A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update!
Thanks so much to my twelve reviewers of the last chapter. Haha. Well, I asked for ten, so here's the next chapter:
Their moment of peace was interrupted by a hard knock on the hotel door. Sharpay jumped in Troy's arms, and turned, staring at the closed door with horrific fear.
"It's okay." Troy said firmly, grasping Sharpay's shaking body by the shoulders and forcing her to look in his eyes, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
Sharpay began to breathe in and out on the verge of hyperventilation, her terrified eyes darting about, a panic attack beginning to ensue.
"Hide!" she hissed.
Troy looked at her like she'd lost her mind, "Hide? You want me to hide? Sharpay, I'm not going to do that. Stop allowing yourself to make decisions based off of fear of this one man."
"He doesn't know about you though!" Sharpay argued, "If he is here and he is really mad, then I'd just be adding fuel to the fire."
"Better it combust now and be done with." Troy said bitterly.
"I don't know if I could handle a combustion." Sharpay muttered.
"From the looks of your bruises, you've handled plenty." he snapped.
He stopped their bickering when he saw the hurt and betrayed look she shot him. A surge of guilt swept over him.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to sound like such a jerk." Troy mumbled.
Again, five loud knocks sounded at the door.
"Excuse me!" someone called from outside, "I have a delivery sent up to this room!"
"Whose that?" Troy asked Sharpay.
She shook her head, "Not my husband. Unless he is the 'delivery'."
Troy squeezed Sharpay's shoulder comfortingly and then walked briskly to the door. He slid the chain latch into place before unlocking the main bolt and cracking open the door. A hotel employee stood at the door, alone.
"Is there a Mrs. Sharpay Brooks in the room with you?" the man asked.
Troy slowly looked back over his shoulder at Sharpay. It was still shocking to hear her referred to as a 'Mrs.'"
"Sharpay Brooks?" He asked.
Sharpay nodded at Troy. "My last name now." she said.
"Right." Troy said, shaking his head.
It was hard to process. Up until now she'd changed a lot, but she'd still been Sharpay Evans, the same girl he'd known since kindergarten. But suddenly he was facing the fact that she really wasn't Sharpay Evans anymore. She was Sharpay Brooks. Married, to a bastard, but nonetheless married, and a different woman because of it.
Troy closed the door temporarily and slid the chain out of the latch before opening it fully. A man dressed in the standard red hotel uniform stood in the hall, boquets of white and pink roses in his arms, while in his left hand gripping a light blue jewlery box, tied with the signature Tiffany's white bow, along with a sealed envelope.
Sharpay hesitantly crept into the doorway, peering over Troy's shoulder.
"Are you Mrs. Brooks?" he asked. As Sharpay nodded, a look of disapproval washed over his face, as if he understood what was going on. A married woman in a hotel room with another man. He raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips as he shoved his load into her own arms.
Sharpay looked down at the gifts, a small smile registering on her face. Troy frowned, jealously coursing through his veins in large angry pulses. How could she smile at a couple of boquets when they stood for remorse of angry pounding fists that had damaged her body only just the night before? Sharpay rushed the flowers and gift over to the dresser and set it down, before hurrying back to the doorway.
"Did someone hand deliver these?" she asked.
The man nodded, "A man walked in and asked us to send those up to a Mrs. Brooks in room 219. We quickly told him that there was no one registered under that name. He asked if there was anyone under the name Sharpay registered in the hotel but there wasn't. We aren't actually allowed to give information as to whose staying in our hotel, but the guy seemed so desperate to make sure you got his gifts and so upset, that we did make it known to him that it was a gentleman currently renting out this room."
Sharpay's eyes widened in alarm and she glanced at Troy, panic restoring in her face once again.
"It's okay." Troy said, taking her hand in his and squeezing it. It seemed to do little good for her state.
"He asked if I would run those gifts up here anyways and see if you were in this room." the employee continued, adressing Sharpay, "And he said if you were that I should tell you that he says he doesn't blame you, and he's not upset with you, and he'd really like it if you'd come home."
"Is he still downstairs in the lobby?" Troy asked.
The man took the oppurtunity to give Troy a disapproving glance before answering his question, "Not to my knowledge. I went directly up here as soon as I had my manager's approval on the man's request, but I think he was walking out anyways."
Sharpay nodded, "Thank you." she said dismissively.
"Mmm hmm." the man replied. He glanced back and forth between Sharpay and Troy, deciding if he should say something he had on his chest.
"I was engaged to a girl once." he said, impulsively, suprising the stressed out couple, "I was crazy in love with her, only to find out about a month before the wedding that she was running around on me with some other guy. It broke my heart."
Troy sighed loudly, making his irritability well known, "Thank you for your help, but we really have things we need to get back to."
"You might not think you're hurting him that bad by being here, but trust me, you are." the man said, this time only to Sharpay.
"You know nothing about her current situation." Troy said honestly to the guy.
"I know it's not my place," The employee replied, sounding like he was about to follow up with a "but...".
"You're right. It isn't. Goodbye." Troy said, firmly closing the door on the man.
Sharpay rubbed Troy's back as he stood, still shaking in anger, glaring heatedly at the closed door. She stood on her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Then she walked back over to the dresser, picking up the Tiffany's box. She tugged on the white ribbon, freeing the bow, and lifted the lid. She smiled as she pulled out the necklace it encased, fingering the heart shaped diamond pendant.
"Sharpay." Troy said uneasily.
She looked back at him and smiled softly. She dropped the pendant back in the box, letting the chain fall with its pull, and picked up the closed buisness envelope.
"I don't think you should read that." Troy said as she retrieved a folded letter from the envelope.
"Troy. He's my husband." she said, as if that should explain her current emotions, ones which remained unknown to Troy.
She walked back to the bed and sat down, sitting cross legged, and reminding Troy of the way children sat during read aloud time at school. This time though, Sharpay read silently, her eyes moving across the page slowly, as if the words were tender and needed to be handled in that manner. The suspense was killing Troy, and he was dieing to know what the letter said, but he felt he would be overstepping his boundaries if he were to ask.
"He's really really sorry." Sharpay finally said, her voice cracking, "And he said if I come home, he promises to get help immediately, so that..." Sharpay stopped talking as she tried to wipe the newly fallen tears from her face, but found it impossible to completely dry her cheeks as the tears began to fall more frequently and in greater numbers, and the quivers of a cry started to erupt low in her stomach and up through her throat.
Troy wasn't sure what the exact root of her tears was this time; there were so many possibilities. Whatever the cause was, this didn't stop him from quickly rushing to her and wrapping his arms tightly around her in an effort to get the tears to stop.
"What's wrong?" he asked, feeling stupid for hearing the words come out of his own mouth knowing the answers to his question were infinite.
"He really wants to get himself help, so that he won't ever hurt me again." she said, burrying her head in Troy's chest, "And he's so sorry, and says he really loves me. But I don't know..." A large shaking cry came out of her mouth interrupting her for a moment, "I don't know if he'll actually be able to stop hitting me, or if he even means it. And I loved him at one time, I know I did, but I don't know whether or not I still love him, and either way, I don't know whether or not I love you now too."
"None of that matters." Troy said firmly, "No matter what the answers are to any of those questions, you shouldn't go back to him."
"You can't say that!" Sharpay cried, exasperated, "He's my husband! I've spent my entire adult life with him, and we've been through a lot together. You don't understand what that's like! You have to be in a marriage to truly understand one."
"I'm not arguing that Sharpay." Troy closed his eyes. He was fighting her over the same issues time and time again and he didn't know how many more times it would take before he'd reached the end of his rope. He didn't want to feel iritated with her. It wasn't her fault and he cared a lot about her. Still, anybody human could become annoyed after a while with his situation.
"You can't go back to him though Shar!" Troy continued, "He could just be saying those things to lure you back home. Or maybe he means it. That doesn't mean he's actually ever going to find himself help. Or maybe he will get help, but you don't know how efficient that's going to be or how long it's going to take, and you can't sit around as his guinea pig waiting to see. You'll be putting yourself in danger by going back there."
"Troy, he sounds really honest though." Sharpay said, "I think he really wants to get better."
"Damn it Sharpay!" Troy pressed the heels of his hands into his temples, looking up at the ceiling in frusteration. "Why is it that there's an excuse for everything these days if you just say you need psychiatric help? Everyone has their demons, but at some point you have to step up and take responsibility for your actions. And there's no fucking disease that causes a man to lay into his wife!"
"Troy, if I can give my marriage a fighting chance I should." Sharpay said quietly.
"Well you won't." Troy said firmly, "Because I'm not letting you go. And that's that."
"What do you mean you won't let me?" Sharpay asked in disbelief. Suddenly, she was as angry as Troy.
"You may not realize this, but I am a grown woman and I'm capable of making adult decisions!" she informed him, her eyes narrowing in a familiar way he'd been used to seeing back in high school. If the pretenses weren't as heavy as they most definitely were, he might have smiled.
Instead he snapped back, "Oh, really? I've yet to see you demonstrate either of those things the entire time I've been here!"
"That's bullshit!" Sharpay yelled, standing up off of the bed in defiance.
"No it's not Sharpay! You act like a small child, and I feel like I have to keep you under my supervision twenty four seven!" he shouted back.
"No you don't." Sharpay responded, "Because I'm leaving." She stormed over to the counter, grabbing her bag and the presents from Charles.
"No you're not!" Troy cried, standing up in response and hurrying in her direction, "I told you, I won't let you go back to that monster."
Sharpay stood still, "What are you going to do to stop me?" she asked.
Troy looked down at his arms, realizing what she meant.
"Use your superior physical strength? You can't control me. You'd be acting just as bad as him." she pointed out.
"But to save you from him!" Troy protested, suddenly feeling helpless and unable to stop her.
"I don't need you to be my fucking savior!" Sharpay snapped back at him.
She stormed to the door and stomped out, slamming it behind her.
A/N: Hey GimmeABeat, I was reading your "Twin Flames" chapter yesterday, and liked how you put the last cliffy line in italics before you started the new chapter, so I copied it. Hope you don't mind.
I feel so bad for Troy in this chapter. I feel horrible for Sharpay to, and I don't blame her for the way she acts, but still, if I had to pick a side in this particular Troypay fight, it'd be Troy's.
Haha, isn't it funny how we writers get upset by the things we make the characters do?
For those of you tired of Troy and Sharpay sitting around a hotel room conversating for the past three chapters, I promise you that the next chapter is when all the action finally starts. (But I'm not going to say anymore than that.)
Okay, I'll spare you any more of the incredibly long author's note I can never seem to stop myself from writing, and just remind you dear readers once again that I won't update again until I have at least ten reviews.
xoxo.
-GuiltyPleasure