Don't tell me it's not worth trying for
You can't tell me it's not worth dying for.
Everything I do, I do it for you.
As soon as the 3:00 bell rang on Wednesday afternoon, Gabriella dashed out to her car and left the parking lot in a hurry. Her overnight belongings were already in the backseat and she was on her way to stay the weekend with Zeke and Sharpay. After her confrontation with Taylor, she felt even guiltier about leaving Troy. It didn't help, either, that it was the week of homecoming and the memories of their senior year continued to haunt her. During lunch, she had walked into Troy's office and told him where she was going. He smiled a sad, broken smile and went back to work.
On Friday morning, Gabriella lazily walked into the Baylor's kitchen, sat down at the butcher-block island and fixed a cup of coffee. When Sharpay walked into the room, it seemed like a firecracker had gone off. She was dressed in a sleek, pink velour running suit, with a Louis Vutton bag over her shoulder and a pair of big, white sunglasses on top of her head.
"Gabriella, what are you doing?" She frowned when she saw her guest still in her pajamas. "We're supposed to have another shopping day."
"Sharpay, aren't you shopped out?" Laughing, Gabriella hopped off the stool and walked over to a basket full of muffins from Zeke's bakery. "I was hoping we could do something today that wouldn't require me spending all of my money." When she took a bite into the muffin, flakes of blueberries and cake crumbs spewed all over the counter.
"I don't know what else there is to do around here than shop," Sharpay sighed. "What would you be doing at home right now?" Gabriella stopped chewing and thoughtfully considered Sharpay's question. It was homecoming Friday and the halls of East High would be bursting with excitement. Everyone would be pumped up and ready for the big game; everyone except for Troy. He is supposed to crown the king and queen later on tonight at the dance. Gabriella smiled when she thought of Troy getting dressed up and being the star of the show. However, her smile soon disappeared when she imagined him standing in their bedroom, unable to fix his tie or smooth his dress shirt. A tear leaked out of the corner of her eye.
"Sharpay, I'm a mess." Using the sleeve of her bathrobe to dry her eyes, Gabriella looked at her friend.
"No kidding. You know you're supposed to eat the muffins, not throw it all over the floor." Sharpay laughed until she noticed the gloomy look on her friends face. Resting both hands on her swollen stomach, she asked, "Gabriella, what's the matter?"
"You know what Sharpay," After taking a final bite out of the muffin, Gabriella threw the wrapper into the trashcan and poured the remaining drops of her coffee down the drain. She wiped her hand on a nearby dishtowel before grabbing one of Sharpay's delicate hands. "I do want to spend money today. Lots of it."
"Ooh goody! On what?"
"I need your help," for the first time in weeks, a huge smile spread across her face, "tonight I'm going to the homecoming dance." It took a second for Sharpay to realize what Gabriella had said, but soon enough both girls were jumping up and down, wrapped in a hug and screaming at the top of their lungs.
I would give it, I would sacrifice
Don't tell me it's not worth fighting for
I can't help it, there's nothing I want more
You know it's true, everything I do, I do it for you
Troy's forehead was resting against the top of the black baby grand piano in the living room of his house. His back was hunched over the keys and one arm covered his eyes while the other tapped randomly at the ivory keys. Several pieces of sheet music covered in spill stains and eraser shavings set in disarray next to his face. When he heard keys jingle and the door swing open he bolted up and wiped his face with his hands. Coming from the hallway, he saw a light turn on and heard heels click across the hardwood floors.
"Troy?" As she walked in front of the room with the piano, she stopped in her tracks when she saw him sitting there; his blue eyes were wide with surprise. "Troy, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the homecoming dance." She stood in the doorway across from him.
"I told them I couldn't go… why? Did you go?" He got up from the piano bench and took two steps closer to her. He let his eyes go up and down her body, making sure she wasn't a ghost or hallucination.
"Yeah, I went looking for you." Building enough courage to walk across the room and join him at the piano, her heart broke when she saw the sad condition he was in. Wearing a pair of workout pants and a sweatshirt, he was skinny and sick looking with bags under his eyes. "Why didn't you go?" She asked while pulling off her long, black over coat.
He paused before answering her, taken aback from what was hidden beneath the jacket. She had on a long sleeve, sparkling red dress that was tightly hugging every curve of her body and fell just above her knee. Her long, skinny legs and the matching red stilettos was enough of a tease to make anyone sweat. "I don't really like homecoming… not without you." He confessed, bringing his eyes up to her face. She looked absolutely outstanding, wearing just a little bit of eye shadow and lipstick. Her cheeks were red from blushing. "You cut your hair?"
"Yeah… do you hate it?" Bringing her hand up to her shortened lock, she made a bouncing action with her palm and then shook her head gently. The hair that once fell to the middle of her back now stopped at her shoulders and was pin straight. There were no curls or waves, just short, straight strands of dark hair.
"No, I love it." Nervously, he followed by reaching up and touching the bottom of her hair. Only inches apart, they stood there for while, looking into each other's eyes and reading their minds. "Gabby…" He sighed, turned away from her and faced the wall.
She reached out and grabbed his wrists and pulled him back. "Troy, please, just let listen." Her soft eyes warmed his cold, hard heart. "Please…"
Nodding, he walked over to the piano bench and sat down. Waiting for her to speak, he softly asked, "How are you?"
"Terrible." She admitted. Time for honesty. Her open answer took Troy by surprise, but he didn't interrupt. "I'm doing just awful. Leaving you was the worst thing to do. Instead of working with you through this, I spent the last month crying into a pillow every night and becoming a nervous wreck."
"Gabriella…" Before he could finish his comment, she placed one finger over his mouth signaling him to be quiet.
"Just let me finish," She smiled softly at him. "I lost a baby Troy and it's so hard to get up every morning and move on with that, especially when my best friends are the perfect mothers and have the perfect families." Bending down on her knees, she was eye level to him. She grabbed both of his hands with her and kissed them softly, "Troy I can deal with loosing a baby, but not my husband. Not my soul- mate."
His sat on the bench for what felt like an eternity to Gabriella, looking into her dark brown eyes, recalling all of the hurt he had experienced in the last month. "You didn't loose me," he whispered. "No matter what, Gabriella, you could never loose me." Pushing the stool out from behind him, he stood up and lifted her off the ground.
"We can do this together, I promise." As the embraced in a hug, a huge smile spread across both of their faces. "I love you so much it hurts, Troy Bolton."
"You have no idea, Gabby. Really no idea." When they pulled apart, he leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. "Are you home for good now?" Their noses were still touching and she was breathing heavily.
"Unless you come with me, I'm not going anywhere."
He kissed her again, this time longer and passionately. "Well will you come with me now?" His famous Bolton smile made Gabriella go weak.
"Where are we going?" Getting ready to grab her jacket from the piano, she smiled innocently.
"Somewhere that you wont need a jacket," he pulled the jacket from her eyes and tossed it on the bench before planting a soft kiss on her lips. "Or that red dress," he left a trail of kisses from her nose all the way down to the small of her neck. "You won't need the shoes," Going behind her, he saw where the dress fell to the very end of her back and grinned. She began kicking the shoes off of her feet. "Or even the earrings," While kissing behind her ear, he gently took off the pair of earrings, and sat them on top of the stack of music.
"Troy…" She moaned, "Can you ever forgive me?"
He twirled her around and looked at her with love and compassion, "I already have." She jumped up and kissed him hard on the lips, while he lifted her in the air and began carrying her upstairs. Before they even made it to the top they laughed at the red dress that was now thrown across the railing of the stairs.
There's no love like your love
And no other could give more love
There's no where unless you're there
All the time, all the way
The next morning, Gabriella woke up in Troy's arms with the sun peering into her bedroom and a fresh start ahead of her. Carefully, she pulled out of his arms, threw on a bathrobe and walked downstairs; laughing once again when she saw the dress she wore the night before hanging off the banister. She considered collecting the clothing items, but thought Troy would find it a good reminder to wake up to. Braving the cold, she walked outside to her car and began unloading suitcases and shopping bags from the backseat. One present in particular was left in the trunk of her car for her husband to find later. Unloading took several trips back and forth and by the time she was finished, Troy was already standing in the kitchen intently watching the coffee pot brew a fresh pot of coffee.
"You know what they say," she laughed. "A watched pot never boils." He leaned down and kissed her very romantically.
"Well, I'm tired." He gleamed, "you kept me up late last night." Gabriella blushed and turned towards the refrigerator.
Disgusted she slammed the door and looked at him, "we are definitely going grocery shopping today." Before he could protest, she was sure to include "and you're coming with me."
"What? You can't live off of pizza and beer?" She just shook her head and settled on a poptart she managed to find in the pantry. They sat at the kitchen table for breakfast, catching up and occasionally sharing kisses.
"So I have something for you." While she was fixing them both a final cup of coffee, he scraped the crumbs off of a plate in the trash can and set it in the sink.
"Oh yeah?" Once again, he joked, "is it better than last night?" The way he wiggled his eyes and flashed his catchy grin made Gabriella squeal unintentionally. He loved making her blush more than anything.
"Slow down tiger," he pretended to make a hurt, pouty look on his face. "You're gift is in the living room." Slowly, he made his way into the next room afraid of what he was going to find. While he searched, she leaned against the doorway and waited for his reaction. On the couch, a beautiful acoustic guitar sat, shinny and new.
"Gabs is this it?" He eyed the precious gift, unsure whether to reach out and grab it or just stare at it.
"Well I definetly don't play a musical instrument." She came to his side, picked up the guitar and handed it to him. It took him a second to get over the akwardness of holding it in his arms, but soon he was used to its' simple frame. "There is one stipulation, though."
"Okay." He sat down on the couch with her and stretched his legs out onto the coffee table. "Anything..."
"Well, I want you to learn how to play by Christmas."
"I can do that." He leaned over and kissed her on the lips, still holding onto the guitar. When they pulled away, he began strumming innocently against the strings.
"So I'm going to go take a shower and get ready to go shopping while you sit down here and play with your new toy." When she was halfway off the couch, he pulled her on top of him and began tickling her.
"Thank you so much. I love it."
"I love you too."
"I can play with the guitar later," he watched her catch her breath from laughing. "But I can't miss taking a shower with you." In a flash, she bolted up the stairs screaming and he soon ran after her.
They spent the rest of the afternoon going grocery shopping, unpacking Gabriella's things and playing with the guitar. By dinner time, Troy had really picked up on several of the chords and Gabriella would have not wanted to listen to anything else while she cooked dinner. After dinner, they took a long walk around the neighborhood, went for a cup of coffee and curled up under a blanket on the back porch and rocked back and forth in the swing, talking and staring at the stars. When Gabriella crawled in bed and snuggled against her husband, he was reading a sports magazine and quietly humming a tune.
"You know what I think?" She rested her head on his chest and looked down at the foot of the bed.
"What do you think, Mrs. Bolton?"
"I think I'm going to be okay. I have the best husband in the world."
"Well do you know what I think?" He asked, lifting her chin so he could look in her eyes. A couple of beaded tears were at the top of her cheek, but he quickly wiped them away.
"What do you think Troy?"
"I think that we can move mountains."
She climbed up to the top of the bed and kissed him on the cheek. "I think I love you Troy Bolton."
"Yeah, well, I know I love you Gabriella. I love you more than anything else in this world."
Yeah, I would fight for you; I'd lie for you
Walk the wire for you, Yeah I'd die for you
You know it's true
Everything I do, I do it for you.
AN: Ok, Yah'll. I hope you enjoyed it! That was a really hard chapter to write-- I wanted it to be perfect for you guys! Especially since your reviews are perfect and they really make my day. Also, I made sure it was pretty long to satisfy you. I'm going out of town until Tuesday and so you won't get any updates until then. But I promise, I swear, that you'll get four brand spankin' new chapters by Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning.
Also, I hope the time changes aren't confusing. I'll be sure to designate if it's a flashback to Sr. year or present day. Sound good?? If you can think of another way to differeniate them, let me know.
Special thanks to BostonSk8r ( I cant remember your new name now). Your reviews were very helpful and inspiring!!!
Get ready for a couple of sweet, oohey gooey chapters and then one horrendous one! I hope you have a box of tissues ready!
Lots of love