Randomly back- this story has been running through my head and I just wanted to get it out there. Here's a sweet Thanksgiving oneshot. Hope you enjoy!

—

"This is an absolute disaster," Gabriella said, opening every closet in her apartment, "I planned. I prepped. I did everything. I prepared."

"Look," Troy closed the closet doors behind her, trying his best to calm her down, "I don't think it's a disaster. A disaster is like- having no turkey or burning the mashed potatoes. A minor inconvenience? Yes. A bad situation? Maybe. But a disaster?"

"Yes," Gabriella said, opening the same closets again and pausing, trying to rack her brain on how to fix her current problem, "This is a disaster."

"Ok," Troy put his arm out to stop her from continuing to pace around the apartment, "You like numbers, right? Let me give you some numbers."

"I don't need numbers-"

"Seven. The number of months that we've lived in this terrible, terrible apartment. Four. The number of blankets that we realistically own. Two. The number of blankets that don't have questionable stains," Troy tried to think of more numbers to fill the time.

"You forgot 43," she stepped toward him with a shiver, "The temperature within our terrible, terrible apartment. And 2. The number of people who are coming over. Oh yeah and 25. The number of minutes until they arrive."

"You're not wrong," Troy muttered, tugging on the sleeves of his sweatshirt, trying to hold back the shiver that he felt rolling up his spine, "But we've called the guy and he said he'd try to make it out here."

"Yeah," Gabriella said sarcastically, "He'd try to get here. On Thanksgiving. When it took him two weeks to fix the deadbolt on the door. Why would the worst landlord in the city- no, in the world- come to our terrible, terrible apartment on Thanksgiving to give us heat?"

Normally, Troy and Gabriella were happy. They were calm. They were a chill couple. They were five months post-graduation, barely making it in the city, but absolutely filled with joy. Even if they did live in a terrible apartment, they had each other and that was all that mattered.

They had met in college. He came from being a basketball superstar in New Mexico to finding his way at a school that was he was definitely not smart enough for. She was from Texas, rough and tough childhood lead her to the city. They were vastly different but it worked.

For them. His parents, however, weren't exactly the greatest fans of Gabriella. Troy was supposed to go to school, play basketball, come back home to take his father's place as coach at East High. After meeting Gabriella, however, he did not come home. He stayed in the city- for her.

"Maybe I could fix it?" Troy said, walking over to the wall unit, "I fixed the AC last summer. I could try to fix the heat. Or I could break it more but I feel like there aren't many options."

"They already hate me," Gabriella said, clearly moving past the heat and onto the real thing that she was panicking about, "You didn't go home for Thanksgiving so now they're coming here to eat halfway decent turkey in a cold apartment."

Troy sighed. It seriously bummed him out that his parents weren't on board with his relationship. Gabriella was impressive. She was the girl that they would be proud that he dated. She had overcome a childhood without parents to get an academic scholarship at an impressive school in the city. She worked in a fancy lab for the government. She was the breadwinner and a feminist. She was fancy and beautiful. His parents would love her if her job didn't keep them a thousand miles away.

He knew that they'd come around eventually but cold Thanksgiving wasn't a great step in the right direction. They'd use their terrible apartment against them. New Mexico never has to worry about cold apartments because it never got cold.

"First of all," Troy paused, "The turkey is delicious. And the sweet potatoes- better than my mother's! The apartment is cold. But everything else is great. So- we'll figure out what to do about this. We always figure it out. We're a team."

"So we're doing pep squads now," Gabriella paused and let out a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I'm just freaking out. Your mother will do that thing. You know where she talks about your friends from back home and how everyone moved back and is happy. Then, she'll bring up how our rent could pay for a house in Albuquerque."

"She just misses me," He wrapped his arms around her to calm her down, "I'm happy here and I don't want a house in New Mexico. I want our terrible, terrible apartment in the city- even if is freezing cold. Or a million degrees."

"And your father," she whispered, "He really hates me. He groomed you to be his replacement and now you're not. And he is from hot, hot, New Mexico. Granted, we're all from the southwest. But, I'm the one who chose the job in the city. Where it is cold."

"They don't hate you," he paused, "I love you. And they won't feel anything because of the cold anyway, right?"

He was trying to get a laugh out of her but failed. She just looked at him with sad eyes. He let go of her and stepped back, glancing quickly at the clock on the oven.

"Ok. So we've got 20 minutes to figure this out." He said slowly, "We've got the space heaters from Chad and Sharpay, right? That should help heat it up while I fix the heat. Because, I am going to fix the heat. I am."

"You are," she said, turning up the space heaters and looking at the windows, "I'm going to put blankets on the windows to keep the cold out. And I'm going to set the table and put all of the stuff that needs to stay warm in the oven."

"Right. This is going to work out. I'm going to fix the heat," he kissed her quickly, mostly trying to convince himself that he could fix the heat, "I'm going to grab my jacket first but then- I will fix the heat."

"You're going to fix it," Gabriella pulled her hair behind her ears and smiled, "And your parents are going to come around. So we're going to have heat, delicious food and happy parents. This is the year that its going to work out."

"Yes. This. Is. The. Year."

—

This wasn't the year. As there was a knock on the door, Gabriella sighed and looked over at Troy. There was no heat in the apartment. The table wasn't fully set and their apartment smelled like old space heaters.

"If you need me," Gabriella said, running a hand through her hair, "I'll be jumping off our balcony."

"Don't be dramatic," he whispered, walking toward the door, 'Maybe they'll feel sorry for us and keep the condescending comments to a minimum."

"Yeah, because nothing says welcome to the city, we're doing great, like Thanksgiving in- wow, 40 degree temperatures." She squeezed his hand, "Let's just get this over with."

They opened the door to a shivering Jack and Lucille Bolton. They had two layers of jackets and still had their hats and gloves on. They looked like they were looking for a warm apartment that Troy and Gabriella didn't have.

"Mom! Dad!" Troy grinned, happy to see them. It had been months. The last time he'd seen his parents was at his graduation celebration in the city. The five months seemed like five years when he finally saw them. He frowned when their faces didn't light up like his.

"I hate the cold," Jack said, stepping inside and past his son, "Coming to the city just reminds me how much I hate the cold."

Gabriella stepped back, trying to stay out of the way. She knew that his parents would hate anyone who kept their son in the city. Yet somehow, probably due to the fact that she was raised without parents who loved her, she took their every criticism personally. She just wanted their approval. And, if she couldn't get it, she at least wanted to avoid any confrontation.

"About that," Troy paused, trying to find the perfect way to break the news, "Turns out that the heat is out in our apartment. But we've called the landlord and he should be here is about 40-45 years."

He glanced over at Gabriella, happy to see that he had made her laugh. His glance toward her wasn't lost to his mother. She knew her son was happy in the city with his girlfriend. She just wished he'd come home and be happy in New Mexico.

"Well," Lucille said slowly, letting out a deep breath, "Hopefully the Thanksgiving dinner is portable. We can take it to the hotel. I just wish we would've known so we didn't take a cab all the way out here."

"Actually-" Troy said quickly, trying to keep the peace, "I was thinking that we can eat here because we worked really hard and I don't think it's that bad when you get used to it."

"You know," Jack looked at his son, "We never have to worry about losing heat at home. And, if the A/C goes out, you just open a window."

"It's never gone out before," Troy told his dad, "Just bad luck. But we have so much food it's crazy. And luckily we've got two great friends who are going to let us stay with them tonight so we won't have to sleep in the cold. Things are great. Cold, but great."

"We are already here," Lucille said carefully, "Speaking for friends though, Jason and Kelsi are getting married. Can you believe that? They bought a house and are going to get married this summer."

"Jason and Kelsi went to high school with me," Troy explained to Gabriella, trying to include her in the conversation, "Jason played on the team with me and Kelsi was his high school sweetheart. I think Jason is assistant coach of the team now, right?"

"Yes," Jack sat down at the table, waiting to be served, "A job that is open for you whenever you're ready."

Troy ignored him and pulled the chair out for his mother.

"What's on the menu, Gabriella? I know my son didn't do any of the cooking."

"Oh," Gabriella was surprised that someone was talking to her. She was almost nervous to respond, "We have turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole. All homemade. Then, we have pumpkin pie from the little bakery down the street. Their muffins are to die for so I'm thinking the pie should be amazing."

Wow," Jack was impressed. While he was frustrated with Troy's decision to stay in the city for Gabriella's job, there was no hiding how impressive she was. He knew that somehow she had made all of the food with no help.

"And Troy did help," Gabriella added with confidence, "He was great at mashing the potatoes, waiting in line for the pie-"

"And I was a great taster," he grinned, laying pot holders on the table, "Everything is delicious."

"If only there were heat," Jack shivered, "Hopefully the food will warm us up."

"It will." Gabriella said, surprising the Boltons with her newfound confidence, "We worked very hard on it."

Lucille looked down at her plate to hide her smile. She did like Gabriella. She liked that Gabriella was independent and smart. She was surprised when Troy brought her home from college. She wasn't his normal, leggy blonde girlfriend. She was different.

Lucille wanted Troy to marry a girl like Gabriella. But a girl like Gabriella in New Mexico. Gabriella was great but there are plenty of fish in the sea- specifically the sea near them. They had raised him with a specific plan. He was to go to UofA, play basketball and come home to take his father's mantle. Instead, he chose a gig at an inner city school, coaching at risk youth a million miles away. It was a respectable career, just not the career she wanted for him.

And, Lucille knew that- if Gabriella didn't exist or didn't have the job in the city- Troy would be home and they'd be having Thanksgiving at an appropriately tempered house. She thought she was decent at keeping her disappointment hidden but knew that both she and her husband made Gabriella feel small.

But she knew her son. And she knew Troy would be happier at home. She just needed to remind him.

—

Dinner went exactly how everyone thought it would. Jack and Lucille made passive aggressive comments about New Mexico. Troy got defensive and overly complementary of Gabriella. Gabriella sat quietly and only answered questions that were thrown her way. She liked it better that way.

Not that she'd ever tell Troy but his parents' comments did get to her every time. She almost wanted to break up with him so he could go home. She just wanted them to be pleased. She could feel how hurt Troy was that his parents never complimented him. She wanted to help and the only way to help was dumping him.

But, she loved him too much to do that. So she continued to hustle and hoped that maybe time would help her gain their approval.

"I'm going to run down and meet the cab driver," Jack said quickly, just wanting to get out of the cold apartment, "We'll see you guys tomorrow morning at the airport, right?"

"Absolutely," Gabriella said, "I took the morning off so we can have breakfast before you leave."

"Wonderful," Lucille said slowly, "I'm going to use the bathroom really quickly and then I'll meet you down there."

Troy gave his dad a hug and told him that he was going to miss him. Gabriella and Jack shared and awkward two second hug and he headed out the door. As soon as Lucille was out of earshot and in the bathroom, Troy audibly sighed.

"It's not the worst," he squeezed her hand, "We're cold but we survived. And my dad only mentioned being cold 7 times- not 100."

Gabriella giggled and squeezed his hand. She was relieved and tired.

"It was better than expected," she looked at him, "I think if I burnt down your high school it would provide heat for the winter."

Lucille quietly closed the bathroom door and looked into the kitchen. She couldn't hear what Gabriella and Troy were saying but she studied their body language. They were clearly partners in crime. He was holding her hand and laughing at a joke that she had told.

He looked happy. More than happy- he was clearly in love. It was in that moment that it occurred to her. She was wrong. Troy wasn't meant to be at East High. He was meant to be in Gabriella's arms. He didn't need to come home. Because New Mexico wasn't his home. Gabriella was.

"It was wonderful seeing you," Lucille interrupted, frowning as their hands broke apart, clearly hiding their affection, "And the food was delicious."

"I'll miss you, mom." Troy told her, giving her a hug, "Though, I'll see you at Christmas."

"The sweet potatoes were so grand," Lucille said, offering a sweet olive branch to Gabriella, "I hope you'll have them next year. My guess is that they'll be even better when the temperature in your apartment is over 50 degrees."

Troy didn't notice the compliment. But Gabriella did. And she didn't need the heat to be fixed for her heart to be warmed. The small comment was enough to brighten her day.

"Absolutely." She gave Lucille a real hug, somehow it felt like the perfect way to make her bad day better, "I'll see you at Christmas."

"Can't wait."

As Lucille left, Gabriella looked at Troy. Suddenly, the day wasn't bad at all. She had prepped. She had done everything. She had prepared for dinner. Yet somehow, she wasn't quite ready for what the dinner would bring her. The cold was nothing compared to the shock of earning his mother's approval.

"Let's just bail on the dishes and head to Chad and Sharpay's," Troy pulled her from her thoughts, "I can't feel my toes."

"Good idea," she grinned, "You were right though, this wasn't a disaster. Not at all."

"Of course it wasn't a disaster. It's you and me. We can get through anything."

—

There you go! Hope you enjoyed this Thanksgiving treat. Please leave a review but be cool, I haven't posted in years!