"Two strangers passing on the sidewalk

Barely brush each other's hand

He says "I'm sorry"

She says "Don't worry"

And that is how it all began

A few short days and night together

And it's like they were meant to be

Lying there with her he softly whispers

Just think what we were so recently"

-Martina McBride

The apartment was not what Taylor had expected at all. Her and Gabriella's apartment was in a bad neighborhood, it was run down, but they made the best of it. This apartment however, was spotless, chic, and people were swarming every where. She took note that most were basketball players with their dates. The entire atmosphere made her feel…short. So many tall people. It didn't help she was not able to wear heels tonight. She doubted she breeched the 5'0 mark without them. She searched for Gabriella, needing a short friend. She had no problem with that, however, seeing as her and Troy swarmed Chad and Taylor the minute she hobbled painfully through the door.

"So you didn't tell me that Taylor was…that Taylor," Troy said accusingly.

"Dude, I didn't know that Taylor was…that Taylor…for you," Chad said, giving Taylor a little side smile. He had not left her since after the game. Her hands get burning for his, she didn't know why but she stuffed them in her pockets to suppress the urge.

"He's been talking about me?" Taylor peeped in, staring at the two of them.

Troy rolled his eyes, "It's all he does. He almost had to take a vote to ban the name Taylor from the house." Taylor found herself pleased by this comment, a little too pleased.

"Shut up, I have not," Chad replied quickly with a punch to his arm. His face was turning as red as a black person could get. He seemed boyish and nervous, jumpy, he kept sticking his hands in his hair, which Taylor noted, made it even bigger.

"Don't be shy, Chad," Gabriella chimed in, "She spoke about you too," Taylor snapped out of studying Chad's curls and looked at Gabby who winked at Taylor, and Taylor met her wink with a solid glare. "Besides," Gabs began, looking devilish, "I like you two together, it could work." She laughed again as both Taylor and Chad blushed and looked away.

"Guys…guys," Taylor pleaded, "Stop laughing!" She felt lucky she was black, because if she wasn't she would be bright red right now. Chad seemed to sense their need to escape before being roasted more, so he came to her rescue, "Guys, Taylor should probably get off her feet, I'm going to take her over there."

In any other case, Taylor would have argued that she was fine, though her foot had been throbbing since she stepped out of her car, but she was glad for an out as she let Chad lead her over to the couch and sit her down, he sat down close to her, taking her leg with her sprained ankle, and laying it across his lap.

From across the room Gabriella smiled in satisfaction and looked at Troy, "So what do you think?"

Troy ran his fingers through his hair, "I've known Chad a long time…and I know he just met this girl but…he has never acted this way. You should see him when it's just us. He talked about her all the time. I thought it was weird because, you know, he delivered pizza to her a few times. But…I didn't know it was Tay."

"If they don't get together, I'm going to put them together," Gabriella said staring at them.

"Uh, Brie, I don't think you can do that…"

She gave him a try-me look, "Troy, just watch. I'll give them a chance to do it on their own first, but then I'll step in."

He laughed and slid his hand around her waist, pulling her close to him, "Ok, Gabriella," and kissed her forehead before pulling her towards some of his friends to introduce them to her.

*******

"Can I see it?" He asked softly, already rolling up her jeans.

"Ya, I guess," she said, silently thanking herself that she had just gotten a pedicure.

She watched as her rolled up her jeans half way up her calf, then very slowly, very gently, slid her shoe off. She kept cringing, but only to prepare for the pain that never came. He was so careful with it.

"Have you iced it recently?" He asked, his tone business like but still caring. He squinted his eyes every so slightly as he examined the tape job.

"No not for a few hours, I've been out, I was going to--"

"You should ice it," again his tone business like.

"Yes but it's all taped up and I don't know how to redo it."

"I can do it," he said quickly, finally looking into her eyes. She didn't realize until he did that she had been wanting him too. She loved how he looked at her. His eyes were so dark, but they showed his emotions so beautifully that it was almost breath taking. She had never seen someone she found so attractive in so many different ways. She took a breath before answering, to clear her head. However, it just filled her with his scent, so it didn't help at all.

"Chad, that's nice of you but…do you even know how to tape an ankle?" The last thing she needed was to be used as a test dummie and be ripping it off late tonight when all the circulation was cut off. She waited for him to say he had no clue how, but instead he let out a chuckle.

"I'm in school to be a physical therapist, I can wrap an ankle."

"Oh," Taylor said, slightly surprised, "Physical therapist? No hope for the NBA?"

Chad sighed, gave her a smile, "I'll get the ice first, then we will start talking, I have a feeling if I don't get it now, I won't want to get up to get it later." He bent her leg at the knee, kept it lifted as he slid off the couch, then replaced his lap with a pillow, before setting her leg down gently.

"Don't move," he said playfully and winked before he walked off.

She sat there, wondering what he had meant by that. He wouldn't want to get up? Did he really want to talk to her that bad. She hoped he did, she smiled down at her swollen ankle, glad that it had gotten her planted with him for the evening. She patted it, "Good work." Maybe this little slump she was in wasn't looking so bad now.

He came back quickly, an ice pack in hand and set it down on the couch. He tried to slide under back where he was without hurting her but he bumped it and she jumped a good six inches in the air and yelped so loud quite a few people turned. When she looked at his face it was frozen, "I am. So. Sorry."

"It's fine, it's fine," she said quickly, fighting the urge to grab it.

"I'm so, so, so sorry, " he said placing it gently on his lap.

She smiled, the pain from bumping it had faded, "Ok, who is the one apologizing now?" She touched his arm to let him know it was ok. He gave her a small smile, "If you don't want me to touch it now I understand."

She smiled again, "Chad, I'm a little tougher than that, you can touch it, I just wasn't expecting it, it surprised me more than it hurt. Now…are you going to answer my question?"

He slowly started to take the tape off, strand by strand. He worked slowly and so gentle, the only reason she really knew his hands were there was the tingle she felt whenever he touched her.

He smiled, "I'm not tall enough as an outside shooter to make it to the NBA, six two just doesn't cut it these days. I mean, it would be nice to get looked at by them but chances are they would stick me in some B league, pull me up for the play offs, and then send me back down. It would be unfair to me, and to the game, to play longer than I should. So if it's meant to be it will happen, if not. I think I could be really happy doing this."

She looked over at him, watching him as he pulled the last of the tape off. Her ankle was more than double its size and around the whole bone was black. Purple was dabbed around the edges and beyond that was a gross yellow.

"Wow, Taylor, this looks really bad. How are you walking?"

"Eh," she said casually, "I've had worse."

He looked at her in disbelief, "Guys would be carried off the court for something like this, you just walked up the stairs and everything. Have you been walking on this all day?"

"Well," she said laughing, "I walked on my hands a little."

It took a second for that to register, then he laughed, "You're unlike anyone I have ever met, Taylor McKessie." he steadily placed the ice pack on her ankle. She jumped a little and her look at her, concerned, "Did, I hurt you?"

"No, no," she said quickly, "It's just cold."

There was a calm silence between them for a few moments, "You know," she said, "It takes a lot of guts to admitt that you might not make it to the NBA. Most guys aren't man enough to admitt they might not cut it."

"Most guys just cant face the odds. Only one percent will make it. Troy over there," Chad pointed towards his friend, "he has a really good shot. But what about you? Any Olympic medals in the future?"

She laughed a little, "Nah, it was either train for the Olympics or go to college. As a gymnast it's either or. If I wanted to I would have had to go professional and then I wouldn't be eligible for college, which was always my top priority. Gymnastics just helped me get there for a lower price."

He nodded in understanding, "Where do you go?"

She hated this question, it was always awkward, "Uhh…Stanford."

He let out a low whistle, "Whoa."

"It's not a big deal."

He gave her a look, "It's kind of a big deal, you have to be brilliant to get into there."

She shot him a look next, "I'm the exception."

He shook his head, making his curls bounce, "Whatever," he chuckled.

Another calm silence fell between them. They were already comfortable around each other. She was basically in his lap and letting him basically play doctor on her. They were bantering back and forth, a few days ago he was just the pizza guy. Things like this didn't happen.

"This is weird, you know."

"What's weird?" He asked

"All this! You show up at my door, randomly to give me a freaking pizza, and now here we are, our roommates date. It's kind of surreal."

"Or fate," he said giving her a playful grin, though something told her he was not joking, and something inside of her agreed with him.

"Or surreal," she said sticking her tongue out.

"It's not everyday a girl like you shows up on your door step…or I guess you show up on hers,"

"A girl like me," she said laughing quietly, "you don't even know me." If he did, he wouldn't be talking to her. She wasn't good enough for him, she shouldn't even be sitting on the couch with this guy.

"We could change that," he said daringly

Taylor squirmed slightly, "Depends on what you mean by that."

He laughed again, she didn't even care that he was laughing at her, she loved the sound of it, "I mean, we will play truth. You ask a question to the other person, they cant lie. First one to not answer a question loses."

Taylor's competitive nature began to surface, even to the smallest challenge, "You're on."

He grinned, he seemed to like what he saw in her, "Ok, I'll start easy on you, favorite number,'

Without thinking she blurted out, "Eight." She watched his face spread into a satisfied grin, "Oh don't get a big…ger head! It was eight before I saw that that was your number!"

"Sure, sure, sure."

"Where are you from?" she asked, playing with a strand of her hair that fell to her waist when she was sitting.

"Phoenix, Arizona," he replied, "Love me some dry desert heat."

"Ew, sounds awful." she made a face.

"Not really, you should go there during the winter, it's amazing. And monsoon season, everything smells so good."

"Ya but the summers suck."

"True, summers do suck, but you just don't go outside unless you have to."

"Ok, your turn."

He thought for a short moment. Running his finger along the outside of her bruising. She felt her skin tingle under it where he had touched. "Tell me something you fear."

"I hate blood. I hate blood more than anything." She squirmed at even talking about it.

"You hate blood?" he asked curiously.

"Ya, I hate everything about it, the smell, how it feels it's just …ew. " she gagged a little talking about it. She actually passed out whenever she saw it. Hit the ground, straight up, but she didn't want to disclose that information.

They went on like this for an hour straight. Learning whatever they could about each other. Favorite color, food, vacation spot, how they met Troy and Gabriella. After an hour though, the questions kept coming.

Taylor had finally suppressed her laughter when she found out that Chad had wet the bed until seventh grade. She finally was able to ask, "What were you like in high school?"

He had a small smile, almost like high school had been a very memorable time. "I was your typical cocky jock. I loved the ladies and they loved me back," he grinned in her direction, "It was a seriously cool school. They lived for our basketball season, and we didn't disappoint. But, I've grown out of my high school days, I'm glad they happened, but I'm also glad I'm not that guy anymore."

"You're a ladies man?" she said grinning, but really kind of turned off.

"Used to be," he said looking at her, studying her reaction. She almost thought maybe he saw through the grin. That made her feel vulnerable.

"What changed? How did you go from being a tool to Mr. Nice Guy?"

"Wow! Tool?" He said laughing, "Harsh. But a fair question. You see, I had this best friend named Troy, who was always a nice guy, everyone loved him. And I would be juggling girls around, sometimes more than one at a time, and he would always tell me 'Dude, that's not the way to treat them, on day it's going to bite you in the ass.' And it did," He smiled, "I fell head over heels for this girl who pretended to be way more into me than she was, and then she crushed me when I found out she was cheating on me." Through the whole story his smile had stayed on his face, he looked up at Taylor, who had her chin cupped in her hand, her elbow propped up on her leg. "So that's when Troy got to tell me I told you so, and that I decided I wouldn't treat girls like objects anymore."

"So how has that worked out for you?" Taylor asked, "Gotten yourself the woman of your dreams yet?"

He stared at her intently for a few moments, "Nope, not quite yet."

"No girlfriend?" She asked, scolding herself for being nervous about the answer

"No, I'm pretty single," She noticed that he had scooted closer to her, or she had leaned in, one or the other.

"Why? No girl has caught your eye?"

He smiled, his big wide smile, "Oh, a girl has caught my eye alright. But she unfortunately, is taken by someone, who in my opinion, is no where near good enough for her." He kept his grin up as Taylor registered what he said. Her face grew hot as she blushed, he seemed to have that affect on her a lot. Her fingers got that similar tingle she had earlier, making her want to reach out and touch him, hold his hand, run her hand down his arm, anything. She had to grasp her hands together to keep from doing so.

"Maybe it's not that the guy isn't good enough for her, it's that she isn't good enough for anyone else."

His eyes went wide for a second, then dark, looking at her like he wanted to reprimand her, "You obviously don't see this girl in the right light. She is absolutely beautiful, inside and out," the way he looked at her, the way he emphasized the word beautiful, she wanted to cry. She swallowed hard before speaking again.

"Does this girl have a name?" Taylor asked, playing along, smiling easily after his last comment. She knew she shouldn't. She knew this was going to get her in trouble, but she didn't care at the moment.

"Well," he said, seeming pleased that she was in on it, "I thought at first her name was just a letter, but she later informed me otherwise," he had inched even closer to her. "The problem is," he said, starting to lean in, "I don't think she returns my feelings. Even though I have this crazy gut feeling that it's right, I don't think she feels it."

Her stomach fluttered nervously, she found her body creeping in, and soon there faces were close, "I think maybe you underestimate what this girl is feeling," she found herself staring, for the second time tonight, at his lips. She wanted to kiss them so badly, she didn't think she would be able to sleep unless she knew what it felt like. She imagined his lips caressing hers, moving slowly with hers until she was out of breath. She knew, also, that he was imagining the same thing. She watched as his hand came towards her face, cupping her cheek in it. His hand was rough and calloused but gentle as it formed to her. His lips lowered to hers and she raised her chin to meet his lips. Her head was screaming stop but her heart was not going to let this opportunity pass by. Their cheeks brushed against each other, and she could feel his breath on her neck. His forehead leaned against hers as he dipped down lower to finally kiss her. She wanted it, she wanted it so bad her chest hurt.

"Hey Chad," one of his teammates chimed in, she felt insane sadness as she heard him sigh regret in her ear instead of kissing her lips. "I was just about to head out, though I'd say goodbye."

He seemed to be completely unaware that he was interrupting. Did he not have eyes? She watched Chad to see what he would do: he recovered and held out his hand to shake his friends, "Ya, man, see you at practice."

When his friend left, he slowly looked back at her with a small smile, holding a tinge of regret on his face, "Sorry about that,"

"It's fine," she said quickly, slightly disheveled by the last minute of emotions. She tucked her hair behind her ears and folded her burning hands together. Her heart was pounding in her chest so hard she was afraid he could hear it. Her head was swimming, she wondered if he was feeling how she was. The way he had spoken to her, he had said things no one had ever said to her. She watched his face in concentration. She wanted to know what he was thinking. Was he upset, angry? Was he glad, had he changed his mind about her, realized the mistake he was making? Was his heart beating out of his chest like hers was. Were his lips burning, had his hands been tingling since he had met her, like hers had?

"What's going on in your head, Taylor?" Chad asked quietly. She looked up to see him studying her. His face read curiosity, anxiety, and his eyes were burning for some reason she didn't understand. She looked down, away from his gaze that made her emotions jump start, "Just…thinking," she replied.

He smiled slightly, amused. "Ya, I gathered that."

Now it was her turn to smile, she looked up at him, "About…that, and whether or not it's a good thing it didn't happen."

He nodded, seeming to be digesting what she had just said. He ran his hand over to her ankle, which was still being iced. He lifted it off and held it up, "I should go put this in the sink, and get the stuff to wrap your ankle." He once again, gently maneuvered her until he slid out and then was off, walking a little quickly to the kitchen. Taylor grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it on her face, trying hard to decide whether to suffocate herself or to scream.

"Hey Taylor, where is Chad?" a soft, inviting voice chimed from above. Taylor looked up from her suffocation device to see Gabriella, almost glowing from her night with Troy so far.

"Probably off whishing he had never come to our door!" Taylor said dramatically as she threw the pillow to the other side of the couch. Gabriella moved her leg, not half as gently as Chad had and stuffed herself under it.

"What happened?"

"We almost kissed."

"WHAT!"

"I know, I know," Taylor said guiltily, "I know I have a boyfriend and I'm not that kind of girl but he was right there, and G, he is so nice and--"

"Oh Taylor, you know I hate Cody, I'm not "WHAT"ing because of that….what I want to know is why did you stop!?"

Taylor paused and rolled her eyes before she went on, "We were interrupted by one of his teammates."

Gabriella shook her head, "I should have been patrolling."

Taylor gave Gabriella a look, the sad thing was, she wasn't kidding.

"Gabriella, I probably scared him off, he is never coming back." She didn't expect the thought of that to have such a reaction on her body. Her chest started to hurt and the room got a little too hot, stuffy, like there were suddenly too many people.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because after, he asked me what I was thinking, and I said I was thinking about whether or not it was a good thing we didn't kiss! Now he probably thinks I hate him and that I'm just playing him and I'm just this good for nothing tease and UGHHH!"

Chad threw the ice bag in the sink, took five steps towards the hallway where Troy was standing talking to some friends, and grabbed him by the shirt, "We need to talk," he said quickly before practically pulling Troy into his bedroom.

"Dude, this is new, what is it?"

"I blew it!" Chad cried, throwing his hands up into the air before closing the door behind them.

"I'm sorry, what did you blow?" Troy was still recovering from being ripped from a group mid conversation

"Things with Taylor!" he yelled, ringing his tingling hands together. He had been so overwhelmed back there that he just stormed off, how rude of him, what had he been thinking? He just couldn't be around her, the way she made him feel was so dangerous, the things she said made him go weak. He had never spoken to someone so intelligent and down to earth. Someone so fragile but incredibly strong at the same time. It didn't hurt that she was unknowingly playing the damsel in distress card, it just made him want to help her even more. She was so beautiful, he had never felt so attracted to anyone from the moment he had seen them. When she had showed up at his game he had just known there was a reason, that they were meant to know each other for some reason. And now, he had blown it.

"Ok, ok," Troy said, trying to calm him panicking friend down, "How did you blow it?"

He was now pacing from one side of the small bedroom to the other, "I tried to kiss her! I tried to kiss her and we were interrupted."

Troy paused, waiting for him to say more, "…Ya…and?"

"And she probably thinks I'm some crazy creep who just wants some ass! Who just meets a random girl, sees her at their game, invites her to their apartment, and then doesn't have enough self control to contain his emotions for a few fucking hours and pounces on her the first chance he gets!?"

"Well, you apparently."

"Yes, me! She probably thinks I'm just some jerk. The girl has a boyfriend."

"Who is a total jack ass, " Troy chimed in.

"It doesn't matter, she is with him, I'm supposed to respect that!'

Troy leaned against the wall and whistled, "God, you've changed."

"OBVIOUSLY NOT!" Chad said falling onto the bed and throwing his hands over his face. "I couldn't help it," he said more calmly," she was so amazing, and gorgeous. You should talk to her Troy."

"I do, I see her all the time,"

"She is funny, smart, so sexy, even when she doesn't mean to be. She doesn't even realize what she can accomplish, and that is the best part."

"And you gathered all of this from talking to her for an hour and a half?" Troy said in disbelief.

"Remember when you met Gabriella, and you just couldn't stop thinking about her for days after, even before you had the guts to ask for her number? That's how it is with her. And then she was right there and…I blew it."

"I really don't think you blew it."

"I did, I know I did."

"Well what did she do when you tried to kiss her?"

"We-well," Chad said, stuttering. He thought back to it. He remembered his heart racing, his palms sweating, the butterflies in his stomach that he hadn't gotten since the first time he had kissed a girl. He remembered being so self conscious in that moment…but he did remember her leaning in too. He remembered the smell of her hair, the heat of her body when it moved closer to his. "She leaned in," he said, flustered and breathless at the memory.

"Well, there you go, she wanted to kiss you." Troy said with finality, "Obviously she doesn't think you are a creep or a tool because she leaned in too."

"Ya, but when I asked her what she was thinking she said she was thinking about whether or not it was a good idea that we didn't!"

"…You asked her what she was thinking? You're turning into a girl."

"Shut the fuck up! It sounds gay but I swear in context it didn't."

"K, well anyway. She, of course, was thinking about whether it was a good idea because she has a boyfriend, even if he is a total dick."

"You think that was the only reason?" He felt a sense of relief, the pain he had been feeling in his chest subsided, though his hands still tingled to hold hers.

"Ya, man. Believe me, if she thought you were a creep, she would probably do some weird, crazy gymnastics move and whoop your ass. You should see that girl go…it's crazy."

Chad rolled his eyes at his friend, "But what do I do? I left her out there, I said I was going to get tape and stuff. And should I talk about it?" He was worried again, God he had never had a girl that so easily affected his emotions.

"Just tell her you couldn't find it." Troy said, shrugging, "and don't bring it up, pretend like it didn't happen. Besides, you don't want her seeing what a loser you are like you were with me just now. I swear you are becoming a girl."

Chad ignored the second part of that, stood up, patted his friends shoulder, "You're the best, man," and walked out of the room.

"So what do I do when he comes back!? If he comes back!?" Taylor said, still panicking even though Gabriella had been consoling her for the last five minutes telling her he didn't think she was a tease.

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked.

"Do I talk about the kiss? Ask him how he felt?"

"I don't know, I think it would be better to just ignore it, or at least don't be the first one to bring it up."

Taylor took a deep breathe as she saw Chad coming from across the room, "Good plan, thanks Gabs."

He coughed to tell the girls that he had come back, "I, uh, couldn't find the tape, sorry," he said smiling at the both of them.

"That's fine," Taylor said, just happy that he had come back at all.

"Hey, Chad, have you seen Troy?" Gabriella asked, basically pushing Taylor's leg off of her (causing Taylor to grit her teeth) before standing up, no doubt to give them their space.

"Uh, I think he is by the kitchen," Chad said pointing in the direction. Gabriella said thanks and started to walk off. But not before turning around, Chad's back to her, and whispering to Taylor, "Ill be watching," with a wink.

Chad sat down, moving Taylor's leg a lot gentler than Gabriella had. There was a few seconds of awkward silence before Taylor, as usual, had to say something.

"You have a really nice place, by the way," she said, looking around, "I mean, I haven't seen all of it, but it's not what I expected."

Chad chuckled as he started taping her ankle quickly, like someone who had had a lot of practice, "Well that is definitely not my doing, I'll tell you that right now."

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked curiously.

"We have a roommate, Anthony. Well…he is kinda, really, extremely OCD. Everything has to be spotless. And he just so happens to have a slight sense of style, unlike the rest of us. We let him handle all appearance decisions, it's the only way he doesn't go nuts."

"Oh!" Taylor said, surprised, "Have I met him? Where is he?" she asked searching the room.

"Oh he is locked up in his bedroom," Chad said shaking his head, "He isn't exactly social…unless he is around just us guys. We are slowly trying to integrate him into society," he finished with a smile.

"Really?" Taylor said grinning, "A nerd? I'd like to meet him, I have experience with those. I speak nerd, you know."

Chad grinned at her, "I kind of guessed that. You can meet him next time you are over."

"Ya," she said smiling, "next time." she felt excited that he had mentioned them being together another time. That meant he couldn't be totally offended and think she is a tease for the almost kiss.

"That is, if you want to come over again, " he added quickly, since he was not sure how she felt about the almost kiss, he didn't want to seem too forward.

"Of course I do," Taylor said, suddenly worried again. Maybe he thought that she wouldn't want to come over because she really was not interested in him. Ugh, she couldn't take this stress, she had to say something.

'You know, about that kiss…almost kiss," she started quickly, "I don't want you to think that I'm just a tease, or a girl who would just go off and do something with a guy when I have a boyfriend. I'm usually not like that. Not that foreword."

Chad shook his head quickly, "No, oh God, no. I don't think that at all," he seemed almost alarmed that she would even think he would think that. "I was worried you thought I was some creepy jerk who just wanted ass! Not someone who actually wants something more," he blurted out. She suddenly felt all the stress from the situation go away, and her heart jumped when he said he wanted something more.

She giggled, "I don't think you are a creep…or a guy who just wants ass."

He sighed, "Good."

It was late, people had started to dwindle out of the apartment a while ago. It was now just Troy, Gabriella, Chad, and Taylor; however, Troy and Gabs were giving them there space. They knew, though, it was almost time for the night to end. Taylor felt sad, she could sit here talking to him forever. She didn't want to go back to her own apartment.

"I had a lot of fun tonight. Thanks for sitting with me, I know you probably wanted to talk to your friends," she said smiling.

"Believe me," Chad said, "I couldn't think of a better way to have spent tonight than with you."

There was her heart jumping again. She had never had someone who could just make her heart sing with one sentence.

"Do you think," he continued. She noticed that he was wringing his hands, and adjusting his shirt. His face was scrunched slightly in concentration. He looked nervous, and adorable. Her hands burned again to reach out and take his. "that I could have your number?"

She took a deep breathe, she had not been this excited for a guy asking for her number since seventh grade. She smiled fully, "Of course, I think the pizza place is getting sick of me calling asking for a special deliverer anyway. And now that you don't work there, they have my number posted saying do not answer probably." They both laughed as they exchanged numbers. He helped her up slowly, and together Troy and Chad walked the girls out the door.

"I would call that a successful party, " Troy bantered on casually as they made their way down the hall.

"One of the best," Chad said smiling down at Taylor. Everyone was keeping a naturally slow pace. She didn't know whether it was because of her of they didn't want the night to end.

"We should do this again," Gabriella chipped in. When Taylor glanced her way, she saw a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, "Just the four of us."

Taylor glared.

"Ya!" Troy said enthusiastically looking at everyone, "That would be chill, let's do it."

They started down the stairs then, taking each other's hands automatically. Taylor stopped at the foot and peered down. If you have ever had a sprained ankle, you know it's almost impossible to go down stairs with one. She was about to take the first painful step, her face already cringing when, "I could carry you."

She looked up at Chad staring at her, she wondered how often he looked at her when she wasn't paying attention. She secretly hoped it was a lot.

"Don't be ridiculous," Taylor said grasping the railing.

"Look," he said, grasping her wrist gently, "I know how bad it sucks to go downstairs with one of those, just let me carry you."

"No really, it's not that bad."

He seemed to be giving her the "you're ridiculous" look a lot tonight, she felt her face get hot as he gave it to her again.

"Taylor, I saw your ankle, it's bad. I really don't mind. You really have a problem letting people help you don't you?"

She smiled a little, "I don't like feeling vulnerable."

"You're not vulnerable, you're just hurt, and I'm just helping…please let me help you."

She loved how even when he was being stubborn, he still said please. It made her want to giggle like Gabriella. She sighed, though, disguising her girlish moment, but agreed. In one swoop he pulled her up, her feet dangling off his legs and he had her pressed to his chest. It seemed that she was nothing to him, nothing to carry anyway. She came to the conclusion that even though he was not nearly as built as Cody, he was almost as strong. She couldn't help but enjoy his strong hands holding her, she found herself wishing that she could be held by him the rest of the night. She imagined herself jus curling up with him, watching a movie. She bet he would be up for it. Or maybe just sitting there, talking together, getting to know each other better. Her mind wondered to how it would feel to kiss him, so upset that she didn't know. All too soon, he was setting her back on the ground. She wished the stairs were a few hundred flights longer. Nonetheless, Chad helped Taylor into Gabriella's car and talked to her as Troy and Gabs kissed each other good night.

"I really did have fun tonight, Taylor" he said sincerely, something unreadable in his eyes.

"Me too," Taylor said smiling, looking into those dark, sparkling eyes that she could get lost in, "We should do it again soon."

"I hope we can," he said as Gabriella opened the door into the car. He leaned down quickly, and gently kissed her cheek before pulling up and smiling again, "Goodnight, Taylor."

For the rest of the night, her cheek burned where his lips had been.