Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters.

A/N: So...I couldn't leave you hanging. It felt too cruel. So here's the next chapter! But no updates until next week from now on!

Enjoy.

Locked In

Chapter Four: Nervous

Gabriella couldn't breathe.

She couldn't move either, and the closer Troy got to her lips, the more her thoughts faded into an incoherent tangle.

She also felt kind of sick to the stomach and maybe her palms where sweating a little bit more than they usually would when he was around and she knew - was perhaps too aware - that if she didn't do something fast, she'd run the risk of finding herself thoroughly kissed by someone she was attracted too and irritated by and - holy crap, had he gotten closer?

Gabriella reacted without thinking.

In the space of twenty seconds, her elbow shot and she elbowed Troy in the hand. Hard.

The hand that was wrapped in a bandage.

For a split second, she thought that her elbow hadn't made contact and then he winced.

She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, she'd hoped for yelling and maybe a little scream of pain.

But what disappointed her the most was the way he pulled away, his face hard and his other hand immediately shooting out to cradle the one she'd jabbed with her elbow.

She wasn't sure if that worried her or not.

Disappointed that Troy Bolton hadn't kissed her?

She had a feeling hell had frozen over.

Still, she folded her arms and set her face to impassive as he stared down at her through lowered lids.

"Fuck, Gabriella. That hurt."

She chose not to shiver at the husky timbre of his voice and had a really bad feeling that if she hadn't thrown out her elbow, he would have kissed her. The thought made the shiver she'd controlled ripple down her spine because what really, really worried her was that she was pretty sure she wouldn't have stopped him.

"Sorry." She snapped back flippantly and then thought maybe she should take a quick look, just to make sure he was okay.

The blood that was seeping through the bandage pushed ever other thought from her head.

"Troy! You're bleeding badly. I thought you'd fixed it!"

Her hand reached out of its own accord and she stood so she could examine it better.

Idiot. Didn't he know that cuts where a lot worse than a sprained wrist? The way he'd wrapped the stupid bandage gave perfect support for a bad wrist, not a cut that was bleeding a whole lot more than it had before.

"Sit down." She snapped, pointing to the couch before stepping over and scooping up the first aid kit and everything that had spilled out of it when he'd tried to fix the cut himself.

"Uh. Gabriella? What are you doing?"

She rolled her eyes, reaching for his hand again and pulling it into her lap. Shifting the length of her hair over one shoulder, Gabriella carefully began to unwrap the bandage, concentrating on his hand and trying to not notice the way he was watching her.

"You are such a guy sometimes, you know that? What'd you do? Think that because you know how to strap a wrist, it'd work well for a cut?" She commented, desperately hoping that he would take the bait and stop staring at her.

Troy snorted. "Pretty much. You do realize I don't make a habit of tearing my hand to shreds, right? I happen to need it."

She didn't reply.

She couldn't, she'd bit her lip so hard when she finally saw the jagged tears in his skin that talking was impossible.

"You know, you can have a shot at both of them when we get out of here. This is terrible, Troy." She murmured, her finger delicately tracing down the side of the tears, over the reddened skin before tracing back up.

He didn't reply and Gabriella furrowed her brow at his silence.

Glancing back up, she found her eyes caught and then held by Troy's. His eyes were really, really blue, she thought numbly as they darkened a shade and she felt him trace his thumb gently over her knuckles.

She forgot to breathe again.

His thumb was calloused and tough and it felt really good as he rubbed it back over her knuckles.

She wondered dumbly if it had started snowing in hell as well, as his lips curved into a half smile.

"Gabriella?" He asked quietly and she jolted.

Tearing her eyes away from him, she drew in a deep breath she hadn't realized she needed and dropped her eyes to his hand, focusing determinedly on playing nurse and not the fact that his thumb was still lazily rubbing over her knuckles.

"I'm going to try and get some of the splinters out, okay? It might hurt."

He didn't say anything as she reached for the tweezers in the kit and the only sign that he knew this was going to hurt was a sharp intake of breath when she delicately began to pick out the first of four splinters she could see embedded in the cut.

The silence that fell made her twitchy and Gabriella wished it didn't. She'd always enjoyed the silence with Troy. Not just because it meant she didn't have to speak to him and run the risk of a migraine but because they were easy. An easy silence, she'd discovered, was a rare, rare thing. She was pretty sure that if she hadn't been sure he would have drawn on her face in permanent marker, she could have fallen asleep during the times when they were simply sitting there in silence.

But this silence wasn't easy, it was heavy and Gabriella didn't like the idea it was heavy because it felt heavy with the threat of the kiss Troy had never gone through with.

Which made her wonder if he was going to try it, again. That made her consider what she would do next time he tried to kiss her.

Somehow, she doubted she'd throw her elbow into his sore hand.

And these thoughts are getting really, really dangerous, she thought as she gently pulled out the first splinter and reached for the pack of tissues in the kit. Pulling one out, she gently laid the splinter on the white and then returned to pull out the next one.

"So, do you like vampires?"

Gabriella paused mid-tug and sent her companion a disbelieving look.

"Really? Is that all you can think about? Vampires?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You didn't answer my question. Do you like them?"

'Why? Do you like vampires?" She went back to working on the splinter.

"Well, yeah. Not the Twilight ones, though. They're just...not vampires." A flicker of a smile crossed her lips at his words. "Wait, do I need to ask you Edward or Jacob? Because that could be a problem. One's a creepy stalker and one's a dog, wolf thing."

Glancing up at him, Gabriella smiled and shook her head. "No. I don't like Twilight, either. But if you're going to ask, ask me Damon or Stefan."

"Alright, Damon or Stefan?" He sounded curious and Gabriella fought to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Of course he wouldn't know about The Vampire Diaries, he was a guy after all.

"Damon. Duh. Stefan's cool but Damon's...hot."

"Yeah, Elena's not bad herself."

Gabriella blinked. She'd been pretty sure that he had no idea what he was asking when he'd mimicked her question but apparently, he did. And she found that beyond strange and maybe a little comforting. It was one thing they had in common besides an unexplainable ability to irritate the hell out of each other.

Troy must have seen the look on her face as he smirked.

"What? You think I don't know about The Vampire Diaries? One of my ex's got me hooked and I haven't been able to get out of the habit, yet."

"What about True Blood?" She asked curiously and he grinned.

"Brilliant show."

"Van Helsing?"

"Hugh Jackman is awesome in that."

"Blade?"

"It's okay."

"Black Dagger Brotherhood?"

"Fucking sick books. I know they're meant to be romance but hell, they've got all the ingredients for a good action read."

Gabriella blinked.

He really liked vampires and was apparently as into them as she was.

And she didn't find it disturbing that he read the same books as she did nor was she worried by the fact that he watched The Vampire Diaries. She supposed that the blood and gore of the show would appeal to guys her age. Maybe.

"Don't analyze it, Montez. I like vampires. It's not an unreasonable thing, if you think about it. Pop culture as of late has been littered with it."

"I wasn't - "

"Yeah, you were. Don't take everything as something and turn it over looking for meanings, Gabriella. It's irritating and it's what exhausts you more often then not."

She nearly dropped the tweezers at his words.

Holy crap, Troy knew her.

How the hell did he know that she did that? How did he know she couldn't help herself when it came to people saying things and exhausting herself because she couldn't figure out what it all meant, no matter what was said?

"How do you know I do that?"

He snorted. "You think I've been arguing with you for like a year and don't pick up on things like that? Come on, Gabriella, does that really sound like me? I used to say stuff to you just to watch you try and figure out what it meant, what angle I was playing."

"You used to do it?"

He shrugged awkwardly. "I stopped. I said something one day and you just looked so tired when I glanced over because you weren't replying. I stopped putting hidden meanings in my words after that. Especially seeing as you exhaust yourself anyway when I say something."

"Oh."

Gabriella looked down and refocused on the splinter, not really seeing it but tugging at it gently anyway.

She needed to think.

Troy kept his eyes trained on Gabriella's dark head and really wished he could kick himself for what he'd just said to her.

What the hell was coming out of his mouth lately?

First vampires, then truth or dare, then back to vampires again and then he goes and tells her he knows what she does when she hears something and turns it over and over in her head looking for anything that could hurt more than the original words.

He kind of wondered if he was doing it deliberately just to show her that he could be a good guy at times and that of course he knew their arguments affected her.

What was he? Blind?

But then again, he really doubted a lot of people saw what their arguments did to her. Or to him for that matter.

Not that he was ever hurt by what she said but sometimes, she made a point. And it was a point he didn't want someone to make and she was - unwittingly or not - the only person who braved his temper to tell him bluntly exactly what he was doing.

It made him respect her, which was a large reason why he had stopped dropping sentences that worried her to the point of exhaustion.

And maybe, just maybe, it might have made him like her a lot more than he'd originally thought.

Which was an interesting thought considering up until a few minutes ago he'd been sure she'd irritated him but he hadn't liked her and up until three seconds ago the only thing he'd thought all he'd really liked was the way her eyes had gone all dreamy and her lips had warmed and her breath had stopped rushing out of her mouth as he'd leaned closer.

But maybe that wasn't right.

Maybe he really did like the way she stood up to him and the way she could snap back at him and the way she could sit beside him in total silence that was so easy, he usually felt like falling asleep when they were just sitting there.

He knew he totally liked her body, though.

Especially her legs.

"What are you thinking about?" Her question snapped him out of the thoughts that had headed into the danger zone and had hit disaster of epic proportions.

Fuck.

"Your legs," he replied easily, his mind still on the rather startling discovery that, while she infuriated him to the point of no return, he might actually like Gabriella Montez.

God knows, he was already hopelessly attracted to her.

Troy's eyes widened at the thought and he was pretty sure that if she hadn't been sitting in front of him, he would be swearing out loud.

As it was, holy fuck.

How had he not seen that?

Seriously. He'd been arguing with her for a fucking year and it had taken until they were locked in a basement together for him to realize he was attracted to her?

Hopelessly attracted, according to his thoughts.

Christ, he sounded like a really bad romance novel.

"Alright, the splinters are out." Her tone was businesslike as she straightened up and Troy barely heard it as she began to rummage through the open first aid kit, looking for God knows what.

Instead, he curled his fingers around her hand and watched curiously as she faltered in her search for whatever it was. His curiosity grew as a blush started to spread across her cheeks and down her neck.

And he was willing to bet that it went down a lot farther as well.

Oh, hell, he really had to kiss her.

"We're going to try this again." He muttered and she looked up from her frantic search of the first aid kit.

"What?"

He shifted, tugging on her hand to turn her towards him and shifting closer when she turned back to him. It brought her face close to his and Troy drew in a deep breath.

"Ready?" He whispered huskily.

She licked her lips and he nearly groaned out the next words.

"Truth or Dare, Gabriella?"

Her heart was beating a mile a minute.

She was surprised that Troy couldn't hear it as he whispered the words against her lips and she felt them through her body.

In defense, she swallowed hard and replied.

"Truth."

"Do you want me to kiss you?"

Damn.

She hadn't seen that coming.

She'd thought if she'd gone with dare, he would have dared her to kiss him and she would have refused loudly and without preamble.

But, truth? She couldn't lie. No matter what situation.

If it helps, Gabriella reminded herself dimly, lying is not her strong point. At all.

"I - uh, Troy."

Crap.

Gabriella hadn't been aware that she could make herself say Troy's name like that but apparently, she could. All it took was being breathless from him being so close and a heart that won't stop pounding and his name was a breathy word that almost got caught in her throat and a sound he apparently liked, if the way his eyes had darkened tenfold was any indicator.

"That sounds like a yes to me."

Gabriella blinked as he moved closer.

She's not too sure how much closer he could have come but he moved all the same.

"Wait."

Slapping a hand on his chest, she felt her eyes flutter at the muscle beneath her palm. It felt really good.

And it made her a little nervous too, she'd never been this close to a boy before and definitely not when he'd been looking at the way Troy currently was.

Which was like he could swallow her whole if she let him.

"What?" His thumb began to trace circles on her hand again and Gabriella felt her heart skitter before she licked her lips.

"Uh. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare."

Great. Now she had to think of a dare for him.

Inspiration struck.

"I dare you to honestly describe me in ten words."

"Irritating, exasperating, gorgeous, sexy, intelligent, maddening, funny and infuriating."

Her eyes widened and she yanked herself away from him as he finished listing the adjectives she'd thought he'd have to think about first.

"You do not!"

"What? Clearly I do otherwise I wouldn't have said the words." Troy glowered at her a little as she continued to stare at him through wide eyes.

"But - but, I'm not!" She spluttered and he sighed in frustration.

"Which part? 'Cause I guarantee that you're all of them." He shrugged. "I've thought about it, okay?"

Gabriella couldn't help but stare at him.

"Y-you think I'm gorgeous?" She asked in a small voice that she hated.

"Clearly."

"And sexy?"

"Duh."

"And funny?"

"When you're not being infuriating, sure."

What. The. Hell.

She'd never been called anything like that before.

"Oh, and you have the most awesome legs I've ever seen. I wasn't lying before about you having a seriously crazy body."

"I - I, just..."

She was struggling for words and she never struggled for words.

But this had to be an exception.

The boy who irritated the hell out of her had just called her all the things she'd never even known she'd wanted to hear and was acting like it wasn't a big deal, at all.

"You what?" Troy snapped, clearly irritated with her and Gabriella blinked again.

"I - nothing. Isn't it your turn to ask?" She shot back, finding his irritation easier to deal with than the swirl of emotions running through her.

He thought she was gorgeous.

"Ask what? Truth or Dare? I do believe that this game may have been exhausted when you freaked out at my answer to your dare. By the way, who disguises a truth question as a dare?"

"I do. It makes it so much more fun, don't you think? And why give up now? You started the game." She was being sarcastic but she couldn't help herself. He brought it out in her.

He also thought she was sexy.

"Which means I can end it whenever I want, seeing as you clearly don't get why I started it in the first place." He threw back at her and Gabriella huffed in frustration.

"Oh, well, then. Let's have a cry and then rant about why you started it in the first place."

He was on top of her before she could finish her sentence.

The first aid kit crashed to the floor as the couch gave under their combined weight and she sunk into the cushions, finding the warmth and feel of him completely illuminating. More so then the way he scissored his legs so they'd be trapped under his and the way he cuffed her hands above her head and he braced himself on an elbow, like he'd had a lot of practice at this sort of thing.

Gabriella gave a thought to struggling but found herself convinced it would be a bad idea because she could feel the entire length of his body and she really didn't want any surprises that could be caused by her movements.

Then again, being trapped under the boy who thought she was gorgeous, sexy, intelligent and funny wasn't exactly a hardship.

And it really helped that she was really attracted to him, as well.

"The game, Montez," Troy started, eyeing her face and then letting go of her wrists to trail his fingers down through her curls. "Started because I want to kiss you. Now, I'm pretty sure I have to kiss you. You don't mind, do you?"

Her mind shut down. Stopped working completely as he smirked down at her and asked her something that she couldn't quite recall.

Then,before she knew it, his lips were moving towards hers at an agonizing pace and her brain lit up again.

In total panic.

"Troy," she whispered. "I haven't done this before."

He paused.

And Gabriella held her breath, waiting for the inevitable teasing. The mocking. The retaliation to her words.

"Well then, you're just going to have to learn, aren't you, baby?"

His lips crashed into hers before she could register what he'd said.

A/N: Well, I hope that was worth. Gabriella amuses me in the first part. I couldn't help it. She's funny!