"Sharpay?" Gabriella whispered into the receiver.
"Jeez...Gabs, is that you? It's fucking two in the morning!" Sharpay groaned.
"I can't do it Shar! We didn't have make-up sex last night, we didn't even have a make-up make-out! All he can do is go freakin' goo-eyed over Denny!"
"Denny...who...who's Denny?" Sharpay asked groggily.
"The dog!" Gabriella wailed.
"Oh right, shit yeah...the dog. What were you saying?"
"I can't sleep in my own bed! Troy insists on letting the dog sleep on the bed, which means we're all pushed for space. I want my old life back! I want just me and my boyfriend...no-one else! Least of all some fucking horse-sized dog that growls at me every time I go near Troy!" she whined.
"Gabs...can't we talk about this at a more sociable hour? I don't wanna wake Zeke up...he's only just gone back to sleep...he's a lot more...active...if you get my meaning"
"Woah! Too much info Shar! Look, you told me he was going to propose! Why hasn't he?!"
"I don't know sweetie...maybe he's just...I don't know! I'm so tired...speak in the morning...love ya...mwah!"
"No...Sharpay...Sharpay! Damn it!" Gabriella spat, slamming her phone down on the marble sink.
She instantly regretted it and the sound it made.
Slowly, she creaked the door open and peered round, checking to see if either was awake.
She smirked and muttered,
"Stupid mutt"
The dog lifted its head and growled, causing Gabriella to yelp and jump back in the bathroom.
"This is stupid...I can't be scared of a dog. It's ridiculous" she whispered to herself.
She twisted the door handle and walked out with her head held high. She made eye contact with the animal, and raised her eyebrow.
"Yeah...you might think you've got it all now...but just wait and see. Troy's mine, not yours. He loves me more than you...everyone knows it, pretty soon...you'll be begging me to accept you into this family" she spat.
As if to respond, the dog climbed off the bed and raised his leg, soaking the white wall...on her side of the bed.
"TROY!" Gabriella yelled, making him jump.
"What, what...what's wrong?" he asked sleepily.
"Your fucking dog is peeing on my wall!" She yelled.
"Oh jeez...Denny, you naughty boy. You know you only go outside!" he moaned, getting out and grabbing his collar, before dragging him out onto the balcony.
"Sorry babe, I'll go get some disinfectant" Troy mumbled, kissing her cheek.
The door shut and Gabriella smiled, happy at the dog being outside.
"Here's to you!" she said, raising her wine glass, "Don't say I didn't warn you"
She giggled, "Now I'm talking to a dog...I'm going insane..."
"Who you talking to sweetheart?" Troy asked, walking back in.
"Oh..um, no-one. Just mumbling to myself."
"First sign of madness" he told her, grinning.
"I love you...you know. More than you think" she blurted out.
Troy turned from rubbing the cloth on the wall and smiled.
"I love you too, more than you'll ever know"
There was a comfortable silence as Troy finished up and then he said,
"And Denny loves us too...more than we'll ever know"
Gabriella rolled her eyes at the ruined moment and glared out of the window at the dog.
"There" Troy declared, spraying some air freshener, "sorted, ugh...it's on my shirt...I'll just go freshen up"
Gabriella smiled and waited a moment, before following him into the bathroom.
"Hey" he said, looking at her in the mirror.
She didn't respond, instead she left butterfly kisses up his shoulder and onto his neck, before sucking it and leaving a mark.
Troy leant his head back and let out a sigh as she slipped her arms around his waist and down into his boxer shorts.
"I've missed this" he groaned, reaching his arm back and tangling his hand in her hair.
"We could make up for lost time" she whispered, pressing herself against him.
Troy reached down and took her hand out of his shorts. He turned around and lifted her up onto the sink before ramming his mouth onto hers.
She smiled against his lips and ran her fingers through his hair, moaning slightly into his mouth before smacking her hand on his backside. This only spurred Troy on, pulling her off the sink and slamming her into the full length mirror.
"You're a bit fierce tonight...aren't you?" she gasped as he attacked her neck and his hands roamed her body.
Troy didn't answer, only grunted in reply. He ripped the straps of her Victoria's Secret slip and pushed it down to her stomach. Gabriella didn't even care that he'd broken her favorite piece of nightwear, she was so caught up in the moment she didn't care about anything.
WOOF!
Gabriella's eyes snapped open. She hoped Troy hadn't heard it, but she was hoping in vain. The stupid dog was so loud she was surprised the deaf old lady upstairs hadn't banged on the floor.
BANG!
There it is. Gabriella thought, groaning as Troy pulled away.
"We just left him outside! Poor Denny, he must be freezing!" he exclaimed.
"I'll deal with Denny, you deal with Mrs Cain" he told her, running out.
Gabriella swore under her breath and pulled a bathrobe on, before grumbling all the way to Mrs Cain's apartment.
"Yes?" the old lady asked, putting her teeth in.
"Mrs Cain, I'm so sorry about waking you up at this time. My boyfriend...Troy, he just bought a dog as a present for me, we're not really up to date with how to look after one, he's learning on the job. I'm sorry he woke you up" she said, smiling sweetly.
"Shouldn't have pets anyway, dogs especially, disgusting creatures" she said disdainfully.
"I'm not too hot on them either" Gabriella admitted. "Perhaps I could get Troy to mow your part of the lawn for a week, or even sweep the driveway up to your garage?"
"Yes, my lawn and the driveway will be fine. I'm also partial to a nice bottle of sherry now and then..."
"You'll have it tomorrow" Gabriella promised. "Goodnight Mrs Cain"
"Goodnight Gabriella and keep that dumb dog inside!"
"I will!" she called up the stairs.
Making her way back into the apartment, Gabriella walked into the bedroom, not surprised that Troy was fast asleep with the dog lying across her side of the bed.
She didn't even smile at Troy, curled up and snuggled into his pillow. She just sighed, switched off the light, and went to sleep on the couch...
Gabriella was up and dressed at 7:30 the next morning. To enforce her reputation as one of L.A's best dressed women, she donned a tight black pencil skirt, a fluorescent yellow silk blouse open to just above her belly button, showing off her lacy black bra. Ok so it's not normally what you'd wear to go for coffees with your two best friends but it's what Gabriella did. When most people feel down, they pull on their old, comfy pajamas, watch re-runs of Friends and The O.C, and eat a tub of ice cream. Not Gabriella, she thought that was a way of making yourself feel more down, sitting at home on your own with no distractions to keep you from thinking of the reasons why you're down is not what she needed. She preferred to dress nicely, put on some killer heels, get together with her girlies and enjoy being admired. It's just how she worked, she could forget all about being upset or feeling lonely.
Troy never noticed, he always thought it was for his benefit and assumed he'd be getting lucky that night, which of course he always did, because who was she to refuse? It always made her feel better anyway, she felt loved, and she always found herself thinking, when all she could hear was his snores, that she'd been stupid, that any person would feel happy when they had Troy as a boyfriend and she was just being a drama queen.
But that word always got stuck in her head...boyfriend...what if she wanted more? What if she wanted sweeping off her feet? What if she wanted to go through the arguments of him forgetting their anniversaries and then the make-up sex after? What if she wanted the ring on her finger, to prove to everyone she was taken, that she was somebody's, that she was in love and off the market. That she was a 'Mrs' and no longer a 'Miss'. What if she wanted party invitations addressed to 'The Boltons'? That someone loved her so much he was willing to complete an act so romantic, so wonderful, to claim her as his own, to give her his heart in exchange for hers. What if she wanted to wake up every morning and smile and say "Good morning my lovely husband" and hear "Good morning my lovely wife". What if she wanted to have to tell friends, "Oh I'm sorry, I'd love to but my husband's expecting me home" What if she wanted to get cards on her birthday saying, "With love from your husband". What if she wanted all that?
Shouldn't she be entitled to it? They'd been together for 11 years next winter, surely that counted for something? Surely falling in love at 16 and knowing he was the one, granted her the opportunity to do what everyone assumed they'd do as soon as they graduated? Surely having watched her best friends marry one after the other gave her the right to be the bride and not the bridesmaid?
Surely, surely he wanted that? Surely after seeing his own best friends since pre-school, marry the women they love, spurred him on. Surely it made him think, 'Hey, I wanna try this whole marriage-malarkey. Let's do it' or 'I have a girlfriend that loves me to death, and I love her just as much and I want to make an honest woman out of her'. Shouldn't it?
She didn't know, it was Troy after all...she used to be able to tell what he was thinking, but then after returning from a month's holiday in Thailand with Sharpay and Taylor, trying to convince Sharpay that marrying Zeke was the right choice and just because he had a drunken one night stand didn't mean everything had to end...she found she couldn't. He was unreadable. But she stuck with him, through everything. They had stayed together, moved in together, lived together, made love
together...obviously, entertained friends together, gone to weddings together...how could that not mean marriage?
Gabriella knew some people just didn't marry, that they were happy just being together, but she wasn't that type of girl. She wanted to be Mrs Troy Bolton, not Miss Gabriella Montez. That's all she wanted.
Scribbling a note on the pad and sticking it on the fridge, Gabriella walked out of their apartment block and onto the driveway, pulling out and driving straight to the beach, just wanting to be alone for a while.
She sat there for hours, right up until it was time for coffees. Parking her car and taking a seat with her best friends, she groaned.
"You've got your 'feel good' clothes on" Sharpay commented.
"And your killer heels" Taylor added.
"And you're meeting us"
"You must be feeling down"
Gabriella nodded and told them everything, apologising to Sharpay for waking her when it came to it.
"Don't worry about it Gabs, I get woken all the time now, some stupid yapping creature won't shut up"
"It's probably fucking Denny the Demon" Gabriella huffed, "You know me and Troy were halfway through doing it until he barked and interrupted"
"Who barked and interrupted? Troy or the dog?" Taylor joked, sipping her latte.
"Very funny, but I'm serious guys, I hate dogs!"
"I guess it's a case of me or the dog" Sharpay told her, wiping the rim of her cappuccino.
"You know, there was a time when I knew Troy would pick me in an instant..." Gabriella told them, downing her espresso in one and ordering another.
"And now you think he'd choose the dog? But that's ridiculous!" Taylor exclaimed.
"I'm not so sure" Gabriella muttered, nibbling on her biscuit.
"Right...come on, we have some serious shopping to do if we're gonna resolve this problem" Sharpay said, "but first, shots for everyone, Gabi drink that one quick then have another, you'll probably need it"
Sharpay flagged the waiter and ordered three 'sputnicks' before paying the bill.
"What the hell is this?" Taylor demanded, eyeing the cup warily.
"It's a cup of coffee, with more shots of espresso than you'd care to know and a bit of red bull mixed in. It'll do us all good, now drink up, we're leaving" she answered.
Gabriella gagged as she drank it, "That's revolting"
"DRINK!" Sharpay snapped, clasping her purse.
The two girls did as they were told, despite wanting to spit it straight out, and followed the blonde through the doors.
"Right girls, we'll meet at the mall in 20 minutes exactly, outside Barney's, now go" Sharpay informed them.
Each girl climbed into the respective cars and drove off, meeting up again at the said place.
"I'm feeling kinda wired" Taylor said happily.
"Good, we all do" Sharpay told her, "but it won't have as much effect on us as normal people cuz we drink far too much coffee anyway"
"Where are we going?" Gabriella asked.
"To get you some lingerie so sexy that Troy will forget all about that dog in an instant and you'll be able to continue what you started last night"
"Let's do this" Taylor said, charging off.
"I think we may handle coffee a little better than she does" Sharpay commented.
With Troy
"GABRIELLA!" Troy shouted through the big apartment.
He stumbled upon the note and grimaced. It read:
Troy,
Mrs Cain wants you to mow her part of the lawn, sweep the driveway to her garage and buy her a bottle of sherry. I'm going out for the day; I don't know when I'll be back, don't wait up.
Gabriella
She was never hazy with her times, she'd always tell him exactly when she was coming home and when dinner would be ready. She never signed her full name. She always put at least three kisses.
Something was wrong...
"Why can't I ever get anything right these days?" he moaned.
WOOF!
Troy grinned,
"I got you right, that's for sure. I got you right didn't I old pal?" he said, rubbing the dog's belly.
"Now...sherry, lawn, driveway and I love you present, what you got in mind?"
With Gabriella
"I don't know Shar, Troy always liked me in white" Gabriella said.
"Gabi, listen to me, wearing white is not gonna get Troy to jump on you. White is the angel color, it promotes pureness. Wear the red version and he'll pounce on you"
"You think? I always thought more was less"
"What? How does that work? More cannot be less, that's just stupid" Taylor added.
"Yeah, what she said, now this is your size, you're going to buy it, wear it, and do it...understand?" Sharpay told her.
"Understood" Gabriella said giggling, taking it to checkout.
With Troy
"Right, here she comes, are you ready?" Troy asked, "of course you are, you're a dog, you're always ready for anything"
"Troy! I have a surprise for you!" Gabriella called.
"In the kitchen!"
"You'll never gue-what is this?" she asked.
"I'm ready" Troy told her.
"What?"
"I'm ready, I'm ready for this. I want to raise a family with you. I'm ready"
Gabriella looked over his shoulder at the pile of pregnancy tests on the table and sighed.
"Troy, I don't want this. I don't want you to try and win me round by doing what you think I want"
"But, I really do, I want a baby"
"No you don't, that's what you think I want, but it's not"
"You don't want a baby?" Troy questioned.
"No I do, I really do, but I want to do it properly. I want a proper house to raise it in, I want it to be legitimate, I want it to be christened. I want to do it the right way...like Sharpay, like Taylor." She told him.
"But when I asked you to marry me...you said you didn't want to!" Troy protested.
"Because it wasn't done properly! I want sweeping off my feet! Not some crappy afterthought proposal!" she shouted.
"So you do want to get married?"
"Yes!"
"So are we engaged now?" Troy asked, completely confused.
"No! Every girl dreams about being a bride and being wooed by their prince charming" she explained before getting angry, "NOT being proposed to during sex like their some kind of floozy!"
"You're not a floozy!" Troy protested.
"I know that! That's why I refused!" she snapped back at him.
"But the dog..."
"I hate dogs! I've always hated dogs! I hate next doors dog, I hate my cousin's dog, I hate Taylor's dog and I hate that dog!" she shouted, pointing at Denny.
"You hate Denny? But I bought him for you!" Troy said, looking hurt.
"I don't care! I just don't like dogs Troy, I never have and I never will. I doubt he cares either, he hates me just as much as I hate him"
"No he doesn't! He loves you! You're his owner!"
"No! You're his owner! He loves you! That's how the saying goes!"
"What saying?"
"Dogs are a man's best friend; diamonds are a girl's best friend!"
"I can't afford a diamond ring Gabriella" Troy told her quietly.
"I know! I know we can't afford a rock like Sharpay's, or a platinum band like Taylor's. I know we chose to have a nice, big pad and two flashy cars and go without, but the thought would still have been nice! I wouldn't have cared if it had been out of a chocolate egg, it's the thought that counts!"
"So, you're saying, if I offered you a diamond ring and asked you to marry me during sex, you would have said no?"
"No. I mean yes! Yes, I would have said no. I don't want a flashy ring or the fancy cars or the big apartment or the freakin' dog. All I want is you and the promise that we'll be there for each other, in sickness and in health, till death do us part."
"What if I'm not ready for marriage? You keep going on about you being ready, what about me?" Troy quizzed.
"If you're not ready marriage Troy, you're not ready for me"
"So you're going to break up with me, just because I won't propose?"
"No, I'm going to break up with you because we seem to have drifted apart. We're not what we were, you're not who I thought you were" she responded softly, walking away into the bedroom and packing a bag.
"So-so you are breaking up with me?" Troy asked, hurt.
"Hey, I guess it's lucky you didn't propose in the end, at least we don't have to go through a divorce. We can just end it, quick and easy" she answered, folding her shirt in.
"Is that it? 11 years of dating and it's done...quick and easy"
"11 years of dating and you're still not ready to acknowledge me as your wife. If you can't now, you never will."
"So what? You're gonna have a fling and get engaged to someone after 6 months when you know that all we've been through together...everything we've done and promised...you ended?"
"No Troy. Everything I promised. You haven't promised anything. You're the one forcing me to end it" she told him, opening the front door.
"I'm not forcing you to do anything! I'm not forcing you to leave!"
"You're not begging me to stay, either" she said quietly, before shutting her car door and driving away.
"I would" he whispered, "I would if I thought you'd listen"
A/N
Ok, looong and saaad one. :D just to let you know, yes, this does end troyella, but I need ideas. Proposal ideas...anyone? Something really cute, or really cheesy, or really wacky or really funny or typical of Troy...anything. Help me! Only two more chappies to go. Probably one if they're as long as this one :D peace x