Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
Chapter 8
Jack and Gabriella had both been trying to contact Troy, but had been unable to reach him. Maybe he was working late? Gabriella decided to wait a little longer and try calling again.
"If he doesn't answer soon, I'll drive over to the house and see if he's there…make sure he's okay," Jack said. Gabriella nodded, slightly concerned about Troy, wondering where he could be.
Troy drove home from work. He'd forgotten his phone at home and just hoped that no one had tried to contact him. When he pulled in at home, he noticed that Gabriella's car and his dad's truck were both gone. His mom's car was home, though. He frowned, trying to figure out where Gabriella would have gone. Maybe she was at her brother's?
Troy went inside, expecting to find his mom. "Mom? I'm home." He paused before he went upstairs, waiting for a reply, but not receiving one. "Mom? You here?" he hollered again. Still no response.
He continued upstairs to the room he shared with Gabriella, walking over to where he had left his phone that morning. He picked it up and decided to call Gabriella first. As he placed the phone to his ear, he turned around towards the rest of the room and looked up for the first time. It was then he noticed the small touches in the room were gone that showed Gabriella had shared this room with him. He felt his chest constrict. Where had she gone? Had she left him?
Gabriella's phone rang four times before it switched to voicemail. Troy began panicking. He had talked to her that morning and felt that everything was okay between them. Troy didn't leave a message, but decided to try calling his parents. He called his dad.
"Hello?" Jack answered.
"Dad…" Troy said. "Have you seen Gabriella? Her stuff was gone when I got home and she's not answering her phone."
Jack could hear the panic in his son's voice. "Troy…calm down. Gabriella is right here. If you had answered your own phone earlier, you would have known not to go home after work, but to come to her apartment instead."
Troy frowned. "Wait…you already moved her in?"
"Yes, we moved her in this afternoon after your mom helped her clean the apartment. Why don't you come over and have dinner with us, then your mom and I will give you two some time to talk?"
Troy agreed and followed his dad's directions and drove to Gabriella's apartment. As he drove, he couldn't help but think about the fact that he wouldn't be sharing a bed with Gabriella that night. He wouldn't get to come home to her every night. In a way he felt like he was losing her slowly. But he knew he couldn't push her into something that she wasn't ready for, and right now she wasn't ready because she had certain things she felt she had to do for herself.
Troy pulled into the parking lot and found her apartment. He hadn't thought he would have to do this so soon. He knew it would probably be within the next few days, but he didn't think she would move in the same day she signed her lease. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Gabriella opened the door looking flushed, but smiled when she saw him. She jumped into his arms and kissed him before pulling back and dragging him inside.
"Welcome to my new place," she said as she turned to smile at him.
Troy could see the happiness bubbling out of her as he looked at her before looking around. He could tell that Gabriella and his parents had all been hard at work that day trying to get things set up. There were several boxes sitting around the room.
"It looks nice," he said quietly.
Gabriella ignored the lack of enthusiasm that his voice held. "Well, it's not much and I still don't have all my stuff. Your dad said he would go to my parent's tomorrow to finish getting all my stuff that has been stored away. He wanted to wait until he had some help," she said, winking at Troy.
Troy smiled softly at her. "You're not overworking yourself are you? Not carrying too much?"
Gabriella shook her head. "No. Your dad has been great today, insisting on carrying everything. I'm sure he's exhausted. But we wanted you to come here so that, not only could you see my new place, but we're also going to order some pizza and share the experience of the first meal here together. But first, before the pizza arrives, I want you to see something."
Gabriella led Troy by the hand down the hallway to one of the three doors to choose from. She slowly opened it and showed Troy a still-empty room.
"Is this…"
Gabriella nodded and placed her free hand on her belly. "This will be our baby's room."
Troy smiled, imagining the room decorated as a nursery. "I can't wait to see it all set up." He pulled Gabriella to him and kissed her before they walked back to the kitchen and finished helping Lucille put away the few boxes of dishes that Gabriella had with her.
Later that evening, after Troy's parent's had left, Troy was sitting on Gabriella's bed as Gabriella finished hanging up her clothes. "You've been awfully quiet this evening," he heard her say.
Troy looked up at her and gave her a wistful smile. "I'm sorry."
Gabriella frowned and hung up her shirt before going to sit beside Troy. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly.
Troy let out a sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Gabriella. "Well if I'm being honest here, it's been hard today watching you get so excited about being here." He paused when Gabriella smiled. "Don't get me wrong, Brie…I love seeing you so happy and I know this is something you need to do for yourself. But I guess it's just me being selfish. I don't like the fact that I won't get to come home to you every day. And I won't get to go to sleep or wake up to your beautiful face." Troy dropped his voice and spoke quietly. "I just almost feel as if I'm losing you."
Gabriella teared up hearing how Troy felt. She scooted up to him and pushed him back so he was leaning up against her pillows before sitting in his lap. "Troy," she said quietly, trying to control her emotions. "You're not losing me, babe. I'm right here. I'll always be here and you're always welcome here. I don't think you're being selfish at all. I'm going to miss those things, too. I think one of the biggest adjustments I'm going to have is coming home to an empty apartment after being used to coming home to a family before. But like you said, this is something that I need to do for me…something I need to do for our baby. I know I've made the right decision, but please know it has nothing to do with trying to distance myself from you or anything like that. I still want to see you all the time, as much as possible." Gabriella climbed off his lap and walked over to her purse, pulling a key ring out. She walked back to Troy and climbed back into his lap, handing him the key ring. "This is yours. It's a key to the apartment. I want you to know that you're welcome here at any point, whether I'm here or not."
Troy nodded as he took the key ring. "Thank you, baby. I love you."
"I love you, too."
Troy leaned in to kiss Gabriella, pushing her back on the bed without breaking the kiss. Troy laid to the side of Gabriella, careful of her growing belly. The kisses became more heated, more passionate.
"Troy…" Gabriella whispered as she pulled back slightly.
Troy moved his kisses down her jaw to her ear and down her neck before he finally pulled back to look at Gabriella. He hooked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"How am I supposed to leave you tonight?" he asked quietly as he regulated his breathing.
Gabriella lay there trying to slow her breathing as well. "I know…but this was the agreement. We agreed we would take things slow."
Troy nodded, still unhappy with the situation, but completely understanding. "So how early can I come see you in the morning?"
Gabriella looked up at him and smiled. "Well I would say sunup. But we both know that I need rest so I can take care of this little one," she said, placing her hand on her belly. "And we also know that you usually don't get out of bed before ten. So as long as you're here by lunch, that should give us plenty of time to get the rest of my stuff and get it moved in here. If we don't get too much put away, it will be fine. I can do that slowly throughout the week. I just need you men to move my furniture in for me." She smiled at him.
Troy laughed. "We'll definitely get it done. And my mom will be here to help you put away things. Then after we get done moving the furniture in, I'll help you put away whatever you need me to. I'll drive separately so that I can stay later tomorrow night after my parents go home and we can have some time to ourselves."
"That sounds wonderful." Gabriella looked at the clock. "As bad as I hate to say this…it's getting late and if we're going to be productive at all tomorrow, we need to get some rest. You better go."
The disappointed feeling that Troy had been feeling for the past couple of days came back to hit him again. He nodded his head, knowing she was right. "Okay, I'll see you in the morning, though. And it will be before noon," he smiled. "You can't get rid of me that easily. You do realize that I'll be here all the time now, right?"
Gabriella giggled. "I'm sure you will."
Troy smiled and climbed off the bed, pulling Gabriella with him. He walked to the front door, never letting go of her hand. When he reached the door, he grabbed his jacket that was tossed over a box there and slipped it on. He stepped closer to Gabriella and grabbed her hands once again. "I'll miss you tonight. I'll be thinking of you as I go to sleep."
"Troy…I'm not that far away and I'll see you in the morning. You act like we're not going to be seeing each other for a while."
Troy gave her a wistful smile. "It kinda feels like that. But I'll see you in the morning." He leaned in to give her a gentle kiss. "I love you. Goodnight."
"I love you, too. Goodnight," she replied as he stepped out the door. She watched him go then shut and locked the door.
As she lay in her bed a little while later, she had difficulty going to sleep. Just like a couple nights ago, she found that without Troy there to snuggle with and find comfort in, she had a hard time relaxing enough to fall asleep. She thought about calling him, but figured he'd probably already be in bed and asleep. She lay there for a while longer before exhaustion finally enveloped her.
Mid-morning on Sunday, Troy arrived at Gabriella's apartment. His parents had left the house earlier that morning saying they had errands to run before they would be at Gabriella's to help out, so they would meet him there later. He decided to use his key for the first time and surprise Gabriella, knowing she probably wouldn't be expecting him this early.
When he walked in, Troy found the apartment to be completely silent. He'd seen her car in the parking lot, so he knew she was there. He figured she must be asleep still, but became concerned because he knew she never slept late. He walked into her bedroom and found her still in bed, deep in slumber. He took off his shoes and crawled in beside her, enveloping her in an embrace.
He'd missed doing that last night and it had caused him to have a difficult time sleeping. It had taken him a while to finally fall asleep. He'd contemplated calling Gabriella, but didn't want to seem too desperate for her presence, even if it was just hearing her voice. Even though she had tried to reassure him that she wasn't going anywhere, he could help but still feel she was slipping through his fingers. And now he was afraid that if he contacted her too much or was at her apartment to much, she'd feel like he was being pushy and would want even more space…eventually asking him to keep his distance altogether. With all these conflicting thoughts going through his head, Troy had finally slipped into a restless sleep.
Gabriella stirred in her sleep as she felt the bed shift. She snuggled into Troy's embrace, sharing her warmth with him as she found that he was cold. She opened her eyes to find him staring at her. That was when she realized that he hadn't been there when she fell asleep.
"You're cold," she said quietly. Troy smiled and nodded. "What time is it?" she asked, worried she'd slept really late.
Troy heard the panic in her voice and began rubbing her back. "Don't worry. It's not that late in the day. It's only 9:00."
Gabriella settled back down. "Are your parents here?"
Troy shook his head. "No, they're out running some errands. They'll be here later. Are you feeling alright? It's not like you to sleep this long."
"Yeah, I didn't sleep very well last night…you know…new place, different bed than what I've gotten used to. Plus I think I was just exhausted from yesterday."
Troy nodded. "You need to take it easy. I don't want you getting sick or having any problems because you're working too hard. Just take it slow today, okay? Let my parents and I do a majority of the work."
Gabriella nodded. "Okay. I promise to take it easy today. But I refuse to make you do everything. I will help…I'll just make sure to do the easier stuff."
"That's all I ask."
Gabriella got up and got ready for the day. While she was getting ready, Troy found a few things he could do for Gabriella to pass the time. He took the empty boxes from the day before to the dumpster so they'd be out of the way. He went through a couple of boxes that hadn't been opened and tried to find a place for the items in the boxes. When he was done, he fixed Gabriella some breakfast using a few of the groceries Lucille had bought for her yesterday. By the time Gabriella finished her breakfast, Jack and Lucille were knocking on the door.
Troy went over and answered the door. "Come on in, guys."
Lucille walked in and Jack stopped just inside the door. "Troy, I need your help unloading the truck. Can you come with me?"
Troy nodded. "Yeah. I thought I was going with you to get Gabriella's stuff, though."
Jack smiled. "You are. This is some other stuff we need to unload."
Troy frowned but agreed nonetheless. "Okay."
Troy was shocked by what was in the truck, but helped unload it, knowing Gabriella would be happy and surprised as well. When they brought the first load inside, Gabriella looked at the box and teared up.
"You guys…did you seriously buy that?" she asked.
Jack and Lucille both nodded. Lucille walked over to Gabriella and put her arm around her. "We know that with you paying bills now, your funds are going to be limited and we want to help out as much as possible. If we're overstepping our bounds, tell us now and we can take this back."
Gabriella shook her head vigorously. "No, I'm just surprised is all."
Jack and Troy continued down the hallway to the nursery to place the box in there against the wall. Troy would work on putting that together later.
Lucille continued to talk to Gabriella. "That was the crib you had showed me one day. I knew it was the one you and Troy both agreed on and we wanted to help you get the nursery set up. We have the nursery furniture in the truck that the guys will bring in, but we'll let you and Troy decide on everything else. But if you need something, just let us know. Don't ever be afraid to ask, okay?"
Gabriella nodded, tears cascading down her face. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me to know that I have such a wonderful family supporting me."
Lucille was touched by that comment. "We'll always be your family," she said. "We love you, Gabi. You're our daughter."
I loved writing this chapter. A few ups and downs…but a happy ending. Leave me a review and let me know what you think! Let me know where you'd like to see this story go. I'm having trouble with coming up with a good ending to the story. I've got about four more chapters planned for this story.
