Lessons in Love

Chapter 25

I've been avoiding Troy. I know that it sounds stupid, but I honestly don't know what to do now. He said he loves me, which I'm happy about. I'm ecstatic, beyond elated. This whole time I was worried about caring more for him than he did for me. That wasn't the case anymore, and I wasn't sure how to handle that.

It should be an easy decision. I should be with him. We love each other, so what's the problem?

Troy brought a whole new set of problems to my attention. What would happen when I went away for school? I know Sharpay said that Troy is all about commitment, but I still wasn't sure if I could trust him. He'd lied so effortlessly, to my face. The trust I'd given him had been damaged. Even if it wasn't, things would change between us, and I wasn't sure if I could handle it. Being away from him, it was hard enough the way things were now.

A knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts. "Come in."

"Your friends are downstairs." Ricky says without, and turns to leave.

"Thanks." I don't say anything else. I'm not going to apologize anymore. I shouldn't have to. As I keep my scowl trained on the back of my brother's head, I walk down stairs. He trips and almost falls and I take that as a little bit of karma.

"Hey, Gabi." Kelsi smiles and walks to the door. We're meeting up with Taylor at the Red Hawks Den.

"Hey, thanks for meeting with me."

"Of course, I was worried about you." We climb in the car and Kelsi pulls away from my house. "Truth be told, I was worried about you. You haven't spoken to anyone in weeks."

"Sorry about that, I say."

"It's no problem, I know you needed space." Kelsi stops at a red light and glances over at me. "I saw Troy trying to talk to you earlier today..."

"Yeah, he wanted to explain." Only he didn't explain much of anything. He just made me more confused.

"That's good, right?"

"Supposed to be." I lean against the window. Kelsi gives a small smile and keeps driving. She doesn't say anything else.

It's not long before we get to the Den. We walk in and spot Taylor at our usual booth. We order a basket of fries, but I add a cheeseburger and a milkshake.

"Don't judge me." I say, feeling my friends' eyes on me.

"We're not." Kelsi assures me, placing a hand on mine. I look down at it and back at her. Something is definitely up with these two.

"She's right. We're just glad to see that you're taking care of yourself." Ah, she must be referring to the two weeks that I didn't eat lunch with them, or at all.

"Guys, I'm fine." We all went quiet. Taylor looks as if she's about to explode. Kelsi pulls her hand back from mine and cringes at Taylor's expression.

"Did you finally talk to Troy?" She blurts and sighs. Kelsi's eyes bulge and she turns her gaze back on me.

"Umm, yeah. I did." I'm met with silence. They want me to elaborate. "I'm just...it's complicated."

With a dramatic eye roll, Taylor says, "It's not. You guys are making it complicated, but it doesn't have to be."

"Do you know something I don't?" It hits me; Taylor was the first person to push me talking to Troy. Of course she knows. "What did Troy say to you?" I'm actually starting to get angry. It wasn't like Troy to go to my friends and fill their heads up with stories, and it wouldn't be possible to change Taylor's mind about him that way either. Still, I had no other reasonable explanation for her sudden change of heart.

"Troy didn't say anything to me." Taylor says sternly. "He doesn't even know that I know. I've been talking to Chad." Of course, how could I have forgotten about their relationship?

"What did he say?"

"At first, nothing. He didn't want to say anything that wasn't his business. But Troy admitted to him that nothing happened with Sharpay the night of the party. Chad was so furious with him when he saw you leave that he confronted him. It was a pretty explosive fight." Chad has always been a sweetheart. He must've felt guilty for telling me not to give up on Troy. "They actually didn't talk for a few days until Chad was sure it was the truth. He asked Troy why he would do something like that, and Chad wouldn't tell me the exact reason. But I put a couple things together, and Gabs, he's scared."

"Scared?" Why does everyone keep saying that? I've not given him anything to be scared of.

"I can see where he's coming from. My theory is, he doesn't want to take things further because he doesn't think you'll want him afterward."

"What?" A small laugh escapes me, and I glance at Kelsi. She looks just as serious as Taylor. "You can't be serious-"

"Think about it Gabi. The whole reason you started this thing with Troy was to get experience for college, and if you go any further with him, you'll have that." Kelsi's voice is timid and gentle.

"Yeah, but-"

"It's not like he doesn't have a reason to believe that." Taylor cuts in. "The first time you got angry with him you practically hooked up with Travis." That was a punch to the gut.

"Tay!" Kelsi hisses.

"She knows it's true. Troy lied and it was stupid, but I understand why he did it. Take away his high status in school and it's any high school situation. It's like being in love with your boyfriend and he keeps saying how badly he wants to sleep with you. You know how badly he wants you, but you don't know if he actually wants you or just the sex." I sit back in my chair.

"That's how Troy feels about you. He knows that you want him, he can see that, but he's just not sure if you love him."

"He knows that I care about him."

"Yes, but Gabriella, you also care about Travis. Hell, you care about me and

Kelsi too! That's not the same as loving someone. Have you told him that?"

"For someone that didn't speak with Troy, you're doing an awful lot of speaking for him." I slide out of the booth.

"Gabi, I'm sorry I didn't mean to attack you." I can't listen to Taylor. It sucks when someone knows more about your relationship than you do. I don't respond to her. I make my way out of the door and start walking home.

I'm fuming. I want to say the entire conversation was bullshit, but I'd be lying. I just didn't like Taylor knowing more about my relationship than I did. She'd known about is for a few weeks and had more insight to what was going on than I'd like. I shouldn't be surprised, I've been so surrounded by all the drama that I didn't have a chance to step back and really look at everything. I reach my front door in time for Ricky to push past me. He grunts and gets into a car. I turn to see my dad, waving and smiling. Ricky says something to Dad and they pull off. I roll my eyes; I don't have the energy to care. I close the door and start to head up the stairs.

A knock on the door stops me. I debate ignoring it. There aren't any cars in the driveway so I don't have to be home. The knocking gets louder. It's probably Ricky. I should just let him wait. Knocking turns to banging and I rip open the door.

"Oh, hey." Troy's arm is still in the air. "Sorry, I was looking for Ricky."

"So you beat down the front door?"

"He told me to come over, thought he might've been ignoring me." My brother is such a little shit.

"He just left with my dad." I lean against the door frame.

"Of course." Troy scratches the back of his neck. "Well, I'll just text him later." He turns to leave and I grab his arm without thinking.

"Stay." I don't look him in the eyes.

"I thought you couldn't be around me."

Shaking my head, I meet his gaze. "I had a lot to process, but it wasn't you that I was trying to get away from. I think we have some things to talk about." He doesn't move or answer me right away. Minutes pass before he steps into the house with me. I close the door and lean against it. Troy stands perfectly still. "We can go up to my room."

"I don't think that's best."

"I just want to talk Troy. I feel like we don't really understand each other anymore. I just...I want to make sure we both know what we want." I don't wait for him to follow me up. I hear his footsteps on the stairs behind me. When we get to my room, Troy walks in slowly. He gently runs his hand across my bedspread, and it makes me think of the last time we were in it together.

"What do you want, Gabriella?" His tone is stern but pleading.

"You."

"What do you want from me?" He asks.

"Same answer. Just you." Troy turns to face me.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want any more games Troy. No more lying because you're scared or pushing me away." I take a step closer. "I want you, every part of you. Not just your body. I want your heart too, including the little pieces that you think are broken. That trust that you gave Sharpay, the trust you've given me, I want that too, I need them. It's been broken, I know, and I'm sorry, but we need to build that up again." I take his face in my hands. Troy sucks in a breath. "I need to know what you're thinking."

"Brie, I told you I love you, and you walked away."

"And I am so sorry. I can't go back in time and change that."

"I don't want to be without you. I'll do everything in my power to be with you, but I don't want to do that if it isn't returned." Tears form in my eyes.

"Oh, Troy..." How could I have been so stupid? "Of course. Of course I love you." I think back on the past few months and realize that there is no way Troy could've known. With me constantly trying to keep us a secret and the incident with Travis, of course he would have doubts. "I love you; I have for a while now. That's why I was so hurt when I heard the rumor about Sharpay. That's no excuse for what I did, I know that. But even then, I didn't think that you could love me. I was sure that this was meaningless. And I was so, so stupid." I shake my head, not sure what else to say. His brows raise and he opens his mouth to speak. "I haven't done a spectacular job at letting you know what you mean to me. And I-"

"Its okay, Brie. We're not perfect. We've both made mistakes." He presses his lips against mine and I sob. My hands reach back and grip his hair. His hands find my hips and I feel his fingers dig into them. I can't get enough of him. My body pressed against his, his tongue expertly exploring my mouth, it all feels so perfect. But it isn't enough. I grab at Troy's shirt and start to pull it over his head. He breaks our kiss long enough to pull it the rest of the way off. His eyes darken as he grips my waist and lifts me in the air. I sigh at the feel of his lips on my neck. It's been weeks since we've been together like this, and I don't try to suppress the loud moan that escapes me. He nips and sucks on my neck as he lowers me down to the bed. I instantly pull his face back up to mine. His hands find my hair and he scratches lightly. I lower my hands down to the zipper of his jeans.

"Wait." Troy pulls away, breathing heavily.

"What is it?" I sit up on my elbows.

"I just..." He rubs the side of his face. "I'm not ready."

"Not ready?" I eye the bulge in his jeans. Somehow I don't think that's the problem.

"Not like that." He chuckles. "I just, don't think now is the right time." I sit up perfectly straight.

"You don't believe me."

"Of course I do." He kisses me lightly. "We just started talking again. We're on good terms, so I don't want to rush anything." He was right. Going any further at the moment would seem like I had something to prove. I nod my head.

"I get it. We don't need to do anything today, I'm not going anywhere."

"Neither am I. I'm not letting you go."

"You're mine?" I smile.

"Only yours." Troy smirks at me and my heart flips.

"So, we're good again? No more lies?"

"No more lies, Brie." Troy kisses me deeply. "And no more avoiding me." I laugh as he scoops me up.

"Definitely not." We stand there holding each other. He rests his head on mine and sighs. "Troy?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you." I say, loud enough for both of us to hear. Troy leans back and I look up at him. "I love you too, Brie." A smile forms on my lips and I pull his head back down to mine. I hear a car horn beep outside.

"Ricky's back."

"Good, he and I have a few things to discuss." Troy kisses me once more and starts to leave.

"You sure you want to meet him at the door?" I'm a little worried about how he'll react.

"I'm not hiding anything anymore. No more lies, remember?" I agree. "Besides, little shit has a few things coming to him." I didn't catch what Troy said until he was already at the door. I walk to the top of the stairs. Ricky comes in and stops when he sees Troy.

"We need to talk." Troy doesn't give him the chance to say anything. He grabs him but the shoulder and shoves him toward the patio. Ricky groans but keeps walking. Troy winks at me and follows him out. I blow out a breath and head back to my room. This could be a long night.

AN- Thank you all so much for all the comments and condolences. I read every single one and am in the process of replying. This story is almost finished. Probably about a chapter or two left. Please let me know if there is any part of the story you feel needs clearing up. It's been four years since I've written some parts of this, so if you caught anything that sparks a question, please let me know! As always, any questions, comments or suggestions, please leave them for me in a review or PM!