scrolled by on the screen. He sighed. He had been so lonely when he had been in Albuquerque and away from Sharpay. Now he was here; right next to her and he felt lonelier than ever. It was because she was running away from him... and he didn't blame her one bit. What else could she do?
AN: Just wanted to say thank you for the name suggestions – I went with Michael because Michael Jackson did mean a lot to me and it's nice that I can kind of immortalise him in my writing – everyone is immortalising him in their own way and this is my way. So thank you for that one! As well as that; I just wanted to clear up something about Ryan; given the storylines around him up until now you should know Ryan is bisexual. He can attracted to either gender... 'cos he's cool like that. I just thought it would be interesting to involve Abigail as an interest for Ryan considering he is still a teenager but he's been thrown into a very adult world and the only way I think he can survive is by changing everything he was before coming out to NYC.
Anyways, review please =]
PLEASE?
PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE? =]
