I can't believe it's over... I would have had this out sooner if life hadn't really gotten in the way. I'm trying out for drum major, which is requiring before and after school practices. So, I'm busy. Anyway, I want to thank all of you for staying along with this story. 202 Alert lists and 130 favorites... That's amazing!

Epilogue: Eighteen Months Later

"Hurry up, Troy! We're going to be late!"

Chad's voice drifted through the small apartment, to his best friend's oblivious ears. Troy looked up from his packing to shake his head in his friend's general direction. This was not his favorite way to begin the day.

"I'm on my way!" He called back, stuffing things into his suitcase a little faster.

He was now mentally kicking himself for not packing last night – against Gabriella's advice, of course. He laughed at the face she'd made when she realized that he hadn't even thought of packing for the game until the morning that they left. His eyes shifted from the clothes carelessly slung in his suitcase to the photo of the two of them on his dresser.

He glanced at the clock. Red block letters read 8:42 AM, casting a red glow over his bedspread. He didn't have time to ogle at the picture on his nightstand at the moment.

He rushed to his closet and grabbed another pair of jeans, just in case – one of many habits he had picked up from his analytical girlfriend of more than a year.

Though, they lived further apart now – living in the dorms were somewhat embarrassing for upperclassmen, and they had all moved out to apartments within a year – they still shared that one special science class. Everything was generally the same – Gabriella still excelled in everything she put her mind to, he still played basketball, and their instant messaging screen names were still an important part of their lives.

"Almost ready?" Chad appeared in Troy's bedroom doorway, his own duffle bag already slung over his shoulder and suitcase in hand. He seemed rather impatient to get Troy ready.

"Will you quit rushing me?" Troy snapped, pulling a few more shirts and stuffing them into his back. "At least I packed my game stuff in the car last night."

"You wouldn't be rushing if you'd listened to Gabriella."

"Whose side are you on?" Troy shook his head and started to zip up his suitcase. He did it slowly, just to get on his friend's nerves.

"The one that will get us to the campus on time so Coach won't make us drive to UCLA!" Chad replied, eyeing the digital clock across the room and turning to walk out. "I'll be in the car."

Troy nodded and looked back up on his dresser. Away games always made his a little antsy – he never liked to be outside of his home turf, in a different town, away from all familiarity. Well, that's the excuse he used.

Looking back at the picture of his and Gabriella's beach trip the previous spring break, he smiled. Being away from her was what really made him anxious, but the feeling had subsided considerably after the many away games last year. Nobody could honestly believe that they had kept together after the initial shock of finding out that the two biggest high school enemies were dating. Thankfully, college had a slight maturity level increase, and there were only a few gawking stares.

Everyone thought once the new relationship high wore off, everything would go back to normal. It nearly did a few months into it. Most relationships will go through a nasty bout (and being so stubborn, their anger was considerably higher), but they survived, and he was happy. Once the new relationship high wore off, things turned into this closeness... It was like having that best friend that you never have to get jealous over.

Troy heard the car horn honk outside, which made him jump, and he quickly zipped up his suitcase. As he was running out the door, he paused for a second that he knew Chad had surely counted.

He ran back into his room, grabbed the picture with a smug grin, shoved it in one of the side pockets in his suitcase, and finally went to meet Chad in his truck.

--

Arriving at an astounding five minutes early at 8:55 AM, Troy pulled into the parking lot and sent a reproachful look towards Chad. This extra five minutes was five minutes of sleep that he lost.

"You drive like a maniac," was the only thing that Chad could come up with as he hopped out of the car.

Troy did the same, doing one last check through his duffle bag to make sure all of his gear was still in there – sweats, jersey, extra jersey, extra sweats, shoes…

He was still checking it as he went up to the bus to stack his bag in one of the piles the team had made in the compartments under the bus. A few people called to him from various places in the parking lot, and he nodded politely, continuing to do his check-over.

"I've taught you well," a singsong voice appeared from out of nowhere behind him and caused Troy to jump. When he turned around, his grin stretched ear-to-ear as he captured the petite girl in his arms.

"Don't do that, Gabriella," he said into her ear with a chuckle while he squeezed her to his chest. "It scares me."

"I was just commenting upon how well organized you are for such a trip," Gabriella winked at him once she was set back down on the ground. "I, myself, am willing to take the credit for that one. It wasn't an easy feat, I'll assure you."

"Yeah, yeah," Troy rolled his eyes and placed his fully checked bag under the bus. "So, I thought we did our goodbyes last night at dinner."

"I wanted to see you off," Gabriella responded with an innocent smile. "It's what we did last year at the away games."

"But you have work," Troy pressed, smugly gleeful that she would skip work for such an occasion.

"Kelsi is going to let me come in late today," she reasoned. "She is a little lenient on letting me give one of her best customers a sincere farewell."

The statement was true, and he couldn't help but laugh. Whenever he had the time, he would head up to the coffee lounge and order his cappuccino. It turns out he had a lot of free time during the hours that Gabriella worked.

"C'mon Troy!" One of his teammates shouted, climbing into the bus and motioning for Troy to follow.

"I guess I'll see you later," Gabriella grinned and pecked him on the lips, smiling as she pulled away.

"Have fun at work," Troy leaned in again and kissed her for a second longer, just to capture the moment. "For good luck," he reasoned.

She laughed, twirling the necklace around her finger that he'd given her for her last birthday. "These three days are going to be borning without you. I have to say, I will miss you this time," she winked.

Troy thought for a second, trying to think of something deeper than an 'I'll miss you, too.' Then, he finally shrugged and cracked her favorite grin.

"Hey, I'm always just a click away," he thought aloud and then let go to follow his basketball team filing into the bus.

With that, Gabriella smiled once more and watched him lope off with athlete's strides in the other direction. As much of a hopeless romantic he was, she couldn't help but feel that floating on clouds feeling after he gave her such a thoughtful goodbye, even though she was sure he came up with such comments off the top of his head.

But his words were true – any time he could sneak a moment alone with his laptop, he'd log on and talk to her. She'd also be glued to the TV all evening to watch the game as it progressed; something she would've have been caught dead doing two years ago. She couldn't afford to follow him to all of the games, but she and Taylor planned to go down with them for their last away game while Troy and Chad were part of the U of A Redhawk basketball team. Being seniors in college hadn't been the bash that had taken place in high school, but a dive into the real world was once again around the corner.

As Gabriella got in her car to drive off to work, Troy's words kept ringing in her head. She didn't know what the future held, but sometimes, you just don't think about that. With a balancing act between opposite careers looming in their future, Gabriella had learned from Troy to just live in the present. You can't always stay ahead of anything – you'll lose sight of the beauty of what's happening now if you do. He might be hundreds of miles away for days at a time, but she knew that she'd survive.

After all, he was always just a click away.

The End.

Wow... what is there to say now? I appreciate all of you that followed this story - I can't believe that this many people actually wanted to read this. I hope I did the characters development okay. There were points when I wondered if things were rushing or if they were going at about the right pace. Also, I don't know when my next story will be out. Most likely in a few weeks As I said, life is crazy. Typical end-of-year madness.

Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed this story. Thanks for reading!