Thank you for following my story! I've seen a few new reviewers along with my faithful followers and you are all amazing!
So here's the next bit…things never go easy for these two :)
Chapter 1
"You're making pancakes? Really?" Troy whined, hugging her from behind as she busied herself at the kitchen counter.
"I've been practising all week," she chided.
"But I'm dying here…" He murmured, tickling the skin below her belly button with his finger.
His voice trickled a hot need though her body that she bit her lip to resist.
"I'm concentrating, Troy," she said softly.
"Three whole weeks…" He bemoaned dramatically.
"Do you know what my dad asked me about you?" She asked instead.
"No."
"He said, 'Does he pressure you?' Do you know what I said?" She asked again, turning when he didn't answer.
"I said, 'No, dad. He's awesome'." She repeated, staring him in the eye.
Troy pouted. "I'm being an asshole." He guessed.
She pressed her hands into his chest.
"I want you, Troy, okay?" She whispered. "I just…need some time to adjust back to normal life." She said.
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to pressure you." He said softly as she turned back to her pancakes. He brushed her upper arm gently.
She twisted her face as she worked, her brown eyes worried where he couldn't see them.
"Would you still be with me…if we didn't have sex?" She asked honestly.
Troy's mouth opened and closed. He knew whatever answer he gave, she wasn't going to be happy with it. Something had clearly happened in Indianapolis that he didn't know about.
"You know I would." He said decidedly.
"Tell me why…" She asked, busy whipping her batter, not knowing why she was suddenly overcome with this doubt, these feelings.
"You're amazing! You make me laugh. I love how we skate together, how we fit together." He stated, reminding her of their conversation when she had told him she was going away. He took both her shoulders in his large hands as she continued to hide from him.
"You know when I was out there, I missed you. I really did." She poured some batter into the skillet and he stepped to the side where she peeked at him. "But I also discovered a new 'me'. A 'me' who's not all about sex." She explained.
"I thought you wanted to…you said the same…" He defended.
She touched his arm. "I know."
"I can't help that I find you sexy." He reasoned, taking in her sweat pants and t-shirt.
"I just need some time." She said again, flipping the pan, the pancake perfectly browned on one side. He was actually looking forward to trying the thing if they didn't have an argument before he got to eat it.
"I always swore to you, only if you want it, too. Do you not trust me anymore?" He wondered.
"I spent three weeks telling my dad just how much I do trust you." She said, shaking his breakfast onto a plate. "Here, try…" She gave him a fork.
He frowned, breaking off a piece of it with a fork. His eyes trained over her face which was alive with her bright, hopeful eyes. He took a bite, wincing as the taste wasn't quite as nice as he had expected.
"Wow…erm…yummy?" He guessed.
She pressed her lips together, disappointed.
"I failed again." She said sadly, turning off the stove, leaning against the counter dejectedly.
"Gabi you haven't failed anything." He stated, cupping her face, so confused as to what she was talking about.
"I've disappointed you. I can't even make pancakes!" She wailed.
"You haven't… oh my god, you haven't disappointed me, what are you talking about?" He wondered wildly.
She fiddled with her hands, distractedly.
"I don't think I want to stay here." Her voice was shaky. "I want to live with my dad."
--
Troy bounced the ball against the asphalt, his chest still hurting from Gabi's rejection.
He didn't get it, he really didn't get it. Before she had gone away- while she was away, even- everything had been fine. Why all of a sudden was she pushing him away?
The fact she had been abandoned by a father who had suddenly appeared might go some way to explain her confusion, but did she really feel the need to test him? After everything they had been through?
Maybe so.
Maybe she was afraid of losing her dad again and she was only naturally testing him, too. To see if he would stick around. He sighed as it all clicked into place.
He hadn't spent the last three weeks missing her heart for her to just throw it all away with some stupid misconception that he was only in it for the sex. He thought she would know that better than anyone. She was his first for god's sake. Didn't that tell her in any terms just how much she meant to him?
Maybe she missed her dad, too. Three years of nothing followed by three weeks of what he suspected was some pretty intense bridge-building. And then she had been whipped back home, supposedly happy at this.
Which she was, he knew, in no small part due to him.
But she had come back and straight away he knew things were different. For her to instigate the hugging instead of him was an absolute break through.
But it should also have signalled to him a more vulnerable Gabi, one he didn't know about because he had never seen this side of her. And he had gone and demanded sex, falling back into their old pattern.
He closed his eyes, cursing his stupid body, his stupid mouth. She might have been more than happy with that before her life-changing trip but now, she wasn't. Now she needed him to be supportive and be a good boyfriend. She just needed him to be there.
And this was his time to prove that he could fulfil that need for her.
He tucked the ball under his arm and jogged off, deep in thought.
--
"Is there any more laundry?" Julia asked lightly of Gabi as she lay in her room, quiet for her usually active child.
"I think Troy's going to dump me." Gabi said outright, not moving from her sprawled position.
"Oh. But you just got back." Julia frowned, moving more fully into the room.
"I've changed. I don't think he likes me now." She sulked.
"Honey, you haven't changed that much." Julia soothed.
"I told him I want to go live with dad." She added, her chest tight with fear at her mom's reaction.
"Oh." She said softly, then again, "Oh." In a more sad tone.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I just…" Gabi sat up to explain then broke off.
"You miss him." She guessed and Gabi nodded.
"If I'm here I miss dad. If I'm there, I miss Troy." Her young face looked pained and Julia wondered briefly if that were her fault. Perhaps she should have sheltered her daughter from this hurt of missing someone she loved?
"I'm sorry, too." Julia offered, touching her leg gently where she lay on the bed.
"Oh, no, mom." Gabi shook her head. "This is not your fault. This is…life." Gabi said wisely.
"Do you…" Julia closed her eyes, taking a breath. "Do you want to live with him for a bit?" She offered of her father. "See if you want to make it permanent?"
Gabi knew the sacrifice her mom was making with her words and it made her want to cry at the gesture she was making.
"I'm so confused right now, mom, I don't know what I want. I just need some time." She said, tears falling that were so uncharacteristic that Julia immediately went to hug her.
"You take all the time you need, honey. And whatever your decision- whatever you choose- I'll support it, one hundred per cent." She promised.
Gabi nodded and let go of her, taking a breath.
"I'm gonna go for a skate." She said and rolled up, going into her closet.
--
"Who is that? Wait, is that Gabriella Montez?" Taylor asked, squinting at Gabi as she skated into the coffee shop, black curls bouncing behind her.
"Taylor!" She screamed, hugging her friend.
"Did you get cuter?" Taylor asked.
Gabi smiled. "No."
"I love your outfit." She complimented.
Hot pants, white vest and Troy's red check shirt.
"I stole this from Troy." She said of the shirt.
"I missed you, girl." Taylor admitted.
"I missed you, too." Gabi allowed. "But I had an awesome time at my dads."
"Really, do tell."
"I kinda want to go back." She sighed.
"What did you do?"
"I washed cars and hung out." She shrugged.
"Wow, fascinating!" Taylor teased.
"I actually had so much fun." She said softly.
"How's Troy?" Came her next question.
"Uh… well actually we kinda had a fight…" Gabi offered.
"What?" Taylor's tone was one of pure shock.
"I know…" Gabi bit her lip.
"Sit down, I have to have a full fat hot chocolate to listen to this and I'm getting extra cream whether you like it or not." She arched her brow.
Gabi watched her friend march up to the counter and sighed.
"Sure, I'm already five pounds heavier, why not a couple more?" She murmured to herself.
"There's a party, Friday night, at Max's" Taylor supplied as they started their second round of sugary drinks, chocolate brownies now joining the mix.
"Max? But he's at East High…" Gabi frowned.
Taylor shrugged. "People are mixing…he invited us and some of the Arrows."
"Wow…" Her eyes were huge, like she felt like a big rift had been closed.
"Yeah, I guess you and Troy helped make this happen." Taylor commended.
"What kind of party is it? I bought this amazing dress in Indianapolis…" Gabi began.
"Pool party." Taylor cut in, quashing her enthusiasm.
"Oh darn. Oh well." She shrugged. "I'll keep it for Christmas break or something."
"I have this zebra print bikini that I'm gonna showcase." Taylor smiled.
"Taylor McKessie!" Gabi admonished, not knowing her friend had this exhibitionist side to her.
"What are you wearing?" She asked back.
"I don't know…normally I would go in something completely revealing to impress Troy but I don't even know that he'll be there." She sighed sadly.
"Honey, you don't need to impress him even if he is." She said softly.
"I have these cute hot pants I got while I was away…" She began.
"Now we're talking!" Taylor smiled and Gabi tried a shaky smile back.
--
"Did he hate your pancakes? Because if that's the reason you're calling me then I'm coming down there right now…" Daniel warned, hearing his daughter's shaky tone.
"No, he didn't hate them. He lied and said they were yummy." She answered, cradling the phone as she curled on the sofa.
"So what's up, baby girl?" He asked instead, relaxing at the kitchen doorway with his phone, the small space seeming empty without her to fill it with her stories.
"We had a fight." She stated, testing his reaction.
"What about?" He asked carefully, taking a breath, knowing this was his chance to be a proper dad to Gabi at last. He was so ecstatic that she had even chosen to call him that he almost missed her explanation.
"About…about me wanting to maybe come and stay with you." She shared.
"Oh." He said, just like her mother. "Well, okay, I can see he'd be upset at the thought of losing you…" He offered, trying to put himself in Troy's position, which was ultimately the same as hers when she had left Albuquerque.
"But I let him down. I didn't even make the pancakes properly. And then I feel like I'm betraying him by saying I want to come back." She explained.
"Did you tell him that, baby girl?" He enquired, still completely unsure what to say, or if he was helping at all.
"Not really. I kinda just sent him away." She admitted.
"Oh, now don't worry. You can call him back." He said.
"Do you think he'd let me?" She ventured.
"Let you? I think he'd thank his lucky stars…well he would if he knew what was good for him…" He muttered.
"Thank you, dad." She said gently and he smiled, knowing he had helped, though he wished to god he knew how so he could remember for next time.
"I told you, I'm always here." He re-iterated.
"I mean, thank you for not making a big deal out of me maybe coming back –or not." She added.
"That's what dad's are for, right?" He asked himself as much as her.
"Say 'hi' to Tom and Henri for me." She said before she dialled off.
"Will do, goodbye, baby." He smiled, placing the phone down.