Troy grabbed the girls wrist, slammed the door shut, and took her up to his room. "What are you doing here?" he asked, somewhat angry, yet relieved to see her. The girl looked at him surprised and then ripped her arm out of her grasp, staying silent. "What are you doing here, Christi?"
"I came to see you…" she let on, now moving closer to Troy. "I haven't seen or talked to you in forever." Her hands rested on his chest and her head up to be at Troy's eye level.
"Well, I'm fine…so you can go now." He pushed her away and opened the door.
"What's with the pushiness? I want to talk to you…" Troy looked at her and she smiled and then he closed the door.
"Fine. You have two minutes…." he snapped. "Go…"
"Okay, seriously dude, what's wrong?" Christi asked from his bed. "I thought that you would be happy to see me…"
"It's not that I'm not happy to see you, Christi. I'm thrilled, you just can't tell it. But, I don't want to do this again." She was closer to him again, her hands making their way for his hair.
"What are you talking about?"
"It's just that, well the last time we did this, it completely ruined my relationship with Gabriella." he explained, watching her wince at Gabi's name. "And…I don't want to do that again."
"You're back together with her?" she sounded shocked as Troy nodded. "Why? She's so…."
"Perfect." he completed the sentence and Christi shook her head in disgust. "I love her, Christi. I can't imagine my life without her."
"Well, I can't imagine my life without you, Troy. I mean, I've lived it and it's not good….it's nothing like I expected it to be." She surprised him and he definitely was not expecting that. "That day you kissed me in the hallway, I don't care if it was for revenge or whatever, it just felt so right…" Troy backed up so that his back was totally against he door as she pursued him again. "I want that again, Troy. And I want it with you, I mean that makes sense, right?" She leaned in for his lips, and he…not knowing what he was doing…responded with his and they kissed briefly.
"No, Christi." He pushed her away. "What's right is me and Gabriella…that's what makes sense, at least to me. And I'm not going to lose her again, not for the third time, okay?" Christi stood up taller and Troy opened up the door. He turned and there she was, her brown hair hanging on her shoulders and her eyes glassy with tears, but big with surprise. "Gabriella…"
"Gabriella…hi, remember me?" Christi interrupted, pushing Troy aside. "I'm Christi."
"I know, how I could I forget you? You're the reason Troy and I broke up…" she stated, not taking her eyes off of Troy as he stood there silent. "Is this what you do in your spare time?"
"No.." "Yes…" Christi and Troy said simultaneously as Gabi stood there amazed.
"I don't know who to believe….this thing or--"
"Me. You have to believe me, Gabi." Troy spoke up, interrupting her as he pushed Christi out the door and motioned for her to leave, which she did, but Gabriella followed her down the stairs. "Gabi!!"
"I came here to talk to you about what happened. And I see you with the same girl that ruined us almost three years ago. How am I supposed to trust you, Troy?" Gabriella screamed, not caring who was their audience. "It seems that whenever things get hard with our relationship, you go running back to her….I can't do that, I can't be the mean girl in the…whatever this is!!"
"You're not. And she came to see me….I swear. You can ask my family if you want, I'm not lying. Please, Gabi, talk to me. Say whatever you want to…." Troy pleaded and Gabi looked behind him at his family, who was watching intently. "I love you…"
"That's why I came over here…." she started. "I wanted to tell you something that, now…I don't think you deserve to hear." With that, she was out the door again, just like the night of their break up. But, instead of just standing there, he followed her halfway down the sidewalk.
"Gabriella!!" he yelled, running as he tried to catch up with her fast paced walking.
"I'm not doing this again, Troy. I'm not going to be the other girl, even though technically, she's the other girl." Gabi turned around and stopped, staring at Troy coldly. "I'm sure you and Christi will have a good life together. I wish you the best of luck." She pushed on his chest and he flew to the ground as she walked off into the darkness.
"Gabi!!" He tried her name again, but got nothing. He pushed himself up off of the ground and started walking back to his house, occasionally looking back for remnants of her or her coming back to him….but there was still nothing.
"Troy, I'm sorry." his dad piped up, but Troy put his hand up to silence him as he went back to his room. He laid back down on his bed and stared up at his white ceiling, contemplating on what to do about the him and Gabriella situation.
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM
Gabriella slammed the front door of her house and stomped up the stairs, secretly sad and crying.
"Bad night? Or bad talk?" her mom startled her at the top of the stairs and Gabi just ignored her. "So, it went bad." She followed her daughter into her room and stood in the doorway.
"No, it didn't go bad, mom….it's went really, really, really bad. Okay, so I went there to talk to him, I was gonna tell him something, but instead…" she started to explain, going back and forth from her closet to the suitcases situated on her bed that she had pulled out in the process. "…I found him in his room with Christi, the same girl who had broken us up back in high school…"
"Oh, Gabi, I'm so sorry." her mom said, shocked. "Did you hit him?"
"No, I said it was over….again. And just after her proposed to me, he runs to Christi…on Christmas." Every time she said Christi's name, she winced…all she really had to do was think about the name and she would feel like she had to puke.
"So what are you going to do?"
"I'm leaving, and I hope you're not mad at me mamá…I just really need to get out of here, you know?…with everything that's happened." Ms. Montez nodded. "Thank you…I already have a ticket and everything, that was kind of my phone conversation on the way back here." Gabi smiled, walked over to her mom and hugged her, thanking her for everything.
"I'll leave you to finish you're packing." her mom whispered in her hair as they pulled away and she left to go back downstairs. Gabriella turned and just looked around her room….all the things that happened with her and Troy in the room seemed to flow back into her mind.
Troy led Gabriella out onto her balcony, just to get her mind off of her dad. The music was loud enough to hear it and it set a soft, quiet mood.
"Dance with me. He said, peering out at the stars and then turned his attention to her beautiful face, lit by the moor. She smiled and they came off the railing and started to dance.
"But, I am thinking straight. Troy, I've missed this…you and me alone, in the dark. Right from the big re-seeing of each other, you've been so nice and caring towards me and my feelings when I've been so horrible to you. Like I said, you've changed…for the better and I like that." she preached. He turned to her, leaving his questions unanswered.
"Gabriella, I deserve everything bad that comes to me, especially when it's from you, okay? Just leave it alone." Troy said annoyed…he didn't like talking about them as an item, unless they were dating.
"No. Troy, now more than ever, I need you. I need someone that I can cry to and that'll listen. I need that someone who will hug me and kiss me, telling me everything will be alright when nothing will be. I need that person who will hold me and comfort me at the funeral and help me to get up the stage without falling. I need that person who will tell me to keep going when I reach that part of the speech where I totally lose it and who will wipe away my tears when I sit back down. Troy, that person should be you…and I want it to be you." she replied, kissing him deeply and passionately until they were in a deep make out session. "I love you, Troy. I never stopped." Troy broke the kiss, brushing her hair out of her eyes and looked deeply into her eyes.
"I love you too. I always have." he smiled, laying her head on his chest and they both fell asleep.
"You're what's important to me, Gabi. Nothing else matters when I'm with you." he whispered, putting Gabi into tears….but happy ones this time.
Her suitcase was packed with all her stuff and she turned to take one final picture with her mind….it would probably be a long time before she was back. She walked downstairs and found her mother sitting on the couch in the family room, looking at the Christmas tree, smiling.
"Mom, I'm so sorry to do this to you…"
"No. You need to get out of here, I would've done the same thing if I were you, okay? Don't worry about me….I'll be fine." her mom interrupted her, hugging her tightly, pressing all of the air out of Gabi's lungs. "Don't forget this…." She held up her dad's present and put around Gabriella's neck.
"Thank you, for everything, mom….I love you." The honk of the cab came from outside and both Gabriella and Ms. Montez smiled as Gabi made her way out of the house.
"Be careful! I love you!" she heard her mother scream as she ducked into the cab and then told the driver where to go.
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The airport was fairly empty, which was surprising to Gabriella. She dragged her luggage up to the ticket counter, got her ticket, grabbed her purse and her onboard bag and left her luggage. Heading towards the security line, she stopped and bought a little something to eat and while waiting she saw how many couples were standing in line, waiting as well….it would've been Gabi and Troy's first Christmas as an engaged couple if it wasn't for his stupidity when it came to the whole Christi situation.
"I came here to talk to you about what happened. And I see you with the same girl that ruined us almost three years ago. How am I supposed to trust you, Troy?" Gabriella screamed, not caring who was their audience. "It seems that whenever things get hard with our relationship, you go running back to her….I can't do that, I can't be the mean girl in the…whatever this is!!"
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM
"You're not. And she came to see me….I swear. You can ask my family if you want, I'm not lying. Please, Gabi, talk to me. Say whatever you want to…." Troy pleaded and Gabi looked behind him at his family, who was watching intently. "I love you…"
Troy replayed everything that had happened, thinking about some way that he could make it up to her, but found no way that he hadn't already tried. He rolled over to his nightstand, grabbed the radio remote and turned the stereo on, being exposed to Chris Daughtry's "Feels Like Tonight".
You, you got me
Thinking it'll be alright.
You, you told me,
"Come and take a look inside."
You believed me,
In every single lie.
But I, I failed you this time.
Gabriella was almost at the head of the security line, still the memories were rushing back to her….she couldn't help it.
And it feels like tonight.
I can't believe I'm broken inside.
Can't you see that there's nothing that I wanna do,
But try to make it up to you?
And it feels like tonight,
Tonight.
I was waiting
For the day you'd come around.
I was chasing,
And nothing was all I found.
From the moment you came into my life,
You showed me what's right.
"Gabriella…I don't know what to say." he stuttered. She smiled, sitting down on the stoop.
"Nothing, because I'm not done yet. In Hollister, I said that people can't hold grudges against other people who don't even exist anymore. You're caring and amazing…especially after what you did for me yesterday. I'm not saying that I forgive you for what you did, but we can put it into the past. I want to talk to you like we used to, when we were friends. I want to be able to call you and ask you how practice went and if you were crying like a baby from the pain…." they both laughed and looked at each other, then turned away quickly. "I just want to be friends again…if that' okay with you." Troy sat there in silence, eyeing Sharpay's car. The girls were pretending not to eavesdrop or look over at them, but they failed.
"Did they…" he asked, pointing out to her car. "…put you up to this?"
"No…well, kind of. They made me tell you. I came up with the material though. And it's the honest truth…I've missed talking to you. I've missed not seeing you for three years, having that bond between us. We'll never really get back what we used to have, but that's okay." Gabriella answered, smiling and got up to go back to the car.
"Gabi! Wait!…" Troy yelled after her, turning her to face him. He pulled her close, to the point where their lips were almost touching. "Thank you."
And it feels like tonight. I never felt like this before.
I can't believe I'm broken inside.
Can't you see that there's nothing that I wanna do,
But try to make it up to you?
And it feels like tonight.
Just when I leave, I'm back for more.
Nothing else here seems to matter.
In these ever-changing days,
You're the one thing that remains.
I could stay like this forever.
Gabriella was now starting to board the plane, and for some reason, she kept looking back to see if he was coming. She wanted to be Rachel in Friends, and have Ross run after her and tell her that he loved her and that she couldn't go…but there was not sight of her "Ross", in other words…no Troy. Maybe this time, it was really over…for good. She handed the ticket person her ticket and boarding pass and entered the tunnel, eventually sitting in the window seat of an aisle. No Troy, she said to herself as she looked out at the illuminated night sky.
And it feels like tonight.
I can't believe I'm broken inside.
Can't you see that there's nothing that I wanna do,
But try to make it up to you?
And it feels like tonight.
Tonight.
Tonight.
'Cause there's nothing that I wanna do,
But try to make it up to you.
And it feels like tonight.
Tonight.
Troy was still in his room, his back lying on his bed. He grabbed the phone and called Gabriella's house phone, she never seemed to answer her cell phone, especially since it displayed his name when he was calling.
"Hello?" Ms. Montez answered softly.
"Ms. Montez, it's Troy. Is Gabriella there?" he asked, sitting up so he could hear her more clearly and he turned down the song a little.
"I'm sorry, Troy…" she answered.
"What do you mean you're sorry? She's okay, right?…she didn't get hurt?" He started to panic, he thought he was going to hyperventilate any minute in the near future.
"She's fine…she's okay, nothing happened to her." her mom reassured him. "But she's gone, Troy. She left for Stanford…"
"On a plane? Meaning I can't catch up to her?" He could hear Ms. Montez nod on the other line. "When? Why?"
"You're really asking that question, Troy?" she snapped. "Think about it."
"I didn't do anything, Ms. Montez, I swear. Christi came to see me, I know that I shouldn't have taken her to my room, but I didn't want my parents and grandparents to hear the conversation…there was no where else to go." he explained, shouting slightly. "You have to believe me."
"I do, Troy….believe me. But I'm not the one who needs to hear it."
"Well, how do I get in touch with her? She's not going to answer her phone if she knows it's me…" he asked on his last nerve.
"I have a way, but it has to be kept secret…."