Thanks for reviewing. Here is chapter four :)

"Gabs, are you really going to do this?" Rachel Myers, Gabriella's best friend, asked her. They were having lunch in their favourite restaurant, which was located right next to the beach. Gabriella had just confided in her friend that she had booked a flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico. She couldn't go immediately, due to work commitments. So she had arranged to take a few weeks of annual leave the following month. Looking up at her friend, she nodded seriously. "Yes, I really am, Rach."

Rachel had been hearing about the mysterious Troy ever since she and Gabriella had become friends. The two women had met when they had both began their nurse's training together, and had spoken every day since. "Gabi, I know you've got your heart set on this guy. But..." she was interrupted when Gabriella held up one hand and sighed. "Please, don't. My mom already tried this." She really didn't want to hear that she was just being obsessive - whether it was true or not.

"Actually, I was going to say that when you find him, he might not be as 'drop-dead gorgeous' as he was when you first met him," Rachel finished, grinning playfully. Gabriella rolled her eyes at her friend, then grinned back. "So you don't think I'm crazy?" she asked with relief.

"Not crazy. But you're certainly more of a risk-taker than I thought! So, what's changed? You've known about this guy for eight years. I've known you for almost six. And in that time you've always talked about this 'Troy' as if he was just a fantasy. I want to know why you suddenly have to find him!" Rachel demanded. Gabriella looked her friend in the eye and took a deep breath. All of the answers to those questions; and all of her reasons for doing this, were stored carefully in her head. Just as they had always been.

"Because, Rach, I'm twenty-four years old, and I've never had a boyfriend. And I know why. It's him. It's always been Troy that I've compared every guy to, which is why every first date goes no further. I can't stop thinking about what could have happened if only I'd had the chance to see him again. I just...I have to try. I just have to." As Gabriella finished her speech, she realised that a single tear was threatening to fall and she scrunched up her eyes to stop it. After a minute, she glanced up, waiting for a reaction.

Rachel moved her chair over to sit beside Gabriella, and reached over to hug her. It was obvious to her that the decision her friend had made had not been taken lightly, and that finding this guy was so important to her. "Then you go get him," Rachel told her firmly. Gabriella let out a soft giggle and hugged her back gratefully. "Thanks," she replied with a smile. If only it were that simple, she thought. She knew that she wouldn't be able to just 'go get him'. The most she felt she could expect was to at least find out something about him. About Troy.

.HSM.

One month later, Gabriella sat in the airport, her hands fumbling nervously in her lap. She was anxious, happy and excited all at the same time. More than anything she couldn't believe she was really doing this. A part of her would always remember the way he had looked at her that night. She was convinced that Troy had felt their immediate connection too.

And yet, another part of her; the anxious part, worried that he wouldn't remember her. Whether he had felt what she had or not, it had been a long time. What if she found him, and he laughed at her for travelling all that way on a whim? Even worse was the worry that he may not be the guy she thought he was. What if her mother was right; what if she was holding onto the memory of a sixteen year old Troy that was now, at twenty-four, not the person she had first connected with anymore?

.HSM.

Gabriella sighed. The hours until her flight to Albuquerque were dragging by at a snail's pace. She tried to distract herself from all the possibilities that were rolling around in her head. But as she searched around her with her eyes, what she could see only had the opposite effect. There were couples everywhere. One young couple in particular caught her eye. The young man had his arm wrapped around his girlfriend, and they were walking across the airport together. They both had a look of pure, unquestioning love in their eyes.

That was all Gabriella wanted for herself. She had seen that it was possible, caught a brief glimpse of it that one new year's eve. That was what this whole trip was based on. All she could hope for was that she could find some kind of answer. Finally, snapping out of her thoughts, she heard her flight being announced, along with another. And as she walked towards it, what she didn't know was that on the other side of the airport, one Troy Bolton was heading towards his own flight. They wouldn't be able to find each other on their separate trips; but neither knew that each of them was just as desperate to do so.

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Next chapter sees Troy and Gabriella begin their searches...