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A Perfect Life

August 2013

A blonde girl, with hair flowing down her back, moving against him to the beat of the music blaring in the room. His hands on her hips, holding her body close to his.

Rolling around his bed with this same girl, his hands running over her smooth, pale skin. His hands ran down her chest slowly, his index finger tracing the pink, rhinestone heart at the corner of her bra.

His kisses traced slowly down her stomach and lower, causing her to giggle.

Her giggles grew louder, into a full-blown laugh. Troy furrowed his brow, unsure why she was laughing like that.

"Are you okay, Troy?" he heard Gabriella ask him, laughter in her voice.

He looked over at her, quickly snapping out of his reverie. He put a quick smile on his face and he nodded, looking down at his plate and stabbing at his food with his fork. "Yeah, sorry!" he said.

Troy looked at his parents apologetically. He and his fiancée, Gabriella Montez, were having dinner with his parents for the first time in their new home. The couple moved into their home in Grove Park, a suburb just outside of Stanford, three months prior, but this was the first opportunity his parents had to come up to visit.

Gabriella spoke to him again, sounding concerned. "I was just telling your parents about that Funniest Home Video segment we saw with the talking dogs."

Troy raised his eyebrows a bit and nodded. "Oh, yeah. It was funny!" he said, not sounding totally convincing.

Troy's parents looked at each other knowingly for a moment before his father spoke.

"It's okay, Champ," he said as he beamed at his son. "We know you've got a lot on your mind." He turned to smile at Troy's mother.

Troy nodded, knowing all too well how much he currently had on his plate, though it had nothing to do with the blonde, dream woman he was just thinking about. He was named store manager at Home Electronics, a high-end electronics store that catered mostly to rich, snobby types affiliated with Stanford only three months ago. While Troy didn't really care for the clientele, he was paid extremely well for only having a bachelor's degree in business. It had enabled Troy and Gabriella to get this nice three-bedroom house in the suburbs. On top of that, he just earned, with his fiancée's help, the position of assistant coach for the Stanford basketball team.

"Yeah, I do. But it's nothing I can't handle," he laughed, trying to keep panic from showing on his face. Sure, he had what he always thought he wanted, but the pressure he now felt upon his shoulders was starting to worry him.

Gabriella reached out and touched Troy's arm. "I'm so proud of him," she said, smiling wide at Troy and then at his parents.

"And so are we," his mother agreed. "And we're proud of Chad, too," she added. "His mom and dad called us yesterday to tell us that he is getting all kinds of offers from professional basketball teams."

"I guess all that work in high school really paid off," Mr. Bolton chimed in, raising his eyebrows as he looked at Troy.

Troy nodded and Gabriella spoke up before he could. "Oh, you know? Speaking of high school, you'll never guess who I ran into in the super market the other day!" she looked at Troy while she spoke. He looked at her while he waited for her to continue, not even attempting to guess who she would be talking about. "Ryan Evans!" she exclaimed!

While Troy heard her clearly, when she said "Ryan Evans" an image of Sharpay flashed into his mind. He hadn't really thought of her since his freshman year college, when Ryan was around all of the time. One of the senior basketball players, Tyler Davis, was dating Ryan. When Tyler graduated, he and Ryan moved to San Francisco together, at least that was what Troy thought they said they were doing.

"He was walking around campus and we bumped into each other. Did you know that he owns his own entertainment company now? I guess Tyler funded the whole thing, but it really turned out to be a success and now he books entertainment for events!" she continued.

"Well, that's wonderful!" Troy's mother said, sounding excited. "He was always such a sweet boy. Don't you think so, Troy?"

Troy looked over at her, shaking the image of Sharpay from his mind and nodding in agreement. "Oh, yeah, definitely. He was a really cool guy."

The conversation continued down memory lane and Troy tried his best to stay involved in it, but his mind was still distracted. That night, Troy and Gabriella were in bed together, kissing softly.

Troy rolled over so that he was on top of her, deepening their kiss. His hand started to snake down her body. She stopped him after a moment, smiling and chuckling softly. "Troy," she whispered. "We can't do this now. Your parents are just in the other room."

He pulled away enough to look at her incredulously. "Are you serious? We're adults. They're adults! They're probably doing the same thing right now." He lowered his mouth again, this time using it to kiss her neck and collarbone.

Gabriella shook her head. "No, Troy. It just doesn't feel right. We need to stop."

Troy groaned and pulled back again, looking at her face. He studied it for any sign that she was joking. When he didn't find one, he sighed heavily and rolled over, back onto his spot in the bed.

She rolled onto her side to look at him. "I'm sorry, baby. Listen, we'll pick up where we left off as soon as they leave tomorrow, ok?"

He frowned and turned his head to look at her. "We can't. I'm taking them to the airport and then I have to go right to the university. We've got our first game coming up for the start of the school year and we have to make sure everything is perfect. Besides, you have to work tomorrow."

She moved to lie on her back again and sighed softly. "Well, I'm just sorry, then. Maybe tomorrow night." Troy cringed at the word "maybe". She rolled once more so that her back was to him.

Troy stared up at the ceiling, willing the erection that had started to grow in his boxers to disappear. He concentrated for a few moments on clichéd remedies—baseball and dead kittens—but nothing really seemed to work. He rolled over onto his side, facing Gabriella and looking at the back of her head.

"Hold me," she murmured, having realized that he rolled over to face her.

Troy looked at her silky, black hair for a moment longer before wrapping his arm around her, not getting too close for fear of her feeling his erection. He started to concentrate on evening out his breaths and it wasn't long before he was fast asleep.

The next morning, Troy awoke and showered. Before he even stepped into the kitchen he could smell his mother's cooking. He smiled to himself and hurried to get dressed. He pulled on a plain, white t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. He went into the kitchen and went up to his mother, kissing her gently on the cheek.

"Morning, Mama," he said, taking in a deep breath and getting a stronger whiff of the food that she had cooking on the stove.

She turned her head slightly to kiss his cheek, keeping her eyes on the bacon, eggs, and pancakes she had before her. "Good morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?"

Troy pulled away and nodded. "Yeah, I did. Did you? That guest bed was comfy enough, right?" he asked as he went to the cabinet and began to pull juice glasses and coffee cups down. He went to the fridge next, getting out drinks for everyone.

His mother nodded, finally turning from the stove to look at him. "It was wonderful, honey. You're dad is still sleeping," she chuckled. Troy still felt her eyes on him a few moments after she stopped talking and he closed the fridge door to look at her.

"You ok, Mom?" he asked, furrowing his brow.

She smiled softly at him and nodded. "I'm just so proud of you." She walked to him and pulled him into an embrace. "I can't believe that my little boy is all grown up." She kissed his cheek and pulled away, going back to the stove.

Troy watched her, a small smile on his face. He could tell that she was getting emotional, as she always did whenever they talked about his jobs, or his new house, or his engagement to Gabriella. "Thanks, Mom," he muttered, wanting to the subject to shift away from him. Before he could open his mouth to change it, however, his mother spoke again.

"You're happy, right, honey?" she asked without turning around.

He frowned and looked at her back for a moment, unsure of what she meant. "Of course I am, Mom. Why?"

She shook her head and turned around now, smiling softly. "I just know that you are so busy and so is Gabriella. I just want you to be happy."

Troy nodded, going to her to hug her again briefly. "I'm very happy. Sure, we're both busy. Gabriella is working really hard on her master's degree and her internship, but we still find time for us." Yeah, right, he thought. Not when I need it, anyway.

"Good," she said with a tone that said she was done prying. Before either one of them could say anymore, Gabriella joined them, dressed and ready for work. Her internship at the law firm associated to Stanford worked her to the bone, and sometimes very long hours, but it paid well.

Troy pulled her into a hug and kissed her lips softly. "Good morning, baby," he whispered into her ear as he held her close.

He could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. "Morning." She pulled away sooner than he would've liked, but he let her go, watching as she grabbed a bagel from the bread cabinet and put it into the toaster. She looked at the time and moved a little more quickly as she got her thermos out, ready to fill it with coffee.

Troy's mother watched her a moment before speaking. "Good morning, Gabriella. I've made some breakfast. Do you have time to sit and eat with us?"

Gabriella shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't. I'm actually running a little late this morning and today isn't a good day for it, I'm afraid. But thank you. It smells delicious." She pulled her bagel out of the toaster and wrapped it in a paper towel before grabbing her coffee and going to Troy. She kissed his cheek quickly. "Love you, babe. I'll probably be home late." She went to Troy's mother and gave her a one armed hug. "Have a safe flight!"

Troy's eyes followed her as she blew him a kiss and left through the door to the garage. Shortly after, he heard the garage door being lifted and her car pulling out of the driveway. He smiled sheepishly at his mother and shrugged.

After breakfast, Troy drove his parents to the small Stanford airport and hugged them goodbye. He took off from the airport and made his way towards Stanford University, music blaring from his car. When he graduated, he retired his old, beat-up truck and got a silver Honda Civic (with the help of his parents). The sound system was incredible—allowing him to turn the music up as high as he wanted without risk of distortion.

Troy pulled into his spot next to the head coach's car and smiled at his name marking the spot. One of the perks of his fiancée's ability to get him a job at the school was the fact that he was able to start pretty high at the top. Assistant coach to the basketball team was exactly the right position for him while he was also working as a manager at the electronics store. While he would've been able to get a job at Berkeley, his alma mater, he probably would have had to start lower in the ranks.

He entered the school and pulled his sunglasses from his head. He tossed them onto his desk when he entered his office and barely had a chance to sit down when he heard the head coach of the team calling out his name. He stepped out of his office and saw the coach standing near the entrance to the basketball court. Troy walked towards him, smiling.

"Did you need me, Coach Johnston?" Troy asked. The older man looked at him and smiled.

"Hey, Troy. Right on time. We've just hired a new member for our staff and I want you to meet her," he said, leading the way onto the court.

As they got closer, Troy could hear loud music thumping. When they reached the court, Troy saw a group of young women practicing a gymnastics routine. Next to them was a woman dressed in a tracksuit with short blonde hair, clapping her hands and counting loudly.

"Sharpay!" the coach called out. Troy widened his eyes and looked at the girl in the tracksuit. Sharpay? he thought. There's no way!

When the short-haired blonde didn't turn around, Troy turned to look at the head coach. Now standing next to him was a girl with a face he knew all too well—Sharpay Evans.

I hope you enjoyed it! I feel pretty good about this chapter. Please let me know what you thought!