Disclaimer: I do not own HSM

After all the excitement at the Bolton house, Sharpay went back to her apartment to get ready for Kaci's dress fitting. She really just wanted to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the couch with a good sappy movie so she could let the events of the previous twelve hours sink in, but she couldn't blow off one of her closest friends.

She opened the door to her second bedroom which served as a studio to house the dresses she made. The wedding dress was currently being worn by a mannequin. Sharpay gave it a once over; the gown was nearly complete even though Jason had only proposed last week. She had started on it a year ago on a whim, when Kelsi saw the sketch and encouraged her to make the dress. When Kaci caught sight of it on a visit to Sharpay's apartment, she insisted it be hers. The fitting today was to get the dress fitted on Kaci so Sharpay could get started on the alterations right away.

The buzzer went off a few minutes later indicating Kaci had arrived. Sharpay let her up and told her to let herself in. She had just grabbed a Diet Pepsi from the fridge when she heard two voices in her living room. She was surprised to find Jason standing there with Kaci.

"Hey guys," she greeted with confusion in her voice.

"Don't worry Shar, Jason was just leaving." Kaci went to push him towards the door, but he wouldn't budge.

"Jase, you know it's bad luck to see the dress before the wedding day."

"I'm not here for the dress. I'm here for Troy since he stayed over last night." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

That gesture earned him a smack upside the head from Kaci and gasp of horror from Sharpay.

"Ha, I told you he stayed the night!" He pointed his finger excitedly at Kaci while jumping up and down like a five-year old.

"Good-bye Jason." Kaci shoved him out the door and locked it once she closed it. "Sorry about him," she sighed.

Sharpay shrugged her shoulders. "It's Jason. I've learned to ignore him. You will too in due time." She patted her friend's shoulder affectionately then headed off towards the studio.

Kaci placed her purse on the couch then followed. "So was he right?" she asked excitedly while standing in the doorway with her arms crossed.

Sharpay turned to face her with a guilty smile on her face.

The brunette's eyes lit up. "Oh my god! You guys totally did it last night!"

Sharpay opened her mouth to protest but was cut off.

"It's written all over your face so don't even try to deny it."

The blonde's cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

"So what's the story with you two now? Is he gonna move in?"

"You're the second person to ask that today! Undress so we can get this dress on you."

Kaci went to change behind the curtain that was set up in the corner. "You didn't answer the question." She came out wearing the slip she had been told to bring and was immediately attacked with the gown. She stepped into it as Sharpay carefully held it open.

After zipping it up, she responded. "No, Troy is not moving in anytime soon. Though Jack appeared to be in a hurry to get him out of the house." She met the brunette's gaze in the mirror, who was admiring herself. "This looks so great on you."

"Doesn't it?" Kaci did a little twirl, causing the gown to flow out along the bottom. "I bet Lucy freaked when Jack suggested Troy leaving."

Sharpay was looking at Kaci from across the room to check the length of the dress. "I'm gonna have to make this a little longer so you can wear heels with it."

Kaci glanced down and saw that the gown was indeed the perfect length with no shoes so it would need to be lengthened. "You're right."

"And Lucy didn't freak," Sharpay added as she handed off a pair of heels, "but you could see in her eyes the panic of having him leave the nest again."

"That's understandable after him being gone for so long, but she does know she'll have to let him go eventually, right?"

"Oh she can't wait for the day to call me her daughter-in-law officially."

"Even though you basically are a member of the family already."

Sharpay gave Kaci a look that indicated she knew she was right. "Jack let it slip that Troy was planning to propose."

"No way!" Kaci gushed. "That is awesome! You guys should so get married! When is he gonna pop the question?"

"Calm down. It's not happening anytime in the immediate future. We haven't even been back together for twenty-four hours yet."

"Phish," Kaci waved her off, "you guys were still so together during that six year separation. You turned down hundreds of guys, or when you did accept a date, it ended after one because they didn't compare to Troy. And I know for a fact that Troy never even so much as glanced at another girl while he was in North Carolina."

Sharpay placed her hands on her hips defensively. "And how would you know that?"

"Because he told me." Kaci replied as if it were obvious with an eye roll. "I told him that if he ever hurt you, especially if whatever trashy baggage he left behind turned up again, I would kick his ass, and he assured me that was never any girl but you on his mind the entire time."

Sharpay didn't bother responding because she knew Kaci wouldn't make something like that up. She could always tell when someone was lying. There would be no way for Troy to let anything slide past her.

"Well this is just fabulous!"

"Yeah, you look amazing in this dress."

"Not the dress, goofy. You're gonna get engaged in the near future, and your fashion career is about to take off. You're just getting started, sweetie."

"I'm hoping my fashion career will take off. The critics have to like the dress first."

"They'll love it especially after it's featured in the January issue of Vogue."

Sharpay stopped pinning the back of the dress and met Kaci's gaze in the mirror. The brunette had a goofy grin plastered on her face. "Did you just say Vogue?"

"Yup, the editors have been begging me to do a feature on my wedding preparations. I agreed under the condition that they feature my dress designer as well, and they were more than happy to oblige. They want to do an article on just you."

"Oh my god! No way!"

"Way! You're finally going places."

Sharpay was ecstatic with the news. She hugged Kaci in excitement, briefly forgetting the dress now had about a dozen pins stuck in it until Kaci cried out in pain. She couldn't believe she was going to be in Vogue. She was finally going to be the designer she always aspired to be.


Troy was not thrilled to be woken up from his mid-day nap by his ringing cell phone. He checked the caller ID to see if it was Sharpay, the only person he would interrupt his nap for, even though she was the reason he was sleeping in the first place. He had stayed awake the entire night just watching her sleep in his arms to make sure it was not a dream that he would have to wake up from.

Seeing it was Jason, he hit ignore, put the phone on silent then rolled back over and went back to sleep.

Fifteen minutes later his pillow was roughly pulled from beneath his head and he was smacked with it. "What the hell?" He sat up to discover Jason standing in his room, holding his pillow. "What are you doing?"

"Waking your sorry ass up. Is there a reason why you're asleep in the middle of the day?" The question was more suggestive than an inquiry.

"Yes Jason, Sharpay and I are together now go back home and let me sleep." He ripped his pillow from Jason's hands.

"No, Kaci is off at Sharpay's for some dress fitting so we're gonna have a guys' night."

"It's 4:00 in the afternoon."

"So we'll get started a little early. Get up! We'll go shoot some hoops just like we did in the old days." He picked up a basketball from the floor and twirled it on his finger.

Troy got out of bed begrudgingly. He stuffed his feet into his gym shoes then grabbed the ball from Jason's finger and walked out of the room.

"Hey!" Jason called after him.

Troy just ignored him. He went downstairs, through the living room and kitchen and went out the back door to the basketball court in the backyard.

After watching Troy make a three-point shot, Jason stepped up for his turn. He went for a three-pointer too, and the ball went through the net with a swish. "Gotta love that sound," he sighed.

Troy caught the rebound. "Yeah, I miss my days on the court." The ball sailed through the air and landed in the net for another three-pointer.

Jason grabbed the ball as it fell. "Then why did you give it up?" He went in for a lay-up and caught his own rebound.

Troy gave a look that said "Isn't it obvious?"

"Sharpay," Jason answered matter of factly.

"Yeah, I turned down the L.A. Lakers for her." He stole the ball from the distracted Jason.

"Now's that love." His voice was filled with admiration.

Troy shrugged his shoulders. "It wouldn't be right to play professionally if I didn't have her by my side. I had several offers over the years."

"And you turned all of them down for her!?"

"Not exactly." Troy moved the orange ball from hand to hand nervously.

"What do you mean?" Jason could tell the conversation was taking a serious turn, and he had a feeling about what Troy was going to say.

His feeling was correct when Troy began explaining where he had been for the past six years. The boys sat down on the court. The basketball was long forgotten on the lawn. Jason just listened intently and nodded at the right times. He always knew Troy had a good reason for up and leaving without a goodbye. He just couldn't understand why Coach Bolton insisted it be that way.

When Troy finally finished, Jason glanced at his watch. "The Lakers are on in twenty minutes. Wanna head over to Murphy's and grab pizza and a beer?"

"Sure."

Before leaving they performed their secret handshake that they created in third grade then gave each other a manly hug. It was their silent way of saying the past was now behind them.


Kaci and Sharpay decided to have a girls' night in to celebrate the Vogue feature. They cracked open a bottle of red wine, ordered a pizza and put the latest Kellan Lutz movie in the DVD player. With their men not around, they needed some eye candy to drool over.

The buzzer rang twenty minutes later. Assuming it was the pizza delivery boy, Sharpay let them in without asking who it was. She unlocked the door so she could easily open it to receive the pizza. Both she and Kaci nearly jumped out of their skin when the door opened five minutes later.

"Hey girls!" Jason's smiling face greeted as he walked into the living room holding a twelve pack of beer.

Kaci chucked a pillow at him. "You scared the shit out of us! Don't you know how to knock?"

Troy followed in, narrowly missing getting hit by the pillow Sharpay had thrown at Jason's head. "Whoa, hold your fire! We brought you ladies dinner." He held up two pizza boxes. "And you really shouldn't leave your door unlocked, Shar. Anyone could walk in here." He placed the boxes on the coffee table and sat down in the arm chair.

Sharpay huffed and rolled her eyes.

"What!?" Both guys yelled at the same time.

"We thought you were the pizza guy when the buzzer rang. I unlocked the door so I could just grab our food and send the dorky teenager on his way. We freaked when the door just opened. Then it was you two doofuses walking in." She smacked Troy with a pillow in the arm.

He feigned pain, though he hadn't felt a thing to humor Sharpay.

"Yeah," Kaci agreed though she directed it towards Jason. She gave him an elbow to the stomach.

"Well sorry," he groaned, "we were just trying to do something nice for our girls."

The obnoxious sound of the buzzer ringing again, prevented either girl from coming up with a retort. Sharpay got up again and asked who it was before letting them up to make sure it was the pizza this time. It was and minutes later a third pizza was added to the table.

"Guess we all had the same idea," Troy mused.

"Are we just going to stare at the boxes or are we going to eat the food?" Jason asked as he salivated over his favorite aroma.

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "I'll grab us plates and napkins before Jason drools all over the pizzas." She got up and headed to the kitchen. She returned with paper plates and napkins and another bottle of wine for her and Kaci. "Try not to get anything on my couch, Mr. Cross," she warned as she handed him a plate.

With the boys distracted by the pizza and beer, Kaci held up her glass to Sharpay who was refilling her own. "So much for an evening with Kellan Lutz."

Sharpay laughed and nodded her head in agreement before grabbing the remote and putting the Lakers game on the TV for the guys.

Once all three pizzas were polished off, Sharpay started cleaning up because she couldn't stand a mess. Troy immediately put his beer down and started helping. She gave him a smile of gratitude which he gave a wink back to.

Alone in the kitchen, Troy took the opportunity to properly greet his girlfriend with a hello kiss.

"What was that for?" she giggled.

"I didn't get a chance to do it earlier when I came in."

"Oh." She couldn't finish her sentence because his lips were on hers again.

He pulled away with a satisfied smile. "And that was an apology for ruining your evening with Mr. Hot-shot Hollywood. We didn't mean to crash your girls' night."

"Yeah, what happened to your boys' night?" She stuffed the pizza boxes into the garbage bag he was holding open.

"Murphy's was packed so we just grabbed a couple pizzas and twelve pack for ourselves before heading over here to surprise you girls."

"That was very sweet of you, even if you did scare the crap out of us and interrupted our celebration."

"Walking right in was all Jason. I merely followed." He held up a hand in defense. "And what celebration?"

Sharpay met his curious eyes with her sparkling ones. "My dress is going to be featured in Vogue! Well Kaci's dress designed by me, but whatever I'm gonna be interviewed by the greatest fashion magazine out there!" She clapped her hands excitedly.

"That's awesome, baby!" He dropped the full garbage bag and pulled her into a hug. "Congratulations!"

"I can't believe it! My fashion career could be potentially starting!" she squealed.

"No, you're fashion career is starting." Troy replied sternly though he had a huge smile on his face.


Troy and Sharpay laid in her bed wide awake holding each other close after their personal celebration of Sharpay's news.

Sharpay was drawing lazy circles on Troy's chest as she thought about her future. "You know what?" she asked after a few more moments of silence.

"Hmm?" Troy was about to fall asleep before she started talking.

"Maybe you moving in isn't such a bad idea after all. I mean you'll probably be spending most nights here anyways so why not?"

Troy was now fully awake again. "I was actually thinking about that."

"You were?"

"Yeah, and I think we should wait."

"Oh." Sharpay didn't hide her disappointment.

"Because I think we should shop around for something bigger so we won't have to worry about it later when we're trying to figure out where to live after our wedding."

Sharpay turned around to face him, slightly pushing herself up. "What do you mean by bigger?"

"Like a condo or a starter house, somewhere so we could get a dog."

"A dog, huh? That's quite a commitment."

His chesire grin broke out on his face. "I just said we should start looking at houses together and you're worried about my wanting a dog?" He started twirling a stray curl of her hair around his finger.

"Not worried, just surprised. You're really in this for the long haul."

"And you're not?"

"Are you kidding me? I want it all!" She kissed his lips.

Troy gave a brief chuckle. "I love you, Sharpay Evans."

She snuggled back down against his chest. "I love you too, Troy Bolton."

Well there you have it, another chapter. It a little uneventful, but things are about to get juicier!!!

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