Thank you all so much for reviewing the story. It makes me feel a lot better and motivates me to continue writing! Here's the next chapter, this is pretty much a filler chapter, I'll post chapter 3 sooner than it took to post this chapter. So read, enjoy, and review please!
All right goes to Disney.
Chapter 2:
The sky began getting dark and streets were getting busier. Gabriella was beginning to finish up at the office before meeting her fiancé at the restaurant for dinner. She made sure her desk was tidied and her personal belongings were locked up. Most of the employees have already headed home while others stayed late to get some other work done. She looked at the time on her watch and knew that the car would arrive for her soon. "Danielle can you come in here please?" she called for her through the phone receiver. Within seconds, her assistant walked through the door. "Please let me know when the car gets here and have these papers sent out tomorrow morning," she handed Danielle a stack of paper.
She finished in her office and sat down waiting for the car to arrive. She had to plan how to tell Noah that she was going away on a trip for work when really she was going to visit Taylor. There was no way that Noah was going to buy a story about a business trip being far. He'd have someone fly out there with her to keep an eye on her at all times. She desperately needed this getaway if she was going to end up marrying Noah in the future.
"Gabriella, the car is here," her assistant said through the phone. Gabriella grabbed her purse and some paperwork before heading down to the lobby where her car awaited. Every level she went down, she wished the elevator would get stuck so she didn't have to go to dinner with him, but unfortunately the elevator reached the bottom floor and it was time for her to get out. The black Range Rover sat outside and when she walked out, the driver got out of the car to open the car for her. It was typical of her fiancé to not pick her up from work.
Noah had not done anything for her in the past couple of months. Whenever she asked for something, he'd have his assistant do it for her or would make her do it herself. Whenever she was running late and needed a favor from him, he'd find a way to get out of it. It was to a point where she had to give up completely on him.
Before he got his job as the executive, he would have done anything for her. When she needed him, he'd be there in a second. When she wanted something, he would have it for her in a second. She was really in love with him at one point. She thought he was the perfect guy for her, but when she saw the real him, she had fallen out of love. It was unfortunate that she couldn't get out of her engagement with the bad man.
The car pulled up to the restaurant and Gabriella walked in. Of course she arrived before her fiancé. The hostess sat her down at an exclusive table and handed her a menu. She looked up at the time and noticed it was ten minutes past their meeting time. She was actually hoping that he wouldn't show up, so she could go home and sleep. She spoke to soon however when her fiancé all dressed up in a suit came walking in with a smile on his face.
"Hey babe," he said as he kissed her on the forehead. She gave him a faint smile and waited for him to sit down. "Sorry I'm late, I had to talk with a couple of clients before I headed out," he looked at the waitress when she handed him the menu. "One bottle of your finest wine please," he said as she left. "How was work?" he asked.
Gabriella placed the napkin on her lap and shrugged, "It was okay, kind of slow but I got some things done," she said.
"Good. Good," he said as the waitress came over and poured them their glasses of wine. "Look, I have to meet with a couple of clients after dinner, so can you head home alone? Or I can send John to make sure things are okay around the house until I get home," he said.
A big relief rushed through Gabriella as she shook her head, "no it's fine, and I'll be fine alone. I'm just going to head off to bed anyways," she said. She actually hoped her fiancé never came home, in fact she hoped the meeting went on until the next morning but that was a long shot. "Speaking of meetings," she began. This was it, she was going to tell her fiancé she was leaving for a week for 'work'. "Next week, there's this big opportunity to meet with a couple of designers in California, they want to look at Sparkle clothing and maybe, possibly buy a few of our items," she said as she hoped he wouldn't shut her idea down.
"California? Why can't they come to you?" he asked as he drank his wine.
Gabriella nervously picked up her glass and drank it before answering him, "because I want to sell them my product and if I come to them, I think they'll appreciate it more. It's a big opportunity to expand my business to the west coast," she pleaded. It was ridiculous how she had to ask for his permission.
He sighed, "one week?" he asked her.
"Yeah, one week. I'll be fine, I'll even hire someone to watch after me there, I promise," she told him and forced herself to smile.
Noah blinked a couple of times, as he stayed silent for a few minutes. "Fine," he finally said. "Only because I want you to be successful like me," he said and finished his glass of wine. "Let's eat." Noah picked up the menu and skimmed to find something to order.
She had to contain herself from rolling her eyes so instead she smiled at him, "it will be successful, I can promise you that." She was surprised he had agreed to let her go to California, but she wasn't going to question it, especially not when she was able to see her best friend next week.
"He said yes? You're kidding!" Taylor cheerfully said as she sat down next to Chad on the couch. "Of course, I'll have the beach house rented tonight. I can't wait to see you Gabs…but okay, goodnight," she hung up the phone and burst into cheer. She hugged Chad who was sitting next to her watching some basketball films. "She's coming! She's coming!" Taylor excitedly said.
"Who's coming?" Troy asked as he walked out of the kitchen and over to the couch next to Chad's.
Taylor still had the biggest grin on her face as she spoke to Troy, "Gabriella, my best friend! You might remember her from high school, maybe not but she's coming and there's nothing her fiancé can do about it because he doesn't know!" she said.
Troy raised his eyebrow. The name, he didn't recognize but if he saw her face, he surely would remember. "Name doesn't ring a bell, were me and her friends in high school?" he asked.
"No, you and me weren't even friends in high school so for sure you and her weren't," Taylor said.
Chad looked at Taylor and then at Troy, "she cut us all out of her life when her fiancé forced her to, so I haven't talked to her in a while, but Taylor told me what happened. I feel bad for the girl," Chad said and shrugged.
"Seems to me like she's whipped over the boy," Troy said as he popped a piece of candy into his mouth.
"More like she's stuck," Taylor said as she cuddled up next to Chad. "Anyways, it doesn't matter. She's coming next week and we're all going to the beach house for a week since you guys have a week vacation before you go back to practice. I'll call the others and inform them what's going on," Taylor picked up her iPhone as she dialed a few of her friends' number.
"Is Sharpay going to be okay with her coming?" Chad asked.
Sharpay and Gabriella stopped being friends after Gabriella cut her out of her life, but Sharpay didn't pick up her follow up phone call to let her know what was going on. Her attempts to Sharpay stopped after the hundredth time, but Taylor hoped they could work things out when they saw each other.
"Is this girl cute?" Troy whispered to Chad.
Chad looked at Taylor who was talking away on the phone before he turned back to Troy. "You seriously don't remember what she looks like?" he asked as he stood up. He walked over to the bookshelf to pull out an old yearbook. He flipped to the page Gabriella was on and pointed to her. "This is her," he said as he looked at Troy.
Troy smirked at the glasses and braces that she had on. Her hair had been in pigtails and she seemed like she was wearing an ugly shirt. "Now I see why I don't recognize her face," he said and grinned. "I was hoping she'd be hot so I could hook up with her over the week," Troy added.
Chad punched his friend and closed the yearbook. "You're not hooking up with Gabriella, first of all she's in a relationship and second of all, she's Taylor's best friend and Taylor would kill the both of us," he said.
"Well you don't have anything to worry about, she's not even my type. I like cute girls," Troy said.
Chad rolled his eyes and grabbed a magazine off the shelf. He had to flip over a couple of pages until he found a page and showed it to Troy. "This is what she looks like now," he said.
Troy's jaw literally dropped when he saw the new picture of Gabriella. "She's hot!" Troy said and grabbed the magazine from Chad. "This is Gabriella? I've seen her picture before. She's like some big time person in New York's fashion," he said and stared at the image. "I'd do her," Troy grinned as he looked up at Chad.
Chad punched him again and took the magazine from Troy. "Don't even think about it," he said as he put the magazine away.
"Damn…sucks that she's taken," Troy said.
"When has that stopped you?" Chad asked with a smirk.
Troy grinned at Chad's question. Both of them knew the answer to that one. It definitely was going to be a good week.
"Call me as soon as you land alright?"
"I will," she said as she grabbed her luggage from the car. The JFK airport was busier than ever and Gabriella had to leave early to make sure she wouldn't miss her flight. She wasn't going to let traffic stop her from getting her freedom for a week.
"Alright, I love you Gabs."
"You too, bye," she hung up the phone and turned to the driver. "Thank you for taking me," she said to him as he nodded his head and left. Of course her own fiancé couldn't take her to the airport, but she didn't mind too much. Once the driver left and Gabriella went inside, she had to go through security and get her first class ticket.
In a couple of hours, she'd be in the sunny state of California, where most of her friends lived. She couldn't wait to see them again and hug each and every one of them. Noah wasn't going to be there to keep an eye on her or would tell her to stop talking to her friends. If he found out, he'd probably fly out and ruin her life, but as long as she and her friends kept their mouth shut, she would be fine.
"Flight 342 to Los Angeles airport first call, all first class may board now."
This was her. A smile came across her face as she dragged her carryon with her onto the plane. She was leaving New York and not once did she look back to see who else was behind her.
I know it was pretty short, but it'll get longer. Please review!
