Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter One: Forever and Almost Always
So the story goes on down
The less traveled road
It's a variation on
The one I was told
And although it's not the same
It's awful close yeah
In an ordinary fairytale land
There's a promise of a perfect happy end
And I imagine having just short of that
Is better than nothing
So you'll be mine
Forever and almost always
And I'll be fine
Just love me when you can
And I'll wait patiently
I'll wake up every day
Just hoping that you still care
- "Forever and Almost Always" Kate Voegele
Gabriella Montez rolled over, or tried to. She groaned. "Ryan…" she dragged his name out.
He moaned, "What Gem?" he asked her
"Shut the damn alarm off and get off of me. I gotta go to work." She mumbled
Ryan reluctantly let go of his girlfriend of 3 years and turned the alarm off. Sighing Gabi got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Ryan heard the shower turn on, a few minutes later she came back into the bedroom in matching lavender bra and underwear. She walked into the kitchen and leaned down to kiss Ryan who was sitting at the table reading the paper.
"Hey sexy." He smiled up at her. She laughed lightly and grabbed a cup of coffee, dropping another kiss on his forehead before strutting back into their bedroom.
Sighing she turned the TV onto the news as she got dressed for work. Just as she left the room Ryan walked in to take his shower and get ready. "Bye handsome, I'll see you tonight." She kissed him one last time before grabbing an apple, filling up her coffee mug, picking up her briefcase and heading out the door of their apartment.
She walked the short way to the New York Times building and took the elevator up to the Science and Research Department, of which she was the head. She dropped her stuff of in her office and pulled a particular file out of her briefcase before heading to the conference room. She entered and began to flip though the papers waiting on the rest of her department to come in. Ten minutes later the meeting was underway. She sighed and rubbed her temples, this was tough, there was too much going on, for some reason she was overly stressed, she just needed a way to relieve it all, but unfortunately nothing she did worked.
When the meeting was over she walked back to her office and sat down. She turned her computer on and went over her schedule for the next week before opening her email. My life is so boring, she thought unhappily.
There were so many great aspects to it, Ryan her boyfriend, her best friends Taylor, Kelsi, and Miley. And Ryan's sister Sharpay was nice enough, sort of. There was her amazing job, the one she'd worked her ass off for. Then what was wrong? Rubbing her temples she decided to put the problem that had been bothering her out of her mind. She pulled a knife out of the drawer of the tiny kitchenette in her office corner and sliced the apple that was her breakfast. She'd really lost her appetite lately. Ryan didn't seem to notice though. She put the pieces on a plate and began to proofread an article that had been sent to her about breast cancer and the new research developments.
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Troy Bolton got out of the shower and got dressed, he had a practice this afternoon. He walked into their kitchen and saw his girlfriend, Sharpay Evans, in his t-shirt and boxers. She was fixing one of her crappy health breakfasts from the new diet she was on. He smiled, she looked good in his clothes.
He walked over and wrapped his strong arms around her tiny waist. "Morning baby. That shirt looks sexy on you." He lightly nipped her earlobe.
She giggled and turned around in his arms, winding her arms around his neck she smiled, "Morning to you too. And thanks I love your stuff." He gave her a kiss before pulling away to pour a cup of coffee. She sat down with her breakfast and watched as her boyfriend of 2 and a half years picked up an apple and went to find his gym bag.
"Practice this morning?" she asked
"This afternoon. Meeting this morning." He found what he was looking for and gave her another kiss before running out the door.
He breathed in the fresh air and smiled, it cleared his mind. Walking to the parking lot of his apartment complex he pulled his keys out to drive to the Knicks stadium. He pulled into the parking lot and parked in the captain's spot. He'd been named Captain last season and was loving it. He'd played basketball since high school and had a natural talent for the sport. He loved it, and constantly called his dad to thank him for introducing him to it.
Troy groaned, he felt his morning headache coming over him as he dropped his bag on the bench and spun the dial to open his locker. Once it was open he set his stuff in it and closed the door again. He made his way into the boardroom in the back of the stadium. The coach was there on the phone, and there were some random men there he'd never seen.
"New investors." He thought to himself. Five minutes later the meeting was underway. Sighing he sipped on his coffee. He wasn't sure what was causing these headaches, or the feeling that something was missing in his life. He couldn't put his finger on it. He had Sharpay who was amazing, and her brother was pretty nice. Chad, Zeke, and Jason were the best friends anyone could ask for. Then there was his job. He'd dreamed of playing for the Knicks as a kid and couldn't ask for anything more than to be their captain and one day their coach. What the fuck was missing from his seemingly perfect life?
The coach said they had twenty minutes before practice. The guys went back to the locker room and he pulled his apple out of his bag. Wiping it off he began eating it.
"Dude?" Chad Danforth asked, "You've been eating an apple everyday for breakfast since forever man. Why not change it up?" He'd known Chad since pre-school.
"Cause I like my apple." Troy said curtly, he wasn't really in the mood to talk right now.
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"Knock, knock." Gabi smiled
"Come on in Tay." She looked to the door and saw her best friend come inside. "What are you doing here? I thought all the girls were meeting for the much needed martinis at 6?" Gabi asked, confused, but happy by the presence of Dr. Taylor McKessie, a pediatrician with her own practice.
"I have a much needed break for lunch and know that you need to be dragged out of here so you eat. Let's go. Now." Taylor grabbed Gabi's purse and handed to her.
"Ugh, are you always right?" She joked
"Yes." Taylor said, fake seriousness in her voice. Gabi giggled as the women linked arms and made their way out of the building and down the street to a little café.
"I've never been here, I've heard that it's owned by one of the Knicks players." Gabi commented as they sat down.
"Yeah, it is, apparently he's a chef in the heart." Taylor said, "And opened this up last year. It's done pretty well from what I've heard. And all the recipes are his own." The girls glanced at the menu and quickly ordered.
Gabi sighed and looked out the window. She rubbed the back of her neck, her headache had moved down. Taylor smiled sympathetically at her friend and handed her two Advil. "Take it, please, it'll get rid of that headache. How are you doing sweetie? Feeling any better?" Taylor asked, she'd been worried about her best friend this past month, and Ryan hadn't seemed to notice the change, which slightly angered Taylor.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just sad I guess. It'll work itself out eventually, it's probably just a phase." Gabi smiled reassuringly. "Oh, Ryan asked if Sharpay could come with us tonight, hope you girls don't mind."
Taylor shook her head, "The more to get drunk with the merrier." She laughed.
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"That was a great practice guys. Troy your game was on today, make sure it's like that when we play Boston Friday." The coach patted him on the back as the team headed to the showers.
"We still on for beers at the bar tonight?" Jason Cross asked when he saw that his friends were all out of the shower.
"Yeah." Troy nodded, "Oh Shar asked me if I would bring her brother so I guess Ryan's joining us tonight."
"No it's fine, he's cool." Zeke Baylor said. "I'll catch you guys later, I gotta go check on the restaurant." He waved goodbye as he left the locker room.
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Gabi sighed as she kicked her office door shut. Mumbling to herself she attempted to make her way to the elevator with her arms full of files. Everything seemed to be happening at once in the world of science, so there were a million articles and interviews to be written and she had so much research to do since she got to actually work with some of the scientists.
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Troy parked his car in his marked spot and decided to go for a walk to clear his mind before heading back into his apartment. Leaving his gym bag in his car he headed off.
Gabi was walking out of her office building and juggling a million files at the same time. "Why can't work ever stay at work?" she mumbled to herself, as all her files went cascading to the ground in the parking lot of the New York Times building. She groaned.
"You know some people think that people who talk to themselves are crazy." She looked up from her crouching position on the ground and into the bluest eyes she'd ever seen.
"Yeah, well some people think people who talk to random strangers are crazy." She retorted with a smile, What am I doing? I'm flirting with a perfect stranger. And I have a boyfriend! All be it he is a gorgeous stranger.
"Well then, we both must be crazy." He laughed as he helped her pick up her papers, and smiled when she giggled, What am I doing? Why am I flirting with her? I have Sharpay, she's gorgeous and I love her. "Troy Bolton."
"Gabriella Montez." She sighed dejectedly. Bolton, Knicks, dating Sharpay, my boyfriend's sister's boyfriend. Great.
Montez, he thought, girlfriend's brother's girlfriend, superb or fabulous, as Sharpay would say. He helped her to her feet, "Can I help you get these papers back to your apartment." She nodded, "I guess you know who I am." He sighed
"That's funny, I never heard rumors of you being arrogant." Gabi joked, she laughed at his shocked expression.
"No I meant, you date Ryan Evans, you must have heard about me, I'm his twin sister's boyfriend, I'm sure you know Sharpay." Troy rambled on, "I didn't mean it like I'm famous or something…"
"Troy chill." Gabi smirked, "I was only teasing, I knew exactly what you meant and yeah I knew who you were when you introduced yourself." She smiled at him.
The two talked about their jobs until they reached Gabi's building. "This is me." She let them inside. "Thanks for helping Troy, I guess I should've just called a cab because it was so much stuff. Oh hey baby." She greeted Ryan as he came out of his office.
"Sup dude?" Troy said, setting the papers on the kitchen table and going over to shake Ryan's hand.
"What are you doing here?" Ryan asked, "I thought we were meeting at 6."
"Oh I was out walking and I saw El drop all of her papers all over the sidewalk." He smiled at her, "The amazing guy that I am," he laughed as she rolled her eyes, "I went over to help her and we discovered that we were both dating the famous Evans twins."
Ryan laughed as he walked over to Gabi, they shared a light kiss, "Thanks for helping my girl out man. I owe ya one."
"My pleasure, she's good company, well I'm gonna head home. Shar's gonna see you ladies tonight and I'll see you in an hour my friend." He waved goodbye as he left.
"Guess we both better get ready for tonight." Gabi said with a smile.
"Yup." Ryan agreed leading her to the bedroom to change.
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XOXO
MAS
