Fade Into the Background
Previously
Gabriella sighed, knowing this was the moment of truth. "There's something…something I have to tell you. It…it's not best…I did something I sort of regret and you can't tell anyone."
Anisah immediately rushed to the other side of the counter. "This sounds juicy, spill!"
xx
"Can I help you?" The front door was ajar, and a man about the same height and build as Troy was standing on the porch, looking at him curiously. He had dark hair that was easily gelled and styled back while he was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an old Yale t-shirt. He guessed this was Kevin.
"Uh….n…yeah, yeah. Hi, I'm Troy Bolton. You might remember me?"
xx
"Babe, look who's here," Kevin called as they walked into the brightly lit living space.
"Who?" Gabriella's sweet voice called out, before they rounded the corner and he saw the brunette beauty perched on the couch, swollen belly unmistakable as she sat with Anisah and Maria, all things baby related surrounding the three. The beauty looked up, the smile that had previously been on her face, dropping as her chocolate brown eyes connected with his baby blue. "Troy?"
Anisah looked over from her position on the floor next to the coffee table, a smirk crossing her lips. "Holy shit! This should be fun."
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
-Mark Twain
Chapter 6
Gabriella stood up faster than she should have at almost 7 months pregnant. "Troy, what are you doing here?"
Troy glanced around the living room, seeing the awkward face of Maria, the clueless face of Kevin, and the smirking face of Anisah. "I…uh…I don't…I don't know."
"Maybe he's back for round two," Anisah muttered, not very quiet at all, causing Gabriella to shoot her a glare.
"Uhm, can we go talk?" she asked, gesturing towards the kitchen, hoping that he would agree so she wouldn't have to do this in front of her mother and Kevin.
He nodded, backing up as she followed him into the kitchen, immediately leaning against the counter, head lowered, eyes focused on the tile on the floor. "I didn't think I'd be interrupting…"
"You didn't think at all before you came here, though, did you?"
"Gabriella…"
"What did you think coming here would prove? Was this supposed to be some sort of defining moment? Am I supposed to be happy that you're here? Troy this couldn't be a worse time for this."
"I just…I don't know, I've been thinking about you a lot lately."
"Thinking about me? Troy, do you understand how wrong all of this is?"
"You weren't saying that the night it happened," he murmured, thinking she didn't hear, but she had heard loud and clear.
"It was a mistake! A mistake that unfortunately I am paying for a regretting every day since it happened! Having you here is not making the situation any better."
"So you've been thinking about me too?"
"I don't have a choice!" Trying to calm herself from getting upset, she took a deep breath, looking directly into his eyes with tears threatening to fall. "I try so hard to forget you and forget us and everything we've been through and all that we've done, but I can't! And you know why? Because no matter what I do, I will always have a part of you now."
Troy had been listening intently, feeling the emotion as she admitted to him, but he stopped hearing her last line and forced himself to focus on the look on her face. "Wha..? Part of me? What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean, Troy. What else could I be talking about right now?"
Getting the hint and having a feeling about what she really meant, Troy slit his eyes at her angrily. "Say it."
"You and I both know damn well I don't need to say it," Gabriella answered.
"Gabi, say it."
"I can't…"
"Fucking say it! Tell me what we both know. Explain it to me. Confirm everything that I'm thinking right now and just tell me the truth!"
"It's your baby!" She shrieked quickly. "It's your fucking baby, are you happy now?"
Kevin came running into the kitchen at her scream, followed closely by Maria and Anisah. Grabbing onto Gabriella's waist and pressing her firmly into his chest. "Baby, what's wrong, what happened?" And quickly turning to Troy's tense frame without waiting for an answer from his wife. "What did you do to her?"
Softening at the look of Gabriella's broken figure, Troy attempting to apologize, moving forward. "I didn't…"
"Don't you dare!" Kevin growled. "What did you say to her?"
"I didn't mean it."
"Get the fuck out!"
"Kevin," Gabriella whimpered into his ear, glancing over at Troy while trying to calm him down.
"No, don't defend him. Whatever the hell you did, just go ahead and save yourself and get the fuck out of my house."
"I didn't do anything. I just…"
"Do I look like I fucking care? Get out before I take you out!"
Angered by the man who had in a sense stolen the love of his life and was currently living the life he'd wanted for so long, with the family that should have been his, Troy wasn't ready to back off just so easily. "You're going to take me out? I'd like to see you try."
"Are you testing me?" Kevin asked, letting go of Gabriella and stepping up to Troy.
"Kevin, stop," Gabriella whispered, pulling on his sleeve. "Just let it go, he'll leave…"
"You think you're so fucking bad, huh? Maybe that's the reason I'm married to Gabriella and not you."
"Kevin!" Gabi warned, knowing that this was only going to anger Troy more.
"Wow, are you sure it's me who thinks I'm 'fucking bad'? Do you feel big because you can shove this in my face? Does it make you feel good to know that you'll always be her second fucking choice?"
"Troy, stop!"
"No, don't. I want to hear what he has to say. You actually think that you ever stood a chance with her?"
"You don't know shit!" Troy growled.
"I know everything! More than you'd think I know."
"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure there are some things you don't know. Maybe you should take a second look at your life and how fucking perfect it is before you start talking about me."
Gabriella bit her lip, her heart pounding away in her chest with the fear that the next words out of Troy's mouth would reveal the secret she'd kept for 7 months.
"Maybe you talk to your 'wife' and figure out everything that you don't before you actually think that your life is better than mine, because I'm pretty damn sure I know something that you'd never even think was possible." Troy's anger had gotten the best of him and he was close to wanting to reveal the secret they'd been keeping, but one look at Gabriella's worried and pleading face, her gaze fixed on him and he knew that he couldn't hurt her like that, even if she had done what felt and seemed like worse to him.
"Just…re-evaluate your life before you criticize mine," he spoke before locking eyes with Gabriella. "Who's fucking with whose emotions now?"
She watched as he let himself out, storming away angrily and hearing the door shut hard behind him. Kevin glanced at her, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead, seemingly forgetting all about what had just happened. "Let's go to bed, it's been a long day."
And as the other 3 in the house cleaned up and prepared for bed, Gabriella glanced out the window, a hand firmly placed on her stomach, wondering if she was genuinely happy with the turn her life was taking.
*FIB* *FIB*
Troy stormed into his apartment, grabbing the closest thing he could – which happened to be a lamp – and threw it across the room, watching with anger as it shattered clean across the wall.
"Whoa!" Chad spoke as he stepped through the doorway of the apartment. He'd been in his car when his friend had angrily driven up and stomped his way up and into his apartment. "What the hell happened."
"She happened! I went to see her!"
"Who's her?"
"Who do you think her is? Gabriella, I went to see her."
"I…what'd she say?"
Troy shook his head. "You knew didn't you?"
"Troy…"
"No, Chad, you fucking knew all along and you didn't say a damn word to me! She's having my fucking baby!"
"I know…"
"Yeah, that's the problem! You know! You knew before I did and she's sitting here playing it off as if it's that bastards kid!"
"He's her husband, Troy. What else is she supposed to do?"
"I don't know, maybe tell him the truth? I…I can't let him raise my child."
"Troy," Chad tried to step forward to console his friend, but Troy just moved away. "You don't really have a choice in the matter."
"But the thing is, I do, Chad! It's my kid! I have rights!"
"So what are you gonna do? Tell Kevin the truth, force her to be with you?"
"No, that's Gabriella's job. But I promise you, whether I'm with Gabriella or not, I will be a part of my child's life. I'm not just going to sit by and let him raise my kid as his own! Plus once he knows, he's probably not going to stick around."
"Troy don't do that to her. I know you're hurt and upset, but don't hurt her. She's happy, can't you see that? And if you screw this up and make her just as miserable as you feel, then where is that going to get you?"
"I just…it's my kid." He answered desperately, the frustration and pain evident and radiation from every inch of his body.
"I know and maybe you can talk it out with her, but don't hurt her like that. And at this point, how are you going to prove it's yours without causing a scene anyway?" Chad tried to plead with his friend.
Troy thought it out and realized that he didn't want to hurt Gabriella, no matter what their situation was right now, but he wasn't about to sit by and let his child grow up without him.
"I'm getting a paternity test."
AHHH! Don't kill me!
I know this chapter was pretty interesting if I do say so myself. I recall having such a great time writing it. I laughed, I cried...I sound extremely malicious right now.
Anyway I know you're all probably reading those last 5 words (if you consider 'a' a word) and thinking you hate me, but no fear, another update shall be soon! Working on some more chapters as we speak and I'm thinking of going ahead and posting my other story because I'm making major progress on it and loving it so far and I'm confident you guys will too.
And if you're interested I forgot to post it earlier, but I created an outfit when I first wrote the story of what I envisioned Gabriella looking like on her wedding day in this story. Refer to the intro if you need to but the link to the outfit is in my profile under Fade Into the Background which should be right under my in progress and completed stories and my little profile update thingy. Or it's the first link under the bolded 'Links' (:
REVIEW!
