A/N: OMG! I can't believe I forgot! Things have been so rushed this past week because I'm back at college. I'm sorry. Well, here it is!


Chapter 8

Gabriella entered the kitchen of the main house with Amber on her hip. Once they were inside, she threw the blonde little girl into the air and caught her. "Are you going to spend the day with Grandpa and the horses today?"

Amber's face fell. "Mummy, I wanted to bake brownies with Grandma," she whined.

"You've had plenty of brownies recently," Gabriella warned.

Maria bustled over and took Amber into her arms. "Oh, Amber. You get prettier every day. What is the plan for the day?"

Gabriella shrugged. "I was going to spend the day with Amber and Papi. You can join us," she offered.

Maria quirked an eyebrow. "Hmmmm...Listen to all of you witter on about horses or go shopping with Carmen? Tough choice."

"Why did you marry Papi?" Gabriella asked incredulously. "Horses are his life."

Maria set Amber on the island counter and moved back to the pile of plates. She continued putting the dried crockery away. "Mi hija, you'll learn someday that things like that won't matter. It doesn't matter to me." She shut the cupboard and walked over to her daughter and granddaughter. "Just because your father loves horses, that doesn't stop me from loving him."

"But, you've always hated horses as much as you hate beards. I don't understand," Gabriella complained.

Maria brushed Gabriella's curls. "Gabi, I'm not going to change your father. I don't want to be into exactly the same things as him. We'd run out of things to say. Not to mention that it would be too boring."

Gabriella frowned, remembering her conversation with Troy. Why be boring and like each other all of the time? Maria was basically saying the same thing. So, was that it? Did she feel something for Troy? She was about to reply to Maria when Troy walked into the kitchen. Did she like him in that way? Catalina had hinted that she did. She needed to figure this out pronto. She needed a guy's opinion on this and no way in hell was she going to talk to Greg about this. So she'd ask the second guy she was closest to. Zeke.

She turned quickly to Amber when she happily yelled out "Troy!" and held out her arms to him.

She needed to have this day with Amber and Greg. It wasn't fair to keep giving her to Greg and Maria every time she had a book to write. She'd have to see Zeke later on tonight. But, wait...

"Are you still helping me teach today?" Troy questioned.

Gabriella gasped. "I forgot. I've kind of made plans with Papi and Amber. How are your feet?" she asked quietly, avoiding his eyes.

He shrugged. "A little sore. But, it's fine. I can still teach. Don't worry about it."

Great. His passiveness about her forgetting made her feel guilty which, combined with jealousy and anger, was certainly not attractive. She swallowed and looked down at her feet which were enclosed in walking boots. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Troy shrugged. "It happens. Are we still on for tonight?" Troy asked.

Gabriella frowned and picked Amber up, resting her on her hip. "No. Can I get a rain check on that? If Papi comes in, tell him we're in the stables with Chica." She strode out of the house with Amber towards the stables.

Troy rushed after her and fell into step beside her. "What is it? What's up with tonight?"

Gabriella shrugged. "I just can't make it."

"But, why?" Troy demanded.

Gabriella set Amber on the ground. "Mi hija, just go towards the fence and sit on that hay bale. I have to talk to Troy."

Amber nodded and hugged Troy's legs quickly. "Okay, Mummy."

Gabriella spun quickly on Troy. "Listen, I'm sort dealing with something right now and I need some time to figure it out."

"Can I help?" Troy asked.

Gabriella breathed deeply. "Hell no. Look, Troy, I promise we will have this freaking tea but right now I need to try and figure this stuff out, okay? Now, please, please, please, could you leave me alone for a while? I know that we love to annoy each other but right now you're the last thing I need." Gabriella saw him flinch at her final sentence and, although she wasn't sure, she thought she saw a flash of pain in his eyes.

She opened her mouth to speak but Troy beat her to it by clearing his throat. "Well, then, I'm not entirely sure what I should say to that. But, I guess all I can say is let me know when you want this tea." He turned towards the students' stables but paused and turned back to her. "I don't know what's wrong with you and I have a feeling it's something that I've done. If you'd tell me what it is, I'll try to fix it. And that's a promise. But until then, I just want you to know that, despite how I struggle to show it, I do care about you."

Gabriella stared at his back at he walked away, knowing that beneath his shirt, there were those really attractive eagle wings with that brilliant tattoo. She groaned and threw her head back in frustration.

Well, crap.

That was just a load of help to figure out her feelings for him.


"Thanks, Zeke," Gabriella murmured as she picked up her glass of wine.

Zeke smiled and sipped his lager. "It's fine, G." Sat at an outside table at the Londesborough, Gabriella and Zeke were relishing in the cool breeze which kissed their skin. "So, what brought this on?"

"Are you complaining?" she teased, nudging his arm.

He wrapped an arm around her and squeezed her shoulders. "And miss the chance to have a one-on-one with my best friend? No." His face became serious but he kept his hold on her. "So, what is it?"

Gabriella sighed. "Well, first, you have to promise not to tell anybody, especially Shar. I love her to bits but this needs to be you, okay?"

Zeke nodded solemnly. "Of course."

Gabriella breathed deeply. "I don't know what to do. I thought I hated Troy."

"Why do I sense a 'but' is coming?" Zeke asked.

Gabriella paused for a moment before she slammed her hand down on the table. "Coño!"

Zeke rolled his eyes. Knowing her since they were three had taught him that she was likely to burst into a Spanish tirade when she was angry, frustrated or upset. Sadly, he couldn't tell what she was feeling at that moment. All he knew was that he had never coped with her Spanish outbursts particularly well. That had always been Sharpay's department. "Gabi, calm down. I need to understand you."

For a reason she couldn't quite understand, tears brimmed her eyes although she wouldn't let them fall. "Surely you know some Spanish by now," she laughed.

"Not enough," he countered. "And to help you sort this out, I need to understand you."

She nodded glumly. "I know."

"So, you thought you hated him," he prompted.

Gabriella nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. "I don't know how I feel about him anymore. I still want to insult him all of the time. But things are different. I know they are. But I can't figure it out."

"When did it change?" Zeke asked.

Gabriella thought about it. "The barbeque. We had a barbeque. Just Mami, Papi, Carmen, Amber and me. But Troy came over and I guess that's it. It was like he was seeing me differently because of what happened here."

Zeke chuckled under his breath. "Ah, Gabi, don't worry so much."

"I'm not worrying," she hissed.

Zeke took a mouthful of his lager. "I know you," he whispered.

Gabriella looked away from him. "Zeke, I love you and I don't want anything to change that."

Zeke kissed her forehead. "Nothing will. Just talk to me."

Gabriella took a deep breath. "Basically, I accidentally mentioned how I'd withdrawn from everybody and I freaked out because of it. It was too much. I don't know why I said it but I'm kind of glad that I did. It felt good. A couple of days later, Troy found me in the barn and I talked about it. But that just messed with my head. I don't know what he thinks of me anymore."

Zeke paused. "And you don't know what you think of him?"

She nodded and the tears finally flowed. "Hell yeah. I know how I feel about him." She swirled her wine around her glass. "I just don't want to admit it out loud."

Zeke frowned. "Do you want to enlighten me?"

"I'm jealous," she whispered. "I found a pink toothbrush at his house and I just feel so jealous all of the time." She turned to him suddenly. "You know the time before you asked Shar out, when she was with that guy...Matt! Did you feel physically sick? Did it hurt?"

Zeke nodded. "Oh yeah. Definitely. Second worst feeling in the world. But, it gave me the guts to make my move."

Gabriella scratched her head. "I guess. But surely that implies that I sort of like him?"

"I can't answer that," he murmured.

"Why?" she whined.

Zeke chuckled at her antics. "G, nobody can answer that but you. You have to be brave and trust your own judgement. That's because love isn't black and white. I know that guys have never been a priority for you considering the whole introvert phase and then there was you trying to develop your talent. And you spent so much time with the horses. You never really had time to think about guys in that way."

Gabriella released a tiny giggle. "I get it."

"But, if you're feeling this way, maybe your priorities should change. G, think about Amber. She needs a dad. Don't you think?" he asked. "Maybe you should give the prospect of a relationship with him a chance."

Gabriella groaned and sipped her wine. "I don't know. I always thought I could, you know, choose when I could fall in love but this is different, complicated."

Zeke nodded. "Of course it's complicated. Don't you remember the issues we all had to suffer with Chad and Tay?"

Gabriella laughed. "Oh yeah. They were dropping hints so subtle that Chad managed to convince Nathan to ask Tay out in year nine."

"Exactly. See the mess they got themselves in?" Zeke asked.

Gabriella sighed. "So, what do I do?"

"You talk to him and ask him about this," Zeke explained patiently.

Gabriella put her wine down and moved into his embrace. "Do you ever miss the time when we were in nursery together when the hardest decision was which crayon to use?"

Zeke nodded nostalgically. "Of course I do. But, then again, I didn't know Pay back then."

Gabriella giggled to herself. "Hmmmmm."

"Then again, it was always fun using ice cream bribery on you so that I could use a particular crayon," Zeke mumbled.

Gabriella frowned as she straightened up. "You know as well as I do that ice cream bribery still works on me."

Zeke smirked. "Exactly."

Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"When is he cooking you tea?" Zeke asked.

"I don't know. It was supposed to be tonight but I needed to talk to you," she mumbled in embarrassment.

Zeke looked at her in shock. "What?" he exclaimed. "You blew him off for me?"

Gabriella shrugged. "I needed to talk about it all."

"Does he know you're with me?" Zeke whispered.

"No. Unless somebody's told him. And I doubt that someone did." She paused. "What would I tell him, anyway? That I think I kind of like him but I don't want to admit it and I'm going out to ask the guy I think of as a brother for his opinion?" She paused again to take a longer gulp of the much needed alcohol. "That would go down so well," she mumbled sarcastically.

"You told him that you weren't going, though, right?" Zeke asked.

She nodded. "Of course I did."

Zeke paused. "I've never seen you like this before."

"That's because I was so sure of everything before. I thought I knew who was who and I thought I knew what love was like. I thought I could prepare myself. But I can't and with the freaking pink toothbrush, it just gets more and more complicated," she whined.

Zeke kissed her temple. "Gabi, how do you feel about him?"

Gabriella looked out across the back garden of the restaurant. She saw several children playing on the play area and a young couple, she guessed they were no more than nineteen, were stood together in the corner, whispering to each other. Her shoulders sagged and she gasped for breath. "Fine. I want him. I don't know why. He pisses me off every day. And yet, he's all I think about."

"He has a beard," Zeke pointed out.

Gabriella glared. "I know that." She sighed and brushed her hair from her face. "He calls me Ella," she admitted.

"I noticed that when he joined us here." He scratched his chin. "How does it feel?"

"At first it hurt. But, I got thinking and it's kind of nice, you know?" Gabriella shook her head to herself. "I need to tell him the story about it, don't I?"

"You need to tell him a lot of things," Zeke pointed out. "Soon, as well."

Gabriella took a final sip of her wine. "Do you think it's possible to have romantic feelings for someone who you argue with all of the time?"

Zeke nodded. "I do. Love is expressed in all kind of different ways and I just think that you like Troy, and possibly love him, because he's a breath of fresh air, so to speak. Do you get that? I mean, your parents are exhibit A for how people can be perfectly happy together and not have anything in common."

"Yeah, but, they don't scream at each other every day," Gabriella exclaimed.

"I guess this is just God wanting you to think about how things aren't always as they seem and that maybe you're ready to be in a relationship," Zeke explained patiently.

Gabriella inhaled deeply as she snuggled back into him. "I love you, Zeke."

Zeke kissed her forehead. "I love you, too, G."


Well, this was an anticlimax Troy desperately didn't need. After all of the stress the night before about what to cook Gabriella, it wasn't happening now. He wasn't one to need evening company regularly; in fact, he spent most nights alone with Rain, either reading books or playing his piano. But, after he had planned and to some extent looked forward to having 'tea', as the English called it, with Gabriella, he couldn't help but feel a little down because she had cancelled it. But, if she had something going on, he wanted her to figure it out before they had their tea. He knew that neither of them would enjoy it the way she was acting at the moment.

It was still bugging him that she wouldn't tell him what he'd done wrong. Sure, he insulted her but she insulted him, too, and she'd never reacted this badly before. He'd hurt her. He knew that much. But, what had he done? It all started when she went over to his house for that one-on-one game. It was like a switch had been flicked while she had been in his bathroom. Before she went, they were almost getting along. The insults had been softened since the first day they met and they were bordering on teasing each other. Then, when she came back down, it was like she was worse than the first day they met. He was no mind reader and he was rather incompetent with social skills but he kind of got the feeling that she couldn't stand the sight of him. He knew she hated beards but she still looked at him when they talked. It just didn't make sense. And whenever she was sort of nice to him, like when she was massaging his feet at the dance studio (oh, how wonderful that had been), it was almost like she was doing it because she didn't have a choice.

Well, it didn't matter because until she started giving him straight answers, he couldn't do anything to help her. And until she gave him straight answers, he wasn't going to have any contact with her other than the standard 'Hi Ella' as a passing greeting.

Besides, tonight wasn't about Gabriella and her weird mood swings. Tonight, he was going to enjoy a quiet night with Rain. He stood by the bar, Rain sat dutifully at his feet, waiting to be served. Once he had his pint of lager, he headed outside. He knew that Gabriella's friend...what was her name? Sharpay! Gabriella's friend, Sharpay, owned the restaurant, presumably with Zeke, and he was more than willing to give them some business. He recalled Zeke mentioning a bakery he owned, too. In his quiet time to himself, Troy made a mental note to find the bakery and visit it.

It was nice to sit outside. The ever-oppressive heat of the day had cooled to a mild warmth and the setting sun created the most beautiful paint palette of colours Troy had ever seen painted on a sky. Rain was lying on the ground, one of her paws draped protectively over one of his feet.

Troy swept his gaze over the outside part of the restaurant. There was a family of four seated closest to the play area, an old couple seated away from the door, shaded by the comfort of a trimmed hedge, two young women, presumably sisters, were eating together and laughing with one another, and there was one more couple there... Troy turned his gaze to the table a little in front of him, to the left. He frowned. He recognised those shoulder-length brown curls. Of course he did. Then she curled into the embrace of the dark-skinned man and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw her face. Her almond eyes, her high cheek bones and those sweet lips he had craved to taste. How pathetic he must've seemed to her. Something was wrong, though. Her face was contorted into pain and confusion.

The man she was with turned to her and nodded at whatever she had just asked. Well, that was certainly a twist in fate. No wonder Gabriella hadn't wanted to kiss him. He wouldn't be able to look at Gabriella or Sharpay the same way again.

He had obviously terribly misjudged Gabriella. He felt sick to the stomach. She had a daughter and she was playing with everybody.

And he had believed it.

His heart broke for Sharpay. She'd be devastated. He watched as Gabriella curled into Zeke. He strained to hear. "I love you, Zeke."

He watched as Zeke kissed her forehead. "I love you, too, G."

That was all he needed to hear. Gripping Rain's leash tightly in his hand, he rose suddenly, jolting the dog from her slumber. He moved quickly, not wanting to draw attention to himself. He shouldn't be feeling so upset because of the latest revelation. They weren't even friends and he felt nothing for her at all.

If that was the case, why was he feeling so saddened because of it?


Coño – Fuck