"Did you hear?"

I turned around from yelling on the phone to my boyfriend to find my best friend, Kendall, barging into my room.

As soon as she saw that I was on the phone, she covered her mouth and sat on my bed. It was the perfect excuse to get off the phone, thank God. I was so over this conversation with Lucas. And I wanted it to be over immediately.

"No, you don't understand, Luke," I told him sternly before moving the phone from one ear to the other, "Look, I have to go. Kendall just walked in. Let's just cool off and I'll call you later or something."

Except I wasn't. Why would I want to talk to him when he basically told me he doesn't know where our relationship is going. Is he serious? I mean, two years together and he doesn't know where the relationship is going? He doesn't have a clue as to if he wants to continue this to see if it could possibly lead to marriage or if you want to continue acting like two teenagers in love? No. I had a stable career now. I was moving on up. I had my shit together. He sorta did too, but I was at a point where if he wasn't the one, I had to call it off. Why waste anymore time? By the time I'm 30, I want to be married with two kids. And sure, 30's a little while away, but still. We're in love. We're serious. Why can't we talk about the future? I know it's only been two years, but we're adults. We're not teenagers. These relationships tend to move faster. You tend to make decisions about relationships sooner, you know?

"Sorry," I apologized to her before sitting on the bed next to her.

She shrugged it off as if it wasn't a big deal. "Is he still being immature?"

I laughed. I guess that's what you could call it. I call it being annoying and stupid and even more stupid, but ugh whatever. "I just don't get it. It was a simple question and it just led to weeks of tension and awkwardness and fights here and there. Why doesn't he know what he wants in life?"

Kendall was wise beyond her years so I expected some great advice, but nope. She just stayed silent for the most part, but did offer a little piece of it. "He might just be a little intimidated that he's still finishing up school and you already have a great job. Maybe he'll come around."

Let's hope so.

"What'd you want to tell me?" I switched the subject. After all, she did barge into my room. Which wasn't a big deal since we lived together in this gorgeous three bedroom condo. It was just the two of us and it was the best.

Suddenly, it looked like she didn't want to tell me, which was really weird. Didn't she come into my room to tell me something? Why was she being weird?

"Ken?"

She snapped out of it, though. "No, I just, you're obviously going to find out, but um, did you hear Troy Bolton moved back?"

Oh. That's why. "You can just say Troy," I tried to laugh it off, but it was nervousness for sure, "there aren't a lot of Troy's around so I know who you're talking about, obviously."

Kendall cracked a smile and kind of shrugged her shoulders. "Did you know?"

I shook my head. How could I possibly know that? Obviously we still have a lot of good mutual friends, and I'm still really good friends with his best friends, but I don't know, I just didn't know. And I really don't know what to think about it. "No. Why is he moving back?"

"He got married and he has a baby on the way so instead of raising her in the city, he's moving back and starting his life here."

NO WAY.

My jaw must have dropped or something because Kendall was now laughing hysterically and waving her arms in front of her face before composing herself. "Gabs, I'm kidding. He's not married. Or having a baby."

I shouldn't care. We broke up over 2 years ago. So much has happened.

"It's okay, you know?" she tells me, her face dropping, "you guys were together for 4 years. It's a complete normal reaction. You really loved him, so I can't imagine it being all great knowing he's with someone else or just the sheer fact that he could have possibly gotten married or moved on..."

"Ken, that's what happens when people break up. Obviously I knew he was going to go off and date, eventually find a wife. It was really because I thought he was maybe just a little too young for that," I tell her, "honestly. I've moved on. I'm sure he has, too. Everything's good."

Not really, though. The last time I saw him was a year ago and he had come home to visit his parents like I'm sure he has numerous of times since he's always been close to them, but we just never ran into each other. But I did one day. At the grocery store. With my mom.

It was the worst thing ever. He looked SO good. He smelled the same. His smile was as gorgeous as ever. And he still had the same piercing blue eyes that just draw you in. I mean, how could those ever go away? But still. He talked to my mom a bit and I tried my best to be completely normal about the whole thing. That was the last time I saw him and we only said 5 words to each other. Obviously I'd still think about him here and there since SO many things reminded me of him. I had so many firsts with him, so many experiences that it was hard not to think about him when I'm doing certain things or watching certain shows. It really sucked.

"You might see him at Tessa's housewarming party on Saturday," she added all while she was squinting her eyes probably so she wouldn't see my reaction.

But I reacted better than I thought I would. He broke my heart into a million pieces. I should be SO mad at him. We were young. Did I expect us to stay together forever? Yeah, maybe then, but I'm older now, much more realistic. "It's okay, Ken, I'm fine."

"Do you still want to go?"

Not really. "Yeah, I'll go. I can't stay long anyway, it's my mom's birthday, remember? We're taking her to dinner."

Kendall nodded and I could sense she felt a little awkward. She was good friends with Troy. And because of me, she kind of cut him out of her life for the past few years. Well that and he moved across the country to New York, so. But I'm sure his best friends have kept in contact with him. I don't ask.

"Oh yeah," she remembered, "so we'll go around 4, stay a couple hours then leave?"

I guess. I really did not want to go to this thing anymore. But Tessa has been a dear friend since high school and her buying a home with her darling fiance who is also my friend is something to celebrate. I had to put aside my problems and be there for her.

Even if it was going to be awkward as hell seeing my first love.

"Need help?"

My mom, startled, turned around and placed a hand over her chest and shook her head, "Don't do that!"

"Geez, sorry," I told her walking over to the fridge and looking for something to eat while she was slaving away on the stove. I don't know what she was making but I was starving so I needed to eat something now.

I came across some raspberries and some grapes so I took them out and grabbed some of each and poured it in a bowl before putting them away in the fridge. I grabbed the bowl and then climbed onto the counter and took a seat as I watched my mom cook something delicious, I'm assuming.

"I'm making beef staggonauf," she tells me putting the stove down a bit and mixing the beef, "are you staying for dinner? Leana and Tony are coming over in a bit. It was last minute so I didn't get a chance to call, but I'm glad you're here."

"Sure," I told her. "Where's dad?"

"Your grandma's. He went to go help her cut some lemons or something like that," she answered before walking over to the spice cabinet and getting out a few spices.

My mom made THE BEST food so there was no way I was passing up the opportunity to eat here. We had regular Sunday night dinners but those were scheduled. Now that we're older, my sister and I, we pop in and out whenever. Mostly me because I'm the one who's not married yet.

"Is Lucas coming?"

Ugh Lucas. I hadn't talked to him all day. In fact, I haven't talked to him much since we argued on the phone 2 days ago. But he was still in California visiting some family so I guess it wasn't a BIG deal since I couldn't see him anyway.

"He's still in California," I shook my head, but maybe I should fill her in about what's going on, "and I'm still mad at him."

My mom sighed and shook her head. She liked Lucas and I did, too, but sometimes that's not enough. I mean, I loved him. I'm in love with him but I need more of a commitment from him.

She agreed with me so I knew she wasn't going to lecture me. "Maybe he's just scared. Maybe he wants to move thing further along and deeper, but he's just scared. And he's thinking it over or something."

Okay, I might have left some stuff out. He flat out just ignored my question. "He's just being immature and I'm sick of it. I don't have time to waste no matter how much I love him. Sometimes that's not enough."

My mom crossed her arms and sighed, "Sometimes love is all you need."

Ugh whatever.

"Hi!"

Thank God my sister was here. She saved me from this conversation. "Hi!" I ran up to her and gave her a hug.

Between moving and having a baby, I haven't seen her as much as I would like to which is crazy since I just saw her yesterday.

But my sister and I were best friends and soul sisters so for us to not see each other everyday, it's weird. It's very weird. But she's married and she's got her own little family now so I couldn't be with her ALL the time.

"Tony's getting the baby," she tells us as she puts down the diaper bag and goes over to give my mom a kiss. "He's sleeping so he's trying not to wake him up. Lately, he's been waking up with any sudden move so hopefully he doesn't."

Alexander Anthony Cruz was born three and a half months ago and he's the most delicious baby EVER. He's seriously the cutest, sweetest thing ever. And
I cannot believe my sister is 25 and has a little family of her own. I'm so jealous. She got married when she was my age, well a year older, and maybe that's why I'm rushing Lucas, I don't know. And 14 months later, here's little Alex. Ugh. He's the best part of this family, for sure.

"Oh, Gabs!"

I looked up at her as I was plopping grapes in my mouth, "Yeah?"

She went over to the fridge and put Alex's milk bottles in there and then turned around and leaned against it, "I saw Troy at the grocery store a few hours ago. He told me he moved back?"

Oops. I forgot to tell her yesterday. To be honest, I just wanted to forget it and hope it wasn't true. Why would I want my ex boyfriend who broke my heart to move back to town? No thank you. "Oh, yeah, I heard that, too. I don't know."

My mom and her exchanged a look and I know what they were thinking. Am I okay? Do I wanna see him? But at the same time, I knew beside wanting me to be okay, they were maybe a bit happy because they've always loved Troy. My mom swore up and down that we were going to get married and she couldn't wait while my sister told me he'd make the best brother in law and that she loves him so much. So it wasn't just hard on me, it was hard on them too.

"Have you told Lucas?"

Lucas? Huh? "Told him what?"

Leana gave me a look as if she couldn't believe I didn't know what she was talking about. "Have you told him Troy's moving back?"

Uhhhhh. I'm confused as hell. "Why would he have to know?"

"Because!" she exclaimed looking at my mom for approval, "you and Troy dated for 4 years. That's like a lifetime in the dating world. And now he's back. Don't you think he deserves to know your first love is moving back and the possibility of you two hanging out is high?"

I didn't want to think about it. "Look, we're not in high school anymore or even in the beginning years of college. We're adults and we all have lives. It's not like everyone gets together every single weekend like we used to. I'm okay. I've moved on and if I see him, I'll say hi and that'll be that."

"I'm just saying!" Leana got a bit defensive, "if Tony's ex who he dated long enough to consider marrying, I'd want to know!"

Marriage? Oh no. Troy and I weren't even thinking of marriage. Okay, maybe we'd mention it sometimes. 'If we get married, we're getting a Golden Retreiver' but that was kid stuff. We didn't mean it. We were way too young to make any life decisions at the time. Well, I guess not. He made one for us.

"I'll tell him, okay?"

Leana's face softened up. I know she was only looking out for me. "I'm sorry things didn't work out but everything happens for a reason okay? Maybe Lucas is the love of your life and you're supposed to be with him."

I don't know why she's telling me this. She's already told me this. Countless times. Well not the Lucas part. But the first part. She'd spend the months after our breakup reassuring me that God does everything for a reason and I truly do believe that, but it doesn't mean it didn't suck.

"I'll be fine. Maybe he has a fiance or a girlfriend and we can double date?"

"Gabriella, no!"

Haaaa. "Mom, I'm kidding!" I turned to her and laughed. "That would be the most awkward thing, ever."

Or Saturday could be if he went. I was not looking forward to it now.