...
The Sacred Rays
Gabriella: Part Two
January 11th, 2016.
Monday.
"Fishnets?" Tiara scoffs, inattentively stirring the granola and fruit bits into her low-fat yogurt while her judgmental eyes scan up and down the approaching female figure, "Did I miss a memo for an eighties theme this week?"
"Ha!" Sharpay laughs at the ridiculing statement regarding the poor colleague without a sense of fashion, "Tell me about it."
"To think these people believe they have style!" Tiara begins, an exasperation hanging from her heavy English accent, "It's just incomprehensible!"
"Oh God," Sharpay rolls her eyes once she catches sight of another person walking down the long hall towards their spot lingering in the break room's doorframe. "This one takes the cake," she comments with a hint of amusement behind the crooked, gloss-covered smirk on her lips.
Tiara whips her head around and lays eyes on the ridiculous sight. It takes every inch of self-control for her to not explode into hysterical laughter as uncontrollable giggles bubble out of her hand-covered lips, "Where do you even find a maroon, plaid suit?"
"And that bowtie!" Sharpay exclaims, "It's enormous!"
"It's like…so horrific that I can't look away."
Once the person in question is within earshot, the two cease their criticism and greet him with a fake enthusiasm. They say in a near perfect unison, "Good morning, Jason!"
Jason, completely oblivious to their guilty faces, murmurs, "Morning."
"Whoa…" Tiara says in an impressed tone. Her eyebrows rising from their usual spot on her face in an expression of surprise, "He's…" She begins, watching the toned backside of a male's figure walking away from their spot.
"Firm," Sharpay pitches in, her eyes also finding Tiara's current interest.
Suddenly, a petite woman with an olive complexion materializes from around the corner. She begins to walk in the opposite direction of the man, towards Tiara and Sharpay in the break room. Once she finally glances up at the man, an immediate look of recognition flashes across her big, brown eyes and a polite smile appears on her face. Pausing her walk for just a moment, the man gently wraps his fingers around the back of her cotton covered elbow as he leans down and whispers something so sweet into her ear that a soft blush appears on her cheeks.
Tiara declares, "That scarf doesn't match her shirt."
Sharpay breaks her eyes away from the duo to nod her head in agreement at Tiara.
After the two finish their short exchange, they continue on in their respective directions. After a few steps forward down the hall, the man twists his head around at the woman with a respectful admiration glistening off his eyes. Once he faces forward again, she does the same to him, neither seeing the other's mirrored movement. However, Tiara and Sharpay could witness the entire event from their place.
"Um," Tiara groans in a slight panic as the woman, Gabriella Montez, smiles at her kindly while approaching the break room.
"Hello!" Gabriella chirps happily, the blush finally starting to fade from her encounter with Troy.
"Hi," Sharpay greets her.
"Umm," Gabriella pauses awkwardly, then slowly lifts her hand out to point at the small space between the two, "May I enter?" She asks.
Tiara says, "Yes! I'm Sorry, we didn't mean to block the entry."
"It's okay," Gabriella giggles before crossing into the small break room and pouring herself a cup of steaming coffee from the stained pot, humming along joyously to a tune in her head.
"I'm Sharpay!" Sharpay exclaims with a faux friendliness and obnoxious smile that Gabriella can see right through. "And this is Tiara, who are you?"
"Gabriella Montez. I'm the new draft illustrator here."
"I see…" After sharing a sideways glance with Tiara, Sharpay continues, "Tell me, Gabriella, do you know Troy Bolton?" She asks.
"Of course I do," Gabriella comments casually while sliding a sleeve onto her cup. "We work together."
"I meant did you know him? Before you started working here, specifically."
"Nope," Gabriella answers.
"That's surprising," Sharpay comments before bringing up a glass of water to take a long swig, still eyeing Gabriella suspiciously.
A short lull in conversation occurs before Gabriella asks, "Why?" out of pure curiosity.
"He definitely knew you," Sharpay says with a small laugh.
"Really?" Gabriella asks, stirring in some sugar and creamer with a communal spoon.
"Oh yeah, I heard he was a big fan," Tiara chips in. "He would've done anything to get you on the team."
"What do you mean?" Gabriella asks cautiously, unsure if she really wanted to ask the question in the first place, or remain in the dark. Doing 'anything' to get her to work at the firm could include gaining her romantic interest.
"Well, this is only what I heard, of course," Tiara disclaims. "But word around town is that Bolton was desperate for a renowned artist."
"I can't believe that," Gabriella says, shaking her head while tossing the spoon into the sink with a loud clank and turning to leave.
Sharpay quickly explains as Gabriella stops to listen, "Well, it was a mystery as to why less and less clients were coming over from Brown and Associates. They used to be the easiest competition. After clients weren't impressed with Brown, they'd come running over here faster than a ten year old chases an ice cream truck. Then suddenly, that all stopped. They won over almost every one of their clients and we were losing a ton of potential accounts because of it."
Tiara chimes in with secretiveness apparent in her quiet voice, almost as soft as a whisper, "Then word got out about Brown's secret. They were hiring professional artists to create impressive, high quality drafts of their proposed buildings. It was impossible for the clients to turn down the professional sketches and drafts. Bolton wanted to do the same thing."
Gabriella concludes, "and that's why they needed me," the realization violently hitting her. The immense feelings of disappointment and betrayal tug at her sickened stomach and pull at her watering eyes.
"Exactly. Troy's been really going all out trying to keep you here," Tiara laughs humorously.
"Yeah, I haven't seen him look so clean since his ex-wife was here to groom him," Sharpay jokes as Tiara cackles along with her.
Gabriella barely caught the last line before bolting out of the room, abandoning her fresh cup of coffee on the counter. The cubicles lining up either side of her rushing figure become blurred together as the tears forming in her reddened eyes impair her vision. A few concerned faces glance up from their work once one uncontrollable sob escapes from behind the cupped hand on her mouth.
Closing the large wooden bathroom door behind her, she quickly flips the lock and leans her forehead against the door, pressing her flat palms against it as well. Any attempt to keep herself together prove futile as her lips begin quivering uncontrollably and tears stream from her eyes without abandon.
She spins around and pressing her back against the door, she slowly slides downs it until she finds herself sitting on the tiled floor. Stretching out her leg, she reaches into her pant pocket and removes her phone.
With her hands still shaking and her vision blurred from the tears, she struggles to dial the one person who can help her in this moment of distress.
"Hello?" The voice answers, sounding confused to be receiving a call.
"Tay…" Gabriella lets out weakly.
"What's wrong, Gabi?" Taylor asks, concern thick in her tone.
"Teresa was right," Gabriella sniffles.
"What do you mean?"
"Teresa warned me that Troy was looking out for his interests in gaining my attention. She was right. They needed an artist like me desperately. Troy's been using me for my art. He's not genuinely interested at all. It's all been a ploy to keep me here."
"Oh, honey. I'm so, so terribly sorry."
"I'm so stupid."
"No you're not, Gabi! He's the stupid one. Some guy taking advantage of you says nothing about your intelligence or character, but it says everything about his. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Don't let this ass keep you away from love forever. You could easily find another guy to like a ton who's going to like you tons back."
"I know." Gabriella smiles softly, some hope regained and confidence rebuilt from just hearing those few words from Taylor.
"Alright. Feel better, sweetie. I got to get back to work, but I promise you we can talk about this tonight over tubs of ice cream."
"That sounds good. Thank you, Tay."
"Anytime."
Gabriella breathes in before letting all of it out with one hearty sigh. I can't let this get to me. She tells herself, I can't let him reduce me to tears at work. It's too unprofessional. Just get through the rest of today, She promises herself, then after work we can cry about it all we want on the drive home.
Quickly rising from the bathroom floor, she runs her palms over her waist and down to her hips to readjust her outfit. After a quick check in the mirror, some hair repositioning and cheek wiping, she exits the bathroom.
...
Zeke says, "I seriously watched the first two and half seasons of House of Cards this weekend. You'd never guess it'd be something that I like, being a political drama and all."
"That sounds boring as hell." Jason remarks, leaning back lazily in his chair, the oversized plaid suit making him stand out like a sore thumb between the four well dressed others. "So I'm actually not surprised you like it, Zeke."
"Say what you want, it's beautifully shot and has a captivating storyline. You never know what Frank is going to do next."
"Yeah, yeah," Jason dismisses the topic with a wave of his hand. "Well I preferred to spend my weekend playing Call of Duty."
"Don't you do that every night, too?" Zeke asks.
Chad reminds them, "During the weekdays, don't forget."
Troy adds, "At work, even."
"Okay! I get it. I play C.O.D. a lot, so what?"
Chad says with a smirk, "You could have been out meeting girls, like yours truly."
"What girl could you have met, Danforth?" Ryan asks with a doubtful tone.
"Gabriella's roommate Taylor," Chad responds proudly.
"I didn't know Gabriella had a roommate," Troy responds casually, but his quickening heart rate at the feeling of her name escaping his lips puts audible strain to his voice.
Zeke gasps mockingly before asking, "Oh no, is that a deal breaker, Troy?" teasingly.
"Shut up," Troy says jokingly with a chuckle. "It'd be too messy dating someone at the firm, anyways. We'd have to get HR involved and it'd just be…messy."
"Oh yeah," Chad pitches in, "like you're actually concerned with professionalism at the firm. You're just afraid of being rejected."
Zeke interjects, "Which is stupid. Just ask her out. She's not going to say no."
Troy asks earnestly, "Won't she?"
Jason says, "If you really don't think she likes you back, you're more oblivious than me."
"Wait, you guys really think she'd say yes?"
All of them respond, "Yes!"
Looking around at the others and realizing the sincerity in their words, Troy suddenly stands from his place and rushes out the door, yelling behind him, "I'll be back!"
...
Confidently striding into the draft studio, and crossing over to where Gabriella is sat facing away form him, Troy asks, "Gabriella, could I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure…" She responds monotonously, not turning away from the work in front of her.
Undeterred by her odd standoffishness, Troy begins, "I know it's only Monday, but if you don't have any plans this weekend, or if you're bored and need someone to – um, be with you…Sorry, that sounds weird. Sorry, I get weird when I'm nervous. Sorry. And I guess I apologize a lot, too. God! Why can't I just say it? Gabi, do you want to go out with me this weekend?"
"You can stop the act, Troy," She turns to face him finally and he notices that her typically breathtaking brown eyes appear sadder normal with small, puffy bags formed underneath them.
"Wha-?"
"I'm at the firm. You got what you wanted. You can stop the act now."
"So…" He shifts his weight onto his side while struggling to comprehend what's happened, "Is that a no?"
"I have work to do," and with a point to the door, she dismisses him.
"…Okay," disheartened, but respecting Gabriella's rejection, Troy leaves her be.
...
When he reaches the conference room again, a few more suit-covered bodies have found spots at the long table. Opening the glass door to the room, the other four former Wildcats look at him with dumb smirks on their faces. As he met their smiles with a somber expression and a small shake to his head, they quickly gave him sympathetic looks in sharing the disappointment. Except for Jason (…naturally) who put up his hand for a high five.
"Dude," Chad quietly remarked, lowering Jason's hand for him.
The voice belonging to Charlie Danforth drones on unexcitedly as Troy finds his seat next to Chad at the very end of the table, "And then we'll have to excavate this lower end of the hill to give it a sturdier foundation, of course."
What's going on with Gabriella? She's never so dismissive of me. Did something happen to her? Could I have done something wrong?
"What do you think, Troy?"
Gabriella, Gabriella, Gabriella. That's all that Troy truly thought. While he was pondering Gabriella's unusual behavior, his fellow architects were busy discussing new plans. What exactly they were discussing and the matter the question Charlie posed him with was regarding, Troy was completely clueless of. "I'm sorry, my stomach is doing funny things," he excuses himself, "I'll be right back. I just need to, um, bathroom." With that lie, Troy quickly exits the conference room and seeks out Gabriella.
...
Every time his foot steps on the floor in the long hallway towards the studio, an equal raise in apprehension occurs in his mind. Sheepishly stopping just outside of the studio, Troy wills himself to take a deep, soothing breath before commencing the daunting task of confronting Gabriella.
Pushing in the unlatched door, he peaks his head in to see her sitting, facing away from him with a massive easel and sketch in front of her. Her long brown hair is somewhat contained into a messy bun falling down the back of her head. Aware that approaching her could just exacerbate the situation even further, Troy cautiously and gently says, "Gabriella?" After she shows no intention of turning around and acknowledging his presence, he wearily takes a step inside and begins again, "Gabriella." Still, there is no response as she continues to focus on her sketch. "I wanted to talk to you for a second, Gabriella."
"Troy," Gabriella responds impatiently with annoyance heavily weighing on her tone, "I need to finish this." Her grip on the pencil she holds tightly in her hand doesn't let up as she continues on her project, never taking her eyes off the work.
Troy says sternly, "This is important," keen on resolving the issue.
"Well, my work is more important than trivial interpersonal issues," laughing humorlessly, Gabriella continues, "Oh, I guess we have that in common."
"Is this because I asked you out?"
To this, Gabriella lowers her pencil into her lap and spins around in her chair, glaring at Troy with strong distaste.
Initially taken back by Gabriella's detesting expression, Troy quickly explains himself, "I mean it's natural for it to get awkward, but I just don't understand why you seem so…so…angry about it."
"You're really good at this, you know," Gabriella sounds almost impressed, but still carrying an underlying base of resentment.
"What?" Troy asks.
"Playing dumb," Gabriella states matter-of-factly before spinning back towards her work and bringing up her pencil to continue.
"I'm not playing! Wait, that's not what I meant. I mean that I honestly have no idea what I did to get you this mad. And trust me, you looked pissed as hell. I know I can be an insensitive ass sometimes, but this seems way above my ability alone. I feel like something happened since the last time we spoke this morning, right?"
"It doesn't matter what happened or how I found out," Gabriella states calmly as though she had come to terms with the situation. "The point is that I know all about it now."
"All about what?"
Gabriella snaps, spinning around in her chair before standing and crossing the studio to meet him, "About Brown using artists to help sell the proposals! About being desperate for an artist like me!" She flings her arms around exaggeratedly as she yells, "About using my interest in you to lure me into the firm!"
"Gabriella," he begins, a certain disappointment playing off his soft voice, "How can you believe I'd actually do something like that?"
She met his silence with a small shrug, as though saying I'm not sure, would you?
"I'm aware that we have chemistry," Troy says, "That much was obvious from the first time we spoke, but I'd never take advantage of that fact to coerce you into staying here just for the firm's benefit. I'm not that kind of guy, Gabriella. I'm just not."
She knows by the sincerity in his voice and genuine look in his eyes that he was speaking the unequivocal truth. She says, "I believe you," with a reassuring smile, one that he mirrors happily. "I really should have known they were full of it. They even said you have an ex-wife! How ridiculous is that?"
The smile slowly slips from his face as he looks around the office awkwardly. "Actually," he begins…
