I'd like to dedicate my oneshot to the precipitation outside that was the cause of school bus cancellations that let me stay home and write this. :)
-----
"I wish you were here, Wildcat."
"You know I'd give anything to be with you."
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound whiny or anything but—"
"Gabriella, don't apologise!" chuckled Troy, unknowingly making his girlfriend smile. "I know how you feel. We've been away from each other for a week and then the stupid flight had to be cancelled due to Canada's crazy weather so now we have to spend Valentine's Day away from each other."
She sat on her bed while twirling the phone cord around her finger, glad to at least be hearing the sound of Troy's voice. "So anyways, how was your uncle's wedding?"
"Cold. Everything here is cold. I miss New Mexico," he pouted.
"Poor baby," cooed the brunette, "but I was more interested in how the actual ceremony went."
"It was fine, just like any other wedding. Wait, actually, the flower girl tripped and it was hilarious. Man, I wish I could've caught that on camera."
"Troy, I can't imagine you'd laugh at little girl's mistake! She must have been humiliated enough."
"Oh no, this wasn't, like, a six year old. This was my thirteen year old cousin, who flat out refused to be one of those junior bridesmaids or whatever, and demanded to be the one to throw flowers everywhere. She stepped on her outrageously frilly dress and fell on the ring bearer! The boy ran, crying, into his mother's arms."
In the background, Gabriella could hear a feminine voice scolding Troy for retelling her embarrassing story then running off to complain to Aunt Lucille. After hiding a giggle, she tsked him disapprovingly. "That wasn't very nice."
"You would've understood if you were there. Even my grandfather was rolling on the floor, laughing his ass off." There was silence on the other end. "So how has your day been? Did you ask your mom for the brownie recipe and have you been making them to celebrate my return?"
"I made them yesterday, but since your return was delayed, I figured the brownies would go bad and I let Chad help himself to all of them."
"Darn."
"And today, all I've been doing is moping around, missing you."
"I miss you too." They simultaneously grinned at each others words.
Gabriella sighed. "Have you started on the work the teachers gave you?"
"Only you could think of school, Gabi. This is supposed to be a vacation for me!" He teasingly argued.
"You're going to have to catch up on a week's worth of homework sooner or later."
"I'm just kidding with you. I finished all of it."
"No way. Really?" questioned Gabriella incredulously.
"My dad works at East High. Do you think I could get away with a homework-free week?" He laughed.
She giggled, "Yeah, I guess not."
"And besides, since I've finished, I'll get to spend the rest of my weekend with you once I'm home," Troy proudly explained his logical thinking skills.
"That will only be a few hours out of the two days we could have had together if the weather over there was better."
"I know. I don't get how Canadians live through this."
"I'm sure you wouldn't find it that bad Troy. You love snowboarding," she pointed out.
"That's true."
"Hey, you know, Chad's more romantic than we thought."
"Oh really?" asked Troy.
"Yep, Taylor called earlier and, apparently, he wrote and sang a song for her today."
He made a mental note to try and top his bushy haired friend when they asked their respective girlfriends to prom, knowing Gabriella was a sucker for anything romantic. "That doesn't sound like him at all."
"I know, right? Oh, but Kelsi called and said that Ryan hired a skywriter to write 'Will You Be My Valentine?" in the sky, and she also told me Ryan found out that Zeke baked Sharpay a Boi-shaped cake."
The hint of longing in her voice didn't go unnoticed by her concerned boyfriend. "Gabi, I'm sorry, but my mom needs the phone. I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Soon?"
"When you sleep, time passes quickly," he tried consoling her.
"But it's five in the afternoon!"
"I'll try calling you again later, okay?"
"Alright. I love you, bye."
"Bye. Love you too."
She hung up and attempted to avoid thinking of being away from Troy, but lonely memories of a Troy-less week were intent on making her feel miserable. It didn't help that her mother happened to be away on a business trip as well.
Padding downstairs, Gabriella picked up a brownie from the plate of them she prepared for him and chewed slowly. It was the first Valentine's Day where she wasn't single, but it was still spent alone.
The television was turned on, Gabriella finally settling on watching corny TV specials for the rest of the day.
Half an hour later and in true Chad Danforth fashion, the phone gave out a shrill ring, right when two characters were about to kiss, making Gabriella miss the scene when she leaped to answer it. "Hello?"
"Gabriella, hey!"
"You called!"
"I said I would, didn't I? Where are you right now?"
"Uh, I'm at home. Never left."
"Go upstairs if you aren't already up there."
Gabriella slowly walked to the carpeted steps. "Why?" she excitedly inquired, "are you here?!"
He chuckled. "I'm not that magical, Gabi, but thanks for thinking that I am. Look outside at your front lawn."
She changed directions after heading to her balcony that overlooked her backyard. "What?"
"Just do it."
She pulled back the curtain and gasped.
Standing outside were seven members of East High's basketball team — minus their captain, of course.
They stood side by side, all holding signs with one word on them. The words combined read:
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY. I YOU LOVE GABI.
But Zeke hurriedly nudged a confused Jason into the right place, making the new note read:
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY. I LOVE YOU GABI.
She laughed out loud when she heard Jason holler "Sorry about that Gabriella!"
"What's so funny?" demanded Troy, "It's not supposed to be funny. What did they do wrong this time?"
"It's nothing," she reassured him. "And I love this. I love you too. I don't know what else to say. This is the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me...oh Troy. What did I do to deserve you?"
"You were yourself and you accepted me for myself. I'm glad you like it, Gabi. It's not as great as a song, skywriting or a dessert and I really hope the team can spell okay or else I'd need to have a talk with my dad, but — "
"Troy, it's amazing. And it's an unbelievably good gift from someone who's almost two thousand miles away. How'd you get them to do it, anyway?"
"Oh they always listen to me; I'm their captain."
"Mhmm."
"Okay fine, I might have threatened them with non-stop suicide drills at our next practice if they didn't."
------
There you go. A nice T&G Valentine's Day oneshot! Leave me a review pretty please?