Hey guys! In this chapter, Gabriella goes to LA and sees Zeke again and it's really just her getting settled in, but soon unsettled as she sees what happens to Troy Bolton on the news. He's gonna be introduced into the story in about two or three chapters. Next chapter she is going to go back to work. Thanks for my reviews on the previous chapter.
Please enjoy this chapter and if you liked it then review! I don't bite!
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Promise!I walked out of LAX airport with three Louis Vuitton suitcases on a trolley. The beaming Los Angeles sun rays were shining down on me. I slipped my white, Prada sunglasses onto my face and blended in with the Los Angeles crowd. I was wearing a white sundress which came just above the knee, with some silver, metallic, studded gladiator sandals by Marc Jacob. A white Jennifer Quellette headband was tied around my hair to stop it from blowing around in the warm, salty breeze.
After I had taken the taxi to the car dealership where I was getting my new car, I was driving away in a sleek, black, Porsche, perfectly blending in yet standing out from the Los Angeles traffic. The radio was playing my favourite song, and I turned it up, my window down a little bit to let out the warm air and replace it with a breeze.
I turned onto the road, and finally saw my house. It looked exactly like it did in the picture on the Internet, but life like. I could touch it. I came to the front door and pulled out the keys from my purse before unlocking the front door and entering my new home.
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I woke up in my new bed after a peaceful and much needed night's sleep. I fell asleep straight away yesterday, due to the hectic flights and unpacking and lugging suitcases around everywhere I went. Tommorow I was due to start work, and I figured today I would visit my favourite chef in town. Zeke Baylor.
Zeke had been another close friend in high school. He had been dating Sharpay, and they were crazy in love for eachother, but they decided to take a break. Surprisingly they never got back together.
While Troy, Chad and Jason had gone to U of A, Zeke decided to follow his heart and stick to his real passion, cooking. He went to a Culinary Arts college, and graduated with honours. Due to the six hour drive between us, we still saw eachother and kept in touch for all our college life, but when I was done at Stanford, I moved back to Alberquerque.
Every weekend when he would drive up to Palo Alto to see me, he would bring a picnic, full of amazing foods which he had learned to make expertly. He would bring boxes of gorgeous cookies, brownies, shortbreads, dishes of his fantastic Cremé Brulee, cheesecakes, fudge cakes, muffins, platters of appetizers he had created. Anything he could make he would bring for me to try out. Not that I minded.
Now Zeke was running his own resteraunt in the epicentre of Los Angeles. It had amazing reviews from the top critics and from the website, it looked beautiful inside. There were crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, cowhide faux fur seats with black glossy tables and cowhide coat cupboard doors, a long white bar in the waiting lounge and squishy, black couches to wait on. The lights were dimmed inside and there was a small candle burning on each table.
I pulled on a yellow, flared out dress which ended just above my knees. I got it from Barneys at the start of last month for a vacation I was going on but never wore it. I paired it with a pair of white Christian Louboutins and a white jacket, with my yellow Jennifer Quellette headband fixed behind my dark brown, free falling bangs. I picked up my obeise Marc Jacobs bag with tassles and made sure I had my keys, iPhone, wallet, perfume, tissues, umberella and emergency make-up and nail glue. I'd like to say I was prepared.
I got into the car and drove for ten minutes until I came into the epicentre of Los Angeles, parking in a small parking lot behind Baylors, Zeke's exclusive resteraunt. The kitchen door was opened at the back, and I thought about going through it. Not caring, since Zeke would be there and would be happy to see me, I walked to the back and came into the kitchen.
"Sixteen ounce steak, medium rare!" the familiar dark skinned, black curly haired man bellowed.
"Zeke?" I said, causing him to impatiently whip his head around.
"Gabriella?" he said. I gave him a nod before he gave me a bright smile and hugged me. "I haven't seen you for years? What brings you here?"
"I got promoted and had to move here." I said.
"You hungry?" he said.
"A little bit," I said. "Depends if your gorgeous Creme Brulee is on the menu."
"I'll make it myself." he nodded. "Come on,"
He led me into the main room, as beautiful as it was on the Internet.
"Zeke, this place is gorgeous. I looked on the website and wanted to come down."
"Thanks Gabs, now you sit here, I'll be out every now and then to speak to you. I'll get Callie, my best waitress to give you her undivided attention. Does that sound nice?"
"Sounds lovely." I replied. He came back with a slim, tanned girl with honey coloured, glossy, straight, shoulder length hair. She had brown eyes, diguised with light gold eyeshadow, black eyeliner and black mascara lengthening her eyelashes.
"Hello," she said.
"Gabs, this is Callie, she'll be your waitress. That alright?"
"Am I royalty or something?" I giggled. "Hey, I'm Gabriella. Call me Gabs or Gabby or whatever you can make out of Gabriella. But not Ella." I insisted.
If you want to piss me off big time, call me Ella. I used to love it when Troy would call me 'Ella', say 'I love you, Ella'. It used to soothe me. He would rub my back as I leaned over the toilet with a hangover after some on the wild parties we went to. Whenever it would be just two of us in the quiet, and he'd whisper sweet nothings into my ear before whispering 'I love you Ella'. But now it stings my heart, and there's no way for it to soothe me ever again. It brought back the terrible flashback of the night we broke up.
"Okay, Gabs?" she said.
"That's great. Sit down." I said, gesturing to the chair.
"I guess I could take a break." she said, sitting on the chair. "It's boring at lunchtime hours."
"How long have you worked here for?"
"Two years." she said.
"Cool. I've just moved here yesterday. The only person I know, and well, am glad that I know is Zeke."
"What?"
"The person I hate the most in the world just happens to live in LA." I said, removing the sunglasses from the top of my head and putting them onto the table.
"Who?" she asked.
"Troy Bolton," I muttered.
"You know Troy Bolton?" she squealed.
"Wish I didn't. I dated him for a year before he went to the Lakers."
"Wow. Oh, do you want a drink? I forgot I was a waitress for a minute."
"Coke please. Do you want one?" I said.
"You sure?"
"Sure. Get what you want." I said, as she went to the bar and came back with two large Cokes.
"So, what made you move to LA?" she said.
"I got promoted at my job and now I'm the head woman of a department. But the one in Alberquerque where I lived before had already been filled, so I had to move here."
"Wow," she said. "Now, what food do you want."
"I don't know. What's good? Well, everything, it's Zeke." I said.
"Well, his steak is amazing. When he makes duck it's like it melts in your mouth. He says its like_"
"Butter on warm toast," I said with her, nodding at what Zeke used to say. She gave me a 'how did you know that?' look.
"He always used to come down to Stanford where I studied on the weekends with food. He would say 'the chef says it's like butter on warm toast.' It got annoying after a while."
"He seems really cool, but whenever I see him he's shouting for people to get on with making food like an idiot. I've never seen him just chill out."
"It is a resteraunt." I said.
"Well, he could smile sometimes."
"Hey Gabs and Callie," Zeke said as he came out of the kitchen, pulling up a chair and sitting on it backwards, his torso pressing on the back of the chair. "Everything good?"
"Yes, thanks." I said.
"Wow, the boss smiles." Callie said sarcastically.
"I have a life, you know." Zeke said, taking my drink and taking some.
"You don't change, do you?" I said, referring to his food stealing antics.
"Nope." he said, setting it back down. "You scavenging off our customers?" he said to Callie, referring to the drink she had.
"Leave her alone." I said. "Don't be such a meanie."
"Whatever." he said.
"So, Zeke had any special ladies in his life?"
"Not since Sharpay." he said.
"Sharpay? You dated a dog?" Callie said, nearly spurting out her drink.
"Nope, she was my best friend all through high school and she still is. They used to date and were obsessed with eachother." I explained to her.
"Aww, did the boss have a little girlfriend?" she cooed.
"We broke up in early college years. Any guys in your life?" he said to me.
"Not since Troy." I said.
"Aww, did little Gabby have a boyfriend?" he said like Callie.
"Fuck off." I giggled. "I wonder what he's doing?"
"He'll probably be running around a basketball court with Chad and having girls fanning him with his money when he gets sweaty." Zeke said.
"Probably." I laughed. "You were as good as him."
"Oh well, I love basketball, I adore cooking. It's a no brainer really."
"Remember on that road trip when Sharpay, Tay and I were all talking about being super glamourous WAGs. It didn't turn out anything like anyone expected. Only Tay and Chad stayed together." I said.
"Yeah, maybe Shar and I could try again? I mean, her job can't be that amazing, can it?"
"She could get transferred to the LA branch and live with you." I said.
"We haven't spoke since we broke up." he said.
"Talk to her. She still talks about you randomly sometimes." I said.
"I might." he said. "Now, what do you want to eat?"
Half an hour later I was devouring Zeke's amazing beef and barley soup, while he was making me a chicken dish and preparing a Creme Brulee.
"Thanks Zeke, it was gorgeous." I said as he came for my review.
"You come here whenever you want. It doesn't matter if it's Angelina and Brad, Ashley and Pete, Zac and Vanessa, I'll clear the table and make sure you have the best table in the house."
"I'm honoured," I giggled. "Now bring me my chicken or I'll give you a bad review." I snapped jokingly.
"Rightio, Miss Montez." he said cheekily.
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"Thanks Zeke! It was amazing." I said, getting up to leave the resteraunt.
"Hey, if you ever want to catch up, since you don't know anyone, just come out with me and my friends sometime. Here's my number." he said, giving me a sleek black and silver card.
"Me too!" Callie said, giving me a shred of paper with her number on it.
"Thanks guys," I said, giving Zeke a hug and kiss on the cheek and giving Callie a hug. "I'd better get going, see you guys."
"Bye," they both called, waving me off from the door as I got into my Porsche. I pulled out and drove home.
As soon as I got in, I ran up the stairs and got changed into my pajamas and chocolate brown Uggs. I went straight to the freezer and pulled out the tub of Ben and Jerrys cookie dough that I bought yesterday.
I turned on the TV and my eyes caught the sight on the television.
Breaking News! Troy Bolton has been admitted to hospital early this morning. The Lakers all star was attacked last night outside a nightclub by a group of Celtic fans, who have now been arrested. It has been reported he has a broken leg, two broked ribs and a fractured wrist, along with a black eye. He is slowly but surely recovering and will be back on the court in three months, just in time for the last couple championship games. More on this story at seven tonight.
My heart sank. How could anyone do that to him? Over basketball? I suppose it did work, I mean, yes, they are in prison, but Troy is in pain and can't play for the next three months, missing most of the season. I hope he's okay. I know I am supposed to hate him, but I never got over him. I guess time flew by after everything happened, and I forgot that I was waiting for him to come back. If he needed my help, I wouldn't say no. Never would I deny him help when he needed me.
I flicked over to different channels, and it seemed the Troy Bolton Attack was all over every news channel. I felt bad, not that anything was due to me. I wanted to give him a big cuddle. There were CCTV footage being shown of him. Some big guy jumps on his back and he's on the floor, then about five more guys come and start kicking him. The police come and one runs away, and they are pulling them off him, while he's just lying on the floor, holding his head in his hands and his shirt blood smeared. I didn't realize but a frown of disgust was knitted onto my forehead and my hand was over my shocked mouth.
I got my phone and punched Zeke's new number and Callie's number into it. I spooned more spoonfuls of ice cream into my mouth as I watched Pretty Woman. I couldn't really get the fact that Troy was lying in a hospital bed in severe pain. He was hurting.
It was about six thirty and I searched my refridgerator for things I could eat for dinner. I took a chicken breast and cut it into chunks, then cut up some onions and rice, cooking them and mixing in soy sauce. I served it onto a plate and ate it, while deciding whether or not to watch the special on the 'Troy Bolton Attacks'. See, if I watch it, I'll know more about what happened. However I'd have to see my ex-boyfriend who I still cared about being beat up and covered in his own blood, being beaten up unfairly by some idiot other basketball fans who think for some reason he's an ass because he plays for the Lakers.
It was seven and I was watching the news, remote in hand ready if it got to graphic.
Troy Bolton is known as the star player of the Lakers. He has made hundreds of appearances since his debut two years ago, and has scored a record breaking amount of baskets for the team and has won several sportsman awards. He is appreciated and loved by many, however not by all. Last night, he was brutally attacked outside a nightclub at twenty past one. He was coming out of the club to go home, and was about to get into a cab before he was pulled to the ground by a drunk Celtic fan, outraged by his recent triumph in the Lakers and Celtics game last week. The Lakers, much thanks to Troy Bolton who scored more than half of the Lakers' points, beat the Celtics with more than twenty points to spare. The other people in the group began to repeatedly kick the basketball star in the ribs, stomach, legs and head. He shielded his head with his hands, but this didn't stop him from gaining a black eye. The Celtics fans caused injuries such as a fractured wrist, two broken ribs and a broken leg. This obviously means he is not to play in the rest of the championship games, although there is a glimmer of hope. According to the doctor, he should be fully healed in three months, giving him hope to play in the last few championship games.
I sighed and turned off the TV, going upstairs to take a bath with a glittery bath bomb. I got out and towel dried my hair and straightening it. The clock soon turned to ten o'clock and I turned off the lights and turned in, my eyes soon closing as I diconnected from the rest of the world and dozed into a peaceful slumber.
Thanks for reading! Please please please review! I love reviews! Nice ones anyway. Sorry if you don't like my writing style, I know some people don't. The next chapter is when she starts work. She's gonna meet Troy's private girlfriend, who he tries to keep secret and in his private life. Thanks for reading, and please review. xx