Hey I hope everyone came over to read this from 'Ellie' because I just wanted to tell you all, that YOU had ME in tears with your reviews! You know you write a story and you're not sure about it but you post it anyway and then actually, people love it the most, well those days are good for me! I'm having a tough time at work at the moment and your reviews keep me going :)

This is a two-part short-ish story. Hope you enjoy.

1. Virgin for Sale

"Hey, you have got to come and see this, Troy!" Chad called to his best friend from the lounge.

"Are you on EBay again?" Troy asked knowingly from the next room.

"Yeah, but I've never seen something like this for sale before…" Chad remarked as Troy joined him in the living room.

As Troy sat down, Chad marvelled at their tight friendship when they were polar opposite in looks. Troy was white; blue eyed and had straight golden brown hair. Chad was dark skinned; dark eyed and had wiry afro hair the colour of the night. But when their eyes met and they grinned at each other, there was mutual trust and affection bounding between them. Troy cuddled in next to him on the sofa to look at his laptop screen.

"Ok show me," Troy insisted.

"Here…" Chad tilted the screen to show him.

"Virgin for sale. Fed up with Frogs. Just wants Prince Charming." Troy read the description out loud, the looked at Chad quizzically.

"Wait till you see this…" Chad sighed, scrolling back up to the picture and looking at his friend to wait for his reaction.

"Gabriella?" Troy's eyes widened as the shock hit him in the solar plexus.

"Yup." Chad affirmed, knowing the girl in the picture meant a lot to both of them, but more to his buddy. They spent almost all their spare time together- best friends since kindergarten.

"She would have told me!" Troy cried in bewilderment.

"It's not the kind of thing you would tell to a guy.." Chad suggested with a look to his friend.

"Wait a second…I know what's happened!" Troy stood up quickly, putting his hands to his forehead, his fingers extending into his hair. "Her account got hacked! Yeah, that's what happened, someone hacked her account and….I'm going to see her to tell her."

"Troy, I don't think…" Chad began carefully.

"I'll see you later, Chad." He stated without stopping to listen, the front door closing soundly behind him as Chad remained on the sofa and sighed out.

"Good luck, buddy."

"Gabriella!" THUMP THUMP THUMP

Troy banged on his best friend's door with more force than was really needed, but he felt like he had to get in there and tell her what was going on right now. Her honour was at stake and he felt responsible for protecting her at least a little bit.

"GABI! WAKE UP!" He yelled again, greeted two seconds later by the front door swishing open angrily.

"For god's sake, Troy…" Gabi moaned, her hair dishevelled and still clad in her pyjama short-set.

Gabriella Montez was a nurse who worked weird hours and didn't own a normal body-clock. Her best friend from little school, Troy Bolton, often harangued her out of bed during her day-sleep when he had something pressing on his mind and she hated him for it. But his big blue eyes and floppy brown hair and puppy-dog eagerness just somehow persuaded her to let him in every time.

It was a fact, Troy was irresistible. She hadn't felt it in quite the same way some of his girlfriends had but in these moments, his charm even melted her anger into silent acceptance.

"I have to come in, there's something you have to know…" He announced quickly, his eyebrows leaping around on his handsome face. She smiled in amusement and widened her door.

"It couldn't wait four more hours?" She yawned as she padded after him.

"No it couldn't! Oh my god, Gabi, someone has hacked into your EBay account!" He spluttered, turning to face her now they were both inside and he pushed his hands out to implore with her.

She blinked twice and met his gaze, "Is that all?"

"What do you mean, is that all? You should see what they've done! They put you up for sale, Gabi! They put your body for sale…" He paused, not quite able to say the words he had seen on Chad's screen that morning. Looking at the petite Latino before him, it was hard to imagine her with any man in that way, let alone one who had paid for her.

Gabi crossed her arms and took a breath, knowing what was going to come with her next words.

"Nobody broke into my account, Troy. I put myself up for auction." She stated, and then went by him into the kitchen to make her much-needed coffee seeing as it was likely she wouldn't get any more sleep now before her night-shift.

"WHAT?" She heard him explode in the next room before he stormed into the kitchen behind her and stalked her against the fridge, his hands coming up to grasp her upper arms. "What were you thinking?"

"Troy…" She frowned at his uncharacteristic behaviour. "Let go, you're hurting me…"

"Do you want to get raped?" He questioned harshly. "Why would you do that, god I thought your virginity was precious to you, not something to be sold like a belonging!" He practically screeched into her face.

"I honestly can't see what the big deal is," she answered coolly, wincing as his fingers bit into her skin. "I thought it would be fun to see who would pay the most money to be with me. I'm twenty-two and I've never had sex. It's time I changed that." She said resolutely.

"You…oh my god…" His hands went to his hair as he sighed out in half-humour, half pain, managing a grimacing laugh. "This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! It's not you, Gabs. Who gave you this idea?" He demanded.

"Troy!" She reprimanded as he bruised her skin.

"I'm sorry…" His voice softened, his blue eyes like a broken sky as he pleaded with her silently, his hands softening to rub her tender skin. "I'm sorry."

"It was my idea," she said finally, staring at his t-shirted chest, answering his previous question. "I really am fed up of being virgin."

"Can't you meet someone; get to know them, do it the old fashioned way?" He asked.

"I've tried that. Every guy I date either you or Chad manage to put off somehow. No-one is ever good enough for me according to you two. It's like having two big brothers spoiling your love life…" She muttered.

Troy jerked in shock at her comparing him to a brother. Is that what she really thought of him? An overbearing older brother? Didn't they tell each other everything? Didn't their bond go deeper than that?

He had thought so. He had hoped so. And although he couldn't quite work out why, it was only now that he thought about it, he realised she was right. They did sabotage her romances. Chad always joked he was doing it to help his buddy out, intimating that Troy would one day realise he wanted to be with Gabi but Troy had always laughed that off. She was his best friend. He could never…it wasn't even imaginable…

"I'll help you find someone, I promise. Just please take that stupid ad down." He begged.

"No, Troy. I want to do this. I'll have sex with whoever I want." She added stubbornly.

He knew not to argue further. Once her chin jutted up and her arms crossed her chest, there would be no reasoning with her. No budging.

He sighed, wondering if he had backed her into this corner, fearing his overprotective reaction might be the very reason she was even contemplating such a scheme.

He looked into her brown eyes for a long moment, trying to read what lay beneath her feisty scowl and found she wasn't letting anything away. He sighed and stepped back; releasing her from the prison he'd held her in against the fridge.

"Okay." He said, drained.

She looked up in surprise, almost wanting him to argue further. "Okay?"

"Yeah, I get it. It's your life. I have no right to tell you how to live it." He conceded.

She looked at him for another moment, a little hurt at his lack of further contest. Then she busied herself with the kettle to make her warm drink, her hands shaking now with nerves at the intensity of the last few minutes.

"I want to meet him, though." He said behind her, making her laugh as he fulfilled his role of protector.

"No, Troy." She said simply, handing him a mug and sitting with him at the breakfast table.

"Why not?" He asked calmly.

"Because you'll say something to put him off!" She arced back. "This is a business transaction." She insisted.

"What about your heart?" He questioned, squinting at her unemotional words. "What about making love?"

"That's a fairytale, Troy. Real-life doesn't work like that." She replied, her faraway look sad and resolved.

"It can…Gabi, it can." He insisted softly. "It doesn't matter how many guys you have sex with…it doesn't mean anything without love."

"Well I don't have love…" She dropped her gaze to her mug, running her finger around the rim distractedly. "But I might find it this way."

Troy flicked his gaze over his friend and knew he couldn't let her go through with her plan. But he knew better than to argue with her. He'd have to find another way to talk her round and he hadn't figured out how yet, but he was going to enrol Chad's help in this thing and anyone else who would be willing to listen.

"I have to get back to the court…" He said, of his day job as a basketball coach.

"Okay maybe see you later." She offered.

He stood and hovered before her for a second, his face creased with worry. There were so many things he wanted to say. There were so many things he should say. But not one of them came out as he turned and walked away.

"Get down the left side! Ade!" Troy yelled at his young charges with more ferocity than usual, the whole start of his day playing on his mind. He'd wished Chad had never showed him his stupid find now and he wished he'd had a few more days of unknowing bliss.

But at least this way he could keep an eye on things and make sure Gabriella didn't do anything more stupid than she already had. He closed his eyes and winced at his thought. She wasn't stupid. She was the most intelligent girl he knew. Then why was she doing this?

When they had talked about their futures, while at an age where anything was possible, she had spoken of getting married, having children and having the whole nine yards. Her job brought her into contact with young, single doctors, several of whom she had tried to date with no success and Troy wondered who he could picture her settling down with.

A Doctor might seem like the perfect dream man but he hadn't met one yet that didn't make his hackles rise. Come to think of it, he hadn't met any of Gabi' dates yet that didn't make his hackles rise. Perhaps he really was her dating bad karma.

"I said GET DOWN THERE!" He roared to the eighteen-year-old college boy, running down the length of the court to anticipate him doing the same while he ran his jumbled thoughts through his head.

Maybe he really did have a problem, he mused. He had been friends with Gabi for so long, the thought of someone else stealing her away was maybe a little too much to imagine.

But he'd dated other women…well a few. He frowned. The last date he'd had was over nine months ago. Every weekend he spent with Gabi and Chad. He didn't make room in his life for anyone else and there was an understandable envy of his friendship with the beautiful little Latino. He'd always chosen his friends over love, but he knew the difference between sex and making love. Mostly because he'd only ever had sex. He'd never let himself fall in love to be able to share an intimacy like that and now he wondered if he wasn't holding himself back as much as he was Gabi.

"Goddamn it!" He exploded as Ade missed his guard point and the second of his practicing teams scored against his new player.

"Dude…" Chad grasped his shoulder and Troy looked up, shocked to see him. "You need to breathe."

"What are you doing here?" Troy demanded cagily.

"Taylor told me that the EBay thing was real. I kind of guessed you wouldn't be doing too well…" Chad remarked drily.

Ade's distraught face told Troy all he needed to know and he closed his eyes in regret. "Shit…" He sighed to himself, then went over to the youngster and touched his shoulder.

"Hey, you did good out there. Ignore me, I'm in a foul mood and it's not your fault." He apologised.

Ade nodded, his face brightening as he sprinted off to the showers with the other boys.

"I am losing it…" Troy muttered to himself as he tracked back to Chad, putting his head into his hand as they lowered onto the benches.

"Look, I'm as shocked as you are. Gabriella is the last person I expected to do something like this…" Chad shared.

"She said we ruin her dates." Troy explained, looking his friend squarely in the eye. "She said she's fed up of being a virgin and she wants it over with."

Chad shook his head. "She would regret it if she did this…I know her too well."

"Then why is she? I still don't get it. I asked her who gave her the idea and she swore it was her own." Troy commented.

"I don't know…some of those nursing sorority's can be pretty cliquey. Do you think they've got some bet going? Do you think they goaded her to do it?" Chad asked.

"This is Gabriella, Chad," Troy pursed his lips and lifted his brows. "She takes a lot of convincing to do something she doesn't want to do…"

"What if she did though?" He asked back, his mind working overtime. "Say if she did want to lose her virginity and she felt like it wasn't happening fast enough and then someone comes along and dares her to sell it. To a desperate young girl that would seem like an exciting prospect."

"She's not desperate…" Troy denied quickly, and then flicked his eyes over Chad's familiar face. "What aren't you telling me?"

"She told Tay she was desperate to settle down and find the 'one'," Chad ventured, licking his lips.

"She's twenty-two!" Troy cried out.

"I think she sees sex and marriage hand in hand. She's traditional like that." Chad shrugged.

"She's traditional? She's selling herself on EBay for Christ's sake?" He stood up and grabbed a ball, throwing it across the court with temper, watching as it smacked angrily off the bricks and flew back onto the smooth surface.

"She thinks she's going to find, love, Troy. She thinks she can buy it." Chad suggested gently.

"She told Taylor all of this?" Troy asked, narked.

"Only about settling down. I kind of worked out the rest." Chad admitted.

"Then why didn't she tell me?" Troy whispered out to the empty room, his buddy still seated behind him; in safe quarters. "Why didn't she tell me she felt like this?"

"Did you ever think it was because of you?" Chad asked wryly.

"Don't start this again…" Troy sighed turning back and sitting down again.

"I mean it. It's so obvious to everyone but you that you two have something special. What if she wanted you to be the guy that she spent the rest of her life with, Troy? What if she's looking elsewhere because you didn't pick up the hint?"

Troy filtered Chad's words through his mind and hated how everything had just got really scary. Before it had all been about Gabi. It was about her decision, her stupid actions and her feelings. Now suddenly it was about him. How could he possibly be to blame for Gabi's ridiculous idea that she could buy love via the internet? He hadn't done anything that would make her think she needed to do that. And he certainly hadn't missed any clues.

"What hint, Chad? Did I miss something, because I don't remember her telling me she wanted me to be her first?" He remarked sourly to cover his real emotion.

"What about on her last birthday when she asked you to dance?" Chad enquired gently.

"What about it?" Troy barked back.

"Did you dance with her?"

"No! She had that silly looking intern drooling over her all night; I couldn't even get near her…."

"She wanted you to dance, Troy. She didn't want that silly-looking intern all over her, don't you get it?"

"Chad, what is this? I'm not Ebenezer Scrooge needing the ghost of the past to tell me what I missed…" He grizzled.

"What about Valentines?" Chad lifted a brow.

"We went to a singles bar together!" Troy defended.

"Did either of you actually talk to anyone else?" Chad checked.

"No, we got talking about the old times and…"

"Who started it?" Chad interrupted.

"Who started what?" Troy asked confusedly, pulled form his train of thought.

"The conversation about old times that kept you wrapped up in each other all night?"

"Well, Gabi said it reminded her of our prom night…" Troy opened his mouth, not finishing his sentence as several pennies clunked into place in his brain. "You think she was keeping me away from the other girls?"

Chad nodded. "Seems to me neither of you have a damn clue." He added.

"Hey, I never…" Troy began again.

"So you don't mind if she sleeps with someone else then?" He asked pointedly.

"Well, I…it's weird to imagine it…" He groped for excuses.

"But you're okay with it, right?" Chad asked again, innocently.

Troy pressed his lips in, not wanting to admit what seemed to be plainly obvious to everyone but himself.

"Yeah, of course I am." He lied.

Chad shook his head and squinted at him. "You have got to stop pretending you don't feel…"

"Hey, I feel. I care about her, you know that. I'm just worried she'll get hurt." He excused.

"Dude, I've known you as long as I've known my brothers and me and you are probably tighter. I don't know what made you think you couldn't have a little love but you can, dude. I'm living proof."

"If someone knew me as well as Gabriella does…I don't see how they could love me," Troy admitted softly, pressing his thumb into his other palm as he fought his vulnerability. "I've made so many mistakes."

Chad gripped him on the shoulder and gently swayed him side to side. "So what? You're a hero now and that's all that counts."

Was he a hero? Troy wondered as he drove back home with Chad, ready for a good night of sleep to wake up and realise today was one big nightmare.

He was deemed the local hero after he had started his own basketball master class off campus for the college kids who couldn't make a team at their own schools. They were a mixed bunch for that reason- some of them had hard backgrounds but they left it all on the side when they played, wearing their hearts on their sleeves as they battled through every game.

He'd never been prouder of them. But his mistakes throughout his cocky teen years more than made up for his sainthood now. When he'd won that final with the Wildcats and they'd lifted the trophy, he'd gone to University of Albuquerque and paraded his talent like an arrogance on his chest. He'd changed deep down with belief he was the best and his ego had ruled his life.

Gabriella had stuck by him for those two years. He didn't know how she managed it; or how she ever forgave him, but she had refused to leave and eventually she was the one who had pulled him through. Once he began to focus on the off-court benefits more than he should have, he lost his touch. The scholarship ended and his college career was cut short. Gabi had helped him build 'Wings of Albuquerque' basketball team and had guided him while he was lost and alone.

But it still stuck with him. It still haunted him that he had been less than respectful to everyone around him and although he and Chad had called it quits, he still felt like he owed Gabriella so much.

Least of all her unending supply of love. He'd never thought of her before like that. He'd never really considered them together. Sure, she was the most beautiful girl he'd met. Her hair shone and her eyes danced and she was kooky beyond cool. But to imagine someone like her even considering him as boyfriend material? That was somewhere he had never gone.

As he came inside with Chad he threw his keys down and agreed numbly when his buddy suggested they get pizza and wait up for Gabi. They took it in turns to pick her up on her early morning finishes to make sure she was safe and then to help her wind down from her sometimes stressful job. She might have her own apartment ten minutes away but she may as well move in the amount of time she spent there, or he at hers.

"I'm going out for a walk, I'll get some ice-cream," Troy told his friend distractedly.

"Let's hope you find some answers." Chad said to himself once the door had closed.

"Hi Neil!" Gabi beamed at her favourite patient, seeing him sitting up in bed and eating what he described as the 'disgusting' hospital food.

"Do I have to eat this?" The young man grumbled. "When can I go?"

"Two more tests…to make sure you didn't really injure yourself, then you're out," she smiled assuringly.

"You're too pretty to be a nurse," he complimented.

"Oh, thank you!" Gabi blushed, turning away to her next patient only to find Doctor Arnold behind her- better known as Nick.

"Nick, hi!" She smiled again in the friendly, attractive way she always did.

"Hi, Gabriella. He's right; you do look especially pretty today…" The tall, blonde doctor said to her, his good-looks not entirely unnoticed by the petite Latino.

She rolled her eyes and pressed her lips in at the side. "Well you would say that, you're my boss…"

"I…uh…actually I wondered if you might like to go for a drink- after work?" He asked.

She looked up at him and opened her mouth, stunned. "Well…I…"

"Unless you have a boyfriend in which case I take it back…" he added quickly, smiling innocently.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend." She answered this first.

"Not the brown haired guy I see you with sometimes?" He checked, knowing Troy dropped her off and picked her up on occasion.

She shook her head. "Nope. Just friends."

"How about it then?" He asked again, bolstered by this news.

"I finish at 1am today but I have a normal shift Friday. I could meet you after work then?" She suggested.

He smiled slowly and she felt herself smiling back. "Great! I'll see you then."

Gabi smiled quizzically at herself before she went back to her rounds, finally heading back to the nurse's station at the main desk to type up her notes.

"So?" Candy asked her with interest.

"So?" Gabi asked back, playing it cool.

"Nick…I saw him chatting you up!" She teased.

"We're going for a drink, it's nothing major." Gabi played it down.

"Does he know about your EBay thing?" Candy arched a brow.

"Look, you guys told me to have a little fun and relax a little, did you not?" She defended.

"I'm not sure that's what I had in mind…" Candy derided.

"Well, it's done. I want to feel a little sexy for once, you know?" Gabi beseeched.

"When you get your hands on , you tell me you don't feel sexy then…" The black girl laughed heartily.

"Dr Big?" Gabi echoed.

"He's ALL man…" Candy grinned happily, leaving Gabi to swallow nervously as she tried not to imagine Nick naked.

"Oh, right…" She commented weakly, focusing carefully on her work.

"Don't worry, honey. He'll warm you up good an' proper…" Candy cackled again at her own sex-obsessed mind and Gabi blocked out her comments until the older lady had left the station.

"What in the world was I thinking?" She whispered to herself as she typed in the rest of her entries.

"Hey, sorry I'm late…" Troy offered as he approached the main desk in his check surf shorts and flip-flops teamed with a creased white tee. He'd clearly fallen asleep on the sofa because his hair was sexy-messy and his face bore cushion marks.

"It's okay, Nick was keeping me company until he got buzzed out a minute ago," Gabi smiled, going around the desk with Troy as they made their way back out of the building.

"Who's Nick?" He asked predictably.

"My boss. He started a month ago, I introduced you, you might remember him? Tall, blonde?" She described.

"Oh, ken-doll," Troy remembered derisively.

"Don't be mean." Gabi admonished. "We're going for a drink on Friday."

"With him?" Troy spat.

"Why not?" Gabi asked coolly.

"He's…well…I just thought you would…like a normal, boy next door type of guy," Troy argued ineffectively.

"Boy next door?" Gabi mused. "How do you know he isn't?"

"He's too damn good-looking. He looks like he walked out of Abercrombie and Fitch and into your hospital…" He grizzled as they seated themselves in his car and he prepared to drive her back to his and Chad's flat.

"Then I mustn't go out with him," She replied drily. "God forbid I should date a handsome man."

"If you call that handsome…" He sulked as he pulled out into the traffic, squinting into his rear mirror.

"I wonder how many bids I have." She said to rile him even more.

"Does Nick know you're up for sale? I wonder how much he would pay…ouch!" Troy winced as Gabi slapped him around the back of the head sharply.

"Don't be so crass."

"You're the one selling yourself and putting a price on your most precious gift, Gabi. Don't punish me for telling the truth."

"How many men do you think actually see it as a gift, Troy? These days, not many. Probably very few, in fact. It might be some kind of kinky fantasy but in reality, the only guys who would find a virgin a bonus are the ones I never get to meet. That's the very reason I am doing this, to find the guys who appreciate an untouched woman."

Troy shook his head as he pulled up outside the flat, looking across to her in the car. "Any guy would think it were a gift if his girl were saving themselves just for him."

"Really Troy?" She asked with a brow arch. "Would you?"

He paused; realising Chad's words were coming steadily true. What was she saying? That she was saving herself for him? Only that as he didn't want her, she was going elsewhere with her wares?

"I would." He assured. "It's one of the things I admire most about you."

"Admire…right…" She got out of the car and headed up the stairs to his apartment, leaving him to dash after her.

"What's so wrong about that?" He demanded, reaching the top of the stairs as she just turned toward his door.

"You admire the fact that I'm a virgin and you've never slept with one…" She accused, tapping her toe as she folded her arms and waited for him to unlock his door.

"Am I supposed to go out looking for virgins?" He asked testily as they came inside, via the hallway. "Am I meant to buy one off of EBay?"

Gabi swirled and slapped him sharply across his cheek, the second blow she had dealt within the hour.

"Ouch!" He complained, looking at her with fury.

"Don't you dare stand there and belittle me, Troy!" Gabi pointed her finger at him, her dark eyes radiating thunder. "You know nothing about this!"

"I would if you just told me!" He shouted back, inches from the living room doorway where Chad could hear every word and see them standing off in the hall.

"Told you what Troy? That I want to be touched? That I want to be fucked? Is that what you want to hear? Or maybe you'd like to hear how it excites me that I'm being paid…"

"You could have just said if you wanted a fuck, Gabi." He gritted his teeth, shocked by her outburst, surprised even that she was so in touch with her sexual side when she normally hid it so well. "I would have done it for free."

The third strike hurt the most and not because of the pain slicing down his face, but because of the sobs that erupted from her as she turned into the living room and ran into Chad's waiting arms.

His dark-skinned friend looked at him over her shoulder as he rubbed her back and asked him silently 'what the heck are you doing?', only Troy couldn't have answered if he'd tried. He should be the one she came sobbing to, he should be her shoulder to cry and he shouldn't have said any of the things he had done, but it was too late to take them back.

It disgusted him to think of anyone else touching Gabi in that way. Intimately. And he hadn't been lying, he would have had sex with her if she really wanted to lose her virginity that damn badly because at least he would be careful with her. At least he cared. And now some guy from anywhere in the world was going to get his hands all over her and the precious gift she had kept for so long would be gone in a wisp, never to be regained.

She had no idea what she was giving away.

He sighed and left his two friends, knowing he had gone too far and not knowing right now what to do to correct his gigantic mistake. He padded up to his room and switched on his monitor to his PC, wondering in spite of himself what Gabi's worth was.

If he had any hope of stopping her then he would have to bid himself.

'Virgin for Sale'- 68bids. $8,000

Eight thousand dollars? Troy closed his eyes as dizziness swam before them. He couldn't pay the bill, but he didn't particularly care as he tapped in the numbers.

$10,000- are you sure you want to place this bid?

Yes, never been so goddamn sure in my life.

"I'm sorry that Troy was such an asshole last night…" Chad offered, walking Gabi to her door.

"You know what? He's been nothing but an asshole since I placed that auction." She mused.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Gabi?" Chad asked gently.

"It's the only way." She beseeched.

"You'll find someone you love." Chad argued.

"I know." She smiled bemusedly. "I already did. And he didn't feel the same so now I have to make other plans."

"You didn't give him a chance to feel the same." Chad insisted softly, pleading with her brown eyes.

"I'm not talking about Troy." She swallowed, dropping her gaze.

"Yeah, you are." He nodded. "And he didn't even know you were a possibility until 2 days ago."

"He's had twenty years!" She argued back, and then paused. "He's still that same arrogant, self righteous ass that he was when he started U of A."

"No, he's not. And you know it. He's so damn scared of making another mistake….if only you knew how much he wants this." Chad begged.

"Did he tell you that?" She asked.

"Does he need to? Everyone can see you two are made for each other."

"Everyone but Troy."

"Have you ever told him how you feel?" Chad challenged.

"What and be ridiculed?" She mused.

"Then you don't know what you could be missing," he suggested. "Before you go through with this thing, just think about it."

Gabi nodded and went inside her home, more than ready for her sleep. She just hoped nobody woke her up this time.

Unless it was Troy.