Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter or sent PMs. I really appreciate it even though this is my pandemic sanity activity. I tried making my own lip gloss, but this is more satisfying.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my own creativity. That also applies to the songs being used. The music used in this chapter is Till I Collapse with Eminem and Nate dog.
For those of you who are rereading this story a second time, thank you. If so, you probably realize by this point that I've changed a lot of the music. A lot of things I chose initially don't work the way they did 10 years ago. So, I ended up selecting some new songs. Also, blame Apple music for me being able to access such an extensive catalog now. Although I really wish I still had the character playlist that I created when I first wrote the story, unfortunately, those files are long gone.
Chapter 11: Don't Date in Denial
September 17, 2008
His mouth was slowly moving from the base of her neck to the swell of her breast. His fingers were delicately making their way across her body as he touched every curve in the most sensual way possible. Sharpay wished his hands would move a little lower. The feel of his warm skin against hers made her entire body tingled. As he continued to taste every inch of her sweet skin, she began moaning his name as if it were a prayer. He made her feel so alive. She loved everything about this man.
Cause sometimes you just feel tired, you feel weak
And when you feel weak you feel like you want to just give up
But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength
And just pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up
And not be a quitter, no matter how bad you want to just fall flat on your face and collapse
Sharpay quickly woke up and turned off her cell phone. To her disappointment, Sharpay realized that she was in bed alone. Right, Chad didn't sleepover last night. Why did she let him choose that song as her wake up ring tone? She had no idea. Maybe it was because he thought Sharpay needed morning motivation. It wasn't her fault that she hit the snooze button three times the last time he slept over. She still made it to pre-calculus on time.
Her roommate of 18 days was currently sitting at the computer, probably already doing homework. "Good morning, sleepyhead. Congratulations on not hitting the snooze button."
"I did hit the snooze button, but you're making me get up anyway. Amanda, How can you be this cheery on a Wednesday morning?" Sharpay said, getting out of the bed and grabbing her bathroom stuff and her outfit for the day. There's no point in making two trips to the bathroom.
"First of all, I don't have the breakfast shift this morning, which always makes me happy. Also, I do my best work in the morning. Someone is cranky. Are you upset that your teddy bear couldn't stay over?" Amanda said in her overly sweet voice.
"He's not my teddy bear. He is just a friend. I told you that on Labor Day." Amanda just rolled her eyes at that.
"It's too early in the morning for lies, especially lies you tell yourself. Chad spends more time in this room than I do. In the last 18 days that I've lived here, he slept over nine times."
"That's so wasn't my fault. Chad has a tendency to fall asleep while we watch TV together."
"You have an air mattress for him in our closet. Granted, he's only used it twice, but you still bought him an air mattress." Amanda pointed out.
"I thought you were okay with him staying over?" Sharpay asked, grabbing her shower caddie from the closet. "Have you seen my shower shoes?"
"I think you left them under your bed. I am fine with it. As long as things stay PG-13, I am okay with you sleeping with your teddy bear. I'm scarred for life after walking in on my last roommate using her boyfriend as a lollipop."
"That's just disturbing," Sharpay said, cringing in disgust.
"I still shudder at the thought. Although, I wonder how long you and Chad will be able to keep things PG-13. There is too much sexual tension between the two of you. 5 minutes ago, you were moaning his naming your sleep. On second thought, just send me a text and I'll sleepover with Marc."
"I was not moaning his name," Sharpay denied the accusation. Considering the type of dream she was having, it was possible. Usually, Sharpay did not have these types of dreams. There was that one set of dreams involving Chad in a police uniform and handcuffs. Sharpay was sure that the recurring dream did not count.
Unfortunately, because of Chad, she has had them a lot more often. The sleepovers probably didn't help things. Of course, this is the first dream where her subconscious admitted that she was in love with Chad. At least she didn't blurt it out loud.
"I don't know why you're blushing. It's okay for you to have NC 17 dreams about your boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend." Amanda shook her head at Sharpay's words.
"Okay, this denial has to stop. Kim has already introduced me to Troy and Ryan to pull me into their conspiracy group to knock some sense into both of you. Kim made you a damn PowerPoint. If you and Chad are friends, you are friends that want to jump each other. Chad practically lives here. He even has his own dresser drawer."
"That's because Chad's roommate is horrible and sexiles him from the room all the time. This way, Chad has clean clothes."
"Valid point. However, you're on the phone with Chad constantly when he's not with you. I'm not sure you can go more than 5 minutes without text messaging each other. If this is a friendship, I hate to see what love is like." Amanda remarked.
"I do that with all my friends." Just then, Sharpay's phone indicated a text message. Sharpay tried to push her phone away, but Amanda grabbed it.
"Let's see who's sending a message. It is your not-a-boyfriend. Chad says, 'good morning, mountain lion?' What does that mean?" Amanda asked.
"It's an inside joke. It doesn't matter, Chad has a girlfriend." Sharpay said as she left the room for her shower. Amanda just gave her the 'who are you kidding' look.
"I'll believe that you two are just friends the moment I see you with someone else," Amanda said under her breath.
XXXX
Chad quickly closed his phone after sending a good morning text message to Sharpay. Currently, Chad was going 0 for 2 in the roommate lottery. His current roommate was driving him absolutely crazy. Chad thought it was statistically impossible to meet someone who was messier than he was. Unfortunately, Blaise made Chad look like Martha Stewart.
Also, it seemed like every other night, Blaise's girlfriend would sleepover. Unfortunately, these were NC 17 sleepovers. He could hear noises from Sharpay's room down the hall. He already walked in on them twice in the room and once in the bathroom. The images wouldn't leave his mind.
Fortunately, Sharpay's roommate Amanda had no problem if he stayed with Sharpay. Last night he had no choice but to remain in his own dorm room due to a last-minute chemistry assignment. This morning Chad was trying to make a pathway to the computer as his roommate took a shower. Chad was already calculating how much extra it would cost to get a single dorm room for the rest of the year in his head. Blaise walked into the room and threw his towel on the floor.
"Didn't we talk about getting dressed in the bathroom?" Chad said to his now naked roommate as he covered his eyes.
"I left my underwear in here," Blaise said as he bent over to pick up his underwear.
"Dude, put some pants on," Chad yelled out, having no interest in looking at the guy's dick right now.
"I don't know why you have such a problem with nudity. Your bisexual, aren't you?" After Marc was able to get rid of his roommate for being a bigot, Chad decided to take a chance and outed himself to his new roommate. Good news, Blaise is neither racist nor homophobic (or biphobic like the last one). This is, unfortunately, his only good point.
"That doesn't mean I'm attracted to everyone. I have good taste." After reading through the book, Ryan got him Chad is leaning towards being Demisexual without a gender preference. Being completely repulsed by naked Blaise was reaffirming that.
"You're too in love with Sharpay to notice how hot I am. By the way, could you stay in your girlfriend's room this weekend? Ginger wants to come over."
"Sharpay is just a friend. My girlfriend goes to school 2000 miles away. However, I can probably hang out with Sharpay this weekend."
If Ginger was coming over, Chad did not want to stay. Let's just say he now understood why Marc gave him Lysol. Maybe Chad could talk Sharpay into staying at the mansion this weekend. He was sure Amanda was getting tired of him in the room all the time, and they could use some pool time.
Then again, Amanda loved teasing him and Sharpay about their relationship, just as Kim did. Kim even introduced her to Ryan and Troy. The four of them were relentless. Although the best part is for the last week every morning, Ryan has been texting him to ask when he's breaking up with Taylor. This morning Chad responded with a promise to never send Ryan a shirtless selfie again. Ryan retaliated by sending him a shirtless selfie with him pouting. Dancing has been very good for Ryan's physique.
It was probably best that it wasn't Troy sending those messages. Since he found out about the possibility of Alex's parentage 12 days ago, Chad could not get up the courage to ask Troy if he slept with Kim. Chad tried calling Troy 18 different times to ask him, but Chad could not follow through. There was no easy way to ask this question, and Chad was not sure he wanted the answer. Also, Chad was sure Troy was clueless about the entire situation. Chad did not want to be the one to tell him.
Regardless Chad put that thought out of his head and mentally prepare himself for calculus. He can worry about the Troy situation later. Besides, he would leave for breakfast with Sharpay as soon as she's done getting ready.
XXXX
On this ridiculously sunny Wednesday, Sharpay was getting really tired of everybody thinking Chad was her boyfriend. Two students in the cafeteria commented about how cute she looked with her boyfriend. In her pre-calculus class, Erica kept talking about how she wishes she had a boyfriend who would walk her to class each morning. The whole situation made Sharpay frustrated and depressed. Chad was not her boyfriend, even though part of her wished he was. He was in love with Taylor, and Sharpay was really tired of not having her own boyfriend.
That morning Chad was late to meet her after pre-calculus, and she ended up walking to English alone for the first time. She decided to sit next to Joshua, a very cute sophomore from Arizona.
"Did you and your boyfriend have a fight?" Joshua asked her as she sat down.
"I don't know why everybody thinks he's my boyfriend?" Sharpay mumbled under her breath.
"Because you walk in holding hands all the time or the fact you two seemed to be in your own world most of the time," Joshua explained.
"He's just a friend." At least Josh did not give her that look that everybody else gave her when she said that phrase. "You've also seen us arguing class multiple times."
"Since you and Chad are just friends, then it would be okay for me to ask you out Friday?"
Usually, Sharpay would turn him down just on principle because Josh was not her type. She preferred guys who were athletic at the very least. He did not wear stupid tee shirts with stupid catchphrases. Josh did not drive her absolutely crazy, trying to prove he was always right. He did not understand everything about her. She knew she could not spend half the night talking to Josh on the phone. In all honesty, Josh's biggest fault was he wasn't Chad. Unfortunately, Chad had a fucking girlfriend; therefore, Josh would have to do.
"Sure, let me give you my phone number," Sharpay said as she tore a piece of paper out of her notebook and wrote down the number for him. If Sharpay were a more observant person, she would notice a very jealous Chad watching from the hallway.
XXXX
Amanda was currently sitting with Marc and Nikki, watching the latest installment of the Chad and Sharpay mating game. She may have also been live texting the whole thing to Ryan (using a combination of emojis and acronyms that only a fellow dyslexic person would get). He sincerely regrets telling his father that Chad and Sharpay were dating to get them in the same building.
"Are you sure they're not sleeping together? " Marc asked her.
"Positive. Chad has spent the night nine times, and the worst I've seen was him grabbing her breast when they were both asleep. If sex was involved, I don't think they would be fighting this much."
"They are so cute together," Nikki said from the other couch.
"We all know that, but they are stubborn idiots. He has a girlfriend, and she is going out on a date with someone else Friday night. Those two are driving me crazy with this complete denial of their feelings. I am 30 seconds from locking them in the dorm room until they finally fuck it out of their system." Amanda screamed in irritation. Kim offered to pay for her hotel room if she did that. They actually discuss this during the last Chad and Sharpay conspiracy group chat.
As if on cue, Chad and Sharpay walked into the hallway arguing. "I don't know why you are so upset. It is just a date. People go on them all the time in college."
"I just thought we had plans," Chad said, trying to cover up his anger and disappointment at the situation. Amanda sent Ryan a picture labeling it 'jealous Chad in his natural environment.' Nikki helped with spelling because she didn't want to activate the dragon.
"You have other friends Chad. You can go out with one of them for one night. Besides, I should be able to have a boyfriend since you have a girlfriend." Sharpay absolutely went there, and she had a right to. Amanda sometimes thinks that Chad forgets that Taylor even exists. Amanda wouldn't even know her name if it wasn't for Ryan.
"I thought you said this was just a date." Here comes the green-eyed monster again. Amanda actually took another picture and sent it to Ryan with that same caption. She also just passed the phone over to Nikki to take over live texting. At least things would be spelled better that way.
"It is. The first step in getting a boyfriend is going out on dates. How can I meet anybody if I spend every Friday night with you?" Sharpay shot back.
Amanda was almost positive she saw Chad mouth the words, "I don't want you to have a boyfriend." However, Amanda's lip-reading skills were not the best, so she could not be sure.
"You're an adult Sharpay; you can do whatever you want. If you want to go on a date with someone you barely know, you can. Just remember to bring pepper spray," Chad remarked as he began to walk down the hall to his room.
"Did you not see me render a 170-pound basketball player unconscious, two weeks ago? I can take care of myself. Besides, I always carry two cans of pepper spray." Sharpay said this last part under her breath.
"Whatever Sharpay," Chad said as he unlocked his dorm room door. Unfortunately, for him, Blaise and his girlfriend were testing out the strength of Chad's desk. The other four occupants of the common room could see the disturbing scene from the hallway.
"Dude, can you please keep it to your bed? At the very least, can you do it only on your own furniture?" Chad said as he closed the door behind the oblivious couple. Walking back to the community room with a disgusted look on his face Chad sat down next to Amanda on the sofa. "Does anybody know when the next roommate exchange is?"
"After thanksgiving," Amanda replied helpfully.
"Oh god, that's 2 1/2 months from now. Can I stay with you guys again tonight?" Chad asked Amanda and Sharpay.
"Sure, it's fine as long as your girlfriend is no longer mad at you." Chad stopped correcting the girlfriend comments after Amanda's fourth day of living with Sharpay.
"I should send you back in there with a can of Lysol after the way you acted today. But I need help with my chemistry lab homework for tomorrow." Sharpay said, smiling.
"Is homework help the only thing I'm good for?" Chad asked Sharpay.
"No, you make a perfect pillow. Come on before I change my mind and make you sleep on the couch in the common room." Sharpay said as they left.
"Is it just me or do they sound like an old married couple?" Nikki asked her two friends.
"According to Sharpay's brother, they were like this in high school, except the flirting is more blatant now," Amanda explained.
"Two minutes ago, they were fighting, and now they're all perfect couple." Marc pointed out to the group.
"The problem is they are not a couple. I don't know how much longer I can take this. Chadpay has to get together soon, or I will kill them."
"You got to admit it's very entertaining. Sharpay is a better roommate than your last one." Marc pointed out to Amanda. "She even helped make my homophobic roommate disappear."
"Blaise was probably a better roommate than my last one." Amanda quipped.
Just then, they heard screaming coming out of Chad's dorm room.
"Maybe not. Do you think we can vote someone off the floor?" Amanda asked.
"I am not sure, but if I catch him and Ginger in the bathroom one more time, I'm going to find out," Marc said in disgust. "I thought I was done with him when he moved out."
"You caught them in the bathroom. That's so disturbing." Nikki said with a shudder.
XXXX
Evening September 19, 2008
Two days later, Amanda sat on her bed watching Sharpay get ready for her date with Josh. The entire conspiracy group was still shocked; they were actually going through with it.
"So, where exactly is your Chad replacement taking you?" Amanda asked as she watched Sharpay put the finishing touches on her makeup. She would be live texting the answers to Ryan, but he's on a date with his girlfriend.
"We're doing the traditional dinner and a movie thing. I think we're going to Ruby Friday's and then to see Love the Musical at the movie theater next door." Sharpay explained. That was like the safest date ever. She's known Amanda for about a month, and even she knows this is not Sharpay's idea of a perfect first date.
"Why aren't you guys going to a club or something like that? You had so much fun last week with your not-a-boyfriend at Cinder." Last week Chad and Sharpay went with Amanda to one of the hottest clubs in New Mexico. Every time another girl tried to approach Chad, Sharpay would scare her away. There was also the impromptu make-out session when Penelope showed up. The denial was strong with those two morons.
"I really want to see this movie, and Chad won't take me because it is a musical. The club would take too much time. I promise Chad I would hang out with him after the date tonight." Amanda had to repress the urge to scream into her pillow. Or send snarky text messages to Ryan. Sometimes he was the only person keeping her sane.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing? You are purposely making your date short, so you can spend time with Chad. Aren't you worried that things might go really well and you might not come home tonight." Amanda's comment made Sharpay very uncomfortable.
"Amanda, I know you don't know me very well yet, but I'm not easy. I don't even kiss a boy until the third date."
"I distinctly remember you making out with Chad at Cinder last week." Sharpay scowled at her for pointing out the obvious. "Maybe it's time to ask yourself why you don't even want to think about kissing Josh when you have no trouble making out with Chad." Amanda decided not to mention that Troy told her that Sharpay had trouble kissing her costar this summer during the community theater production. They had to switch things around so she would be kissing Troy instead.
"That doesn't even count. Chad is just a…" Sharpay started, but Amanda threw a pillow at her. She was done.
"Don't say it. I don't believe you." Not one little bit. "I'm going out with Nikki and Marc to Purple Hills. Don't wait up. If you and Chad finally decide to come out of the land of denial, send me a text message or something, and I'll stay over with Marc again. Walking in on Blaise and Ginger going at it in the study room yesterday was traumatic enough." Amanda actually shivered. She really thought that she was done walking on people getting fellatio.
"That's just disturbing. I wonder if Lysol works on the mind?"
"There's not enough in the universe to wipe out that picture."
XXXX
Unlike most of her peers, Kim usually spent Friday nights at home. Then again, unlike most of her peers, she had a 20-month-old son. She was currently talking to her ex-boyfriend/baby's daddy on the phone about their crazy friends who were in complete denial. Of course, the ex-boyfriend/baby's daddy had no idea he was her baby's daddy, but that is an entirely different set of issues.
"Thursday, I had to sit through 2 hours of Chad trying to convince Sharpay not to go on a date with Josh. This was followed by a 20-minute ride to EHS, where Sharpay pretty much begged me to keep Chad occupied for the duration of the date tonight." And that's not even counting Amanda's live text message coverage of their antics in the dorm rooms. Apparently, Amanda threw a pillow more than once.
"You agreed to babysit Chad tonight?" Troy asked.
"I'm used to taking care of children. We're taking Alex to Pizza Village. We would go to the other place, but the mouse scares Alex." Kim explained.
"I was afraid of the mouse, too, as a kid." At least now, she knew where Alex got it from.
"I think Chad only agreed to come with me for the ball room and the basketball-related arcade games. Also, having an almost-two-year-old with us means we can play all the games without getting funny looks."
"You really know how to have fun," Troy said sarcastically. She wanted to say, 'I do these things because I'm taking care of your son.' However, Kim holds her tongue.
"So, what will you and the FMG be doing?" Kim couldn't bring herself to call Gabriella by her actual name.
"Do you have to call her that?" Troy side.
"I would call her something else, but Alex is in the room. So what will you be doing with your girlfriend?" Kim tried not to sound bitter, but she couldn't help it.
"My girlfriend is involved with rush this week. So I don't expect to see her for a while." Troy explained, sounding obviously frustrated.
"Even Sharpay isn't doing the sorority thing. Is Gabriella joining a traditional Latina sorority? They usually do more public outreach than traditional Greek sororities. I heard she is into helping people. "
"Traditional Greek." Troy gave her another sigh. "Anyway, a couple of my friends from the drama department are going to see this experimental theater group that performs a hip hop version of Romeo and Juliet. How are things going at EHS?" She had a feeling he was trying to change the subject away from Gabriella.
"Not as interesting as hip-hop Romeo and Juliet. Although I think we will be doing a Shakespeare adaptation in a few weeks as the fall play. I successfully taught my first lesson without the kids eating me alive yesterday."
"That's good."
"Also, Sharpay is now happy because Ms. Darbus is letting her be more than a glorified gopher. Anita is now student body president. Jimmie, who has stopped hitting on Sharpay, is now captain of the basketball team. It helps that he grew a foot over the summer and did really well at basketball camp. Apparently, he had this great counselor named Jamie. He gave him a lot of personal attention."
"Oh God, I hope it wasn't the same Jamie that fucked Chad over. I think that's why Chad is so reluctant to admit he has feelings for Sharpay." Troy might be right regarding that. From what Ryan has told her, Chad's relationship with Taylor wasn't that serious. "Also, Sharpay is still mad about me telling Jimmie she had a crush on him, isn't she?"
"I don't know if it was the same Jamie, but yes Sharpay is still mad at you. Whose idea was that anyway?" Kim asked.
"Gabriella," of course, it was her idea. "I should've just told Jimmie that I was flattered, but he was more Chad's type."
"He would've killed you. Good news, Chad told his roommate that he is bi. I think Demi might be more accurate, but Chad didn't want to have to explain things."
"At least he's starting to come out of some of the denial."
"Progress is slow sometimes. Your dad still gives me the evil eye every time I pass by. All the students love me, so that is something."
"My dad does not hate you," Troy said defensively.
"It doesn't matter. Let me tell you the best part, Jason, Taylor's brother, is the head cheerleader for team Chadpay. After reading his English class journal, I'm sure he's suffering from Jan Brady syndrome. Maybe that's why he's cheering for the other team."
"If you spent a significant amount of time with Taylor McKessie, you would understand why her own brother would be cheering for the competition. All she cares about is being perfect and how people see her. Even after the breaking free movement, she made fun of everyone who did not meet her standards." Troy explained.
"That explains why Chad stayed in the genius closet after BFM, among other closets."
"It also explains why he's so terrified to break up with Taylor over the telephone," Troy mumbled into the phone.
"He mentioned breaking up with Taylor?" Kim asked excitedly.
"More than once. I think all of Ryan's text messages are starting to get to him."
"There's a God. Speaking of Chad, he is pulling up in the driveway driving Sharpay's brand-new guilt gift from daddy dearest. It arrived yesterday."
"She is letting him drive her convertible? She did not even let Ryan drive the convertible." Troy said in shock.
"Not the convertible, the shiny new Lexus. Although I've seen Chad drive the convertible a few times." Like after the Labor Day drinking fest. "It seems that the twins' gift for going off to college are shiny new Lexuses. Don't worry, she gets to keep the convertible. It's just getting a paint job. Apparently, Sharpay is so over pink as a car color. She let Chad pick out the new color."
"Do they realize their acting like a married couple?" Troy asked.
"No," Kim said as she grabbed their son's hand to get ready to leave.
XXXX
Thirty minutes into her date, Sharpay knew it was going to be a disaster. Instead of taking her to the semi-decent Ruby Friday's, they were at the drunken college student infested Natasha's Clubhouse. The only redeeming quality was their absolutely fabulous grilled Caesar salad. He has already asked her three times if she wanted something to drink harder than water.
"No. I am only 18," Sharpay replied in annoyance every time.
"That does not matter here. Why do you think I chose this place?"
Sharpay didn't have the energy to explain that she only drank under certain conditions. Those conditions were usually a good bottle of wine at dinner when Chad was with her. The only time she felt comfortable enough to drink was when she was with Chad or Kim. She did not know this Joshua person well enough to have her senses impaired by alcohol in his vicinity.
If the conversation stays as one-sided as it was now, she will never know anything about Josh. He does not try to engage her in conversation. He lets her spend 15 minutes talking about playing mini-golf with Chad two weeks ago.
If she had this conversation with Chad, he would have interrupted her 10 times and eventually brought up how badly she played that time to get Troy's attention. They would probably get in a fight, and it would be so much fun. Sharpay never thought she would say this, but she was getting tired of talking about herself.
Forty-five minutes into this dinner, she was wondering if she can sneak to the bathroom and call Chad to come to get her. Maybe he can say that she had a family emergency or something. No, she will stick this out. She really wants to see that movie, and there is no way she can talk Chad into going to anything that girly.
XXXX
Chad was actually having fun at Pizza Village in the Eastside mall. Kim was starting to become a good friend, much to his surprise.
Chad was currently playing baby basketball with Alex and discovering that it's more fun to be at these places with a kid. Also, apparently, it is acceptable to cheat to make the two-year-old feel better. He could place Alex's balls in the ski ball slot, and no one looked at him funny. However, he didn't need to cheat for Alex on any basketball-related games. As soon as he put the little basketball in Alex is hand, he knew what to do. For an almost two-year-old, Alex made a remarkable amount of baskets. Chad remembered his mom saying that Troy and he were born to play basketball. It seemed that Alex had gotten that too.
At this point, Chad was 90% sure of Alex's paternity. Alex looks so much like Troy was ridiculous that he didn't notice it earlier. Their eyes were almost identical. The thing that made him absolutely sure was when they were ordering the pizza 10 minutes later.
"Do you mind if we order the pizza without sauce. Alex is allergic to tomatoes. I have no idea where it comes from. No one in my family has that allergy." Chad knew it came from Troy. Actually, when they were working at lava springs, and Troy was acting like a complete ass, Chad made sure they put tomatoes on everything Troy ordered. Chad did it to drive Troy crazy. Thankfully Troy was only somewhat allergic to tomatoes, unlike his strawberry allergy.
"You can get pesto or Alfredo sauce on your pizza here. Unlike the mouse pizza place, the food here is actual pizza, not microwave cardboard. Besides, I am used to not having tomato sauce on my pizza. Troy's allergic to tomatoes." The shocked look in Kim's eyes told him everything he needed to know. Troy was Alex's dad.
"Then let's get a number three with pesto sauce." As Chad was contemplating if he should tell Kim that Troy was extremely allergic to strawberries, Chad saw Sharpay. She and her date walked into David Buster's House of Games. Apparently, Joshua took his suggestions for the date.
"I thought they were going to see Love the Musical?" Kim asked as they moved up to the cashier. "We'll have a number three with a pesto sauce substitution and an extra order of cheese sticks. Also, two diet cokes and one apple juice. Can we get honey mustard with that instead of tomato sauce?"
"Of course. Here is your table number. Your order will be up in 15 minutes." The server said, passing them their drinks.
"There is no way I am letting that guy take her to a dark movie theater. There is only one reason a guy like Josh will take Sharpay to movies like that." Chad said darkly as they made their way to one of the tables.
"You know Sharpay's not that type of person? She also hits really hard now."
"I know Sharpay is not that type of person. I just didn't want to have to bail her out of jail for causing a public disturbance in a movie theater or for assault on her date."
"That does seem plausible, actually."
"I suggested Joshua take her their instead. Besides, I will take her to see the movie tomorrow night." Chad said as he placed Alex in the child's booster seat.
"I thought you just implied that guys only take girls to those types of movies to fool around?"
"I said guys like Josh, not guys like me. She's my best friend, or rather one of them. I feel like I now have three best friends. That would never happen." He didn't say this because he had a girlfriend. At this point, he felt he was dating Taylor on a technicality. Things were not working, and it had nothing to do with Sharpay. They have not even talked to each other in the last week. He just didn't want to break up with her over the telephone. That would be cruel.
"Friends don't sabotage their friend's date," Kim said as she took a drink of her soda. "You definitely don't see her as just a friend." Under normal circumstances, he would argue the point that Sharpay was indeed just a friend. Today he would use this opportunity to get the answer to a very provocative question.
"Why didn't you tell me that Troy was Alex's dad?" Chad asked, right before he was suddenly covered in Diet Coke.
XXXX
Sharpay Evans was very annoyed that her date decided to take her to David Buster's House of Games instead of Love the Musical like they agreed. The only advantage of coming to a place like this is that Joshua wouldn't try to grab her breasts during the film's boring scenes. If she was here with Chad, she would be having fun. Instead, Sharpay hated every minute here. The first problem occurred when she paid for gaming cards.
"This is a date. I thought I was going to pay?" Josh asked, annoyed.
"This is a date in 2008. You paid for dinner, and I pay for the games. Chad has no problem when I pay for everything."
"I'm not Chad. You seem to keep forgetting that." He muttered under his breath.
She remembered that he was not Chad. If Chad were here, she could be herself. If Chad were here, she could actually play these games at her full ability. Instead, Sharpay was doing the same thing she did when she played golf with Troy. She was playing bad on purpose to make Josh feel better. The only thing that did was make her hate this date even more. After ten more minutes of purposely losing games to him, he quickly excused himself to the restroom. She knew it was an excuse to get away from her. Just as she suspected, she saw him leaving the arcade through the window.
She considered texting Chad, but she didn't feel like hearing I told you so; therefore, Sharpay texted her brother instead.
Sharpay: So my date just dumped me. I am well aware I have shit taste in men. Write me back when you can.
Sharpay: Okay, I'm willing to acknowledge that my date went really bad because I'm may have a tiny crush on someone else who is entirely unavailable. I may have talked way too much about Chad on a date then what is appropriate.
Sharpay: Ryan, seriously, I need you. I can't talk to Chad since this is about him.
To be continued