A/N: And Aimee does it again! I left it hanging haha. But ohhh! Was there a past romance with Troyella?? And what is Gabi going to say??
"Troy? ..."
I was shocked. But I wanted things to seem normal for Gabi, so she wouldn't feel intimidated. I tried not to look surprised too an overwhelming extent, so I looked over at her leisurely and replied. "Yes Gabi?"
She glanced at me timidly, and then looked to the floor. "Are thing's ever going to be okay again? I'm so lost all the time, and sometimes I really don't know how much I can take…" She sounded hoarse, and her voice was quavering. I guessed her talking for the first time, was in sorts like a person walking on a bad leg for a first time after a cast removal. It wasn't steady just yet. When I looked at her, tears were clearly forming in her eyes, causing my heart to break for her. I so badly wanted to ask her what had happened, but thought better of it. If she was going to tell me, I wanted it to be on her own terms, not because she felt forced by my asking.
"Gabriella, I know whatever you went through must've been hell to put you in the state you were in for the past year, but I am glad that you finally opened up, especially to me. I thought I had lost you forever." She looked to me again, her eyes becoming bloodshot as she fought to keep the tears from falling.
"I was scared too. Troy, I never want to lose you, ever again." Her voice was shaking badly at this point, and her tears had started sliding gently down her soft cheeks. I pulled her into a tight hug, and then pulled back just enough for me to wipe her tears away with the pad of my thumb, just to have them replaced with fresh ones.
"You never lost me to begin with Gabs. I've always wanted to be there for you. And now that you're letting me back in, its okay. There's no need to cry. You've done enough of that for one day." She smiled through her tears.
"You know, you're absolutely right. But I still feel so guilty all the time. I just let myself slip away from the rest of the world. I left everyone hanging in limbo, worrying. Then people just quit caring, so it made it that much harder to let myself get close again, because what if they didn't really care?"
"Sweetie, no one stopped caring for you. Some quit trying, but no one ever stopped worrying. And I for one didn't let a single day pass without wondering how different my life would've been with you still in it. But what's done is done. You're here with me now, and everything will be okay."
She looked at me with evident worry in her eyes, then again let her gaze fall to the floor "You promise?"
I took her chin in my hand and lifted her head so her chocolate brown eyes met my blue ones. "I promise. I'll be there every step of the way, and you never have to doubt that. Okay?"
She smiled weakly and nodded her head. "Okay."
"Alright, now let's go grab some dinner before mom starts burning the grilled cheeses. You know her first two are always the best." She laughed a bit and nodded her head.
"That's true. But the first one is always the absolute greatest and it belongs to me!" with that she playfully pushed her petite body out of my arms and ran out of the tree house, down the ladder and through the yard. I shook my head before sprinting after her. It took no time at all for me to ease past her.
"I'm so gonna beat you, Montez."
"Oh that's what you think, Bolton," she giggled. Nearly two seconds after she finished her sentence, she stopped dead in her tracks clutching her knee, then sat down on the ground, and yelled. "OWW! Troy, help me, this really hurts." Worriedly, I turned without slowing my pace and headed back towards her. Once I reached her she stood up and hit me on the arm playfully, before sprinting to the door of the house. "Haha seems that you've forgotten who the actress, who talked you into taking a theatre class is!" she yelled to me. I laughed and made my way over to her, jogging now because she was the clear cut winner.
"Ah yes, I did forget. However, you'd better be on you 'A' game next race, because I'm watching you, Montez." I replied once I got to the door as well. I opened the door and stepped inside with Brie right behind me. I was smiling to myself, noticing the glimpse of the old Gabi shining through.
My mom was just finishing dinner and instructed us to go wash up. We did as we were told and went back to the dining room. "So what would you like to drink?" I asked. But rather than answering me, she shrugged her shoulders, unwilling to speak again for some odd reason. I wondered what was up, and decided not to dwell upon it; again I really didn't want to push her. Patiently, I took her hand and led her to the fridge. "Pick whatever you like."
She studied the contents for a second before pointing to the water. I grabbed a bottle for her, and got one for myself as well. Then I led her back into the dining area. We sat down just as my mom brought the food in. Gabi of course grabbed the grilled cheese that was least burnt and smiled victoriously in my direction. I just smiled and shook my head. My dad then came into the dining room and saw Gabriella for the first time since she'd been at the house.
"Oh Gabi, I didn't know you were here. How have you been?" She only offered a small smile and a thumbs up. My dad looked at me for a split second then back to Brie who was tearing her sandwich into small pieces then plopping them into her mouth. He knew most of the story, just like my mom (not including the part about me being secretly in love with her). I was close with both of my parents, and told them nearly everything. So naturally when Gabi quit talking to me, and everyone else, it became a popular topic in my house.
Dad smiled at Gabi and replied, "Well that's good. We've really missed you here, especially Troy. He missed you like crazy, huh son?" he asked elbowing me. I couldn't help but blush, and Gabriella took note of it letting out a small giggle, after looking in my direction.
For the remainder of the dinner, we continued to have conversations, trying to include Gabi without asking her too many questions. She enjoyed herself and laughed through the meal, but still didn't speak. I was getting more, and more curious about why she'd been so open with me, just to clam up again. And again, I didn't ask. Brie needed someone to be patient with her. As long as she was okay being with me, it didn't matter if she spoke. Although I was missing her voice a lot.
After we finished eating, and helped my mom a little with the dishes, we headed back outside, this time we sat on my trampoline though letting a comfortable silence settle over up as we stared at the sky. It was nearing 6 o'clock, and was getting a bit chilly. I was perfectly fine given we lived in New Mexico and chilly, to us, was anything below 70 degrees, but Brie seemed to be a little cold. She brought her arms up and hugged herself tightly as goose-bumps formed on her skin. I took my wildcat basketball sweatshirt that read 'Bolton' across the back, off and handed it to her.
"Here, you look a little cold." She smiled gratefully and slid the shirt over her head.
"Thanks," she said in a barely audible voice. I wasn't actually sure if she'd answered or if I'd imagined this altogether.
"What time should you be home?" I didn't want her to leave, but I didn't want her to be in trouble.
"I don't know. My mom won't speak to me either." She replied teary eyed once more.
"Brie, that's terrible! Why won't she?"
"I don't know Troy. She's just like everyone else I guess. I quit talking, and for about a month she talked to me constantly, trying to get me to answer. I wanted to, but something kept me from doing it. Then her attempts became fewer, and fewer. Eventually they came to a stop. Now, I come home and she doesn't even look up from her work long enough to acknowledge my existence." She was shaking and her tears were running steadily down her face, for what seemed like the millionth time in just that day. I put my hands on her shoulders, squeezing them lightly, and then pulled her into my chest. She responded by wrapping her arms around me as best she could and buried her head in my chest. I placed my head on top of hers, breathing in her scent, vanilla. Just like I remembered.
"Shh, Brie, it's okay. It's all going to be okay." I said kissing the top of her head. I honestly didn't know if it was going to be okay or not. This situation was elevated more than I expected. But I didn't care how deep the hole was, I wasn't giving up on her.
"Troy is it okay that I don't want to go home?" my heart was breaking for her. I hated seeing her like this. A little over a year ago, if we'd been in this same spot we'd have been laughing and joking around. Gabriella still wouldn't have wanted to go home, but it would've been because she and I were playing an intense game of truth, that neither of us wanted to give up on. (It was funny that I never ended up telling her that I was in love with her during one of those games, but I hadn't). But, right then, we were sitting, her in my lap bawling her eyes out, over something that had broken her completely. It's funny how things can go from nearly perfect to just plain shit in a short time.
"Gabi, I know you don't want to go home, but you can't just stay overnight without letting your mom know."
"Are you insinuating that if my mom knew that I could stay here?"
"Well yeah, if she knew you were here and Okayed it that'd be wonderful. Like I said you're like my parents' second child. They love you…"
"Okay… I'll call her." She pulled out her phone and dialed her house number, then turned her speaker phone and placed the phone in front of us. Within a few seconds her mom's voice was answering the phone.
"Hello?" she sounded confused; most likely because Gabi's number had shown up on the caller ID. Hearing her mom's voice, Gabriella tensed and held me tighter, looking me in the eyes helplessly. I took over from there.
"Ms. Montez? This is Troy…"
"Troy, where is Gabi?" she sounded more surprised than worried, which struck me as odd. I looked at Brie, hoping to get her to talk to someone other than me, but I had no such luck. So I continued for her.
"She's at my house, with me. Ms. Montez, she finally talked today, just to me though. She's scared to death. She doesn't want to leave me. Is it okay she stays here tonight? I don't want to mess up the progress she's made today…" there was a long pause followed by a loud sigh from the other end.
"You know, I don't care, I don't care what the hell she does anymore! If she doesn't want to be here fine, she doesn't have to be. She can be with you, if that's what makes her happy, so be it. Damn it!" she was really upset, who wouldn't be. Her own daughter didn't talk to her in a year, it had to be hard. But she knew Gabi was listening, so she should've kept herself a bit more collected.
"Okay, I'm so sorry Ms. Montez. I'll bring her home after school tomorrow."
"Keep her as long as you freaking want! Like I said I don't care!" now that was downright mean. Gabi was right, her mom had quit caring. I didn't understand why though. And I didn't care, I was pissed. No one should ever treat their own daughter that way. I wanted to scream at the woman, but kept myself under control. I didn't want to scare Gabriella.
"Okay then Ms. Montez, I will." I said through my clenched teeth. I ended the call and felt Brie's arms wrap around my neck as she began sobbing.
"Shh, honey its ok. It's okay. She's just upset is all." I knew it ran deeper than that, but what else was I supposed to say. The poor girl was just finally making some headway, and her own mother was practically disowning her… it had to be rough for her.
"Troy… c... can we go in… side?" she sobbed into my chest. Anyone else would've thought she was speaking gibberish, but I understood every word.
"Sure. Whatever you wanna do sweet heart." I slid to the edge of the trampoline, being sure not to disturb Gabi's place in my lap until it was necessary. Once I reached the edge, I sat her beside me and jumped off first. Then, I held out my arms to help her. Once she was safely on the ground I placed my arm over her shoulder, so that she could snuggle into my side for comfort.
When we got inside it dawned on me that I needed to tell mom and dad that Gabi was staying. "Hey, why don't you go upstairs and pick out some of my sweats, or whatever clothes of mine you wanna wear, and take a shower. That way we can go to sleep soon. Sound good?" She nodded. I kissed her temple and watched her wander upstairs.
After she was out of sight I went into the living room, where I was greeted by both of my parents.
"Hey son, where did Brie go?" my dad questioned almost immediately.
"About that... Her mom, well, she is like really mad at Gabi. And I told Gabi she could stay here. Just for tonight at least. Is that okay?"
"Oh of course honey," my mom began, "she's always welcome here." I smiled gratefully.
"Thanks so much guys. This means a lot." Then my dad piped up.
"She should stay in the guest room. Since you guys aren't young anymore, we shouldn't have you sleeping in the same bed." I laughed a little at his comment.
"Okay, I'll go set it up." And with that I ventured up the stairs.
I went into my room and found Brie sitting on my bed. She was wearing my red basketball sweatpants along with a wildcats t-shirt, her hair was dripping wet. She showered fast. I smiled at her, seeing she was no longer crying. I plopped down next to her on my bed and she yawned.
"Tired hun?" she smiled at me and nodded. "Well I can't blame you; you have had a very long day." She nodded again. "Well, let's go get you situated then." I took her hand in mine and stood up. She followed suit and I then led her down the hall into the guest room. I lifted the covers and motioned for her to lie down. She got into the bed and snuggled under the covers. I tucked her in and kissed her forehead, before I walked to the doorway. Smiling at her, I wished her a good night and turned the lights off. As I left her though, I couldn't help but notice the worry in her eyes. I shook the thought from my head though. After I was back in my own room I put on another pair of sweatpants and took my shirt off. Then I turned my light out and got in bed for some well deserved sleep. I had to admit I was exhausted. But something kept me from falling asleep; my mind kept wandering back to the little brunette sleeping down the hall. I wondered if she was okay. I was worried.
A bit shy of half an hour later, my questions were all answered. I heard I small whimper at my door. I got up and turned the lamp on. When I opened the door, sure enough, there was Gabriella. She wasn't crying, but she looked rather distressed.
"You wanna sleep in my bed with me?" I asked her. She didn't answer, but just wrapped her arms around my wasted and sighed sleepily. That was all the answer I needed. I took her in my arms and slowly made my way back to my bed, and layed down in it with her beside of me. I reached over and turned the lamp off, the placed my arms around Gabi. Within seconds, she was out like a light, and then I soon fell into a deep sleep as well.
