Chapter Three

A/N: Here's chapter three of this! I got it to be longer than the first two. It might be a little OOC that they would have a personal conversation like I have in this chapter, but I wanted it to be that way, so…And I made Gabriella a little more comfortable with the whole "freaky-math-girl" thing. It can be either because she was just naturally was more comfortable with it or it can be that she's grown to see it as a good thing over time (i.e. she likes that she's intelligent and that it's gotten her places in life), you can decide. Anyway, enjoy! R&R! Thanks! –Mac

Disclaimer: I don't own HSM.

Chapter Three

The rest of the drinks outing had gone uneventful. Gabriella had kept to her word and didn't mention anything that might make Claire suspicious of the fact that they might already know each other. They kept up the rouse of getting to know each other easily—though it shouldn't have been too difficult as they didn't know each other all that well to begin with.

Once they parted ways after drinks, Troy was content to think he might not have to cross paths with Gabriella anytime soon, which, he was certain, would be better for the both of them in the long run. That odd sense of relief he had felt that Clair hadn't found them out would not dissipate. He didn't fully understand it, but he shrugged it off as they said goodbye to Gabriella and headed home.

Troy hadn't counted on seeing Gabriella again for a long time, prior to Gabriella Claire rarely brought her friends from work around, but only a week or so after the first reunion Claire invited Gabriella over for dinner at the apartment Troy and she shared. Gabriella accepted and Troy had to prepare himself for another evening in her presence.

Gabriella had arrived with the same small smile on her face as she greeted them both. Claire and Troy welcomed her in, though Troy's smile wavered when he took her hand. There was no mistaking the tingle that ran through him at her touch, and it unnerved him. He hadn't felt anything like that before. If he was honest, he had felt it before—with her on New Year's Eve ten years before. It made him feel off balance, because he didn't want to feel it, not when he should be feeling things like that with Claire, his girlfriend. He pushed it aside and tried to remain composed.

Only moments after Gabriella came through the door, Claire's cell phone rang. She picked it up and glanced at the caller ID flashing on her screen. She gave Gabriella and Troy an apologetic look, "I'm so sorry you guys, I have to take this."

Claire retreated into her and Troy's bedroom and closed the door for privacy. Troy shrugged and turned to Gabriella, "Make yourself at home."

"Okay," Gabriella nodded. She put down her purse and sat down on the couch.

Troy remained standing, however, taking to pacing slightly. Every so often he would sneak a glance in the direction that Claire had gone—as if willing her to return. He wasn't sure what to say to Gabriella when it was just them two. Finally, Claire did return. Her cell phone was closed but still clutched in her hand. She had pulled on her jacket and had her purse slung over her shoulder. Troy was not happy to see her looking ready to go out. It wasn't a good thing for her to be leaving, he didn't like it one bit.

"I'm sorry. My brother Tyler is having a crisis. I have to go over to his place to help him sort things out." Claire announced.

Troy sighed, covering for how uncomfortable he was that Claire was leaving, and responded, "He is never going to learn how to live on his own if you're always over there doing things for him."

"He's still just a kid. What kind of big sister would I be if I didn't help him out?" Claire raised an eyebrow.

"He's twenty-one," Troy replied flatly.

Claire chuckled, "Okay, so he's got a kid's mentality and access to alcohol. All the more reason to keep an eye on him." She walked over and gave Troy a kiss, "Show Gabriella how to peruse the take out menus. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Oh, well, I could catch a cab home and we can do this another time," Gabriella stood as Claire began to walk back toward the door.

"Nonsense!" Claire shook her head, "Troy has nothing better to do. He can entertain you for a night, right Troy?"

Troy's eyes widened, caught off guard, but answered obligatorily, "Right, sure."

"Great. I'll see you later honey, Gabriella. Have fun!" Claire said as she breezed out the door.

Once Claire was gone, the two remained standing for a few moment sin an awkward silence. Neither had a clue about what to say or do in this situation. Troy had taken to staring at his shoes, occupying himself by shifting his wait from his heels to his toes. Gabriella bit her lip and turned to address him.

"I could go," She offered. "You really don't have to 'entertain' me. I'm perfectly fine with calling a cab and going home. I mean, the whole point of tonight was to have a little fun with Claire…and she's not here anymore, so…I'm just rambling. I'm sorry. I really can just go, if you want."

"No," Troy shook his head. His nerves had suddenly dried up and he felt an intense urge to get to know her better while it was just the two of them. "It's really no problem. Like Claire said, I have no life. So, why not?"

"She didn't say that," Gabriella laughed.

"Not in so many words," Troy replied, "But for all intents and purposes, it meant the same thing. It's alright. I really don't have anything better to do."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Come here," Troy led her into the kitchen and opened one of the drawers revealing a stack of take out menus. "What'll you have?"

-+-+-+-

Sometime later they were sitting on the patio chairs set up on the balcony of the apartment, eating Chinese food right out of the little boxes. After browsing through all of the take out menus, Gabriella had finally landed on as luck would have it Troy's favorite Chinese restaurant. He called in the order and while they waited for the delivery boy to get there, Gabriella told him some stories about her childhood. Troy countered with stories about how obsessive his father had been about basketball. When their food arrived, Troy insisted on paying although Gabriella had pulled her wallet out of her purse. He just waved her off. He suggested they go eat on the balcony and she agreed. So there they were talking like old friends as they ate their dinner. Then Gabriella brought up Claire, and Troy felt the urge to be more open on the matter than he had been with even Chad.

"How long have you and Claire been together?" Gabriella asked.

"Isn't that something that Claire would have told you already?" Troy responded.

Gabriella laughed lightly, "Okay, so when I said Claire talks about you all the time, I meant more that she talks about you in that really girly way, like 'he's so romantic' and he's the best boyfriend ever.'" Gabriella did an impression of Claire's voice and mannerisms and Troy laughed with her. Then she turned back to her box of noodles, "She doesn't tell me the big things. We haven't known each other long enough, I think."

"We've known each other for even less time," Troy pointed out.

"But it doesn't feel that way," Gabriella said. "Don't you think?"

Troy nodded, "Yeah."

"So, how long have you and Claire been together?" Gabriella repeated the question, with a small smile on her face.

"A little over a year," Troy answered.

"Hmm, sounds serious," Gabriella took another bite of her noodles.

"I guess you could say that," Troy shrugged.

"What? You don't think so?"

"No, it's not that," Troy sighed, "It's just hard for me to take the next step and make it real."

"Next step? Oh," Gabriella caught on, "You mean, you're thinking about proposing."

"Not exactly," Troy shook his head, "She's expecting a ring from me any day now, and I have one—my mom's engagement ring, a family heirloom that was passed down from my Dad's mother. But I'm just not ready, you know?"

"Not ready for the commitment?" Gabriella mused.

"I'm not scared of commitment or anything, if that's what you're thinking," Troy responded, throwing his hands up. "I just can't bring myself to do it."

Gabriella was quiet for a moment as she thought about it, and then she spoke quietly a question, "Do you love her?"

"What?" Troy replied and then swallowed, composing himself, "Yeah, of course. I love her."

"You don't sound so certain about that," Gabriella commented.

Her tone wasn't accusatory or judging. Troy looked at her for a minute, taking in her expression. She wasn't trying to push him, or contradict or influence what he had to say. She was just observing him. And she had expressed her opinion on the truth of the statement. She was genuinely listening to what he was saying and trying to help him, it seemed. That's what got him to continue talking about it.

"I don't know," Troy blew out a breath and stretched his arms over his head. "Claire is great, she's an amazing person , but…"

"Oh no, the dreaded 'but.,'" Gabriella laughed lightly at herself.

Troy smiled at her before he continued, "I've just always had this idea about my perfect girl and I know she exists out there. In some ways Claire is what I want, but in others she doesn't exactly fit."

"Maybe your standards are just too high," Gabriella joked lightheartedly.

"Maybe," Troy replied when she nudged him playfully.

"Hey, if this is too personal, we can talk about something else," Gabriella suggested.

"No, it's okay. I don't mind," Troy responded, "It's really nice talking to you. I don't have many people I can talk to about this kind of thing. My best friend Chad, he's the one I usually go to, doesn't understand. He just keeps pushing me to do it. "

"Really?"

"Yeah, he thinks that since I have a ring that it would be wrong for me to disappoint my family after asking for it, and disappoint Claire by not asking her when she wants to get married."

"If you knew you weren't ready, why did you ask your mom for the ring?" Gabriella asked.

"I don't know," Troy answered honestly, "When I was back home last, it was right after our one year anniversary. My Dad made a comment about settling down, and if I was ever going to. I'm only twenty-six, I know I shouldn't have to consider settling down an immediate necessity, but what he said got to me. Claire had been hinting at it for awhile, leaving bridal magazines and jewelry store catalogs around the apartment. So, I broke down and asked. I wasn't even going to tell anyone that I had it, but my parents called Chad's parents and they told Chad and well, here we are. Sometimes I feel like I have to do it."

"Well, Claire and I are a lot alike," Gabriella replied, "And I personally wouldn't want you to propose if you weren't absolutely sure that you wanted it too. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that's anyway to start a marriage, at least one that'll last. Claire would understand if you explained how you felt about it, and if she doesn't then it's obviously not the right move for you to propose right now. You should talk to her."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Troy agreed.

"Just FYI, I was the freaky math girl at all my schools, I got a 4.0 GPA in high school and college, I earned nearly a whole year's worth of college credits before I graduated high school, I led the high school I was at last to a Scholastic Decathlon Championship two consecutive years, and I actually had one of my teachers admit she thought I was smarter than her," Gabriella explained, "Me being right is a tendency you'll have to get used to."

Troy looked at her awestruck for a minute, but then at the sight of her small smile gracing her lips he burst out laughing, "I'll make note of that."

They talked for a little longer about less heavy topics and finished their dinner. After that Gabriella called a cab. While she waited for her ride, she helped Troy clean up. She got a call from the cab saying he had arrived and she prepared to leave. She grabbed her purse and Troy walked her to the door. He thanked her for listening and helping him out with the whole situation with Claire. Anytime, she had responded. Troy actually thought he might just take her up on that as he closed the door behind her. Once she was gone, he got ready to go to bed. Not that he thought he could sleep. He was still reeling from spending another whole night with the girl who in all actuality he never should have seen again, but somehow the universe had brought back into his life.

He was still lying awake in the darkness of his bedroom when Claire returned. Though she had said she'd be home as soon as possible, he knew she would be back until late. Tyler was the baby in her family, and he used that to his advantage. He took his smallest problem and weaved it into this huge drama, because he knew Claire or their older brother Mark would take care of it. Every time that Tyler called Claire, during the year she and Troy had been together, she dropped everything and was gone for hours. That night he was perfectly okay with that. He needed the time to think.

Troy could hear Claire moving around in the living room. Then the door to their bedroom opened and light filtered in. Claire used the light from the hallway to find her way around the room as she changed and got ready to join him in bed. Once she was ready she walked back into the hall and turned off the light before heading back into the bedroom and crawling into bed next to him.

"I'm sorry I'm so late," Claire whispered as she curled up next to him.

"It's okay, I know how it is with your family," Troy responded. "I understand."

"I feel bad for leaving you alone with Gabriella," Claire murmured, yawning softly.

Troy shook his head, "It was fine. We had a good time."

"That's good," Claire answered, "I wish I could have been there too. I'm going to have to make it up to her. Do you mind if I invite her to Chad's birthday party?"

He couldn't say no, so he didn't, "No, not at all. She'd have a good time. Chad and her would get along."

"Hmm," Claire yawned again, "Maybe we could set them up?"

"No," Troy responded instantly despite himself. He desperately grasped for an explanation for his answer, "He's getting pretty serious with that one girl he met at the Halloween Party, Jenna."

Claire laughed lightly, "Chad? Serious? I don't believe it. But he's your friend, you know him best. I'll invite Gabriella when I see her at work on Monday."

"Great."

Troy had mixed feelings about Gabriella going to the party. The good were easy to decipher. He was happy that he knew he would see her again. The bad weren't so easy. He wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to see her because he felt it would be bad for his relationship with Claire, or if it was because he thought Claire being there would be bad for his relationship with Gabriella. Either way, he had some serious problems.