Disclaimer: I don't own HSM.

Inspiration: Whatya Want from Me by Adam Lambert

Author: Alleycat

Story: My Pseudo Girlfriend

TG Troy Bolton is an NBA player who wants to appease his mom about his lifestyle choices by hiring a girlfriend for his visit to trick her. Enter Gabriella, who's both fun and enticing, and changes everything

Chapter 4- The Start of the Trip

He rolled down his window and leaned his head out of the window. "How much do you cost?" Troy asked Gabriella who was standing at the curb with all of her bags under a streetlight. He briefly wondered if this was safe or if she should've just waited in her dorm room like he said.

She laughed at his joke before grabbing her carry-on and dragging her suitcase to the trunk of the pearl white Escalade. He jumped out of the front seat, left the car running, and opened the trunk for her. He grabbed her stuff and placed it next to his stuff. He turned around and finally allowed himself to fully look at her.

Her hair looked different. It was messier than her more usual defined curls. Gabriella stifled a yawn and then adjusted her shirt. She was wearing a baseball t-shirt, the kind with different color sleeves. It had white sleeves and a gray picture of Credence Clearwater Revival. She was wearing jeans, tight and light, with converses.

"You have bangs?" He blurted out. She looked so different than he had ever seen her, but still just as, if not, more beautiful than ever. He realized she looked a lot younger than he was used to. Now, in these clothes, she looked her age when before she looked his age. Both were good looks.

She fidgeted on the curb and moved the side bangs out of her face self-consciously. "Yeah, I was just too lazy to put them back."

"No!" He said quickly and put his hands up almost like he wanted her to stop messing with them. "I like them! I was just surprised is all!"

She grinned in a way that made his head spin before moving to the front side of the car. "Thank you stranger," She called before climbing into the passenger side.

He smiled briefly before jogging and getting into the driver's seat. "Do you want breakfast?" He questioned while putting on his seatbelt. The urge to just touch her was overwhelming.

She leaned her seat back and laid her head to the left side, facing him. He felt the weight of her gaze and he was nervous under it. "No, it's too early to eat anything. I will throw up," She warned before closing her eyes.

"Noted," He said, before turning the air on low as soon as he noticed her shivers. He handed her a light blanket that he brought for that exact reason. She took it gratefully.

"Now take a nap Ella, I'll wake you up before we stop."

"No, it's rude." She argued but her voice was full of sleep. She opened her eyes and lifted her head a little bit. "Did you just call me Ella?"

"No," He denied, trying to laugh it off. She probably thought he was weird, applying a nickname to a girl he had only meet less than two months ago.

Gabriella laid her head back on the headrest and smiled like she knew he was lying. He felt the back of his neck get hot. "Too bad, I liked the nickname, blue eyes." She teased while snuggling into the blanket.

He smiled brightly and struggled to keep his eyes on the road. Her compliment made his heart beat wildly but the nickname she gave him almost made him go into cardiac arrest. "I did," Troy said quietly when he gathered the courage, "and I like your nickname too."

He was talking to a sleeping girl.

"Gabriella," He shook her frail shoulder to wake her up because they were outside Panera Bread. She sat straight up and gasped for breath, as if she had a nightmare. The blanket was tangled around her. Troy jumped back in his seat. She looked wildly around before seeing Troy. She began giggling as she realized where she was and saw the panic on his face then began folding the blanket.

"Sorry," She apologized and started digging in the backseat for her purse. She found it and held it up triumphantly before placing the blanket gently in the back seat. "Let's go."

He placed his hand on her small knee, which seemed to dwarf it. They both looked at his hand on her knee and then met eyes. He cleared his throat, "You stay here and I'll get the food."

"Are you sure?" She put her purse down at his nod. Then she opened it and began to dig through it. "Let me give you some money."

"I'm not taking your money," He got out of the car and walked around to her side. He leaned into the car and put his elbows on the window frame. "What do you want?"

"Hmm," She leaned toward him in what he considered a flirtatious manner. Actually anything she did seemed lascivious. "I want a Spinach Artichoke soufflé and a soda please." She batted her eyelashes at him in an alluring way. He tried not to trip on his way in the restaurant, knowing she was watching him.

"I worked extra to save money for this trip," Gabriella told him between bites of her soufflé. They had just gotten back onto the highway before she mentioned it. "You have got to try this!" She told him excitedly and held a fork of it in front of his face.

Troy opened his mouth obediently and struggled to catch the fork without taking all of his attention off the road. With great effort, he was able to swallow it. "That is good," He agreed, noticing that Gabriella was eating from the same fork. He caught his breath as he realized it was almost like they were kissing.

He was acting like a schoolboy with a crush, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"So you have a job?" He asked conversationally, after he had put the car on cruise control.

"Yup," She said popping the 'p' in the word. "I'm a bartender."

"At twenty-one?" He asked.

Gabriella put her trash into the empty bag after she was done and only spoke after she took a sip of her soda. "Well I was a waitress as an undergrad there and as soon as I turned 21, my boss let me bartend."

Troy felt bad. He didn't know she had a job and he definitely didn't give her the customary two weeks to ask off. "You didn't have any trouble asking off for this?"

"Well I only bartend a few nights a week so it wasn't that big of a deal. Plus my boss has a crush on me so getting the time off was easy."

Troy ignored the unfamiliar pangs in his stomach and tried to joke, "I bet he's-"

"You mean she," Gabriella corrected, her eyebrows arched at his assumption. She giggled as he almost swerved into the other lane. "Are you going to ask me how she kisses?"

This time he did swerve into the right lane. The surrounding car honked and then held up the middle finger as they sped past the Escalade. "You kissed her?" He asked, unaware or not caring of his driving.

She ran a teasing finger down his cheek. "No, blue eyes, I am too much of a professional."

He ignored his burning ears and sweating palms. "Have you ever kissed a girl?"

"Stranger," She leaned over to his seat and got close enough that she was a hair's breath away from his ear. "A girl must always have her secrets," She teased, before sitting back in her seat and fiddling with the radio like she didn't just turn him on with her voice and proximity. Like she didn't just distract him enough that the road he was driving on became blurry. That all he could think about was pulling over and making sure she never kissed anyone but him ever again.

His cell phone beeping alerted him and distracted him from his sexual fantasies. "Do me a favor and open my phone you minx you?"

She winked at him when she heard his nickname. "Promise me you'll call me that in front of your parents!" She opened the phone but didn't read it when he started laughing. "Or is that my bedroom name?" She purred, leaning seductively over her armrest.

He choked and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "You're going to be the death of me Ella."

She just giggled and went back to his phone. He liked this new, sensual side to Gabriella. It was a different side of her than he had experienced before. The flawless transition from sexy to innocent that she did seemed effortless and all the more enticing. He hoped she wasn't only acting like this because he paid her to be his girlfriend.

"It's from your brother and it says that your mom invited a Sharpay to dinner."

He groaned.

"An ex-girlfriend?" She asked sympathetically, closing his phone and putting it back in the cup holder.

"More like an ex-stalker," He admitted, giving her a side-glance to watch her reaction. She had none and he resisted the urge to pout. "My parents' thinks we're meant to be," He mocked.

"Ooh, drama. I love it, spill blue eyes." She put both of her elbows on the armrest and gave Troy her full attention. It excited him and made him self-conscious.

"Nothing much, she was obsessed with me in high school. I gave into her towards the end of senior year only because I was a boy and she was willing." He chuckled when he heard Gabriella whistle.

"You really know how to sweet talk a girl, stranger," She joked.

He only continued talking when he was able to stop laughing. "Plus I knew we were going to different colleges so it was a time limit. Big mistake, she got clingy and tried to follow me to Berkeley."

"And the plot thickens…" She trailed off slowly, still giving him her undivided attention.

"She was devastated when I was finally told the truth."

She shook her head at his stupidity. "Ouch, stranger, you never tell a girl the truth. Not when it's that kind of truth."

He snorted, wondering if she would want him to take the same advice for her. He doubted that she would put up with a liar. "So what should I have said?" He asked sarcastically.

She turned toward the road and opened her purse. "That you care about her but you need time to focus on your developing career." She pulled out her chapstick and put it on, before laying back. He wondered if it was strawberry like it smelled. "So do you want me to skedaddle now that you're long lost love is back?"

His eyes darted over to her quickly and was relieved to find her laughing. "If anything you're going to be my buffer!"

"Don't worry I will protect you from the big bad Sharpay," She jokingly held up her arm and flexed her muscle.

It was the most pathetic muscle he had ever seen but she looked adorable striking muscle poses. He leaned over and squeezed her thin arm keeping one hand on the steering wheel. He couldn't help but chuckle when his hand almost enveloped her whole arm. "That's impressive," He commented, unable to keep the smile off his face and not wanting to release her arm.

She nodded, as if he was just confirming what she already. "I forgot to ask you, what kind of couple will we be?"

"Huh?"

She moved her purse to the floorboard of the car and slipped off her tennis shoes to reveal shockingly white socks. "Will we be the sickingly sweet and horribly-in-love couple or the we-think-we're-perfect but we-argue-behind-closed-doors couple?" She folded her legs Indian style.

"Hmm," Troy tapped the steering and looked as if he was seriously debating the choices. "I think the first one."

She changed positions again, this time tentatively placing her sock clad feet on the dashboard. "How are you going to explain the breakup then?" She asked, looking to see if there was any disapproval in her feet placement.

"Well, I don't visit that often, so I figure I'll keep up the charade as long as I feel necessary." He didn't want to tell her that he hoped he would never have to tell them about a breakup. He wanted to turn this sham of a relationship, slowly but surely, into a legitimate one.

She appraised him critically before smiling widely. "You just want to keep me around, don't lie." He opened his mouth to agree with her but Gabriella kept talking. "So how did we meet?"

"I say we keep it as close to the real story. We met at that café, you were in front of me at line, and I shouted at you for a date. You, charmed by my wit and handsome good looks, could not help but give in."

She nodded, as if it made sense. "How long have we been dating?"

"Less than a month."

She looked shocked, her eyes and mouth wide open in the cutest way. "And I'm meeting the parents already? Jeez I'm good."

They finished discussing their 'relationship' and decided to stop for lunch. They stopped at a McDonald's which was the only restaurant they could seem to find and were willing to go to. Troy paid for her food again, amidst her protests.

Troy had been driving for eight hours and Gabriella offered, after lunch, to start driving. He protested profusely to which she threw a French fry, sans ketchup, at his head. It would've started a food war but the other patrons were giving them dirty looks.

Throughout the whole meal, Troy wanted to hold her hand. It was sitting, innocently enough, inches from his own. His hand twitched from restraint but his mind wouldn't let him take the plunge. Never mind that he was scared she would take everything he did as a part of their charade.

The last eight hours were spent listening to music. He discovered that she liked all types of music but admitted rock was her favorite. She made him listen to her favorite artists like the Ramones, Bob Dylan, and Pink Floyd. Then came her greatest hits of CCR and she turned it up so loud, Troy felt like his ear drums were going to burst. Then he saw the amount of fun she was having by singing loudly and doing air guitar, he knew he wouldn't say anything.

"We're about two minutes away," He warned when he turned into the familiar subdivision.

Gabriella gasped and started grabbing things out of her purse. He should have probably told her at the fifteen minute warning. "I can't believe I am going to meet your ex looking like this!" She pointed to her clothes and her face before resuming her digging. "I am not going to make anyone jealous!"

"You look beautiful," He promised, before pulling into a driveway. Their house was a modest two story house with a colorful garden and a porch. She struggled to find her mascara but Troy was already opening the passenger door when she grasped it. "C'mon Ella, you look gorgeous."

She rolled her eyes but took his offered hand. He helped her out of the truck when he noticed the front door open. "I'm going to kick your ass," She promised quietly.

"They're coming now," He whispered, and she gave him a look that said 'bring it on.' As soon as she got her feet planted on the ground, she snaked her arms around his waist. Usually it would be the other way around but he was much too tall and her arms were too short.

"Put your arms around me," She instructed.

He did as she said, and he let her pull him close. She seemed a lot better at this acting like a couple thing. His mind blanked every time they touched but she seemed able to think.

"Lean down, and put your forehead against mine," She whispered then giggled as he did exactly as she said. He was a good listener. "I hope for your sake that my breath doesn't stink."

"As I live and breathe," A tall man with darker brown hair and green eyes appeared at the back of the car. "Troy Bolton being romantic?"

They separated and Troy schooled his face to act like they got caught. He looked at Gabriella and noticed her face was red. She hid behind his arm like a little girl on her first day of school. Troy realized she was a really good actress.

"Hey Josh," He said lacing his fingers through hers. They shared a sweet smile and Troy looked over to see his brother acting like he was gagging. They were better at it then he thought. "Josh meet Gabriella, my girlfriend."

She squeezed Troy's hand before approaching his brother to shake his hand. "It's nice to meet you,"

He looked amused. "You're so beautiful, considering," He trailed off and assumed she knew what he was hinting at. The prostitutes he met were always ugly, not that he had met any since he met his wife.

Her eyes narrowed, not sure what he was implying but realizing it was most likely insulting. "Considering what?"


I feel like we are finally starting to get into the good stuff, so please be patient and keep reading…

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