A/N: I am once again, so sorry for the long wait. But I hope you will all enjoy this chapter, it's pretty slow but it'll get better. Thank you so much for all of your reviews, they really make me smile.

Out of all the mistakes he had ever made in his life Troy had to admit that fleeing the Diner was most definitely the worst mistake he had ever made. He had waited until she had disappeared from his sight before he scribbled a quick note addressed to her and left within the blink of an eye.

Was it sheer cowardice that led to his departure?

He hated to admit it, but he knew that was the cause. He could not fathom how, of all the diners in Los Angeles she had to work at the one out of the millions he decided to choose. Fate was cruel yet at the same time he could not help but feel gratitude towards it for leading him to her. With the soothing ocean breeze filtering through his wild hair, he leaned against the hood of car with his arms cushioning his head and stared up at the ebony sky. He felt himself smirking at the cheesiness of his situation. He felt like an actor in one of those cheesy chick-flicks Sharpay always made him watch.

In as much as he despised the thought, he truly felt like he was in a chick flick, at the part where the guy just starts realizing he has feelings for the girl and is trying to sort them out. He scowled with dispassion when his iPhone vibrated in his back pocket. He hesitated when pulling it out. Could it be Gabriella? It wasn't. Against his will he felt a sharp stab of disappointment.

"Hey."

"Hey baby," Sharpay crooned in a flirty manner from the other end. "I won't be home tonight, I have a callback in New York." Troy rolled his eyes at this. "I've told Maya to be coming in everyday 'cause I know how unreliable your stomach is." She giggled at her own joke and Troy just merely rolled her eyes.

"You didn't have to Shar. If I get hungry I'll just order or go to Chad's."

"Okay sweetie. I'll miss you."

"Miss y—"

"Where are you right now? Maybe we can meet up before I leave?"

"Um…no I'm working." Troy lied smoothly. He couldn't let Sharpay know he had visited this side of Los Angeles. She would skin him alive, if not worse.

"Working?" he could almost see her cocking her head sideways in confusion. "Oh! Your dad." She said "This late? I thought you have people to do that for you?"

"No I don't . I gotta go. Love you."

"Love you more. Bye."

Troy pushed the end call button and stared at the large screen, almost expectantly. He could not understand why he was anxious for her to call when he had no right to be. He was married and for all he knew, she could also be taken…which was probably why she was not calling. He convinced himself of this bitterly as he stuffed the device back in his pocket and leaned back to analyze the scene above him. He realized that he could not just sit around waiting for her to call. He needed to stop thinking about her; he was married to a beautiful, talented woman whom he loved. Then why could he not stop thinking about Gabriella? Maybe if he met up with her and spoke to her about these…feelings, he would be able to solve them and things would go back to the way they were before he had met Gabriella. But did he want things to go back to the way they were?


"Yo Gabs, we're all going to Neon. You wanna come?"

Gabriella felt her heart lurch at the request. Clubbing was not her "thing", but these were her only friends and she hated having to pass up on the few opportunities she had to mingle with them. But it was not up to her. She needed the money. So she clutched the handle of her bag tightly and called softly.

"Sorry, can't." she watched the smile on the young Hispanic woman's face falter. "I gotta work." It wasn't a complete lie. She couldn't let any of her friends know about her other job.

The young woman dramatically threw her hands in the air and let out a flurry of insults in Spanish, "Gabby. You're always working!"

"I know Lena, bu—"

"No seriously, chica. You need to take a break or else I'll come over there and whoop your ass!"

Gabriella stood there silently, with a small smile as she fidgeted with her bag as she tried to come up with a decision. Skipping just one day of work wouldn't hurt. Would it? Besides it wasn't like she was working for someone this time. And she also needed to clear her head of Troy. Taking a deep breath she nodded, "K." she grin matched Selena's, "but just this once." She added sternly.

"Better than nothing." Selena shrugged in excitement. "Come on," she squealed, grabbing Gabriella's arm roughly, "let's get you looking sexy!"

Unfortunately for her, Selena's form of "sexy" was wearing her "work clothes" but not for "work". This was not what she wanted. She wanted to use this night to forget about everything, her life, her past and more importantly a certain basketball superstar. She bit her lip thoughtfully as she glare at her reflection in the floor length mirror in Selena's tiny apartment. The ripped, dark blue skinny jeans were tight as was the violet sleeveless halter neck wrapped around her torso, accentuating the curves she wished would just disappear. Her feet were buried into a pair of strappy, extremely high heels that dug into the crevices of her foot. She gingerly touched her hair, which Selena had done, attacking it with a curling iron and over a dozen hair clips, to make it stay up into a sort of bun, slash half-up-half-down do. Her make-up had been disastrous, but after long minutes of begging and arguing she finally managed to convince Selena to let her do her own make up, now it looked like she was barely wearing any at all, much to Selena's distaste.

She felt odd. This was the first time in a very long time she was going "out" just for the fun of it and she was determined to at least have fun and make it memorable, after all, who knew when she would next have this opportunity?


He needed to see her. It didn't matter if he had seen her just mere hours ago; he needed to speak with her. So he went back to the diner and consulted her boss about her whereabouts.

"Huh? Montez?" the large gutted man barked, itching his rounded chin with dirty fingers as he stared at the ceiling thoughtfully, " I always knew that slut would get herself into trouble one day." He muttered something in some foreign language Troy didn't know before regarding him with squinted eyes, "who did you say you were again?"

"It doesn't matter." Troy quickly countered, pulling his hoodie further down his face, "I just need to know where she is."

The round man scoffed rudely and turned away from Troy, busying himself by wiping the counter with a filthy rag, "I don't give out information for free."

Troy felt like punching him in the face. But instead he just sifted through his wallet and pulled out a handful of twenty dollar bills which he shoved onto the counter in front of the man. The man scooped up the notes in a flash, his small greedy eyes staring at the money in his hands then back at the basketball superstar. He looked almost suspicious but after a while he grinned, flashing chipped yellow teeth. "I don't know, some club. Neon I think."

"Neon?" Troy wondered, "Where's that?"

"How am I supposed to know? Do I fucking look like someone who goes clubbing?"

Troy scowled. He was not prepared to give this fowl character any more money so he decided to find it on his own. So he muttered a harsh thank you before proceeding to leave the store.

"I f you see the little slut tell her I've found a customer who pays big."

Troy felt his fists curl at the name and would have turned and pummeled the guy to the ground had he not been in a hurry. He ignored him and walked out of the door.


"Venga niña, vamos a perder!" Selena urged, swaying to the upbeat tempo of the music with the numerous men surrounding her, tossing her head wildly.

"Lena, this really isn't my scene." Gabriella whispered nervously to her intoxicated friend. Truth be told, even though it wasn't really her "scene", Gabriella usually found herself in this same situation almost every single day. She shut her eyes and tried not to think about work, but that proved to be difficult, as she was surrounded by a number of her former clients. "I'm gonna go get a drink."

"Bueno chicas" Selena replied loudly over the loud music her movements not faltering once. With a great effort, Gabriella weaved through the crowd of sweat drenched, grinding bodies, slapping away any hand that tried to curl around her body. She realized, with a frustrated sigh, that the bar was at the other end of the club from where she was. Upon reaching it, she leaned her whole weight against the work top and sighed deeply.

"Water, please." She breathed to the bartender who raised his eyebrows in question.

"Make that two waters."

Gabriella stilled. She knew that voice; it was him. The way the temperature of the atmosphere around her drastically increased proved that, as did the way her heart lurched dangerously around her rib cage. Her breath caught in her throat and she swallowed audibly before turning around at a snail's pace. There he stood, watching her intently with his aquamarine pools, his chestnut hair gelled back from his face and his thin lips curled into bright grin. His hands were buried in the pockets of her dark blue, low riding jeans and his hood was drawn back. Didn't he care if someone saw him?

He leaned close to her, caging her against the bar top as he whispered into her ear. "You're just everywhere, aren't you?"

Gabriella was speechless. She couldn't think of anything to say in response and she could feel the heat rising to her face. She just continued to stare at him, shocked and intrigued.

"Are you going to say anything?" Troy teased as he leaned over her to collect their drinks, yet at the same time shielding his face from the piercing eyes of the inquisitive bartender. "By the way, you look hot." He complimented, his eyes scanning her body as he added moisture to his lips with his tongue.

Gabriella's blush deepened but this time she managed to spit out a flurry of questions, "What are you doing here? What if someone sees you?" she hissed sharply, leaning closer to him so he could hear her better over the music.

Troy chuckled and took a sip of his water as he handed her, her own, "Relax Gabriella." he laughed, "No one knows I'm here."

"Bu-but paparazzi and fans and…" she trailed off, seeing the evident amusement on his face and felt the heat rise to her face again. "What are you doing here?" she asked, accusation and suspicion weaved into her tone. Troy shrugged indifferently, taking another large drink from his water as he leaned against the bar top and scanned her frozen frame.

"Same thing you're doing here." He glanced at her drink "who drinks water at a club?"

"I-I do! You need to get out of here before someone sees you!" Gabriella warned, her grip around her bottle tightening, whilst her eyes flitted around them frantically.

Troy sighed dramatically and placed his empty bottle and a few dollar notes on the bar, "Fine, since you are so desperate to leave, we shall."

Gabriella's eyebrows furrowed. "We?" she squeaked.

In response, Troy engulfed her small hand in his larger, warmer one, igniting strong sparks of electricity in both of them at the contact, and tugged her through the crowd, using his free hand to tug the hood of his sweatshirt over his head. He led her out of the club and down the road, farther and farther away from the Neon.

"Where are we going?"

She could almost see Troy smiling through his hood as she tried to keep up with him in her killer heels.

"You'll see."

Review!