"Mom! How many times do I have to tell you that..." Before I finished my sentence, I stepped foot into the kitchen and realized my mom wasn't alone.

Nope. Troy Bolton was sitting at one of the stools around the island while my mom was across the counter from him with a big ass bowl.

Oh shit. Good thing I didn't finish that sentence. He would have thought I was such an asshole telling my mom not to park in my spot since it's essentially
her house with my dad, but it was for good reason. I promise.

"Oh... hi."

Troy smiled at me. "Hey."

My mom smiled at me as well. "Sorry, what?"

I shook my head and walked over to them but then realized I was thirsty so I went to the fridge and grabbed a cold water bottle. "Oh, um, nothing. What are you guys doing?"

My mom took her reading glasses off and went over and grabbed a napkin, "Oh, I told Rebecca I'd give her some lemons from our lemon tree and Troy's here to collect them. They're so good."

Oh, of course. Of course it's Troy that had to come by because it's just my luck. It was Friday and I haven't really talked to him since Sunday when I ran into him at that restaurant. I mean, we'd wave and smile to each other when we'd see each other outside, but that was the extent of it.

He was about to say something, but my mom's phone rang. Pretty loudly.

She scrambled to the other side of the kitchen to get it and she answered on the second ring. "Hello? Oh hi, mom. Yeah, it should be..."

She walked out of the kitchen and it should be rude, but I don't think Troy seems to mind. And now I'm left with him. What the heck? Am I supposed to entertain him for 20 minutes? Because I assure you my mom will be on the phone with my grandma for that long. She's supposed to be getting him lemons.

"I apologize on her behalf," I tell him trying to ease a bit of the awkwardness. It wasn't awkward, actually. I just felt like I had to speak up. "You can come back in 20 minutes if you'd like. My grandma talks a lot."

He shook his head. "Nah, it's okay, I can wait. She didn't know I was coming so I can't be upset if she doesn't tend to me right away."

Wow, he's so nice. "Well, okay. Do you want something to eat or drink?"

"I'm okay, thank you, though."

Well, I'm hungry. I went over to the fridge and looked for something to eat. Ugh. There was literally nothing. But strawberries. Okay, I guess I'll stuff my face with strawberries until dinner rolls around. He kind of just looked at me and chuckled. I guess because I was seriously stuffing my face with them.

"Don't worry, strawberries are my favorite, too."

Ha. How embarrassing. "Want some? They're sooo good."

He reached over and grabbed a couple and plopped them in his mouth. This wasn't awkward, but it just sucked he wasn't single. Like I said, I don't even know if I'm in the position to date, but if I was, it'd be great if the one guy I find myself attracted to was single. Or available. I don't know.

"What do you have planned for tonight?"

Tonight? Umm. Would it be lame to say I have absolutely no plans? "I'm not sure yet. You?"

"I don't know." He grabbed another strawberry and held it in is hand until he was done talking. "but you know who I ran into who invited me somewhere?"

Ummm. "Who?"

He laughed, "Chase."

Chase? My Chase? My best friend? What the heck. "Really? Where?"

"Some party in the Chatsworth," he tells me and that's not what I meant. I knew there was a party in Chatsworth. Chase has been begging all of us to go all day. And it doesn't sound totally awful, because the girl who's throwing it is actually really sweet, but blah, I don't know. Don't really wanna go.

Hm. It's not totally weird of Chase to invite Troy. The Bolton's actually came over for dinner on Wednesday and I wasn't here due to a project I was working on, but Chase was because Chase thinks this is his home and so he hung out with them.

"Are you gonna go?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. A few of my buds are actually going there and they told me about it, but don't know if it's worth it."

I know what he meant. The drive. "Yeah, I don't know either. He's been telling me to go with him all day, but I don't know." Actually, I do know. I'm not going. It's not like he needs me there, but he just likes my company, of course.

"He's cool."

Chase was cool. Life of the party. SO funny. SO sweet. I wish he wasn't gay. "I'm sure he thinks you're cool, too," I laugh. Pretty sure he has a crush on Troy.

Troy laughed as well. "Hey, I don't mind."

Chase never had a crush or anything like that on Taylor, but he would make jokes about it. I knew they were jokes. Just like they are with Troy, Ha. But Taylor... he was never saw his appeal so I knew for sure they were just jokes. And also Taylor, he wouldn't find it funny, he would get really uncomfortable and even came off a little anti-gay. I never asked about it. And Troy, he's the complete opposite. And that's very nice because he could easily be weirded out or grossed out and he's taking it all in good fun. I liked that about him.

"Well, hey, if you don't go to that party, maybe you can come over," he tells me, "I'm thinking of having some people over. Parents are gone for the weekend and it'll be chill. Probably just 20 people or so, I'm not sure yet."

Hm. Well, he better decide fast because it's almost 4. Or not. I guess he has like 4 hours to decide. "Oh, okay... cool, thanks."

He smiled. "Yeah, bring whoever."

Maybe. Nicole and Courtney were supposed to come over. But we had no plans. "Is Megan going to be there?" What the fuck. Why did that just come out of my mouth?! I was thinking it, but I definitely didn't mean to say it. Ugh. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Megan? Umm, no," he said, giving me a weird look, but not that weird. He cracked a smile as well. "She's actually out of town right now."

Oh. Okay. Well, now I have no idea what to say. "I'll see what my friends wanna do tonight."

Good answer.

And then my mom comes in and saves the day because I didn't want to continue that conversation so thank God for her. "Sorry about that," she apologizes, "wanna go get the lemons now?"

Troy nods and gets up off his seat and gives me a smile as he passes me on the way to the backyard. Ugh. He's so hot.

Should I go tonight? I don't know. Ugh.


So I'm not having people over anymore. Too much work.

I don't know if I was disappointed or not. I still had not yet decided if I was going or not, but it was an excuse to be around him so maybe I would have gone. Oh well. I guess it's for the best. Now, I can just lay on my bed and watch movies since Courtney and Nicole ended up wanting to go to that party with Chase.

Hmm what should I text back? 'Okay' would be too lame and kind of bitchy, right? Eh. Okay. Got it.

Sucks. I was looking forward to getting drunk on a Friday night instead of a Tuesday.

Wow. Clever and funny, Gabriella. Good job.

I put my phone down and smiled. It was a little weird texting him. I forgot how I got his number but we've never texted before. Actually once. But it was just so I could save his number or something like that.

After a minute or so, he texted back. Haha, well my dad has a stash of alcohol. You can still come over and help yourself out.

Oh no. He threw the ball back on my court. As much as I shouldn't, I kind of still want to go over there, but don't want to make it obvious I want to. Ugh. What do I do now?

Wait. I got it. If it was your mom's hot chocolate, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

Yesss!

And for the next 5 minutes or so, we had a full on texting conversation.

Actually, she made a batch this morning, so...

Ha, you're lying...

I'm not. You can come over and have some if you want. I wouldn't mind the company.

You're not doing anything?

Nope.

Hm sounds tempting. But my bed is really comfortable right now. Don't want to get up.

Come on. Live a little. I have blankets and a comfortable couch.

Be there in 10.

And that is how I'm standing in his kitchen right now getting ready to bake banana bread. Well, sort of. I came over and we both were craving something sweet, but we didn't want to go out and get anything and the hot chocolate was just a drink so we needed something to eat.

I offered to make banana bread since I had all the ingredients in my house and here we are, in his kitchen making banana bread.

If nothing ever happened between us, at least we're friends. I like being friends with him. I literally feel like I could tell him anything and it's always so much fun to hang out with him.

"Can you mash these bananas?" I ask him, holding them out to him, "I'm not strong enough."

He laughed and nodded. He grabbed them from me and set them down so he could go wash his hands and get a separate bowl for them. He came back ready to mash and thank God because that's always the most annoying thing when making banana bread. Especially if the bananas aren't too ripe which they never are when I make them because I always want to make banana bread at random times. Today, included.

He mashed them pretty well and pretty fast and I was getting this mixture going pretty fast as well. Maybe it's because I wanted it in the oven ASAP.

"You know, banana bread is my favorite..."

I looked up after mixing the batter and he was just sitting there smiling. God, he was SO hot. Like, so beautiful. How does someone this good looking exist in my life? They're only supposed to be in movies like Ryan Gosling. "Mine, too."

"Yeah?"

I nodded. Well, yeah, why else would I be making it?

His beautiful smile was still slapped on his face. And I couldn't look away. "Do you like to bake?"

"Yeah. I like cooking more, but baking is fun, too," I shrugged.

"Really, you cook?" he asks me as if he's surprised. Do I give off the vibe that I don't? Probably. I feel like I come off really lazy. But I'm not. I run, like, maybe four times a week AND yeah, I love to cook. "What can you make?"

I went over to the trash can and threw away some empty egg shells and dirty napkins and rinsed my hands off and thought about it. "I can actually whip up quite a few things. But my specialty is Mexican food, of course. Anything Mexican, I can probably make."

"Pozole?"

Wow, he likes Pozole? "Oh, yeah..."

His face kind of lit up and I don't know if he's faking excitement or he's legitimately excited. "Okay, now you have to make me some."

"Whenever," I tell him.

Is this okay? I mean, I don't feel like he's flirting with me per say, but this whole situation is weird. It wouldn't be weird if he didn't have a girlfriend or a girl
he's dating but I don't know, it just sort of is. Would Megan like that I'm over here making banana bread and getting ready to watch a movie with him?

Maybe he's not with Megan and that's why he feels like this is okay. Inviting me over, telling me to make him pozole. Hmm.

"My birthday's coming up. Maybe you can make it for me then."

What? Oh man. I realized I didn't know little things about him. His birthday? I have no idea when it is. I didn't even think about it. "When is it?"

He got off the chair and went over and filled up his cup of water from the fridge. "January 5th."

Oh wow, that's pretty close. Well mine is too, actually. "Oh that's close. You're turning 18, right?" Well, yeah, stupid question Gabriella. Well, actually not
that stupid since my friend who's in my grade is turning 17. She started school kinda early.

"Yeah, pretty excited."

I am, too. "Are you doing anything fun?"

He shrugged. "I'm still deciding. I don't know. I never have parties since my parents have their Christmas party and that always tires me out, but it's my
18th so I'm thinking about it. We'll see, it's still up in the air."

"Oh, you should," I tell him grabbing the bowl of mixture and holding it up over the baking pan, "I'm already planning my 18th birthday. It's one of those birthdays that you should definitely celebrate. 18, 21, 25, actually I don't know the numbers. But I know for sure 18 is on there. And 21"

He laughed as he sat back down in his seat. "True. We'll see. When's your birthday?"

"February 11th."

"Oh, it's close," he tells me, "so I guess you should be planning."

Eh. I'm getting way of a head start, but who cares. I'm a girl. And I'm going allll out. My parents already booked a weekend getaway and they're on board and letting me do whatever I want. They know I'm responsible. And I can't wait.

I spread the batter into the pan and made sure to clean the sides. This actually looks really good so I'm really excited for it to be done.


"Wait," Troy tells me after his laughter dies down, "why haven't I seen this movie before?"

I've seen Superbad SO many times and I was still laughing. "I have no idea," I said in between laughs, "it's honestly not my type of humor, but it's SO funny. I laugh every time I watch it."

"30 minutes in and it's already my new favorite movie."

I figured it would be. I've showed many people this movie and it instantly becomes their favorite. "I think the banana bread is ready," I tell him getting up after hearing a beep.

Yep. It was. I walked into the kitchen and heard the beeping more clearly. I grabbed the oven mitts that Troy placed on the counter for me when it would be ready and slipped them on. I walked over to the oven and turned it off and then slowly took it out. It was freaking hot.

But it smelled soooo good. I let it cool off on top of the stove, but grabbed a knife and stuck it around the edges so it wouldn't be stuck to the pan.

"How is it?"

I turned around and Troy was standing in the doorway. Well, their doorway is SO big so not really. I guess he was just standing in the kitchen. Ha. "It looks pretty good."

"And smells even better," he comes in closer and takes a look at it, "can I eat it now?"

I take my oven mitts off and put them back in the drawer I saw Troy take them out of. "If you want to burn your mouth, go ahead."

He stopped pretending to reach for it and backed away and went over to the fridge and took out the hot chocolate I've been wanting to have for the last hour. Actually, since the last time I had it.

He put it on top of the stove and started heating it up and I couldn't wait. Seriously, his mom's hot chocolate is the best. I need to get the recipe.

"Did Chase end up going to that party?"

I turned on the faucet and rinsed my hands. "Yeah, he went with Nicole and my friend Courtney."

"You didn't want to go after all?"

Does that make me sound boring? Probably does, huh? I kind of am boring, though. I mean, I'm fun to be around, but the things I do are always so simple.
I guess I'm not really adventurous. There we go. That's the word. "Not really. I mean, I'm sure there's cute boys there, but a little too far for my liking."

He laughed and shook his head. "Cute boys?"

That just came out. My friends and I, whenever we've been in that area, we have literally come across dozens of attractive guys. So it's something we say.

"Have you never seen them?" I don't know why he picked up on it and asked about it, but whatever.

"No," he shook his head as he grabbed a wooden spoon to mix the hot chocolate as it was heating up. "Maybe you should have gone then. I'm sure your friends are having the time of their lives talking to cute boys."

He didn't say it in a mean tone or an annoyed tone, but it didn't exactly sound like... him. Was he, no, I don't want to say cause it's such an absurd though. But jealous? How cold he be jealous when he has Megan? Does this mean he doesn't? Megan isn't his girlfriend? I don't want to ask him, though.

"I know, right? And I'm stuck with you."

I could see him crack a smile. And I knew everything was going to be fine. "I think there are worse things in the world."

Oh, definitely. Like that party. I'd much rather be here... with him. "Definitely."

He turned around, the spoon still in his hand and he didn't stop mixing, and just gave me a warm smile. It was like a moment. You know those moments
in movies? Yeah, kind of like that. And it was weird. Not weird, just weird that it was happening.

What the heck does this mean?

Ugh. We both snapped out of it and he went back to mixing it a bit more before taking the spoon out and just letting it heat. I walked over to the oven and grabbed the banana bread and brought it back to the counter so I could take it out and put it on a plate.

"Can you not watch?"

Troy laughed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Why?"

I shrugged. "Makes me nervous. What if I flip it and it totally comes undone? Embarrassing."

"Then we'll just use a spoon to eat it," he tells me and then comes over to the counter with me and grabs the pan. "Here, I'll flip it around and you pull it
out or whatever, catch it, I don't know... to make sure it doesn't fall apart."

Okay, yeah, that's a good plan. He flipped it over and gently shook it so it could come out and in one swift movement it did. Completely together.

Thank God. It came out perfect. Just like him.

He took the pan over to the sink and I went over there too to rinse my hands. I'm always rinsing my hands. I really have no idea why. It was just habit, maybe. I don't know.

"I think the hot chocolate is ready."

Good. He went over to the cabinets and grabbed two mugs and took it upon himself to pour some for me. And while he did that, I grabbed a knife from the draw and cut up a few pieces of banana bread in thin squares so it would be easier for us to eat. This was a little weird. Making banana bread and drinking hot chocolate with an extremely hot guy who I thought had a girlfriend. Maybe he does and he's just a sleazeball like Taylor, but I don't know. I don't want to complain because I love it. I'm having fun.

Maybe a little too much fun. And maybe I'm getting a little too attracted to him.