A/N: Rightyho, this is the sequel to Secret Relationship. It's only a oneshot, to tie up a few loose threads.
She looked around the room and sighed audibly as her eyes scanned the party for a familiar face. Finding none, she took another sip of the beer that had randomly been handed to earlier, and winced as the liquid burned the back of her throat. What the hell am I even doing here? She wondered, the same question that had been on her mind since she first arrived. She didn't belong to the party scene, she was meant to stay at home on the winning game night celebration, not to be dressed up and drinking something she hated just to keep herself occupied.
"Oh my God, Gabs you came!" A slightly tipsy Sharpay squealed.
"Yeah, I'm here."And hating every minute of it!
"Um, Shar, shouldn't you wait for Zeke to arrive before drinking?" She asked as the blonde stumbled slightly.
None of the basketball team had arrived yet, they always came fashionably late.
"No." Sharpay said stubbornly, her drunken self swaying dangerously, "Hey there's Martha!" She ran off, nearly tripping over a sober-as always-Taylor.
"And that's the last we'll see of her tonight." Taylor muttered, looking into the crowd that Sharpay just disappeared into. She turned back to Gabriella. "You okay?"
"Oh yeah! I'm sitting by myself on someone's couch at a party I don't belong to, in a stranger's apartment, drinking something I hate just so I don't die of boredom, so yeah. I'm just peachy! "
She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes at Taylor's amused face.
"What?" She spat.
"You're just nervous because you're going to have to see Troy tonight." She teased.
"No I am not!" The pretty braniac said indignantly, raising her head slightly, although realising with a heavy thud of her heart that Taylor was right. She ignored the "not-buying-it" face her best friend was giving her.
"I'm not!" Gabriella defended.
"Uh-huh, whatever you say." The dark-skinned girl told her, amusement dripping off every word.
"Alright, so maybe I'm a little nervous. But can you really blame me?"
This was the first time she would see Troy face-to-face since their break-up three months ago. He had been away at a basketball tournament and tonight was the team's welcome back game.
"No, but can you at least try to have a little fun?" Taylor reasoned.
She found out about Troy and Gabriella's relationship when Gabi had rang her and spilled all in a fit of tears. She now knew everything.
"Nuh-uh." The petite brunette said shaking her head vigorously.
"I only came to this stupid party 'cause of what you and Sharpay threatened to do to me if I didn't. You never said anything about having fun!"
Taylor shook her head amusedly at her friend's stubbornness.
"Okay. Well, I gotta go socialise, so have fun being miserable!"
Taylor waved as she moved through the crowd of dancing couples. Gabriella sighed. Alone, again. She wasn't purposely being difficult; she just desperately didn't want to be there. She didn't want to see Troy after all those months apart, especially since she had finally started to move on. It had been a kind of mutual decision to break up, but that didn't make it any less painful.
"YO! The boys are here!"
Suddenly, the room erupted into loud cheers and Gabriella carefully manoeuvred herself away from the jostling crowd that had gathered around the doorway. She took a deep breath and looked towards the door. Among the shouts of "Bolton!" and "Champions 'til the end!", she could distinctly hear her unsteady heart beating in her ears.
She turned away and faced Taylor who was shooting her a sympathetic look in response to her own desperate one from across the room. The darker skinned girl began to make her way over to her best friend's side in her time of need.
"Gabs," She reached out to touch the Latina's arm, "Do you wanna go sit down somewhere secluded, huh? Just me and you?"
Despite her teasing beforehand, Taylor really was worried about her best friend's state of mind. Especially as Gabriella wasn't the type of person to open up easily and admit she needed help.
After five minutes of intense struggling through the crowd which the basketball boys were centre of, the girls managed to find a sofa in the corner of the room. As they sat down, Gabriella's eyes swept the room before locking on the boy whose calls she had been avoiding for the past three months, and at that moment in time was being fawned over my Lexie Dawson, the head cheerleader, and the main reason for the split in their relationship.
She ducked her head as the intensity in Troy's gaze deepened. For half an hour the girls sat on the sofa and talked aimlessly between themselves, finding that anything could spark up a conversation.
Gabriella noted in the back of her mind that Taylor stayed away from anything Troy-related, and she remembered to thank her for it when she was strong enough to talk about their break-up without collapsing into a fit of tears.
Every so often, she would glance around the dark room which was full of drunken high-schoolers, and cheerleaders shamelessly flirting with anyone they deemed satisfactory. While this cycle continued, Troy had moved around the whole room, managing to thank everyone for congratulating them on their championship win and to stop his friends from doing things they would later regret the next morning.
The only consistent thing about him was the cheerleader who seemed to be surgically attached to his hip. Lexie's arms never left Troy's shoulder and Gabriella felt an air of jealousy surround her, and anger bubble up in her body, before disappointment filled her once again as she remembered that they weren't a couple anymore and that she had absolutely no right to be in any way mad at Troy.
She was the one who initiated their break-up in the first place, those many months before.
"Right, so then Derek was like, "umm no, Taylor, I was the one who said that!" and I felt like such and idiot! You know? Gabs? Gabriella?" Taylor followed her best friend's eye line before inconspicuously leaving Gabriella's side.
Making a bee line for the petite brunette was Troy Bolton. All chatter in the room ceased as their most respected captain headed for the school's bookworm.
"T-Troy?" Gabriella stammered. "Troy, what are you doing?"
She looked around the room nervously; taking in everybody's questioning stares. She gulped, she never was good at being centre of attention.
"Kissing you."
She immediately snapped her head back to stare helplessly up at him. Damn him, she thought, how can he cause a simple phrase to make me sweat? And urgh, he still has that sex appeal! And his voice...oh my god!
"Troy? No, we agreed-"She hissed at him. He shook his head slowly, a glint of amusement hinting in his powerful eyes.
"Nuh-uh. You made the decision babe. I never gave my consent."
"But this is easier."
"For you, maybe." He allowed. "Not for me, though. Brie, you know I need you."
"We don't belong together." She then noticed that they had captured the attention of every single person in the room, even the drunk ones.
"Who says?"
She noticed his dangerous smirk creeping onto his handsome face before he yanked her up by her arm. She gasped as their pelvises collided and their noses touched.
"Troy, Lexie, y-your status-" He cut her off before she could finish her hushed debate.
"Fuck them."
He crashed his lips onto hers with a force that sent her backwards, but Troy's hand was supporting the small of her back, keeping her body close to his. His mouth opened and his tongue caressed hers gently, with a tenderness she had tried so hard to forget, to not fantasize about at night.
Gabriella was vaguely aware of the whispered questions surrounding her, but she was too high from the buzz that Troy always provided her with to even care. He slowly pulled away from her, looking deep into her chocolate brown eyes, which had emotions pouring out of them, as usual.
He touched her soft pink lips gently with his finger, watching as they parted and uneven breath poured out of them. Nothing about her had changed. Her cheeks still flushed whenever he kissed her, and her eyelids slowly fluttered down. He couldn't help but kiss her again.
"Fuck everyone apart from me and you. Us. Together forever." He smiled softly at her, and her heart fluttered rapidly, in a way only Troy could make it.
"Okay." She breathed.
"I love you."
"I love you too. Together forever."
And finally, she realised that as long as she had Troy by her side, it didn't matter if the whole world was against them, they would make it through everything.
I hope this chapter filled your expectations! I'm not sure if it's any good, I finished it in about half an hour! Please review, even if it's a simple, "I liked it", I would really appreciate your opinions.
Charrrr X