Since many of you are wanting me to write some fluff, I wrote this oneshot while suffering from major writer's block on A Day of Shopping. Hope you all enjoy. :)
Oh, and I don't own HSM.
Drops of condensation glistened in the early sunlight on the front lawn of East High. Red and white streamers, left over from the after party, lay limp in the trees, soaked by the sudden downpour from the night before; a lone cheerleading pompom, without a match, swayed with the slight breeze; and all continued under the radiance of a brilliant clear-blue sky.
Today was a promising Monday, where forecasts predicted clear skies and cool weather. Today was the fist school day after the successful championship game, after the callbacks and most importantly, after the interrupted kiss. Just days before, students had milled around, anxiously awaiting the championship to begin and for the school day to be over.
Troy Bolton, gazing down into the courtyard from the secret spot, drummed his fingers on the cool railing. Was this really the best decision? What if she took this the wrong way? Of course she'd take it the wrong way! But… could she stay mad after his plan was pulled off? Troy silently cursed himself for his lack of creativity and little knowledge of the opposite gender.
He couldn't go to Chad; Troy doubted that Chad knew more about girls than he did. Even if he would have gone to Chad, he would probably have given him very bad advice. Chad was infamous for that. What better to get advice from a girl?
But this wasn't just any girl.
"Troy?" He heard the gentle voice call from behind, letting himself turn around slowly. A pair of soft brown eyes gazed back at him, matching a face that was bright and smiling. Gabriella.
Troy motioned for her to sit down, doing so himself. She took a seat next to him, curiously staring back. She was wearing her decathlon shirt; Troy assuming that it was by Taylor's suggestion, compliment with a matching red belt on her lightly faded jeans. Red was definitely her color. It made her look like a rose shining in the sunlight.
"I guess you're wondering why I asked you to be up here thirty minutes before school," Troy smiled sheepishly. "But I promise it has a purpose."
"Well," Gabriella giggled, pushing a stray curl back around her ear. "You got me out of having to listen to Taylor rant about Friday night. She wouldn't shut up on the phone about how cute Chad is. I had to resort to stop answering the phone last night!"
"That's actually what I was going to ask you about," Troy coughed, stuttering. "Dating…" He had no way of knowing, but Gabriella's heart fluttered at the subject. Was he finally going to make a move?
"Go on," She nodded with a swallow. "I'm all ears."
"Gabriella… You're a girl," Troy hesitated, unsure on how to begin this.
"Yes Troy, we established that the other day, remember?" Gabriella kidded. She toyed with a plant leaf, waiting for Troy to speak again.
"Oh, um, well, yes," Troy could have smacked himself. Here he was, making an idiot of himself. "I- I need advice…O-on a girl."
"Girl advice?" Gabriella's eyebrow shot up. She let go of the large leaf and proceeded to pick up her speech in a tone much like a psychiatrist would use. "What kind of girl advice could I possibly offer you today, young one?"
"The 'how to ask a girl out' kind. The best way to, preferably," Troy blushed, trying to chuckle. He saw Gabriella's face drop and wondered how she was going to respond. Would she be angry? Did she even like him in the boyfriend way?
"Oh," Gabriella's face not only fell, her stomach felt a drop as well. A soft wind picked up, and she tried her best to avoid Troy's mystifying gaze. "Who's the girl?"
"I know you know her," Troy grinned despite seeing Gabriella's ever sinking smile. "I've wanted to ask her out for a few weeks now. But… I'll leave it a surprise."
"Fine, fine," She took a deep breath Was it Sharpay? But… She had completely ignored Troy the entire after party, which happened to be a first for Sharpay.
He's just a friend. Don't give him bad advice out of spite. Just wait for him… You never know… Gabriella winced. Why was this happening to her? But her better judgment led her to trying to be happy for him.
"Hrm… How to ask a girl out," Gabriella stroked her index finger across her chin, scrunching her face to appear as if she was in deep thought. "Well, we girls really, really like boys to get to the point. Don't waste time flirting and trying to get hints. If she likes you, she likes you. If she doesn't, well, there's others." Troy kept silent as he pondered the information. There's me! Gabriella's thoughts screamed, although she kept silent.
"Okay. Anything else?" He persisted. "Can we trust what people tell us about the girl liking us back?" Another breeze came by, ruffling Troy's hair. Once again, Gabriella avoided looking at him. Her heart always seemed to melt when she saw Troy smiling in the wind. This would only remind her of what she couldn't have.
"Sure," The wind died down, Gabriella allowing herself to look up with a smile, full of fake enthusiasm. "Once again, it's very basic. Either she likes you or she doesn't. There really are no in-betweens. I mean, when someone says 'I think I need a longer time to think about it', that's basically saying 'No' because it's a 'Not right now' or a 'I like you as a friend and I am trying to get out of answering you'. But Troy, I don't think you'll have to worry about that. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the girls in this school would stand in line and take a number to date you."
"Take a number?" Troy chuckled. "I doubt they would do anything that serious to just date me. But I can tell you a few girls who certainly wouldn't. Let's see… Sharpay hates my guts right now, as you might have guessed. Also, from what you've told me, I'm sure Taylor's into Chad at the moment. Oh, and I heard Kelsi and Ryan were seen-"
"Not them Troy!" Gabriella laughed, feeling increasingly better. Her earlier suspicions of the girl being Sharpay had been downcast. "But the cheerleaders and athletes. Even some of the decathlon girls rant and rave about you." Gabriella decided not to tell him about the list on the bathroom wall… 'Troy Bolton's Dating List' started by some cheerleader. The list had reached forty-six signatures at last count. Chad also had one, which was cutting close at thirty-nine signatures.
"Well, right now I have my sights set on one girl," Troy said firmly. His mind kept pushing him to just get it over with and tell her, although the words never escaped his lips. "What about how to approach her?"
"Do you have any idea what to do to ask a girl out?" Gabriella's eyes danced with amusement, covering up her crushed hopes of one-day being the one inside Troy's arms; being held and loved as if in a romance novel.
"Haha, very funny," Troy said sarcastically. "In fact, no, I don't. So, give a guy a break and quit making fun of my pathetic history of love." Troy jokingly ruffled Gabriella's soft hair. Her lavender shampoo scent was enough to make him feel as if he was simply dreaming.
"Whatever," Gabriella rolled her eyes in jest, beginning her next sentence back in her serious tone. "For the second time- I must stress this one thing- just get to the point! Don't flounder around and flirt. Ask her. Don't stand around and ramble. It's rather annoying when you know what a guy's about to say, but you have to stand the stress of him getting to the point." Gabriella folded her arms across her chest. The sound of a bus pulling up in front of the school could be heard in the distance.
"Flounder around?" Troy cocked an eyebrow. "Don't 'fish' around? Are we talking metaphorically, because you know I'm not that good at grammar; or the English language, for that matter. Have you seen my English grade lately?"
"Troy!" Gabriella laughed. "Flounder. Not flounder! To 'Flounder' means 'To flail helplessly' or 'goof around'. We're not talking about fish here. By the way, you have a nice talent in getting off-topic."
"Okay, okay! Back on topic," He raised his hands in defeat, chuckling. Taking a glance at his watch, he was relieved to see that they still had fifteen minutes until classes would begin. "I only have one more question, and I will release you to Taylor."
"Take as long as you want," Gabriella winked. Just because Troy liked another girl did not mean she now preferred spending time with Taylor over spending time with him.
"How- no- where is the best place to take a girl? In your opinion, where would be your favorite place to go? I mean, like the date type deal," He was getting anxious. He had already decided that today at lunch he would go for it. "Be fully honest. Believe me, you'll see why later."
I doubt it. Gabriella thought. She didn't care how pretty this other girl was. She felt selfish, but that is sometimes how love has to work... Right? Troy had given her all these hints… trying to kiss her, flirting, and he even asked for her home phone number at the after party; a step up from having just her cell phone number.
"Well," She finally began. "That new ice cream parlor that opened up down the street sounds like the best. I heard it's got the most delicious ice cream, and it's got plenty of tables for two." Voices of students were rising, signaling that teenagers were now arriving at school. Troy didn't have much more time.
"I can't thank you enough for this, Gabriella," Troy leaned in and gave her a hug. Gabriella refused to let herself get captured in his arms, so she settled by giving him a slight squeeze in return.
"Any time," Gabriella smiled weakly back, holding back tears that had been bottled up since the start of this conversation. Now her hormones were really taking their toll on her while the full blow from the conversation was just now sinking in. There was another girl, and it was not Gabriella. She would just have to deal with it.
She shifted her weight so she could stand, wanting to leave as soon as possible. Today's sunny forecast would not reflect her mood properly. Today's forecast needed to be cloudy with a one hundred percent chance of pounding rain. Gloomy clouds would represent her clouded and overcast mood and the pouring rain would most certainly show similarity to the tears that Gabriella knew were coming.
This was worse than the harsh words Troy spoke before when it was a planned setup. Troy had basically told her to her face that she was not in his interest and he sought her help to ask another girl out.
"I- I'm going to go." Gabriella said shakily, feeling a wave of tears. She wanted to go to the bathroom. No Taylor. No Troy. It would just be herself and possibly a difficult equation from her notebook.
She finally stood up; continuing to hold back tears that did not have any interest in being held back. Troy noticed this, letting his natural reflexes take over. He grabbed her arm in a last attempt to see the extent of internal termoil he had caused her. She spun around from the sudden pull on her upper arm.
"What's wrong?" He asked softly, stroking her cheek with his thumb. From the mist in her eyes, he could tell his words had broken her heart. This whole idea had been one terrible mistake.
"N-Nothing," Gabriella said finally, refusing to cry in front of Troy.
"This was a mistake," Troy cut in. "I shouldn't have done this. Would you like to talk this over at lunch? I- I think we really should."
Gabriella had no idea what his motivations were to do this. One this she did know for sure was that he was probably going to confess that he had moved on from her and that he wanted her to back off. She wasn't going to stand to make a fool of herself twice. She certainly wasn't going to get her heart shattered again by this blue-eyed basketball star.
"No. Let's just… just leave it at this," She sighed, trying to pull away once more. Troy kept his hold on her arm, not wanting to let her escape from him. Not this time. They were truly alone, for once in the time Troy had known Gabriella.
Gabriella's words were now wailing like sirens in his head. Just get to the point! That's when he realized it. What was he waiting for? A chance to express his feelings for her? Isn't that what he'd been trying to do for the past three days? She was standing right in front of him. Just go!
And he did. For once, Troy Bolton did not hesitate in front of Gabriella Montez.
In one swift motion, Troy pulled Gabriella towards him, their lips meeting suddenly and surprisingly. Gabriella didn't pull back. After all, this was something she wanted to do for a very long time. Her mind was a fireworks display of thoughts.
What in the world is Troy doing? Does he think this will make me fell better or something? Despite the questions popping up, Gabriella snaked her arms around Troy's neck, pulling him ever closer. Troy's grip on her arm loosened. His arms moved to around her waist in response.
In all truthfulness, this was Gabriella's first real kiss. She'd been providing all this advice to Troy from her standpoint, and her standpoint only. Said 'standpoint' hadn't gone through many boys. But it sure seemed to be the right advice.
Troy didn't know about any of that. He probably would have liked to know that he was Gabriella's first kiss, but none of that mattered at the moment. This was his dream day. Here he was, with Gabriella, in the most beautiful spot in the school, kissing her.
Finally, curiosity and guilt made Gabriella pull away. This was not supposed to happen. She wasn't the girl Troy was saying he liked.
"What about-" Gabriella began, only to have to upcoming words lost as Troy interrupted.
"You see, this girl told me to get to the point when it comes to asking a girl out. I was going to do this at lunch, but I took her advice and didn't 'flounder' around," He explained, Gabriella's mind trying to comprehend what he was getting at. "By any chance, would you like to go out for ice cream with me? Say, after school?" He gave her a dazzling smile. Then, it clicked.
"Did I just give you advice to ask me out?" Gabriella's eyes widened.
"Well, I assumed you were the best one for the job. I mean, I hope you know yourself well enough to give me advice on how to ask a girl out. Girls tend to stray onto their own opinions when giving advice, that's one thing I know about girls," Troy winked. They were still in each other's arms, neither wanting to let go.
They stood in silence for a minute, listening to the blissful sounds around them. Students below talking and laughing (she could of sworn she heard Taylor gushing from somewhere below), birds singing, and the soft rustle of the trees from the wind.
"So. What do we do now?" She asked with a true and bright smile. She'd been faking them all through the past thirty minutes, and a sincere one was a welcome guest.
As if to answer her question, the high-pitched bell that signaled the beginning of class rang. The new couple quickly let go of each other, Troy taking Gabriella's hand as they began to rush down the stairs.
"Hey, Gabriella, I have a question," Troy asked as they neared the bottom of the staircase. They came back into the building, the sights of students moving around and the sounds of locker doors slamming greeting the two.
"Yes, Troy?" She looked up at him, grateful they had first period class together and could enjoy walking all the way there together.
"You see, there's this girl that agreed to let me take her for ice cream later. Do you think she'd forgive me for the nasty trick I played on her?" A playful grin tugged at his lips.
"You know what?" Gabriella grinned. She now felt as if she was no longer walking, but floating as they strode down the corridor. "I'll have to check with her, but I'm positive she'd be very willing to forgive you."
Well, I thought it was adorable. Review and tell me how I did with my first oneshot in awhile!