Band vs. Love
Previously
"That's why I'm always so worried about you; I'm afraid that I could never do as great as a job as I know she would have and I'm sure she would hate me for this, but I love seeing her in you and I don't ever want to miss out on seeing that."
Without a single word, the teenager pushed herself into her fathers' arms wrapping herself tightly around him as he did the same back to her. "Thank you," she whispered into his chest as she basked in the emotions surrounding her.
"Anytime, baby girl. And I hope that whatever problem you were trying to solve; I hope that I helped just a little bit."
She nodded, glancing down at her feet. "Yeah, you did, but the rest is pretty much up to me."
xx
"Troy!" Gabriella cried at him. "Will you please just listen to me!?"
"Why? Why should I?"
"Because I'm trying to explain something important to you!"
"What is it? What could you possibly want to tell me!" He yelled as a few people passing stared at the two oddly before moving on.
Gabriella sighed, glancing around before focusing her eyes on the collar of his shirt. "He kissed me."
"So what happens now, you're fucking my brother?"
"No! Troy, I'm not trying to hurt you, I'm trying to be honest."
"Honest? Well great job, Gabriella, I appreciate you telling me about hooking up with my brother!"
"We didn't hook up!"
"But you kissed!"
"He kissed me!"
"And you liked it?!"
"I…"
"Have a great life," he calmly stated before turning to walk away.
If music be the food of love, play on.
-William Shakespeare
Chapter 7
Gabriella sat in the music room after school later that day, completely confused as far as her feelings. She had feelings for two guys, two of which who happened to be brothers and both close friends of hers. How was she supposed to solve this? On one hand she knew that she had feelings for Chris, and she had for a long time, but Troy had always been a great friend to her and suddenly he was starting to seem like just a bit more.
Sighing and pulling out the guitar, she started strumming some chords, letting the beautiful sound fill her ears as lyrics came to her almost instantly. Music always helped.
I stare at my reflection in the mirror
Why am I doing this to myself?
Losing my mind on a tiny error
I nearly left the real me on the shelf
No, no, no, no, no, no, no...
Don't lose who you are
In the blur of the stars
Seeing is deceiving
Dreaming is believing
It's okay not to be okay
Sometimes it's hard to follow your heart
Tears don't mean you're losing
Everybody's bruising
Just be true to who you are
Who you are, who you are, who you are
Who you are, who you are, who you are
Who you are, who you are, who you are
Who you are
Who you are
Brushing my hair, do I look perfect?
I forgot what to do to fit the mold
The more I try the less it's working
'Cause everything inside me screams
No, no, no, no, no, no, no...
Don't lose who you are
In the blur of the stars
Seeing is deceiving
Dreaming is believing
It's okay not to be okay
Sometimes it's hard to follow your heart
But tears don't mean you're losing
Everybody's bruising
There's nothing wrong with who you are
Yes, no's, egos, fake shows, like whoa
Just go, and leave me alone
Real talk, real life, good love, goodnight
With a smile, that's my home
That's my home
No, no, no, no, no, no, no...
Don't lose who you are
In the blur of the stars
Seeing is deceiving
Dreaming is believing
It's okay not to be okay
Sometimes it's hard to follow your heart
Tears don't mean you're losing
Everybody's bruising,
Just be true to who you are
As she finished strumming, she couldn't help but stare into the distance, a few tears falling astray from her eyes. She always thought of her mom whenever she played alone rather than with the band, because the one thing she remembered about her mom was that she was a great singer and Gabriella was lucky to have inherited that among so many other traits from the woman who'd birthed her.
A loud clapping drew her from her thoughts as she wiped her face quickly and looked up to meet the face of Chris Bolton.
Pushing the guitar and side and grabbing up her things, she wasted no time trying to get out of the room.
"Whoa?!" He stopped her from packing up her stuff, grabbing her arm and bringing her flush towards his body.
"Chris, not right now."
"I just wanted to tell you that was amazing. It always is."
"Were you standing there the entire time?"
He smiled. "I couldn't resist myself."
She didn't return his smile, pulling her backpack up over her shoulder, moving to the door. "Figures," she muttered.
"Gabi, seriously, what's the rush?"
"Chris, please! I don't want to do this right now; don't make me do this."
"Do what, Gabriella? Face your emotions? You'll have to do that sooner or later, you know?"
"Yeah, well now is not the time that I want to do that, okay?"
"So then when is a good time for you, huh? Tomorrow? The day after that? Next week maybe?"
"I don't know."
"I'm not going to sit around forever, Gabriella. I like you, okay. There it is, you know how I feel about you, so why can't you tell me how you feel about me?"
"Because at this point I don't know how I feel. And if I try to decipher my feelings right now, I know I'll just end up hurting one of you and that's not what I want."
"We're big boys, Gabs. We know that it's going to happen eventually, so why drag it out rather than just tell us now?"
"Chris…"
"It's just so simple, all you have to do is tell us which one of us you like more and then it'll all be done. Why can't you do that? Why can't you make up your mind?"
"BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW! I don't know," she screeched out frustrating, tearing at her scalp. "With you playing games and Troy hating my guts, I can't make a decision and I don't know what I'm doing. This is all too much for me and I'm in way over my heard and neither of you are making it easier on me."
Stepping forward, Chris ran his hand up and down her arm caressingly. "I just want to hear you say you feel the same way I do," he whispered, his eyes boring into her own intensely.
Pulling her arm from his, she averted her eyes, disappointing him as she ran a hand through her already wild hair and backed away from him. "I don't have an answer for you," her hoarse voice whispered back to him. "And I'm not sure when I will, if I ever will. So please just respect that for me. I need space and I need time."
With that she send him a weak smile and forced herself to turn away and walk out, leaving Chris shocked and frustrated as he picked up a binder full of sheet music and chucked it across the room. It hit the wall with and bang and lost all the papers inside as they fluttered down all around the floor, making a mess.
A mess that was very similar to the current situation he was in.
"I seriously feel like a cold-hearted bitch," Gabriella confessed to Taylor that afternoon in her best friends' kitchen.
Stifling a laugh, Taylor shook her head, spreading mayo on the bread of the sandwich she was currently making. "You're not a bitch..."
"Yeah because I'm a cold-hearted bitch!"
"You are not! You are just confused. Everyone gets confused in life, it's perfectly natural. Plus we're teenagers; we're allowed to be confused, irrational human beings every now and then."
"Yeah, but this is so different, Tay," Gabriella sighed.
Shrugged, Taylor licked the mayo of her finger and went to finish her sandwich. "You sure you don't want one?"
"I'm too confused to eat."
"Suit yourself. I don't understand how someone can be too confused to eat but okay."
"Because you're spending too much time with Chad," Gabriella commented.
"I resent that!" Chad defended, walking into the kitchen and picking up his already made sandwich and pecking Taylor quickly on the lips before taking a quick bite and walking back out to her living room.
Rolling her eyes, Taylor couldn't help but smile at her boyfriend before looking up to see Gabriella's face. "What?"
"He's always here! This is what I'm talking about."
"Come on, Gab. He's my boyfriend."
"He's also my band mate who happens to be close friends with our two other band mates, who I happen to have a serious issue with right now and I'm not sure having him around all the time is the best thing."
"I barely see him because he's always rehearsing with you guys! This is like my only time with him!"
"But it's Chad!"
"Whoa?! Calm down, Gabriella."
Groaning as she dropped her head into her hands, Gabriella shook her head furiously. "I'm sorry; I'm not sure what the hell is wrong with me. There's got to be a serious issue if I'm falling for both Bolton boys at the same time."
Walking around the counter to wrap an arm around her friend, Taylor pressed Gabriella into a tight hug. "There is nothing wrong with you, Gabi. You're a girl who happens to be attracted to two very attractive guys. Do you know how many other girls have had this problem before you?"
Laughing at the way Taylor had worded her statement, Gabriella couldn't help but crack a smile just as Chad called out from the living room. "I heard that, Tay!"
"You're very attractive too, baby!" She called back. "The only guy for me!"
Both girls laughed at hearing him mutter something along the lines of 'better be' back before Gabriella took a deep breath to control her emotions. "I guess I just have to make this decision huh?"
Taylor nodded. "But it's not like you have to make it right away, there's no rush. And if they can't wait for you to collect your feelings, then screw both of them…"
Widening her eyes at this, Gabriella's mouth dropped open while Taylor quickly fixed her mistake. "I mean forgot both of them, not have sex with them. That would be weird and not to mention whorish."
"I feel like that's what I am. A whore!"
"You are not a whore. Far from it actually, more like a pru…" Taylor stopped, seeing the look that was being thrown in her direction. "Anyway, don't feel like you're being forced into this. Take your time, figure out who you feel more for and when the time comes for you to make your decision, if they can't respect whatever that decision may be, then neither of them deserve you in the long run anyway."
"Thanks."
"Although you should probably make a decision before prom….and graduation."
Laughing, Gabriella shoved Taylor's shoulder. "Shut up!"
"Just saying," her best friend smiled back, but Gabriella knew that deep down her words had actual truth. She didn't have much time to make a decision or she was afraid she might actually lose them both.
Happy Sunday!
I still haven't found time to just sit down and devote a full couple of hours to this story. It's usually about 20-30 minutes or any breaks I might have in between classes. I may have a solution however, because I'm changing my major and one of the classes I'm currently taking (and failing), is the one I'm spending most of my time on, but yet I'm having such a hard time with it. The good part is that I don't need this class for my new major so I might be able to just drop this horrid class. I should have an idea on that by Friday and if it happens that I do drop the class, I'll have alot more time to myself on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Song is Who You Are by Jessie J, and no I do not own ):
Thanks for reading! As always, I 100% appreciate you guys and just leave me a quick REVIEW and I'll try to have the next chapter updated as soon as possible.
