So thanks to some sound advice from a new friend, I decided to do a one shot so I can take a break from the intense writing of my other stories and to get some of the plot bunnies floating around in my head out. Excuse any spelling errors, I didn't use a BETA for this one, I just looked it over multiple times myself. SO I hope you enjoy it and if you do, make sure you hit the REVIEW button and let me know just how much.
bballgirl22, I hope you're reading this, because it goes out to you! Many thanks girl!
Matter of Miles
Gabriella sighed softly as she stared out the window of Troy's truck, watching the highway go by as they made their way back to Albuquerque. They hadn't been on the road long, maybe an hour or two at best, but the sun was starting to set and Troy had already cut on his lights.
It still seemed to amaze her that just over 3 hours ago, her boyfriend had showed up on the lawn at Stanford University, in his tuxedo for prom, after driving all the way here from Albuquerque (1,053 miles, 14 and a half hours) just to serenade and convince her to come back home. She smiled at the thought, knowing that even though as they drove, prom was going on back home and essentially, they would miss it. But just as Troy had told her hours ago, her prom would be wherever he was.
After a nice stroll through the park where they'd talked everything out, planned the ride back, the amount of time they would have to get to both the show and attend graduation the upcoming weekend. Following that they'd driven back to the apartment where Gabriella and her mom were staying temporarily in California, where Troy both had gotten changed and Gabriella packed a bag to get on the road.
Maria, of course, had been more than shocked to see Troy. She was already filled in about Gabriella's plans to not return to Albuquerque and although she did not agree, she did not fight it either. She of all people knew how stubborn her daughter could be, which was exactly why she knew Troy was the one for her. She'd never met a young man so determined about something or someone. He was ready and willing to drive over half a day to come get her and refused to leave until she left with him. If that wasn't love, she wasn't sure what was. She'd wasted no time rushing the teenagers on their way in Troy's truck, with promises that she'd follow shortly behind them.
But, even now, as she sat a mere 12 hours away from New Mexico, Gabriella still had some unanswered questions.
"Troy?"
He took his eyes off the road briefly to look at her and in that short glance, caught the thoughtful look on her face, instantly removing one of his hands from the steering wheel to take hers. "What's wrong?"
She instantly shook her head, the ponytail she'd put her hair in swishing from side to side at the movement. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong, I just…why'd you do it?"
She turned in her seat to face him, seatbelt still wrapped securely around her body, that's how small she was. "Do what?"
She gave him a look to which his forehead crinkled in confusion. "Come get you? I told you why…"
"Yeah, but…after everything I put you through…"
"Gabriella that doesn't matter. And you didn't put me through anything. I wanted you go, I just didn't want you to not come back."
"Well, it does matter, Troy. I dropped a bomb on you a couple of hours ago and your first thought was to drive almost 15 hours to come get me and bring me back?"
"It's where you belong. I wasn't going to let you miss this."
"We both know this wasn't solely about making the show or graduation."
Troy glanced over at her again, seeing that knowingly look and bit his lip as he tried to focus on the road. "You never let me say it back," he admitted seconds later.
Gabriella, who was staring down at their linked hands, glanced up meeting the side of his face while he refused to look in her direction. "What?"
He sighed, his hand playing with hers as he kept his eyes on the road in front of him. "I love you Gabriella, but you never let me tell you that. You called and you said you weren't coming back and you told me you loved me. I couldn't just leave it like that."
"You drove 1,053 miles to come get me because I told you I loved you and you didn't get to say it back?"
When he didn't answer, she sighed frustrated and turned so she was sitting straight in her seat again, staring out the window. Troy wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure how. He could practically feel the anger radiating off her body. After a few minutes of silent fuming and over-thinking, she couldn't take it. "Pull over."
"What?" He looked as her as if she was crazy.
"Pull over, Troy."
"Gabriella, this is crazy. I'm not going to pull over on the side of…"
"PULL OVER THE DAMN TRUCK!"
Startled at her outburst, Troy looked in his rearview mirrors silently and quickly changed lanes before pulling the truck to a stop on the side of the interstate. Cars whizzed pass, shaking the truck, as the two sat silently for a moment before Gabriella yanked the door open and got out.
"GABRIELLA!" Troy haphazardly threw his door open to follow her, earning a few honks from cars driving past that had swerved to avoid him. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!" He yelled out to her over the sounds of the cars driving past. "You can't just get out like that, you could have gotten killed!"
"You want to talk crazy? How about a guy who drives 1,053 miles just to see some girl..."
"You are not just 'some girl'! I love you!"
Gabriella shook her head. "Don't say that."
"Why not?" Troy asked, but he got no answer from her as she folded her arms across her chest. "It's true!"
"I'm just your high school girlfriend, Troy."
"No! You're it for me, Gabriella."
"Troy, you drove 14 and a half hours, one thousand…"
"One thousand, fifty three miles, yes, I get it! Why does that matter? Why do you have to keep bringing that up? I LOVE YOU! Do you understand me? And you don't just get to say that and run away. I refuse to lose you. Not over something like this. Who cares about the distance?"
"I do! It's not supposed to be like this Troy. I'm not supposed to find someone and fall in love. I can't just stay in one place and be happy! It doesn't work out that way! I need to go back to Stanford."
"Why not? You know for someone so damn smart, you can be so stupid sometimes!" Gabriella instantly fell silent at his remark. "I came because I love you and I wasn't about to let you just leave and miss everything you've worked so hard for, for what you deserve. You can go back to Stanford after graduation and if you want, you don't ever have to see me again, but please, for now, just get in the truck and come back with me."
Gabriella stared at him for a few seconds more before turning and getting back in the truck, leaving Troy to sigh and run a hand through his hair before getting back in himself. She didn't say anything and neither did he and that was how the spent the rest of their ride back to Albuquerque. Total silence.
~Miles~
Gabriella stood backstage the next evening, patiently awaiting her time to go onstage. She and Troy had gotten back earlier this afternoon after a few stops for food and for him to grab a couple hours of sleep at a motel. Their ride had been excruciatingly silent, which was painful for the both of them. Gabriella couldn't seem to understand why he'd driven to come get her and Troy know why she was so not understanding of his thoughtful gesture.
Needless to say, he'd brought her back to his house, where she and her mom were going to be staying – at his own mother's request – and he'd gone off to play a game with Chad. Essentially, that was key for go toss around a ball mindlessly while venting and getting advice.
They'd both somehow silently agreed to give each other space about the falling out, but both also understood that they needed to talk about what happened sooner rather than later and by Chad's suggestion, definitely before Gabriella returned to Stanford. They'd had a few rough times before, that was nothing new to them, but this was different and at this point she wasn't sure where they stood. To be honest, she was sure she was itching to find out either.
She stood off to the side in the left wing, effectively ignoring Ryan pacing anxiously near the curtain. "Where is Troy? Gabriella?" He looked toward her expectantly, to which she shrugged. "He's your boyfriend!"
"Last I saw, he was leaving to go to Chad's," she said biting her lip and looking at the floor. She definitely didn't want to let the whole world know that she and Troy were in a fight, but that was kind of inevitable because all of their friends seemed to be able to sense when something was up. They also were not oblivious to how miserable the two were without each other.
"Chad!" Ryan cursed, quickly speaking into his mic for Kelsi to find Chad in order to find Troy. Gabriella went back to watching Sharpay in her bright pink leotard, singing about how she wanted it all. She almost jumped when Ryan's hand appeared on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing! Why does everyone think something is wrong?"
"Because something is wrong. You, of all people, don't know where Troy is? That's just bizarre. What happened between you two?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
"Oh come on. The boy drove all the way out to Stanford to bring you back here tonight. Now you're telling me you're not extremely overjoyed and totally in love with him. You can't be mad at him."
"Can't I? He's just wasting his time on me Ryan. There's no way our relationship is going to work 1,053 miles from each other."
"You know how they say age is just a number? Well distance is too. And the thing about miles, they can always be covered, driven, shortened. It's not going to always be like that."
"But it's not fair to him. I don't want him to have to constantly come out and get me. How am I supposed to divide my time between here and there? Not to mention, I'm sure we'll both be super busy. It's different when we're both right here, but we can't have that anymore…"
"Says who?" Ryan spoke, but then quickly stopped himself. "Listen, Gabriella, all those things you said; they're all excuses. Nobody's asking you to divide your time and Troy sure as hell isn't as worried about it, so why are you? He has faith in your relationship and by you just telling him it won't work, well that's not fair to him. You're not even giving it a chance."
"When did you get so good at guy advice? Or understanding Troy?"
"Please," he rolled his eyes, pulling her into a tight hug. "I am a guy, for Christ sake! All that guy crap Taylor spouts is just wrong, dead wrong. But don't tell her I said that," he added quickly making Gabriella giggle. "Troy and I get along better than you would think, so trust me when I tell you: talk to him."
She looked down, actively playing with her fingers. "Thank you, Ryan."
"Anytime." Just then Troy ran up, attaching his mic. "Sorry! Sorry, I'm late, wardrobe malfunction." He briefly acknowledged Gabriella, but as soon as their eyes made contact she looked away.
"Well finally! You two are on like," Ryan looked out to the stage seeing Jimmy and Sharpay finishing off their half of the song. "NOW!" he exclaimed, pushed the two of them towards the stage making them stumble. Troy quickly grabbed Gabriella's hand to prevent her from tripping further and she looked up, meeting his blues orbs once again, not looking away this time.
"I'm sorry…" she started, but he cut her off with a swift kiss to the cheek. "We'll talk," he answered right before pulling her out onto the stage with him. He sent her a genuine smile just as he opened his mouth to start singing.
"You know how life can be. It changes overnight…"
~Miles~
"Ooooh, Ooooh, Ooooh, Oooooh…" (It's the background oohing and singing on the graduation version of We're All in This Together in case you didn't get it)
"Now I believe there's one of our seniors that has a decision to make: Mr. Bolton." Ms. Darbus nodded to him just as Gabriella glanced over at Troy and he stepped up to take the spotlight.
"I bet it comes as no surprise to most of the people in this room that I've chosen basketball," Troy started, earning a few whoops and yells from the crowd in front of him. Gabriella smiled slightly clapping along with everyone else. "But that's not the most important decision I've had to make." A knowing look fell upon the faces of many at the moment, going completely unnoticed by Gabriella.
"There comes a time in everyone's life where they fall in love. We don't get to choose when it happens or who it happens with, we just have that chance to experience all of it. There's the good, the bad, the ups and downs, and hardest parts, including letting go."
Gabriella, still clueless, looked at her boyfriend in bewilderment, wondering where he was going with this.
"I won't drag on with this, but the biggest decision I made was the decision to not let go. I'm going to follow my heart. And my heart, however crazy it may sound, led me to the University of California, Berkeley. So this way, I'll be only 32.7 miles from where my heart is," he said, turning around to face a stunned Gabriella. "Rather than that stupid 1,053."
He earned a laugh as he stepped back allowing her to step up. "Gabriella Montez, Stanford University, Pre-Law. And most importantly, my heart."
There was a loud roar of 'awws' followed by applause that stunned the auditorium as Gabriella quickly did a gentle bow before stepping back as well, unable to help her wide eyed, open mouth stare at Troy as their last show came to a close.
Following the curtain call and applause, Gabriella was backstage, having lost Troy in the frenzy leaving the auditorium. Taylor appeared in front of her, squeezing her tightly and talking a mile a minute about something Gabriella was paying no attention to. She found various faces, all of them excitedly giving her a hug, but not one of them Troy.
15 minutes later, she sighed in defeat and noticing how empty backstage was – mostly because everyone had gone out into the auditorium lobby to talk – and she headed back to the costume closet to hang up the prop cap and gown she was wearing.
She was placing the gown back on the hanger neatly to be collected by whoever was cleaning the prop closet later, when she heard a voice speak out behind her.
"I hope you're not mad at me."
She turned, spotting her boyfriend standing casually by a clothing rack across from where she was. "Shocked, yeah. A little confused too, but mad is not how I feel towards you."
"Okay, and you don't hate me either, right?"
"Never." There was an awkward silence before she grew the balls to speak again. "What was that, Troy?"
"Uhh…the show and singing…"
"I'm being serious. When did you decide on Berkeley? You never even mentioned it."
He shrugged. "Not to you."
"Why?"
"You were stressed about us being together and freaking about 1,053 miles…"
"So you changed schools for me?"
"It's not like I'd made a concrete decision at the time. It's what I want. Berkley's team is just as good as U of A's. Chad's cool with it and surprisingly so is my dad."
"That's…crazy. I can't believe you did that."
"First you get mad because I drove to Stanford and now I'm crazy because I switched schools to be closer to the girl I'm in love with?"
"YES!"
Troy scoffed, shaking his head.
"It's not that I'm not grateful, Troy, but because believe me I am. Without your convincing, I would have missed out on a lot and I love you for that…"
He shook his head furiously. "No! You don't get to say that to me again and then walk away. I want us to be together, is that so crazy? I mean, am I crazy for being in love with you? If so, put me in a strait jacket and lock me up because that's not going to change anything."
"That's not what I'm saying!" She sighed in frustration, feeling tears forming. "I just…don't want you to change around your life for me now and realize that later it's not what you wanted."
"What?"
"The drive to Stanford, changing schools to be closer to me, every other sacrifice you've made for me since I've know you. What if you wake up one morning and decide that this is not what you wanted? I don't want to be the cause…"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! First of all, I'm not changing my mind. Believe or not, my decision is not all about you. I didn't want to go to U of A, my dad wanted that. I'm happier having known I made a decision about a school on my own. Second, I would never blame you for the decisions I've made. They were mine to make and yes, you may have been the most important factor in me making those decisions, but you didn't force me to. And lastly," he said grabbing her hands. "You have to understand that you are it for me. I never expected to find the one I wanted to be with forever at 16, but that doesn't mean I want to change it. I like where I am and what I have."
Gabriella bit her lip nervously. "You're my first real boyfriend, Troy. My first love. I don't want things to go wrong."
"I don't either, but did you hear what I said out there? It's not going to be easy, we both know that. I know I've never said this before, but I'm prepared to have ups and downs and ins and outs with you for the rest of my life. I'm not going anywhere."
Gabriella nodded as he rubbed her hands gently with his own. "Promise?"
He smiled. "I don't break my promises to you."
She was quick to fold herself into his arms for a hug, but he pulled back seconds later. "Can I do something really quick?"
Gabriella stared at him. "Okay? What is it?"
"I want to make sure you get a chance to hear what I have to say the way you should. So, I love you, Gabriella Montez….and you can't hang up on me this time."
"I wouldn't dare. I love you too, Wildcat," she answered back with a smile just before they shared a short kiss. "So exactly, how many people knew about Berkeley?"
Troy blushed, scratching the back of his head. "Uh...everybody?"
She shook her head in disbelief. "You're a piece of work, Bolton, but I guess you're my piece of work."
He grinned. "Well then I guess you won't be surprised that I managed to get the key for Lava Springs from Sharpay? How does a secret late night picnic on the green sound?"
Gabriella smiled brightly, taking Troy's hand and leading him out of the prop closet, shutting off the light behind them. "Sounds perfect to me."
With high school ending, so did the worries of their relationship lasting. 1,053 miles were no match for the two, and 32.7 would be a piece of cake. It was just a matter of miles and miles were always drivable.