Disclaimer: The movie High School Musical and all the characters that are in it are NOT mine and I do not claim to own them. Mickey Mouse owns them…sadly. But all characters that were not in the movie are my own creation.

A/N: So here is Chapter Number Five. A little late but I've been trying to get this posted as soon as possible. Anyways, a huge THANKS to everyone who read and reviewed. I hit my goal and when I saw that, I jumped for joy. A few things; sorry about the whole blue eyes thing. I never really paid attention to Ashley Tisdales eye color so I just made a wild guess and said they were blue. And as for Gabriella, I like her character but not with Troy. I think she would be the girl I would want to fight in school just because of her "I'm shy but inside I know I'm the shit" demeanor and whiny attitude. So yeah, I just wanted to clear that up right quick. Now, to the chapter information; I know this is sounding a lot like The Wedding Planner but it's going to be nothing like it…I hope. There's, obviously, a lot of Sharpay in this chapter with some Troy added in and a pinch of Jackson (I love his character for some reason…maybe because I picture him as Jared Padalecki. Mmmm…Jared Padalecki) making this a big ol' pot of drama goodness. Ryan also makes a special appearance in this chapter. I decided to make him gay, which I wouldn't normally do (I'm a total Ryan X Kelsi fan) but it kind of fits in to where I'm going with this story. There's also a continuation of this chapter which will be most likely half of the next one because I wrote so much I decided to split it into two chapters. So I hope all of y'all enjoy this one. You know the routine; read, review, rinse and repeat. Or maybe those are the directions on my shampoo bottle…

Details: Years after graduation, Sharpay Evans moves to New York City. She changed professions and has quit what she knew best, theater. But will an unexpected encounter with a long lost friend make her life change back to the perfect one she once had? Or will he only bring more drama back into her life?

Chapter #005: Messenger

You have five unheard messages.

Message number one; "Hey Sharpay, this is Troy. I just wanted to tell you that I'm-"

Message deleted. Message number two; "Sharpay, it's Troy again. Please-"

Message deleted. Message number three; "Hey sweetheart, it's Jackson. I just wanted to know what you were doing Friday night. I just bought my new apartment and wanted to know if you could come over, maybe play some music and have some dinner. Give me a call, you know my number."

Message kept. Message number four; "Please talk to me Sharpay, I would really like to explain-"

Message deleted. Message number five; "Hey sis, it's Ryan. Give me a call. I need to talk to you and maybe I can stop by your place later-"

Message deleted. You have no more unheard messages. To play saved messages, press one.

"Dammit," Sharpay said under her breathe while smashing down keys on her phone.

Ever since her encounter with both Gabriella and Troy at her boutique earlier that week, her train of thought was derailed and she couldn't think straight. She really wouldn't have been so upset about it but the fact that Troy hadn't mentioned it to her really pissed her off. And the kiss; the kiss that left Sharpay wanting more. It was like he was leading her on and Sharpay, ever since high school, was never one to be played with and then tossed to the side.

Legs sprawled across her love seat; she began dialing her brother's phone number. She didn't mean to delete his voice message, only all of Troy's. As the ringing began, she examined her fingernails and thought to herself, "Damn, I need a manicure."

"Hello?" The voice on the other end of the line was someone whose voice she didn't recognize.

"Oops, sorry; I think I have the wrong number." Sharpay figured she must've dialed the wrong number on accident.

"Is this Sharpay?" She then became very confused and little afraid. Who was this man and how did he know her name?

"Yeah…is Ryan there?"

"Yeah, hold on one second." His voice became faint as he pulled the phone away from his face and covered the receiver with his hand. "Ryan, your sister is on the phone for you."

A few seconds of silence passed before Sharpay heard a little bit of a rustling noise and then her brother pick up the phone with an excited "Hello?"

"Hey, who was that?" Sharpay knew exactly who it was, but didn't want to seem too forward with her assumptions.

"Well, his name is Luke, he's twenty-five, brown hair, green eyes and he's a personal trainer." She was right; Ryan's new boyfriend. She always knew her brother was gay and she was perfectly fine with it. Whatever made him happy, made her happy. Plus, she always had a shopping buddy whenever he came to town once a year.

"Sounds hot; so I caught some of your message and you mentioned something about coming over later?"

"I actually wanted to know if you wanted to have dinner tonight. I only have a couple of days left in New York and I want you to meet Luke before I go."

She thought about her plans and now that her and Troy weren't exactly talking, she figured why the hell not. "Sure, I'll make Mom's old lasagna recipe and you bring the wine. How does seven sound?"

"Sounds like a plan. I'll see you then, sis."

Sharpay closed her phone, ending the phone call. She got up and headed over to her kitchen to check her refrigerator and cabinet for all the ingredients she needed. Pulling out different items and beginning to start the meal immediately. If she stopped moving or doing something, she would begin to think and thinking wasn't a good thing for her to do right now.

Six o'clock had come along and Sharpays lasagna was inside the oven. She had also made a salad, cookies, garlic bread and a pitcher of iced tea. Keeping herself busy was hard, so she just cooked. She always enjoyed cooking, especially with her mother while growing up. Her mom started her off at cleaning vegetables, and then stirring batters and when she was old enough to handle a knife without cutting herself, she let her make full blown meals all by herself.

She opened her cabinet and started to pull out plates and silverware when her cell phone vibrated across her marble counters. The screen read 'Jackson' and she was a little scared to answer. Flipping open the phone, she sighed before saying "Hello?"

"Did ya get my message?" Sharpay set down a small stack of napkins on the counter before leaning against the refrigerator, cooing on the inside over Jackson's Texas born accent.

"Yes, I did and I actually have a fitting to do that night with a client." She could hear on the other line Jackson releasing a sigh of disappointment. Sharpay felt bad and couldn't believe what she was about to do. "But, I'm having a good homemade dinner tonight with Ryan and his new boyfriend, would you like to join us?"

There was a silence on the other line for a second. "Sure, I'd love to!" Jackson seemed ecstatic and was probably a little thrown off guard with Sharpays invitation.

"Great, so be here in about an hour?"

"I'll be there."

After hanging up the phone with Jackson, Sharpay walked over to her closet and flipped through all of her clothes. To her, inviting Jackson over to dinner was an attempt to resolve unsolved problems so maybe; just maybe, they could at least be friends. She was worried he might've gotten the wrong impression.

Grabbing a white silk scarf and tying it behind her straight blonde hair like a headband, she couldn't help but think of Troy. She was so angry at him and she should hate him but for some reason, the feelings she's always had, the feelings she's had since high school, will not go away. She kept glancing back and forth at her cell phone while adjusting her emerald green halter. All she wanted to do was call him but then she stopped and wondered, 'Why?'

"You love him, that's why! Stupid!" She thought to herself. Filled with mixed emotions she grabbed her phone and began searching for his number in her phone book. Finding it, she took a deep breath before pressing the 'Call' button. It rang and rang, and then rang some more.

As soon as Troy picked up, her doorbell rang and Sharpay quickly shut her phone, ending the call before it even started. She threw her cell on to her bed as she made her way out of her room and to the door. She adjusted her flowing white bohemian skirt before swinging the loft door open.

"Sis," Ryan walked in and swallowed Sharpay in to his arms. "You look gorgeous as always."

"You don't look too bad yourself." Sharpay had a huge smile on her face. Seeing her twin brother always made her happy. Separating from his embrace, she stepped back and noticed the man standing behind him, keeping his distance from the siblings. "So who do we have here?"

"Oh, Sharpay, this is Luke. Luke this is my sister, Sharpay." The two exchanged hand shakes and hellos.

Sharpay stared at Luke, who had the most gorgeous green eyes. That was one more thing both her and Ryan had in common; they both have good taste in men.

"It's finally nice to meet you, Sharpay. I've heard so much about you." Luke smiled at her, showing off his perfectly white teeth.

"Oh really," She glared at Ryan, hoping he hadn't said anything too embarrassing about her. "Well I just found out about you today."

Her brother gave her an "Ice Queen" stare, something he had obviously learned from his own sister.

The three made their way over to the kitchen where Sharpay grabbed a few wine glasses while Ryan popped open his eighty dollar bottle of Merlot. Luke took a seat at the dining room table and Ryan soon followed him, two glasses of wine in hand.

"Sharpay is a great cook. She used to always cook for me when we would be home alone. Thank god; the only thing I could cook was a bowl of cereal." Ryan laughed, taking a seat across from his boyfriend.

"Yeah, and he even had trouble with that sometimes," Sharpay added. She took a sip of her wine, watching Ryan and Luke talking from the kitchen. She smiled, happy that her brother was happy; happy that someone she actually cared about found someone to love.

Lost in her own thoughts, she soon came back to reality when her doorbell rang. The two men looked at the door as Sharpay made her way over there, curious of whom it could be. But little did they know, Sharpay knew exactly who it was.

She slowly opened the door and the only thing she could see was a bundle of white roses. The flowers then suddenly moved away and Jackson's face was visible, wearing a huge smile on it. "These are for you," He said, handing her the roses.

Sharpay was almost in shock as she took them and got a complete look at Jackson. His whole appearance, from his haircut to his shoes, was completely different then she remembered three years ago, or even the other day.

"Hey there, baby," Jackson said, hugging Sharpay on his way in the door.

Closing the door behind her, she held the flowers up to her face, smelling the roses. "These are gorgeous, thank you."

From the corner of her eye, she could see Ryan giving Jackson a death stare. He didn't care for him at all when Sharpay left school to be with him and even more when she told him how and why they broke up. This was when Ryan became a little protective of his sister when it was usually the other way around.

After placing the roses in a glass vase, Sharpay walked Jackson over to the dining room table. "Jackson, this is my brother Ryan. I believe you guys met a few years back but it's been so long, I don't even remember." Ryan shot a glance at her before putting on his best fake smile and shaking Jackson's hand. "And this is Luke, Ryan's boyfriend. Jackson's going to be joining use for dinner tonight."

"Nice meeting you, Jackson. Why don't you take a seat and have a glass of wine?" Luke noticed Ryan's feelings about Jackson just by the way he was looking at him. So, to make the Texas native a little more comfortable, he decided to be nice to him. Even if that means he might have to sleep on the couch tonight.

Sharpay smiled at Luke's kindness and made her way back to the kitchen to get everything ready for dinner. Ryan got up from his seat and followed right behind her, pretending to go and help with the food.

"So do you want to tell me what's going on?" Ryan said, watching as his sister pulled her dish of lasagna out of the oven.

"What are you talking about?" Sharpay tried to avoid the subject by focusing her eyes on the dinner and not looking in to Ryan's big blue eyes.

"You know exactly what the hell I'm talking about. Why is he here?" It was hard for Ryan to keep himself from yelling but he managed to keep his voice level down to a whisper.

"To have dinner," Sharpay replied so nonchalantly as if it were no big deal that Jackson broke her heart. "We're just friends anyway. He's changed a lot in the past few years and you should give him a chance."

"How can I? When I saw him, all I could think about were the times when I had to talk to you on the phone for hours because you were crying so much you couldn't sleep. He hurt you, Sharpay, and when you hurt, I hurt."

Opening the door to the fridge, Sharpay couldn't help but stop and take in what Ryan had said. It was all true and there was no way she could hide anything from her own brother; whether she liked it or not. She pulled the bowl of salad out and handed it to him. "Listen, I know you're concerned; hell, I would be too if I were you. But trust me, nothing is going to happen. Now," Picking up the lasagna, she tip-toed up to her much taller brother and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Let's go have some dinner."

The hour long dinner consisted mainly of Ryan and Luke talking about work and music and other meaningless stuff Sharpay just nodded her head to, pretending she was listening. It was hard for her to pay attention to anything. The whole situation with Troy wouldn't erase from her mind. She had him, well, almost did and when she thought she was about to, he was taken from her…again.

Suddenly she felt a hand touch hers on top of the table, snapping her out of her thoughts. It was Jackson; he was staring at her as he moved her fork across his plate. "What are you thinking about?" He was whispering, trying not to interrupt the conversation Ryan and Luke were having.

"It's nothing," She pulled her hand away from his and grabbed her glass of wine, as if that was her excuse for wanting her hand back.

Moments later, Ryan and Luke had left, telling Sharpay they would see her tomorrow after she agreed to have breakfast with them. Jackson on the other hand decided he wanted to stay and help her clean up.

"That was a great dinner, Sharpay." Jackson said, scrubbing the plates in the sink. "I never knew you could cook so well."

"Yeah, because you were never home so I could cook for you." Her harsh tone of voice caught him off guard. He thought maybe his compliment offended her in some way.

"Is everything alright?" He asked, drying off his hands and walking towards her as she wiped the table off.

Throwing the wash cloth, Sharpay was obviously a little upset. All of her emotions were coming at her at once and she almost couldn't handle it. "I don't know. I don't know if I'm alright. I just feel like the whole world is coming down on me and I can't rest it on my shoulders."

Jackson got closer to her and wrapped her up in his arms. She rested her head on his chest as she calmed down, taking slower breaths and relaxing her body. "I've never seen you like this before; so weak and fragile. You're so strong, Sharpay. You could carry the whole world on the tip of your finger. Just like a basketball."

"I hate basketball," Sharpay said, making both her and Jackson laugh. He held her tighter then, trying to make her more comfortable which had seemed to be working.

Meanwhile, outside of Sharpays building, Troy stood outside on the sidewalk. He could see through her window her and an unknown man hugging and laughing. He had become a little jealous and his basic male instinct kicked in as he made his way up to the third story of the building where Sharpays loft is located.