Lots of things happening to the HSM2 cast, so let's get going!
First of all, happy 2 year anniversary to HSM! It has now been 2 years since the first HSM came out and shocked the world by its popular success! It's also the first series that lead to the popular sequel and no doubt the equally popular third installation.
Ashley is getting ready to head to New Zealand to film an upcoming movie called 'They came from upstairs', which is about a group of teenagers defending their vacation from aliens.
As many of you may have heard, Zac was rushed into a hospital a week ago. He had his appendix cut out. He has since been released, and back on the set of Seventeen and is recovering nicely. Of course during his stay at the hospital, Vanessa's been by his side, and when he was released, she was also there with Ashley Tisdale to take him home.
Zac is now scheduled to appear in this year's SAG awards to present an award happening on Jan. 27.
Vanessa has a new Neutrogena commercial out! It's called the 'Wave' and she looks beautiful in it! You can now watch it on you tube.
It has been confirmed that Vanessa will be starring in the upcoming movie, 'Will', which is a story about a group of out casts joining together to form a band. Vanessa will be playing a 15 year old outcast named Sam. Filming is scheduled to begin this February in Austin, Texas.
As of right now, Vanessa is reportedly going to record 20 songs, and so far she has 16 tracks laid down. There will probably be about 12 songs on her album, and 3 or 4 bonus songs, the rest of the tracks will either be released or saved for her next CD. Hollywood records are quite happy with the attention Vanessa's next CD is getting, and is planning for an early release of April. Of course there is also the time conflict with Vanessa starting to film 'Will' next month until March, and then starting HSM3.
High School Musical 3 now is an official name, High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Basically, the film centers on the Wildcats as they return to East High for their final year, and for this year's spring musical, the gang's writing songs about their experiences. Of course problem arises and challenges the Wildcats as University takes them to different directions. They are currently working out the schedule about filming in the high school once again and shooting has now been scheduled to begin filming in Salt Lake, Utah on April 21st. They are anticipating an October release this year.
Zac's film, 'Seventeen', is looking at an August release. After filming Seventeen, Zac has been cast into another upcoming movie called 'Me and Orsen Wells' based on a coming-of-age story by Robert Klapow. The story line is set in 1937, which is quite a time difference between roles we've seen Zac in. The movie is set to begin filming around February-March, then Zac will be back to film HSM3 in April. Whew, Zac is one busy person.
The main cast of HSM2 has made it onto Hollywoods Top Young Stars. Of course this year, Miley Cyrus takes number one, with Zac being second and Vanessa being fourth. Corbin and Ashley are tied at fifth.
This isn't HSM news, but I have a new HSM story plot up on my profile, it's different from what I've written before, the setting being in the late 1700s early 1800s, maybe early 1900s depending on my timeline. Check it out!
Chapter 10: Double date
Troy tossed and turned in his bed, and his blue eyes snapped opened again for the 54th time—yes he had been counting. Sitting up, he turned his lamp on, and the dim, yellow glow lit up the basics of his bedroom. Usually, after a game, he would be tired, dead tired. He would literally fall asleep before his body had even hit the bed, but tonight was different. Troy just couldn't get to sleep! He wasn't tired even though his muscles had the usual dull aching to it when he finished a game. No, it wasn't the game that made him not able to sleep… it was what he had seen after the game.
For some reason he just couldn't get the image out of his head! The image of Gabriella talking, and laughing with another man, the sheer idea that Gabriella hadn't noticed him come out of the arena had unnerved him, scared him…badly.
"This is useless," Troy grumbled, he swung his legs over his bed, and dragged himself to his kitchen and turned on the kitchen spotlights, intending to grab a glass of warm milk. He remembered once when he was stressing over his first basketball game, and he couldn't sleep. Troy had called Gabriella, and instead of trying to calm him down like he thought, she had come over, and warmed him a glass of milk. Troy remembered it was raining that night, and after the game, Isabella had called him, telling him Gabriella had gotten sick. Troy spent the entire week at Gabriella's house by her side.
Troy had always known that Gabriella was a big part of his life, a big important part of his life. He never questioned it. After all, she was in almost all of the memories he could remember from the start of kindergarten, and meeting each other on the school bus. She was at all his birthday parties, him at all of hers. She attended all of his basketball games, even if they did had a test the next day, or people always mocked her being a bookworm, she came. Gabriella was always the one person Troy felt the need to protect, even if she didn't need him to. Diane had always told him,
"Troy, Gabriella's like your princess and you her shining knight in armour." Of course, back then, the teenage Troy had always screwed up his face at that depiction of his friendship with Gabriella, and never once had he told Gabriella his mom had said that about them. The microwave bell rang as the 25 seconds he used to heat up the milk was over. Strolling over to a sofa, Troy lightly sipped his milk. This time, the milk wasn't as effective. Troy sighed, abandoning the milk on a nearby table, before picking up the cordless phone, fiddling around with it. His fingers itched to dial Gabriella's number.
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Gabriella sat at her desk with her table light on, highlighting some important documents from the hospital. She stopped midway through a sentence, and glanced at her cell phone and her house phone. They had both been silent since Troy had dropped her off at home.
Gabriella could still feel the awkward silence tingling in the air around them. Troy had been silent through the entire ride, and even when Gabriella brought up his game that night, like they always did, Troy had given her one worded answers, never straying from a simple yes, no or maybe. It was nearly 2 in the morning, and when Gabriella got into her apartment, it was already nearly 1am. After a quick shower, and picking what to wear to work the next day, Gabriella curled into bed… and couldn't sleep. She found herself waiting for Troy's call. The call that always came after Troy had returned home, it was always a ritual between them. It was their way of telling one another they had gotten home safely. Picking up her house phone, Gabriella sped dialled Troy's number.
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Troy's thumb hovered over the talk button on his phone. Torn between calling or not. Would it seem weird that he would be calling Gabriella for no reason? After all he's done that for so many times he could hardly remember anymore. When the phone suddenly rang, Troy almost dropped his phone in shock. One glance at the caller ID sent his thumb to press the talk button automatically,
"Hello?" Troy said,
"Troy? Did I… did I wake you up?" Gabriella's timid voice was from the other line,
"No, couldn't sleep,"
"Me neither…" there it was again, that awkward silence, suddenly Troy didn't feel like he was talking to his best friend since forever, this felt like… like the time he had liked this girl during high school only… more intense. Suddenly he was afraid Gabriella might hang up on him if he didn't say anything,
"So I heard you met Ryan's new friend," Troy blurted out, inwardly he cursed himself. Of all topics, he brought that one up, involving what's his name.
"Yea, he's pretty nice," Troy could hear the smile in her voice,
"Well that's good, so you'll be hanging out with him more then," Troy's jealousy took hold of his mouth,
"What? No Troy I barely know the guy,"
"Well you two seemed to be getting along just fine tonight,"
"That doesn't mean he's suddenly a big part of my life," Gabriella protested angrily, Troy didn't say anything, his jealousy making him keep his mouth shut, "I have work tomorrow morning, I'll see you at brunch," and Gabriella hung up on him. Troy never remembered Gabriella ever hanging up on him without saying good bye. Troy groaned, it was a good thing tomorrow was a Sunday… it doesn't seem like he'll be getting any sleep tonight.
The next day, Troy was getting ready for his morning brunch with his parents and Isabella. He had some how managed a couple hours of sleep last night, but the feeling of guilt from last night hadn't managed to leave him, and it was with a heavy heart that Troy left his house and into his car to get to the café where they were having their brunch.
When he got there, he was quite surprised his parents and Isabella was already there with a table with a window view of the outside garden the café had. Troy had heard it was quite hard to get reservations let alone a seat with a window view,
"Troy!" Diane, smiled, waving her son over, Troy smiled, heading over and sitting down next to his mom and an empty seat, giving him mom a quick kiss on the cheek,
"Good morning," he smiled,
"Did you not get enough sleep? You've got quite the bags under your eyes," Diane said, looking at her son,
"Oh leave him alone, it was quite the win last night from what I saw on TV," Jack beamed, "The last shot was great,"
"Thanks dad,"
"Yes, Gabby couldn't stop talking about it last night," Isabella smiled, Troy's head snapped up at her hearing Gabriella's name, "All she could talk about was how wonderful the game was, and how Troy was so smart and talented in making the last bucket, you would think she was the one playing," Isabella chuckled, Troy smiled weakly, the comment only adding to his guilt. He picked up the menu, hoping to direct their attention onto something else. But it only made him feel worse, Gabriella had always helped order for him, she was in even the smallest details in his life,
"Oh Troy, we don't need to order, Gabriella's already done it," Diane smiled,
"She's here?" Troy asked, looking at the empty seat beside him, Diane shook her head,
"No, she pre-planned it, she reserved a table last night before your game and made sure the food was ready, to celebrate your victory," Diane smiled, Troy's mind turned back to the night before,
"…just need to make a few calls…" Gabriella had said she was late because she had to make calls… was this the reason why?
"But… she didn't know if we'd win or not," Troy said, Isabella chuckled,
"She knew you would, mi hija (my daughter) has a lot of faith in you," Isabella assured the pro basketball player. Troy squirmed in his seat, now he really did feel bad.
"She believes in me so much, I should have the same amount of faith in her," Troy thought, Gabriella was no longer the 4 year old girl who couldn't find a seat on the bus, or the 10 year old girl whom he tried to protect from bullies.
"Ladies, sirs, your meal has arrived," said a curt waiter with a tray of food. The food was indeed ordered by Gabriella, because like the attentive woman she was, the food suited each person. Diane got a bowl of cream of mushroom soup and pancakes and eggs. Jack had gotten a cup of orange juice and a medium sized bowl of pasta in ketchup sauce. Isabella had gotten a bowl of fresh fruit and salad.
"And a specially prepared meal for the young sir here," the waiter said, and placed a plate of cheese burger and fries. Diane, Jack and Isabella both blink, looking quite surprised, that did not look like a breakfast at all, but Troy had a hint of a smile,
"You know what I want right now?" Troy had asked Gabriella in the car one day after a game, Gabriella looked at him, "A cheese burger,"
"A cheese burger at 12 in the morning, Troy that's really unhealthy," Gabriella lectured, Troy shrugged,
"So? Cheese burger and fries for breakfast, now that's something to remember,"
"One day, when you're old and fat and sitting in a rocking chair, I'm going to come to your house, and say I told you so," Gabriella huffed, Troy laughed,
"Well you wouldn't have to walk all the way over if you're living with me," Troy had joked and winked at her, "and besides, you'll have to take care of the old and fat me,"
"I thought she'd be off by now," Troy said, consulting his watch,
"She is, but she had some extra work to do, so she couldn't make it," Isabella explained,
"Then she hasn't eaten anything since this morning then," Troy frowned, he knew Gabriella's schedule, and her morning breakfast included a quick cup of water and a piece of bread that was supposed to last her for her 5 hour shift during weekend mornings from 7am-12pm. Troy quickly finished off his burger, before ordering an extra bowl of fruit to be packed and taken out.
"Gabriella your shift ended half an hour ago!" Rachel, Gabriella's supervisor, said, walking in on the brunette intern still stuck at her desk in front of the computer, Gabriella smiled weakly,
"Um I had so unfinished work to do," Gabriella said, Rachel laughed,
"I hope you know you're not getting paid over time, the way you're working, once your internship's over, I have a feeling the hospital wouldn't want to let you go," Rachel chuckled, Gabriella laughed,
"I hope so," she grinned. The older woman bade a quick good bye as her name was being called over the intercom, and once again, Gabriella found herself comfortably alone with her computer. She knew she was being a coward, but she couldn't bring herself to go to brunch—wait correction, she couldn't bring herself to see Troy. Gabriella couldn't help but feel slightly guilty at the way she had hung up on him last night. While he didn't exactly say he thought she and Alexander should date, his tone of voice did nothing to fuel Gabriella's thoughts of what she thought he implied.
But why, out of all the times they have talked about her previous boyfriends, had this been such a sore topic for both of them? Was it the fact that Troy had said it in a way that he didn't care who she dated? And why did she care so much in the first place? Troy was like her brother, a very, very over protective brother-- a brother who Gabriella secretly never wanted any girl to date… why was that? Somehow, she had always managed to convince herself that the girls Troy had dated weren't good enough for him, and had always consoled Troy that somewhere out there; there was one lucky woman who was for him.
"Gabriella, someone's here to see you," Rachel popped back in again, with a hint of a knowing smile, Gabriella looked up, and her eyes widened as Troy walked in, thanking Rachel for taking him to her,
"Hey you," Troy said softly,
"Hey yourself,"
"We missed you at brunch today," Troy said, Gabriella only nodded, "Ahem… I missed you at brunch today," he corrected in saying, and smiled seeing a smile slowly float onto Gabriella's face, "I knew you didn't get anything to eat, so I thought I'd pack something for you," and waved the plastic bag that held the box of fruits, "Think you can spare a couple of minutes and entertain a basketball player?"
"She's off the clock, take her," Rachel said, coming back in again. Gabriella mocked glared at her supervisor, getting her coat off the coat rack at the same time, "See you tomorrow Gabriella," Rachel winked, going back into her office. Gabriella and Troy walked all the way to the hospital garden at the backyard where they settled down onto a nearby bench. Gabriella unwrapped the bag, and opened the box of fruit,
"Fruit?" Gabriella giggled, Troy shrugged,
"Thought we could share, you know, wash down that cheese burger of mine," Troy winked
"I told you not to eat things like that in the morning," she reprimanded,
"Better at noon than at midnight," Troy pointed out what Gabriella had said a couple of months ago and Gabriella laughed,
"Touché," Gabriella paused, "Look, Troy, I'm sorry about how I acted last night, I mean… hanging up on you."
"Don't be," Troy shrugged, "I over reacted, I guess I was a bit over protective," Gabriella bit down at the bottom of her lip, a sign Troy recognized as something she was hiding, "Should I be over protective?" Troy narrowed his eyes at her guilty expression,
"Um… Alexander, well he kind of asked me out," Gabriella blurted out the last part. Gabriella found herself waiting for Troy's reaction. Would he be surprised? Shocked? Protective or… or would he happy and encourage her to go for it 100 percent? Or would be he jealous? Squirming uncomfortably on the inside, Gabriella could not find an explanation she could live with when her heart prayed Troy would become jealous.
"That's…That's great Brie," Troy forced out, "You haven't gone out in a long time, it's about time you try again," Troy echoed the words Taylor had said the night after his basketball game. Gabriella managed a weak smile,
"Y-Yeah, I guess so, so you're ok with me… going out on a date with someone I just met last night?" Gabriella asked, right after that she blushed, did she sound too pushy? It was as if she was trying to get Troy to stop her from going on this date…for what reason? Troy frowned, now that's a thought.
"Well when you put it that way…" Troy said slowly, his first thought was to pull her out of the date. Who was this Alexander to ask his Gabby out on a date? Who knew Gabriella longer? Troy did. Who's been through everything with her? Troy did. Who did she go to whenever she had trouble? Him!
"If anyone's going to take Gabby out on a date, it's me!" Troy's brain automatically fired. The thought sent Troy into a coughing fit.
"Troy!"
"N-Nothing-ahem-I mean, I'm alright, just… swallowed wrong," Troy said after calming down, "You know what, if you don't feel comfortably going alone, I'll go with you,"
"Troy, do you know how weird that would look? It'll be like I'm dating both of you," Gabriella said, "Not a bad thought if you take Alex out of the picture," her mind suggested, "But it wouldn't be if you had a date, it could be a double date," Gabriella forced out the suggestion, forcing her brain to start working logically again and push the last idea out of her mind,
"Yea that's if I actually had someone to take, what do you say, want to go out with me?" Troy said jokingly, Gabriella smiled,
"I got a better idea, I know someone who would absolutely die if she went on a date with you."
"Gabby I don't believe in blind dates," Troy said, Gabriella smiled,
"Trust me,"
"What am I supposed to wear to a blind date?" Troy sighed, slumping onto the couch. Chad turned from the TV and looked at his best friend,
"Don't ask me, I don't have a clue, just go with t-shirt and jeans, that's my policy," his best friend shrugged, Troy glanced at him,
"That's exactly why I'm not wearing that," Troy pointed out,
"That hurts man," Chad smirked, "Don't you have that… spotted collared shirt or something, that thing you wore to last year's conference,"
"Yea…"
"There you go, wear what you wore to last time and you're ready to go!"
"Brie doesn't really like that shirt though, I think that was why she started coming over to pick my clothes for me," Troy said thoughtfully with a hint of a smile,
"Dude, are you going out with Gabs tonight, or some other girl?" Chad laughed, "Because at the rate you're going, it's like you're going out with our little Gabby tonight,"
"Shut up," Troy threw a pillow at him, "I'm just helping her out, ugh this is brutal, I am so dead, you're no help I need to call Gabby,"
"About time, jeez you made me miss over time now," Chad grumbled. Just then, the phone rang, and Chad pressed the speaker button,
"Chad's here," Chad said, on the line the boys heard a familiar giggle, "Oh look who it is we were just talking about you,"
"I see, is that why you guys do everyday? Talk about me?" Gabriella laughed amusedly,
"Only because you're our favourite topic," Chad laughed, "Plus it's the only time I can get a blush out of Troy-Dude watch the hair!" Chad blocked his face from an on coming pillow just in time,
"Get back to your game," Troy retorted,
"Troy Jonathan that wasn't nice. Anyway, um Troy you can pick me up any time, I'm pretty much ready, and you have a black collared shirt in the top drawer of your closet, and a pair of black jeans hanging from your chair—I'm going to assume it's still there from the last time I came over, just wear those, and just one spray with the cologne you got from Diane from your last birthday, I have to go, Mom's on the other line, see you in a few, bye Chad!" and click, the line was dead again. When Chad had closed the phone, he had a smirking face that met with Troy's own smiling one,
"It's like your own personal closet or something," Chad laughed, "Dude you two need to get your act together," Troy glared at his best friend, already heading to his room for a quick change. And just like Gabriella had said, he found his clothes and was changed within 10 minutes, so much for worrying about it for the past 55 minutes.
By 7:00pm, Troy drove his black Audi into the entrance of Gabriella's apartment, and after the stunned guard at the front gave the basketball player entrance, Troy telephoned Gabriella's apartment, and moments later, the brunette came downstairs, and it was all Troy could do to breathe and think properly at the same time.
"So, what do you think?" Gabriella smiled, and twirled around in a circle. Gabriella had her straightened shoulder length hair tied into a high pony tail, and a beautiful midnight black spaghetti strapped dress that landed just at her knees, and a pair of dainty black heels. Troy recognized the heart shaped locket he gave her for her 21st birthday hanging gently by her delicate collar bone.
"You… you look… wow," Troy stuttered, "Brie you look beautiful, very… very beautiful," Troy breathed out his last few words as he gazed upon his best friend. Suddenly he wished he was the one taking her out on a date, because he hated the idea of seeing her like this with someone else. Gabriella gave him a brilliant smile,
"You clean up nicely yourself," she smirked, "Let's go, we're meeting them by the Spaghetti house," Gabriella said, walking to the passenger side of his car. Troy immediately ran and opened the door for him and Gabriella smiled up at him,
"Thank you Troy," she grinned, 2 minutes later, the two best friends were heading out and back onto the rode, "Now remember to compliment her once you see her alright?" Gabriella reminded,
"You expect me to compliment her after seeing you?" Troy said without thinking. A pleasant blush rose on Gabriella's cheek as the smile that was already on her face grew into a bigger one,
"That's a relief, I thought the dress might not work," she admitted softly, "But I'm glad you liked it," Gabriella couldn't help but notice that both of them matched, wearing black, she brushed away the idea that had came up when she had called Troy earlier that evening. Even though she knew Troy would have trouble picking out something to wear, her mind had made her pick his clothes that would coordinate with hers.
"And why isn't what's his name picking you up?" Troy interrupted her thoughts, what ever reason it was, Troy thanked the gods that he was the one picking Gabriella up,
"He had extra work, and Jenny had a longer shift so they're getting there themselves," Gabriella explained, "Remember Troy, to be nice to her, she was shocked enough when I asked her to come with me," Gabriella said,
"I know I'll be a complete gentleman to… uh… Jessica,"
"Jenny, Troy try to remember her name!" Gabriella scolded
"Right Jenny, complete gentleman," Troy said, and Gabriella sighed.
28 years old Alexander Ricci paced around the front of the Spaghetti house. His dark hair was slightly mussed up thanks to some help with his friends, and his dazzling green eyes contrasted against his navy blue ensemble. When he had seen Ryan and Sharpay at the game last night—he never imagined those two as basketball people—he never thought he'd get a date out of it. But the female Evans twin had immediately pulled him aside, and introduced him to the striking brunette he had noticed once he had met the group of friends. As it turns out, the brunette knew the Lakers MVP, and that they had been there to cheer him on. Alex took an immediate liking to Gabriella Montez. After all, who wouldn't like a gorgeous 24 year old woman? The fact that the brunette had taken no hostility towards him, and was quite happy to talk with him helped. Tonight was the night to woo her.
When a black Audi pulled up, Alex had assumed Gabriella asked one of her friends to drive her. Never in his entire life did he expect Lakers Troy Bolton to come out of the driver side of the car in an incredibly well put ensemble of black and walk around the car to help out an equally beautiful Gabriella—also dressed in matching black.
"Alex," Gabriella beamed, and Alex smiled back, "Alex this is Troy, Troy, Alexander," Gabriella introduced, "Troy's joining us tonight with his own date,"
"More like my own blind date—ouch!" Troy whined when Gabriella lightly punched up, "Stay here for a second, I'll park the car," Troy said, Gabriella nodded as Troy ran back around to the other side, and the Audi pulled off,
"I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you, it was sort of last minute," Gabriella apologized to the 28 year old, Alex grinned,
"No problem, the more the merrier," he said, "You look great tonight by the way," Alex complimented in a well rehearsed manner; Gabriella smiled, and thanked him. While they stood there for a few minutes, Gabriella recognized a familiar young woman, who was running up towards them in a periwinkle blue dress, and tied up almond hair,
"Jenny over here," Gabriella waved; the young nurse looked over and smiled, running over towards them,
"Sorry I'm so late, they made me do an over time, the ER had an emergency it was just insane," Jenny sighed, she looked around, "So um where's Troy?" she asked brightly, Gabriella smiled,
"He's parking, oh he's coming now," the young nurse whipped around so quickly Gabriella was afraid her head might fall off. Troy was walking back from the underground parking lot, hands in his pocket and hair draping his eyes, even Gabriella couldn't help but enjoy the picture, so it was understandable that Jenny had nothing less but stars in her eyes,
"Oh…my god… I thought you were kidding when you asked me to double date with you with Troy Bolton, oh my god Gabriella you are officially my favourite person in this entire world," Jenny breathed as the famous athlete got closer. Gabriella only laughed,
"Close spot?" Gabriella asked as soon as Troy arrived,
"No, but you won't walk far I promise," he replied, already knowing her questions, Gabriella smiled but nodded significantly towards the star struck girl beside her, "Oh right ahem, uh hey…J-Jenny," Troy remembered, Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief, "Thanks for coming tonight,"
"No, thank you," Jenny said breathlessly.
"Well now that we're all here, let's get inside, I've reserved a table," Alex smiled, he extended his arm for Gabriella to take, which she did… after she had walked up to Troy and stood in front of him to examine him up and down,
"Great, she has that look on her face," Troy sighed to the other two who had confused expressions on, "Brie what's wrong with it now?" he sighed playfully,
"Coat off," Gabriella ordered, Troy blinked, it was freezing outside! "Troy for goodness sake it's only for a little while," and the next thing he knew, Gabriella's hands were wrapped around the neck of his coat, and she pulled it off him and left him in his black collared shirt, then her little fingers worked on the top two buttons of his shirt, releasing them from their slot, and leaving the top bit of his shirt opened. She tip toed on to her feet-even in heels she was shorter than him-, and almost eye to eye, swiped some of his hair off to the side. Throughout the entire process, Troy just stood comfortably still in public as she did so, as if completely use to her doing this.
"Great, all done," she smiled, Troy only shook his head in amusement, before draping his coat around Gabriella's bare shoulders,
"She's like that, sorry," Troy apologized to the other two who watched the entire interaction process, "Come on Gabby, let's get inside," Gabriella nodded, then stood up high again and whispered,
"Go and offer her your arm, be a gentleman!" she instructed before walking off with his jacket on her shoulders, and wrapping her arms around Alex's. Troy gritted his teeth before making them relax, and imitating Alex's actions. Unlike Gabriella who took some time before accepting the arm, Jenny latched on almost at once.
Throughout the night, the group chatted almost about anything, the most prominent topic being Troy and his basketball career. Whenever Troy mentioned something particular from the past, Gabriella would laugh and pipe in, reviewing things from her point of view which was often a lot more embarrassing than Troy's point of view.
"How long have you two known each other?" Alex asked for a moment, "You two seem to know everything about each other,"
"19 years," the both of them answered in unison. Their eyes met and they smiled,
"I met Gabriella on the school bus on our way to kindergarten, she was looking for a spot and I was sitting alone," Troy explained,
"We ended up being in the same kindergarten class, and in the same school, and whenever we weren't in the same class he'd always try to find me," Gabriella took over. Alex had noticed there was always a type of glow to Gabriella's face, and happiness in her voice whenever the subject concerned Troy, even if it had nothing to do with her. Jenny, being one of the women at the table and of course women are most sensitive to these things, already noticed how intimately close her co-worker and the international athlete were. Like Sharpay, the young nurse already began to speculate whether there was something more to this 'best friend' relationship Gabriella and Troy had.
"Well let's order dessert shall we?" Jenny finally piped up, picking up the dessert menu, the three of them picked up the menu while Troy sat idly next to Jenny, discreetly, or maybe not too discreetly, sending glances at Gabriella,
"I don't see why you look at a menu if you always have the same chocolate mousse," Troy mumbled playfully, Gabriella glared back,
"Because I always have to see how a certain someone's feeling so I can see what kind of dessert he wants," she retorted, 5 minutes later, Alex waved a waiter over,
"I'll have the banana split," Alex ordered,
"Just strawberry ice cream for me," Jenny answered next,
"Very well, and how about the couple here?" the waiter asked, Alex and Jenny both turned a little sour faced at the jump in conclusion as Gabriella and Troy blushed,
"Um chocolate mousse, medium size please," Gabriella wrapped up closing the menu, the waiter nodded collecting the rest of the menus and plates,
"Don't you want anything Troy?" Jenny asked,
"I'm sharing with Brie," Troy answered politely,
"But how does she know what you want?" Jenny pushed, Troy laughed, shrugging,
"I have no idea how she does it, but she just does, she's quite good at it too," Troy laughed, winking at the brunette, "You can be my personal caterer,"
"I'm also your personal secretary, cleaner, cooker and picking out your clothes too," Gabriella listed, "The list goes on and on, it has no end," she laughed,
"Oh Gabriella your necklace is twisted," Alex suddenly said, making the brunette turn to him and looking down at her collar bone,
"Oh, it is," Gabriella tried to untangle the delicate silver necklace, but it was quite hard considering she was looking at it upside down, Alex tried to help, gently pulling the necklace one way then the other. Troy however, fought to urge to punch the day lights out of the other man, urging himself to remember that Gabriella had asked him to be nice that day, "Oh-oh wait Alex hang on," Gabriella pulled away, "Sorry I think I can try myself," Gabriella blushed, Alex caught up and smiled sheepishly, but allowed the brunette her privacy. However, a few seconds later, Gabriella sighed defeated and looked up at Troy's smug face,
"Don't look at me like that, you know I need help with this necklace," Gabriella pouted, crossing her arms across her dress. Troy laughed, getting out of his seat, and settling into an empty seat next to her, sitting comfortably still, Gabriella allowed Troy's hand to work around the base of her neck, gently twisting and turning the delicate chain, until once again it was smoothly lying on her neck. Troy gently ran a thumb over the tiny heart shaped locket,
"That's a beautiful necklace Gabriella, where'd you get it?" Jenny asked, Gabriella laughed,
"Troy bought it for my birthday a couple of years ago," Gabriella said,
"3 years ago, and I bought it during a press conference in Paris earlier back," Troy explained he scooped the locket into his fingers, his hand being the barrier between the locket and Gabriella's neck, "Still the same picture?" Troy asked softly, looking up, Gabriella smiled nodding and Troy grinned. Leaning forward, as if he was about to hug her tight against him, Troy gently brushed away a bit of Gabriella's hair that had fallen loose from the pony tail, and unhooked the necklace carefully. He opened it, and placed it onto the table for the other two guests to see, in one side of the heart was a picture of the two of them when there are 5. Their parents had taken a picture of them playing in the swimming pool at the community center. Gabriella had a cute little pink bikini on, while Troy had a pair of ocean blue trunks.
The picture in the next heart was a picture of them at their high school prom. It was the picture Isabella had taken when Troy had went to pick Gabriella up that night, the two of them standing side by side, their heads comfortably leaning on one another, and Troy's arm naturally curling around Gabriella, and pulling her to his body. The two of them were so captivated with one another and their pictures, they hardly noticed the arrival of their desserts, or the slightly annoyed and cold looks of their respective dates.
A/N: Aren't they just gorgeous? This chapter didn't go exactly as I wanted it to, but I got the main idea out, which is basically the two of them entertaining the notion of being more than friends. Hmm seems like both of them have some competition. Unlike Melanie from the first few chapters, Alex is definitely a character looking to stay, and I'm still half-half on Jenny's character.
Gabriella's dress is sort of like the dress Vanessa wore to the Hairspray premiere in Australia, only a little more flow-y and a bit longer.
Please remember to check out the plot bunny on my profile for my next HSM story!
Summary: Troy Bolton is the sole heir to his family fortune. Gabriella Montez is an orphaned young maid. Two different people, one fateful meeting. In a tale of forbidden love, Gabriella and Troy are about to do the unthinkable. To be together. Troyella
Again the summary is tentative at best, and the setting will probably be around... the early 1900s.
And my deepest condolences to the friends and family of Heath Ledger who past away earlier this week, may he rest in peace.