So, I think there will be one more chapter and then the epilogue (: Can I just apologise for any geographical errors. I am not American and have never been to Albuquerque. But, we are in fiction land, so I hope you forgive me :P


Troy POV

"So, you're telling me she didn't scream, shout, cry or kick you out. She actually smiled, thanked you and said that she may forgive you eventually?" Chad asked, an incredulous tone masking his voice. He'd come round this morning wanting to know exactly what had happened yesterday when I went to apologise to Gabriella. I swear he was turning into a girl! He was spending too much time with Taylor in my opinion. Men aren't supposed to be gossips; we don't need the details but here he was!

I nodded at him and said; "Exactly my reaction! I was extremely surprised as you can imagine."

I'd been thinking over yesterday pretty much every minute since I had left Gabriella's house. I really was surprised. She had been nothing but sweet and accepting of what I had to say. I guess it went better than I was expecting it to go! I had prepared myself for the complete opposite reaction.

"Well, I wasn't expecting it to go that way either man! I thought she might have at least hit you or something." Chad said, shrugging.

"Hey! At least have a little bit of faith in me. Did you really think I'd be that much of an ass and say something that would upset her? All I did was try and explain my stupid behaviour and get her to understand how sorry I was." I replied, feeling slightly frustrated at Chad's lack of support in my feelings of remorse for what I did to Gabriella.

Chad held his hands up in a silent surrender at my outburst and said; "Sorry dude, I didn't mean it like that. I'm happy for you. Hopefully you guys can get back on track now."

His last comment just made me feel like crap all over again. Yes, we may be friends again sometime in the near future. As for reconciling our relationship, that was out of the question. Logan. I didn't realise I could dislike someone without even knowing them but at the moment, I didn't like this guy because he had the girl I wanted. If only I hadn't been a stupid teenager, me and Gabriella may have still been together now and who knows where we might have been.

I told Chad about Logan being Gabriella's boyfriend and he just gave me a sad smile and told me "anything can happen" which is very true but I have no idea how much she likes this guy and how long they've been together. I have resigned myself to the fact that being her friend again would be the best possible outcome right how and I could deal with that.

Chad left not long after and we arranged to go to the movies later with Taylor, Sharpey, Kelsi, Zeke and Jason. He asked whether Gabriella would be willing to come but I said she was out with Logan. I don't think I could have handled seeing them together if we invited them both, even if I had brought all this on myself.

Tonight would be just like old times and I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, it was minus the one person I really wanted to come. At least it would take my mind off everything and I had missed hanging out with all my friends. I really needed to learn not to mope!

Gabriella POV

I woke up early Saturday morning in anticipation of seeing Logan. Although I had a nervous feeling in my stomach as well. All this Troy business had seriously messed with my emotions.

After eating breakfast and checking over my assignments for class to make sure I'd finished them, I quickly dressed in some black jeans, a light blue v-neck sweater and my black ballet flats before curling my hair and putting on a little bit of make-up. I grabbed my purse and cell phone and then made my way downtown so I could meet Logan on time. I hated keeping people waiting.

When I'd found somewhere to park my car, I made my way down to the coffee shop where we'd arranged to meet. Logan was already sat outside on one of the tables, nose buried in a book, his blonde hair was messy and falling into his eyes but he didn't seem to notice. He looked up when I got to where he was sat, squinting slightly because of the sun, a large grin gracing his face. He stood then and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I slipped my arms around his waist and squeezed. He was a lot taller than me and I always felt safe when I was with him. But that's just it. Do I just feel safe? Or do I feel safe and loved? When he pulled back from our hug, he leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips.

"Hey, sweetheart! God, I missed you! How have you been this week?" He asked, before he grabbed my hand and we started to walk down the street towards the park. I guess we weren't stopping for coffee.

I thought about how my week had gone and it had probably been one of the most stressful I'd had recently. I live a fairly quiet life. Apart from going to class and seeing my friends, rarely anything exciting happens to me. But then this week, my life has been drama central.

"Urmm, well, it's been fine I guess." I asked, sounding more like I was asking a question than stating my feelings. Logan gave me a quizzical look and I knew I'd end up explaining eventually so I thought it best to do it now and get it out of the way. "We went to a friends birthday party last weekend. We hadn't seen him for a good while with us all being at university and urmm, Troy was there."

"Troy? You mean that guy who broke up with you after high school?" Logan asked, remembering when I had explained all this to him early on in our relationship. I nodded.

"Yeah and well I guess it was pretty awkward. He tried to talk to me and I kinda blew up in his face I suppose. He came round to apologise on Thursday and he admitted he was wrong. But you know, it's still weird and yeah..." I trailed off. I didn't need to tell him all the details. I hadn't pegged Logan as a jealous guy so hopefully this wouldn't make him angry or whatever! "Just been a stressful week."

He put his arm around me then and pulled me into his side. "Well alright then. As long as you're okay. I'll talk to him if you need me to, although it isn't really any of my business but I don't want you getting upset."

That seemed like the end of the conversation. This is what I love about guys, they don't like getting into the emotional stuff so I was glad to move onto another topic. I asked him how New York had been and questioned how his family were. His face lit up when I mentioned his trip and I listened as he told me tales of everything he got up to; how he went shopping with his sister and their cousins and had bought me a gift, how he'd been to the top of the Empire State Building in New York City for the 6th time and how he went to watch the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway with his grandparents.

Somewhere in the middle I think I switched off and was lost to my thoughts.