It had been almost a month since Troy and Gabriella became partners, and to say Gabriella was annoyed was an overstatement. They would constantly bicker and fight about what was right and what was wrong. They each had their own style and game plan of selling a home and they just couldn't bring their ideas together. Whenever they would show houses, Gabriella was used to talking about it and showing them around. With Troy jumping in and explaining about the house, she got a little frustrated. And vice versa with Troy. The past few days, though, there wasn't any of that so she had hope but she wasn't biting her tongue.

"Hey can I talk to you?" Troy asked as he stood in her doorway in a suit that fit so well, Gabriella almost didn't find the words to say back.

She stared blankly at him for a few seconds before replying, "yes, come in. What's up?"

Troy dragged himself in and sat down on the couch she had in her office. She would sometimes take naps on it, but that was only for her to know. He ruffled through some papers before taking one out, "The Brentwood home went up to 2.7, which is going be incredibly hard to sell now considering it's definitely not worth that"

Gabriella sighed. She hated when houses went up in price that didn't deserve to go up. But then she remembered this couple that didn't care about the price that much, as long as it was in a really good neighborhood, because they could always fix it up.

"Is it in a good neighborhood? Good school near by?"

Troy looked down at the paper and read through all the details of the house, before replying, "Yes. Seems like a fantastic area. The school is less than 5 minutes away from the house, it's a elementary school, and it's one of the best public schools supposedly. Why?"

"The Camden family, I've been working with them for a little while now and are looking for a home. Price doesn't really matter. Well, it does but they're really flexible. I'm almost certain they'll take it. They have two kids, a 7 year old and a 3 year old, which is perfect because of the pool and the big backyard. They also said they have no problem remodeling a bit if they need to. They're really just concerned about the area, and this area is fantastic"

Troy was relieved. He hated not being able to sell a house he signed up for. Thank God for the Camden family, he thought.

"You sure? Cause I will call them and let them know someone is interested."

Gabriella nodded, "Yes. I will schedule a meeting with them. If they can today or tomorrow, are you free?"

"Yeah, whenever's fine. I just want to sell this damn house."

Gabriella chuckled a bit, "Well let's hope everything goes as planned then. Anything else?"

Troy sat there for a minute reflecting on the conversation he just had with her. There was no bickering, no arguing, no negotiating, nothing. It was a smooth, good talk and he was really happy about that, but had no idea why they were all of a sudden getting along.

"No, that's about it. Let me know when the appointment is for the house. I'll be ready"

Gabriella smiled at him as he made his way to the door, "Ok, I will. Thanks Troy"

Less than an hour later, Gabriella popped her into Troy's office, "Hey"

Troy quickly looked up from his computer, which he was not playing solitaire on, "Hey, what's up?"

"You busy?" she asked, with hope that he wasn't.

He clicked closed on his game and pulled up his web page of his e-mail, "No, just replying to some e-mails. Why?"

"The Camden's can meet us at the Brentwood house in about 20 minutes, should we go show them or what?"

Troy clicked closed on his e-mail's as well and put his computer to sleep and grabbed a few papers, "Yeah, yeah, that sounds good. Let me just take these to the copy room and I'll meet you downstairs. Want me to drive?"

Gabriella shrugged. She didn't really care who drove, but she didn't feel like rejecting his offer.

"If you want, that's fine. Ok, I'll meet you downstairs. Hurry up!"


"God, finally, someone put an offer on that house!" Gabriella moaned as she got into Troy's car after showing the Camden's the house.

Troy laughed a bit; she had been so stressed about getting that house off the market that it was actually kind of cute for him to see.

"Thank God for the Camden's. I think it fits their family really well. And with a little remodeling, it's going to be a really nice house"

"Yeah, do you think they're looking for an interior designer? I'm good at that too," Gabriella half joked while reaching over to her bag and grabbing her phone

Troy looked over at her, not really knowing if she was serious or not, because he had seen her office and it was really nice.

"You should offer," he suggested as he took a left turn onto Santa Monica Blvd, "Are you hungry?"

Gabriella scoffed a bit, "I'm always hungry"

Troy smiled, not knowing why he even asked that question. She was always eating, whether it was a meal, fruit, or trail mix. She almost always had food in her mouth when she was just hanging out in the office. And it surprised him, because she was very petite and fit. It seemed like she didn't have an ounce of fat in her body, but it was a healthy body.

"Right. Silly question. Are you up for some Mexican food? I know this really good place just a few blocks away from here"

Gabriella didn't know what was going on. For the last few days, they were getting along great and even laughing, and now they're going to lunch? She wasn't against this at all, it just surprised her how they were from bickering every second of the day to actually having peaceful conversations.

"Casita del Campo?"

Troy turned to look at her, before returning his eyes to the road, "Yes! You've been?"

Gabriella gushed, "It's one of my favorites. Yes. Let's go!"

Troy smiled and took the next right turn. He didn't know how this lunch would play out. But he had been craving this place for a while now and they were so close, he figured this was the perfect opportunity to go. He just hoped they could keep up the civilized attitude towards each other if not for the rest of their time working together, but for the next hour or so.


Lunch had gone surprisingly well, much to Gabriella's dismay. They talked about business for a little bit and she was sure they would get into it, but they didn't and they came to an agreement on just about everything. She didn't know what was going on, who changed in this partnership, if they both changed, why they were communicating so well all of a sudden, but she was not complaining. Everything was running smoothly and she could not be more excited about it. She didn't want to fight with Troy at the beginning. She was just caught off guard and then he insulted her and said some rude things to her so she was defensive during everything and didn't want to hear him out at all. So maybe it was her fault they didn't get along for a first month of working together, or maybe it wasn't, but that's behind them now. And she's looking forward to them being able to work together in peace.

During lunch, she found out a bit about his family, where he went to school, grew up, what his hobbies were, etc. And vice versa. It's almost as if they were friends, and she actually really enjoyed that.

To Troy, the lunch had gone better than he could have ever hoped. He knew he was not easy on her when he first started working here and he felt bad about it, but he can't take it back now. He could only go forward and be better. He was so glad they were agreeing on things and were able to get to know each other a little better. It was weird that he had a business partner and he knew nothing about her, so it was good that they went to lunch. He actually thinks he could consider her a friend very soon if they kept this up.