Author's Note--I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed the last couple of chapters. I had no idea that this story would get so much support. It truly helps me out when people review and tell me what they think. Especially since I've been sick these last couple of days and my blood sugar numbers have been through the roof--which is not good for type one diabetics--and I just needed something good to happen, and then I open my e-mail and I have all these supportive reviews, and it feels so amazing. So thank you once again, and I meant for this to be published Monday, but then I was sick so it set everything back.
I hope you like this installment...
"I get by with a little help from my friends." John Lennon
His insides burned with a passion as his fingers itched at his jean clad thigh. Watching the scene unfold before him was like receiving some form of torture. The way the pale white skin slid over her mocha colored form was enough to make Troy roll his eyes in pure disgust. The brown eyes that belonged to one of his long term friends were so concentrated on the Goddess that lit up the room that he didn't even notice Troy glaring him down. Troy's look was enough to tell anyone to back off from him; anyone besides his best friend.
"They're just talking," Chad reminded Troy in a hushed whisper.
"Yeah," Troy said just as quietly in a stiff manner. When he told Gabriella that they should definitely hang out, and she mentioned everyone hanging out together, he didn't realize that she meant so soon as in two days later.
He didn't know what to expect when Gabriella, Taylor, and Chad sat outside his house honking her new car horn for him. He hadn't even showered as it was relatively early for him--ten o'clock in the morning--and they were kidnapping him to head over to Sharpay's beach house.
But now they had all been there for a good two hours just hanging out in her wreck room playing games and listening to music, Troy felt a little bit better. That was until Jason offered to teach Gabriella how to play some new game on the Xbox 360, and had his hands all over her.
"What shitty kind of music do you listen to Shar?" Jason yelled out as some high pitch girl's voice echoed throughout the basement.
Sharpay's family had set up a room in the basement that was sort of like the coolest hangout spot for the gang. Compared to Troy's lonely pool table in his basement, Sharpay's wreck room seemed a hundred times better with a fully stocked bar--of course her parents marked their liquor--a huge fridge filled with good food, game systems, a flat screen TV, a computer, and then video arcade games. Due to their traveling, they didn't want their only daughter to be lonely.
"It's not shitty music!" Taylor yelled back as Sharpay, Kelsi, and Taylor were all gathered around the computer. Taylor was controlling the mouse as the song changed and the base started in right away.
"It's not mine anyways. This is Gabriella's play list from Facebook," Sharpay added.
"What?" Gabriella's head whipped around as if someone just told her that her mother had been injured. She never really put much thought into her online status with people, and once her and Austin split up, she really stopped caring about updating her profile. She only went online now to e-mail her mother.
"Tay's showing us some pictures of where you used to live. It looks really nice," Kelsi said with sincerity in her voice.
"Why do you have to show them my profile? Why can't you be under your's?" Gabriella asked as she put down the controller; ignoring Jason's protests and Zeke's cheering for finally beating the game.
The brunette stood up and went over to the computer with the other three girls. "Because you have better music," Taylor said simply as they went through picture after picture. "This is when we went to Salt Lake City for our class trip sophomore year over winter break," she explained.
"I thought seniors only went on class trips?" Chad asked as he walked over to the computer to see pictures. Troy waited a second longer before following close behind.
"At our school every class gets one depending on if they want to do fundraising for it. It was pretty nice. Cold, but nice," Taylor explained.
"Hot tub party! Nice," Chad declared as the next picture loaded.
"I've seen these a million times. I'm gonna go get a drink from upstairs," Gabriella said as she backed slowly away from the computer. That was her profile. She knew what pictures were coming up and which ones Taylor had already showed Sharpay and Kelsi. There was no doubt that Sharpay would be questioning Gabriella on who the guys were in the pictures.
"There's a whole fridge down here," Sharpay pointed out with a quirked eye brow. The blonde had a small smirk on her face as if she could already tell why Gabriella wanted to get away from the computer. And instead of feeling sympathy for Gabriella, she felt a little amused as she knew Gabriella was healing, so it was okay to tease her for a little bit.
"Surprisingly the only drink you don't have down here is water. Anyone want anything?" Gabriella offered, but she didn't wait for a response as she walked up the stairs at a normal pace.
The reason why she went upstairs really wasn't for water. In fact, she didn't feel thirsty at all. She just needed to leave the room. She wasn't angry with Taylor for showing them pictures as everyone would see them eventually once she accepted their invitations to become their friend online, but it was to escape the look that she knew the basketball captain was going to have on his face. She knew what picture was coming up of her and Austin, and she really didn't want to see Troy's look when it did.
She was surprised with herself once she realized it wasn't because of Austin. The reason why she forced her way upstairs for water was because of Troy, and Troy alone as she didn't want to know if he was hurt or upset because of the picture coming up. It wasn't a bad picture or anything graphic. It was just her snuggled into Austin's side; sitting on a beige couch with the fire crackling in the background behind them. They had been out skiing and snowboarding for the whole day so their faces were nice and chapped, and they were bundled up in heavy clothes, but yet, they had never looked so happy.
But she went upstairs, not for Austin or herself, because she could handle seeing the proof that they were together. It was because of Troy and Troy alone who mattered now. She didn't have to take his feelings into consideration, but she still didn't want to see his reaction. She had a feeling that if Troy were to be upset, then she would feel a little guilty.
"It shouldn't take that long to get a glass of water."
Gabriella turned around from the sink with an empty glass in her hand. "What are you doing up here Troy?"
He walked around the kitchen island and casually hoisted himself up onto the clean counter. He had a small smile on his face as he shrugged innocently. "I'm getting a glass of water seeing as you ran off before I could tell you that I wanted one."
Gabriella rolled her eyes at his teasing tone. "Ha ha. Very funny. Why don't you just make fun of me some more? I'm sorry that I didn't want to stay down there and watch everyone gawk at my pictures."
"You don't sound sorry at all Brie," Troy chided playfully before a silence took over. He had seen the pictures. He had smiled while looking at some as it was getting hard to believe that Gabriella actually had a life before moving to California. Troy was starting to realize though that Gabriella had to literally leave all of her friends behind, and that had to be hard. He didn't think he could do it; much less leave for more than two weeks.
Gabriella looked at Troy. If he would just look up then he would catch her staring at him as if he were a science project. Her fingers played with the empty cup in her hand before she slowly put the cup down. She was trying to analyze him, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking yet. Although she did have a pretty good guess with how easygoing he was being right now. He was so different than the person in the car coming to Sharpay's house. In the car it had been forced conversation, and then no talking when Taylor and Chad had run out of things to say.
"You saw the picture of me and Austin, didn't you?"
Troy snapped his blue eyes up; his smile fading into a straight line. He looked neither happy nor upset, and Gabriella didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.
"There was only one picture, and no one said anything," he said quietly as if it were a secret. It was sweet how caring he sounded right now, as if he was trying to protect her from the truth of how he really was feeling about Austin and her past. "But I don't understand something."
Gabriella took a deep breath before asking, "What don't you understand?"
"I thought he was a year older than us? Why was he on the sophomore class trip?" Troy slid off the counter top and opted to just lean against it instead. Gabriella was only two feet away as she was leaning against the counter behind herself too.
"He is a year older. Our school just happened to send every class to the ski lodge that year. Something to do with a huge discount if the seniors, juniors, and sophomores all went together."
She expected their conversation to be awkward, but she found herself not caring how the flow of the conversation was just as long as she could decipher what Troy was feeling. She wasn't feeling anything for that picture or memory while standing in Sharpay's kitchen as there was only one person filling her mind. That should have scared her, but instead it was starting to really bug her that Troy wouldn't crack one of his sweet smiles.
"You looked beautiful in those pictures. Not much has changed," he said quietly as he looked down at the ground; scoffing his shoe against the white tile.
If he would have looked up then Gabriella would have seen him blush. "Thanks."
"You know, I was thinking and…well there's this thing…but I don't know your work schedule…but it's kind of happening, and--" Troy stopped and finally looked up biting his lip in annoyance. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as suddenly Gabriella felt much closer than what he thought. She was within reaching distance as she straightened up; as if she was perking up at the idea of him asking her something.
"Yeah?" She prodded as she stepped a little closer. She remembered their night going to the café and watching the comedy acts; putting a smile on her face. Just thinking about Troy and how much fun they had together that night puts a smile on her face. It was as if the more days went by, the more she forgot about how the night ended.
"This festival Harold is setting up for next week sounds a little fun. And part of the festival is a scavenger hunt for teams of two people. Chad was going to be my partner, but Harold changed the rules from last year. And now the partners have to be a boy and a girl. So I was--"
"Captain, let's go outside!" Jason's voice shouted as various footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. Zeke, Chad, and Jason all appeared within seconds later, only Chad's face showing an amused smirk.
"It's game time. Time for some two on two!" Zeke announced excitedly.
Troy's annoyance showed on his face as he looked at Gabriella who was waiting for him to continue patiently, to his three friends that were just considered a nuisance for the time being. "Yeah. I'll be out in like five minutes. Don't get your panties in a bundle."
Jason and Zeke took off for the backdoor, as Chad stood there a little bit longer. He looked at Troy and then Gabriella skeptically before just chuckling and walking off. He had a feeling Troy was going to ask Gabriella something important, but he never figured he would have done it with everyone downstairs still.
Troy looked back down at Gabriella who was right in front of him. She was so close that he could smell her strawberry and vanilla scent insulting his nostrils. His eyes searched her brown orbs and could count every freckle of green in her chocolate hues.
"Where was I?" He asked with a nervous chuckle.
"You were saying something about a scavenger hunt and needing the partners to be a boy and girl combination," Gabriella replayed to him quietly. She had a feeling what he was going to ask her, but she didn't want to get her hopes up. And that was when she realized that she was excited from the idea of Troy asking her out of all the girls in Cannary to be his partner. She wasn't used to feeling all giddy inside as this was a totally new sensation. Given the last couple of weeks and months, she had stopped feeling the magic with Austin, and therefore she had never felt this giddy around him. Although they lost their magic, that didn't mean his betrayal hurt any less.
"Right," Troy said before continuing. "I was wondering if you wanted to maybe team up? It's a really simple scavenger hunt, or at least that's what Harold said when he made Chad and I sign up. Basically we're tied together around our ankles with about a foot of rope, so it's gonna be kind of tight, and then we're given a list of things that we have to find around town. There's no clues or anything because the list of items that we need are hidden around different shops in towns and local places the tourists usually like." Troy was talking in a very fast voice as if he slowed down then he would have to hear Gabriella's response, and he didn't know how he would take her rejection.
"And although I know that you don't like town events, and believe me, Chad and I thought the same thing last year, we ended up taking first place as it only took us two hours last year to finish, and--"
"Yes."
"--this year I bet he's putting the items in the same places, or something close to them, so it really won't be that--what?" he asked just as quickly as before.
Gabriella smiled up at him. "I said yes. I would love to be your partner. I've never done a scavenger hunt before and so I feel deprived."
Troy licked his lips before trying to figure out what to say next. "Okay. Yeah, that sounds good. Great even. I can now finally tell Harold that he doesn't have to worry about taking me off of his list. I swear he hates me with a passion and that's how he gets me to do these things."
Gabriella giggled at that. "Well he was rumored once to hate all kids who played basketball since he didn't make the team when he was younger."
"That must be the reason why he doesn't like me," Troy went along with Gabriella's joke before looking out the window at their three friends. "I should probably get going now. But…are you sure? You're not gonna change your mind?"
Gabriella chuckled at this. "I'm not. I promise."
Troy stepped around the counter again, instantly noticing that he was too far away from Gabriella to smell her aroma now. "I'll hold you to it Brie. That's my promise to you."
When Gabriella entered the basement again she saw that the three girls had now taken spots on the couch in front of the TV where they were debating which movie to watch.
"Took you long enough for water," Sharpay commented as she patted the spot next to her; indicating that she wanted Gabriella to sit next to her.
"Yeah. I was really thirsty," Gabriella defended stiffly.
"Or she just got stuck talking to Troy," Taylor teased as Kelsi and her giggled.
Gabriella felt the heat go to her cheeks as the blonde bumped shoulders with her playfully. "Troy does seem like your type."
"My type? And how would you know what my type was?"
"I saw the pictures. You were always with some sort of athletic guy, and they were hot with a capital 'H'. Troy just happens to fit into that category," Sharpay commented.
Gabriella shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Her face was getting brighter and brighter as she had to figure out a way to get them to talk about something else. "I really don't have a type Shar. I don't even know if I want a boyfriend right now. I think that's what went wrong before. Austin and I sort of just started being official right away, and then we had to go through the process of getting to know one another while we were exclusive. We never really dated for fun before the serious stuff happened first."
"So you just want to date around. Like with a lot of people?" Kelsi asked in her quiet voice.
"I don't want to date loads of people. I'd rather prefer dating one guy, but not labeling us as a couple right away. You know? Date a couple of times to see if we click and then wait to see if that said guy asks me to be official."
"You are really in the cliché mood right now, aren't you?" Taylor asked with a smirk. She knew her friend, and in all the years that they knew each other, Taylor knew that Gabriella liked to make fun of cliché type of things.
"It's not a mood. Maybe someone is wearing off on me," Gabriella said before turning to look at Kelsi. "But what's more important is Kelsi sitting over there in that chair."
"Me?" Her voice hitched in her throat. "What about me?"
"I saw Jason and you talking before," Gabriella said in a singing voice. Kelsi's face turned a brighter red than Gabriella's before.
The small girl pulled her legs closer to her chest and tucked her head away from the other three girls who all wore smiles on their faces. Sharpay and Kelsi had met each other through drama in high school. They sat together, shared homeroom together along with Troy, Zeke, Jason, and Chad, and then they also had classes together. Whenever everyone got together at parties or social gatherings, the two girls always ended up together when the boys were busy taking part in some games. Sharpay was close enough to Kelsi to know about the whole Jason situation. Then there was Taylor who had found that she liked spending her time with Kelsi more than with Sharpay as she found that the quiet girl was a type of person who she had not met yet. It was refreshing as there was hardly any drama with the composer. Gabriella had yet really talked to Kelsi in a one on one conversation, so she didn't know the full Jason story yet. Only parts of the story from when Chad or Troy let things slip.
"We said hardly two words to each other. He was just asking when you were arriving, and then before I could answer him you walked down the stairs." Kelsi looked down at the pillow by her side before her hands picked it up to distract herself. "It wasn't anything big."
Gabriella squinted her eyes in a skeptic way. She knew for a fact that she and Jason were only going to be friends. There was no way that they could be anything more as she just didn't feel any attraction to him. Sure, he was handsome in a boyish way, but she didn't think of him like she was starting to think of Troy.
"Does he know that you like him?" Gabriella asked.
Sharpay laughed at this as Kelsi continued looked down at the pillow in her lap. Taylor froze in her spot on the ground; her hand freezing in the drawer that was searching for a movie to watch. "Gabi, Kelsi doesn't like Jason. She turned him down at this one party that we went to before you and Taylor came here."
"Way to let Kelsi speak for herself," Taylor hissed at Sharpay who just raised her two manicured hands in mock surrender. Gabriella had a feeling that Sharpay just found this to be one big game of life that she never really took serious.
"Whatever. It's not like she could actually like Jase. He's too…" Sharpay trailed off while shaking her head as if she was clearing her thoughts of dirty things.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Kelsi asked. She snapped her head up and all three girls were surprised that she was in a defensive mode, her eyes narrowed into slits with blue fire dancing in them.
For once Sharpay looked surprised before she quickly composed herself and stuck her nose in the air as if she knew all. "I just meant you turned him down, and obviously he's still hurting. Do you really expect him to act as if that party never happened?"
"No. I just didn't expect him to remember it all. He was so wasted, and he says that he loves me and that we should 'hook up' and I turned him down. I just didn't expect him to remember it and hold my answer against me," Kelsi spoke. She shook her head as if to rid her mind of the party that happened.
Gabriella and Taylor weren't there personally, but they could picture just how confused Kelsi might have felt.
"Do you like him? Do you love him like he said he loved you?" Gabriella whispered.
"Of course I like him. We were best friends and then all of a sudden he has barely spoken to me."
"But do you like him in more than a friendship way? You still keep avoiding that answer," Taylor pointed out.
Sharpay rolled her eyes. Sometimes Kelsi was so quiet and personal that she would not share her personal life or gossip. It ticked her off that Kelsi wouldn't give a straight answer when others requested.
"Obviously if you're still confused Kelsi, then you don't like him like he says he likes you. It's simple like that. You obviously don't love him because love is something that you dive into. You know instantly when you meet someone that he could be the one. You talk to him and all throughout your head a voice is saying 'Get to know him more. He could be the one to make you happy.' And if you don't instantly react, then you just don't have anything with him."
"Are you like that with Zeke?" The small girl asked with unshed tears in her eyes. She didn't know why she was getting upset. All she knew was that Sharpay sounded pretty adamant about her thoughts on love between two people, and that Jason seemed to be into Gabriella the new girl.
"Are you?" Taylor accused.
Gabriella waited patiently as Sharpay's answer determined a hell of a lot more things concerning her future than the other two girls realized. "It started off like that for me in middle school, but we never had the timing right. Then when we did start dating things just got better. Events fell into place and now we're going to be juniors in high school and I love him. He doesn't know it yet, but I do, and I don't know if my love is enough."
"This is kind of depressing," Taylor commented in a monotone voice.
"Well do you or do you not like Jase?" Sharpay directed to Kelsi.
She seemed to shrink back into the big arm chair that she was situated in. "Maybe. I wish he would just talk to me as I now know that he likes me or loves me, or something. I know that he has feelings, and I just wish that he would talk to me like old times so that I could analyze my feelings in normal circumstances. Because as long as we're awkward and pissed at each other, then I won't truly know what I'm feeling or thinking."
"Guys do stupid things when they're drunk. Although I have learned throughout my drunken parties that whatever guys act upon while drinking is usually something that was always in the back of their minds. Alcohol just pushes their secret wants and needs to the surface," Gabriella informed Kelsi quietly.
"All three of you sound sad and weak right now. Let's do something other than sit around and talk about bad relationships!" Taylor encouraged before she went back to searching for a movie to watch.
"A family just walked in, and the old man out there is still asking for his burger," Troy said in a rushed voice. His head felt like it was on fire as a herd of elephants rampaged through his skull.
"Is Lauren seating the family at one of my tables or yours?" Chad asked as he leaned against the counter, waiting for Manny, the cook who was on shift when Carlos wasn't on schedule to cook, finished the old man's order.
"Why do you think I told you about the family? They're on your side," Troy said as he sat down in the chair that was put in the corner of the kitchen. Surprisingly, there was a sliver of a corner in the kitchen that they didn't use for cooking and instead put a metal chair there for waiters or staff to sit down if it wasn't busy or chaotic.
"I don't know how Carlos expects to plan a wedding that is happening in two months, stay on schedule to cook, and then keep up with his daughter," Manny commented as he slid Chad the hot plate.
Chad rolled his eyes. "He wants to continue to cook so that he can keep up with his customers. That's why some of these people eat here. It's because Carlos takes interest in his business." After Chad spoke he rushed out of the kitchen to go deliver the food.
"And I don't think Brie is gonna be that big of a trouble. She seems to be fitting in just fine," Troy said a little too harshly. He rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. It was unusual in the summer for Chad and Troy to be working at the same time in the daytime, but Carlos had called Chad asking if he could fill in for one of the college kids that had just come down with a case of food poisoning.
"Are you okay Bolton?" Manny asked as he flipped burgers. "You don't look so well."
Troy opened one eye and just shook his head. No shit, he thought to himself, but held back the retort. Instead he just shut his eye again and tilted his face down to the floor.
"Dude, some old ladies just sat down at one of your tables. Have fun with them. I swear, one looks like she's ready to vomit or something. She keeps complaining it's too dark and smoky or some shit like that," Chad said in a chirpy tone.
"How long until our shift ends?" Troy asked.
Chad frowns at this. "I get off in an hour. You have to close tonight. Remember, you told Carlos you would work the double shift?"
Troy wanted to scream, shout, or kick something in frustration, but he knew that would not help his killer headache. "This fucking sucks," Troy groaned before going through the swinging door that separated them from the rest of the restaurant. He plastered on his fake smile as he spotted his table with four old ladies who all looked to be around his grandmother's age.
This was going to suck as not one lady looked happy.
Her soft hand gripped tightly; nearly cutting off circulation. The brunette looked down at the pale white skin shining in the bright white lights. The green cushion beneath her butt was soft and bouncy as the paper crinkled with every move the two of them made.
They were just waiting now as the doctor seemed like he was taking his time.
"Have you talked to Zeke yet?" Gabriella asked.
"Not yet. We were with each other last night and I was going to tell him about today, but I wanted to make sure that I was pregnant, you know? There's no use in scaring him right now if it's just a false alarm," Sharpay whispered. Gabriella noticed that she was so much different from two days ago in her basement. Long gone was the confident girl who spoke about loving someone, and along came the meek and quiet girl who was scared beyond belief.
"That's understandable." Gabriella couldn't help but look down at Sharpay's arm where a brown band-aid laid across the wound where the doctor took blood. "It's going to be okay." Deep down Gabriella had a feeling what the doctor was going to say, and she wasn't quite sure yet how Sharpay was going to react.
Just then there was a knock on the door and the doctor entered slowly. His nametag read 'Doctor Webb' as Sharpay had been seeing him for check ups since she started living in California.
"Sharpay, we just received the tests back. And I'm happy to say that you're already six weeks pregnant." Doctor Webb smiled warmly at the two girls as Gabriella felt Sharpay squeeze her hand as if she were afraid to let go.
She knew her hand was turning white, but all Sharpay could do was stare at the doctor with her wide brown eyes. She had to look her worse as she had no make up on whatsoever, there were bags underneath her eyes, and she was only wearing a pair of pink yoga pants with a pink zip up jacket that matched.
"Oh my God," she breathed out.
Gabriella turned her head to look at Sharpay just as the blonde was turning her head to look at Gabriella. Tears were skimming Sharpay's eyes as she tried her best to hold them in. All Gabriella could do was squeeze her hand back before slowly taking the shaking girl into her embrace and hugging her.
"I'll let you have a moment as I have to go check something," Doctor Webb lied. Gabriella was facing him as she hugged Sharpay and she mouthed a 'thank you' to him before he continued. "But when I get back we're going to have to set up your next visit and I'm going to have to do an ultrasound just to make sure that everything is going okay."
When he left Sharpay let the sobs out. She was trying her hardest to not cry, but the tears just kept flowing. It broke Gabriella's heart to watch this strong woman in front of her break down, and she knew that this wasn't her place to comfort her as Zeke should have been here today. But she understood as Sharpay was only trying to protect him from something that could have been preventable.
"This could have happened to anyone!" Sharpay exclaimed. "Why me?! Huh? Why me?!"
"I'm sorry," Gabriella whispered. Her own tears hid themselves in her eyes. She knew they weren't as important as Sharpay's now, but she couldn't help but imagine if this was her in Sharpay's spot. Would she have Sharpay's support like Gabriella was giving her? It scared the crap out of Gabriella that just a couple of words from the doctor could break this girl in her arms, and it made her think that this could happen to any teenager who was careless with their sexual activities. "I'm so sorry."
"Dad?" Gabriella asked as she looked around the restaurant. There was no one to be seen as she walked into the entry way of the place. Lauren wasn't even at the podium to seat people, but then again, Gabriella didn't even know if Lauren worked at nighttime. "Lauren?"
"They're up in his office," Troy said as he walked by Gabriella with three empty plates stacked on top of one another. "They've been up there for like forty minutes already."
Gabriella sensed that Troy wasn't happy about that fact as he briskly walked passed her and straight to the kitchen. She looked around and saw that nearly every table was full of people as it was around dinner time and it was Wednesday night which meant kids under twelve ate free and any appetizer was half off.
She didn't know if she should follow Troy or not, but decided that she should once she spotted the same boy from the café on comedy night staring at her again. She glared at him before pointedly turning away sharply and following the trail Troy took to the kitchen.
When she entered she had a flashback of how this kitchen never changed. She could still remember being in fifth grade and entering the kitchen to see all the waiters and waitresses running around like crazy trying to get their orders, and then Manny trying to cook everything.
"Gabi?"
Gabriella turned around at the sound of her name. The voice came from a boy who looked to be about her age or one year older. He had a buzz cut with dark brown hair; nearly black, he was quite tall with a muscular build. She narrowed her eyes in curiosity as she tried to place the voice with a name, but she couldn't quite remember this guy.
"Yeah. That's me." She tucked her loose curl behind her ear as she shifted her weight from one foot the other. She momentarily thanked God that she actually put thought into what she was going to wear that day as she was wearing her favorite blue jean skirt with a cotton gray shirt that showed off some of her cleavage.
"My have you gotten bigger," The guy commented as she put her hands on her hips at his comment.
"Excuse me?" Gabriella sharply asked.
"I meant you've grown since sixth grade."
"Oh," she blushed as she lowered his hands. "Yeah. People tend to grow after five years."
"You don't remember me," he commented instead of questioned.
She bit her lip and shyly shook her head as she could not for the life of her remember his name.
"Adam? Adam from down the street? We used to play--"
"Play at the park together!" She exclaimed with a smile. "Oh my God have you grown!" He really had as he used to be one of the shortest kids in the grade above her. He was one year older which made him a senior now.
"You know, people tend to grow in five years," he mocked with before chuckling.
"I didn't know you worked--"
"Adam, where the fuck are you?" Troy's irritable voice called out. It was almost as if he was snarling with anger. The basketball captain finally spotted Adam and Gabriella talking near the kitchen door, and he rolled his eyes. "Table six is asking for their drinks. They're ready to order."
Adam rolled his eyes. "They're pricks. They can wait another minute. Their kids probably don't even know what they want."
"Doesn't matter," Troy hissed. "They're asking for you now and so they get you now. Understand?"
Gabriella looked between Adam and Troy before Adam finally gave up and walked away while muttering to himself. Troy turned on Gabriella and looked her over. "I said your dad is up in his office."
"I actually was looking for you. My dad was just my excuse to come down here," Gabriella said. Her smile quickly faded as she took in Troy's appearance. "Are you feeling okay?"
His headache had only gotten worse, and his mood wasn't anything better as he was frustrated with his coworkers who all seemed to be taking their time, his customers who seemed all too stuck up, and then his body was slowly shutting down as he felt the room spin.
"It's nothing. My head just hurts." Gabriella noticed that he seemed to at least sound a little bit happier. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to see what time you got off work at, but it seems pretty busy here so I'm guessing it's gonna be awhile?"
"Manny!" Adam's voice called out before Troy could answer Gabriella. "I hope you have strawberry syrup somewhere. This kid is asking for strawberry milk and his parents insist that we make him some even though we don't have it!"
Gabriella and Troy both looked at each other after Adam's outburst; a grin spreading on each face. "I close tonight, or at least I'm supposed to," Troy muttered with a dark tone to his voice; indicating that he didn't like that idea.
"So does that mean that you can get out of it?"
"That depends on the reason Brie," Troy teased by not giving a straight answer.
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Are you really going to make me explain to you why I want you to be off from work?"
"In order for me to find someone to switch shifts with me then I'm going to have to give a reason." Troy raised an eye brow; waiting for Gabriella to explain further. He was secretly getting amusement out of this, making himself suddenly forget about the killer headache that was just taking over his body five minutes prior.
Gabriella let out a big sigh as if this explanation was killing her. She knew that Troy had a pretty good idea why she really wanted him off of work, but he was just making her say it out loud to boost his ego.
"Taylor, Kelsi, and Jason are at work, Shar is with Zeke and I have a feeling that their conversation is going to take a very long time, and Chad is busy with his parents. I'm bored and," her voice got quieter, "I want to do something…with you."
"What was that?" Troy asked even though his insides were doing summersaults. He had heard her perfectly, but he just wanted her to repeat it. "I'm sorry I didn't hear you. It's kind of loud in here."
Gabriella sighed while rolling her eyes. She crossed her arms across her chest in an annoying habit. "I want to do something with you. Happy?" She asked with a sarcastic smile.
Troy grinned as he knew he could find someone to take over his shift easily. All the college kids loved working at nighttime as they received better tips from the nicer old townspeople rather than the families in the restaurant now.
"I'm ecstatic Brie. What did you have in mind?"
Gabriella looked down at the ground as her shoulders went up. "I didn't really think that far ahead."
Troy chuckled now; making Gabriella look up. "I think we'll find something to do. After all, Cannary isn't a boring city."
"Okay," she backed up a little towards the door. She didn't want to embarrass herself anymore than she already did. "Cool. I'll um…just leave and go talk to my dad for a while as you find someone to take over your shift."
Troy watched her exit just as Adam came up to him. "Did Gabriella just go?"
He looked over the taller male standing next to him. They were teammates as Adam was one of the better basketball players at their school. He had the height, he had the coordination, and he had the skill that it took to play. If anything, he was just waiting to be announced the captain of the team until Troy came along and took that away from him.
"Is your shift almost done?" Troy asked while avoiding the older male's question.
"In a half an hour. Why?"
"Want to take the rest of my shift for me after? There's great tips after eight," Troy said, already knowing what Adam would say.
"Yeah. Thanks man." Adam held out his fist for Troy and him to do the guy 'handshake' before walking off to go deliver the drinks Manny put together.
This was going to be a good night, Troy decided, as his headache had already disappeared and it was all because of one certain girl.