The Holidays Can Change Everything

by: LunarEclipse360

Disclaimer: it's on my Christmas list...seriously it is

Sleigh Ride

December 6; 19 more days until Christmas

Troy awoke the next morning to the smell of something cooking. As he opened his eyes, he saw Gabriella bending over her suitcase, probably looking for something to wear.

"Morning." he said and she turned around, a smile forming on her lips.

"Morning."

"What smells so good?" he asked rising from the pillow.

"Tay made pancakes."

"Alright." she giggled and stood up. "Where are you going?"

"To shower and change. I mean it is ten o'clock."

"Already?"

"Yeah. You slept pretty heavy but you weren't the only one."

"Who else?"

"Your best friend that's who else. Chad was knocked out like a light. It took Tay an hour to wake him up." Troy chuckled and shook his head.

"That's just like him."

"And that's just like you, too. No wonder why you two are best friends." he smiled sheepishly and she shook her head. "I'm going to take a shower. I'll see you in a few minutes." he watched her descend the staircase before getting out of bed and heading downstairs.

"Morning guys." he said as he entered the dining room area.

"Morning Troy." Kelsi said, vouching for Jason and Chad since they were busy stuffing their faces.

"Hey Troy." Taylor said as she came out of the kitchen with two plates in hand. "Here." she said, handing him a plate. "Enjoy." he looked at the food hungrily before he started devouring it. "What is it with guys and their food?" Taylor asked looking disgustedly at the three boys.

"They love to eat I guess." Kelsi said, shrugging her shoulders.

"That's not eating, that's...I don't even know what that's called." she looked at Chad who looked as if he wasn't chewing. "Chew before you swallow Chad or you'll choke." she said and Chad started chewing his food.

Gabriella came back upstairs minutes later, dressed in a white turtle-neck and jeans. Kelsi, in turn, went downstairs to get herself ready.

"You ate already?" Troy asked.

"Yeah. I ate while you were sleeping."

"Oh. So how come Chad and Jason were eating when I got down here?"

"Because they had more than one plate." Taylor said, answering Troy's question as she went by cleaning off the table.

"Should've known." he said, rolling his eyes. He brought his empty plate into the kitchen and put it in the sink. "So anyone know what we're doing today?" he asked as he leaned against the counter.

"Shar says there's a ski lodge not to far from here. So I'm guessing that's a hint that we're going there." Taylor said and Troy nodded. He watched as Gabriella went from one side of the living room to the next, probably looking for the remote. "Stop staring or someone will notice." Taylor said and Troy snapped his eyes to hers.

"What?" Taylor rolled her eyes and turned around so she was standing the same way Troy was.

"You were staring at her. If you would have stared any longer, she would have known something was up."

"I can't help it. Last night, she...she said she loved me."

"What? She did?"

"Well she was kind of asleep when she said it but...still."

"Well then that should give you the incentive to tell her."

"I did. That's why she said it."

"But she was asleep. She probably thought she was dreaming. You need to tell her when she's awake and knows what is being said."

"I can't."

"And why not?"

"One word: Will."

"Oh yeah..." Taylor trailed, remembering Gabriella's boyfriend. Taylor never wanted Gabriella to agree to being Will's girlfriend, always knowing that one day Troy would tell Gabriella how he feels. Now that Troy was so close to caving, an obstacle stands in his way.

"Have you guys seen the remote?" Gabriella asked coming into the kitchen area.

"Probably under Chad's pillow. I swear once he gets a hold of a remote, he won't let go. I'll go check." she left the kitchen, leaving Troy and Gabriella alone.

"So...how did you sleep last night?" Troy asked, starting small talk.

"Pretty good. You?"

"Same." she nodded and silence fell between them.

"Found it." Taylor said and walked back into the kitchen, handing Gabriella the remote.

"Thanks." she smiled and went into the living room.

"I give you two time to talk and all you can do is make small talk?" Taylor asked lowly.

"What do you expect? It's been three years since we've seen each other. Conversation won't be that great between us."

"It should be. Not to mention you two were being pretty comfortable at New Roc City."

"We were having fun. It's easier to be comfortable when you're not concentrating on it."

"Riiight."

"Whatever. I'm going to take a shower." he said when he noticed Kelsi coming upstairs. "Later." he said and went upstairs to get his clothes. "I called dibbs on the shower." he called as he came back downstairs with his clothes.

"No way." Chad said and raced Troy downstairs. Soon enough a door was heard, slamming followed by a knocking sound. "Come on Troy." everyone laughed and Taylor went over to Gabriella, sitting down beside her.

"So how did you sleep last night?"

"Pretty good, except..." Gabriella turned around and looked at her best friend. "Tay can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"Last night, I had this dream and in it..." she bit her lip, afraid of continuing.

"What?"

"In my dream, Troy told me he loved me...but it sounded as if...he was actually telling me and not his dream self." Taylor wore a look of shock. Though she knew that Troy had told Gabriella his true feelings as she slept, she didn't think that Gabriella would have actually remembered.

"Wow."

"I know. What do you think it means?"

"I..." the doorbell rung, interrupting their conversation and Taylor got up to get it. "Hey Shar." she said as she spotted the blonde in front of her.

"Hey Tay. Is everyone ready?"

"Not yet. I'm done, Gabi's done and Kelsi's done. Troy's in the shower and the other two are downstairs somewhere." Sharpay nodded and Taylor stepped aside so Sharpay and the others could come in.

Troy came back upstairs minutes later and was surprised to see Zeke, Sharpay, Ryan and Destiny sitting around the living room.

"Hey." they waved and went back to looking at the television. Troy took a seat in the dining room area and put his head down, still tired from the night before.

An hour later, Jason and Chad were done taking their shower and the group headed out. In fifteen minutes, the group was on the road, headed to a ski lodge that was about two hours away.

"I thought she said it wasn't far from the hotel?" Chad mumbled to Taylor as he climbed out of the SUV, two hours later.

"She did." Taylor said as they walked up to the front office.

"Ready to get some skiing done?" Sharpay asked.

"Guys don't ski." Chad said.

"Yeah they snowboard." Jason said.

"I ski." Ryan said and the two boys looked at each other before breaking into laughter.

"That was a good one Ry." Chad said.

"Yeah you almost had us." Jason said.

"I-I wasn't kidding." Ryan said and Chad and Jason looked at him in shock.

"Come with us my friend." Chad said and pulled Ryan off towards the snowboarding shed with Jason and Zeke in tow.

"You're not going to go with them?" Gabriella asked Troy.

"Well I was actually going to ask if you wanted to come with."

"I don't even know how to ski much less snow board."

"I could teach you." she thought for a second before nodding and following him to the snowboarding shed. After getting suited up, Troy led her over to the lift. They went up to the top of the mountain and stood there. "You ready for this?" Gabriella nodded, suddenly feeling queasy, and shook her head.

"I don't think I can do this."

"Look at me Gabriella." she looked up into his blue eyes, feeling her nerves subside. "It'll be okay. You can do it." she nodded and he smiled. "I'll see you at the bottom okay?" she nodded and watched him slid down the side of the mountain. She took a deep breath and followed behind him.

The mountain side was more of a hill side so it didn't take long for Gabriella to reach the bottom and in one piece. Troy smiled as she squealed out of happiness for actually doing it.

"Good job Gabs. You wanna try it again? This time with tricks?"

"I don't think I'm ready for tricks yet. But I would like to try it again." he smiled and led her back to the lift.

They went for a few more rounds before heading inside the lodge. They went into the lounge area and ordered two cups of hot chocolate, sitting side by side near the fire place.

"Hey do you remember back in high school when you and Chad had that senior prank to glue coins to like every surface you could find?" she asked as she curled up on the couch, drink in hand.

"Oh yeah I remember that. It took them weeks to remove all of them. There was also that one when we like went around the school after practice and like drew stuff on all the boards."

"I remember that one. I remember coming into homeroom and seeing nothing but stupid drawings on the board. That was you guys?"

"Yep." she giggled and took a sip of her hot chocolate. "So many memories were in that school. It's kind of hard to believe that we don't go there anymore."

"Yeah it is...remember Twinkle Town."

"How could I forget? It was like the highlight of my junior year besides winning the championship. It was the third best thing on my list of what made junior year worth wild, the championship being second." he said staring at his drink.

"What's the first?" she asked and he smiled before looking up at her.

"Meeting you." she blushed slightly and looked at her own cup.

"That's first on my list too." she said and looked up at him, their eyes connecting.

"Guys." they looked up at the doorway and saw Zeke waving them over. "Come on we're leaving." they nodded and followed Zeke out the door.

"Dude you want me to drive?" Chad asked and Troy nodded.

"Thanks."

"No problem. You've been driving since we started on this adventure." Troy hoped into the backseat while Chad climbed into the driver's seat. Taylor took Gabriella's spot in the passenger seat and Gabriella sat next to Troy. On the way back, everyone except for Chad drifted off to sleep. Troy was on the verge of sleep when Gabriella subconsciously snuggled up to him. He woke up in shock but quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulder and fell into a deep sleep.

"No you wake them up."

"I don't want to. They look too cute." Troy opened his eyes slightly, finding three people staring at him.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked sleepily.

"You and Gabriella of course." Sharpay answered. Troy looked at her with much confusion before realizing that his arm was still wrapped around Gabriella and she was still sleeping against him.

"Are we back at the hotel?"

"Yeah." he nodded before gently shaking Gabriella awake.

"What?" she whined.

"Gabs we're here." she opened her eyes and looked around before nodding. He helped her out of the car and upstairs, where she openly stripped with him in front of her. She put on her night clothes and climbed under the covers.

"Night Troy." she mumbled, knocking him out of his shock of seeing her half-naked.

"Uh...night...Gabriella." he stripped out of his clothes and put on his night clothes and climbed under the covers, shutting off the light.

A/N: I've never been snowboarding so that's why I didn't go into much detail about it.