Aha I am so glad you people are loving this! I shall let you into a little secret…I asked my friend about the whole Troy farting thing and I was like, I have never written it into one of my stories but you all know how I challenge myself with making the unsexy sexy so I had to give it a whirl! I'm really intrigued to hear what fanficfan thinks is gonna happen…mmm?

By the way, I did look into the whole pregnancy thing and there are ways of conceiving naturally or with medical help to minimize the risk of HIV being passed on, its just something I chose not to write about.

There is one more chapter after this…

CHAPTER 21

"Did you get more beautiful?" The voice came from behind her where she hadn't been expecting his attack.

His attack came with a red rose and a kiss on the lips, too.

"Hi," his smile curled over his lips in that way she felt mesmirised by.

"Hi." She replied softly.

"So did you?" He lifted a brow.

"Did I what?" She wondered.

"Get more beautiful…" His eyes met hers and flicked between them, then over her face, lingering on her lips before dropping down to survey her black summer dress with bright pink floral print.

"No," she twirled her rose and smelled it, blushing as his fingers trailed over the flower in her hair; her eyes lifted and shimmered with gold; outlined with black to darken her look.

He pursed his lips. "Well, I think you did…"

"Let's go inside?" She suggested and he held the door for her as she clutched her flower nervously.

"So, was your dad upset we didn't go to Argentina's?" He wondered lightly as they opened their menus.

Gabi busied herself with starters. "No…not really…can we get a starter, I am so hungry…"

"Talking of hungry, did the Ganache cake have any failings?" He enquired.

Gabi flipped her menu down and gave him a long look. "If you mention my cakes once more, I swear, this little arrangement is over, Bolton," she warned.

Troy frowned sulkily. "I thought your period was gone…" He muttered.

"I feel like you only date me for chocolate cake!" She hissed; quickly ordering her starter and a whole bottle of wine which seemed weird to Troy but he didn't comment on it.

Maybe she just wanted to relax after a hard day at work?

He reached over and touched her hand, cupping it with his.

"I don't date you for your chocolate cake," he said in a low tone, then let his smile free. "But I can't deny it's a great bonus…"

Gabi rolled her eyes. "How would you feel if I only dated you for your hot body?"

Troy cleared his throat. Hot body? What was she trying to do to him?

"I thought I was your groping post already…"

"Ugh," Gabi took her hand back from the table and put them in her lap.

"Obviously not…" Troy commented, ignoring her mood.

"So, I'm having a party Saturday…" She broached.

"A what?!" He spluttered, surprised.

"A party…" Gabi repeated with the tiniest frown.

"Any…special occasion?" He offered with a brow lift.

"Sharpay calls it my bachelorette party because I'm living alone, but she doesn't get that to be a bachelorette, you also need to be single," Gabi smirked.

"Oh, so I'll get to meet her…" He guessed.

"Yeah, she's organizing outfits, I think we're either doing a pajama party, a Hawaiian beach party or…" Gabi thought for a moment. "Was it Barbie and Ken?"

Troy let out a splutter of laughter. "Barbie and Ken?"

"Well Shar's obsessed with pink but luckily I can get away with ethnic Barbie who is way cooler…"

"And I'd be…your Ken?" Troy guessed fearfully.

"Uh-huh," Gabi nodded.

"Isn't Ken the de-masculined man in Barbie's world?" Troy checked as their starters arrived.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Gabi smiled sweetly. "He mostly has his top off and shows off his muscles, I mean that's manly, right?"

"Hmm," Troy ate his starter with a furrowed brow.

"You'll be fine if that's what she chooses." Gabi assured.

"What's the other options?" He asked again.

"Pajama party- which is just basically an excuse for the girls to wear sexy lingerie, or a Hawaiian beach party which is just an excuse for the girl's to wear sexy hula costumes, …"

"For someone who doesn't like dressing up, you sound very 'ok' with all this…" Troy commented, not sure he liked this new version of Gabi. 'Bachelorette' Gabi, he mused.

She shrugged. "It's one night and sounds kind of fun. I mean I do have the house to myself and I'm young so I may as well make use of it."

Troy squinted. "Is this about the moving in together thing?"

Gabi pursed her lips and ate her last bite of goat's cheese on bruschetta.

"No, of course not." She denied.

Troy leveled his gaze at her and she smiled at him, and then turned a warm smile on the waiter as he collected their plates and she thanked him. How come he hadn't gotten a smile like that, he wondered?

"I mean, we can talk about it, right? Only the other night I feel like you left before we could talk about it…." Troy fiddled with his napkin in his lap as nerves built up under his skin.

He still wasn't sure if she was happy or not.

"We don't need to talk about it," Gabi assured as she looked at her wine glass and then socked back the contents.

Troy watched on, unnerved. Every time they had a problem- bar his not calling her- they always seemed to just talk it out. Babies, sex, whatever it was, they were getting to the point they could trust each other with anything.

Anything except this, obviously.

He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, watching as their mains were delivered which broke the mood somewhat and didn't really give him a chance to broach the subject again without seeming forceful, so he sat back and ate while Gabi drank and got more and more pliant with each sip, something he now knew was inevitably going to lead to her getting drunk.

It worried him- because he knew the only other time she had drunk was when he hadn't gone to her baking day but he also knew she kind of deserved it; and so did he. He had hurt her feelings, intentionally or not and this just happened to be her way of dealing with it. He just hoped she didn't turn into that kind of angry drunk when he was taking her home. He wasn't sure he could deal with angry-drunk right now.

Gabi ordered dessert; and coffee and then she had a second wind of appetite and ordered cheese and biscuits too- perfect with wine apparently. He knew he was probably going to see the contents of that particularly expensive bill at the bottom of her toilet later, but he paid it without complaint and refused her contribution, too. If she was going to get drunk and puke up four courses of expensive Italian then who was he to judge?

He gave up 'helping' her up the path to her house and scooped her into his arms in the end because her wayward, giggling 'walking' was no doubt waking up half the neighbourhood along with her intermittent singing.

'Single Ladies', by Beyonce, he smirked as he opened her front door. He was sure she was trying to tell him something.

Tonight would have been a great make up night, he thought. Make up for lost time, make out like crazy and yeah, indulge in their favourite activity beyond foreplay. He was a guy, after-all. But he was okay with not doing that, too. He was okay with carrying her up to her bedroom, pulling down her covers, laying her on the bed and removing her shoes. He was okay with taking off her lovely dress- because she would regret being sick on it, he guessed- and he was okay with replacing her beautiful dinner outfit with less-enticing warm, fleece pajama's which he rolled up the cuffs to in case they dragged in anything she didn't want them to.

He sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh as she hummed to herself and sang randomly while she lolled and he wasn't sure if he should stay or not.

On the one hand, he would be there all night to see to her hangover. On the other- did she really want him there?

He decided to wait until she had at least emptied the contents of her stomach and then he'd see how she was. He slipped off his shoes and jacket and loosened his shirt; shrugging that off to leave him in a white vest and smart jeans.

"Troy, why are you here?" Gabi looked over, slurring her words.

He chuckled and scooted back on the bed to lean on the headboard beside her.

"Because we just went out and I thought you might like me to stay a while…"

"Will you be my Ken?" She asked non-sensically and his lips twitched with a smile.

"I'd love to."

"Did ethnic Barbie go out with a white ken?" Gabi wondered then.

"Not unless she was cheating with Barbie's boyfriend…"

"Hmm. Maybe I should find an ethnic Ken." Her drunken drabble continued.

"Thanks!" He laughed, reaching over to link their hands.

"Well, I don't want to be seen as a hussy…"

"I doubt that, Elle…"

"Or maybe I do?" She twisted with an enlightened smile. "I mean, everyone thinks I'm so boring, maybe I should...shake things up a little…" She shimmied her body and he watched her unreighned breasts jiggle under her pajamas.

"You can leave the shaking to the bedroom," he suggested drily and Gabi gave him a feline smile.

"You like it?" She shimmied again, creeping closer.

Troy swallowed, fighting his body's natural response with his head's warning of her drunkenness.

"It's a lovely shimmy…"

Gabi began unbuttoning her fleece nightshirt and before he could stop her, she grinned and shimmied again, rolling off the bed to extend her game with some belly-dancing moves that enraptured him.

"Jesus holy Christ," he prayed above for intervention.

"Oh god…"

And it came, he mused. Gabi ran to the bathroom and dropped to her knees, wretching into the toilet bowl while he lazily followed up; tying her hair patiently into a bun and shadowing her small body. He knew it would take a few tries for her to finally relieve her body of the poison she had consumed and he stroked her back like any decent guy would while she knelt prone, eyes watering from the force of her vomit.

While she was safely sipping water and using the toilet bowl as a resting place, he went to get her top and buttoned it up dutifully while she regained her composure somewhat.

"Did you just watch me puke?" Two make-up smudged eyes looked up.

"Ah…no?" He offered and she groaned and dunked her forehead into his chest.

"No way…" She complained.

"It's okay, babe," he hugged her for a minute and rubbed her back and she looked up suddenly and twisted toward the toilet.

"Round two," he murmured to himself as he remained by her side.

/

"Oh god, was it as bad as I think it was?"

Gabi was kind of hoping Troy might have gone home, but he was comfortably lounged on her sofa with a newspaper, a coffee and what appeared to be the remains of a bacon sandwich.

Oh god, her stomach lurched. No thinking about food, she mused.

Troy looked up from reading, apparently having been ignoring her because he looked like he had no clue what she had just said.

"Was what as bad as you think it was?"

Oh, so he was listening, then.

"Last night…my gut emptying…" She lifted her brows and frowned as her head squeezed painfully.

"Nah," he denied and went back to his paper as though nothing had happened.

"Do you want more coffee?" She asked, disgruntled at his acceptance of her horrific behaviour.

"Hm?" He looked over his shoulder as she went to get some. "No, I'm good, thanks."

She returned with a large mug of milky caffeinated drink.

"Troy…"

"Yes, babe?" He flipped down the corner of his paper to indulge her with his attention although she had a very good idea what he was doing already.

"Did I…" She swallowed. "I have a feeling I may have taken something off last night…"

To his credit, he merely lifted his brows. "Really? I don't remember…"

"I'm sure you do, seeing as you stayed intelligently sober," she remarked.

"I think you may have taken your top off," he commented lightly as he flipped his paper back up. "I don't remember the details."

A loud gasp sounded and he fought down his giggle.

"I…I…Oh my god, I shimmied!" Gabi bemoaned in sudden memory recall.

Troy pursed his lips and folded his paper, his smile undeniable as he met her gaze.

"And a very nice shimmy it was, too…"

"Oh my god!" She groaned and covered her face. "That is all Sharpay's fault for taking us pole-dancing for her friend's hen night…"

"Well in that case I can't wait to meet the girl to personally thank her…" Troy quipped and Gabi glared at him.

"This isn't funny."

"You know, I wouldn't mind you doing a little of that shimmy stuff again if you ever feel like it…"

"You, Troy Bolton, are never going to see me shimmy again," Gabi swore to spite him and sipped her drink sulkily.

"Really? Not even if I ply you with two bottles of wine?"

Thud.

That would be the cushion Gabi had just thrown at him hitting him squarely in the face. Good shot for a half-drunk lush, he mused.

"Aren't you leaving yet?" She enquired pointedly.

"Well I wanted to make sure you got up, for a start," he began. "And see if you needed me to call work for you or anything…"

"And tell them I got so drunk I shimmied?" She arched. "And that's why I'm not coming in? I'm going in if it kills me."

"And I also stuck around because I was promised ganache cake…"

Gabi rose with slow, deliberate movements and Troy half wondered if she wasn't getting ready to hurl the actual sofa cushion at him, too. He sighed with relief when she stalked through to the kitchen.

"Here, you can go, now," she thrust a box toward him and he stood slowly from the sofa to take it, but she was silly to think his hands would then be occupied by the box, because he merely put it down and cupped her face.

"I stayed to make sure you were okay," he murmured in that voice she swore he saved just for her. "Nothing else. Not even cake. And I'm not sure you are…okay…" He swallowed. "But you need to be sober for us to talk, okay?"

"Right," she smirked like a delinquent child.

Troy leaned down and kissed her lips, well, firstly he kind of grazed his over hers, she remembered. Then he almost…brushed…then he took her lips and sucked them; taking his time over that particular activity when he had her lower lip in his captivity. And then he nuzzled their noses while her swirling brown eyes fought to focus on his and he smiled. Not just any smile, but a sweet, curly, so-happy smile that she thought she might forget all about her embarrassment from last night and just kiss him some more.

"See you Saturday for your party," he murmured. "Don't forget to tell me what to dress as…"

And with that, he was gone.

Good grief, Gabi sighed. Did the man really need to make her knees turn to jelly every time they kissed? Couldn't he just leave that for special occasions?

Clearly not, she mused as she went to move and kind of toppled onto the sofa. Clearly not.

/

"We chose Hawaii," Gabi told Troy the next day.

"Okay, cool," Troy smiled.

"We guessed it was easier for everyone and we could decorate the house and have hula and…well you get the idea." She explained.

"What are you wearing?" He wondered.

"Grass skirt and coconut bikini top according to Sharpay…"

"That's all?"

Gabi swore she could hear a little whine in his voice.

"And flip-flops…"

"Right," he nodded.

"Have you got something?" She checked.

"Yeah, surf shorts, print shirt- I can cope," he assured.

"I have a lei for you."

"You have a what?" Troy spluttered and Gabi giggled.

"The flower necklace? A lei?" She repeated.

"Oh…oh, right. You have no idea what went through my mind just then…"

"Strangely, I think I do…" She teased.

"So do they have hammocks at this Hawaiian party of yours?" His voice dropped a notch in volume and tone.

"No, but I barred my room from anyone using it," she assured.

Troy smiled. "That's why I love you."

"Hm, I'm still deciding why I love you," she replied to his affectionate expression.

"Well, thanks, I think," he derided.

"Hey, it starts at eight, don't be late!" She rhymed unintentionally and he promised to be there on time before they both hung up.

"So help me, God," he prayed upwards, feeling like he might need it.