Lifetime Piling Up
Chapter 6: Failure of an epic romance
Kevin was sitting on the edge of his bed, re-lacing his shoes. "Why do they have to make these regulation shoes so….stupid?" he complained, pulling the white laces tighter.
Chad grunted from the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth.
"Yeah, I guess all of the regulation stuff we have to wear is stupid." He continued to pull on the laces.
The door flew open, "One week!" Gabriella burst into the bungalow, slamming the door shut behind her. "It's been one week since he's looked at me!" She stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips.
Kevin jumped off the bed, holding one of his shoes in his hand, as Chad popped out of the bathroom with his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.
"Cocked your head to the side and said 'I'm angry'. Five days since you laughed at me saying, 'Get that together come back…'" As they belted out the lyrics in unison, their eyes fell on Gabriella.
Kevin gulped, "'and see me…'" he quietly finished the line of the song and sat back down on the bed.
Gabriella's arms were crossed and her eyes were narrowed. They shifted from Chad to Kevin, and back again.
"Imagonnafinif." Chad scurried back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
The siblings locked eyes uncomfortably.
He coughed gently. "That's a, um, really good song." His attention was turned back to his shoes.
"This is no laughing matter!" She exploded.
"I didn't laugh…"
She ignored him. "Troy has barely looked at me in the past week! And we have been around each other. A lot. I have made sure of that. And all he does is focus on work, or focus on playing basketball, or focus on Rose."
"Anna." He corrected her.
"Ugh whatever, I hate her."
Kevin looked at her uncomfortably. "You know this whole thing with Troy; it's not fair to either of you. Trying to make him jealous, all it does is hurt both of you."
She glared at him. "You are starting to sounds like Taylor."
"And the girls aren't that bad. They're fun. I think you would like them if you got to know them."
"Thanks, but no thanks little brother." Gabriella said. "And the only reason you are saying that is because you are dating the youngest one."
"I wouldn't say dating, as much as hanging out. They leave pretty soon, you know."
"Not soon enough." She barked. "So are you going to help me or not?"
"Help you with what?"
"With Troy!"
"Not." Kevin shook his head. "Sorry sis, I'm done." He shoved his other shoe onto his bare foot.
Gabriella looked at her little brother for a moment. Without a word she left the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.
Chad popped his head out of the bathroom again. "Is it safe?"
"For now," he sighed and Chad reentered the room. "But you know as well as I do, mellow ticked-off Gabi can be dangerous."
"Do I ever." He agreed. "I still have the occasional nightmare about her fourteenth birthday."
"That is not something you want to spread around, man…" Kevin patted his friend on the back.
Chad pushed his hand away, "You were there. You know."
Kevin just laughed as he ran out of the room, headed to work. As he passed through the door, he side stepped Troy.
"Whoa!" Troy jumped back as he came in. "Who was where?" he asked Chad, having heard the end of the conversation.
"Uh, nothing." He murmured.
Troy shrugged, "So have you seen Gabriella around, lately?"
"Nope." He answered quickly. "Why?"
"I told you how I wanted to make her jealous, right? With Anna?" Chad nodded dully, trying not to roll his eyes. "Well we've been around each other all week and it seems to have no affect on her. The only thing that seems to be happening is that her and that Carter kid are-"
"Making you jealous." Chad interrupted.
"I didn't say that." Troy snapped back quickly.
He laughed. "You didn't have to. It's written all over your face."
"It is?" He self-consciously rubbed his cheek.
"You want her, and that's cool. Just let her know instead of trying to make her jealous."
Troy sighed, shuffling his feet. "I thought you were going to help me with this."
"Not anymore. I'm done being in the middle of you two and your failure of an epic romance."
Troy fell back onto the bed. "I should really talk to her."
Chad tossed a pillow at him. "No shit, Sherlock. But you probably want to make sure that Carter and Anna are out of this picture first. You know, clean things up before you dive into your 'feelings'."
He sighed again, hugging the pillow to his face. He mumbled something unclear as Chad slammed the door behind him as her left. He was alone, and had an impending date with Anna.
&
As she climbed down her tall white chair, she felt a hand help her down. Gabriella's hope quickly dropped when she saw who it was.
"Hey Carter." He said with a small smile.
"Hey," he smiled his toothy grin. "Are you done for today?"
She nodded. "Yep, I have the rest of the day off." Her eyes routinely searched him, the golf caddy. He was helping an old man with his bag in his regulation white one piece.
"Look, Gabriella, I leave tomorrow…"
She turned her attention back to Carter. "I know."
"And I'm not stupid either."
She looked at him curiously. "I know that too."
He laughed at her confusion. "I know that you are just hanging around me to get at the golf caddy."
Gabriella's mouth fell open, "Carter, I…"
"No, it's cool." He interrupted, "Former fling turned fake fling, that's kind of cool for a summer story. It made this trip a lot more fun than I thought it would be."
"I didn't mean to use you to make Troy jealous. It just kind of happened that way. You really are a great guy, even if we never did manage to steal a golf cart this time around." She tried to lighten the mood with the old memory.
He ignored her attempted to change the subject. "He likes you too, you know."
Gabriella was taken aback by his words. "What?"
"He's just toting that blonde girl around for kicks, or to make you jealous. It's hard to tell."
Gabriella took a deep breath, "You are one intuitive guy."
"And you're a great girl. Go get him, okay?"
She blew out a big breath. "First Taylor, then my brother, and now you; guess I'm not as good as I thought I was."
"You're better than you think you are, just in a different way."
Gabriella smiled at him. "It's been fun, Carter."
He smiled back at her. "Sure has." He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "I have to go rein in the little bro. See you around."
She gently waved to him as she watched him walk away for the last time. He really was one of the better looking guys in her life. Too bad he was the wrong one. Gabriella started to walk backwards, watching him disappear into the hotel.
She felt herself walk into someone. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" she turned around quickly. "Troy." Her breaths became shorter.
He started down at her. His arms were out and his hands were open, ready to catch her if she stumbled. "Surprised you remember my name."
"Aren't you supposed to be working?" Gabriella crossed her arms for a dramatic effect.
"I am, but there is this crazy thing called a break. Mine just started."
"Then where is Anna?" she was proud she managed to say the right name. "You two have seemed pretty much inseparable lately."
He crossed his arms over his own chest. "Is that a problem for you?"
"Why would that be a problem for me?"
"You just seem a little jealous."
She snorted back a laugh, "There's nothing to be jealous about."
Troy let out a heavy breath, not getting an answer he wanted. "Hope your having a good summer, Gabriella." He started to walk backwards, away from her.
Gabriella kept her eyes locked with his until the he took a step that sent him falling into the pool on his back. She couldn't help but giggle as he reemerged from the water, shaking his shaggy hair and splashing water everywhere.
She leaned over at the edge of the pool. "Spontaneous swim, Bolton?"
"You could say that." Troy flipped a wet lock of hair out of his eyes. She felt her heart flutter a little faster. "Some lifeguard you are. You didn't even try to save me."
"I'm off duty."
He rolled his eyes. "The least you could do is help me out."
Gabriella sighed and stuck out her hand.
Troy pushed off the bottom of the pool and took her hand in his. His grip tightened as he pulled her forward and into the pool.
She popped out of the water, furious. "I went all morning without having to jump it!" she splashed water in Troy's direction.
He turned his head to avoid her splash and laughed hard. "I can't believe you didn't see that coming!"
She blushed and attempted to hide her smile with a pout. She did see that coming, from a mile away. But the idea of being in the pool with Troy tempted her, even if a dozen hotel guests were also there.
"Admit it. It was pretty funny." Troy took a few strokes that put him right next to her. Pulling her into the pool was the best move he had made all summer.
A smile found its way onto her lips. "It was kind of funny."
The smile took over his whole face. He looked at her, dripping wet and slightly annoyed. And she stared back at him.
The longer they looked at each other, the more their smiled faded. Gabriella watched his ice blue eyes deepen. Slowly, the pushed through the water and moved closer to each other until their bodies were almost touching. Her head tilted to the left as his turned to the right.
A throat cleared above them causing them to stop moving. Troy looked up into the sun. He could feel Gabriella's light breath on his jaw.
"Can I help you?" he asked, frustrated.
"Yeah," Cole crouched down on the edge of the pool. "Anna is looking for you."
Troy sighed. "Yeah, okay." He looked back at Gabriella. Her eyes were focused on the sparkling water. He swam to the edge of the pool and pulled himself out.
"Nice uniform." Cole remarked.
"Thanks. You know where she is?"
"Tennis court." He told him. "But I suggest you change before you see her. And before you head back to work."
Troy nodded. He looked back at the pool. She was still looking down at the water. "See you later." He said to Cole.
"Yeah, most definitely." He let out a small laugh as Troy left. Cole looked down at the pool. "So, little sister…"
Gabriella looked up at him. "Don't tell anyone."
He pulled her out of the pool with one hand. "Tell what?" he grabbed a nearby towel and handed it to her. "That you like Troy? That Troy likes you? Because we all already know that."
She sighed. "Just, don't okay. I just don't know anymore." She pushed past her brother and made her way up the trail.
"Really? Cause to me it looked like you know now better than ever." He tried not to laugh at his sister's situation as he followed her back to the cabins.