Chapter 5: Drinking For 11

A/N: Ok, I meant to update this on Sunday but I got sidetracked. I'm trying to get a job right now and all my friends came back from college over the past few weeks. So I was out hanging with them instead of updating. This time I promise to put the next chapter up by the end of the week.

The group of four walked down to the bar near Troy's apartment to celebrate Sharpay's newfound fame. Troy made sure to lock his door before he left, knowing that Doug wouldn't be able to unlock it in his inebriated state. Taking Sharpay's arm, he led her down the street with Gabriella and Ryan following behind. The night air was brisk as the sun set to their left, casting long shadows in the streets. Sharpay clung closer to Troy's arm as the streetlights blinked on. Ryan whispered to Gabriella as the other two in their group got further away from them.

"They're in their own little world aren't they?" Ryan turned to look at Gabriella when she took his hand and put it on her hip.

"Troy really needed someone like her. Since we started to live together, we've only been drifting further apart. We're still really close friends but I swear sometimes he keeps things from me." She snuggled into Ryan's arm as they continued to walk down the street. She shivered as a breeze blew by, blowing her hair into her face. Ryan saw this out of the corner of his eye and turned to brush the hair out of her face. He continued to stare into her eyes, the task of clearing her face long forgotten. She was also looking back at him. The scene was slightly amusing as he was over a head taller than her. She got up on her tiptoes as Ryan bent lower to kiss her.

"Hurry up you slowpokes! Last one there buys the drinks!" Sharpay called back to the couple just as their lips were about to meet. Ryan ignored his sister and kept going, but Gabi turned her head abruptly, jumping a foot in the air from fright. Her forehead collided with his nose, Ryan knocked backward from the force of the blow. He had been caught off guard by her sudden movement, his eyes being closed in anticipation for a kiss.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" Gabriella quickly got on her knees to look at Ryan's nose as he held his face in his hands.

"Is it broken?" Gabriella put her hand on his nose and he flinched from the touch.

"Quit being a baby and let me see." She put her hands on her hips and looked him dead in the eye. He quickly stopped his movement and his whining, allowing her to touch his nose.

"It's not broken. It's not even bleeding." She said as she helped him up to his feet. Ryan looked up and saw that Troy and Sharpay were nowhere to be seen. Sighing, he walked alongside Gabriella again, still nursing his nose which still hurt.

"What took you two so long?" Troy asked when they finally appeared in the bar. They both shrugged and sat across from the other couple in the booth.

"Well Ryan, you were the last one, you buy the drinks." Sharpay said with a laugh. Ryan flew into a rage when she said this as his nose was still throbbing.

"Shar, I just got wanged in the nose because you made Gabi jump. I think I'm the one that needs the drink!" He sat down and crossed his arms over his chest, sulking.

"Fine you big baby. You don't have to buy the drinks; we'll just pay for ourselves." She conceded, pouting as well.

"No, this is supposed to be a special night." Troy interrupted the feuding siblings. "I'll buy the drinks, you two hug and make up." He stared pointedly at the two as they got up and hugged each other from across the table. The squabble over, the atmosphere turned light as the booze flowed. Sharpay and Gabriella quickly got drunk out of their minds and were laughing hysterically after just 3 drinks. Troy made sure to get Ryan just as drunk as his two female companions by buying him some harder liquor. While Ryan was getting completely wasted on Vodka, Gabriella and Sharpay were busy laughing at Troy and how he chose to just drink a couple of beers.

The group decided to leave a few hours later after Ryan had woken up for the second time that night. After throwing up in the bathroom, he felt good enough for another round but Troy put his foot down. Since the night was still young, the group decided to go down to the park to work off some of the alcohol they had ingested. Clearly drunk, Sharpay raced ahead toward the pond in the park and started chasing ducks. Gabriella soon followed her out, tripping and falling into the pond. Troy rushed over to help her out of the water after propping Ryan up on a park bench because he had passed out again.

"Shar, leave the ducks alone." Troy scolded her like he would a child as Gabriella thrashed around in the water, enjoying herself. A nearby homeless man was watching all of this unfold as he pushed his shopping cart around the park. A duck flew into his cart, trying to avoid Sharpay and her wild movements. The sudden appearance of the bird caused the man to lose control of his cart as it toppled over.

"I'm so sorry mister. Let me help you." Sharpay got down on her knees and began to help the man pick up his belongings. Troy watched all of this as he continued to take pictures secretly. He thought to himself 'Wow, she's helping a homeless man. I didn't think I'd see the day.' Having finished helping the man with his cart she got up and smiled at the man.

"There you go mister. You have a nice night, ok." She giggled in her drunkenness and gave the man $10. He looked at the bill for a second, wondering who the hell this girl was.

"Don't worry about it. Go buy yourself a drink." She skipped off away from the man and joined Troy who had just fished Gabriella out of the pond.

"I helped someone!" She jumped up and down, clapping her hands. Gabriella joined her in her jumping and clapping as Troy rolled his eyes at their childishness.

"Let's go home before a cop sees you and arrests you for public drunkenness." Troy pulled Sharpay and Gabriella to the bench where he had left Ryan who was peacefully sleeping. Picking him up, he balanced Ryan between himself and the not as drunk Gabriella. They began their slow walk back to Troy's apartment, four blocks away. Sharpay sang happily as she walked in front of them back to the apartment.

"We're home." Troy called into his dark apartment, flipping a light switch to reveal Doug asleep on the couch. He blinked his eyes open slowly before seeing Troy with Ryan draped over his shoulders. He got up off the couch and helped him set Ryan down, losing his grip and dropping Ryan unceremoniously onto his side.

"Call them a cab, I'm gonna get Gabi into bed." He pulled Gabriella into their bedroom and tucked her in as Doug got out the phonebook and called for a taxi. Sharpay meanwhile sat on the couch and pouted. When Troy came back out, he had changed his shirt because Ryan had thrown up in his sleep.

"Is the cab coming?" Troy asked as he moved to put Ryan in a more dignified position.

"I don't wanna go home." Sharpay made her presence known by stomping over to Troy and jumping onto him.

"I wanna stay here. We can…you know." She purred into his ear as Troy fought to get her off of his back. Finally succeeding in getting her off, he sat her down on the couch and spoke firmly to her.

"As tempting as that sounds, you're drunk out of your mind. You have lunch with your cast mates tomorrow too, remember?" He tried to get her attention as she turned her face away from him.

"Listen, if you go home and get a good night's rest, I'll take you someplace special tomorrow night." He bargained with her. Turning her head at the mention of 'someplace special' she finally nodded her head and gave him a smile.

The cab came ten minutes later and Troy helped Sharpay and Ryan into the backseat before going around to the front seat. He instructed the driver on where to go and they left for Sharpay's condo. After walking them upstairs and helping them into bed, he kissed Sharpay on the forehead and turned to leave. She grabbed his hand as he left and she sat up in her bed.

"Troy, thanks for tonight. You're a really good friend." He winced internally when he heard those words, instantly thinking about the camera he left charging at home.

"You just go to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." She leaned up to kiss him and he bent over so that she didn't have to reach up so far. Troy broke the kiss after a minute and said goodnight to her one last time before going back downstairs to his waiting taxi. When he finally got home, he promptly passed out on his bed with his shoes still on.

The next day

Ryan had woken up with a large hangover and took a big aspirin in an attempt to alleviate the pounding in his brain. Sharpay's wasn't as bad but she still needed to throw up after her shower. Calling a cab, she left Ryan in the condo to recover as she went to meet her new cast mates. The cab let her off down the street from the restaurant since the road was full of traffic. She walked the rest of the way so that she wouldn't be late. Going into the restaurant, she quickly found the director who she had met a few months prior.

"Hey Vicky, how are you today?" Sharpay greeted her with a hug.

"I'm not doing so hot today Shari. Not after what I found in the paper this morning. She quickly brought out the paper from behind her back and showed her the front page. There was a picture of Sharpay clad only in a towel, looking surprised. The headline read 'New movie star: An exhibitionist? Details inside.' Sharpay gasped at the picture as she read the article quickly. There was only one thing on her mind as she looked at the picture one last time.

"How the hell did they get this picture?" She yelled into the restaurant.

A/N: Uh oh. Is Sharpay going to find out that it's Troy? Does Troy feel remorse for what he's doing? Are Ryan and Gabi an item? Why did I only get one review for the last chapter. Sure it was a intermission but a lot went on in that chapter if you think abou it. Please review, I look forward to hearing any feedback about my story. Peace out.