Sorry for the kinda long gap between updates, I was on break and then busy with school, but I finally found some time to finish this chapter. I hope everyone liked the first part, and hopefully this chapter too. I think this may go longer than 3 parts but I'm not sure yet, so hang in there. And REVIEWS would be great, I think I only got one last time, which is fine but the more feedback I get the more I want to write, so REVIEW. And now onto part 2.

Cause when I'm with him I'm thinking of you.
Thinking of you.
What you would do if
you were the one who was spending the night.
I wish that I was looking into your eyes.

Sleeping was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. I hoped that I would just pass out from exhaustion but unfortunately that didn't happen, because the storm just kept getting worse. Kind of like how my day did. It started out like any other day, and then out of nowhere everything just came falling down. Now normally on nights like this, I was safe and secure in his arms but not tonight, no this time I was alone. After a couple of hours of tossing and turning, and thunder roaring every few minutes, I finally decided to try the next best thing. I pulled myself to the edge of the bed and got up as quietly as I could. I quickly made my way to the door when another round of thunder arrived and I jumped a bit before tiptoeing into the hallway and into the room next door. The room was just as unique as its owner. The walls were a deep shade of red and were covered with Broadway Musical posters, scripts and awards and of course pictures of the owner himself in plays and musicals that he had starred in. Yeah, anyone would know that this room was Ryan's, even in the dark. I quietly made my way over to his huge bed and looked down to see him sleeping peacefully and snoring softly. Just like Troy did…

"Ryan." I whispered as I poked him gently, trying to wake him up as quickly as I could. "Ryan wake up." After a few minutes of no response and the thunder getting louder, I shook him and he finally stirred awake. "Gabriella? What are you doing up?"

"I can't sleep." I said softly, just as another flash of lighting lit up the sky, and I jumped a bit. "Why? Cause of the rain?" Ryan asked as he sat up a bit and rubbed his eyes. All I did was nod slightly and cross my arms over my chest, trying to keep my nerves down. "Gabs, its just a storm."

"Yeah but to me its not." I sighed and tried to fight back the tears that I could feel building. Even though Ryan was my best friend, and we told each other tons of things, he didn't know everything about me. And this was one of those things.

My fear of thunderstorms started when I was eight. I was home alone, my mom was working as usual, and my dad was out getting us dinner. There was a huge storm, one of the worst I had ever seen, and I begged my dad not to leave, since I had never been alone during a storm. But he promised he would be back and that everything would be fine, and I believed him since he never broke his promises. But unfortunately this was the one promise he did break. I spent the whole night alone and afraid of the storm, until I finally fell asleep sometime past midnight. The bad news came the next day when my mom woke me up in tears. She immediately pulled me into a hug and in the best way she could, she told me that the night before my dad had died in a car accident. Right then and there I knew my life would never be the same again. My dad had always been like my best friend. I could go to him with any problem and he would fix it with his famous "Super Secret Problem Solver" which was just ice cream and cookies, but still, it always made things better. But now he was gone and I knew I was never getting him back. Since that day I can barely make it through thunderstorms, they just remind me of the night I not only lost my dad, but my best friend in the whole world.

I understood that Ryan wouldn't know what to do or say, since I had never told him what happened to my dad, but I still wanted and needed him to do something. Troy was the only person who knew about my fear of thunderstorms, and he always knew what to do…

"Oh alright, well what would you like me to do?" Ryan asked as another round of thunder and lightning ripped through the sky and I jumped again. I looked at him and shrugged a bit, while he watched me shake nervously. "Well what did…umm…Troy do?"

I drew in a deep breath, as I thought about my answer, wondering if I should tell him what Troy did to help me. I knew it was something that only Troy could do perfectly, since it was his original idea, but I finally decided to just let Ryan try, it was worth a shot. "He…umm normally laid with me till I fell asleep."

I watched as Ryan's expression changed and his face practically lit up as the words left my mouth. I could tell that this was something he was more than willing to do for me, and at that moment I honestly didn't care. I just wanted to sleep and finally get this day over with. "Oh, well do you want to try that?" he said, his voice dripping with excitement. I knew he didn't want to come off as excited but it was pretty obvious that he was.

"Umm yeah, if you don't mind." I said quietly, and just as quick as I finished my sentence, Ryan was all ready moved over and he was patting the spot next to him. "Of course I don't mind. Come on, lay down." He said with a small smile on his face. I slowly made my way over to the bed, not wanting to really let go of the last connection I had to Troy. It was hard enough losing him but now I was letting Ryan use the one and only thing Troy did to make me feel better.

"There how's that?" Ryan asked softly as he pulled the blanket over me, once I had finally laid down. "Fine." I whispered, hoping to hide the fact that I was truly uncomfortable and wanting to back in his arms. "Good now get some sleep. You need it." Ryan said as I felt his arm gently wrap around my waist and pull me closer to him. I knew he was basically in heaven and I felt like I should have been too.

I deserved to feel better and I wasn't getting any help doing that from Troy. It was right then when I realized I had to take Troy's advice, and move on to second best. And that second best was right behind me, waiting patiently until I feel asleep, that second best was Ryan Evans.

So that was part 2 I hope you all liked it, I'm working on part 3 right now and hopefully that will be up soon!! Don't forget to REVIEW!