ps – i don't own anything (except my own ideas)
The next few days went by in a blur for Sharpay. The minute she got off the plane, she was greeted by a Bachelor/ Bachelorette staff member who promptly and in an unnecessarily professional manner took her straight to get her bags and then quickly ushered her into the awaiting limousine. The limo's first stop was Sharpay's hotel where she was allowed twenty minutes to check in, drop off her bags and get changed for her first promotional shoot and meeting with the host of the show and other staff members, including Jerry the Producer.
By Wednesday she already felt tired of meetings and overworked by all of the promotional shoots and the swarms of hair and make-up artists topped with clothing designers. But Wednesday, Jerry assured her was a very big day. It was a big day because that was when the contestants were coming into the studio to film their opening videos. Sharpay had prepared for this all week writing down the questions she wanted the men to be asked and organizing with the host, Chris, and film crew how it should be filmed. She had one final shoot of her own left to do and then she would be able to go with a few of the clothing designers out shopping for some "day one looks" as they called them. Sharpay Evans still had some East High Ice Queen left in her, meaning she still loved to shop until she dropped.
"Okay Jerry, Chris let's get this last shoot over with so I can go shopping!" Sharpay sang her last word, not containing her excitement.
The two men laughed, both also wanting to be finished all of the necessary promotional activities; Jerry started to go over the final details of what would be happening in their final shoot as he handed both Sharpay and Chris sheets of paper detailing what he was going over.
Sharpay started to zone out while Jerry was talking, she had heard a similar speech every day since she had arrived. But that was not the only reason she wasn't paying attention to what Jerry was telling her, the door to their small filming room had been left open and Sharpay could see all of the male contestants filling into a secondary waiting room from the one out in the lobby—this was where they waited to film their pieces.
Suddenly the door slammed shut and Chris stood in front of it, "Sharpay, I thought we've discussed this! You can't see them before the show!" He said it in a light hearted manner, but she knew he meant business.
"Plus you're supposed to be paying attention to me," Jerry added tapping his pen against the table.
Sharpay took one last look through the small window towards the upper part of the door, where she saw a sandy brown head of hair bob pass and then turned back to Jerry and Chris, this time giving them her full attention.
Troy was nervous. He felt so stupidly nervous for feeling nervous and he felt nervous about meeting all of the other guys. He also felt nervous about filming his piece for the show, which in his mind was also stupid because he had done that sort of stuff before throughout his basketball career. He spent the entire thirty-three minute drive over-thinking his decision and talking himself back in and out of the show; ten of those minutes he spent in the car were him turning back around and getting back on track...twice.
Finally though he got to the studio, found himself parking and made it inside almost on time. Troy was not the last contestant to arrive, thankfully, and the Assistant Producer, Tim, informed him that they were still waiting on a few more. The men who were waiting had started on introductions.
One super friendly contestant came right up to Troy and introduced himself, "Hi! My name is Jeff, what's your name?" Jeff stuck out his hand.
"I'm Troy," he responded, unsure of Jeff's enthusiasm Troy shook his hand anyways.
"Why have you decided to be on the show Troy!?"
"Well my friends actually did it for me...I just am kind of showing up." Troy was ready to turn around; he was not interested in a pep squad.
"Wow that is sure interesting! I'm here because I have decided to take advantage of every moment of life and who couldn't turn down an exciting experience like this one!"
"That's...cool."
"So! What do you do for a living Troy? I'm currently not working because I'm in between projects—I'm an entrepreneur—I'm totally into coming up with crazy, fun and innovative ideas that shock the market!"
Wishing desperately for someone to save him from their conversation that felt more like an interview, Troy politely responded to Jeff's question by absentmindedly saying, while looking around the room, "I play for the Lakers."
That got the attention of the other contestants. Although not in the way Troy had hoped because everyone was now coming over to talk him. Thankfully Tim was ready to take the group into the back room to start filming their pieces.
At the end of the session Troy was more than ready to leave. He was done answering questions that he felt were pointless—questions such as: what do you look for in a woman? Where do you see yourself in five years? What do you do for a living? Where did you grow up? And those were just the first half of the multitude of questions thrown at him.
On top of that mess of questions Troy could barely answer, the other contestants were throwing themselves at him asking their own endless pit of basketball questions. Right away he had realized his mistake of telling the guys he was on the LA Lakers—a lot of them were fans of the team or of basketball in general. Just in that morning alone he had heard five different "sob stories" of how they played in high school but injured some part of their body before the start freshman year at college which is why they didn't go professional.
"Okay guys," Tim called the attention of the contestants. "You're free to go. Remember: we start filming in a few weeks so start packing and get excited 'cause as soon as we start you will all be roommates!" There were a few groans heard throughout the room; Troy was one of them but he didn't dwell too long on the idea because he was ready to get out of that studio.
Feeling slightly claustrophobic from being cramped a room with at least twenty other grown men; Troy was the first of the group to slip away. He made his way down the hall back towards the first lobby of the building. Large doors lined the corridor; they were all a dusky gray colour with small windows about six feet off of the ground. As he made his way along Troy wondered what was behind each of the doors. Just then one of the doors that was about half way down the hall opened and a man who looked to be in his mid-late thirties popped out.
"Thanks guys, I will see you both soon!" The man called back into the room.
Troy kept walking but smiled to the man as he passed by, he looked very familiar. Sticking out of the door where the man came from was a single bare leg, it seemed to be propping the door open. The leg belonged to a woman, it was toned and muscular and tanned a beautiful golden colour, looking so soft it made Troy want to reach out and touch it. Attached to leg were bright hot pink stilettos that appeared impossible to walk in from a man's perspective. On the other end was a fitted black mini skirt that's edges just peaked its way out of the crack. Checking it all out as he walked past, Troy wished very hard that that leg belonged to one very good looking Bachelorette—but he could only hope.
"Okay Jerry, you have a good night," Sharpay said half way out of the door trying to sneak away. "And you're sure you don't want to give me a few names of the contestants?" She had been pushing this curiosity all week.
"Nope, I still don't want to tell you and none of the other staff will either!" Sharpay made a fake pouting face. "Oh by the way I just wanted to ask—"
"Sorry is that talk about the show? I'm pretty sure our time is up now which means I'm free to go and that you should take a lunch break!" Sharpay smiled at Jerry and he just shook his head as the door closed behind her.
A few of the girls from the design department caught up to Sharpay in the hall and they took the employee exit to get to their awaiting town car (courtesy of the show of course). Disappointedly, Sharpay followed, a small part of her was hoping she'd crash into a cute guy who would turn out to be a show contestant. Shaking off those thoughts she hoped into the car with the rest of the team giddy to start their shopping excursion.
After hours going in and out shops, Sharpay had found the perfect dress; it was the colour of midnight yet it lit up the sky like a million stars, it was classy yet sexy—the perfect dress for first impressions. From the first moment it fell to the floor, they all knew it was the one.
The crew had left her now so she could do some shopping of her own; after all California is much warmer than New York. Sharpay walked into the Anthropologie and darted straight for the most absolutely adorable pair of high waisted shorts. As she approached the table she took note of the other woman standing in front of it, she was about Sharpay's height, with caramel skin and luscious wavy dark hair; she caught Sharpay's attention because she was able to pull off the look of a very conservative professional woman in a super contemporary-modern way.
Hold on... Sharpay thought as the woman started to turn around.
"Gabriella Montez? Is that you?"
The two women almost didn't recognize each other, "Oh my God. Sharpay Evans? Hi!"
"Wow it's been awhile... What have you been up to?"
"Well I've actually been living in LA, moved here with Troy after high school. I've just finished my masters and I'm taking the year off to work and then I'm thinking of going to med school, maybe getting my PhD, teachers college—I'm really not sure yet. My boyfriend John has been so supportive in helping me make my decision; I'm thinking of making the transition out East actually, where he lives!"
"Good for you! You've obviously kept busy but we all knew you were destined for something great like that. But no Troy?"
Gabriella was genuinely surprised at Sharpay's sincerity, "Thanks Sharpay, I appreciate it. And no, Troy and I just weren't meant to be. How about you? You've clearly changed a lot! You've taken genuine interest in my life, lost the attitude, very smiley, toned down the pink even!"
Sharpay chuckled, "I know! After graduation I followed Ryan to New York and Julliard, even though he was the only one of us who got in, and I paid my dues—really worked for what I wanted. I spent countless hours at crappy coffee shops and singing diners until I finally caught a break and I have been so lucky, I've gotten the opportunity to star in a few Broadway productions."
"Then you're in LA because...?"
"Honestly saying it out loud sounds completely silly to me, I'm the Bachelorette on that TV show. Finding a guy in New York has proved to be ridiculously hard for me, I wanted to join eHarmony but Ryan and my friends convinced me this was the way to go..."
Gabriella giggled, "Are the guys cute at least?"
"I have no idea! They won't let me see anything about them!"
They both laughed again, realizing that the other is actually quite good company. By this time they had started to wander a bit but neither of them had seen anything they like so they started to drift towards the door.
"It was great running into you, I'm you're doing well," Gabriella told Sharpay.
"You too, it's so good to see a familiar face. Maybe we could go out for coffee sometime, talk some more?"
"I'd love that." The two women exchanged phone numbers and parted ways.
The music blasted, shouting out to the surrounding cars; everyone was being familiarized with Steve Aoki's Boneless. Troy could not focus on his driving, those legs just kept flashing into his mind and they would not leave. Those tanned feet dressed up with bright pink heels which lead up to sexiest calves he'd ever seen—the perfect level of tan-ness not orange nor brown but golden, very defined and toned muscles, but they didn't protrude awkwardly. Her thighs were the most mysterious, barely visible yet obviously just as toned and golden as her calves, were covered by a tight black skirt which only made him think about what came after the skirt... These legs could only mean one thing: the Bachelorette must be gorgeous. And Troy won't be able to stop thinking about her.
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