Hold on Tight
11. If Only
It was exactly one week since Troy had left to visit his parents and Gabriella was excited and anxious at the same time. She tried calling, emailing, texting, he just wouldn't reply. She even thought about map questing his house, but then thought otherwise, that was a tad bit over the desperate edge.
The whole seven days she had been thinking of how she would tell him. Every time she thought about his smile, or the way he said he loved her, oh man that gave massive butterflies to form in her stomach. How badly she wanted to touch him, smell him, breath him. Since he had come back Troy was the only thing taking up her mind. She loved him more than air itself and wanted to die every time she recalled the memory of her running away like a scared child. Gabriella Montez was not a child; she matured into something much greater than that and today she was going to prove it.
"Maybe I should wait…I mean he probably just got back home." Gabriella told Taylor whilst biting her nails nervously.
"Honey, if you wait any longer he's gonna move on. Just go! Oh but first go and buy him something." Taylor said grinning.
"Your right I should go." Gabriella declared standing up. "Wait, what am I supposed to buy him? The guy always is the one to buy the girl something. Not the other way around."
Taylor shook her head in disbelief. "In your situation you better damn well buy him something. You turned him down remember." Taylor said, clearly without thinking twice.
Gabriella winced at the memory and kicked herself yet again. She put her hands to her face and started tearing.
"No! Oh gosh I'm so sorry Gabby. I didn't mean it, I wasn't thinking." Taylor rushed to her side and took her hands off of her face. "I'm stupid, don't listen to me." Gabriella wiped her tears away reluctantly. Taylor looked to the blonde next to her for some help.
"Oh Tay, let her be, she needs to face the truth anyway." Sharpay added. For the past week Taylor, Sharpay, and Gabriella had become rather close, and at the moments when the bitchy Sharpay popped out, for example; now, was much to Gabriella and Taylor's disliking.
"Oh shush Sharpay!" Taylor hollered, rubbing Gabriella's back kindly to calm her down.
"No Tay, Sharpay's right. I shouldn't have been such a coward. I loved him but I was just too afraid of it going all wrong, I should've known Troy was different."
Sharpay and Taylor glanced at each other.
"I was a fool." Gabriella continued. "but I'm back and I'm going to tell Troy Alexander Bolton that I am madly and deeply in love with him, if it's the last thing I do." Gabriella marched out of the café that her, Sharpay, and Taylor had been sitting in and ran to her car, not wanting her sudden courage or adrenaline to wear off just yet. She had waited a week to do this and now was her chance. Gabriella hesitated before starting up her car. "I have to buy him something first…" She sighed and drove down to the grocery store. Her declaration would have to wait.
Gabriella parked her car nearby and ran as fast as she could leaving her shoes in her car. She sprinted into the market, grabbing a small basket on her way. She ran across every row in the store not being satisfied with anything. Nothing was good enough for her Troy. She got down to the candy section and smirked. Troy always loved sweets. She sprinted down the aisle and skimmed the shelves, she was so pumped nothing could bring her down. Well except for the person she just ran straight into. "Umph!" She fell to the floor and groaned, but Troy was still pounding in her head, so without thinking she shot back up not caring about the person she had just run into. Before anyone could speak she got back up swiftly and grabbed a bag of sour patch kids, juicy fruit gum, extra buttered popcorn and milk duds. As she was about to run to the cashier a familiar voice stopped her.
"Gabriella…" It was Troy…It was fucking Troy! Gabriella turned around and grinned widely, locking eyes with the blue eyed man standing before her. "Uh, sorry I knocked you down…I was kinda awestruck at how fast you got back up…Why are you in such a rush?"
"I-uh-you-me-I-Troy." She managed to stammer out. Troy gave her a puzzled look and Gabriella took a deep breath and calmed herself. "I love you!" She held her hand to her mouth in shock. Did she just say that? I mean she hadn't even said hello yet.
Troy's eyes widened. "Pardon?"
Oh well, she already looked crazy might as well finish it off with a bang. "I love you. I love you so fucking much Troy Alexander Bolton. I've been waiting six days, seventeen hours and…" She glanced at her wrist watch. "twenty one minutes to tell you that." Gabriella walked towards him and grabbed his face with both her hands. "I'm in love with you. You're my air, my everything." Troy gulped in shock. "Well say something." Gabriella giggled at how cute he looked.
"Gabriella…I-" Troy was interrupted when a blonde woman with green eyes and a gorgeous tan walked up behind him.
"Troysie, apples or bananas?" The woman asked holding the two fruit and looking down at them, not noticing Gabriella. Gabriella released Troy and unconsciously started taking small steps backwards. The blonde woman looked up and glanced at Troy and then at Gabriella. "Oh who's this Troy?" She asked smiling. Troy opened his mouth to speak but closed it in silence. "Hi I'm Lucy, Troy's girlfriend." She said holding out her hand for Gabriella.
Gabriella couldn't breath, she tried and tried. She put her hand to her chest and tried inhaling. Nothing. Girfriend? What the fuck. This couldn't be happening.
"Uh Miss…are you alright?" Lucy asked concerned. Gabriella looked up at Troy in disbelief. Had he really replaced her that fast? She stared into his eyes looking for answers. He looked down and placed his hands in his pockets. Lucy glanced between the two in confusion.
"Troysie?" Gabriella squeaked. She coughed trying to regain her voice but failed. "That's-that's my name for you…mine." Gabriella looked to Lucy and instantly calmed down. She had to stay calm, not look like a complete loser. Plus, this woman was being nice to her, so she had to at least try and pull it together. Gabriella turned around took a deep breath. She wiped the tears threatening to fall away from her tear ducks before turning around to face the girl known as Lucy. "I'm sorry, uh I'm Gabriella. It's nice to meet you." Troy raised his eyebrow at her sudden change of tone. Lucy scrunched her eyebrows together putting the pieces together slowly.
"Nice to meet you too, Gabriella." Lucy looked to Troy and pleaded with her eyes for him to explain.
"Uh, Luc…Gabriella's an old…friend..." Troy said glancing to Gabriella. She felt a pinge in her heart when he said that. An old friend? Was that how he thought of her now? "From high school." Lucy formed an O with her mouth and shrugged.
"That's cool, a friend from high school." Lucy said smiling. Gabriella nodded and faked a smile. She wondered how Lucy could forget about everything that had just happened earlier and except such a low explanation as 'a friend from high school'. Stupid girl. She thought. Gabriella clenched her eyes shut at her previous thought. That was mean and the good inside of her didn't approve. "Well Troy we'd better get going. We have to drop the groceries at the house and then barely catch our movie." SHE LIVED WITH HIM?! IT'S ONLY BEEN A MOTHER FUCKING WEEK! Gabriella shouted in her mind, she had to bite her tongue so it wouldn't come out through her mouth. She gulped loudly and bit her lip so hard Troy thought it might start bleeding at any moment. He couldn't stop staring at Gabriella as the information sunk in. By the way her face kept contorting he could tell it was hurting her. If only she had told him earlier. Lucy started walking away and turned her head to look at Troy who was standing in the same place as before, as well as Gabriella. "You coming baby?" She asked.
"Uh yeah, just give me five minutes…I'll meet you in the car." Troy said his eyes still locked onto Gabriella's. Every sentence out of Lucy's mouth dug a hold deeper into Gabriella's heart, and you could see it in her eyes. Lucy nodded and walked to the check out counter. "Gabriella, I'm sorry." Troy said breaking the eye contact and looking down at his feet. "I'm with Lucy now and I can't just drop everything now that you say you love me."
"Troy…you've been gone for a week without even telling me. I had to find out from Chad. What was I supposed to do? Follow you to your parent's house? You didn't even give me a chance."
"A chance? Gabriella I gave you a million chances. You could have called."
"I did call! Not to mention texted you, emailed. I even thought about map questing your parent's house." Troy clenched his eyes shut. Saying 'you could have called' was just a reflex. He knew she called; he knew she texted and emailed. He just never thought she wanted to say three specific words. "You apparently didn't have your phone every time I called. Was it a coincidence or did you just not want to talk to me?" Troy didn't know how to reply. Every time he saw her name on his caller ID, it hurt him. He knew it would hurt even more if he had to hear her voice so he didn't answer.
"Gabriella, I'm sorry. I can't do anything about it now."
Gabriella couldn't control the tears that flooded down her cheeks now. "You replaced me that quickly huh? Wow…oh don't forget the living with you part? Explain that please? It's been freaking less than a week." Troy looked up in guilt. He never wanted to hurt her. What was he supposed to do? Gabriella shook her head.
"I'm sorry…Lucy didn't have anywhere to stay, so I'm letting her stay with me…she's moving down here the day after tomorrow." He said quietly. "Please don't cry, I hate when you cry." Troy took a step towards her and attempted to wipe away her tears. Gabriella gently pushed him off and silently wiped her face with the back of her hand. She looked up and they locked eyes.
Gabriella couldn't stop staring. She just wanted a miracle to happen that would fix everything. She wanted her happy ending. "It's fine Troy." She said quietly breaking the silence and staring at the floor. "It's my fault I didn't realize it before, I mean I don't expect you to wait around for me. It just wasn't fair." Gabriella took a step backwards and kept her eyes glued to the floor, not daring to look up knowing it would result in a mental break down. All she wanted to do was run away. Run far, far away.
"We can be friends cant we?" Troy asked hopefully. He couldn't bear the thought of not having her in his life.
Gabriella shook her head in amusement as she watched her tears hit the ground. "Yeah sure." She said. She just wanted to leave. She didn't want to just be friends. "Whatever makes you happy…I just want you to be happy." She nodded watching another tear hit the ground. She sniffled and closed her eyes trying to stop the tears.
"Gabriella…please don't be mad."
"Pshh, I'm not mad silly. Please Troy just be happy. I'm an idiot, I should've known this would happen. I told you on the dock, I'm not capable of having love." Gabriella giggled fakely and looked up glancing in different directions, careful not to meet Troy's gaze.
What she said hit Troy hard. He closed his eyes and his heart sank. She had said she wasn't capable of love, she had said her heart was meant to be broken if she fell for him. Exactly what she had predicted had come true and Troy hadn't even realized it until now. He didn't want her to think like that. One day she would find love, one day. At the moment Troy still loved Gabriella but in the place where she had hurt him laid a new person. He loved Lucy now. Call him crazy for falling in love in a week, but yeah…she was the glue that put him back together when Gabriella tore him apart. "That's not true Gabriella, one day you'll see it. If you'd just open up…give someone your heart…then you'll have it." Troy smiled sorrowfully. Gabriella winced and started walking backwards.
"Well I'll see you later Troy. Bye…" Gabriella started walking away and then stopped. She took everything out of her shopping cart and put it back in there correct shelves. Troy stood in his same spot watching her intently.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"I uh…" Gabriella sighed. "I knew you were back from your parents so I was going to um, get you these things…but I don't need them anymore." Gabriella bit her lip and stared at the shelf of candy in front of her, not wanting to turn around and let Troy see her crying again.
"Oh…" Troy said awkwardly.
"I'll see you…around." Gabriella's voice broke on the last word. She quickly started walking away.
"Okay, bye…" Troy stared at her as she retreated. Why wasn't she wearing shoes? He wondered. He frowned and sighed. Gabriella couldn't take it anymore. She could feel his eyes on her. She broke into a sprint and ran across the parking lot to her car, not caring to wipe away the tears that drowned her features. Troy watched her as she started sprinting and bit his bottom lip in guilt. He slapped his hand against his forehead and turned around, walking out of the market to Lucy. He wished she hadn't found out this way.
If only wishes came true.
I hated writing this but I had to. Drama is always good, though it seems bad! It keeps you guys interested! Anyway, 8 reviews please! I'm disappointed I didn't get as much as I asked for in the previous chapter. Anyway please review, the next chapters amazing, trust! (: