Chapter 20

'Shit!' was all that Troy could say. He felt Eloise stirring beside him. He turned to look at her. Eloise put on her sweet and innocent act. She held her head as if she was in pain, but was only pretending as she barely had any alcohol yesterday. It also was not the fact that Troy had too much to drink last night. Troy knew how to handle himself if her got pretty much wasted. Last night his drinks were drugged by Eloise. But Troy would never find out, unless she told him, which was never going to happen. She turned around to look at Troy, but made it look like she was wondering where she was. When she saw Troy she let out a scream.

She looked down at herself and let out another scream.

'You..you.. a...a...and I-I-I...' she stuttered, acting completely. Troy nodded.

'Look, I'm really sorry, this was never meant to happen. We must have been pretty drunk.' Troy said. Eloise nodded and faked crocodile tears.

'I really hope that this does not muck up our friendship...' Troy said.

'No, no...let's...let's just forget about this...' she agreed.

'Yeah.. just pretend that this never happened...' Troy said. Eloise nodded. To be truthful she was really hurt, she thought that this night might change things between her and Troy for the better, but nothing ... na-da. Troy was still into Gabriella.

'Look I really gotta get home, Gabriella might be worried about my where-abouts, and I was meant to attend her birthday party yesterday,' Troy reasoned. Anything to get him out of this hotel room. Anger fumed inside Eloise. He was still thinking about her.

'Troy why are you thinking about her? She's the one putting you through a heartache. She's hurting you. I can tell, as a friend, I care for you,' Eloise said, hoping that she was convincing him to get angry with Gabriella again. But Troy shook his head.

'No Eloise, Gabriella means the world to me. Sure she made a mistake, but all humans make a mistake right? Her's might be big, but I'm sure that there is a reason behind her actions. After last night, it has made me realise that I'm nothing without Gabriella. No offence or anything, but after last night, I think that Gabriella is the only girl for me. I-I ...' Troy sighed.'I love her.' he finished. Her face fell. Eloise felt herself tearing up. NO! She thought. Troy was meant to love her, not Gabriella. After everything Gabriella had done to him, he was still forgiving her.

'Look I have to go, but here's some money for you to catch a ride home,' Troy said as he handed her $50. Eloise took the money but her mind was screaming NO!, she did not want his money, well she did, but not now, at the moment... she wanted him. Troy dressed himself up and left the room, without looking back. He did not want to say it in front of her but he completely regretted last night. He wished that he could take it all back, and that he went to Gabriella's birthday party. He knew that he was going to be in a hell hole when he went home.

--

AS he opened the door to his house, he looked around cautiously. Scared that his friends were going to jump out of nowhere and were going to beat the shit out of him. He had gone through all his messages and he caught a cab home and the last one was from Sharpay telling him that he was dead meat. He had also listened to his voice mail, as he heard his friends desperately calling him to come to the party as Gabriella was not having fun, and was constantly looking at the door in hope of him turning up.

He cautiously walked up the stairs, giving up he called for Gabriella, but there was no answer, he figured that she was still at Sharpay's house. He decided that he should go to Sharpay's house and apologise to Gabriella it was better that it was sooner than later. The more he delayed it the more he will regret it. But he decided to take a shower and change clothes before he went, otherwise he will smell of sex and alcohol.

An hour later, Troy found himself standing on the doorstep of Sharpay's house. He was nervous as hell. His hands were shaking. He rung the doorbell. He waited, but soon enough he could hear footsteps walking down the stairs. The door opened, to reveal a very pissed off Sharpay and Chad.

'Oh look Chad, hotshot decides to finally make it...14 HOURS LATER!' Sharpay screamed. Troy flinched at her voice. He looked at his best friend for help but found that, Chad's normally soft brown eyes were blazing red. It was taking all of Chad's strength not to really swing at his best friend. He had hurt Gabriella who was like his sister, and Troy was not getting away from this easily.

'What do you want Bolton?' Chad asked venomously.

'I just wanted to talk to Gabriella,' Troy said.

'What about Bolton? If you are here to harass her about...' then Sharpay stopped in mid-sentence. 'Chad go inside..' She said. Chad did not respond as fast as she'd like him to...'NOW' she bellowed. Chad scampered away. Sharpay stepped out and closed the door behind her.

'Look Trot, I know about your's and Gabriella's relationship. I know that it has not been the best so far, and I understand that you are upset that she did not tell you any sooner... but there was a reason for that. And that reason is not something that I will reveal to you. Gabriella will tell you when she's ready.' Sharpay said. Troy nodded, not really understanding what she was saying, but this was better than getting bellowed at by Sharpay. 'Unless your sister is too much of a chicken...' Sharpay muttered under her breath. All Troy heard was 'your sister' and 'chicken'.

'Come again...?' Troy asked, not really understanding why Miley and a chicken came in a sentence together.

'Troy, I just think that now is not the best time to see Gabriella, she looked really broken yesterday. And heartbroken would be and understatement. Just let her be for a while...' Sharpay trailed off. Troy nodded, his own eyes reflecting hurt. He walked away and towards his car.

'Oh Troy, if only you knew...' Sharpay said softly as she watched the red sports car drive out of the gates and down the road. Sharpay walked inside the house again.

'What the hell was that woman? You just let him go? I was watching from the window, and it did not look like you were shouting at him! Why did you let him off the hook? What he did was unacceptable! Did you now see how hurt Gabriella was yesterday? It was her birthday for a Christ's sake!' Chad shouted at her.

'DANFORTH, SHUT THE HELL UP! You don't even know half the stuff that is going on.' Sharpay finished off quietly.

'What do you mean Shar?' Chad asked confused as hell.

'I'm sorry Chad, I'm not allowed to say, I promised.' Sharpay said. 'Come on, let's see if Gabi's awake, she deserves a proper breakfast, knowing that she ate by herself yesterday.' Sharpay said as she walked up the stairs.

'Wait, you mean, Troy didn't even have breakfast with her?' Chad asked. Sharpay shook her head no. 'Why did you let him off the hook Shar? I mean if I was Gabriella and it was my birthday, and I had to eat breakfast by myself, spend the whole day of my birthday by myself, and then find out that my husband could not be bothered to attend my suprise birthday party... I'd be pretty upset. No, upset would be an understatement! Why'd you let him off the hook?' Chad asked, he was really angry now.

'Chad think about this logically, would Gabriella want to see Troy after she cried herself to sleep about him last night?' Sharpay asked. 'Do you think that she'll be able to face him?' Chad sighed and shook his head no. Sharpay had done the right thing in sending him home.

'But I'm not forgiving him yet,' Chad said. Sharpay nodded her head understandingly. She could tell that Chad was not impressed that his best buddy did not turn up for Gabriella's birthday.

'Hey I got an idea of cheering Gabriella up, how about we celebrate today like her birthday, even if her birthday is not today, we can do all the things she loves doing. Have a day out. We can prove to her that she does not need Troy to have fun and have a good time. Besides she did not have such a great time yesterday...' Chas suggested.

'Chad, never thought I would say this in a lifetime but... you are a genius!' Sharpay exclaimed. 'Come on,' she said as she dragged him into Gabriella's room.

'Thanks,' Chad said, but as he registered fully of what she said all he could say was 'HEY!' before he was pulled into Gabriella's room. Their hearts broke into a million pieces as they saw their sister-like-best-friend on the floor sleeping with tear stains visible on her face. Her eyes were red and puffy. She must have cried a lot last night. She was still wearing her clothes from yesterday.

'Oh Gabi,' Sharpay said softly as she touched Gabriella's face gently. She saw Chad taking out his camera phone and snapping a picture of Gabriella.

'What are you doing?' Sharpay hissed in a hushed tone.

'I'm gonna send it to Troy. Make him feel even worse than he already was feeling.' Chad said. He put the picture into the message and sent it to Troy with the text message reading ... I hope you are happy...

Troy received the text, he opened it. He was slightly shocked at the state of Gabriella. He read the text message 'I hope you are happy.' Troy sighed. No, he was not happy he was the feeling the complete opposite. He let out a deep breath. Today, he was going to talk to Gabriella.

GABRIELLA on the other hand was having fun. Her friends took her out on a day filled with all the things she loved doing. Miley was taking care of Chris so she had no worries, she was having fun like she had before she got married. They went ice skating, went for a pizza, ice cream for desert and show shopping. She was really having the time of her life. All the worried about Troy were not on her mind anymore. She was just letting go.

That night when she came home, it was almost midnight. Miley pleaded her to let Chris stay with her over the night and it was only Troy and Gabriella in the house. Gabriella was angry that Troy did not bother to show up for her party. But she was also upset. She was worried that Troy might be just letting go on their relationship completely, without trying to make things work again.

She kissed Chad on the cheek for dropping her off and trudged inside the house. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Troy sitting on the couch in the living room. She decided to ignore him and walk upstairs without acknowledging him, but his voice stopped her.

'Where have you been?' he asked her. He was quite worried that she had not turned up at home for the whole day. It was unlike her. She was always home. Now it was fifteen minutes to midnight.

'Out.' Gabriella replied nonchalantly. She really was not in the mood to get into a fight with him. She did not want her happy mood to be brought down.

'With who?' Troy asked again. Even thought he knew very well that she was out with their friends.

'With my friends,' Gabriella replied shortly. She did not look at him, she could not make eye contact with him otherwise she would break down.

'What were you doing?' Troy asked curiously. He felt kind of left out, since he was not included. But he knew that he deserved it because after last night, he did not know if he was worthy enough for her forgiveness.

'What's with the twenty questions? Who are you my father?' Gabriella asked annoyed now. She finally looked up and into his eyes but were surprised to find that they were the mellow aquamarine blue colour and not the cold ice blue eyes which she had gotten used to over the past few months.

'No, I am not your father, but I am your husband. Legally, I have every rights to know where you've been and what you've been doing, for all I know you could have been out sleeping with other guys,' Troy lost it. He was meant to forgive her not blow up on her like this. He gasped as he registered what he had just said into his head. Gabriella also gasped, did he really think that? Did he honestly believe that she was going around sleeping with random guys? Tears gathered in her eyes. Troy got up and started walking towards her but Gabriella backed away.

'No, Gabriella, I didn't mean it like that...' Troy trailed off as he saw the hurt in her eyes.

'What else could it have meant?' she asked him with venom in her voice; but Troy also noticed that her voice was breaking. She started to walk backwards up the stairs as Troy continued to make his way towards her. The two did not break eye contact. Just then Gabriella let out a small scream. She tripped on a step. Troy caught her quickly by the waist. This was the first time both of them had made body contact after quite a long time. There was still that spark between them. The two found themselves looking into each other's eyes.

Subconsciously they started to lean in, noses touching, lips millimeteres away from one another. They could feel each other's breath on their mouths. Closing their eyes the moved even closer, if that was possible. Troy was about to make the first move, before... Gabriella registered what was happening. She pushed Troy off her. She shook her head no, and she ran up the stairs and slammed the door shut behind her.

Troy sighed as he closed his eyes and slid down the wall and sat on a step. By having the intentions of making things better, he made them worse. He was out of line when he accused her of sleeping with other guys. He was being a hypocrite. He was the one who cheated on her. He was the one who went and slept with Eloise. Troy was silently beating himself up. How could he have been so stupid?

Gabriella was sitting on her bed thinking about what just happened. How Troy accused her for cheating? Has this whole adopting Chris to save Miley's butt gone a tad bit too far? Is losing her relationship with Troy worth keeping the secret? Silent tears slipped down her face and she fell into a restless sleep.

IN the morning, Troy like the day before, did not go to work early. Instead he woke up early to make Gabriella breakfast in bed. He made her waffles drizzled with honey with strawberry and cinnamon and orange juice for a drink. A red rose on the tray with a note that read : I'm Sorry. Forgiven? xxx Troy made sure that everything was perfect before taking the tray upstairs. He knocked on her door. There was no reply. Troy thought that it was weird since Gabriella was a morning person. She was usually up at this time.

'Gabriella?' he called. Placing the tray on the floor, he opened the door, to see his wife sprawled across the bed, looking awfully uncomfortable, but peaceful. He picked up the tray again and placed it on the bedside table.

'Gabriella?' he called quietly. Gabriella did not stir. He shook her gently. Her eyes fluttered open. When she saw Troy sitting on the bed her eyes widened. She sat up.

'I brought you breakfast,' he said whilst smiling sheepishly. Gabriella looked utterly confused. Wasn't it just yesterday that he accused her of having sex with other guys? And the day before yesterday, when he did not bother to come to her birthday party; and the day before that, where he would not even talking to her? Gabriella pinched herself to make sure that this was not a dream. She let out an 'OW' and she rubbed the sore spot on her arm. Troy smiled at her behaviour.

'Here,' he said placing the tray on her lap. Gabriella stared at the delicious looking food in front of her. She may have sounded childish but the thought that came into her head was How do I know that this is not full of deadly poison? She did not know whether she should dig in or not. She just sat there staring at it.

'What's all this?' she asked him in a soft voice. The voice the Troy missed the most.

'Look Gabriella, what I said last night was completely out of order. Please forgive me?' he asked her, slightly desperate and begging. Gabriella looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity in them.

'Troy as much as I'd like to, I just... feel that ... I...it... what I'm trying to say is...' she sighed. 'I need time to get over what happened over the past few months. And for the mean time, I think that it is best if we take our relationship slow.' Gabriella said. Troy looked hurt, but he understood that she needed time.

'Ok, yeah, I can manage that,' he said. He leant in to kiss her, but she moved her head so that he was only able to kiss her on the cheek. Hurt was visible in his eyes, and Gabriella felt bad; but she knew that it was going to take time for them to return back to how they used to be. Troy knew that Gabriella was hurt and he did not know how to tell her where he was on her night of her birthday. He knew that for now, whilst their relationship is on the amend, he could not tell her. There would be no chance that she would forgive him.

Ok people, Chapter 20. :D I hope you liked it, a bit of drama, OK a LOT of drama but things might just turn out ok for Troyella. Tune in into the next chapter to see which direction their relationship heads after this... :P Thank you so much for the reviews and special thanks to Cowgirl1488 for the idea of Eloise drugging Troy. It helped. :D

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