Overnight
Gabriella pulled her hair back into a simple French braid and tied it off with a white ribbon. Troy wove his way around the numerous cardboard boxes littered around their brand new apartment and wrapped his arms around her from behind.
"You look tired," he commented before planting a loving kiss on her cheek. Gabriella closed her eyes and leaned back in his strong arms.
"I am. We still have so much unpacking to do! Why did we invited everyone over tonight!?" she cried. Troy rubbed her upper arm to calm her down.
"We invited everyone over because they're our friends." Gabriella sighed. "I hate to break it to you babe, but I've gotta go get changed."
"Fine," she grumbled as she turned around in Troy's arms. "But give me a kiss first." He took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly.
"I love you so much," he whispered before squeezing her ass and letting go of her. She let out a squeak. Troy pulled off his sweaty jeans and t-shirt, leaving him only in his boxers. He looked around the bedroom and scowled. His tan muscles flexed as he moved boxes around in search of some clean clothes. When he finally found the correct box, he grabbed the first ting he could find and plopped down on the air mattress on the floor, which was temporarily serving as his and Gabriella's bed. Groaning loudly, Gabriella rolled her shoulders. "What's wrong?" Troy asked as he tugged a light green t-shirt over his head, muffling his question.
"My back is killing me," Gabriella complained.
"From all that work you weren't doing?"
"Uh-huh. I'm so lucky to have my big, strong, sexy boyfriend to help me." Troy smiled bashfully as a slight blush crept across his face.
"Come here, baby," he said as he patted the mattress next to him. She happily obliged. "Lay down on your stomach." Once Gabriella listened, he straddled her and began to massage her back and shoulders. Her skin felt soft under his rough hands. She moaned with pleasure.
"That feels good." There was a knock on the front door. "Ugh great." Troy stopped and climbed off the mattress.
"You rest for a few minutes, okay?" There was another knock on the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Gabriella heard Troy leave the bedroom and answer the front door, but she didn't bother getting up.
Taylor handed Troy a bottle of wine after he answered the front door, which Chad had been knocking impatiently on.
"Come on in," Troy said. Chad and Taylor followed him inside the apartment. Most of the moving boxes had been moved into the bedroom to make room for everyone.
"Where's Gabi?" Taylor asked.
"Lying down, her back hurts. She'll be out in a little while." Troy replied. "You want some wine?"
"Sure," Chad replied eagerly.
"I'm fine." Troy grabbed two glasses out of the cabinet and opened the wine.
"Don't you have wine glasses?" Chad complained, causing Taylor to whack the back of his head. "Oww!"
"Do you own any wine glasses?" Troy countered as he handed him his wine.
"Hell no." There was another knock on the front door.
"I've got it," Taylor said.
"That's what I thought," Troy told Chad. "I doubt you've even used a wine glass."
"I have!" he argued. "Once…I think." Troy rolled his eyes.
Sharpay, Zeke, Ryan and Martha all entered the new apartment. Sharpay bounced over to Troy and gave him a hug.
"Hi Troy!" she chirped.
"Hey Shar," he said as he returned the hug.
"I hope Kelsi and Jason get here soon, it looks pretty nasty out there," Zeke commented.
"Good, we need the rain," Martha said as she put a bag of food on the counter in the kitchen. Sharpay looked around the apartment with a confused look on her face.
"Where's Gabi?" she asked.
"Resting," Troy replied. "She'll be out in a little while." Taylor filled in wonderfully for Gabriella as hostess and began to unpack the bag of food from Zeke and Martha.
Twenty minutes later, Gabriella emerged from the bedroom in a halter top and denim cut-offs.
"Hey sleepyhead," Ryan said from his seat on the floor. She groaned.
"I wasn't sleeping, I was just lying down," she insisted as she settled comfortably on Troy's lap. He kissed her exposed shoulder softly.
"Is it raining out?" Sharpay asked as she looked out the curtain-less window. Sure enough, it was pouring outside. She leaned against Zeke's leg from her seat on the floor next to her brother. There was an urgent knock on the door. When Gabriella got up and opened the door, she found a soaking wet Jason and Kelsi standing there.
"Hey, did you guys know that it's raining out?" Chad asked. Kelsi shot him a dirty look.
"No, really?" Jason asked sarcastically as he shook out his hair over Chad's head.
"Hey, not cool man!" Everyone laughed.
"Let me get you both some towels," Gabriella said to her wet friends.
"Good luck!" Troy called after her as she disappeared into the bedroom. It was nearly impossible to find anything at the moment without a full-fledged search party. Kelsi put a few bags of chips on the kitchen counter.
"So, you guys all settled in?" Jason asked. Troy made a face.
"God no. Everything's shoved into the bedroom right now. The bed's not even put together yet." Gabriella emerged from the bedroom with two brightly colored beach towels.
"Sorry guys, this was all I could find," she said as she handed Jason and Kelsi each a towel.
"It's okay," Kelsi assured as she tried to dry herself off the best she could.
"Do you want some dry clothes to change into?" Troy suggested.
"Do you mind?"
"No, come on," Gabriella insisted. Jason and Kelsi followed her into the dark depths of the master bedroom to get some dry and comfortable clothes to borrow for the time being.
When Kelsi and Jason emerged from the bedroom ten minutes later, the big discussion amongst everyone else was what kind of pizza to order. This, of course, entailed yelling from nearly everything; particularly Chad and Sharpay, who were both intent on ordering their type of pizza. It took Ryan, Zeke and Taylor to calm them down and reach some sort of agreement that everyone liked. After the argument over the type of pizza was over, a new argument arose. Who would venture out into the storm to pick up the pizza since the place didn't deliver? Right away, it was decided that none of the girls would go, and Jason wouldn't go either since he just got dried off, and that wouldn't be fair to him.
"I'll go," Troy offered as he got to his feet. He nudged Chad with his foot. "Come on; get your lazy ass up." Chad's head whipped around.
"What?"
"Get up, you're coming with me."
"No way, you volunteered to go yourself."
"And now I'm volunteering you to go too. Let's just go and get back." Grumbling and complaining under his breath, Chad got to his feet. He and Troy each grabbed a rain jacket, and they left.
Half an hour later, Taylor and Gabriella were starting to get worried about their boyfriends. Just as Taylor was about to call them, they burst through the front door. Both of them were dripping wet.
"What took you so long?" Sharpay asked. "The pizza place is only five minutes away." Zeke gave her a warning nudged with his foot.
"Traffic's a mess because of all the rain," Troy replied as he put the pizza boxes on the coffee table. Gabriella got up to get plates, napkins and refills for drinks.
"Okay everyone, help yourself!" she exclaimed as she handed out paper plates. Nobody needed telling twice; they all dug into the pizzas in the middle of the room.
Right in the middle of dinner, all of the lights flickered before going out all together. The friends all looked around in confusion.
"Is that supposed to happen?" Jason asked. There was a smacking sound…presumably from Kelsi. "Oww!"
"Great, just great," Troy muttered. He stood up.
"Oww, Troy, that's my foot!" Gabriella snapped.
"Well sorry. I'm gonna go see if we have any candles."
"Try looking in a box!" Chad called after his best friend. There was a 'thud' followed by a slew of curse words.
"You okay honey?"
"Yeah, never better," Troy grumbled bitterly. Gabriella rolled her eyes and took a bite of her pizza.
"Jesus Christ, Shar, you scared me," Zeke said.
"I'm sorry." Troy returned with a lit lantern and a handful of candles. Sharpay was positioned comfortably on Zeke's lap.
"Okay, we've got light," he said as he plopped down on the floor next to Gabriella. The rain pounded like mad outside.
"It's gonna be a long night," Ryan commented.
Sometime after midnight, Gabriella was digging through various boxes while Ryan held up the lantern. They were in search of some extra blankets and pillows.
"Thanks for letting us stay here," he said.
"You think I'd let you all go home in this weather? It's fine." She opened up another box. "Aha! Found them!" She pulled out several spare blankets and pillows.
"Here, I'll take those out to everyone else." He took the blankets and pillows and left Gabriella with the lantern. She grabbed the blankets and pillows off the air mattress and joined everyone else in the family room.
Troy spread out a blanket and two pillows for him and Gabriella to share. Everyone else was doing the same thing. They were camping out in the family room to wait out the storm for the night. Gabriella handed the last of the pillows and blankets to Zeke and Sharpay.
"Thanks Gabi," she said as he took the pillows and blankets. Chad was nearly asleep on the floor while Taylor was stretched out across the couch with her left hand dangling over his head. Sharpay was settling down comfortably between Zeke and Ryan with Martha on Ryan's opposite side. Kelsi was already dozing off in her sleeping bag, and Jason was laying down a few inches away from her. Gabriella got down on the floor next to Troy and gave him a quick kiss. Rain still pounded on the window, and lightning lit up the night sky.
"Night everyone," Sharpay said through a yawn. There was a round of warn out 'goodnight's followed by silence. Gabriella rested her head on Troy's chest and closed her eyes. He planted a loving kiss on the top of her head and held her close. The only noise was the occasional shifting and rustling of fabric. Everyone was so completely exhausted that it didn't take long for them all to fall asleep.
When Gabriella woke up the following morning, the sun was streaming through the uncovered windows. The smell of coffee wafted throughout the apartment, indicating that the power was back on and someone was up. She felt around blindly for Troy for a few seconds before realizing that his voice was one of the ones she heard coming from the kitchen. She waited a few more minutes to wake up more and then got to her feet. Most of their guests were still asleep, save for Kelsi and Zeke; they were in the kitchen drinking coffee with Troy.
"Morning honey," Troy said when he saw Gabriella enter the kitchen. She snaked her arms around his waist and closed her eyes. It wasn't news to anyone that she was slow to wake up in the morning.
The gang finally left a little after ten thirty that morning, leaving behind a whirlwind of trash, blankets and pillows in their wake. Gabriella sighed, catching Troy's attention.
He ran his fingers up and down her back and asked, "What's wrong babe?"
"So much for a nice romantic first night in our apartment." He planted a kiss on her neck right below her jaw, sending shivers down her spine.
"Say we celebrate our first morning in our new apartment?" A smile spread across her face. Their lips met in a fiery kiss, and they stumbled over to the bedroom, leaving a trail of clothes behind them.
The End