Author's Note: My apologies to anyone who read chapter 2 before I re-submitted it and reviewed. I didn't remove it because of your comments - which I really do appreciate - but because I didn't like the way it turned out. I didn't like it when I finished it half asleep yesterday morning, and I don't like it any better now - so this is the re-written version.

I would appreciate your comments on it now that it's been re-posted. Thanks!

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Standing Invitation - (Take 2) - Mid June

Taking Gabriella home after his introduction to her two friends - and taking her out for 'coffee' - Troy was pulling her bike from the bed of his truck when Ms. Montez's voice drifted to him and interrupted their conversation.

"Gabriella? Is that Troy?"

Turning his head as he lifted her bike down to her, he half-smiled at her mother. "Hello Ms. Montez."

"You're back sooner than expected."

Troy's smile turned a little sheepish as he hopped over the side of the bed and landed back on the ground. "Change of plans - sorry for just dropping in on you again."

"Are you staying long?"

"Until I finish my degree hopefully," Troy told her honestly. "I've got an interview this evening and another one tomorrow."

Ms. Montez looked surprised as Gabriella pushed her bike back towards the house, Troy beside her. "Interviews?"

Nodding, Troy turned towards Ms. Montez as Gabriella left to put her bike away, and came to stand on the bottom step, placing one foot on it as he waited for his girlfriend to re-join him and shoved one hand in his pocket. "I figured I should have some kind of potential job lined up before I arrived. I know I'm not attending early classes like Gabriella, but the Bears have practice before the new semester starts and working's a good way to keep ahead of the cash crunch."

"And your theatre group?"

"Doesn't start until classes do - which is a good thing," he assured her with another half smile, tossing his head to get his bangs out of his eyes. "It's going to be expensive, especially since I need to find some place to live that's not on campus."

"You're not planning on staying in the dorm?"

Troy looked away uncomfortably. "I wasn't intending to, no."

"Then where-"

"Mom, can Troy use the guest room again?" Gabriella's voice carried from around the side of the house as she stepped back into view, completely oblivious to what they were talking about and cutting her off unintentionally.

"No!" Troy's head came up as if shot and color blossomed in his cheeks as his expression turned comically horrified. "That's not, I mean… I wasn't… I-"

Ms. Montez arched her eyebrows at her daughter and the young man in silent inquiry, looking from one to the other for an explanation as Troy stuttered to a stop. Gabriella slowed, taking in Troy's expression - and her mother's amused look.

"Did... I miss something?"

Troy jumped in before Ms. Montez could get the wrong idea. "I appreciate you letting me crash when I came so suddenly the last time, but I'm apartment hunting after my interviews tomorrow and I wouldn't dream of-"

"But, Troy, where are you going to stay until you find something?"

He glanced at Gabriella with an uncomfortable shrug, avoiding Ms. Montez's gaze. "I came prepared this time; I wouldn't assume -"

"We went through this last time," Gabriella's mother scolded lightly. "I know you wouldn't make the assumption you were welcome, but the invitation stands. You're welcome to the guest room until you find a place of your own."

Gabriella lunged at her mother and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Thanks mom."

"Don't thank me yet," she told her daughter seriously. "The condition is that both of you sleep in your own rooms this time while Troy is staying with us - I expect to have your word; both of you."

Troy and Gabriella shared a look - and heat blossomed guiltily in their cheeks and nodded in unison like errant teens and not the young adults they were. That Ms. Montez hadn't missed the tension that sparked between them was unnerving. Gabriella looked slightly mutinous, but Troy nodded almost immediately; he wasn't about to do anything that would put him on the outs with his girl's mother.

"If you need it, you've got it, Ms. Montez."

"I don't need it," was her reply as she let go of her daughter and smiled at them both. "Since it would imply I don't trust either of you - which isn't the case - but it's nice to have it. Grab your things and get settled - have you eaten yet?"

"We stopped for smoothies," Gabriella informed her mother as she claimed Troy's free hand and their fingers twined together.

"That doesn't really count as food." Ms. Montez backed into the house, talking to them over her shoulder. "There's salad in the fridge and water for the spaghetti on the stove when you're both ready to eat. I have to get ready for work."

"Ms. Montez?"

She stopped behind the screen door, looking at him curiously.

"Thank you."

Her response was a smile and a wave and she motioned for them to continue with whatever they'd been doing before she'd interrupted.

Gabriella tugged Troy away as her mother disappeared, off to the side of the house and around into the backyard.

He went willingly, falling into step beside her. "You're mom's really cool."

She laughed. "No, just practical. If you're here, she can keep an eye on us both."

They shared a laugh as he held the gate open for her and stepped into the Montez's new backyard. A feeling of déjà-vu hitting him as he took in the surroundings; it was similar, almost eerily so, to the backyard she and her mother had in Albuquerque. There was a small balcony above them - an impish smile from Gabriella indicating it was hers - and two large trees shading most of the yard. There was a stack of patio furniture that hadn't yet been set out in its desired place and a tool shed in one corner with gardening tools visible through the partially open door.

The hammock they'd spent a good deal of time in back in Albuquerque was suspiciously absent and a quick, second look didn't reveal its location. "No hammock yet?"

"Not yet; mom couldn't remember where we packed it away and I only found it this morning before heading to class. Want to help me put it up?"

He agreed, and she retrieved it, quickly reappearing as she handed him one of the ends to tie to a further back tree. She held the ends near the tree as Troy tied it tight, adding the tension necessary to ensure one end didn't end up next to the tree and the other stretching dangerously out across the yard.

"My mom's working nights, you know." Gabriella told him finally as he tied off the first end.

Troy was already shaking his head, a half-smile on his lips as he turned towards her. "Much as I love waking up next to you, Gabriella, you know we can't."

"Can we cuddle?"

He laughed shortly, pulling her with him to the other end of the hammock to be tied up. "We'd better; just not in your room or mine."

"What she doesn't know can't hurt her." Her sigh was exasperated. "Besides, it's not like she really expects us to ignore one another while you're here."

"There's not a lot of difference between looking and asking for trouble," he told her honestly, reaching up to wrap the rope around the tree. "And you're doing both."

"Problems with your cell phone?" The impish grin that crossed her lips made his heart skip a beat - it always did.

"Keep it up and there will be."

She giggled at his frank look.

Tying off the rope, Troy turned and swept her into his arms, one leg around her back and shoulders, the other under her knees as he spun her around with a delighted grin. Twirling her about, he let her go reluctantly and eased her back to her feet. She collapsed into the hammock and held her hand out to him in silent invitation. Sitting beside her gingerly, he tested his weight against the ropes before settling more comfortably beside her and slinging an arm about her shoulders. Gabriella curled close and set the hammock to rocking as she pulled her feet underneath her and laid her head against his shoulder.

Troy tilted his head backwards, staring at the canopy above them as the wind ruffled his hair. The silence was comfortable as it stretched between them, one of Gabriella's hands splayed across his chest over his heart. The rocking of the hammock was lulling, comforting and soothing and lent a surreal feeling to the whole affair. It was as if they'd never left Albuquerque; as if they'd never graduated; as if they were still sixteen going on seventeen, instead of seventeen going on eighteen - and the world at their feet.

"Hey Gabriella?"

"Yeah?"

"Did your friends back at campus mean it what they said about a study session tonight?"

Her head came off his shoulder. "If you're going to tell me I should be studying..."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere and you shouldn't give up your study time just because it's my first day here."

"I'm not." She poked him in the chest. "I'm giving up my study time because my incredibly handsome and romantic boyfriend made a point of meeting me at school and reminding me of the last time he'd come. Though..." she tilted her head thoughtfully. "I do miss the tux."

"I'm serious - I don't want to interfere with your studies."

"A day won't kill my GPA. Or do you want to see Elaine and Elizabeth that much?"

"I never said I would go with you."

Gabriella grinned. "The session is supposed to be here since my mom will be out of the house."

Troy looked particularly discomfited. "Here?"

She nodded.

Glancing up at the house and then back to her he made a face. "I take it you do this often?"

"Once or twice a week. How about it Wildcat, should I give El and Liz another crack at you?"

"Don't you dare!" His expression was so comical she laughed delightedly. "I'll have to see those two again, I'm sure, but I have no intention of dealing with them twice in the same day!"

"You don't like being considered the main course on the menu?"

"Not theirs."

"Just mine, huh?"

"Something like that," he squeezed her shoulders. "So coming to see you early was romantic, huh?"

"As if you didn't know it."

"It wasn't intended to be."

"That's what makes it romantic." Gabriella shifted so she could lie her head back on his shoulder. "Did you really mean what you said about finding an apartment?"

"Yeah - why?"

"What if I asked mom if you could stay with us?"

"Awkward much?" He shook his head, resuming their indolent pose from before as he stared at the leafy canopy. "It's not that I don't appreciate the offer, Gabriella, but..."

"But it would be just a little strange," she sighed. "I know. I just... we're going to be attending different schools and you're going to be working; it would be nice if I knew for sure I was going to get to see you every day."

"I didn't come out here early to impose on you or your mom and I meant what I said. I came prepared to pay my own way." He rubbed his hand up and down her upper arm, tangling his fingers in the tail ends of her hair even as he caught her other hand in his and played with her fingers. "Don't get me wrong, living with you and your mom would be great, and it would be easier in a lot of ways."

"But you'd still be living with me and my mom." Gabriella exhaled softly in resignation. "You just want to move out."

"That's part of it."

"And the other part?"

He squeezed her fingers and made to get up. "We should check out that spaghetti your mom left."

"Oh no," she leaned against him, keeping him in place. "You're not getting out of it that easily Wildcat."

Exasperated, he planted his feet on the ground and stood - taking her with him with a half-smile. "It'll be nice to have some place where we're not always worried about your mom or my parents, or Chad or Taylor or anyone else bothering us. Happy?"

"Deliriously." She giggled, looping her hands about his neck. "And starving."

"I thought so. Wanna help me apartment hunt?"

"You find it, I'll decorate."

"That," he informed her with a grin as he dropped a soft kiss on her forehead and set her back on her feet, "is more than fair."

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Troy's job and apartment search went surprisingly well in the week that followed, landing him two separate jobs and a one room bedroom apartment that was only a few blocks from where Gabriella and her mother lived. This made it possible for Gabriella to walk or bike the distance after she'd returned home from classes when he wasn't working - and she was given an extra key for whenever she wished to come by.

Gabriella helped him furnish it - though not with much - to make it comfortable and if she spent less time at home and more at his place, her mother made no mention of it. As her grades didn't suffer - Gabriella ensured it - there was no reason for her mother to complain.

Ms. Montez had learned to trust her daughter and the young man who loved her. She knew, if she pushed, that she could force them into something neither were ready for and it was the last thing she wanted. She would just have to continue to trust that her daughter and her boyfriend would continue to be the responsible adults they'd proven to be.

Past history dictated that, together, they could overcome any obstacle and Ms. Montez refused to become one more on a road that loomed with them. If they didn't know what they were doing, together they'd figure it out; she would simply have to trust in that.