I will be updating this story between Blue updates and when that's over, between Seeing Gray updates. I hope you like this story because I really like the concept of it and it's really fun to write.
In this story, Troy and Gabriella's relationship flourishes on their love of dance and learning new things. The reason this story falls in the category of "Angst" is because they live in a dangerous part of Manhattan and Troy is and has been involved with dangerous people.
Next, check out the new rewritten version of Sex & Manhattan this Friday as well as the update for Blue.
Enjoy.
Her ballet shoes were worn at the tips and made tiny scuff sounds before she picked up her leg and spun on her toes. Her lean body bent forward as her dance instructor chewed on her pen nervously, half expecting her to fall face first onto the floor before her.
Gabriella swung her foot high above her head and took a leap into the air before twirling again. Kelsi, her only friend in the academy bit her nails and wondered if Gabriella would mess up for once. Everyone watched the girl as she dipped into a plié and went back on her toes. When the piano stopped Gabriella dipped into her finish and looked expectantly at her teacher.
Mrs. Giovanni walked to her and examined her stance. Gabriella did not falter, she was so used to the scrutiny of others. When she felt a poke to her stomach and her sides she immediately took a deep breath bringing up her chest.
"Fifth position!" Gabriella crossed her legs smoothly.
"Dip for me!" she did as she was told and dipped with ease. Her eyes trained on her instructor's face, she bit her lip to refrain from smiling.
"Relevé!" Mrs. Giovanni breathed in her face. Gabriella finally grinned as her instructor tried to find a flaw. "Amazing, best I've seen today." she mumbled under her breath.
People began to whisper and Gabriella closed her eyes already knowing that she had to squash any hope of making friends with the other girls. Mrs. Giovanni tapped under her right leg.
"Jambe!" Gabriella's leg rose automatically.
"Higher!" Gabriella's leg obeyed before her brain even comprehended. Mrs. Giovanni laughed and pushed her leg almost to her shoulder. Gabriella winced at the pain and held it there.
"Relax, stand straight, and curtsy. You are finished."
Gabriella sat at her bureau brushing her hair. She stared at the girl in the mirror, the perfectly tanned skin, she was completely alone and she enjoyed the solitude. She removed her earrings and pulled her hair into a bun.
Her small apartment was decorated with pictures of her and her love to dance. Posters of her and fellow friends, doing a jazz number at the Lehman Lovinger Theater to "The Hip Hop Movement" she and her friends danced on her high school stage. She pulled on her sweat pants and searched for her favorite t-shirt.
She was on her way to the open dance studio. Often she was the only one in there, other times she had two or three people to talk with or completely avoid. Gabriella closed the door behind her and hurried out the building. She smiled at Mr. Jamison who was in his usual place late afternoons, playing checkers with a neighbor.
"Gabs!"
Gabriella turned and grinned. Taylor's pea coat lifted in the wind and she hugged Gabriella tightly. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since graduation!"
Gabriella giggled, "Well, I don't know what to do with myself after college so I'm exploring."
"Where are you working now? We could have lunch sometime." Taylor grinned.
"The nursing home by the Wakefield area." Gabriella bit her lip, "I don't like this part of town so I try to get out of here often." Taylor nodded her head in agreement.
"You heading to the studio?" Gabriella asked as she began to walk with her friend.
"No, I'm headed to work. I'm at the dentistry office." Gabriella looked ahead with her and then rummaged through her bag for her pad and pen.
"Here, I have a new number. We'll talk whenever you want, I'm this way." Gabriella pointed down the street and Taylor hugged her and told her she'd call.
Gabriella made sure her bag was closed and looked around her suspiciously before entering the building. She caught a glimpse of a male figure and the music pounded in her ears. Better With The Lights Off by The New Boyz never seemed so compelling to dance to until she watched the boy in front of her. She watched his body move and leaned against the doorframe, biting her lip to refrain from interrupting him. When he spun on his head then dropped on his back, she sucked in her breath, waiting for him to move. He got up and tried again finally landing on one hand and his legs twisted in the air. He used both hands to spin his body around and then stood and moved with isolated movements.
He suddenly turned and grinned, "Come in, I don't kill." The song started again and he turned to the mirror.
Gabriella stepped in embarrassed she had been caught staring. "Are you the only one here?" He nodded and started the moonwalk. Seeming unsatisfied, he stopped and started again.
"I'm umm, Gabriella." she said nervously, feeling compelled to tell him everything about herself.
He chuckled and took a deep breath, "I'm umm, Troy." he mimicked with a raised eyebrow. "And I didn't ask."
"Right…" Gabriella said intimidated.
He only ran and spun to her, "And I'm joking." he examined her and his eyes sparkled as if a light went off in his head, "You're the ballet girl! You're face is all over the city."
Gabriella nodded and began to get undressed, "I'd still prefer Gabriella."
Troy laughed and sat on the floor by her, "Sure, Gabriella. Only if you call me Troy, I prefer it better than the street dancer guy."
Gabriella giggled and turned to him, "You're a street dancer?"
"Me, my cousin Sharpay, and my best friend Chad dance on 54th." he smiled. "Stop by and drop some change."
Gabriella nodded and sat on the floor with him and began to stretch. "Is it for a good cause?"
"Yeah, medical bills I got to pay off…" Troy said hesitantly. Gabriella stopped mid stretch and frowned, "You dance like you're healthy."
"Not mine, my little brother has systematic lupus. It's rare to find in males his age, especially ones of European descent. He needed a kidney transplant so I gave him one of mine. Then he had his appendix removed, he had pneumonia, and then he needed a defibrillator. Sometimes I just want to lock him in a sterile box." Troy joked.
Gabriella smiled softly, "He goes to school?"
"Yup, Jamie's president of his fifth grade class." Troy stood and began to do some footwork.
"You must be proud. I'm sure you're parents are too." Gabriella stood also and walked over to the bar to practice her positions.
"You would of thought." Troy pressed forward and Travie McCoy's voice poured out the radio.
"I don't know if this is prying, but I want to know what you mean." Gabriella turned and leaned on the bar kicking each of her legs up at a time.
"My parents are divorced, my mom's an alcoholic and my dad's an overachiever and workaholic. He smokes weed sometimes too. As you can see they are a bit wrapped up in their own worlds to care. As soon as I turned 18 I pulled him out of my dad's house. He wasn't paying him any attention, the attention he needed." Troy didn't look at her but the Switch and Sinden remix of You'll Find A Way filled the room and he began his isolated movements.
"Oh." she knew she didn't want to say sorry. She hated when people said sorry when her Grandmother died, she believed that she should apply that to whenever someone's life sucked. "Can you teach me how to move like that?"
Troy turned and grinned, "Sure, come over." He restarted the song and she walked over to him with a nervous smile.
He placed his hands on her hips and pushed a hand into her left side, she moved to the right but her hips moved to. "Don't move your hips. Isolated movements means move one part of the body at a time."
Gabriella nodded nervously and looked in the mirror at him, he bit his lip and looked down at her ballet shoes. "Take those off."
"Why?" Gabriella asked with a dubious look.
"They look weird when you are trying to dance hip hop." Gabriella pulled them off and wiggled her toes. "If I step on something sharp, I'm kicking your ass with my one good foot."
Troy chuckled. "Ballerinas balance on their tip toes, you'll be fine."
She rolled her eyes and Troy replaced his hands on her hips. "Move with me."
She did as she was told and in no time she was moving with Troy at the same time. When he bent her forward, she stumbled but he kept a strong hold on her waist. "Suck in your stomach, ballerina."
He moved her to the side and pushed her feet apart with his own. Shut It Down by Drake came on and they kept trying. Gabriella made the mistake of pushing her behind into Troy and he took one of her hands and spun her round. His eyes snapped up into the mirror and met her face, she seemed impressed. He pushed away and picked up his phone. She sat on the floor in front of her bag. She drank from her water bottle and watched him as a worried line formed on his forehead.
He picked up his stuff hurriedly, "I'm running late to pick up Jamie. Sorry, Gabriella, I'll be here on Friday. Umm, see you then?"
Gabriella grinned, "Tell him the ballerina girl said hi. And I'll see what I can do. You dance a train ride from where I work."
Troy nodded and took his CD from the radio. He told her one last goodbye before walking out the door. Gabriella danced for another hour to her OneRepublic CD then decided the energy wasn't there anymore and Troy had took it with him.
Troy set up and sat against the building watching Sharpay stretch in front of him. "How is he?" Chad asked from next to him.
"He's fine." Troy said shortly, he then shrugged, "Nothing's been happening, no flares, no pain, no rashes. The medication is actually working for once."
"No vomiting?" Sharpay interrupted she sat in front of Troy, spread her legs, and reached forward. Troy grabbed onto her hands and placed his feet by her knees. He pulled her forwards and waited for her to take a deep breath.
"Surprisingly not for a while now. I think he'll be good, especially since Dad doesn't come over much anymore with all that damn cigarette smoke. I think that's what's been making him vomit, if that makes sense." Troy pulled her again.
"I got to start reading up on this so I can help you out." Chad announced. He stood to put up the poster with Jamie's face on it. It had the description of the lupus he had and how they were raising money for him.
"You don't have to. I'm doing pretty good, Chad." Troy pulled Sharpay once more before standing also.
"Plus he already has my help." Sharpay sent a pointed look towards Chad. Troy chuckled, "Of all the things you could fight over right now, this isn't important." He smiled at a little girl who tugged her mother's coat saying she wanted to watch. The woman looked kindly at Troy and then at the poster. "Is that family?"
He nodded and placed Sharpay's boom box on the chair they brought. "Oh, my mother had Lupus after my daughter was born. It took her, but she had a smile on her face."
Troy frowned when he saw the woman pull out her wallet. She handed Troy a card, "My mother's doctor took very good care of her, my name is on the back. Tell him I recommended you and I'll pull some strings and see if he'll help with little charge." Troy smiled at the woman's kindness, "Thanks. I'm Troy, by the way."
Sharpay stood at his side and smiled at the lady then looked up at Troy. The woman also took out a stack of bills and placed them in bowl. "We'll drop by later to watch okay hunny?" she spoke to her daughter now. Troy watched them walk off and shoved the card in his pocket.
"Troy?" he turned at the voice and Sharpay smiled softly, "It's 11, we should start now."
He nodded and Chad started the music. All the while he searched the crowd for the face he wished he saw.
"Come on Mr. Derby." Gabriella grabbed the old man's arm.
She checked her watch and struggled with the stubborn old man, apparently his 93 years-old life story was more important than her plans. He sat on his bed and Gabriella pulled off his slippers hastily and he went under the sheets. Mr. Derby frowned and placed his dentures in the cup of water next to him, "You know I am not very tired, Gabriella. I'm not in the mood to nap."
"I know, Mr. Derby, but you haven't been sleeping well, I'm just here to help. Is there anything you might need?" Gabriella answered quickly.
"Not really. And you are right, I haven't. You know before my mother passed she used to call telling me it was bed time until I told her I was grown? She was so clingy it made it hard for me to find a woman to settle down with."
Before he could continue Gabriella gave him a warm smile, "I always love you're stories Mr. Derby, but tell me this one another time. My mother needs me home."
Mr. Derby smiled sweetly, making her feel guilty for lying to him, "You were always the sweetest one here, Gabriella. Go home and I'll try and sleep."
Gabriella grinned gratefully and walked out the room after closing the drapes. She got dressed in the staff bathroom and walked down the street to the train station. When she got off on her stop she quickly made her way to the ATM outside Bank of America and took out $200 dollars. All of a sudden she was nervous. Gabriella took her ATM card back and tucked the money away. What if it was too generous? What if she made him look like a charity case?
She headed down the street and made her way through the crowd she watched the girl roll off Troy's back before she smiled at him and placed the money in the container. Troy caught her eyes and grinned while she stood away from the bowl and watched with everyone else.
"Not so fast." Troy latched onto Gabriella's arm. She turned and grinned, "Hey Mr. Street Dancer, do I know you?"
Troy smiled also, "I believe we met yesterday, Ms. Ballerina." They laughed and Gabriella pulled him into a bone crushing hug. Troy couldn't help but return it and she giggled, "You were great, I love the way your cousin moves, I'm terribly jealous."
Troy grinned, "Why don't you meet her then?"
He pulled her over to his friend and cousin, "Guys this is Gabriella."
The two dancers turned from what they were doing and smiled politely. Sharpay's eyes widened and she stuck out her hand, "Oh my God, my dream's come true! I've always wanted to meet the face all over Manhattan!" Sharpay finally let go of the death grip she held on Gabriella's hand. "I am saving the money to go see one of your shows."
Gabriella laughed, "It's not my show, it's the company's and I'm flattered." She turned to the fuzzy haired boy who stood behind Sharpay protectively. He grinned shyly, "Hi."
"Hey." She giggled and looked back at Troy."Well, Gabriella and I are going to go grab dinner. Are you alright by yourselves?"
Gabriella wrinkled her eyebrows and he smirked and winked at her. "We can handle it, can't we Chad?" Sharpay looked up at him.
"Yeah, we're good." Chad answered confidently.
"Great, don't wait up." Troy grabbed Gabriella's hand and and they began to run down the street.
They started to enter the Harlem area and people stared after them as if they were imposing. Troy walked quietly and she finally spoke up, "You live over here?"
"Yeah. I do." Troy answered, they traveled up the stairs of an apartment building and Troy opened the door and held it open for Gabriella. "Is your brother home?"
"No. He is actually with Sharpay's mom for the night." Troy smiled as he turned on the lights. She sat on the couch and looked around, "You planned this?"
"No. I didn't think you were going to come today." He watched her as she examined his apartment.
"Oh, well, I feel like I am imposing." she looked up at him liked she'd rather step outside then be in the warm apartment. He shook his head and gave her a small no before walking into his bedroom.
"Besides, I was just going to change and take you to dinner, not keep you hostage." Troy poked his head out the bedroom and looked at her. Gabriella giggled and shrugged off her flip flops off before kicking up her feet. "I love your place. It's comfy."
"I hope to be going to yours soon." Troy came out the room and gave Gabriella a cheesy smile.
"Nice try." she blushed and took her feet down. He sat next to her and then spoke suddenly, "Any where special you want to go?"
"I though you were taking me to dinner. Now I have an option?" Gabriella moved closer to him. Troy shook his head, "You still have to go to dinner with me, you just get the priviledge of choosing where we go."
"Are you paying?" Gabriella smiled and batted her eyelashes. "Yes, I'm paying." he chuckled and watched as she pondered the thought for a moment.
"Well, we could always go to McDonalds or the Burger King up the street. We could also take the train to get to the KFC by the Apollo." Gabriella babbled.
Troy raised an eyebrow, "For a ballerina, you sure don't eat like one."
"Well, I'm sorry if I ruined the perfect image of ballerinas but I'm afraid we all don't eat like birds." she stood and he followed, opening the door for her. He watched as her hair bounced when she walked into KFC and when she got excited when he said she could have wedges with her chicken. Something about her gave him confidence, confidence that made him believe he could be anyone at that moment.
"That's my number. Call me when you want to talk." Gabriella bit her lip nervously, "I'll see you Friday."
"You sure you don't want me to walk you home? It's getting dark..." Troy looked about them.
"Well, if you'd just let me go, I'll get home faster." Gabriella giggled and looked up at the sky too. "Here call me when you get home, put my worries at ease will you?" Troy took her pen and wrote his number on her palm. She looked at it and reached up to kiss his cheek, "Will do, Mr. Street Dancer." she said softly.
"Go." he chuckled.
"Bye." she turned and waved back at him as she headed down the street and away from his building, he gave a small wave before walking into the building and leaving Gabriella with a fluttering heartbeat.
To my usual faithful reviewers, I hope you like this one too and review as often as you review Blue. To new readers, I hope one day to call you one of my faithful reviewers and you can begin by reviewing this story as well as my others and keeping me up to date on anything by PMing me.
Hope you liked it.
Review please, I'd love to know what you think!
Rachelle :D