Sorry about the wait, but it takes longer to write longer chapters. O.k., so I kind of like this chapter, but that's just because I know what happens in the next couple of chapters so ya. Enjoy!! ;-)
Chapter 8
June 18th 11:45 A.M. Private Jet 14 to Albuquerque, New Mexico
I sat there, sweating like a mad man as I watched the world pass beneath me. We have been on this plane for about 3 hours now and are about to land. Gabriella had agreed to use my private jet and that allowed us plenty of time for sleep and time to pack. I had talked to Chad again yesterday, and mentioned that I was leaving with Brie to visit her mom. He wasn't upset, thank god since I had dragged him all the way here from California, because he and Taylor were getting close like they had in High school. I guess this trip was even better than originally planned.
Tay and Brie had hung out a couple of times throughout the week and Chad and I had a chance to chill again. He was happy for me and finding Brie again, also to find out I had a daughter. While we had talked I had also seen a Chad I hadn't seen since high school when Tay and him had been dating. I could always tell he had been hurting from separating from Tay, but he always held it in. Now, the old old Chad was back.
Belle was sitting to my left, deep in thought as she attempted to color inside the lines. I had managed to hit a Wal-mart and buy her some coloring books to keep her happy. "Look big blue, I color Handy Manny!" She cheered as she lifted the coloring book up so I could see her beautiful masterpiece.
"That's very pretty little blue!" I tried to sound as excited as possible and give a smile as my hands continued to sweat at the thought of meeting Brie's mom again, Belle's grandmother. The last she had heard of me, I had run out on Brie when she told me she was pregnant, obviously that is a complete lie! I never would have run on her like that, but, her mom thought I would.
The seatbelt sign went off as the captain announced that the plane would be landing momentarily. I looked up and noticed Brie making her way back out of the bathroom. "You o.k. Brie?" That was the tenth time she had been in that bathroom. It was starting to worry me.
She sat back down and buckled her seatbelt as she looked up at me and gave an apparently fake smile. It was apparent that she was sick. "Uh, yeah. I hate flying." She muttered for probably the millionth time.
I gave a sympathetic smile before checking Belle for her seatbelt and pre paired to land.
June 18th 12:03 p.m. Rental Car
I could feel my temper rising as I watched Troy play with Belle the entire flight. Not once in the whole 3 hour flight did she direct her attention to me. For years it has just been Belle and I, but now that Troy has come back into our lives, everything seems to be about Troy, er, Big Blue! I love Troy with all my heart, but Belle is something even bigger in my life and he is, sort of, not really, taking her away from me. Yes, she snuggles with me at night, and yes, she hugs me first in the morning, but she always talks about him, and where he is, or where he's going. 'Big Blue!' this and 'Big Blue!' that. It's driving me up the wall. She's supposed to love me more! I've been there for her longer, though it's my own fault, but still. I'm her mother!
"Brie? Is everything o.k.?" Troy's whisper filled my ears as we made our out off the interstate entering our little neighborhood. The car ride had been fairly quiet, causing me to stay deep in thought.
I took a deep breath and sighed. "I'll be o.k." Hopefully seeing my mom will help ease my stress. Maybe she'll even be able to help me understand what's going on in my head.
He squeezed my hand with his free one. "Are you sure?" I was glad his eyes were on the road and not me, that way I didn't have to force out a fake smile when he could always read them.
"Yeah, it was just long flight. My stomach's still a little queasy." I grabbed my stomach remembering how long and horrible the flight had been. I've never been a flyer, I learned that on my first flight to Minnesota 5 years ago, but I had figured I was getting sick because I was pregnant. Guess not.
"Everything will be fine." His voice cracked and I could tell her was extremely nervous about meeting my mom again. His sweaty palms gave him away. I would be terrified if I was in his place; my mom gives no mercy to people who hurt me, so I should probably stand in front of him when she answers the door.
We stayed silent for the rest of the car ride, which was only a few minutes, to await the fate of Troy Bolton, A.K.A. big blue.
June 18th 12:47 p.m. Montez Home
My hands were sweating again as my heart raced at about a million miles per minute. I was standing in the living room of Brie's mom's house, Belle in my arms. Brie was standing in front of me as I held Belle closer to my body. For some reason I felt as if someone was going to rip her from my arms and never give her back. Belle had fallen asleep in the car so she was fast asleep.
Brie's mom was staring at me, anger in her eyes as I tried my best to keep my eyes from meeting hers. She was pissed, I was sure about that, and the only thing keeping Janelle from attacking me was extremely small Brie.
I took a moment to take in my surroundings and noticed everyone in the room filled with many different expressions. I remembered Juan, Alex, James, Sasha, and Jasmine; her cousins; they were standing at the far end of the room. They all remembered me and were extremely pissed. Who I guessed where the Aunt and Uncle of whom took her in, where pissed, standing next to her cousins, but her other Aunts and Uncles just looked puzzled about why half the room was pissed. Most of the family was on the far end of the room and more started to pile in when all the voices stopped when we entered the room, curious at who had entered.
I swallowed hard and made sure Belle was still asleep as I took another quick sweep at the room. Maybe someone was happy to see me, maybe someone would cry next to Brie at my funeral. Maybe I'm over exaggerating, but if you could see these expressions, you would be thinking about your funeral too.
A small boy walked up to me. I gripped Belle even tighter, if that was possible and took a very small step to the side. He looked overly pleased to see me. Maybe there was someone happy to see me. "You, you, you're Troy Bolton!" He exclaimed. About 5 people looked at me wide eyed, happy, while the rest of the room started to edge their way closer to me. I immediately turned belle away from them, taking a glance at the front door which was still wide open, clocking how fast I could jump in the car with both Brien and Belle without being mobbed by angry relatives.
Brie raised her arms up and stepped back, blocking their way to me. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down, this is not what you think!" She exclaimed. I noticed her chest rising just as rapidly as mine was.
The relatives I didn't know all backed off while Brie's mom and her cousins stood their ground. Brie's mom stood further forward and glared at Brie. "Why the hell is he here!" She asked furious. I swallowed hard and took another glance at the front door. If I darted now maybe Brie Belle and I could escape with minor injuries.
"Momma, its o.k." She took a deep breath and sighed. "Will you all please relax so I can explain." She eyed her mother and cousins. I kept my arms safely around Belle.
"You expect us to relax while you bring this piece of shit into your mother's home!" The eldest cousin, Alex, growled through his teeth.
"You will relax so I can explain!" Brie snapped and I carefully moved my left hand out to place it on Brie's shoulder, causing her to relax a bit. Nothing would get settled if she only yelled back at them, and at this rate, I would fear my life for the next 2 hours.
Her cousins all backed off a bit while her mother stood her ground. "Momma, please." Brie begged."
She obviously saw the desperation in Brie's eyes as she stepped away, walking into the kitchen. Brie turned and gave me a sympathetic look before turning and following her mother into the kitchen. Slowly, I followed right behind and tried my best not to look at her cousins as we walked past them. I'm sure they were giving me the death stare. I could have been hearing things, but I could have sworn Juan growled at me. When we entered the kitchen, Brie and her mother sat at the table while I made myself comfortable leaning up against the wall.
"Troy, please sit down." Brie stated pointing to a vacant seat at the table. I glanced at her mother and quickly removed any thought about taking a seat at the table. Brie shot a look at her mother. "Momma!"
"Gabby, I'm not going to like him anymore than I did 2 minutes ago, no matter how the story goes!" Her mother was staring at me, her eyes dark.
"I LIED!!" Brie screamed, causing both her mother and I to jump a bit. Belle started to stir so I hugged her closer, forcing her to fall back asleep.
"What!?" Janelle breathed, looking now from me and Belle, to extremely nervous Brie.
"I said, I lied." She spoke a little softer now.
"What do you mean you lied?" Janelle asked again, worried this time.
Brie took a deep breath and glanced over at Belle and I before turning back to her mother and putting her head down. I wanted to be there next to her, comforting her and letting her know that everything was going to be fine, but life sounded better than death.
"Troy…" She paused, swallowing hard. "I…never told…Troy." She breathed barely over a whisper. She took another deep breath. "I was scared when I found out about being pregnant so I ran." I decided to ignore the fear inside me and stepped closer to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. She placed a hand on mine and decided to continue when her mother said nothing. "For some reason, I had told myself that Troy wouldn't accept a baby at that stage in his career and I didn't want to jeopardize his future…" I cringed at the thought of her running away because she cared about my future. "I ran to Auntie Lucy and Jacob, telling them the same as I told you."
Janelle barely even blinked as Brie continued her story. "Just a couple of weeks ago, Troy showed up in Wisconsin to help a friend move and he ran into Belle. He didn't know who she was and she didn't know him either, but somehow they bonded in the few moments they were together. I guess Belle asked him to come to her birthday party and he decided to show up. Thank god for that or else Troy and I would have never met, again."
She glanced back up at me and smiled. "He has barely let me out of his sight since that day." She let out a soft chuckle and I smiled. "You see, momma, Troy never knew I was pregnant, I never told him. One day while he was gone, I packed up all my stuff and jumped on the first flight to Minnesota. I never even told him I was leaving, I just left."She stared right at her mother and sighed. "Troy did nothing wrong, it was all me. If you're going to be mad at someone, be mad at me. I messed up." I squeezed her shoulder letting her know everything was fine.
We both looked at her mom, who's head was down, taking in every word. I loosened up a bit as I noticed her shoulders relax and her face become more calm. She looked up at Brie and me and gave a small smile. Her eyes drifted down to Belle and she finally took in the fact that Belle had been in my arms the entire time. She watched as I smoothly changed Belles position in my arms to allow blood flow back into my upper arm. Belle started to whine a little so I whispered soothing words into her ear to help her fall back asleep. I noticed a small smile form on the corner of Janelle's lips and I smiled back as I started to sway side to side to help Belle stay asleep., one hand supporting her head.
She looked back at Brie and scrunched her eyebrows as if she was trying hard to focus on a small dot on Brie's face. "So…that's why you didn't want me racking havoc on the Bolton family?" She asked, her voice barely over a whisper.
My eyes shot wide and she looked up meeting my eyes again and chuckled. " I wasn't going to do anything, I was just pissed that you would do such a thing, though you didn't." As if she remembered what we were originally talking about, Janelle shot an angry look at Brie. "Why would you do such a thing?!" Brie looked down at the table. "Troy had a right to know he had a child and I deserved the truth. You lied to everyone!" Janelle started to grow aggravated again.
I decided to step in, speaking for the first time since Brie and mine's conversation on the way here. I sat down next to Brie, Belle sound asleep in my arms, and reached for Brie's hand. "She's been in enough stress about her actions for now. We talked about it and we've decided to forget the past and move on. I finally have her back and that's all that matters." My voice started to sound rushed as I said the last part.
Janelle looked at me a little confused. "You…finally…have her back?" She dragged out the word finally and tried to figure out what that meant.
I decided it was my turn to show her just how dedicated I was to my new family. "Ever since Brie left, I have been trying to find her and now, with the help of little blue, I have my heart back with a few extra pieces to spare." I smiled at Brie and kissed the top of Belle's head. They were my girls and I would never hurt them or let them go.
Janelle smiled at me and sighed. "Well, I guess I have some apologizing to do."
I shook my head. "No, don't. I completely understand why you wanted to castrate me." We all laughed causing Belle to stir again. I looked over at Brie for an answer on what to do with her and she smiled. "I would love to have some blood flow back in my arm."
Brie giggled and looked over at her mother. "Does the spare room still have a small bed in it?"
Not taking her eyes off of Belle and I, she just nodded and I stood up. I placed a kiss on Brie's head. "I'll be right back."
"K." She smiled again and I made my way out of the kitchen into the all too familiar hallway.
June 18th 1:23 p.m. Montez Home
I watched Troy walk out of the kitchen I turned back to my mother. The conversation hadn't been as bad as I thought, but she made me realize that I had lied to everyone. I mean, I knew I lied to everyone, but the way she said it made me realize the full extent of what I had done. The looks on every ones faces when they recognized Troy was a mixture of fury and confusion. Mostly everyone knew who he was and our past, but the others only knew him as Troy Bolton, L.A. forward. Little Tommy was the only one to egnolige Troy as a good guy, buy it caused everyone to edge closer to us. I never thought my family would be THAT protective of me. I couldn't help but smile knowing I would be taken' care of in any shape or form. Troy would save me from myself and my family would save me from Troy, which shouldn't need to happen.
"I cease to understand the point of you lying, but there's time to talk later." Janelle smiled and I returned the smile. Finally, we stood up and gave each other a well needed hug. "Why did you have to move so far away. I miss seeing you all the time."
I felt bad for having left my mother, my best friend, back here in Albuquerque, but at the time it seemed to be my only choice. Maybe one day I'll return here and let Belle have the same education as my two years at East high. "I'm sorry momma, I miss you too."
A throat being cleared sounded and I turned to see Troy, smiling at us. "Did I interrupt something?"
"No no, come here Troy." I shot a questioning look at my mom and then looked back at Troy who seemed glued to his spot. The woman that was going to eat him alive wanted a hug from him. She laughed. "Oh come now, I'm not going to hurt you. It's been far too long Troy. I'd be lying if I didn't say I missed you a little bit. You had seemed to make our home a second of your own back then."
Troy smiled, obviously remembering far more than my mother knew about. Troy had spent many nights in my room, only a few was my mother aware of. He cautiously moved from the doorway and gave my mother a giant hug. He was significantly taller than her, but he managed to shrink a bit to let her wrap her arms around him. "It has been too long hasn't it Mrs. Montez."
She pulled away and smiled as Troy made his way over to me and wrapped a protective arm around my waist. "Please, call me mom."
We both chuckled. "O.k., mom." We all laughed at how funny it sounded, but we managed.
"Alright, let's get this party started. It's not every day your own mother turns 50!" She led us back out and into the living room where the rest of the family calmly awaited to hear what was going on.
June 18th 5:33 p.m. Montez Home
"Higher Big blue! Higher!" Belle cheered as I pushed her higher on the swings. She had awoken a couple of hours ago, and after getting some food in her system, she seemed to be on hyper mode. This girl hasn't stopped moving since we fed her some cake. Note to self, Belle only eats cake at her own birthday parties! I chuckled at the thought of a crazy Belle running around at all her friend's birthday parties. "What so funny big blue?" Belle asked as she came back towards me and I wrapped my arms around her body, causing her to burst out laughing.
"That's what's so funny!" I lifted her off the swing and spun around in circles. "Are you dizzy?!" I cheered as she giggled louder.
"NO!" She giggled and I set her down, running as fast as possible away from her. She stopped for a second before trying to advance, only to step over her other foot sending her crashing to the ground. She busted out laughing when everyone else around us laughed to. I walked back up to her and picked her up, flipping her over my shoulder and carrying her around the yard as if she was a package.
"Troy!" Brie giggled from across the yard. She was sitting at a patio table with her mom and a couple of other cousins. "That's not funny!"
I laughed as Brie attempted not to laugh at us. "It's not funny huh?!" I stalked up to Brie and set Belle down. Thankfully she ran over to her grandma as if she knew what I was doing.
"Troy NO!" Brie screamed as I picked her up and ran around the yard. "TROY!!!" She protested again, but her giggling was enough to send me spinning in circles. "Ahhh!! Troy!" She laughed. Everyone in the back yard was watching us, laughing. I immediately stopped spinning and set Brie down, running away. She knew the affects of spinning so she just stood there, arms crossed. Eventually, the world spinning around her was too much as she staggered to the side before stumbling over her feet. "Ugh! TROY!!" She yelled.
"What?" I asked innocently.
"Yeah what?" Belle asked from next to me. I laughed at how serious she was.
Brie stood back up and whipped her jeans. "Look what you made me do! Now I have grass stains on my brand new jeans." She whined I felt a little bad. I knew she didn't like being center of attention, but I'm just in such a good mood.
I jumped off the patio and headed over to Brie. "I'm sorry baby." I tried hard to hold back a chuckle.
She stood up straight and smacked me across the arm. "Ugh! What am I going to do with you?!" She pouted and I grabbed her by the waist.
I leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Anything you want."
She wiggled out of grasp and smacked me again, not as hard this time. "Hey." I laughed.
"You are impossible Bolton!" She stormed over to Belle and placed her in her lap.
"Mommy o.k.?" Belle asked, concerned about her mother's well being.
Brie glared up at me and grinned before whispering something into Belle's ear. Belle giggled and jumped off of Brie's lap and ran over to me. I picked her up and set her on my hip. "Big Blue stinky!!" She giggled, reciting what her mother had told her to say.
I pouted for a second and set Belle down. She wasn't very happy about that. "No, I can't pick you up if I'm stinky."
"No, I just kid, big blue no stinky!" She tried to wrap her arms around my leg but I took off in to the yard, her right on my tail. She continued to chase me around the yard.
--
"Why does she call him big blue and not daddy?" Mom mother asked, concerned about the whole situation.
I sighed, not exactly knowing how to explain it. 'Well, when Belle ran into Troy, she couldn't remember his name so she just called him big blue. In return, he called her little blue and the names just stuck. She's caught me calling him Troy and she only gets mad at me saying her daddies name is Troy and big blue is not Troy." I looked over at the two running around in the yard. "It breaks my heart to see him when she calls him big blue and not daddy . I mean, he's o.k. with her calling him big blue, but…" I paused remembering that day. "She held up one of Troy's senior pictures to his face and said that he wasn't the person in the picture, meaning he wasn't her daddy. He was so crushed by that, but he's slowly coming along. I want to tell her now, but Troy's afraid that she won't like him once she finds out that he's her father."
My mom placed her hand on mine and gave me a reassuring smile. "If she warmed up to Troy within 3 minutes of meeting him , then she'll come to terms on him being her father."
I sighed and watched Troy fall on his back while Belle pushed him over backwards. She busted into giggles as Troy lifted her up with his feet and pretended she was an airplane. "I sure hope so."
SOOOOOOOOOOO, What you think??!!! I didn't get as many reviews on the last chapter, the same applies to my other story I Wish I Could Love You. I'm getting nervous that you guys are getting bored with my stories. If this is so, let me know, but I'm excited about the next two chapters so you don't have to worry about that. Please keep reviewing, I appreciate it, and also, let me know what you think about my other story I Wish I could Love you. I think o only got about 4 reviews so ya. I need to know what you guys think. Thanks Again!!! SuzzieD!! ;-)
