The Guardian
Do not waste this evening
Baby, I'm begging you
Your big imagination's playing its tricks on you
If you think my up and leaving's something I'm gonna do
Feel my chest when I look at you
Baby, you,
You got my only heart
('Only Heart' / John Mayer)
Gabriella looked away from the screen, the movie she and Troy were watching suddenly losing her interest.
"Hey Troy?" she asked looking up at him from her secure spot under his arm. His eyes shifted down and met hers, and she could see the question in them.
"Yeah?"
Gabriella paused a moment before she spoke again. She knew she was being naïve, but every girl had their insecure moments right? Especially when they were dating an extremely gorgeous, future NBA star. She figured that alone gave her enough right to have her insecure moments.
"Why me?" she asked innocently, lowering her head so that her hair fell down and covered her already embarrassed eyes.
Troy took his free hand and moved the hair out of her eyes and raised her chin so that she was looking at him again. He didn't say anything, but continued to look down into her eyes.
They stayed that way for several minutes, staring into each other's eyes, before Gabriella couldn't take it any longer.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" By this point she was getting angry. She had bared her insecurities to him and he was just going to stare at her?
"You're serious?" Troy asked in disbelief.
"Yes, I'm serious." Gabriella huffed, and began to move herself out from under his grasp. Troy, however, secured his arm around her making it impossible for her to move.
"What are you talking about Brie?"
Gabriella fought hard against the sweetness in his voice, and tried to stay angry. "Look at you Troy! I mean seriously, you're probably the most attractive man I've ever met and to top it off you're amazing. You're kind, and funny, and sweet. My God! In a little over four months you're going to be gone. You're going to go and be this household name, and you could probably have any girl you want. So why are you here with me?"
She had tried to keep it together, but her voice cracked on the last two words and a tear fell freely down her cheek. Troy's heart broke at the sight in front of him, and quickly caressed her cheek and wiped away the tear with the pad of his thumb.
"You want to know why?"
Gabriella nodded her head slightly from its place in the palm of his hand.
"You've got to know it's always been you Gabriella. Always." He said so simply and sincerely that Gabriella questioned herself why she ever had doubts in the first place.
She could tell he was searching for more words to say, and before he could she leaned up and placed a quick kiss on his lips.
Troy's hands slid down her neck and back and secured themselves on her lower back, and pulled her closer to him. Again, their lips met, each kiss gaining fervor and passion.
Gabriella leaned up a few moments later, taking the chance to allow some air into her lungs.
"Thank you Troy." She said, her chest still heaving.
"For what?"
"For dealing with my girl moment." She said with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
Troy pulled them into a sitting position, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I love you Brie. Don't ever forget that. I don't care what's coming at us in the future, you will always be the only person who can make my heart stop. The only one I can see my life with."
Gabriella's stomach filled with butterflies at the miniature speech, and smiled at the man in front of her. She still couldn't figure out why it took her so long to realize this was where she was meant to be.
"Besides, I'm sure it's hard to remember when you're around someone as amazing as me." Troy said sarcastically.
Gabriella laughed and playfully hit Troy on the arm.
And with that, the moment was gone, and they nestled back in to the couch – happy with the simplicity of the situation and the comfort of the other and finished their movie.
"So Troy is making you dinner?" Sharpay's astonished voice echoed through the receiver.
Gabriella pushed the cart through the aisle in search of the next thing on the list Troy had given her.
"That's what he said, Shar. Think I should be afraid?"
"I'd run for your life if I were you." Sharpay responded with a laugh. "In all the years I've known him I've never known Troy to cook. Hell, he almost burn down East High in Home Ec."
Gabriella laughed at that, and reached over to grab chile powder off of the shelf and placed it in her car.
"Oh, shoot Gabs. Aiden's running around in my Jimmy Choo's . I've gotta go. Love you!"
The received clicked over leaving Gabriella to chuckle at the scene in her mind. She looked down at her list, and continued to push her cart down and around a corner, bumping into someone as she did so.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, putting the list down and looking up at who she ran into.
"Oh, don't worry about it." The man said as he turned around, and a pit formed in Gabriella as she recognized the man in front of her. "Gabriella! What a surprise!"
"Hey Adam." She said trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible.
"How are you?" Adam asked, his expression turning genuinely friendly.
"I'm well, thanks. How about you?" The answer to her was obvious – even on the outside Adam looked a little ragged.
He gave her a small smile. "I'm doing better. It's been hard you know?"
Gabriella nodded and gave him a sympathetic smile. "How's your arm?"
Adam's smile faltered at the mention of that night. "Much better. Still bruised of course, but no serious harm done."
"That's good, I'm glad to hear." Gabriella said, trying her hardest to keep the conversation light and simple. The less she had to talk, the better.
"Look, I want to thank you for that night Gabriella." Adam said. "I'm sorry for getting so angry, and for imposing on you like that."
"It's okay." Gabriella said looking away and over at the bananas down the aisle.
"Seriously, thank you. You have no idea how much it means to me." Adam continued on.
"I didn't do much."
"Yes, you did. You helped me so much." He paused a moment. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but you look great."
Gabriella's eyes flashed back to him. She was surprised that his voice sounded friendly, like she was receiving a compliment from Sharpay or Taylor rather than the awkwardness coming from someone she used to date.
"Thank you."
Adam smiled. "I feel like I owe you for what you did. Not everyone would have been as generous as you were that night."
"You don't owe me anything, Adam. You were in a bad place, and I listened."
"Yeah," He persisted, "but I feel like I need to show you my appreciation. Maybe we could go out to dinner. Grab a burger perhaps?"
Grab a burger? When had grabbing a burger ever been Adam's style?
"Just dinner Gabs, as friends. Nothing else."
Gabriella gave him a tight smile and shook her head. "I don't think I can do that Adam. Sorry."
"Okay, well I had to try. No hard feelings okay?"
Gabriella nodded her head.
"I gotta go then. Meeting someone for dinner, I'll see you around?"
Again, Gabriella's head bobbed in response.
"Bye."
"Goodbye Adam."
After finding the odd collection of ingredients, Gabriella made her way back to Troy's apartment where he was already elbows deep in preparation.
"I'm not going to lie." She teased. "I'm a little scared."
He flashed her a toothy grin, and handed her the bananas, cream cheese, whipped cream, and a few other items.
She placed her hand on her hip and looked as him as if he were crazy.
"You, my love," He said leaning down and kissing her briefly on the lips. "Are making dessert, and I'm going to tell you how."
An hour later, Gabriella was sitting at Troy's small dining table looking down at a strange looking concoction. The only thing she could tell was that it was some sort of soup.
"Well?" Troy looked at her with puppy eyes. "Are you going to at least try it for me?"
Gabriella looked at him, and back down at the colorful mixture in front of her. She picked up her spoon, and filled it with the liquid.
She raised the spoon to her mouth and closed her eyes as she placed it in her mouth. What happened next surprised her
"Troy! This is amazing!"
Troy smiled. "See, I told you. It's Troy Bolton's famous Chicken Tortilla Soup!"
Gabriella couldn't help but smile at the man in front of her. Sitting across from her, Troy looked more excited than a little kid on Christmas.
"I will never doubt you again." She said laughing.
Gabriella wiped down the tables the next afternoon in a bit of a haze. The last few days had been nothing short of amazing, and she couldn't have ever imagined feeling this happy.
The phone rang across the café, and thankfully she heard Ally answer the phone.
"Well hello there sugar!"
Gabriella groaned. It wasn't unusual for Ally's dates to show up or call in to the café.
"Oh, I had a wonderful time too last night. I don't think I've ever been to such a nice place before."Gabriella scoffed in surprise. That definitely was different for Ally.
"Thanks, Adam. I'll see you later okay? Give me a call, sweetie, and we'll do it all again. Uh, huh. Bye bye."
Gabriella looked up at Ally. Adam?
She looked around the café, and after seeing it was clear called out to the girl. "Who was that Ally?"
The red head looked up and gave Gabriella a pitiful look. "As if you weren't listening in. You know very well who that was."
Gabriella straightened up. "Ally, who was on the phone?"
The red head picked up a few strands of her and observed them as if she were searching for split ends. "It was Adam. That's right, the same Adam you were dating not too long ago. Seems like he finally found a real girl to take him out."
"Ally, I think you should be careful with him." Gabriella tried to warn. She knew Ally's relationship tactics, and wanted the best for both her and Adam.
It was Ally's turn to scoff. "Ha! You're just freaking out because you thought you still had him wrapped around your finger. Pretty crappy thing you did to him, too, Gabriella. Cheating on him with Troy? He did everything for you, took you to nice places. Playing with his feelings while Troy was away. Playing two guys, are we now? What a low thing to do."
Ally left her hair alone, and strutted back to the kitchen leaving an astonished Gabriella behind her.
What exactly had Adam told her?
okay. so i'm afraid the last chapter was really really bad. i didn't get any reviews for it, and i don't know if i should just delete it or rewrite it, or what.
so let me know what you think of this one, and if you still think this story's worth writing.
thanks!
