The Definition of Us

Disclaimer: I do not own HSM.

Chapter Twenty Five- Define Morning

morning (noun): a new beginning.

Troy woke on Saturday morning to a pounding headache, a scratchy throat and a swollen tongue, in a room he vaguely recalled being in once before. Rolling from his stomach to his side, he cringed away from the bright window and buried his head in the pillow. A hundred thoughts whipped and slammed through his brain and it hurt too much to separate them into actual facts. Shivering slightly, he reached an arm down and pulled the blankets over his naked torso and tried to ward off the coming moment where sleep would leave him for complete consciousness.

Groaning as the jackhammer in his brain moved to a higher setting, Troy gripped the pillow in his fists and tried to calm the rolling in his stomach that was less from alcohol and more from the migraine. He could hear voices below, most likely in Zeke's kitchen, and he tried to recall how he had gotten from Jimmie's party to his current bedroom across the street. It was Zeke's guestroom, he knew that, he just couldn't piece together what had occurred after....

Oh, God, had he really done jell-o shots with the cheerleaders? That was the final clear memory and then everything else seemed ridiculously fuzzy and surreal. Thinking was too hard, but he could remember flashes of Cassie and Chad taking him upstairs and then there had been a lot of puking followed by...Well, he wasn't sure what had followed that because it was nearly impossible and idealistic of him to think that Gabriella had been in the bathroom with him. Yet, that was what his sore head was telling him. If it was true, and the alcohol hadn't stripped that from him, then everything was back to being perfect and he could run to her house right now and kiss her senseless while apologizing for vomiting in her presence. If it wasn't then fate was cruel and he would have to wait until he didn't feel like screaming to run to her and apologize anyway. He liked the idea that everything had been worked out. Call him lazy, but at the moment it seemed like less effort.

The sun took the moment to hide behind a random cloud and the room dulled to a reasonable brightness that allowed Troy to push himself up from the unfamiliar mattress and swing his legs over the edge until stiff muscles connected with the hardwood floor. His elbows rested on his knees as he put his head in his hands, massaging his temples as he waited for the floor to stop moving. Feeling he was safe, he stood and stepped towards the door only to trip and sprawl across the rug. Looking behind him, he located the offending object and picked it up with one shaky hand.

A shoe. A silvery, spikey heeled, strappy shoe with three buckles and straps that crissed and crossed so many times he wondered how anyone could get them on in the first place. Turning it in his hands, he looked around until he found the other one, tossed haphazardly under the night stand. Deciding now was a good time to wake up and find out what the hell had happened the night before, Troy let his gaze wander the room. He found his shoes by the closet and what looked to be his clothes on a chair. A silver clutch was opened on the dresser with its contents scattered everywhere. Pulling himself off the floor with more effort than he thought he possessed, he tossed the shoe to join its mate and moved to the dresser.

No wallet or ID, no credit cards or health card. Nothing told him who the girl was. He tried to remember what the Gabriella in his head had been wearing but that was tough on a normal day let alone when he was drunk and puking. He fingered the silver chain and two bangles, a hair clip and some bobby pins. None of it looked familiar and he dreaded what that meant. A thud on the stairs and pounding steps reached his ears before a knock on the door warned an intruder.

"Yo, Hoops, we got food going on downstairs if you're game," Chad announced, surprised to see his friend up and functioning like a sober person, "Although I would suggest putting some clothes on first." Troy looked confused before glancing down and seeing that he was clad in nothing more than a pair of basketball shorts with Zeke's number on them. He shot a questioning look at Chad who looked horrified and threw his hands up. "Hey, don't look at me. It's not like I undressed you or something. I was going to just toss you on the bed and let you sleep but she insisted on making you comfortable."

"She?" Troy asked, the sound coming out in a hoarse whisper and Chad frowned.

"You don't remember? Dude, you need to pull it together unless you want to ruin what happened last night. Gabriella would kill you if after all that, you forgot," he warned, looking behind him to make sure no one had followed him upstairs.

"Brie? She's- Wait, that was all real? She actually talked to me? I thought that was all in my head, like some weird hallucination from mixing shots or something," Troy blurted out, trying to piece together all the moments he had brushed away. "She was really there in the bathroom? She really- Oh, God, I puked on her."

"Well, you didn't puke on her," Chad informed him, taking guilty delight in Troy's obvious discomfort. "But she did manage to make sure you aimed for the toilet and then let you pass out on her. And then she helped us get your drunken ass back here and dressed you. Either way, you owe her."

"Did I say anything to her? Anything stupid? Anything she's mad about or that I didn't mean?" He could recall most of their conversation, knowing now that it wasn't a dream but real and tangible. "Is she still mad at me?"

"Uh, no, surprisingly," Chad admitted, confused about that himself because all the prodding and bribing that morning had resulted in Gabriella revealing nothing about what had actually happened between them. "She's all floaty and smiley and happy. Whatever, you did, it worked. She keeps mentioning how drunk people are more honest than anyone else and she has no problem with you getting hammered."

"Seriously? You have no idea. I woke up this morning and thought I had dreamt every moment with her and then I fell over girls' shoes and found a purse and thought I had done something really stupid," Troy sank back on the bed, relief lessening the headache.

"Hey!" Chad said, indignant, "I said I wouldn't let you do that. Jason and Zeke said it too, but they got equally distracted. But you and Gabster can work all this out later. Right now, I want food and she won't give it to me until you get down there."

Grinning, Troy grabbed a t-shirt from the bag he had brought but looked like it hadn't been touched, pulling it over his head and straightening it as he followed Chad out the door and down to the first floor kitchen where the voices from earlier had come from. Heads looked up and the laughs stopped as the two entered, Troy's eyes searching for only one person.

"Hey, you're up," Gabriella said, looking over her shoulder while her back remained to the door as she scooped pancakes onto a plate for the table as Zeke scrambled eggs. "How do you feel?"

"Shitty," he admitted, watching her for any sign of hesitation or anxiety, coming up empty as she smiled at him. "Where are my chocolate chip pancakes?" he asked, sounding slightly whiney as Chad, Jason and Sharpay dove for the small stack.

"You don't get any," Zeke called from the stove as Gabriella pushed the toaster down and added bacon to the table. "Montez's orders."

"What? Why?" Troy cried, and Chad tried not laugh with his mouthful and received death glares from Sharpay in the process.

"Because you're hungover and pancakes always make you sick when you're in that state. So you, Hotshot, get eggs and toast. Enjoy," Gabriella announced, sliding a plate under his nose with a flourish before skipping back to see to her own breakfast.

"Stupid vodka jell-o," Troy grumbled, not noticing the smile tugging at Gabriella's lips as she picked up that he could remember at least that far. She didn't want to pry and dig into his memory, knowing that even if he didn't recall everything now, he probably would later on. He obviously knew that they had reached a truce in their argument but Chad could have done that while getting him from upstairs.

"Blame the beer too, man," Jason added, ignoring the dark look Troy sent him as he loaded bacon into his mouth. "It had its fun time in your system too."

"Haha," Troy retorted, thinking it was anything but, "Was I the only one completely smashed?"

"No, the cheerleaders were in the pool fully clothed when we left- seeing as how you graciously left them fifty jell-o shots," Sharpay replied indignantly, nose in the air. "And Eric Masters was pretty trashed after Gabs rejected him in front of all his friends."

"He hit on you?" Troy spit through gritted his teeth. His headache seemed to be intensifying. He tried not to be annoyed at the patronizing sigh that escaped the dark haired girl who was sitting on the counter behind him.

"He tried to teach me to play pool and I didn't like how close he was. I didn't reject him, I told him I needed a drink and never came back," she supplied, watching his face relax.

"How long did it take him to figure out you weren't going to?" Troy asked, failing at hiding his obnoxious smile.

"Not long. Cassie appeared in the basement looking for Chad and told him that Gabriella was in the bathroom with you," Sharpay told him, looking slightly devious and not at all sorry for poor Eric's ego. "His buddies had been harassing him all night for hitting on your girl."

"Shar," Gabriella interrupted quietly, "not here, please."

"Fine," she sighed, blowing her bangs away from her face and nibbling a piece of bacon. "I'll wait until you've done the whole 'awkward after fight chat'."

"Have you had any Tylenol yet?" Gabriella asked quietly, seeing the tense lines around Troy's eyes. When he shook his head, she glanced at Zeke before standing and putting her plate in the sink. "Come on, I'll find you some," she offered, waiting for him to leave the table and follow her out of the room and down the hallway.

"Whoa, what?" Sharpay called, lowering her fork and look perplexed. "I didn't expect you to do it now."

Gabriella was quiet as she led Troy to the back of the house, locating the bathroom at the end of the hallway. They slipped inside and she waited for him to shut the door silently before opening the medicine cabinet in search of pain killers. He took a seat on the counter, holding the cabinet door open for her as pill bottles rattled. Reading the labels, she scanned each one. Pausing with Gravol in her hand, she heard him clear his throat and she peeked around the door to see his face.

"We don't have to do this now," she told him, replacing the bottle and pulling out another one for back pain. "There's no rush."

"Yes, there is," he insisted, letting the door close as she shook to red tablets into her palm from the right bottle and passed them to him. "Because I seriously want to kiss you, but I don't think I should until we talk."

"We talked last night," she said, running the water and filling a glass for him.

"Brie, I was smashed. I remember most of what I said- I think- but you deserve more than the drunken ramblings of a high school boy. What we did was as horrific as anything we could have and I need you know I am sorry." He had swallowed the pills and left the glass abandoned on the countertop. Reaching a hand to gently grip her upper arm, he tugged her to the space between his knees, grinning as she looked up. "I shouldn't have crossed your name off the list, I know that. I think I knew it the minute I did it but didn't want to seem so weak that I had to undo it. Does that make sense? I should have talked to you, asked you straight out to take your name down. All I had to do was ask but I felt some stupid masculine need to claim you like a prize. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right."

"Troy-," she tried to stop him, not needing to hear any of it because it didn't matter anymore.

"No, I need to get this out. This is what I wanted to tell you last night but there was the puking and then I thought you were a hallucination sent to torture me...," he sucked in a breath. "Everything I said to you this week, it doesn't matter if I meant it at the time or if it was true, I shouldn't have said them. God, Brie, I attempted to staple your hand to the desk."

"Okay, that may have been a little extreme," she admitted, biting her lip to keep the smile from spreading. He looked so guilty she knew it wouldn't be fair to laugh at him.

"We fight, Brie, it's what we do when we don't agree and it turns into world war three at East for days or a week. This has been the longest week of my life. Every moment I would be so close to just telling you to end it and then you would say or do something and the anger would be so overwhelming I would lash out." His eyes were burning bright as he tried to make her understand. "I can't do that again. I know we'll fight and disagree but I can't go another day where we act like we hate each other."

"Okay," she said simply, letting a fingertip trail down the side of his face as she watched him.

"That's it?" he asked, incredulous.

"You're right," she replied, shrugging as she moved her hands to his thighs and dug her fingers in. "About everything. I knew you hated the idea of me doing the auction and I should have at least discussed it with you when we got back to school instead of pushing it to the back and telling myself I would deal with it later. That was selfish."

"I called you a slut. Repeatedly," he had thought she was so easy going the night before because she felt bad for him being intoxicated. He had expected some resistance. "I mean, I'm sorry, but I guess I was expecting more anger or something."

"We both said things and I hated it. I hated that every word I said was meant to hurt you. That everything I did was to get a negative reaction. It's not a game anymore, I refuse to gamble with us again. We need to work on it, but it can't happen like this again. I thought I was dying, Troy." She met his eyes and tried to put everything behind her words. "I just want to forget about it. Everything. Pretend it's last week and just keep going."

"What do we do the next time?" he asked quietly, anxiety gripping his heart.

"We try to talk. Even if it takes awhile, we need to know not to wait so long for the other to come back. I was ready so many times and scared that if I did, you would turn me away. Yesterday, when you were ignoring me, I was lost. I thought I had lost you again, forever." She stepped closer and felt his arms come around her, drawing her in.

"I didn't want to fight. I thought if I didn't say anything, neither would you. If I didn't say it enough last night or right now, I am so sorry for doing that," he repeated, bringing his face to her hair and inhaling her scent.

"You said everything you needed to last night," she assured him, smiling at how easy it had been the night before to just forget the fight and worry about him. "What you said was honest and unguarded. You were drunk but you didn't lie. You meant every word and for that, I will always consider it enough."

They were silent for several minutes, letting the peaceful feeling of just being together settle over them. Gabriella's hands hadn't moved from his thighs, and his strong hands dug into her waist. Her face was hidden in his t-shirt, while his cheek rested on the top of her head. They could hear their friends down the hall, arguing over who was going to do the dishes. Sighing, Troy lifted his head and pushed her away so he could see her face.

There an extra beat to both their heartbeats as she tilted her head up to meet his lips that were coming down. His hands dragged her closer, moving to cup her face as she braced herself on his chest, the heat radiating up her arms. It started gently, his apology, but Gabriella had waited for his sobriety to return for far too long and after a few seconds, the kiss intensified to a level they hadn't needed in a long time. It tasted like desperation and need and addiction. Troy bent into it like a man on fire, his hands creating a steel cage that kept her as close as possible. She felt his need and his passion, his forgiveness and his hunger. Only breathing broke them apart.

"So," he began, licking his lips as Gabriella fingered the cotton of his shirt, "Did I say anything else last night? Tell you any secrets? Rat out Chad for something? Make any hints at sex- I've been known to do that with just about anyone when there's enough liquor involved."

A sly smile spread across her face as she toyed with how much to tell him. She knew he wouldn't remember confessing his love to her since he had been a second away from unconsciousness, but she didn't know if she should tell him or wait for him to tell her on his own time. She hadn't realized how long she had stood in front of him, grinning with a secret as he waited for her answer, until he hurried to find out what she knew.

"Seriously? I said something, didn't I? Was it about Chad or something?" He panicked when he heard her giggle and shake her head. "Come on, Babe, tell me. What was it?"

"I don't want to freak you out," she finally told him, an edge of worry in her voice as she looked into his face.

"It won't, please, just tell me. Was it stupid? I already apologized for anything stupid."

"It wasn't stupid," she told him, sinking her teeth into her lip until she felt resistance. "You kinda told me something. You were half asleep and I moved and it just slipped out."

"Whatever it was, I-," he stopped at the smile on her face and instantly he knew what was coming before the words left her mouth.

"You said you loved me," she said quietly, breaking eye contact. Maybe it had been a slip. Maybe he hadn't meant it.

"Oh, God," he whispered, horrified. "I don't know- I mean I-Shit," he swore, not able to connect words. Swallowing, he took a breath. "That wasn't how I would have liked you to find out."

"I figured getting drunk and saying it before passing out hadn't been the plan," she drawled, a small smile tilting her features. "Look, before you get even more freaked out, I meant what I said before. You were drunk but everything was the truth. If you're not ready to say it, then I understand and we'll wait. But-"

"But? Wait, you weren't freaked out?" he realized, mouth gaping. He had thought she would run but here she was doing the opposite.

"Troy," she said softly, reaching up to latch onto the hair behind his ears, "I said it back."

"No."

"Yes. I knew you wouldn't remember but you had just said it and I have been avoiding admitting it to myself since the track meet, so even though you were never supposed to know, I had to say it. For both of us. And I meant it." She looked into his eyes nervously.

"God, you have no idea what that means," he whispered harshly, afraid to ruin the perfection created in the moment as his lips crashed into hers again.

The voices in the kitchen stopped when Troy and Gabriella returned from the bathroom. Chad and Jason were scouring frying pans while Zeke explained to Sharpay what a whisk was for. Troy raised an eyebrow but said nothing, taking a seat at the table and pulling Gabriella into his lap. The combination of Tylenol and food had done their jobs in lessening the hangover and even if it hadn't, nothing could have gotten rid of the smile on his face.

"Someone's happy," Zeke observed, "You didn't do anything weird in my bathroom, did you?"

"Eww, man, no," Troy replied, scrunching his nose while Gabriella burst out laughing. "Just talked."

"You made out, didn't you? Hot makeup kisses?" Sharpay pried, examining Gabriella like she was a newly discovered plant. "Never mind, I can tell anyway."

"Whatever, Shar," Gabriella sighed, rolling her eyes, "We were thinking of heading to my place for a movie marathon this afternoon. Anyone want in?"

"You two don't just want alone time?" Zeke asked, glancing at Chad who pretended he didn't understand the tones of the question.

"We've been fighting all week," Troy explained, shrugging, "We thought it would be nice for you guys to be in the same room with us and not want to kill us."

"The man has a point," Jason said, placing his dishes in the cupboard and leaning back. "I'm game."

"Me too," Chad added. "You call the others?"

"Taylor is at the library to study with the decathlon team, but she may come after. Kelsi and Ryan are coming." Gabriella pulled the bowl of fruit closer, picking out a grape and popping it in her mouth. When she went for another one, Troy had it between his fingers as an offering.

"I'll come if you stop that disgusting crap," Sharpay announced. "And Gabs, I want my shoes back."

"Those were yours?" Troy asked, somewhat loudly and Chad smirked.

"She lent them to me last night. Actually, everything was hers. I showed up in my pyjamas to watch a movie and she shoved a dress at me," Gabriella said, taking another grape from his hands and chewing slowly. "Why?"

"Nothing. Doesn't matter." Troy felt Gabriella shrug it off while Sharpay smirked.

"Oh, and Shar?" Gabriella called, "You said I could wear them Monday."

The blonde looked ready to protest before she watched Troy brush a strand of hair behind Gabriella's ear and she gave in. Nodding, she turned back to help Zeke put away the placemats before they all went to pack up their things to head home before going to Gabriella's. When the room was empty except for Troy and Gabriella, she linked her hands behind his head and grinned.

"So will I be seeing you tomorrow morning at the corner of Maple and Oak?" she asked happily.

"You know I went running by there every morning?" he told her, seeing the surprise on her face, "But I always made sure I was early or late by just enough that you wouldn't be there."

"I missed you."

That was all he needed to know that after every fight, every disagreement, every disaster- she would want him to come back. And she would come back to meet him in the middle.

AN: You would think this chapter would be easy....wrong. It's been revised half a dozen times so it's slightly shorter than usual but I wanted it to stand alone. Anyway, review, review....

~van