Realizing what's important:

by xOx cupcake xOx

Disclaimer- I only own the plot :)

Gabriella Montez sat crying in the loft apartment she shared with her fiancée Troy Bolton. Troy was at a practice, he plays basketball for the New York, Knicks. After attending East High they both attended the same college, and he proposed to her their second year of college thinking they'll get married after they graduated, of course she said yes. When they graduated from college Troy got the offer from the Knicks and he moved to New York, but not without bringing his one true love Gabriella. Once over there they rented a small apartment, and she became an author. Soon he started making big money and Troy became an idol for kids and adults alike, they moved into a huge loft apartment, the first 2 months or so were sweet but a later when his riches sank in, Troy was never home, and he's changed. Troy became rather conceited, much to Gabi's dislike. Gabi wiped her face off with a tissue, thinking back to all the good times Troy and she had shared, from the winter musical to the day he had proposed to her. Soon the apartment door opened and Troy walked through.

"Hey Troy, how was practice?" She asked, trying not to recognize the way Troy doesn't even say "I'm home" or kiss her hello the way he used to.

"Good I guess." He said distantly.

"Hey, you know what we should do?" She asked him.

"I don't know." He said as if he didn't really care.

"lets set a date!" She said with hope, she has been trying to push him to set a date, they have been engaged for 5 years.

"A date for what?" He asked, her face dropped.

"Our wedding." I said in loud voice.

"Don't you think we should wait, we haven't been engaged that long." he said, just like he always says.

"5 years isn't long?" Gabi asked.

"5 years? Oh, well we'll make a date some other time, I think I'm not ready yet." He said with a yawn, Gabi felt tears spring to her eyes threatening to come out, 'will he ever be ready' Gabi thought as the tears spilled over. "Why are you crying, god. You should be lucky at all to be engaged to someone like me!" He snapped. These words were like a punch to Gabi. When Troy saw her face expression guilt passed through his face but then it went away with thoughts of his next game.

She stayed silent and ran into the spare bedroom they kept for when they have children, right now it just had a regular twin bed, a television, and nothing else. She locked the door and sat "Indian style" on the bed, crying. She thought back to the day when Troy proposed to her.

(Flashback)

It was New Years Eve, Gabriella wore a short black strapless dress with a cream colored bow tied on her lower back. (picture is gonna be in my profile) Her shoes were strappy black heals with a bow on the front that matched her dress, she walked into the expensive restaurant with Troy's arms linked with hers.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?" Troy said staring into her beautiful eyes

"Yes, several times." She giggled.

"Well, another time can't hurt, you look so beautiful tonight." He said gazing into her eyes. Sweat beaded on his forehead, he's never been this nervous before. 'what if she says no?' he thought in his head.

"Thank you, you look pretty handsome yourself." She laughed. "Are you okay, you look a little anxious?" She asked Troy.

"I'm completely fine, don't worry!" He said. They were guided into their seats and they ate and had a wonderful time like usual. After dinner was over Troy stood up, "Lets go for a ride, okay?"

"Sure, sounds like fun!" Gabriella said giggling. They walked out of the restaurant and into Troy's car. "Troy, where are we going?"

"You'll see." He said simply. 10 minutes later he pulled over. "We have to walk now."

"Walk!?" Gabriella exclaimed.

"Only for a little, I can carry you if you like?" he asked.


"No I'll be fine," She giggled and took his hand in hers. They walked for three minutes or so and came to a stop by a beautiful meadow. "Oh my god Troy its so beautiful out here." She kissed him lightly on the lips admiring every piece of nature before her. "I love you!"

"I love you too." He replied. "Look fireworks."

"Aw, look at that heart shaped one!" Gabi exclaimed. Gabi and Troy stared into the sky at the beautiful fireworks before them but one particular firework caught her eye. It was in the shape of a music note and it was pink with writing next to it, "Oh my god its a pink music note, and its a firework... aw and someone's proposing to someone through it, i love when people do that!"

"Read it Gabi!" Troy told her.

"It says: Gabriella Montez will you marry me..." She trailed off with tears springing to her eyes. Troy got down on one knee and brought out a sparkling diamond ring.

"Gabriella Montez, I promise to love you forever and I want to be with you forever. Will you please do me the honor of being my wife?"

(Flashback end)

She tried not to let out a sob as the memories flooded back. She didn't want Troy to hear her cry, but a year ago she wouldn't have cared about crying in front of Troy, in fact she would have felt comfortable doing anything in front of Troy. She laid on the spare bed staring at the ceiling, not able to go to sleep, and trying to figure out what she was going to do.

Early the next morning Gabriella woke up, happy that she actually got some sleep. She got up and walking into the kitchen. She poured a cup of coffee, sat down, and sighed. She knew Troy would be at practice by this time. She got up and called someone she hasn't talked to in a long time.

"Hello."

"Hey Taylor? It's Gabriella." Gabi's voice broke multiple times.

"Oh my god Gabriella? It's been too long!" She squealed.

"Yeah I know. I miss you." Gabriella said, and it was the truth, she misses talking to her so much.

"Why didn't you invite me to you and Troy's wedding? I know you have to be married by now. You two can't resist each other!" Taylor said laughing, At these words Gabi broke down into sobs. "Gabriella whats wrong Taylor said truly concerned.

"I j-just don't know what to do anymore Taylor!" She sobbed.

"Gabi honey, tell me whats wrong." And Gabi did tell her everything, every detail. "Oh Gabi I'm so sorry!"

"I j-just can't wait anymore." Gabriella told her again.

"I wouldn't be able to either. Thats why I'm gonna give you this advice, tell him how you feel, tell him everything you just told me! If he acts the same then..." Taylor trailed off knowing that Gabi knew what she meant.

"Thanks Taylor, I think I'm gonna go relax and think."

"Your welcome. Please keep in touch tell me everything. I hope everything works out."

Gabriella hung up the phone and thought about everything again and again and realized that she couldn't take it anymore, she left her coffee cup on the table, got her keys, and ran out the door, not bothering to lock it. She looked a mess but she didn't care, her make-up was probably all over her face from crying, her hair was up in a huge messy bun, and she wore pink plaid pajama pants and a white tank top, not bothering to change from bed. It was snowing wildly outside. She waved down a cab and got in. On the way there she cried harder than she ever had before, thinking about what she was going to do. She hoped to cry herself out before she has to talk to Troy. She though about one of the last times she had fun with Troy.

(flashback)

"Gabi, when we get married are we going to have kids?" Troy asked her as they sat on the ground of their new apartment. Gabi's head was on Troy's shoulder.

"Yeah, if you want too," Gabi said thinking about how much she wanted kids.

"Good, I want a lot of kids." He said with a huge grin, he looked like he was about to burst with happiness.

"How much is a lot?" Gabi asked giggling.

"I don't know, more than 2." He chuckled.

"Oh good, I wasn't sure if a lot meant like 20 kids or something." She said.

"Defiantly not..."

"What would you want more, a girl or a boy?" She asked.

"I would be really happy either way, as long as its with you, but I want a girl!" He said grinning even wider, if that was even possible.

"You really want a girl don't you?" She asked.

"Yeah... I want a little, beautiful baby girl who looks like you." He explained.

"You love me way more than i deserve." she told him.

"No, thats impossible."

(flashback end)

'How could such undeniable love turn into this' she thought tears not slowing. They pulled in front of Troy's practice spot and her heart lurched with nervousness. She gave the cab driver money.

"I hope everything turns out okay, you seem really upset ma'am," The cabdriver told her.

"Thanks." Her voice broke. She walked through the huge door and got ready...

Meanwhile Troy was in the locker room getting ready for the next leg of his practice. Then his coach came through the door.

"You have a visitor." The coach spoke up.

"Tell whoever it is to come back later."

"Troy, it's your wife she--"

"My girlfriend, and yes tell her I'll see her at home." Troy said annoyed.

"Troy, it seems really important, she looks really upset, shes crying." Coach told him sternly.

"Crying?" Troy thought 'should i be worried' part of the old Troy coming back, but it went away soon enough as usual 'she's just being a baby again' "Whatever I'll just check and see if she's okay."

He walked out into the lobby area and found her sitting in a chair with her hands covering her face.

"What's wrong?" Troy asked.

"Troy, we really need to talk." She said trying to slow the tears.

"Talk? Are you okay?" He said worried, his old self taking over.

"No, I'm not." She said.

"What's making you cry?" Troy asked.

"You."

(from here if you have gotta go my own way on your computer listen to it, it goes well with whats to come lol)

"Me? What did I do?" He asked getting mad now.

"Your not the same, Troy. Do you see how you act?" she asked. "You don't even talk to me anymore, your not home, you don't even care about me, and it seems like you don't want to marry me anymore." She said loudly tears spilling from her eyes.

"I'm just busy, alright. Your not my whole life. I don't say I love you unless I mean it" He yelled.

"I'm sure you did mean it at the time, but right now, I'm hardly even apart of your life. It's your damn basketball."

"Don't say that you idiot, Basketball is my life. We wouldn't have any of this if i didn't play basketball. Basketball is the best thing I have! It's the best thing thats ever happened to me." He screamed at her, and the sobs she avoided come out. Troy felt bad at soon as he said it. He walked closer to her and went to touch her cheek. "Baby I--" she backed away from his touch.

"No Troy, I u-understand now." She said in a very low whisper.

"What can I do for you to accept my apology?" He begged.

"Drive to Vegas and marry me now." She said still crying.

"No, I have practice."

"Then theres no apology to accept," Gabriella said tears flowing.

"This is so hard to say but I have to do whats right for me now. I have to move on so I can be who I am, and not change myself just so I can stay around you, you'll be okay... You have all this, you can lose one thing." She cried. "I don't want to leave all this behind, but I just don't belong in this, 'rich' world Troy, I'm not the right person for you, I hope you have a great life Troy, I hope you find someone who does belong here, and can handle it. I'll always love you Troy Bolton."

"No Gabi--" Troy said tears brimming in his own eyes. She quickly ran out before anything else can be said, leaving Troy standing there trying not to let his own tears drop. He wiped his eyes and walked back to the locker room. He sat there and buried his head in his hands. Troy's cell phone rang.

"Gabi!" He yelled hopefully. He clicked the green accept button on his phone. "Hello?"

"Dude!" A male voice yelled.

"Who is this?" Troy asked.

"It's Chad, from East High."

"Really?" 'Wow, how long has it been since I talked to Chad?' Troy thought.

"Trouble in paradise? I heard some things from Taylor, and your voice sounds depressed." Chad said.

"Yeah, I don't really know. Gabi just comes out and says that I've changed and stuff, what's her problem?"

"Dude, in case you haven't noticed you have changed..." Chad informed him.

"No I haven't!" Troy yelled.

"Why don't you talk to me anymore? Why do you always act like such a big shot, I heard what you do from my wife. "

"Wife?"

"Taylor," Chad told him.

"Your married to Taylor? Oh my god why didn't you tell me." Troy said.

"You know you were invited, you said you didn't feel like coming, so Gabriella didn't come either." Chad said.

"I did?" Troy said realizing how he had been acting. "Anyway what did you mean before about Taylor telling you things?"

"Well, Gabriella called her up crying really hard and--"

"Crying?" Troy was beginning to feel guiltier and guiltier.

"She was telling Taylor that it seemed that you didn't want to marry her. Apparently there was a lot of messed up things you did Bolton, thats why I called, I'm attempting to knock some sense into you, " Chad explained.

"Man what was I thinking?" Troy felt so bad for everyone he's been around while he was changed, in particular Gabriella. Troy began seeing everything in different eyes, he lost all of his real friends because of basketball.

"BOLTON... breaks over!" The coach's voice boomed.

"Sounds like you have to go," Chad chuckled.

"Yeah, but thanks, you really helped me see how I was acting." Troy laughed a humorless laugh.

"No problem. Just do the right thing." With that Chad hung up. Troy rushed into the gym to see they were already practicing, the coach looked over to Troy.

"I see you've finally made time to practice, get in line." The coach yelled.

"No." With that Troy ran out of the gym reaching the sidewalk.

"What the hell was that?" The coach asked.

"I just realized what's important in life, I love basketball a stuff but I want family and friends." Troy explained.

"You know it's your choice Bolton."

"Somethings changed in me, somethings not the same, I've realized the most important thing in my life." He said walking away. He got into a cab and told him the address of Gabi and His apartment and stared out the window watching the snow fall at a rapid pace. 'look at all I've done' he said thinking back to the worst fight him and Gabi ever had.

(flashback)

"Why did you miss out dinner date, it's our anniversary Troy?..." Gabi said tears flowing freely down her cheeks. "You promised you'd be there."

"I have basketball Gabriella, what do you think." He yelled sharply.

"You can't even see your fiancée?"

"OH MY GOD!! Would you shut-up, your so CLINGY, GOD... APARTENTLY YOU CAN'T BE AWAY FROM ME FOR MORE THAN TWO SECONDS... what are you two years old?!?" Troy screamed. Gabriella cried harder, not being able to even say anything back. "Are you even going to talk now?"

"T-troy--" Gabriella started while walking over to Troy putting her arms around his waist.

"Don't touch me." He said coldly, ripping her arms off of him and pushing her against the wall, giving her a bruise on her back. "I didn't do anything wrong, I just forgot a stupid dinner, for our stupid anniversary, for a stupid girl."

She let out a sob and wondered why he did this when he never did anything this bad before, 'he must be having a bad day' she thought. Later that night Troy apologized, feeling truly bad, especially after seeing the bruise...

(flashback end)

Troy thought back to all this stuff and a huge wave of guilt passed over him, making him wince, he felt as if the guilt would kill him. The cab pulling up to the apartment and Troy threw the money at the driver and dashed out of the car into the apartment. When he opened the door to his apartment his heart dropped down to his chest, every one of Gabi's possessions were gone. Troy noticed something laying in the middle of the rug he walked over and picked it up, it was a scrap book that Gabi had bought ages ago to start, but never did. The front cover had written on it in black sharpie with loopy lettering: Always remember, the sharpie was still wet. Troy picked it up and flipped through it. The pictures started with Gabi and Troy in the winter musical and ended with a picture when they had just moved into the big apartment, which was labeled last happy memory. There were stains on the front of this picture, Troy thought about it for a minute and realized they were stains from Gabi's tearsHe flipped the book over and it made a strange noise, CLINK... Troy turned it over and saw a string that tied the book together and tied to it was the engagement ring he gave her. Troy's constant struggle to keep his tears from falling failed... a single tear drop fell right next to Gabi's tear stains. Troy took the ring off and slipped it into his pocket. Troy wiped his eyes and ran out the door, not even bothering to put on a coat, 'where would she go, where would she go?' he screamed inside his head. Troy called in a taxi and sat down in it.

"Where to?" The taxi driver asked. Troy suddenly got an idea.

"The nearest airport."

Meanwhile Gabi sat in a chair at the local airport waiting for her flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico to come in. Of course its being delayed until further notice because of the rapid snow coming down from the dark sky. Gabi was curled into a ball, in a very uncomfortable chair, crying like shes never cried before... she knows its over now and it hurts her. Her heart ached at the though of leaving who she believed to be her true love, she knew she had to though, Troy changed to much.

"Gabi?" She heard someone yelling. Her head jerked up to see Troy running through a huge crowd of people, when Gabi saw him she cried harder... when Troy saw Gabi curled up crying at an airport he felt terrible.

"T-troy!?" she yelled in a voice filled with tears. He got to her as fast as he could and grabbed her in a huge hug, she didn't hug back feeling scared and confused. "W-what are you d-doing?"

"Choosing what's important to me." He yelled above the noise in the airport.

"What about basketball practice?" She asked.

"What basketball?"

"Troy is this for real?" She asked quietly.

"Of course it is." He leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips, and this time she returned tears of joy springing from her eyes. When they parted she had a huge grin on her face that matched his. "I love you, more than anything in the world, and as I looked back I realized what an ass I've been... will you accept my apology, I was so stupid." There was a long silence and he kissed her again, as if that would change everything. His palms became sweaty and he wondered if she didn't love him anymore.

"Gabi?" He asked.

"What's going to happen after this Troy, will you go back to your all-basketball schedule, will you change or god knows what else?" She asked.

"I quit basketball, I stay myself, we fly off to Albuquerque, get married, really soon, with our family there and we start a family, with our own friends and family around us.. If thats what you want-" he got cut off by a passionate kiss from Gabriella.

"Apology accepted."

Just another one-shot, this one actually took me a LONG time I've been working on it since the beginning of summer in between my updates of "The New Girl" and "Lies and Tears" but lately I've been working on it a lot and I've gotten it done, and it's actually kind-of funny about how good "I Gotta Go My Own Way" fit in because I had this all planned out in my head (to a point) before I even knew about that song lol, but as you can see I used a couple lines from it lol ...I might change into a two-shot with there wedding, if I have time, and if you want.

Songs I listened to while writing this: (Since I always listen to music when I write, I thought this would be cute ha ha)

"Gotta Go My Own Way"

-basically the high school musical two soundtrack.

"Bed" by J. Holiday

"Defying Gravity" from the Broadway musical "wicked"

"As long as you're mine" From the Broadway musical "wicked"

"Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat

"Wedding Bell Blues" By ???? (I'm not normally into Jazzy old time tunes but this always got stuck in my head from an episode of Gilmore Girls, and it inspired the story in a way lol)