Chapter 14
"Where are we going now?" Katrina asked, as she walked out of the ice cream parlor with Troy and Chad on either side of her.
"I have to head home." Chad said. "Taylor called while we were in line and told me to do my laundry."
"Taylor told you to do your laundry?" Troy said.
"Yeah. She hates it when she goes over and has to see my clothes all over the place.
"She has you whipped."
"She does not."
"Daddy, what does whipped mean?" Katrina asked as she licked her ice cream cone.
"Umm, it means that Aunty Taylor bosses Uncle Chad around, and Uncle Chad doesn't mind."
"Oh." Katrina continued to eat her ice cream, not totally understanding what it meant.
"I'll see you later, though. How about we shoot some hoops after you take Katrina home."
"That sounds good, man. I'll see you later." Troy and Chad gave each other a manly handshake before parting ways.
"Bye Uncle Chad!" Katrina waved.
"See ya, sweetie!" Chad waved as he walked away.
"Where do we go now?" Troy asked as he picked Katrina up and set her on a nearby bench.
"Toys!" Katrina exclaimed.
"Toys?" Troy said looking at her.
"Please?" Katrina begged, sticking out her lower lip.
"Okay, only for a little bit though."
"Yay!" Katrina hopped off the bench and headed to the toy store.
"Halt!" Troy called after her. Katrina came to a stop, and turned around to look at Troy with a confused look on her face. "You can't take your ice cream in there." he motioned to the melted ice cream that was now all over Katrina's hands and face.
"Why?" Katrina said as she walked back.
"And you can't go into the store looking like that." Troy sighed. "Come here."
"I'm all sticky." Katrina giggled.
"You most definitely are. What am I going to do with you?"
"Come on. Let's go back to the car and see what your mom has in that handy dandy travel bag of hers. She's bound to have something that I can clean you off with."
"Okay. Daddy what do I do with my cone? It's all melted to eat."
"Put it in the trash can."
"Mommy says not to waste food."
"Am I going to eat it?"
"No."
"Are you going to eat it?"
"Uh uh."
"Throw it out."
"Okay." Katrina shrugged. She threw her melted cone into a nearby garbage can, grabbed onto Troy's hand, and they walked to the exit together.
Troy and Katrina ended up staying in the toy store for 45 minutes until Katrina finally decided on one of those doctor Barbie dolls.
"Are you hungry, princess?" Troy asked Katrina as they exited the mall. Katrina giggled. "What's so funny?"
"You called me princess." Katrina said, continuing to giggle.
"Well you are, aren't you?" Troy picked up Katrina and tickled her making her giggle more. "Are you?"
"I…am…a princess!" Katrina said through the giggles.
"Of course you are." Troy kissed her forehead and continued carrying her to the car with hand, while the other was holding the bag from the store.
"Where now?" Katrina asked as Troy strapped her in the back seat.
"Are you hungry?"
"Yup."
"Okay, let's go to my apartment and eat something and maybe after I'll even take you to the park."
"Really?" Katrina asked with a bright look in her eyes.
"Sure, what else are we gonna do while we wait for your crazy mommy?" Katrina just giggled. Troy got into the driver's side, started the car, and made his way to his apartment.
Upon arriving, Troy ended up making macaroni and cheese for Katrina for lunch. After lunch, Troy walked with Katrina to a nearby park. While pushing her on the swings, his cell phone rang. Letting go of the swing for a second, he got out his phone and answered.
"Hello?...oh hey Shawn, what's up?..."
"Higher Daddy!" Katrina exclaimed.
Troy pushed the swing with one hand and held the phone in the other.
"Nah, I'm at the park with my daughter…yeah, I have daughter…why'd you call...are you kidding…are you sure you need it for today…okay, I'll be down there with it as soon as I can…alright talk to you later." Troy put his phone back in his pocket and forced the swing to slow down.
"Why you did that for?" Katrina pouted as the swing was at a complete stop.
"Sorry, kiddo, but we gotta go home and go to Daddy's work for a bit."
"Why?" Katrina whined.
"Daddy has to fix a mistake."
"Is it gonna take long?"
"I'm not sure, kiddo. Come on, hold onto my hand and let's go."
Katrina dragged her feet and grumbled as they walked back to Troy's apartment.
At 4 o'clock, the three young women sat side by side in the nail salon getting pedicures and chatting about different things.
"Hey Shar, have you talked to Troy since he came to get Katrina?" Gabriella asked.
"No, actually. I'm gonna give him a call." Sharpay said, bending over to reach her purse and getting out her phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Bolton."
"Oh it's you."
"Wow, I can feel the love." Sharpay said sarcastically.
"Sorry, Shar. It's just that I was waiting for a call from someone."
"From who?"
"The person in charge of the boys volleyball tournament."
"Why?"
"Well nosy, they didn't tell us that the list of names for the tournament had to be in by Friday, and look at that it's Saturday, and here I am waiting for them to call so I can ask them a couple of things."
"Poor you. How's my baby? I haven't heard anything from you since you kidnapped her."
"She's good. She's upset that we had to the leave the park early, but she's good."
"And how's her hair?"
"It's great, Shar."
"Does she like it?"
"Does ten minutes of crying say anything?"
"Oh ten minutes, boo hoo, Bolton. Last time it was an entire hour. Consider yourself lucky."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. How's your day with the girls?"
"Would it sound bad if I say that I should give my daughter away forever?"
"Obviously."
"I forgot what it was like to have free time and not have to worry about another person but me."
"I'm glad you're having a good time…hey Shar, it's my other line."
"What time are you dropping her off?"
"After I head to the school. I'll call you."
"Okay. Take care of her."
"I will, bye."
"Aww, look at Sharpay, all smiley." Taylor teased.
"I'm not smiley." Sharpay said.
"Yeah you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Oh come on, Shar!" Gabriella said. "You so like him."
"Of course I like him, we're sorta friends, you know."
"But you want to be more than friends."
"No, I don't. This conversation is over, now I'm going to enjoy the last few hours I have a single person sans children."
Taylor and Gabriella exchanged looks, and rolled their eyes.
"I don't want to go to your work." Katrina grumbled as Troy strapped her in the car seat.
"It'll only be for a little while." Troy reassured.
"No!"
"Come on, sweetie, be good."
"No!"
It was 6 o'clock. It had taken Troy awhile to sort out all the paperwork for the tournament. He had left Disney on for Katrina to watch while he got his work done. He finally finished and was on his way to drop it off at the school. What he didn't know was that Katrina got crabby when she didn't have a nap and it was so close to dinner.
"It won't take long, I promise." Troy said as he put his seat belt on and drove out of the parking lot.
On the ride to the middle school, Katrina continuously kicked the back of Troy's seat. He was slowly losing his patience, but he didn't want to get upset with her. By the time they got into the parking lot of the school, Katrina had gotten tired of kicking the back of his seat and was crying.
"Don't cry, kiddo. We'll be out of here in no time." Troy said as he unbuckled her. Katrina said something incomprehensible. "What do you want, sweetie? Do you want a cookie?"
"No!"
"What about some juice?"
"No!" she screeched.
"Tell me what you want sweetie. I can't help you if you don't tell me." Katrina just continued to bawl. "Oh boy." Troy ran his hand through his hair, thinking of what to do. Then he remembered the bag Sharpay had given him. He went to the front seat and took out a white and green pacifier out of the bag. "Here you go."
Katrina grabbed the pacifier and put it in her mouth.
"Are you good now?" she just continued sucking away on her pacifier while sniffling and wiping her face. "Okay, come on." Troy lifted her out of the seat, shut the back door, and locked it. Katrina made her head comfortable on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Troy walked quickly toward the school doors with Katrina in one hand and his briefcase in the other. He unlocked the front door of the school using the key that all staff had and hurried quickly to the Phys. Ed office.
"Bolton!" a voice echoed through the hall of the Phys. Ed hallway.
Troy saw a man dressed in a pair of jeans and a nice shirt.
"Tom Marshall." Troy acknowledged.
"I expected this days ago, Bolton."
"Blame Vic for not telling me." Troy said. "Katrina, I have to put you down for a sec, honey." He said, resting Katrina flat on her feet.
"Who's this?" Tom asked.
Katrina hid behind Troy as he gathered up the documents from his briefcase.
"That's Katrina, my daughter."
"I didn't know you had a kid. I know Luis does, but not you."
"Well now you know. Here you go."
"Thanks man. You're lucky I like you or else you would've never have been able to get it in this late."
"Yeah, yeah. We'll talk, Marshall. I gotta get her home."
"Look you at you being the family man. What happened to being a bachelor for life?"
"Things change. Later, man." Troy turned to Katrina and picked her up. "Come on, Kat."
"Bolton, you stole my kid." Sharpay said as she let Troy in while holding a sleeping Katrina.
"Sorry." Troy mumbled.
"I see the pass was needed." Sharpay said, pointing to the object in Katrina's mouth.
"She wouldn't stop crying. I had to give it to her." Troy said apologetically.
"That's okay. I know how it feels. Her hair looks nice."
"Yeah. Should I put her in her room?"
"Uh yeah. I'll go get her car seat."
Sharpay began to walk out the door. "Shar?"
"What?" Sharpay turned.
"You might wanna get the keys first, unless of course you have super powers and you can unlock the door with your mind.
"Oh you're so funny, Bolton." Sharpay said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Stop talking and give me the keys."
"It's in my left pocket…no my other left." Troy instructed. "Genius." He mumbled.
"Be quiet and go put my kid in her bed."
Troy shook his head and went towards the closed door as Sharpay left the apartment. As he rested Katrina gently on her bed, she stirred.
"Daddy?" her eyes flickered open. She took the pacifier out of her mouth and handed it to Troy.
"Hey, you. You're home now."
"Where's Momma?"
"She went to get your car seat."
"Is she coming back?"
"Yeah, she'll just be a minute. Go back to sleep." Troy tucked Katrina in and brushed a strand of hair from her face as her eyes slowly closed. He bent down and kissed her forehead, then quietly left the room, shutting the door behind him.
"I see she left footprints on the back of your Italian leather." Sharpay joked as she came back into the room.
"It's not Italian leather. Lord knows I can't afford that." Troy said as he followed Sharpay to the kitchen. "I've come to the decision that next time we go anywhere I'm going to put the car seat on the other side so that way she can't kick my seat."
"You're such a baby. Coffee?" Sharpay asked, holding up a coffee pot.
"Nah, I have to head home. Chad and I are going to play some basketball."
"Alright…then…I guess I'll see you." Sharpay said awkwardly.
"Yeah…on Monday…at school…where we both work."
"Yeah."
"Yeah…well…bye." Troy said, giving an awkward wave. He turned to leave the apartment.
"Hey Troy?"
Troy turned around. "Yeah?"
"Thanks for taking Katrina out today." Sharpay said with a smile.
"Anytime." Troy said returning the smile. "She's my daughter after all." Sharpay's smile grew as she nodded slowly. "See you."
Author's Note: I'm really sorry for not updating sooner. I've been busy with school and Christmas and studying for things. I don't know when I'll update again since I have exams coming up soon, and school starting tomorrow.
Happy Holidays