Brief Encounter

Summary: Can anything good come from a mix-up?

Disclaimer: High School Musical and all of its characters belong to Disney. I just have them on secondment.

A/N: I hope you like this chapter. I had fun writing it.

"Although I think Chad got lucky this time and did me a big favour." He murmured thoughtfully, a slow smile spreading across his face.

Inquisition

Two days later found Troy sat on his balcony staring across the park at a certain apartment block, a silly smile plastered on his face. He heard the doorbell in the distance but didn't move to answer it. The doorbell rang again and again but he still didn't move.

"Hey dude." Chad shouted coming out of his bedroom, hastily pulling on a T-shirt, his hair still damp from his shower. He stared at Troy looking for some action but Troy didn't move.

"Fuck! What's the point?" Chad muttered shaking his head in disgust as he walked down the hallway to answer the insistent visitor.

"Hey Chad," greeted a tall dark skinned guy, slapping Chad on the back as he entered the apartment.

"Hey Zeke, come in." Chad welcomed his friend.

"Chad," screamed a tall willowy blonde as she flung her arms round him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hi Sharpay, looking good girl." Chad said returning the kiss.

"Where's Troy? I've not seen him in ages." Sharpay exaggerated as she tottered into the hallway. Chad rolled his eyes then jerked his head towards the lounge.

"In Neverland or Troyville." Chad muttered in disgust. Sharpay's eyes bored into him questioningly. Chad shrugged his shoulders at her.

"Do you guys want a drink?" Chad asked trying to avert the inevitable inquisition he could see coming.

"If you have wine, I'll have a Spritzer." Sharpay replied.

"Just a beer please," Zeke responded. Chad waved them forward whilst he veered off to the kitchen to get the drinks, Sharpay and Zeke carried on into the lounge area.

"Hey man." Zeke shouted as he spotted Troy on the balcony. Troy jumped up and came into the lounge.

"Hi Zeke. How's it going?" Troy asked with a smile.

"Good, real good," replied Zeke as he did his manly shake with Troy.

"Troy, I've missed you. How's my BBF?" Sharpay squealed giving him a hug.

"Hey Shar. I'm only here. Quit the screaming." Troy grumbled laughing at her as he kissed her.

"So what's happening in Troyville?" Sharpay enquired with a smirk as she sat down next to Zeke on the sofa.

"Troyville? What are you prattling about Shar?" Troy asked, a puzzled frown on his face.

"Chad said you were in Troyville. I want to know what he meant?" Sharpay explained with a pout. She could smell gossip from a hundred feet. Troy sat down on a matching chair and glared at Chad who had just walked in with the drinks.

"Hey Dumbass, what's with Troyville?" Troy scowled at Chad.

"Sharpay's giving me the third degree and I haven't a clue what she's babbling about?" Chad smirked at him but carried on handing out the drinks before answering.

"He's been like a zombie for the past two days," he explained. "You can be talking to him and he just zones out and has this stupid grin on his face." Chad moaned. Sharpay looked at Troy worriedly.

"So what's the problem? Come on you can tell Shar?" She said coaxingly. Troy rolled his eyes at her then gave Chad a death glare.

"Nothing." Chad chuckled.

"He's in lurve." Troy blushed.

"No. I'm. Not." Troy stated heatedly.

"Oh you are too," refuted Chad still chuckling.

Sharpay looked at them then glanced at Zeke, raising her eyebrow, her eyes gleaming with excitement. Sharpay was a gossip queen. She loved it especially if it involved someone she knew. She was like a dog with a bone and Troy groaned, knowing full well that an inquisition was about to unfold.

"So…. who's the girl?" Sharpay looked at the two antagonists, a twinkle in her eye. Troy groaned silently.

"That's right Shar. Don't wrap it up, go straight for the jugular."

"No one." Troy quickly said. Chad snorted. There was a silence then Sharpay started tapping her foot.

"Gabriella Montez." Chad announced triumphantly smirking when Troy groaned.

"Ooh! That name sounds familiar," Sharpay said. "Let me think." Troy cringed.

"How does she always know everyone and everything?"

"Montez, Gabriella Montez," Sharpay muttered quietly tapping a finger against her glass.

"Got it." Sharpay screamed making the guys jump.

"Is she a singer?" Troy shrugged. Sharpay glared at him, unsure if she was thinking of the right girl.

"Well, what does she look like?" Sharpay demanded. Troy started smiling a dreamy look in his eyes. Sharpay glared at him again and Zeke and Chad burst out laughing.

"See! See what I mean? He gets that silly smile on his face all the time." Chad said gleefully, happy that someone else had seen Troy's goofy expression.

"TROY!" Sharpay screamed at her friend. Troy shot up out of his chair.

"What! What?" Troy said disorientated with his surroundings. Chad and Zeke doubled over with laughter.

"Pay attention." Sharpay demanded spearing him with her evil stare.

"Does she have long dark hair?" Troy nodded.

"Brown eyes?" He nodded again.

"Petite?" Troy nodded again.

"That sounds like the same chick I saw." Chad interjected with a nod.

"Yes it's definitely her." Sharpay stated with a satisfied smile.

"What…how is it definitely her?" Troy queried puzzled by Sharpay's confidence.

"Because Troy, I've just described the girl that our Ryan has been working with." Troy raised his eyebrow to question her.

"Working with?" Troy tried to keep the jealous tone out of his voice.

"Yeah, he's been producing her latest album." Sharpay explained slowly as if to a child.

"Never heard of her. Her music can't be up to much." Chad chipped in dismissively.

"Well you will do." Sharpay stated confidently remembering Ryan gushing about her only yesterday.

"She's going to be huge. Her album is out in like 3 weeks and her single has already been slated to go straight to number 1. In fact, her single is airing on Ryan Seacrest's morning show next Friday." Sharpay added throwing in another nugget of information. Chad looked impressed. He always listened to Ryan's show when he drove to training.

"And you know all this how?" Chad scoffed.

"Ryan." Sharpay answered simply. "And JJ of course."

"Of course." Troy muttered.

"Wait a minute, who the fuck is JJ?" Troy demanded jealousy coming to the fore again. Sharpay gave him 'the look'.

"Troy, don't you know anything? JJ is an online gossip site, duh! I couldn't live without it." Sharpay sighed as she finished explaining it to them.

"Oh right," Troy looked totally confused. Sharpay might have been speaking Swahili for all the sense it made.

"So." Sharpay started to talk again and Troy groaned.

"Round two. Here we go again."

"How did you meet her?" Sharpay asked inquisitively. Troy smirked.

"Ask Doofus over there." Troy said flicking his thumb at Chad. Chad blushed. Chad related the story amidst giggles from Sharpay and sniggers from Troy and Zeke although Troy shut up when Chad told them that they'd poked about in her bag. By the time Chad had finished Troy was beet red.

"So…." Troy groaned.

"Will she ever be satisfied?"

"You didn't know she was a singer?"

"It didn't come up in conversation." Troy muttered.

"Really? What did you talk about then?" Sharpay continued a gleam in her eye. Troy blushed and the goofy look appeared on his face again.

"Hmm! Nothing much." Troy mumbled. Chad smirked.

"Give it up Shar. I couldn't get anything out of him either. Although he was at her place for over two hours." Sharpay's eyes gleamed for a second then she looked disappointed when there was no more gossip forthcoming.

"When are you seeing her again?"

"Bloody hell! Does she never give up?" Troy groaned silently.

"Nothing has been arranged." He stated firmly. Sharpay opened her mouth to continue.

"Leave it Shar." Troy said with a glare. Sharpay puffed and sighed.

"We'll see about that Bolton. We'll see about that." She promised silently, a gleam appearing in her eyes once more.

The break Gabriella had dreamed of wasn't happening. Since arriving home she'd been to three photo shoots, two in one day and now she was back in the studio with Ryan going over the finalisation of her new album. The record company had asked her to include three bonus tracks, one for the UK and European market and two for the US market. Now it was just a case of deciding out of the extra five tracks she'd laid down which ones to use.

"I like that one." Ryan stated as Scott the sound engineer ran the track through the system, tweaking knobs here and there on the tape deck. Gabriella nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I do too," she concurred. "Although I'm still not sure about track 4." She added, running her fingertip tiredly against her brow. Ryan glanced at her.

"Let's take a break?" Ryan suggested jumping up from his chair.

"Come on, we'll go to Green Bean." Gabriella smiled.

"Coming Scott?" Ryan invited.

"No. I'll stay here and work on it some more. You can bring me a Java back though." Scott said with a grin.

Ryan and Gabriella walked out of the studio only to be pounced on by a dozen paparazzi, all snapping away with their cameras. They looked at each other and Ryan placed his hand on her back, guiding her to his car.

"Hi Ryan. How are you?"

"Gabriella, you look so pretty."

"Gabriella, how's the album going?"

"Ryan, is it true you are dating?"

Ryan flashed his fob and opened the door quickly for Gabriella to jump in before moving rapidly round the car to get into the drivers' seat.

"Damn paps!" Ryan muttered as he started the engine. Gabriella smiled at the curse.

"How do you put up with that all the time?" Ryan asked through gritted teeth.

"It goes with the territory Ryan." Gabriella sighed as she said it.

"Well it shouldn't," he growled. Gabriella smiled and patted his arm.

They found a booth at the back of the restaurant well away from the front window. While they were waiting for their order, Ryan pinpointed the merits of each of the possible songs. Gabriella nodded as she listened to him but occasionally she wrinkled her nose and shook her head. Once the food arrived they stopped talking shop.

"So apart from work how is life treating you Gabs?"

"Fine, life is good at the moment. It's great to be back home, sleeping in my own bed, seeing Mom and Dad although nothing seems to change with them." She said with a smile.

"Taylor is driving me a little crazy. She keep on at me to go to that new club, Equinox and I keep stalling but I guess I'll end up caving in." Gabriella continued with a giggle.

"You've got to go Gabs. They've got this amazing dance floor. Part of it slides to one side and a stage rises up from beneath." Ryan laughed. "They even play the Thunderbirds theme whilst it's changing."

"Hey, I've just had a thought." Ryan said accidentally touching his hat with his hand and tilting it in his excitement. Gabriella giggled at the sight until it registered what he'd said.

"What are you planning now Evans?" Gabriella asked worriedly.

"We could hold your launch party there. It would be so much better than the place the record company has booked. It would be cool and it's the 'in' place to be seen. You could perform your single and mingle with the elite of LA. Let me make some calls. I know Sharpay knows the owner. Well," he paused and laughed, "Whom doesn't she know?" He finished. His eyes gleaming with excitement, he reached for his blackberry. He chatted to his twin for a few minutes while Gabriella zoned out, recalling a pair of startling blue eyes and gorgeous body and oh so kissable lips.

"So you'll make it happen?" Ryan paused and listened.

"Yeah, she's with me now." Ryan listened some more.

"Really? No I didn't. Hmm, I'll see what I can do." Gabriella came out of her daydream to hear the last part and was startled to see Ryan staring at her intently.

"Bye Shar, love you too." Ryan disconnected.

"She does know the owner and will get on it right away." Ryan commented still staring at Gabriella. She touched her mouth thinking she had food stuck there.

"What?" Ryan was starting to freak her out. He shook his head then looked at her again.

"So…. Troy Bolton?" Gabriella blushed and ducked her head.

"How in hell…?"