Gabriella was pouring drinks two at time, no flare, no razzle dazzle. She was wearing a college t-shirt with jeans nothing special or out of the ordinary either. Todd was working with her tonight instead of Troy. In fact by word of mouth Troy was on a date tonight with Sharpay and she was here alone, with Todd.
"I like music too," Todd said passing off a beer to a costumer.
"That's nice Todd." She said reaching for a glass to be filled, "can you make me a red headed slut?"
"Anything for you," Todd smiled as he began to mix the drink and Gabriella rolled her eyes. She was stuck here alone with Todd. Valentine's day was now a week away and Gabriella was dreading far more than usual. She's painted her nails black and she'd made an appointment to get a tattoo at this parlor not too far away from campus. The last time she got a tattoo it was a purple and pink butterfly on her inner thigh, she got it because it wanted it to resemble her freedom in life. Gabriella let out a sigh, Valentine's Day resolutions were always floating in the air. People talking about signing up on a dating site, trying to make more of an effort on their appearance, people everywhere were making plans to find the love of her life meanwhile all she wanted was a tattoo.
She also wanted the forgiveness of a blue eyed man she hadn't seen since last week, but Gabriella was slowly learning her chances of things ever going back to normal were gone. if only she seen it sooner, said something that night he came over, if only she'd told Zeke to leave or beg Troy to take her back instead of just leaving the apartment with the little dignity she had left. Gabriella wiped a tear from her cheek. "I'm going on break," she mumbled and turned to leave to the back room. Once she was outside in the alley she lifted herself on top of one of the dumpster lids and pulled a bottle of pills from her pocket. Anti-depressants, prescribed by her doctor whenever the world was too hard to cope with. Gabriella stared at the bottle and placed it down in front of her.
"How did you know, you loved him?" she asked the bottle of pills as she brought her knees up to her chest. "Was it because you couldn't live without him that you thought I could live without you?" Gabriella felt another tear rolling down her cheek. Sniffling she rubbed the tear away and looked up at the brick wall across the alley. Now she was talking to her medication.
Gabriella thought about high school, about missing her own prom and standing next to Troy parents on the day of her graduation. It seemed like since birth it had always been in the cards for Gabriella to end up alone. Her family was incredibly small and most of them were living in faraway places no one even knew about. She really was an orphan when Troy's parents felt sorry for her. Gabriella let out a sigh, "I was 16, how could you think I wouldn't need you?" she said looking back at the bottle. She needed a mom to talk to, someone to be proud of her, or listen to her stories of her heart breaks and joy.
Gabriella thought back to that morning before she left for school. Her mother was in pajamas, she had been for the last three weeks, but Gabriella chalked it up to the upcoming Valentine's day. She grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and looked over at her mother staring into a cup of coffee. They didn't even speak that morning."Part of me thinks they buried you in the ground with him." Gabriella nodded slowly, "I still needed you." A rage filled her and Gabriella kicked the bottle of pills across the alley. "God you're so selfish," she yelled letting out a loud frustrated shriek. "You just left me here."
Gabriella let another tear fall this one she didn't wipe away, she did hold anything in, she didn't look back at the bottle. Gabriella let her head rest down on her arm and she silently sobbed to herself. Gabriella wiped her eyes harder and she took deep breaths, anything to pull it together. Taylor and Chad were taking care of a baby, Troy was moving on and Gabriella was stuck in the same rut she'd been in for the last 5 years. When was she going to move on?
It was almost closing time when Gabriella was sitting on a bar stool balancing her drawer. She looked up for a moment and saw Ryan standing there with a smile. "We're closed."
"I know," Ryan shrugged his shoulders. "Todd let me in."
Gabriella looked up at Ryan who was in a nice polo shirt and crisp jeans ironed to perfection, something about that boy looked damn near breakable. Gabriella held her breath for a moment as he watched him shove his hands in his pockets. There wasn't much sound other the floor board underneath him as he rock back and forth on his heal. "Remind me to kill Todd." Gabriella looked down at the money and finished up her count. "What do you want?" he surely wasn't dress just to walk her home.
"I've come here to invite you out to a party," Ryan shrugged. "Doesn't have to be a date, I know you're not fond of those."
Gabriella shut the drawer and looked down at her lap. Was she really as ice queen as everyone was making her out to be? Gabriella looked back up at Ryan. "I'm sure you're a great guy, really." She said standing up. "I just really want some single me time."
"This is not a date. This is a friend who wants to drag a friend to a party." Ryan tried a playful smiled and then shrugged his shoulders. "Plus I need a wing man?"
"A wing man?" Gabriella stood up and placed the zipped blue bag into the safe under the bar for George in the morning. "You're desperate aren't you?"
"Troy out with Shar, Chad registering online for baby stuff and Wal-Mart," Ryan shrugged. "I need a girlfriend and your obviously not interested so…"
Gabriella felt a smile tug at her lips. "Alright," she felt herself cave to the mass demands in her body that craved alcohol. "I'll help you, god, I hate when men beg."
"I'm not begging," Ryan said extending his arms.
"Yeah but you hop and skip away from it." Gabriella made sure everything else was good and then she grabbed her backpack. "Come prince charming we're off to find sleeping beauty."