A/N: Sorry this took so long. I've been pretty busy with end of summer stuff but here is chapter 8. Enjoy!
Chapter Eight
She Wowed a Crowd
Troy entered his and Gabriella's bedroom on a Saturday afternoon; at least it used to be the bedroom, with the amount of clothes everywhere it could easily be mistaken for a closet.
"Babe," he called hesitantly, just as a skirt came flying towards his head out of the closet.
Gabriella popped her head and out and smiled, "hey, what's up?" she asked before disappearing back behind the doors.
"Um, nothing much, I guess that tornado that went through here missed the living room huh?"
"What?" she asked, her head reappearing.
Troy held up one of her dresses that had been hanging off the lamp on his bedside table, "you're lucky this lamp wasn't turned on or this dress would have been really hot." He joked, tossing the garment on the ever-growing pile on the bed
"Oh sorry about that, I'm just trying to find something to wear tonight."
Troy rolled his eyes, "it's just a work party babe, there is no one there to impress, and everyone there already loves you."
Gabriella shook her head, "no, there is going to be prospective clients there and if I show up and look frumpy that will make you and the company look bad."
Troy couldn't help but laugh, "okay first, you could NEVER look frumpy; even if you tried, you would still be the most beautiful girl in the world and two, these clients are basically in the bag, this party is to welcome them, there is no way you could chase them away."
"Still I need to look my best and I have nothing to wear," she seemed to ponder that thought for a moment before turning to Troy, "Baby, would you mind if I went shopping?" she asked, putting on her best pout and puppy dog eyes.
Troy couldn't help but groan, "El, you have tons of clothes. You don't need to go shopping." He looked at the clothes around the room and picked up a black dress, "here, wear this one, I like this one."
Gabriella scrunched up her nose and Troy couldn't help but chuckle, "okay, how about that blue one over there, or the brown one on the chair."
"Troy, these are all dresses I wear to work. I need a sexy flirty party dress, therefore I need to go shopping and maybe get my hair and nails done too." She looked at the digital clock on the nightstand. "and I have just about enough time to do that all."
Without another word Gabriella grabbed her purse and walked out the door, "I'll be back by 7 babe."
As the door closing sounded through the apartment Troy turned back to the room which was still littered with Gabriella's clothing.
"You are so lucky I love you Gabriella Montez," he said to himself as he began to pick up the clothes.
A few hours later Troy found himself pacing the entry way of the apartment, his dress shoes squeaking lightly against the wood floor. He had just talked to Gabriella on the phone a few minutes prior and she said she was turning into their complex and would be back shortly. Almost if as on cue, the door opened and Gabriella entered their home, a garment bag clutched in her left hand and her keys in her right.
Her normally curly hair was completely straight, some of it pulled up so that it didn't fall into her face. Her bright brown eyes were heavily lined with a light bronze color covering her lids and a shimmery pink gloss adorned her lips.
"Wow you look…" Troy started but Gabriella held her finger up to his lips to silence him.
"Save that until you see my dress." Gabriella tossed her keys on a small table and made her way back into the bedroom and Troy couldn't help but check her out from behind.
Moments later she reappeared in the entryway, twirling to show off her new dress.
It was a beautiful black dress that fell just above her knees with a flirty skirt, the bodice was sequined and dipped into a v the front and scooped in the back. He followed the dress with his eyes running down her long legs and ended with her favorite black pumps.
"Well?" she asked, twirling once again "was it worth the wait?"
Troy could only nod, unable to form a complete sentence; he took a step closer to her, reaching out to pull her close to him before their lips finally met in a sweet kiss.
"Worth the wait and more baby, I almost don't want to share you, you look so gorgeous."
Gabriella laughed and pulled his hand towards the door, "nah, you want to show me off you know you do."
"I always do, I like showing everyone that I'm the luckiest guy on the face of the earth," he grabbed his keys, allowing Gabriella to pull him out the door, locking the door behind them. He laced their hands and brought them up to his lips to kiss the back of hers, making her smile.
"Keep that up and you may get even luckier."
The party was taking place in a restaurant downtown. One entire wall was made entirely out of windows overlooking the city below. It had a very modern design, but the warm lighting made it feel homey.
Troy led Gabriella into the room, his hand on the small of her back as they looked around.
"Wow, you guys certainly upgraded from the last party, where was it again? A bowling alley?"
Troy laughed, "That wasn't a party exactly, it was more of a celebration. Besides we need to impress our clients. Speaking of which, I need to go find Robert and ask him something really quick, you wanna go get a drink and I'll catch up with you in a minute?"
Gabriella smiled and nodded; he leaned down to kiss her cheek and made his way off in the crowd.
Gabriella looked around the room, she smiled at the people she recognized and made her way over to the bar. She was used to this, especially since Troy got promoted. They would go these parties, and while she would have a good time and got to spend a lot of time with Troy, this was still work and he spent a good portion of the night chatting up clients or conversing with co-workers while she stood by his side, but she wanted to support Troy, and if that meant being the silent supportive girlfriend for the night she would do it.
"What can I get for you?" the bartender asked as she approached the bar.
"Apple martini please," a little bit of alcohol didn't hurt either to make the night a little more fun for her.
The bartender handed her the drink and she took a sip, relishing the feeling of the liquid sliding down her throat. She was about to take another drink when she felt someone gently touch her arm.
"About time, I was starting to," she turned, but instead of finding Troy she was face to face with a man and woman both about in their sixties. "Um, hello," she said trying to be polite.
"Oh no dear you don't know us," the woman said, "we just saw you walk in and notice you came in with Mr. Bolton and we just wanted to tell you what an incredible young man he is."
Gabriella smiled, but was still confused as to who these people were, "oh I'm sorry dear, we're Mr. and Mrs. Charles Anderson."
"Oh," Gabriella said recognizing the name immediately, "you're the new clients, it's so nice to meet you, Troy talks about you all the time."
The man chuckled, "he's quite a bright young man that one, we were planning on signing with a different company but Troy convinced us otherwise with his business pitch, I need more people like that on my staff."
Gabriella couldn't help but beam with pride, "yeah, he's great and he loves his job, so I think that makes a lot of difference. He's really excited to work with you; he has some really great ideas."
"Well I can't wait to hear them, if their anything like the pitch he gave us your husband is about to have many doors open up for him."
Gabriella had stopped listening at the word husband, but before she could correct his error another voice broke into the conversation, "Charles, Rebecca, I see you have met Gabriella."
Gabriella turned to see one of Troy's coworkers, Carter, along with his wife Jane.
"Oh yes, we were just telling her how great Troy is. Let's hear more about you though Gabriella, I feel like we know Troy so well. He's mentioned you quite a few times; he told us a story about your car running out of gas, did that really happen?"
Gabriella couldn't help but start to laugh, "he did not tell you that story. He thinks it's a hilarious but he always tells it wrong, I will tell it right and you will see I am in the victim in this."
"Alright Robert, I'll have those to you by Tuesday," Troy said.
Robert nodded and shook his hand, "sounds good Bolton, now we better go and be social, since that is what this party is supposed to be for. Did you bring Gabriella with you?" he asked, looking around the room.
"Um yeah, I told her to wait by the bar for me but the conversation took a little longer then I expected, I better go find her so she doesn't think I left, i'll see you around."
He made his way into the main part of the restaurant, but couldn't see her, maybe she was still waiting at the bar. As he made his way over there he couldn't help but notice that a small crowd had formed.
He approached the group, just as they all began to laugh and positioned himself so he could see what was going on. He couldn't help the smile that came across his face. There was Gabriella towards the middle of the group, her hands animatedly moving around her face as she spoke.
"So anyways, we start approaching a rapid, and I'll be totally honest I was starting to panic a little. We hit the first part everything is fine, then the boat turns a little, we hit the second part a little rougher and I feel Troy fall off, no big deal it happens,"
Troy immediately recognized the story Gabriella was telling and jumped in, "hey Ella, no one wants to hear that story."
"Oh come on Troy, we all know it, except for Mr. and Mrs. Anderson and they asked to hear it," one of his coworkers said.
"Yeah after you told the story about me running out of gas, Charles suggested I tell one of your most embarrassing stories so we were evened out and Mike suggested this one."
"Thanks Mike, remind me not to invite you on anymore trips okay," Troy said, putting his arm around Gabriella.
"Go on sweetheart, finish the story," Rebecca said, winking at her.
"Where was I, oh yeah, so Troy fell off and he just rides the rest of the way down in the water while we paddle through. We get to the end but Troy doesn't get back in the boat. Mike and Jake try to help him but he says he's fine and is just enjoying the water, but its freezing cold so I knew he was lying. Turns out the rapids had sucked off his swimming trunks and all he had on was his lifejacket." The crowd laughed and Troy turned a little red, "luckily I saw them floating down the river a little and he was able to get them and get back in the boat."
"Oh what I wouldn't have given to see that," Rebecca said, causing everyone to laugh and Troy to turn a brighter shade of red.
"Rebecca," Charles admonished, unable to hide his laughter.
"Thanks El," Troy said leaning down to whisper in her ear.
Gabriella turned to look at him to see if he was mad or not, although his face was still slightly red, she could see the shining in his eyes and leaned up to kiss him.
The crowd began to dissipate, leaving Troy and Gabriella standing with Charles and Rebecca.
"I have to go to the restroom, will you excuse me," Gabriella said, leaving the three and heading off.
"She's lovely," Rebecca gushed, "I just adore her."
"You're a lucky man Troy, girls like that don't come around very often. Hold onto her and treat her right," he stuck his hand out to shake Troy's.
"I will sir, I promise."
"Oh Rebecca we better get going," he said to his wife as he looked at his watch, "Our grandson Parker has a soccer game tomorrow morning and we promised we'd be there. Tell your charming wife good bye for us and that we'll see her again hopefully."
Rebecca nodded, and looped her arm through her husbands, "goodnight Troy," she called as the two made their way towards the exit.
Troy couldn't help but smile at the two, they were still so much in love and he couldn't help but hope that would be him and Gabriella one day.
"Oh Troy look how cute they are," Troy looked over to where Gabriella was pointing and he saw an older gentlemen, probably in his late seventies, helping his wife out of the car.
Troy smiled and opened Gabriella's door making her laugh, "aw, look at you being all chivalrous." She said, sliding into the car, Troy closing the door behind her. As he took his place in the driver's seat he noticed her still watching the old couple, as they slowly walked towards the front door of the store that Troy and Gabriella had exited moments ago.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked, taking her hand into his.
"I just hope I have that one day you know?" she turned to face him and smile a little, "be that little old couple that walk into a room and people just stop for a moment to look because they are both still so much in love. That's a fairytale to me."
Troy brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it.
"Hey dreamy," Troy heard, as Gabriella gently squeezed his arm, "where are Charles and Rebecca?" she asked.
"They had to go, but they wanted me to tell you goodbye. They absolutely adore you; in fact, I think pretty much everyone in this room adores you tonight."
She shrugged, "I tend to have that affect, I'm a pretty likeable person."
Troy laughed at her statement, "and not at all cocky or arrogant."
Gabriella shook her head and kissed him quickly, "not one bit. Come on, lets go mingle and I can continue to dazzle your coworkers."
The two walked towards the group of people, but something that Charles had said continued to ring in Troy's mind.
your charming wife
A/N: Almost to the end, only two chapters left. I have really loved writing this and your response so far, it's awesome, so thanks. Let me know what you thought of chapter eight. I have summaries for two stories in my profile ao go check those out and then I also have a poll as to which story you would be more interested in reading. I will probably end up writing both of them, but I want to know which sounds more interesting to you. Also check out the banners I made and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading, until next time. :)
