TEN – Fluff 'n' Stuff

It was a mystery to the majority of the party-goers as to why the police hadn't yet shown up and thrown everybody out; due to the loud music that was still playing past one o'clock in the morning. The snacks and alcohol were still in good supply and that alone made a few people wonder whether the party would ever end. For Chad; he didn't really care. After a few glasses of punch and about five or six pink jellies, his tipsy mind was now focused on his girlfriend, who was dancing in front of him; her hips swaying with the rhythm of the music pumping out of the stereo speakers.

This was a side to Taylor McKessie that Chad had never seen before. In fact, over the last nine months, he had seen a lot of different sides to Taylor that he never even knew existed. A year ago, he despised her; she was part of the genius clique, who every year took part in East High's Scholastic Decathlon to showcase their intellectual minds. Taylor and her posse had made their hatred towards the jocks quite obvious over the last few years at school – and her sarcastic comments during class (particularly about Chad) often got her into trouble. If not for Troy and Gabriella bending the rules of high school status, Chad would never have known the real Taylor McKessie – this funny, brainy, caring and sexy girl who lit up his life. Not that he would say that out loud though. Troy would have a field day if Chad Danforth suddenly turned soppy and mushy.

There were quite a few couples crowded in the middle of the living room-turned-dance floor; the furniture had been moved right to the edges of the room to make space for all the loved up couples of East High to dance the night away. Ryan had taken Kelsi under his wing, teaching her a few steps that matched the beat of the music. Kelsi had gained a lot of confidence over the last few months, but it seemed that dancing would take its time with her self-esteem. Jason and Martha were bopping along to some imaginary tune – probably hip-hop from the moves they were doing. Zeke was leaning against the doorframe looking bored and every so often turning to look at Sharpay, who was stood against the wall at the other side of the room watching her brother have fun with the people she considered her enemies. Troy and Gabriella were dancing beside Chad and Taylor, laughing at some inside joke and sharing the odd kiss every now and then. Troy was deliberately singing out of tune along with the music, causing Gabriella laugh uncontrollably at him. She clung to him, her fingertips gently caressing the back of his neck as she stared into his eyes with a bright smile on her face.

Chad pointed out the couple to Taylor; who latched herself to her boyfriend as they both mimicked Troy and Gabriella's actions with crossed eyes and exaggerated puckered-up lips. Troy and Gabriella didn't notice their friends taking the mick out of them and as they leaned in for another kiss, Chad and Taylor deliberately spun into them, knocking them so they nearly fell over and interrupting yet another kiss.

"Ow!" Troy rubbed his shoulder before slipping his arm around Gabriella's waist and pulling her up so she was standing straight again. "Chad? What the hell was that for?"

Chad grinned and pulled Taylor closer to him as they resumed their dancing. "Sorry, Pal; I didn't see you both there."

"You're such a liar, Danforth." Troy hissed as Taylor tried to muffle a giggle. "Prepare to die."

"Woah, woah!" Taylor laughed, latching onto Chad's biceps as the two boys went to play fight in the middle of the dance floor. "We were only having a little fun. You can't deny us of that."

"I thought you were having your fun later." Gabriella put in, turning Troy back around so he faced her. Her arms wound around his neck again and they ignored Taylor's shocked, open-mouthed expression in response to that comment.

"Touché." Chad laughed and gently patted Troy's shoulder. Taylor thankfully saw the funny side and pulled Chad back towards her and continued to dance.

"Don't we have the best friends in the whole world?" Troy sighed, pulling her closer and resting his forehead against hers as they gently swayed to the music.

Gabriella smiled. "With the best timing in the world." She added her own little bit of sarcasm.

Troy laughed at her and quickly spun her around before leaning down to kiss her again…

"Troy! I have pink jellies just for you!" Jason interrupted before their lips could touch and thrust a tray filled with small cubes of pink vodka-filled jellies under Troy's nose. "Now its tradition at every party for you to have the first pink jelly and here you go." He picked one up and pushed into Troy's face. Troy held his hands up and pushed Jason's arm away slowly.

"No thanks, Jase; I'm going to pass on the pink jellies tonight."

Jason's face bore a look that said 'my life no longer makes sense of Troy Bolton refuses pink jellies' and attempted to pass the tray over. Troy shook his head and pushed it back again. Chad witnessed the small scene and with Taylor close at his side, he strode towards his team mates and picked up a jelly.

"Bolton, did you just refuse a jelly?" He asked incredulously. "We had them brought in just for you…"

Troy shook his head and stepped back a little, trying to get back the space that the two boys had taken up. "You did not make those things up just for me."

"But you haven't drunk anything all night! Gabs has." Chad pointed at Gabriella who gave off an innocent look. "It's just not a party without you getting drunk on these babies."

"You don't need me to get drunk to make this party good. We're all having a good time, right?"

"Yeah. But…" Jason sighed and finally lowered the tray. "It's not the same…"

Gabriella folded her arms and stepped closer into the small circle that the three boys had created. "What is the big deal about Troy having a pink jelly?"

Jason and Chad's faces lit up and they both looked at each other with open and excited mouths; telepathically arguing over who would get to answer the question. Troy, meanwhile, covered his face with his hands and groaned aloud as Chad stepped forward to speak.

"What is the big deal?" He grasped Gabriella's upper arms. "What is the big deal?! This guy is absolutely hilarious when he gets drunk on these things! He gets so out of it, that he'll literally do anything you want him to do – it's like having a robot you shout commands to and then it does it. One time, Zeke asked him to dance the funky chicken. So Troy dances the funky chicken-"

"I can't believe you've brought up the funky chicken fiasco…" Troy groaned and avoided Gabriella's very amused face.

"And then Jason asks him to twirl around until he got really dizzy and then try and walk in a straight line… so Troy does it. Just like that!" Chad clicked his fingers for effect. "We also got him to try a free throw and that went disastrously wrong… And then there was the time we told him to try and do a break dance… and that was nearly fatal…" Chad laughed at Troy's very crimson face and then turned back to Gabriella who was laughing as she tried to picture these events. "And at the end of the night, you can always count on him passing out in some stupid place – like the time he passed out in a bathtub- and not remembering a thing the next day. Thankfully, he has caring and generous friends like us to remind him… Over and over again."

"Yes. Very kind. Very caring. Very Generous." Troy pushed past the guys and slipped an arm back around Gabriella's waist. "Now that you've embarrassed me big style in front of my girlfriend, can we please change the subject now? Because there's no way I'm even going to touch one of those things ever again."

"Why?" Gabriella chuckled, nudging him. "I'd really like to see that."

Troy turned to her and raised an eyebrow with a small, but serious smile. "I'm sorry to say, Miss Montez, that you'll never see me like that. Not now. Not ever." Troy turned back to his friends and grasped Gabriella's waist tighter before pulling her up close. "Now, boys, go on with your business so I can get back to kissing my beautiful girlfriend."

Chad made a vomiting expression and laughed as he turned back to Taylor and a very disappointed Jason slowly walked away with the tray of jellies. Troy ignored their remarks and his attention was completely back on his girlfriend as she raised her hand and curled it around the side of his neck, bringing him closer to resume the kiss that had already been interrupted twice. Their lips barely touched when Zeke came over and separated them.

"Dude! You're not having any pink jelly?! I thought up three things for you to do and everything! How could you take that away from me?"

"Zeke, re-phrase these words into a well-known saying: 'off', 'piss'. Got it?"

Zeke feigned hurt. "You take away a hilarious night and you turn completely mean!" He turned on his heel and walked away, mumbling obscenities. As Troy groaned aloud in frustration, Chad poked his head over his friends shoulder.

"Care for a room?"

Troy was about to boil over again, but Gabriella stopped him. "Yes, please." She answered Chad through gritted teeth. That answer made Troy do a double-take and Chad nod his head slowly with the biggest grin imaginable. He patted Troy's shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows as Gabriella latched onto her boyfriend's hand and began to pull him off the dance floor. "Where are we going, Chad?" Gabriella demanded as they reached the kitchen. Troy felt as though he was going to die of embarrassment.

"Well," Chad patted his chin in thought. "There was my parent's room – but that's just been taken. By Jess and some guy. Oh, Troy! That's it… Jess wanted me to tell you that she's hooked up with some random dude."

"And as you can see I'm very upset and jealous." Troy ran his hands down his face slowly, the sarcasm clear in his tone.

"Look," Gabriella sighed aloud and stepped in front of Chad. "All I want is a little bit of privacy with my boyfriend. With no interruptions whatsoever. So, what's free?"

"There is the Treehouse…"

"Treehouse?"

"No." Troy interrupted before Chad could respond. Gabriella looked at him before holding his hand and dragging him towards the back door.

"I will have you to myself tonight, Troy Bolton. And if that means making out in a Treehouse, then so be it!" The determination in her voice was obvious and Troy couldn't help but laugh as she dragged him into the back garden and made her way towards the large tree at the end of the garden with an average-sized wooden house built amongst the branches. Wooden planks had been nailed to the truck to act as a ladder and Gabriella started to climb without saying a word. Troy couldn't believe the situation he was now in, and he knew Chad and Taylor were watching them from an upstairs window. "Are you coming?" Gabriella called back as she reached the top and crawled through the small entrance. Troy followed, thinking that the last time he was in this Treehouse was when he and Chad were thirteen and had decided that the Treehouse was no longer cool. As he crawled inside, Gabriella pulled him towards her and engaged them both in a heated kiss.

"Mmph…Gabi…" Troy gently pulled away, only for Gabriella to wrap her arms around his neck and bring herself back towards him. In response, Troy moved his head further back so she could not reach his lips.

"Don't you start with the interrupting!"

"I'm not! I just…" he trailed off and gently cupped her cheek, his thumb sliding over her near-perfect cheekbones. "You're gorgeous." And he meant it. He could sit back and think about how beautiful his girlfriend was all day – her flawless skin; such a striking colour that contrasted so beautifully with his own. He remembered Sharpay telling him that they were 'skin-tone compatible' and now he knew the meaning of it perfectly. Her hair was a deep ebony colour and so soft that Troy loved to run his fingers through it over and over again. It was straight until half-way down her head when it settled into curls which bounced lightly with every movement that she made. And there was always that stray curl that would settle over her deep chocolate-brown eyes. No matter how many times Gabriella moved; no matter how long she spent with her curling irons, trying to position it so it couldn't get in the way of her vision; nothing ever seemed to work. And it always irritated her – as soon as that curl would bounce over her eyes, Gabriella would growl loudly and viciously brush it back and flick her hair so it rested on the top of her head. Troy loved that curl. And he relished the moments when it would fall down just so he could gently brush it away with his fingers and then run them through her hair. Her perfectly shaped eyebrows sat above those eyes that mirrored her soul; and as Troy would constantly gaze into them, he would smile upon seeing them sparkle – though, he had not yet realised that he was the reason Gabriella's eyes sparkled. That they only brightened up when he was near her.

He loved her for everything that she was; and his insecure mind often tried to work out just how he'd managed to get with such an amazing girl. She was so intelligent; it often put him to shame! Her sense of humour was enough to send him over the edge in hysterical fits of laughter. And she was always so passionate with him; every touch sent tingles down his spine and made his heartbeat triple its normal speed. All Gabriella ever had to do was rub her button nose softly against his during another one of their Eskimo kisses and Troy would weaken at the knees. Her lips were always so tantalizing and inviting that he often found it difficult to not kiss her during formal occasions, in front of their parents or during a class. Her face was a perfect heart shape and he felt he could spend forever tracing every contour of it; sometimes in curiosity, he would try and find some imperfection and he always failed. And the best thing of all, it was his necklace that sat around her neck. The silver chain with the letter 'T' resting at the bottom had been around her neck since the summer and to Troy, it just proved further that she was his. Gabriella also owned one of his basketball jerseys - with his name and number on the back – that she promised she would wear to every basketball game. She had also taken ownership of his white Wildcats warm-up jacket with his number on the back. Gabriella had insisted that she kept it because she wanted to show the world how much she supported her man – and the fact that it smelled of him comforted her during the night. Troy loved all of these things about her; and as he thought about them, he wondered just what it was about himself that Gabriella found so appealing. It was these thoughts that had eaten away at a part of his confidence – the part where he would be able to tell her all of these things and add 'I love you' at the end. There was nothing about himself that he found could be appealing to someone as perfect as her. And he was worried that his feelings for her out-weighed her own feelings – so much so, he was scared that he would frighten her away.

Gabriella moved closer to her beau and laced her fingers through his. "Why, thank you, Wildcat. You're not so bad yourself." She hummed softly and placed a lingering kiss on his lips. "In fact," her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and she gave him a quick Eskimo kiss before letting her voice drop low and husky. "You're positively delicious."

Her lips crashed onto his with bruising intensity. Troy barely had time to take a breath beforehand, but didn't complain as his arms latched around his tightly so she was almost sitting in his lap. He moaned deeply as her fingers tangled in his hair and pulled – the passion erupting from her almost becoming uncontrollable. Her tongue found its way into his mouth, and she began to explore every inch of his mouth before slowly massaging his tongue. Troy slowly rocked her backwards, so she was lying on her back. The cold, hard wooden floor didn't bother her as Troy pressed his weight on top of her, his fingers curling into her hair while her own grazed over his jawline.

Troy pulled away from her lips and they both took in a deep breath of air; yet not a moment went by as Troy's mouth dusted open-mouthed kisses along her cheek, down the length of neck and finally up and down her throat. He groaned as he heard Gabriella sigh in incredible pleasure and as her back arched, pressing her chest to his; his sucked air in through his gritted teeth. He'd never know how such a simple act could arouse him so much. Troy didn't realise their positions until his hand snaked lower to caress her leg; and he found that he was resting between her legs. Her left leg was bent; holding him in place as her foot slowly caressed the back of his calf. Her dress had hitched right up that practically nothing was left to the imagination and when Troy gently ran his hand up her leg and thigh, Gabriella let out a load moan and took a fist-full of his hair while the other hand ran down his back and under the hem of his shirt. She ran her hand agonisingly slow up and down his back while he continued to rain her neck with kisses, paying extra special attention to the base of her neck where he could feel her pulse racing against his lips. As he began to nip, Gabriella pressed her cheek against his ear with force, her moans not going unnoticed as her hot breath tickled his ear.

"Troy." She moaned again, gently biting down on his earlobe. As she moaned his name, Troy nearly tipped over the edge. The way she had said it was just so…erotic. He kissed his way back up to her mouth and after a long kiss; he pulled away slightly and looked down at her. Their breaths were jagged and out of control; their chests heaving as they struggled for oxygen.

"Gabi…" Troy breathed, running a fingertip down her face. Gabriella smiled her response and brushed locks of his hair off his forehead so she could see those blue eyes clearly. "I…" he breathed slowly, suddenly feeling a burst of confidence sweep over him. "Gabi-"

"Hey!" Zeke's over-excited voice was just like a bucket of ice cold water being thrown over them. "What are you guys up to?" He grinned and winked at them both as they glared at him; the moment now totally ruined. "You've got to see this…" he started to climb back down the ladder. "Chad and Ryan are arm-wrestling!"

"You interrupted us, for an arm wrestling contest?!" Troy shouted after his friend and started to get up. He was stopped by Gabriella pushing him back down and curling herself up beside him.

"Ignore them. Let's stay here."

Troy put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple softly. "One day, they are seriously going to hell for having the worst timing in the world…"