Troy enters the kitchen and sets down a stack of four dirty plates. He looks up at the clock to see that it was 8:15. His shift was over in fifteen minutes. It was Monday, and the kitchen was starting to empty out since everyone would go home early when it was slow. Since it was Monday, the dinning room was extremely slow. He had, as he knew he would, gotten home safely on Saturday night, but then immediately went to bed. He woke up yesterday feeling a little better, with most of his headache gone, and basically played basketball the whole day. He sits up on the counter and watches as Chad walks in.
"Everyone's gone now." Chad exclaims and looks over at Zeke. "You staying?"
Zeke nods his head. "I'm the only cook."
Troy looks at them both confused. "Bradin's pissed that he's leaving. He probably would only stay to make sure nothing happens, but Fulton is sending him home." Chad explains and Troy continues to have a confused look on his face. What did they mean "stay"? Their shifts were over, so why would they want to stay? And what would Bradin want to watch?
"Um… Why are you staying?" Troy asks and Chad glances at him.
"That prick that Gabs is going on a date with rented out the dinning room. He needs a couple people to stay." Chad explains. "So I'll see you tomorrow?" He says assuming that Troy would leave, but Troy feels a smirk curl on his lips instead.
"I'm waiting." He says and hops off the table.
"I got it covered Troy." Chad says and Troy shakes his head.
"I don't care. I'm helping." He says.
"We're not getting paid extra." Chad explains and Troy shrugs.
"I don't care. I wanna see this." He says with a smirk on his lips. He remembered Gabriella talking about going on a date with the idiot, and now he wanted to see it. Why? He had no idea. But he wanted to see it so badly. This night might actually end up hilarious.
"Whatever you say." Chad says and grabs two clean plates, silver wear, and two glasses. "Just behave yourself." He says while looking at Troy, who looked like a little kid about to open presents on Christmas. This would be fun.
Gabriella looks into the mirror in the locker room and turns around. It was Monday night and Chase had come up to her earlier to tell her that they would be meeting at 8:30. Even though the diner hour was over, Chase had rented out the entire dinning room, and a few employees had offered to stay and serve or cook. She turns around in the mirror again and sighs. Her long almost black hair was completely down and she was wearing a white beater with a light purple shirt that draped off of her shoulders and a dark jean skirt. She looks over at the two girls sitting on the locker benches and raises her eyebrows. "So what do you think?"
Sharpay shakes her head. "I think you look a lot better than going out on a date because you felt sorry for the stuck up bastard." She states and Gabriella rolls her eyes. Sharpay made it well aware that she wasn't a Chase fan. And maybe half the reason was because it was someone other than Bradin.
Taylor gives her a small smile. "You look great." She says and stands up. Her best friend places two hands on her shoulder. "And just remember, it's one date." Gabriella gives her a small smile and nods. She knew it was only one date, but she didn't want to go. Why did she have to be so nice?
"And if it gets too awful." Sharpay adds. "Just imagine you're talking to Bradin."
Gabriella rolls her eyes. "That will make it even worse." She says as the blonde pouts and shakes her head.
"You know you two are perfect for each other." Sharpay explains. "You're THE most popular girl at West High, and he's THE most popular guy there. He's a basketball captain, extremely hot, and you know you want him." She says and Gabriella suddenly looks at her. When she listed all of those things, she thought of another basketball captain first. But she quickly shakes her head at that thought. It was just because they had known each other so many years that Gabriella thought of Troy first. It was only natural.
Troy hadn't spoken to her once since he left on Saturday night. She hadn't expected him to, and it had only been one day since then. She was angry. All she had tried to do was help and he shoved it back in her face. Why did he have to be such an asshole? "Whatever Sharpay." She responds and looks back into the mirror to examine her self one more time. Once satisfied, she turns back to her two best friends and sighs. "What time is it?"
Sharpay flips open her pink sparkly phone and looks at the clock. "8:27. You might want to get going." She says and Gabriella nods.
"Try to have fun… alright?" Taylor exclaims as she pulls Gabriella into a quick hug. Sharpay hugs her after and then Gabriella takes a deep breath, and walks out the door. She looks to see that Zeke and a girl dishwasher were the only ones in the kitchen.
"Have fun Brie!" He mocks her and Gabriella glares at him.
"Just make me something good." She jokes and then walks out the door to the dinning room.
Standing in the middle of the room facing the kitchen door was Chase in what looked like an expensive button up orange shirt and kaki pants. Gabriella gives a small smile to him and walks over to where he was standing. "You look like a million dollars." He says as she stops in front of him and gives him another half smile.
"Thanks. You look good too." She says and then he leads her to a table in the middle of the room with a huge white vase of pink roses and two huge candles. She sits down opposite to him and finds that the flowers are so huge that she couldn't see Chase's face.
"They're pretty aren't they?" He refers to the flowers and Gabriella laughs nervously.
"Um… I can't see you." She says and she could hear him sigh on the other side of roses. She really didn't like pink roses. She was more of a red rose's type of person. A sound of snapping is heard and she suddenly sees Chad standing over them who was smiling at them.
"Put this somewhere else." Chase demands and Chad rolls his eyes. Gabriella giggles as he moves the huge vase and sets them over on the table next to theirs.
"Hi… I'm Chad Danforth and I'll be co-serving you tonight."
Gabriella shoots a look up at him. What did he mean… co? "Um… you're not the only waiter tonight?"
Chad looks down at her as if trying to apologize and Gabriella groans. That meant Troy was helping too. Which meant he would make her life a living hell. "Something wrong?" Chase asks her and Gabriella quickly shakes her head.
"Nope… everything's great." She lies and Chad places two menus in front of them. He leaves and Gabriella opens it, even though she wasn't extremely hungry.
"Get anything you want. I have the money." He says and laughs as if it's a joke, but Gabriella doesn't crack a smile. She looks over the menu and quickly decides to get potato soup, since she wasn't hungry… at all. She folds her menu and sets it down while Chase looks up at her.
"So… tell me about yourself." Gabriella says trying to be polite.
Chase sighs and leans back in his chair. "My parents own a yacht company. It's pretty well known. We've even had a couple celebrities ask to them to build one." He says cockily. "I go to a private school, and I love to golf in my spare time." Then suddenly a figure shows up beside the table. Gabriella looks up to see Troy's piercing blue eyes were staring down at her. "You're not that Chad guy."
Troy rolls his eyes. "Really? No shit." He says sarcastically and Gabriella giggles a little. "My name's Troy." He says in a bored tone, probably because he has to say it all the time. "And I'm helping Chad. So what do you want?"
Chase looks Troy up and down once and then sighs. "I'll have the lobster. Sprinkled with a light butter sauce, with toasted bread on the side." He says and Gabriella opens her menu quickly and looks down. Of course, it was the most expensive thing on the menu.
"Ok…" Troy says while writing it down and then his eyes look up again. "What do you want Gabi?"
Gabriella looks down at the menu reflexively. "Um… I'll just have your potato soup." She says and Troy begins to write that down as well. She watches as the red stone on the gold band that was his class ring reflect in the light. Laughter fills the air and Troy rolls his eyes again and looks over at Chase.
"You have to want something more than that." He says and Gabriella shakes her head.
"No… thank you Chase… I'm not that hungry." She says and he shakes his head.
"If money's the issue…" He starts but never finishes.
"She knows money's not the issue, ok?" Troy says and Gabriella suddenly feels a smile come onto her face. Maybe having Troy as a waiter wouldn't be as bad as she thought. He looks at her for a moment and Gabriella gives a soft nod, as if to say thanks. He nods back and then looks back at Chase. "I'll be back with your shit."
Chase looks back at Gabriella and takes a sip of his water that was sitting on the table. "He was rude." He says and Gabriella keeps from rolling her eyes at how hypocritical this guy was.
"He's just Troy." She says and then suddenly her eyes grow wide. Did she just defend him?
Chase nods and then leans over. "So Gabi… tell me about you."
Gabriella's eyes grow wide. Where did he hear that name from? Why would he call her that? "Um… it's Gabriella." She says and then the realization dawns on her. Troy called her "Gabi" when he asked for her order.
"Sorry." Chase mumbles.
Gabriella continues. "I go to West High, but I'm districted to East High. I love to play volleyball and run track. And I love hanging out with my friends." She says and suddenly hears the swinging kitchen door open and looks to see that Troy was walking back in with two trays of food. He stops by them and sets down a plate in front of Chase and a bowl in front of Gabriella.
"Why don't you go to East High?" Chase asks and Gabriella feels her body tense up. Troy looks down at her and she closes her eyes.
"Is the butter spread evenly enough for you?" Troy asks as Chase looks up at him skeptically.
"Um… sure? So anyways…" Chase says and turns back to her. "So why?"
"Do you want something to drink?" Troy asks and Gabriella suddenly realizes he was trying to make Chase forget about it. He was actually doing something nice for her. Was she dreaming this?
"No, we're fine. You can go now." He says annoyed and then Troy makes eye contact with Gabriella. He quickly leaves then and walks toward the kitchen door. Gabriella turns her eyes back to Chase and sighs. "So… do tell now."
"I um…" She starts and looks down. "I really don't want to talk about it." She responds and then looks down. She picks up a single spoon that was sitting on the table and takes a sip of her soup. Her eyes look up and she sees Chase already digging in to his lobster.
After another ten minutes of Chase talking about his expensive possessions, Gabriella becomes extremely bored. He looks up at her after explaining his mansion. She looks over her shoulder to find Chad walking out. This was weird; it had only been ten minutes since Troy had given them their meal. But Chad has a smile on his face as he walks toward them.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Gabs, Fulton wants to see you. About some activity you're running tomorrow." He says and Gabriella raises her eyebrows.
"Um… Chad, I don't have an activity..." She says and then looks up to see Chad's right eye wink. The realization dawns on her that Fulton really didn't need to see her and she suddenly nods. "Oh yea, that's right I do." She lies and then looks down at Chase. "God I'm so sorry." She says and he looks at her curiously.
"I'll stay until you're done." He says and Chad shakes his head.
"He said it would take a long time." Chad explains and Chase nods.
"Oh um… I was thinking we could head back to my mansion." He says and Gabriella tries her hardest not to roll her eyes.
"Sorry Chase." She says and stands up. "It's been a very…interesting evening." She says trying not to hurt his feeling but didn't want to say that she had a bad time. Who would actually ENJOY listening to someone brag about how much money they had? No one she knew would want that.
"Ok… I guess I'll see you later then." Chase says and stands up to give Gabriella a kiss on the cheek. She smiles politely and Chad places down a black leather folder with the bill.
"I'll leave you with that." He says as Gabriella turns around and walks with him back to the kitchen. She pushes open the door and waits until it shuts. As soon as she's out of the view from Chase, she jumps into Chad's arms and he picks her up like an older brother would.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She exclaims while he sets her back down. "I just owe you my entire life. You seriously just saved me from the worst date I have ever had. Thank you!" She says one more time and throws her arms back around Chad's neck. He chuckles nervously and then lets her go.
"Don't thank me. It wasn't my idea." He says and Gabriella looks up at him. What? What did he mean by, it wasn't his idea?
"If it wasn't your idea, then who's was…" But she stops in mid sentence as her eyes grow wide. Chad nods as if confirming it and Gabriella stares at him in shock. She knew exactly who gave Chad the idea to pull the stunt. She looks around the kitchen for a moment, to find that Zeke and the dishwasher were finishing up extra dishes but other then that, the room was empty. But then she sees a pair of feet sitting up on a table in the corner. She looks back at Chad for a moment and he nods as if to say "Go on".
Gabriella walks slowly over to the white table and notices that Troy was reading a Sports Illustrated magazine with a picture of LeBron James shooting a lay up on the front cover. She sighs and stops right in front of him. He doesn't seem to have noticed that she was standing there since his eyes don't move from the page. "Hey…" She says slowly and Troy's piercing blue eyes shoot up from the magazine to look at her.
"So… you finally got out of the date with the prick?" He asks as he sets the magazine down. "About damn time."
Gabriella notices that he doesn't mention that he had anything to do with the scheme. "Um… I just want to say… umm well… I want to say…" She pauses and takes a deep breath. Troy cocks his eyebrow at her. "Thanks. You know… for getting me out of the date."
Troy shrugs and then glances down at the magazine once again. "No one deserves to sit through that." He says and then looks up at her. "I would have thought you would have picked better." He says and Gabriella looks at him curiously, and then watches as a smile breaks out onto his face.
"I was trying to be nice. And I felt bad saying no." She says and Troy raises his eyebrows again.
"So… if someone asked you to let them fuck you… you'd let them cuz you can't say no?" He says more as a question but then looks up as if to think about it. "I'll have to remember that one." He jokes and Gabriella feels her face get hot.
"Troy Alexander." She says and then suddenly stops. Were they just getting along? Was she mistaken, or did he just flirt with her?
"Ouch. Only my mom calls me that." He says and Gabriella rolls her eyes.
"Well it's a good thing your mom and I are like this." She says and crosses her middle and pointer finger. They both laugh and suddenly, Gabriella looks up into his crystal blue eyes. Neither of them said it, but it was certain. The wall that had been built up between them for four years was officially broken. They were finally on their way to taking a step forward and putting the past behind them. While they were still laughing, neither of them had any idea they were about to feel things for each other that they had never felt for anyone else before.