Flashback
Hot, summer air made my long, black, hair stick to the back of my neck as Troy and I walked down a sidewalk in downtown Albuquerque.
"Troy, look at that!" I said and pointed at a manikin in a boutique window. I stopped to look at clothes.
"Come on, let's go inside." Troy said, giving in, like he had at four other stores.
"Thank you!" I said and he opened the door for us to walk inside. A small bell jingled as we walked into the store. I walked over to one of the racks and started looking through the soft material.
"Do you like this?" I asked Troy and held up a dress.
"I don't care." He replied and looked at a display of 80's jewelry.
"There's nothing here." I said. "Let's go." Troy and I grabbed hands again and we walked out of the store.
As we walked down the sidewalks again, Troy's phone rang inside his pocket. He reached inside his pocket with his free hand, and answered.
"Hello?" He asked. "Hey, Chad!...Yea!...I'll be there in a minute…Ok, bye." He hung up.
"Basketball?" I asked.
"I'm sorry, I promised I'd spend the day with you, but these college scouts keep calling my dad and" I cut him off.
"Go." I said.
"Are you sure?" He asked. "I mea, I can call Dad and he can reschedule."
"Troy, really, just go." I said.
"Thank you!" He said. "I'll make it up to you."
"You don't have to." I told him.
"Yes, I do." He said. "I promised. Okay, tonight at Moe's. At 7. Meet me there."
"I'll see you tonight." I said. "Go!"
"Great! Thanks!" He gave me a light kiss on the lips and then ran off towards where he parked his car.
THAT EVENING
"Have fun tonight!" Mom said as I walked towards the front door. I checked my reflection in the mirror. I rubbed my hands over the material of the deep v neck, empire waist, brown mini dress (pic in profile). I checked my fire-red pedicure in my sandals (pic in profile) and then walked out the door. I walked across the yard and climbed into my black BMW M3. I pulled out of the driveway and drove towards Moe's restaurant.
When I got to the restaurant, I parked and then walked inside.
"I'm here with Troy Bolton." I said to the hostess. She looked down at her notebook and replied,
"He's not here yet. But you can wait for him at the table."
"Okay." I replied. "I'll do that." I followed her to a table and sat down.
ONE HOUR LATER
I looked at the two empty glasses of coke on the table and sighed. I knew Troy wasn't coming. I stood up, threw my Coach hobo bag over my shoulder, and walked out of the restaurant, leaving a ten-dollar bill on the table. I climbed into my car as I pushed away tears and drove back to my house.
"How was it?" Mom asked as I walked inside.
"Fine." I said, trying to hide my voice breaking. "Goodnight." I walked upstairs and closed the door to my bedroom behind me. What I saw surprised me. Standing outside my balcony doors was Troy Bolton. I walked over and reached up to close the curtains.
"Gabs wait!" He said. "Just let me talk." I opened the door.
"What?" I asked. "Did you come to embarrass me again?"
"Listen…" He said.
"No," I said. "I sat at that restaurant for an hour waiting for you, Troy!"
"I can explain." He said.
"There's no need to." I told him. "I'm done."
"Gabs," He said. I walked over to the balcony doors and opened it.
"Go." I said.
"Please." He said.
"Troy." I said. He walked out the door and I watched him climb down the balcony.
End Flashback
"Gabs?" Chris asked, knocking me out of my daze.
"What?" I asked and sat up.
"You've been staring into space for like five minutes, now." He said.
"Oh, sorry." I said. I looked across the table and saw Troy still staring at us. Sharpay caught me looking.
"I have to use the bathroom." She said randomly.
"Yeah, me too." Taylor said.
"And me." I said and stood up. We walked out of the room, and into the bathroom.
"Gabi!" Sharpay exclaimed. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." I replied and dug through my purse for a tube of lip gloss.
"Gabriella, you are literally flaunting Chris just to make Troy jealous." Taylor said.
"No, I'm not." I said.
"You are just sitting there, holding his hand, kissing his cheek, and you know that Troy's been watching you the whole time." Sharpay said.
"It's his fault that I'm not sitting there with him and he knows it." I said.
"You broke up with him, Gabi." Taylor said and primped her curls.
"Come on, let's go." I said.
"You know we're right." Sharpay said as we walked back towards the room.
"I'm not listening." I said and we walked into the dinner room again. We sat down at the table.
"Did you have fun in the bathroom?" Chad asked.
"I guess so." Taylor replied.
When we finished dinner, we all walked out of the restaurant and out to the parking lot.
"You ready to go?" I asked Chris as everyone stood in a circle by our cars. He nodded as he put his arm around me. I looked at everyone.
"I think that Chris and I are gonna head out." I told everyone. "Thanks guys. I'll see you guys around. Bye." Chris and I climbed into the car and I waved as he pulled out of the parking lot.
"You seemed like you were having fun." Chris said as we drove.
"Yeah, I was." I said. "Everyone seemed really happy to see each other."
"Yeah, except for that Troy guy." He said. "He seemed sort of ticked."
"Oh, yeah." I replied. "He did didn't he?"
"Yeah." He said and pulled into the driveway. We climbed out of the car and walked into the house.
"Hey, Mom!" I said as I took off my jacket and hung it on the hook.
"Hey guys!" She replied from where she sat on the couch watching Project Runway. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah." I told her and kissed her cheek. "Goodnight, I love you."
"I love you, too." She said. "Goodnight, Chris."
"Goodnight, Ms. Montez." He replied. We walked upstairs and stopped in the hallway.
"I love you." I said.
"I love you, too." He replied and kissed me.
"I'll see you in the morning." I told him and walked into my room.
I changed into a pair of satin, turquoise, pajama shorts and a white tank-top. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and sat down in front of my laptop sitting on the bed. I opened my email and was surprised to find on from Troy—and it had been sent just a few minutes ago. I debated against opening it, but then clicked on it.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
From: Troy Bolton
To: Gabriella Montez
Subject: NONE
Meet me at The Coffee Hut...10:15 tomorrow...
-TB
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I gaped at the computer screen and read the message over and over again. I quickly closed the laptop and then climbed under the covers. I turned off the light on the bedside table and fell asleep.