His Dream Girl

Summary: "Sharpay, this girl that you picked for me, if you didn't notice, is NOTHING like the kind of girl I described to you." "Sometimes Bolton, you find what you're looking for in the person you never would've thought you would." TxG

Chapter 24

"Gabriella wait!" Troy yelled, trying to catch up to her.

"What do you want Troy?!" she growled, turning around sharply rain mixed with tears streaming down her face.

"Please let me explain, what you saw, it was months ago," he said walking toward her, pleadingly.

"So what? You hated me so you figured you had the right to just drug me huh? Is that it? 'Cause I honestly don't care. A decent guy wouldn't have ever done that. But then again, I guess you never were decent," she spat, turning around and continuing to venture into the forest.

"That's not fair, I was drunk," he argued, following her, not caring for the rain soaking his expensive tux. "Gabriella please, let's go back to school. I'll drive you home."

"If you think I tolerate you enough to be in a car with you then you've lost your mind!" she hissed without stopping.

"Montez, don't be ridiculous. We'll both catch death if we stay out here any longer."

"I never asked for you to follow me Bolton! So you can just go back to the stupid prom and get on to live in the superficial bubble that is your life."

"Don't even try Gabi. You know that as long as you're out here, I am too."

"Why would you huh? Why the hell would you want to follow me? So you can melt away my frustration and we can be together again huh? Is that it? 'Cause if you are, then you're nuts! It's always the same thing with you. It's always you mess up, you act all cutesy, I forgive you and then you mess up again. Gosh, I keep on giving you second chances but you know what? I'm tired of it! I ran out of chances, Troy Bolton and I mean it."

Troy clenched his teeth, damn it hurt. It felt like a punch to his guts.

"You make it sound like all I do is make mistakes," he replied.

"Really? Then I must've not been cleared 'cause yes, all you do is make mistakes."

"I beg to differ!" he argued, his pride kicking in.

"Oh yeah? Well let's recap shall we?" she stopped, waiting for him to catch up. "One, you messed up my yearbook."

"Hey! I thought you were over that! I mean I did make our whole class sign it," he replied staring into her eyes.

"Ergo, the forgiveness on my part. Two, you messed up our date."

"But you said it was the most romantic date you've ever been on!"

"The second part of the date was. Three, you kissed another girl."

"I know and I'm really really sorry about that, but Gab, I thought you said you forgave me?"

"Of course I did, that's only because you serenaded me all day! And four, you drugged me at a party and left me to strip on a table."

"I know but I was…"

"Drunk, I know. Still, messing up is all you do. Again and again you hurt me. And I've decided that the pain stops today. I mean it Troy, this is goodbye," she declared, seriously.

She walked off, leaving a stunned Troy behind. Wiping the water out of his eyes he waited until she was a few feet away before following her, his shoulders slumped.

"You know, this whole dramatic exit doesn't really work if you're still following me right?" she inquired irritated.

"I know you're… trying to make a dramatic exit, but I can't just let you go home in this rain alone," he confessed.

"Why the hell not?"

"'Cause, like you said, I screw up a lot. And I don't want to anymore."

Gabriella closed her eyes, cursing him under her breath. Why did he have to be so cute?

"Just go away Bolton, I mean it."

"Make me. Because I am not leaving you without a fight."

She rolled her eyes.

"Stop being so stubborn and leave!"

"You stop being stubborn and just accept the fact that I am not leaving without you!"

"Ugh, I wish you'd fall into a deep hole and can't get out!"

Troy smiled, knowing the tone of their banter just changed.

"Too bad 'cause we're in the middle of the forest and there is no hole in sight," he replied, trying to act all know-it-all.

"Shut up!"

"Ha! You have no come backs. What's wrong Montez? Cat got your tongue?"

"Shut up!"

"You won't get rid of me tonight Gabriella. Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me."

She stopped and swirled around, making her wet curls sway sharply.

"Stop pushing my buttons!" she snapped.

"I believe your dress doesn't have any buttons Montez," he replied calmly.

"You know what I mean."

"No. Can I hug you?"

"No!"

He smirked, liking the blush on her cheeks along with her wet hair, glistering skin and soaked dress.

"Come on just one," he said extending his arms, as she backed away from him.

"Get away from m… Ugh!"

Troy ran toward her as he sees her disappearing into the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked extending a hand for her to take, trying to muffle his laughter.

Gabriella stubbornly tried to get out without his help as she gripped onto a root, only to fail miserably and fall back on her butt, making Troy laugh.

"Shut up!" she hissed.

The blue eyed boy stopped and extended a hand again, she looked at it and grudgingly took it. In one swift movement he pulled her out.

"And you're asking why I'm following you?" he teased softly.

"Shut up, this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't made me mad. Hell, this whole thing wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been a big jackass. You know, I'm starting to think I was right all these months ago! You are a jerk and a bastard and an asshole and…"

"I love you," Troy interrupted.

She closed her mouth, eyes wide open.

"Gosh, you are frustrating, annoying, judgemental and fuck, you're the most stubborn girl I've ever met! You get under my skin so easily, always try to push my buttons, you never let me finish a sentence and have I mentioned you're fucking stubborn? I should hate you and dream about torturing you in my sleep every single night. God knows that would be really easy. But then why am I still following you in the pouring rain when all you do is bitch at me? The answer's easy: I'm in love with you," Troy finished, heaving slightly.

For a moment all she did was look at him, not caring for the heavy rain still falling on her.

"… if you think all it takes for me to forgive you is for you to tell me that you love me, then you… you're clearly… mistaken," she said at last in a little voice.

He smiled a little, realising that she didn't really mean it but was just trying to convince herself and took a small step toward her to place his hands on her forearms.

"That night, I stopped you from undressing all the way," he admitted, shaking his wet bangs out of his eyes. "You should've seen the guys' faces when they saw me getting up there and sweep you up in my arms to get you out of here. I swear, they would've probably beaten me up if they hadn't been so wasted," she cracked a smile at that. "But even if I was pretty wasted myself, I knew I couldn't let you completely shed your clothes, although that would've been pretty interesting seeing as I was pretty attracted to you even if I never would've admit it."

"I thought back then blondes only held your attention?" she shivered.

"Still, you had a pull on me from the beginning, and I guess I was too stubborn to even admit it to myself."

"You know, now that I think about it, I seem to recall a number of times where you would randomly be staring at my ass or down my shirt," she smirked.

"What can I say? You're hot!"

She giggled.

"But really Gab, I'm really sorry. Even if I was drunk, I should've known better than to give you those pills," he said, getting back to business.

"I know and honestly I'm really tired of fighting with you and you didn't need to explain yourself to me, I've forgiven you the moment you said you loved me," she admitted cheekily.

"Oh thank God! I'm sick of fighting with you too, although it was more like you were bitching at me and I was just merely letting you abuse me verbally."

She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Can we be kissing now?" she asked impatiently.

"Mhm, let me think about it. No. I mean, I put myself out there for you, telling you about my feelings and you expect to return the favour by offering your delicious lips? Nah, I don't think that's fair at all, my dear."

She sighed annoyed.

"All's fair in love and war," she grumbled.

"Nuhuh, not in our case. Since love and war really go hands in hands in this relationship, I don't think it applies."

"What? That doesn't even make sense!"

"Who says?"

Fed up she reached up, grabbed a handful of his hair and connected their lips together. Automatically he kissed her back.

"I love you too," she whispered, pulling back a little, making him smile.

"Can we be dating now?" he inquired, mocking her from earlier.

"Okay," she nodded.

"Awesome," he declared. "But I'm really tired of this rain, so what do you say we make a run for it?"

"Let's do it."

He smirked at her.

"Okay then, see you there!" he started to dash through the woods leaving her stunned.

Gabriella rolled her eyes. Even if Troy could act like a real gentleman (i.e. following her in the rain to keep her safe) he was still Troy. Not wasting another minute she ran after him. Luckily they were real close to her house. When she got there she saw a grumpy Troy waiting for her.

"Nice try, but you forgot this is my house and between the two of us I'm the one who has the key," the brunette smirked.

"Yeah yeah whatever, I knew that," he huffed, crossing his arms.

She unlocked the door and proudly entered, a sulking Troy behind her. As soon as they were inside, they were reminded of their wet clothes and shivered even more. She quickly went into the pantry and grabbed towels.

"Dry yourself up, I'll go get you some dry clothes," she said her teeth clattering, dashing upstairs.

The blue eyed boy took off his soaked vest, tie and shoes. He thought he was going to be sick because of how cold it was. Of course when they were standing in the rain, it had been cold but now that they were out of the rain, they were freezing. Every second that Gabriella was gone felt like an eternity for him and he paced trying to keep himself warm.

"There you go, you can go change in the bathroom and just leave your other clothes there," Gabriella said coming back, clothes in hands.

Not needing to be told twice, he took them from her and ran to the bathroom. He ripped the remaining of his clothes off, dried himself with the towel the best he could and put on the new clothes. Now dressed in a big old t-shirt and the basketball shorts he'd left at her house, he exited the bathroom, still shivering. Making his way to the living room, he saw Gabriella in front of the fireplace, dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants. He silently came behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her against his chest softly.

"I can feel you shivering through your hoodie," he whispered against her humid hair.

"That's probably 'cause I'm still cold," she retorted resting her hands on his.

"Can I stay tonight?" he inquired, kissing the top of her head.

"That's what I was going to ask you actually," she nodded. "My mom's not coming back until tomorrow so I've laid out a mattress, blankets and pillows."

"Can we sleep by the fire?"

"Look behind you," she answered, not taking her eyes off the fire.

He glanced behind him and saw there was indeed everything needed for tonight. He pulled her closer to him trying to get warm.

"I see you've thought of everything," Troy stated.

"Not of everything," she replied. "I actually have one thing that I might need your help with."

"What?"

She shifted into his arms to look into his eyes and whispered:

"Warm me up."

He didn't need to be told twice and immediately captured her lips with his. Her hands came up and entangled into his hair.

-HSM-

"Well… uh," Gabriella started awkwardly.

"Gabriella I'm so sorry," Troy said hurriedly. "I really didn't mean for this to happen. You just looked so beautiful and cold and… Oh gosh," he interrupted himself his eyes wide.

He got up grabbed his clothes and dressed himself up clumsily, crimson red.

"Troy," Gabriella whispered, looking at his distraught face.

"I'll be leaving now, I'm so sorry, have a good day," he declared trying to get to the door as fast as possible, tripping over some blanket along the way.

"Troy," the brunette tried again.

"I would totally get it if you were to break up with me now, 'cause God knows I would break up with myself too if I were you. Oh shit Gabriella, I didn't mean to explode like that," his eyes became teary as he said that statement out loud. "I'm so sorry, bye."

"Troy!" she yelled, stopping him from getting out. "Close the door right now and come sit beside me," she ordered firmly.

He gulped but obliged anyways and sat on the ground beside her, without looking at his girlfriend's face.

"'Kay first of all I'd like to say that you're being way too hard on yourself," she declared.

"And who else is there to blame huh? I was the one who... you know… before I was even in you."

Gabriella sighed; this would be harder than she had thought.

"Troy, you're a virgin. You've never done this before; it's perfectly understandable that it wasn't perfect."

"Have you ever had a guy ejaculated before the foreplay even started?" he inquired bitterly.

"Well… no, but come on I'm not the most experienced either. I mean, I've only been with two other guys before and they were college guys, who obviously were very much experienced."

Troy sighed looking even more embarrassed than before and she regretted having said that.

"All I'm saying is, with a best friend like Sharpay Evans, obviously you've never had the opportunity to, you know, experience and so it's normal that it's, you know, a little weird and clumsy at first."

"Don't try to make this okay Gabriella. I know it's not. I messed up, big time. Like I always do," he interrupted her, looking into her eyes for the first time.

Her heart broke a little as she saw the resigned look on his face. She took his hand in hers.

"Troy, if there's something I've learned from you is that not everything has to be perfect the first time. I've learned that sometimes you gotta give second chances because sometimes even if your pride stops you, it can really be worth it. I mean, look at us; we're not the perfect couple we see in movies. I can be pretty uh bitchy sometimes and you can be a real jerk. And despite what everyone says, I know at the back of their minds they never thought we would last. And I mean, who can blame them right? We do bicker and fight all the time and we do make mistakes, but despite everything, I couldn't see myself with any other person on Prom night."

She saw his stiff demeanour change and knew her words were sinking in.

"Our relationship has always been about persevering; it's always been about working at it until it got better. I mean, I hated you, then I tolerated you, I liked you and now I love you. It was never meant to be easy and perfect; it was never meant to be a fairytale or love at first sight. We had to grow into it and it just feels normal that the sex would be that way too."

He smiled, touched, leaned in and kissed her sweetly.

"You really are the perfect girl," Troy declared, his eyes shining.

"I thought I just told you I wasn't?" Gabriella retorted, grinning.

"Well, fine I take that back, you are not perfect but you definitely are the girl I was looking for all along. You're it for me Gabriella. You are my dream girl."

-HSM-

Author's note: I can't believe it's been more than one year since I last updated. By now I'm sure most of you have given up on this fandom or this story and I apologize for not finishing it sooner. This story is the very first piece I've written on fanfic and is my baby. I've grown so much as a writer since I first started and I felt like I had to at least finish this up the right way.

Thank you very much to everyone who has read it and left me reviews. Maybe I'll add an epilogue, maybe not but it's a possibility. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.