Disclaimer: HSM and anything in relation does not belong to me, nor do I make any sort of profit from this.
The get together was random. Sharpay, Ryan, Zeke, and Kelsi drove up from New York to visit with a little more than three hours notice. Once arriving, the eight East High graduates went downtown to the largest mall, which held a movie theater at the top floor. And now, at the mall waiting for the movie to start, it was as though they all knew, as if they were setting Troy and Gabriella up. Taylor and Chad had wandered to the Barnes and Noble a few stores down to replace an old copy of Taylor's favorite novel, while Kelsi, Sharpay, Ryan and Zeke all went to find the bathroom on the second floor. This left Troy and Gabriella sitting at a small metal table next to the now closed ice cream kiosk in the nearly deserted mall. It was as if their friends knew what had begun and ended the summer before. But they didn't, they couldn't. If they did know all hell would have broken loose: and for now, despite its protests, hell was quiet. Troy and Gabriella, however, were struggling to find reasons to converse. From a passerby's point of view, they could have been mistaken as strangers. But no one was passing by and Troy and Gabriella weren't strangers. They were anything but strangers.
Gabriella was fidgeting: crossing and recrossing her legs under the table, twiddling her thumbs in between her almost manic-like checking of her BlackBerry. There were no messages each time she looked, but that didn't stop her. Sometimes she quickly set it back down, other times she pretended to respond to the zero messages in her inbox. Troy decided to speak.
"So," he was forced to wave his hand in front of her eyes to grab her attention, "How's school been? I feel like I never see you anymore." This was the first time he had spoken to her since coming to Boston in late August to get set up for college; he had expected when he left Albuquerque he would have run into her at least once before now.
She looked down at the BlackBerry still sitting in her hand, though this time she made no attempt to check anything at all. Her body was frozen as she answered, "That's because you don't." There was a coldness in her voice that he wasn't accustomed to.
Troy frowned, and questioned her in a tone she was sure her mother had used before, to signify disappointment, "And do you make sure of that, Gabriella?"
At the sound of her first name spoken in its entirety she finally made eye contact with Troy, and what she found was surprising. Troy's lips, naturally, were formed into a small smile. Some might mistake it for a smirk Troy had practiced; they might think it was cocky, or cruel, but Gabriella knew better. However, the current look on Troy's face, or the shape of his lips rather, was in a definite frown, and within the blue irises of Troy's eyes she found hurt and doubt. The last time Gabriella had seen that look on Troy's face was the weekend before college started at the lake barbeque their mutual friends held annually. In less than a second and a swish of his hair both emotions were wiped from his face, replaced with something cloudy and unreadable.
"School has been alright," Gabriella replied, deciding after seeing Troy's face to answer his first question, "Great actually. My chemistry professor contacted me and will let me work with him during his research. He specializes in gene therapy."
Troy nodded.
"That's the field I want to go into eventually, after med school," she added as an after thought, "If it's still somewhat of a frontier anyway."
Troy nodded and smiled a true, genuine smile, "El, I know. I know you."
Gabriella ducked her head into her shoulder in embarrassment, her curls succeeding in hiding the light blush adorning her cheeks, but it didn't matter, because Troy knew the blush was there. The silence came rolling back over them like a thundercloud, full of things that could and should be said. Troy was the one to break the quiet.
"I'm glad, you know," Troy almost whispered, his eyes peaking out from the mop of sandy brown hair covering his brow to search for hers, "I'm glad everything is working out for you."
Gabriella held back her scoff and said nothing. She would have been a lot happier, they both would be a lot happier, if things had worked out differently. But that was on him, so she held her tongue. Instead, she flattened her hands on the table and let the metal cool her palms before she minutely nodded her head. There was a throat clearing from across the table and Troy, again, was the one to speak.
"So, what about boys?" he attempted to lighten the mood, "any dudes I need to talk to?" Troy's words were light and humorous, but his face was serious, if not threatening.
The look in Gabriella's eyes told him his attempt failed. "No, definitely not, and even if there were any boys, men, I wouldn't need you, or anyone else for that matter, to talk to them," she spat. "What about you, though? From what Chad tells me you've had your fair share of the ladies." She wiggled her fingers in the air for flare as she said 'ladies'.
Troy shrugged nonchalantly, "It's all relative."
"Ah," Gabriella raised her eyebrows and nodded her head once, slowly, in feigned understanding before resting her chin in her palm. Even with one word the sarcasm in Gabriella's voice was almost tangible.
The quiet came back again, this time it lasted for minutes. Troy checked his phone for the time too often, and Gabriella anxiously looked towards the Barnes and Nobel, hoping to see Chad and Taylor emerge from the entrance. She hadn't meant to snap at him, it was just difficult. It was difficult to be in the general vicinity of Troy - to talk about girls he did or did not sleep with was unbelievably taxing. Each time she turned her head to check if Chad and Taylor were coming she was granted a short glimpse of him. Although he was fiddling with his watch, Gabriella could see for the second time in the span of thirty minutes a frown on Troy's face; a frown that was surely caused by her. Guilt washed over her and suddenly, and it was Gabriella's voice that cut through the hush.
"Do you know what Star Craft is, Troy?" There was a far off look in Gabriella's eyes as she gazed off at something to the left of Troy's head.
Troy's head shot up from his phone at the sound of her voice. "Yeah, I think so, isn't it that computer game where there you can play as different alien races? And then you battle? It's a strategy game, right?" Troy asked, somewhat bewildered that Gabriella would not only ask him something so random, but so abruptly.
"That's the one," she smiled, her eyes flicking to Troy's and then back to whatever she was looking at behind him. Troy followed her line of vision and found a video game store window display with a large cardboard cut out of one of the alien characters.
"I miss it," she said, wistful. "I used to play it all the time in elementary school with my brother."
Troy cocked his head to the side, "Really? You never seemed like the computer game type."
Gabriella shrugged, "I'm not, really. It was more of a way to bond with Joshua."
This was a first, Troy realized. It was a step forward, back to the way they were before they moved to college, when he and Gabriella could speak to each other without fighting through the tension, forcing small talk and avoiding the subjects that were dying for discussion. It might have been a quick conversation, more of an aside Gabriella felt like sharing, but Troy would take what he could get.
They head two metal chairs scrape against the floor, signaling the return of Chad and Taylor form the bookstore. Immediately, Chad punched Troy's shoulder, jolting him out of his thoughts and into a discussion over whether or not the movie they were waiting to see would be any good.
Gabriella continued to gaze at the window display half listening to Troy and Chad argue about which transformer was coolest.
"You okay?" Taylor asked and scooted a little closer to Gabriella, allowing them both to speak without being overheard by one of the boys. "You look a little down."
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired, I guess," Gabriella said and gave Taylor a gentle, reassuring smile.
Taylor was perceptive; she had been known to say it was one of her best attributes. And Gabriella was her friend, her best friend, so it was clear to Taylor that Gabriella wasn't tired, or stressed from assignments, or hungry, or whatever the excuses had been. She knew it in August when Gabriella pushed away her burger at the lake claiming she "wasn't hungry", even though Gabriella never let Taylor forget how much she loved anything off a grill. And she knew it tonight, when Gabriella said she was tired. What she couldn't figure out, however, was what exactly was bothering Gabriella.
Taylor was about to ask Gabriella just what was truly bothering her, when Sharpay's voice could be heard chattering over Kelsi and Ryan's muffled giggles as they made their way down the escalator. The clacking of Sharpay's heels grew louder – a sign that an inevitable interruption was coming.
"Come on!" she demanded, directing her attention to the four sitting at the table, "the movie starts in like ten minutes."
Chad made no move to stand or hurry, even his voice possessed no haste. "Dude, Chill. There are like tons of previews, and it's 11:30, I'm sure there'll be plenty of seats. I'm surprised you're so eager to see Eagle Eye anyway."
Sharpay took a deep breath in, "Well, I'll have you know, Danforth," she spat, "That regardless of what movie I go to see I like to be on time. Just like any other event that is blessed with my presence."
Chad hadn't bothered to look at Sharpay after he said his piece, knowing there was going to a rebuttal he figured he save his strength. It was Zeke who got her to stop nagging.
"Come on Shar, let's just start walking, they'll follow," he said, and placed a hand on her shoulder to guide her back towards the escalator. Sharpay stalked off in front of him a few feet and Zeke took this time to kick Chad's chair good-naturedly, "What the hell man, you know how she gets when she's all riled up."
Chad smirked, "I'm sure you know better than I do, don't you Zeke."
Zeke rubbed a hand on top of his head and glanced to Sharpay a few paces ahead, "Shut up, man."
Zeke's statement was true, and as soon as they turned their back the foursome at the table stood and began to follow. Taylor fell behind to comfort a complaining Chad so Gabriella sped up to walk with Kelsi, who was quite a bit ahead of her. Before she could reach Kelsi, however, she felt a clammy hand enclose around her wrist. Her instinct was to pull away, but she didn't – she knew this hand. It was Troy's. It was impossible not to know, the smell of laundry detergent and something she couldn't place, but knew was unique to him circled around her.
"Your purse, El." Troy handed her the purse she nearly left sitting on the ground before catching up with Chad and Taylor who had by now passed them both.
Gabriella murmured an unfocused thanks, but Troy was long gone. Farther ahead of Chad, Taylor, and Troy were Kelsi, Ryan, Zeke and Sharpay. They had just reached the escalator and Zeke was leading Sharpay, his hand resting on the small of her back, a smile on each of their faces. Gabriella stood back for a moment, squeezing her bag between both hands and turned to observe Troy. He too was now reaching the escalator with Chad and Taylor, apparently having just told a joke, as both Chad and Taylor burst into laughter. He seemed exactly the same, still laughing with his friends, making jokes, the same smile on his face - except for the few times she had made him frown earlier that night. She, on the other hand, was not the same. How could she be, really? After what had taken place through their summer, and especially after the night at the lake. It made sense, though, that he was unaffected; after all, it wasn't his heart that was spilled, only to be rejected with an excuse that even then, in the heat of the moment, seemed flimsy.
"Gabriella!" Taylor yelled from the middle of the escalator, "Why are you still standing there? Come on!"
With her purse now slung over her shoulder Gabriella quickly made her way to the escalator and up to the movie theater three floors above them.
AN: Hello! So this is my second story, and I'm pretty nervous about it! I realize this chapter is a little slow but it gets better fast, I promise! I so so so strongly encourage you to review, give your thoughts and/or criticisms. This story can't get any better without feedback. Review! Comment! Suggest!
Thanks for reading!
Oh, and thank you so much for my lovely beta reader, geekspen!