A/N: I know, another update so soon! I hope nobody fell off their chair in shock. The reviews last chapter were amazing, I'm glad so many people are still on board, despite my anything but regular updates, but it really helped me to get this chapter written so fast, knowing I had so much support.
So this story has five more chapters to go after this one. It's drawing to and end, but there's still a bit more to go before we can wrap things up. I'm working on a new story, which I have added a banner and preview to my page for. It'll be called Mirror for the Sun, and I'll start posting it a few weeks after I finish this one up. So check that out and feel free to mention it in your review, or PM me about it, if you have any comments or questions.
Okay enough rambling from me, here is the latest chapter, don't forget to review :)
Not caring that he was currently only wearing underwear, Troy leapt from the couch after Gabriella, seeing her step into the elevator as he got to his doorway, the doors closing as Troy took in her heartbroken look.
A huge part of Troy wanted to chase after her, to race down the stairs and meet her in the lobby, but a tiny rational part of his brain knew that he needed to deal with Lucy first.
As he re-entered his apartment Troy spotted Lucy sitting casually on the couch that he and Gabriella had – not even five minutes earlier – been making out on. The sight of her made Troy want to scream out in frustration, but he managed to keep his anger in check, well mostly.
"What that fuck was that?" He snarled, pacing in front of Lucy. "You come into MY apartment and yell MY girlfriend after all you've fucking done to me. You have some nerve."
"She's not right for you, Troy," Lucy insisted. "She doesn't know you like I do."
"She doesn't know me? Gabriella may not know everything about me, but at least she doesn't fuck another man behind my back for a year," Troy spat out.
But Lucy was unfazed by Troy's words.
"But now she thinks you're cheating on her," Lucy pointed out. "Well I must be off now."
Lucy stood up to exit but Troy sprung in front of her, holding her wrists in his hands as he stared down at her.
"That's it? What were you even fucking here for, Lucy?" Troy was beyond angry at this point, all rational thoughts were gone from his mind.
Lucy ignored Troy's question, pulling herself free from his grip before she hightailed out of the apartment, leaving a suddenly exhausted Troy to collapse down onto the couch, his head resting in his hands as he wondered how hard it was going to be to fix this all with Gabriella.
He knew that by now she would be back home, where Taylor and Chad would now be, as well as Sharpay and Zeke.
Shit, he thought, Sharpay and Taylor were going to kill him if they thought he was cheating on Gabriella. He only hoped the girls would listen to Chad and Zeke who knew the full story behind Lucy.
Quickly picking up his phone he dialed Zeke's cell phone, rubbing his neck nervously as he waited for his friend to answer.
"Troy? What happened with Ella?" Zeke asked worriedly. "Shar and Taylor are in with her now, she was really upset when she got home."
"Zeke, hear me out man. Lucy turned up and told Ella to get off me because I was her boyfriend," Troy started to explain.
"Why didn't you run after her?" Zeke asked, knowing that Troy was falling for Gabriella and would never want to let her just run away.
"I did, but then I saw that she was crying, and I knew that she wouldn't listen to me, man," Troy pleaded with Zeke to believe him, thankful that he knew his friend would understand what he meant.
"I'm gunna talk to Chad, tell him what's happening and we'll tell Taylor and Shar, okay?" Zeke said, mouthing "Lucy" to Chad who groaned, wondering what his friend's ex had done now.
"I'm going to come over, I need to see Ella," Troy decided, already getting up off the couch, locating his clothes on the floor, struggling to pull his pants back on with only one hand.
"Troy, man, I don't think that's the best idea. Give Ella some time to get her head around this," Zeke reasoned. "Me and Chad will talk to the girls and then come home, there's a game on tonight right?"
Troy sighed, knowing that Zeke was right, but not wanting him to be right.
"Yeah, there's a game on in an hour, I guess I'll see you then," he said dejectedly, muttering a quick bye before tossing his phone angrily to the floor.
It was just like Lucy to ruin a perfectly good thing, first it was their relationship with her cheating, and now it was his relationship with Gabriella.
Troy let out a loud scream before heading to take a shower, letting the hot water scald his skin and take away some of his frustrations.
"He has a… a… another girlfriend," Gabriella sobbed into Taylor's shoulder, the only phrase she had uttered since she got home.
Taylor looked over at Sharpay who just shrugged her shoulders, neither understanding what this was about Troy's "other" girlfriend.
"Gabs, I'm sure he doesn't, you must've misunderstood," Sharpay offered, making Gabriella cry harder.
A soft knock on the door made the three turn to see who it was, seeing Zeke's dark face appear around the corner.
"Shar, can I talk to you for a second?" He asked cautiously, taking note of how upset Gabriella was, his heart going out to her, but also to Troy who he knew was equally upset.
"I'll be back in soon, Gabs," Sharpay promised, standing from the bed and heading to the door which Zeke opened for her to let her out.
"What is it? Have you talked to your asshole of a friend?" Sharpay snapped, feeling instantly bad for taking it out on Zeke, when it wasn't his fault.
"Listen to me before you say anything, Shar," Zeke begged his girlfriend, waiting for her to nod her agreement before continuing.
"Before Ella, Troy dated this girl, Lucy. They were together for a long time, but Lucy was dating another man as well, for around a year, and when Troy finally found out, he just stopped taking her calls, refusing to see her and everything, he wanted nothing to do with her. He was still getting over her when he met Ella, and I swear, the night he met her, he forgot completely about Lucy. Today Lucy turned up at our apartment, and told Ella to get off her boyfriend."
"You expect me to believe that his ex girlfriend would be cruel enough to do something like that?" Sharpay interrupted. "My best friend is in there crying her heart out because your boy is a jerk."
"Shar, listen to me. Lucy is Troy's ex. He has no feelings for her. Troy would've explained this to her personally, but
"Gabs took off without letting Troy explain?" Sharpay finished up, guilt sweeping over her as she realized that her comments about Troy had been way out of line. "Kinda like I didn't let you explain just then."
"Exactly. The guy is cut up, Shar. Ella is where his heart is now one hundred percent," Zeke promised, looking over at Chad to get him to confirm the statement.
"The guy is whipped," Chad supplied, bring a small smile to Sharpay's face.
"We're gunna go home to Troy, unless you want us to explain to Ella?" Zeke said, drawing Sharpay into a tight hug.
"I'll talk to her," Sharpay promised, reaching up to place a kiss on Zeke's cheek. "Just let Troy know that Gabs has huge trust issues, it's time he knew about everything that has made Gabs who she is today, but that's up to her to tell him."
Zeke nodded. "I'll tell him, ring me later?"
When Zeke and Chad arrived home, Troy was fast asleep on his bed, dressed in just a pair of black sweats, clutching the sweatshirt Gabriella had left behind.
The guys noticed how sad Troy looked, even fast asleep and they knew that if Gabriella didn't believe the truth about Lucy, their best friend was going to be crushed beyond belief.
They only hoped their girlfriends could be convincing enough to get her to believe the truth, to get her to overcome the trust issues Sharpay had mentioned and let Troy into her heart.
After Zeke and Chad had left, Sharpay had gone back to Gabriella and Taylor, relaying Zeke's explanation, and Taylor had been horrified that someone would go to such lengths to try to ruin another person's relationship.
Gabriella had not believed Sharpay at first, finding it easier to believe that Troy, like almost everyone else in her life, had lied to her and broke her trust.
But when Sharpay mentioned how sweet Troy was, and all of the sweet things he had done for her since they met, Gabriella had relented, knowing deep down in her heart that Troy was indeed falling in love with her, just as she was for him.
Gabriella admitted to herself that she was so scared of getting hurt, like she had been so many times in the past that she was finding it hard to trust him, to let down all of her guards.
Especially the ones Troy had no idea existed.
"I guess it's time to tell him about my parents," Gabriella said softly, her voice all husky from the crying. "I'm falling in love with him."
Sharpay and Taylor both gasped and then let out squeals of happiness, engulfing Gabriella in a hug.
"So it's time to lay everything on the table?" Taylor asked softly, realizing how hard this was going to be for Gabriella to do.
"He'll either accept my past, or run screaming," Gabriella sighed. She understood that for her relationship with Troy to get any more serious, she had to be completely honest with him, to fill in all the gaps about her parents and her childhood.
She knew it would be hard, but she also knew that she wasn't going to let her past get in the way of a future with Troy, no way in hell was she letting that happen.