DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters.
A/N: Here is the next chapter, I hope you all like it!!!!
Chemicals React
CHAPTER 10
ALMOST KISSED
Gabriella gazed around the Bolton's kitchen, wondering just what she had gotten herself into. She knew why she had accepted, Troy had gotten the better of her and she wanted to get even. It was one of the things she couldn't stand about him; he always managed to get the better of her. Gabriella frowned, that thought was much too familiar. That thought was way too familiar actually. She still didn't quite understand how she had gone from hating him to liking him in all of two weeks. It was all a confusing mess that she didn't really want to think about at the moment. Gabriella shook her head as a mass of white and black fur launched itself at her.
"Whoa!" she cried as it landed in her lap and began to lick her ecstatically. For a moment her vision was blurred and than she realized that the black and white ball of fur on her lap was in fact a Border collie puppy.
"Oh Gabriella, I'm so sorry I thought he was asleep," Joanne turned around and saw the dog on Gabriella lap.
"Its okay, really, I'm just not used to dog jumping on me," she replied and than giggled as the puppy made an attempt at licking her face.
"Yes, most people aren't used to things like that," she agreed and Gabriella looked up and smiled at her.
"Is he Troy's?" she asked and Joanne nodded.
"Yes, I have no idea why that boy wanted a dog because he's so caught up with his basketball and I don't have any time to look after him, I've got Mia to worry about," Joanne replied distractedly.
"Who's Mia?" Gabriella asked curiously removing the puppy from her lap and setting him on the floor.
"Troy's younger sister, didn't you know that?" Joanne replied and Gabriella shook her head.
"He never mentioned it to me," Gabriella said and than grinned, 'We were probably to busy arguing' she thought with a slight shake o her head.
"Well, she's about ten months old and when we brought her home she was the only thing he talked about. He adores her, he's the best big brother and the only one that can put her to sleep," Joanne informed Gabriella.
"That's cute," she said and Joanne nodded.
"Are you two talking about me?" Troy's voice caused Gabriella to jump and she turned in her chair to look at him. She silently thanked god that he had a shirt on this time and than blushed a bit as she felt his eyes on her.
"Yes, but your not going to find out what about," she replied and he grinned, Gabriella just gave him a look.
"I bet you if I get you really angry, you'll tell me," Troy said taking the seat opposite her.
"I bet you won't," Gabriella replied.
"Is that a challenge Montez?" he grinned and Gabriella tilted her head to one side and an evil smirk appeared on her face.
"I've been challenging you from day one Bolton, why'd you just pick up on it now?" she replied, Troy shrugged.
"Maybe because half the time you never gave me a second to think," he replied leaning casually back in his chair.
"If I didn't give you a second to think how'd you win all the arguments?" she asked.
"Ahh, so you admit I won all the arguments, do you know how many we've had so far?" Troy asked
"Too many to count," Gabriella said watching him closely.
"I was going to say different but you're right," he agreed.
"That's pathetic Troy!" Gabriella exclaimed.
"What?" he asked confused.
"You counting how many arguments we've had! Who does that?" she said and Troy shrugged.
"I do, what's wrong with it? You're only annoyed cause you know I won most of the arguments," he replied lazily.
"I'm not annoyed, just……exasperated," Gabriella said after a moments thought and Troy grinned at her.
"Which is another way of saying your annoyed." He stated and Gabriella stuck her tongue out at him again causing him to laugh.
"You really need to work on your comebacks," Troy told her.
"Hey! I've got really good comebacks!" Gabriella cried out after she realized what he had said.
"Sure you do, most of them consist of walking away or poking your tongue out at me." Troy laughed and Gabriella shrugged and than began tapping the counter, Troy looked at Gabriella and the grin on her face told him she knew exactly what she was doing. He grinned at her and she narrowed her eyes at him, wondering exactly what he was going to do.
Gabriella continued tapping the table and Troy's grin grew wider and she suddenly became very nervous as to what he was going to do. She knew that tapping the table annoyed him, but she could tell it wasn't going to catch him out like it had the previous times because neither of them was really annoyed with each other. Suddenly she felt a hand touch her knee and Gabriella jumped, her knee crashing into the table.
"Ow!" she yelped and Troy lost it laughing, Joanne turned around to the two and wasn't quite sure what had happened.
"What happened? Gabriella, are you alright?" she asked seeing the girl clutching her knee, which was slowly turning purple and watching as her son clutched his side laughing uncontrollably.
"My knee hit the table when I jumped, its okay," Gabriella replied through gritted teeth and Joanne eyed her, Gabriella was glaring at Troy who had finally calmed down and was looking at her innocently.
"Are you sure?" Joanne asked and Gabriella nodded, still glaring at Troy.
"Yep, very sure," she replied.
"Okay, well, can you and Troy set the table, please?" she asked and Gabriella nodded.
"Sure, who's feeding Mia?" Troy asked and Joanne laughed.
"Your father," she replied.
Troy nodded, stood up and stretched. Gabriella went slightly red as his shirt lifted and she caught a glimpse of his well toned mid drift all over again. She looked away and than up when he grunted.
"Come on, are you going to help me or not?" he asked and Gabriella nodded and stood up, well she made an attempt at standing up. As soon as she put weight on her knee it felt like it had given way and Gabriella reached for a solid object. The solid object just happened to be Troy's shoulder.
"Okay that hurt," she winced and she felt his strong arm encircle her waist.
"Whoa there Montez, you okay?" Troy asked looking down at her.
"I think my knee's been better," she replied her grip on him tightening as she made another attempt at putting some more weight on her knee.
"Probably, sorry about that," he laughed when her grip tightened again.
"Sure you are." She muttered.
Joanne watched the two, smiling as memories flooded her mind. The scene she was witnessing was something similar to what had happened with her and Troy's father, although at the time it had been her ankle, not her knee, and it had happened when they had been playing basketball not because she had smashed her leg into something.
"We can still set the table; you don't need me for that much support do you?" Troy asked and Gabriella shook her head.
"No, I'll be okay, but if I smash my knee again, I'm blaming you Bolton," Gabriella said with a smirk and Troy shrugged.
"Whatever you say Montez," he rolled his eyes and Gabriella hit him, and let go of his shoulder. She put some weight on her knee again and winced, but decided that she could walk.
"Alright, lets get this table done," she said and Troy nodded, his arm slipping from her waist.
"Good idea, follow me," Troy said and Gabriella watched as he walked out of the kitchen.
"Doesn't he need knives and forks?" she asked Joanne who laughed.
"He'll come back in, watch," she instructed, sure enough Troy walked in after a couple of seconds and went in search of knives and forks.
"He does it every time I ask him to set the table." Joanne informed Gabriella who laughed and followed Troy out of the kitchen.
"Your house is huge," she commented as they walked down the hallway.
"Thanks, I don't quite get why we have such a big house there's only three of us." Troy said and Gabriella raised her eyebrows.
"You're still not used to saying four people live in this house are you?" she asked and he turned to her, his brow furrowed.
"Mia," Gabriella said as an explanation and Troy mouthed 'oh'.
"No I'm not, its weird saying four people live in the house, I mean I've grown up saying that three people do," he admitted and led her into the dining room.
Gabriella laughed and they silently began to set the table. Every now and than Gabriella would glance up at Troy. She couldn't help but notice small things about him, like how his hair fell into his eyes, and how every now and than he would run his hand through it and it would sit in a certain way, before falling back into his eyes again. Once again, Gabriella found her eyes following the curve of his cheek down to his mouth. She looked away as an intense feeling of longing washed over her. As much as she didn't want to admit it, but a large part of her wanted to kiss him. Gabriella shook her head; she did not just think that. Did she?
Troy glanced up at Gabriella and he felt a small smile play on his lips. She really was beautiful. He'd never met a girl like her, she wasn't artificial she was real. Troy shook his head slightly, his thoughts were going around in circles and it was driving him nuts. She was possibly the only girl that had ever messed with his thoughts this badly and it freaked him out slightly.
"Hey Troy?" Gabriella voice broke through his thoughts and he snapped out of his reverie.
"Yeah?" he replied and looked at her.
"Do you have the other glass? Cause you only gave me one," she said and he nodded, the small smile on his face turning into a grin.
"Troy, give me the glass," Gabriella said playfully, she recognized that grin; it was the same one he'd worn when he'd touched her knee.
"How about I just do this?" he asked and with that he placed one hand on her hip and reached around her, moving closer to her as he did so. Gabriella smiled as he placed the glass down and she turned to look at him.
Their eyes met and Gabriella felt like she was suffocating as she felt his other hand rest on her other hip. One of her hands tentatively ran down his arm to his hand where it rested, while the other reached up to touch his cheek. Gabriella was surprised at how soft his face was, but instantly forgot about her surprise when she realized how close their faces were.
Troy watched Gabriella carefully, he could feel her hand on his cheek and he enjoyed the feeling of it. He knew that he was breathing carefully as he watched her tilt her head slightly and her eyes drift touch. Succumbing to what was only a moment away. Troy started to close the rest of the space between them.
Gabriella could practically feel his lips on hers, they were so close, all he had to do was close that tiny space between them and she would feel it.
"How the hell did we wind up like this? Why weren't we able to see the signs that we missed and try and turn the tables?" Gabriella and Troy pulled apart both blushing furiously. Gabriella fumbled for her phone and pulled it out.
"Hello?" she answered it, turning away from Troy.
Troy stared at her back and wondered exactly what had just happened between them. This wasn't going to go down well when she hung up.
"Okay, yeah, sure, I'll be right over, where am I? Oh, I'm at Troy's," Gabriella said blushing as she said that.
"Alright, I'll see you when I get there," he heard her say, Gabriella hung up and took a deep breath before turning around to face Troy again.
"Uh, that was Taylor, I've gotta to go and see her," she said and Troy nodded.
"Oh right, um, what happened?" he asked avoiding looking at her.
"I think Chad just broke up with her," Gabriella replied looking up at the ceiling.
"Okay, um, I'll see you later than," Troy said and Gabriella nodded.
"Sure, apologize to your mom for me will you?" she asked and he nodded.
"Sure," Troy nodded and Gabriella swallowed.
"Right, see you," Gabriella said and quickly made her way past him.
Gabriella stood on Troy's front porch and took a deep breath. Unable to believe what had just happened. She couldn't believe she had almost kissed him. It had felt like he had for a moment. Gabriella walked down the steps, and couldn't believe that in two weeks she'd gone from hating his guts, to liking him. She knew that she liked him now. But she still couldn't believe she had almost kissed him.
A/N: What's going to happen next? If you hate my right now, you can tell me. But to point something out, Troy and Gabriella actually got along in this chapter. Just thought I'd point that out.