Thanks for the response to last chapter. Like all writers I LOVE reviews, so be sure to review!
Troy walked over to where Lauren, Steve, and Gabriella were lounging on towels. He'd been talked into playing soccer with Ben and Lizzie and he was now incredibly exhausted. He let out a sigh and laid down with his arm over his head.
"Rough game?" Steven asked with a chuckle as he watched Troy nod his head in response.
"Here have some water before you head back out there." Lauren handed a water bottle across the blanket into Troy's hands.
"No. No way am I going back out there to play with them." Troy grumbled before he put the water bottle into his mouth.
"You might want to try telling them that then." Gabriella pointed out.
"TROY!" Lizzie and Ben ran over and knelt next to Troy's laying body as he sighed.
"Troy, Do you want to play volleyball with us now? There's a court over there." Lizzie asked between her deep breaths. Troy groaned and sat up.
"Now?" He asked defeated.
"Yeah. Now. Come on!" Ben said and the two kids raced off.
"Have fun." Gabriella replied feigning innocence.
"Oh we will." He said as he approached her.
"We?" "No You see, they asked you, not me." She said adding the latter after he had nodded his head.
"Teams won't be even. Now come on." And with that said, Troy dragged Gabriella by the hand over to the courts.
"They're cute." Lauren observed.
"Those are the couples you have to watch out for." Steven replied looking at the two teens who were currently chasing around his kids.
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that he's leaving. They're probably going to try and do something so that they won't have to leave each other." Lauren chuckled.
"Steve, stop being so paranoid. They aren't going to try and get pregnant so they have to stay together. They're smarter than that."
"That's what people thought about me and Lucille." HIs reply was emotionless as he got up to dust off his butt. "I'll be right back." And then he was gone, leaving Lauren wondering where her marriage was headed.
"TROY! That's Cheating!" Lizzie screamed from the opposite side of the net. They decided that the fairest way to play was to have boys against girls.
"How is that cheating?"
"You aren't allowed to spike it at me! I'm younger than you." Gabriella giggled from her position behind Lizzie. Troy put his hands up in defense as if to say 'alright, won't happen again.'
Gabriella served the ball again which headed right to Ben. Ben was able to bump the ball back over the net at Lizzie, who missed it terribly.
"Ben! What did I just say?" Lizzie asked obviously annoyed.
"Liz, that wasn't a spike." Troy spoke up defending the boy who looked upset beside him.
"Yeah Lizzie. I didn't even hit it that hard." Ben said and approached the net where his sister was already standing.
"I'm younger!" She shouted in defense.
"So? That's not an excuse!" Ben retaliated.
"Yes! It does! I'm younger so you can't play as hard!"
"Guys. Come on. We can just play a different game if you guys are just going to argue." Gabriella suggested.
"No. I don't want to play another game." Ben said.
"I do. I'm not very good at volleyball." Lizzie said as she stepped off the court. When she noticed that nobody was following her she turned back around. "What are you guys waiting for? Let's build a sandcastle."
"No. I want to play volleyball." Troy looked back and forth between Ben and Lizzie, not knowing which to follow or what to say to calm the situation down.
"How about we build a sand castle and then come back to volleyball later?" Troy finally said.
"She always gets what she wants! It's not fair!" Ben screamed and threw the volleyball to the ground and ran back to where his mom was sitting.
"Yay! Let's go." Lizzie said while dragging Troy and Gabriella to a spot that she thought would be perfect for building the perfect sand castle.
"Hold up. I'm going to go and check on your brother. I'll be right back." Troy said.
"Ok." Lizzie agreed but it was too late because he was already at the blanket.
"Ben, Come on." Troy said as excitedly as he could.
"No. I don't want to do anything with her." He replied while placing and apple slice in his mouth.
"Why not?"
"She gets everything she wants just because she's younger. It's not fair."
"You're right. It's not fair. But it doesn't matter." Troy said as he contemplated what he was going to say to a 8 year old to make him understand. "But being older isn't all that bad. You get to do more things. You can stay up later, and go out with your friends more often. Being older is more fun."
"It doesn't feel fun."
"That's because you aren't acting older."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if you were acting older, you wouldn't care that Lizzie gets everyone's attention because you'd realize that while she's getting the attention she has to stay with adults. You're old enough now that you can hang with me and Gabriella without your parents supervision."
"But Lizzie hangs with us when you guys baby sit us."
"But You're there. You're technically an adult to her."
"I am?" Troy wanted to laugh at how big Ben's eyes got but decided against it.
"Yeah. You just have to remember not to get upset with Lizzie." Troy nodded. "Now come on. We've got a sand castle to build." Ben reached to grab Troy's hand as he led them back to where Gabriella and Lizzie were waiting patiently.
When the sand castle was complete, Lizzie could barely stand. She was exhausted and it was clear. Troy picked her up and carried her back to the blanket to where her parents were waiting.
"Can we walk along the water now?" Ben asked Troy and Gabriella. When the nodded he ran off towards the water's edge. "Come on, slow pokes."
"Look, Troy, we need to talk." Gabriella said looking at her hands.
"Why? Can't we just enjoy today and not talk about tomorrow?"
"No. As long as I'm thinking about what I need to say, I'm not going to be about to enjoy this."
Troy nodded confidently but was nervous on the inside. He didn't want to say goodbye to her. He wanted to stay here forever but he knew that would break his mom's heart.
"I don't want to fight for us if we don't have any chance to win the war."
"Fight for us? What do you mean fight for us?"
"When you go back to your home and when I go back to school, there's going to be chances to see other people. I don't want to look like an idiot, turning everybody down while you're off with some girl."
"But I won't be with some other girl."
"But you don't know that. You could meet this completely awesome girl who is hot and likes what you like. Some girl that is better than me."
"That's impossible."
"Troy, please just listen. We survived the summer. But that's nothing. We don't even live in the same state."
"But earlier you were saying that we could try."
"Well, I've been thinking about it, and I change my mind. Who are we trying to kid? We're completely different people, Troy. I mean, I don't want to say goodbye, but what other choice do we have?" Gabriella was now crying but Troy didn't want to comfort her. Comforting her would ensue that there was a problem. A problem he never wanted to admit they had.
"Gabby, we can work through it."
"Troy, I love you, I really do. But I think it'd be easier if we just said goodbye now, rather than pretend like the inevitable isn't going to happen." And with that Gabriella was gone, but Troy didn't chase after her. HIs feet were planted to the ground wondering how everything changed in a matter of 2 hours.