Troy was tired. He had been driving around until 4AM. He still felt the force that Ryan put on his lips. Troy bit his lip. Ryan's lips should be outlawed. They were full and so soft. To top it off, the cute little noises should not be allowed to come out of them. Hw was wondering what he should do and how he could have acted that way towards Ryan. "Why did I just leave Ryan?" Troy thought. "All I could do was say I'm sorry but I can't do this. How pathetic can I be. I just drove off and left him there scratching his head."
Troy opened his eyes and peered into the darkness of his room. His head was pounding. He slowly moved his head to his nightstand. The clock read 8:36 PM. He closed his eyes again. There was a dull throbbing pain behind them. He knew he should have set his alarm, but he'd been so tired. He felt hot, sticky and he had that dry cotton feel in his mouth. He slowly sat up in his bed. The pain in his head increased. Suddenly an image of Ryan lying on top of him popped in his mind. He felt the familiar current of bliss and mixed with shame build up inside him. Troy's head fell back down onto his pillow. Troy was really starting to regretted telling Ryan. "What about Gabriella? Ahhh! My head. Why is God punishing me?"
"Troy? Champ, are you awake?"
"Shit!" Troy thought. Throwing his hands over his eyes.
"Uh yeah, Dad..." God, his voice sounded hoarse.
"Champ, are you getting sick? Gabriella is on the phone." he heard the knob of his bedroom door move.
"No. No. Uh, I'm fine, I'll be right there dad!" He heard the click of the knob turning back.
"Okay"
Troy slowly got out of bed. He staggered into the bathroom. Flipping on the light switch his eyes squinted in pain. He looked at his face in the mirror. God, he looked like shit. He splashed a little water on his face. Several minutes later. Troy walked downstairs to the living room. His dad was sitting at his desk looking over playbooks. His dad noticed him and pointed at the phone sitting on the end table.
"Hello!" Troy said walking into the kitchen.
"About time! Geez Troy, sleep long enough?" Replied Gabriella.
"Yeah. Ha…Ha… My head has been killing me." Troy answered as he opened a cabinet.
"I'm sorry. Anything I can do?"
"Na… I took some stuff." Grabbing a glass for the cabinet.
"I want to talk to you about something."
"Sure. What about?" He replied walking over to the refrigerator.
"Do you love me?" she said as Troy's heart stopped.
"……Gabriella I do I really love you." He said smiling opening the fridge.
"I know you have been going thru a lot Troy. Its just. Its just, last night me and Taylor where going to surprise you at the Coffeeshop." There was a burning sensation in his gut. "And outside I saw. I think I saw. You and Ryan." The glass fell from his hand. "Where you two making out?" He wanted to throw up.
"Champ! You okay?" Troy's dad called from the other room at the sound of braking glass.
"YEAH DAD! I GOT IT" He yelled to him. "Gabby, Its…..We….I..can..explain."
"Troy, maybe we should…"
"No!" He said cutting her off.
"Troy."
"Nothing happened. Okay stuff happened.. Its just. Its not going to happen again I promise." He said trying to reassure her.
"Okay." she said with a soft voice.
"Im sorry, Gabriella."
"Get that headache under control. Ill talk to you tomorrow." She replied in a up beat tone.
"Sure, I will. Hey?" Feeling like a dog that just got kicked.
"Yeah?"
"What did Taylor say?"
"She didn't see."
"Okay."
"I know I maybe setting myself up, but Im not forcing you to stop being his friend. I just want you…"
Cutting her off again "Nothing is going on."
"Okay well good night, Troy"
"Night Gabriella." Rubbing his eyes with his fingers. "I love you." But the line was already disconnected.
Troy just stared at the broken glass for a while. His heart was pounding. Gabriella had nothing to worry about. She mustn't have seen how he left Ryan standing there. There was no way he would talk to him.