AN: Hey everyone! Corri here. Sorry again for the late update. Finals are finally over for me. Woohoo! And hopefully things are lightening up for Rin and Stacey as well, so our updates shouldn't be so late. The reviews were awesome once again. Hope you like this one too!
All I Want
That night Gabriella decided not to call Patrick, figuring that if he wanted to talk to her, he would call her. But the call never came.
Instead Gabriella lay in bed, her mind replaying the almost kiss with Troy in the kitchen until she was convinced that she had imagined the kiss, after all, why would someone as amazing as Troy want to kiss someone as plain as herself?
Then she was plagued with guilt because she had wanted Troy to kiss her, and she was in a relationship with Patrick, she shouldn't be thinking about kissing anyone but him.
These thoughts taunted Gabriella until she drifted into a restless sleep just after 2:00 AM, only to be woken at 6:30 later that morning by her cell phone ringing.
Sleepily searching for the offending item Gabriella managed to locate it and answer the call, surprised to hear Patrick's voice on the other end.
"Hello?" Came Gabriella's sleepy greeting.
"Hello Gabriella," the sound of Patrick's voice woke Gabriella up quickly.
"Patrick?"
"Yes, it is me. I was just calling to tell you not to try and contact me today, because I will be really busy in the lab all day with research so I am leaving my phone in my dorm room as to not be interrupted," Gabriella resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his formal tone.
"Okay, I'm going ice skating with Chad and Troy today anyway," Gabriella answered. "I'll talk to you tomorrow?"
"Perhaps, Gabriella. I don't know how long this research will take. It is top priority after all, very vital to my future." Patrick answered, the name of another man that Gabriella would be spending time with not even registering in his mind.
"Oh, well I guess you should just ring me when you're finished with it all?" Gabriella said sadly, realizing she wasn't going to hear from Patrick at all until he had finished with whatever important research he was apparently having to do.
"I'll make sure I do, Gabriella. Good bye." With that a dial tone rung in Gabriella's ear, leaving her feeling dejected as she tossed her phone to the floor and rolled over her bed, feeling the tears form as she noted that Patrick hadn't been remotely boyfriendly to her at all during the conversation.
Finally when Gabriella had cried all she could, she fell into a light sleep, which is how Chad found her near 10:00 AM.
He had thought it was weird when he'd gotten up and his Mom said she hadn't seen Gabriella all morning. Chad went back upstairs and knocked on her bedroom door, but received no answer, so he gently opened her bedroom door and peeked inside.
The room was still in semi darkness and there was a small, Gabriella-sized bump in the bed which moved at the sound of the door creaking open.
"Chad?" Came Gabriella's sleep filled voice.
"Morning, Gabs, are you feeling okay?" Chad had never known Gabriella to sleep in, even slightly, and he was worried that she was sick.
"I'm fine, I just had a hard time sleeping last night, but I'm awake now," Gabriella lied, rubbing her swollen eyes.
"You look like you've been crying?" Chad noticed Gabriella's red rimmed eyes at he stepped closer to her bed.
"I'm just tired, Chad," Gabriella enforced. "What time are we meeting Troy and Taylor?"
Chad noticed the change of subject, but chose to just go with what Gabriella was saying, knowing that he didn't want to push her into confessing what she was upset about.
"They'll be here any minute, but we can cancel ice skating if you're not feeling well," Chad offered.
Gabriella thought about it for a fraction of a second, but as soon as Troy's image flashed in her mind, she knew that she had to see him today. He was the one thing that made her happy after she'd been talking to Patrick, and she was desperate to know if she had just imagined the almost kiss, or if Troy could seriously be interested in her.
"No, I love ice skating, I can't wait for it," Gabriella reminded Chad. "I'll just go and take a quick shower, I'll meet you downstairs?"
Chad nodded and watched as Gabriella left the room before he retrieved her phone from the floor, flicking through to her call log and seeing that Patrick had called her that morning, and he wondered if their conversation had something to do with Gabriella's crying the night before.
--
Troy frowned as he noticed the worried look on Chad's face as he entered the kitchen.
"Everything okay, man?" Troy asked as Chad sat down on the chair next to him.
"Uh yeah, but something's wrong with Gab," Chad said slowly. "She looked like she'd been crying, and I looked at her cell phone and she talked to Patrick this morning."
The first thing Troy could think of was that Gabriella had broken up with Patrick, but he instantly changed his mind, knowing that Gabriella loved Patrick and wouldn't be breaking up with him.
"Maybe she just had a bad dream or something," Troy concluded. "Where is she anyhow?"
"Just taking a shower before we go," Chad replied, the doorbell interrupting him. "That's Taylor I'm just going to go and answer that, can you go and let Gabriella know that we're just waiting for her?"
Troy nodded, heading upstairs towards the bathroom. Not hearing the shower running ,he assumed Gabriella hadn't even started showering yet and he chuckled to himself at how long girls took to get ready.
Rapping on the door Troy was surprised when it opened before he had a chance to speak, revealing to him Gabriella who was dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans and a long dark blue woolen sweater, her curls hung over her shoulders and were obviously wet from the shower.
"Oh hey," he stammered, not having expected to see her.
"Hey," Gabriella replied nervously, dropping her eyes to the ground.
"Chad said to tell you that we're ready to leave when you are," Troy remembered why he was up here in the first place as his eyes took the chance to roam over Gabriella's pink tingled face, settling on her plump lips.
"I just have to get my shoes on and tie back my hair," Gabriella said softly, going to side step Troy just as he moved in the same direction to get out of her way, causing them to end up face to face and extremely close to one another.
"You should leave your hair down, it looks beautiful," he said gently as she tilted her face up towards his.
Troy reached a hand up to caress her cheek gently getting lost in her eyes for a few moments as she stared back at him. Not wanting to make her feel more uncomfortable as he knew she'd been crying, Troy stepped aside and let her pass, watching her walk to her bedroom, before he headed downstairs, inwardly scolding himself for the comment and gesture as he didn't want to give her the wrong idea.
He was drawn from his thoughts when he accidentally walked into Chad at the bottom of the stairs.
"Whoa, careful Hoops. Is Gabriella almost ready?" Chad asked, slapping Troy playfully on his shoulder.
"Uh, yeah. She's just um… doing her hair and getting her shoes," Troy managed to remember, trying to block the thought of how close he had been standing to her and how soft her skin felt under his fingers.
"Sweet, we'll just go and tell my Mom that we'll be leaving in a few then, meet you and Gabs in the car, okay?" Chad said, too busy looking at Taylor to notice that Troy was very distracted.
"Okay," Troy echoed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
How was he going to get through another day with Gabriella but not being able to touch her? He wasn't sure if he could do it anymore.
--
Troy watched as Gabriella gracefully skated around the indoor rink, she looked so at ease and perfect that he hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from her for the ten minutes they had been at the rink and Gabriella had quickly put on her skates and got onto the ice.
Meanwhile Troy had sat down on a bench on the side of the rink, taking his time to put on his skates while he watched Gabriella gliding around. He was pleased she had worn her hair down, obviously having listened to his comment about liking it down.
"Dude, you ready to get out there?" Chad asked, pointing towards the ice, his arm firmly around Taylor's waist and Troy wished he could do the same with Gabriella.
"I'll be a minute, just gotta… re-tie my skates," Troy lied, knowing that he'd make a fool of himself the second he stepped out onto the ice.
"See you out there then," Chad said with a laugh, knowing that Troy was horrible at ice skating.
"Yeah," Troy replied weakly, resting his face in his hands as he tried to build up the courage to get out on the ice.
"Troy!" A familiar voice snapped Troy out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Gabriella standing at the edge of the ice, smiling her soft smile at him.
"Hey, looking good out there," Troy complimented, feeling less nervous just by Gabriella's presence.
"Thanks, I'd say the same about you, but you haven't been out there yet," Gabriella teased.
"I told you I spend more time on my ass than on my feet when I ice skate," Troy reminded her.
"Come with me," she gestured, waiting for Troy to unsteadily stand and make his way to her.
Gabriella took Troy's hands in her own when he was close enough and helped him onto the ice, giggling when he started to wobble.
"Just don't think about it, it's easy," Gabriella instructed, skating backwards slowly, pulling Troy along with her.
"Easy for you maybe," Troy muttered, loving the feel of Gabriella's hands in his own, their fingers having instinctively laced.
"Look, you haven't fallen down yet," Gabriella commented, letting go of one of Troy's hands as she sped up.
"Yet," Troy said with a short laugh, feeling his fingers slip from Gabriella's as he fell backwards, hitting the ice with a sharp crack.
"Are you okay?" Gabriella was kneeling in front of him within seconds, her dark eyes filled with worry.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Troy said, letting Gabriella take his hands once more and help him back to his feet.
"Nothing hurts?" Gabriella probed, her hand running up one of his arms as if checking for any injuries.
"Just my pride," Troy replied, feeling sparks at Gabriella's touch.
"Aw, poor baby," Gabriella teased with another soft giggle. "Hold onto my hand tighter this time."
Troy obliged, letting Gabriella lead him again as he did his best to concentrate on staying upright, letting her lead him around the rink, picking up speed as he gained confidence.
A half hour later and Troy was skating unassisted, following Gabriella around the rink, doing his best to keep up with her speed, but amazed at how effortlessly she was able to skate around, showing off slightly with her tricks and movements.
Taylor and Chad soon skated over to the pair, Chad instantly teasing Troy about how Gabriella's skill had rubbed off on him.
"I swear you've spent more time standing on the ice today than you have the rest of your life when you've been here," Chad teased and Troy scowled at him, the scowl turning into a smile as Gabriella laughed, nudging Troy with her hip.
"You know it's probably true, Troy," Gabriella giggled and Troy rolled his eyes at her.
"Probably, but I had an amazing teacher today," he complimented, loving how her cheeks turned red.
"Okayyyy," Chad interrupted, not wanting the flirting to continue. "Let's go get lunch!"
"You're always thinking of your stomach," grumbled Troy, but he reluctantly followed Taylor, Chad and Gabriella across the rink.
Just before they were at the edge Troy lost his footing and fell on his backside again, much to the amusement of Chad, and the worry of Gabriella.
"Still okay?" She asked as she held out her hands and Troy started to pull himself up, losing his footing again and falling back to the ice, this time bringing Gabriella down with him.
The pair erupted into laughter as Chad and Taylor watched them being so ease at each other.
"Come on you, get off me, the ice is going through my jeans," Troy teased, watching Gabriella scramble off him, waiting for him to get up before she took his hand in hers again.
"Don't want you falling again," she explained, even though they were almost off the ice, but Troy didn't complain, loving the way their hands fit together perfectly.
The two of them made their way over to a bench where Chad and Taylor were sitting, replacing the skates on their feet with their shoes. Troy stood up as Taylor and Chad made their way towards the car, their hands intertwined. Grinning at Gabriella, Troy extended his hand and helped her up, keeping her hand encased in his as they went out towards the car.
As they exited the building, Gabriella let their fingers lace and leaned a little closer to Troy. Gabriella knew that she shouldn't be encouraging Troy, but she couldn't help but love the way he made her feel, the butterflies in her stomach confirming that she was indeed falling for him, Patrick or no Patrick.
