Troy Bolton's house is big.
I'm not sure what his parents do, but whatever is it, they're loaded.
Texas isn't as expensive as California or New York, I don't think, but it's not exactly cheap. And it does not really matter what they do, but I'm just saying. His house is big. And it's perfect for parties. Which is exactly why I'm here. A party.
It was the first party I was invited to by someone. The one Valerie took me to was a party I was taken to. The person throwing it didn't invite me.
And I was invited by Troy Bolton, the most popular guy in school. According to Valerie. But I could have assumed he was.
"Nice house, huh?" Valerie asked as we walked through it, probably noticing how I was taking every inch in. I loved the layout. The colors. The decor. The picture frames and paintings. Everything. "His dad is freaking rich. I don't know what his dad does, I forgot, or why they chose to live in Texas."
I can't quite figure out why Texas, either, but hey, I don't know much about it. Maybe it's the best place to work for whatever his dad does? "It's pretty nice."
We walked through the house and into the backyard, which was more gorgeous than I anticipated. There was a huge deck with a grill on one side and a built in fireplace on the other surrounded by a few sofas as if you were in a ski lodge resort or something. It was so nice. And then they had a pool and a huge space for grass. And I'm pretty sure behind it all, there's a basketball court or a tennis court. One of them. It was beautiful and I wanted to move in... now.
"I'm gonna go grab a drink really quick," Val tells me before she disappears off.
Fuuck. Now I'm standing here all alone like a loser. But there are a ton of people so I don't think anyone will notice. Thank God.
And then I heard a voice behind me. "Hey."
I turn around and I'm met with the bluest of eyes that were smiling at me, I could feel it, since he has a cup over his lips taking a sip of whatever he was drinking, "Hi."
"Glad you can make it," Troy tells me as he holds his cup down, "Where's Valerie?"
"Oh, she's getting a drink."
"You don't want one?" he asks, concerned and it's a little sweet to see, to be honest. "I can get you one."
I shake my head and look around for her for a second, hoping she comes back. I don't know why I'm suddenly SO nervous around him. I never get nervous around guys. Like, ever. It's my specialty. But Troy, ugh. That's how you know I'm attracted to him. So much. "Oh, no, I'm driving tonight."
He smiles at me. "Responsible. I like it."
Okay, stop, Gabriella. Don't think anything of it. "Thank you, though."
"Yeah, of course," he nods, taking another sip, "I'm gonna go check on something, but um, I'll see you in a bit."
I didn't really have a chance to say anything else since he bolted away. And once again, I was left alone. I didn't mind so much now. I looked around and got a good look at everyone. I noticed some people. Obviously. I've been here for two weeks now, if I don't know people, I'd be a complete bitch, right?
And once Valerie came and got me and led me to her friends, I scanned the place some more. And I locked eyes with Troy. Who was about ten feet away talking to a group of guys.
He smiled at me and I smiled at him and it gave me some serious butterflies.
The same butterflies I had when he first told me about this party and invited me a couple days ago.
I couldn't wait to get home. Sure, New york, but right now, my home in Texas. I was done with school and I just wanted to curl in bed and watch One Tree Hill or something. Something to get my mind off of Smith.
He's free to do whatever he pleases, but going to lunch with an attractive girl just doesn't sit well with me. Especially since the girl is single.
Sure, he told me nothing's going on. And that's she just a friend and they so happen to want to get lunch at the same place so they went together. And it's like, he's shown me that he likes me. That he wants to be with me. But I'm here and he's there and it's so frustrating. I mean, if they're friends, why isn't he texting me back? If I was with just a friend and the guy that I liked was texting me, I would text back. It's not disrespectful, ya know? It's the 21st century for crying out loud. Everyone texts. And ugh, I'm just so frustrated and mad and sad and I think I feel like crying which is so insane. He's not my boyfriend, but we have a mutual understanding that we only like each other. Or is that out the window now? Ugh. This is why being here sucks. I want to go home.
"Hey," I hear behind me as I'm a couple feet away from my car.
I turn around and Troy Bolton is coming towards me, textbook in his hand and keys in another. "Hi," I manage to get out, my voice cracking a bit.
Ugh. I'm a strong girl. I get over guys fast. I never cry over them or anything. But Smith. I finally somewhat have him and I don't want to lose him. I've waited for a while to date him and I'm finally there.
Troy noticed right away which sucked. I didn't want to explain why I'm almost crying. "Is now a bad time?"
It was discreet and I give him props for not straight up asking me if I'm going to cry or if I'm okay. So cliche. "Um, no, what's up?"
"No, I just, we didn't really get to talk in English just now and you dashed right out so umm," he looks away from me for a minute, "My parents are out of town this weekend so I'm having something at my house if you want to come. You should come."
I should come? I'm being invited to my first party... by the hottest guy in school? Oh wow. Um. I can't say no, right? "Oh, um, sure, what day?"
He smiles at me and ugh, he's so hot. "Friday."
Friday. Two days away. Yeah, okay. "Yeah, okay, thanks."
"I can give you more details tomorrow," he tells me, "I just wanted to tell you about it before you go off and make some other plans."
Other plans? Ha yeah, right. I'm new. I only hang out with Valerie and her friends. My plate isn't exactly full right now so I couldn't help, but laugh at that. "Yeah, actually, I'm booked solid. Have a few other parties to go to, actually."
"Hey," he laughs, "you never know. You could have had tons of offers for dates for all I know. I'm just saying... you should come, it'll be fun. Get your mind off of things or whatever and just... have fun."
Okay, so he knows. He knows I'm upset. Which I don't even know why I'm a bit surprised by it because I was texting Smith during English and Troy sits right next to me. Obviously he could hear me sigh and see me angrily type away on my phone. And then I ran right out of there. Yep. He knows. And I think it's nice he's inviting me. Who cares if it's out of pity. He's giving me attention and that's what I need right now as pathetic as it sounds. I'm hardly getting any from Smith and it's making me incredibly sad that my life is New York seems to be behind me now. It seems like I'm no longer apart of it anymore.
And so this... this invitation to his party was everything. "Yeah, okay, thanks. I'll be there."
"Good," he smiles at me before taking off.
Gah. SO hot. I have butterflies in my stomach and it's not normal. This isn't supposed to happen, but I can't help it.
Suddenly, I'm being grabbed by my shoulders and snapped out of my thoughts. "Gabs," I hear Val's voice, "wanna play a game of beer pong?"
Beer pong. Yeah, I know what it is. I've seen it be played, but no. I'm not drinking and I'm not a fan of beer, really. So I'm good. I'll just watch or something.
We make our way over and Valerie's friend Rebecca and I take a seat and watch Val get ready to play with some people. I don't think I'd be very good at this game, to be honest, so watching it from over here is good for me.
And after looking down at my phone for a minute and back up to where the game is being played, I see Troy on the opposite side of Val... ready to play against her. He was playing her and her friend in beer pong and I was sitting here watching them. Watching him. God, he was so hot.
20 minutes later, everyone's laughing, cheering and gasping over this close game. And it's actually so much fun to watch. Who knew it would be?
Maybe Texas isn't so bad after all.
"Do you play?"
Fuck. He scared me. But I knew that voice anywhere. "Oh, um, I've played, but just for fun," I turn around and tell Troy.
He smiles at me and looks straight ahead to the tennis court that I was looking at. Kelly called me and wanted to talk about something and it couldn't wait so I snuck off and I was on the phone with her for a good twenty minutes and this was literally the only spot where no one was and no one could hear me. I just hung up the phone with her a minute ago, but I was looking at the tennis court. It was nice and I've played a bunch of times which was always so much fun. So the fact that Troy has one in his house is pretty cool. Lucky him. He could play whenever he wants.
"Same," he tells me, taking a sip of whatever he's drinking, "it came with the house, but my mom's gotten pretty into it. And so have I."
"Yeah, it's pretty fun," I agree with him, "I'd play every summer in the Hamptons."
He looked over at me and his blues eyes shined so bright in the night sky. It was crazy. "Come on, I'll play you..."
Before I even had a chance to tell him that no, I should probably head back to Val because I kind of want to get going, he opens the gate and turns on the lights. The court lights up and I could see it more clearly. It was nice. It looked brand new and at the same time, it looked like they got plenty of use out of it.
Troy went over to a shed in the corner of the place and took out two rackets and a couple of balls.
"It'll be fun," he hands me a racket and a ball, "unless you're no good and don't want to lose, which I'd totally understand because I'm pretty good."
"No, you serve," I hand him back the ball.
He smirked at me and then walked to one side of the court while I walked to the other. I took my bag off over my shoulders and placed it off to the side with my phone on top. Thank God I didn't wear these booties with a bit of heel on them and I decided to go with my Chanel flats.
Troy let me get in position and once I told him I was good, her served the ball.
And I hit it right back to him.
"Okay, okay," he laughs as he takes his place to serve again after I got the first point, "not bad. But I'm just getting warmed up, so..."
"Just serve," I tell him getting ready to hit the ball back.
He served it, I hit it back, he hit it back, and it went like that for about a minute before I couldn't get to it on time giving him the point. Ugh. Annoying.
I was pretty competitive so I hated losing. And if we were in the Hamptons, and I was in my cute tennis gear, I would be whooping his ass. But I'm not. I'm in Chanel flats, black jeans and a t-shirt which is totally comfortable, but the jeans don't give me enough freedom to move around as I would like to.
And before I knew it, it was a tied game.
"Hold on," I tell him, putting the racket between my legs and grabbing my scrunchie ton my wrist to grab my hair in a ponytail. "Okay, go ahead..."
Troy looked at me for a moment with a blank stare and then let out a small smile. "Ready?"
I told him yes and so he served it. It landed in the box, I hit it back, and then he hit it back before I spiked it down so hard it bounced and he wasn't able to run to get it in time meaning I won.
I beat Troy Bolton and I was ecstatic about it. So ecstatic, actually. And it's not because he pretty much implied that he would win, because that didn't come off cocky to be in the least bit. It was because I could show him I'm not just some New York princess who shops all day.
Sure, I prefer shopping to running a lap around the park, but I'm athletic. I love sports. Especially tennis so this was a cool win.
"Well, well, well," he tells me coming up to meet me by the net, him still on the other side of it, "I didn't think you'd be bad, but I didn't think you'd be that good, either. Very cool."
I couldn't help, but blush. Thank God my cheeks never got rosy, but still. I could feel them get hot. And I could feel a dorky smile on my face. Ugh. Troy is just so hot, I can't handle it. I shouldn't be here right now, but honestly, he's one of the few people that has really gotten to know me. Well, that I've allowed. People in class talk to me and I'll talk back, but I honestly just try not to get too invested. But with him, it's different. Even just as a friend, I think I want him as that. He's a cool guy. He's smart. He's popular. He's nice. He's funny. Who wouldn't want to talk and hang out with this guy, you know?
Maybe I shouldn't, though. It's probably SO easy to crush on this guy and it's the last thing I need.
"There are a lot of things you don't know about me," I tell him and I immediately regret it because it definitely sounds like flirting. Fuuuck. Oh well.
"I'm sure that's true," he tells me, looking right into my eyes.
And I look right into this. And there it is. That moment again. Everything I'm trying to avoid. Fuck. There's no way we're kissing. Nope. I can't. I shouldn't. And I'm not sure if that's what he was thinking about doing, but I've seen movies. This moment would have been the moment right before two people kissed. For sure. I looked away before I got sucked in any further and shot a look over to the gate and to the noise on the other side of it.
"Maybe you should get back to all your guests, I'm sure they're wondering where you are."
He nods, putting his hand behind his head and scratching the back of his neck a bit, "Oh um, yeah, maybe I should."
To be honest, I could stay here all night. And play another game or two. But I shouldn't. I can't. Smith disrespected me by going to lunch with an attractive girl and although me talking to Troy and hanging out with him is always by chance or randomly and not scheduled, I have respect for him and I know he will not like it too much so I have to get out of there... whether I want to or not.
So that's what we do. I grab my things, he puts everything away and then we head back to the party.
Side by side. Sneaking glances at each other.
