Gabriella was lying on her stomach, her chin resting on her right palm and her feet in the air. Her chocolate eyes were looking down at her geography textbook, studying the words that were typed in tiny print. It was almost time for finals, and she not only wanted to pass them, she wanted to excel. Because of that, she hadn't studied with or had a sleepover with Troy in the past five days, as that would only distract her from studying.
Knock, knock.
Startled by the sudden rap on her balcony door, Gabriella quickly sat up and looked through the glass to see Troy standing there, a bag in his hand. "Come in, it's unlocked," she called out.
Opening the door, Troy walked into his girlfriend's room. "Hey, beautiful," he said, greeting her with a short, sweet kiss on the lips before taking a seat beside her and wrapping an arm around her waist. "I brought you something." Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a small bouquet of flowers and a chocolate bar. "I picked the flowers from my mom's garden, so they're fresh," he explained, handing them to her. "And also, here's some bubble bath." Once again, he put his hand into the bag and, this time, took out a small bottle. "You've been studying so hard lately, I thought you would need to relax. So I was thinking maybe I could go and run you a hot bath with bubbles, then after your bath, you could get your pajamas on and let me give you a massage."
Gabriella let out a sigh. "That sounds wonderful, Wildcat, but I don't have time to relax. I really need to study." Her eyes briefly darted to her textbook, which was still open. "But I'll still take the flowers and chocolate." She smiled.
Troy handed the bouquet and the chocolate bar to his girlfriend and watched as she held the fragrant flowers to her nose. "But you've been studying for days, Brie. You have to relax sometime." He gently took her hand and laced his fingers with hers.
"I'll relax after finals are over," came Gabriella's response.
"But sweetheart...sweetheart, look at me for a minute."
Gabriella turned her face toward Troy's.
"Baby girl, you have dark circles under your pretty eyes. You're tired. You need to relax."
"I already told you. I can't relax right now."
Troy lifted Gabriella into his strong arms and, placing her in his lap, nuzzled his nose her shoulder, which was almost bare as she was wearing a deep purple spaghetti strap dress that reached just below her knees. To school, she had worn a cropped short-sleeved knitted wrap sweater over it since spaghetti straps weren't allowed in school, but she'd taken that off when she had gotten home. "Just take an hour to rest. Please, Brie."
"No."
"Half an hour?" Troy tried.
"No."
"Fifteen minutes?"
"Fine," said Gabriella. "Fifteen minutes. But no more than that because I really need to keep studying." Silence settled over the room for a minute before she spoke again. "Wildcat?"
"Yeah?"
"Why aren't you studying?"
"Because I'm not a nerd," he answered playfully.
"Hey!" Gasping dramatically, Gabriella teasingly smacked Troy on the arm. "Are you saying that I'm a nerd?" She turned around partially so that she was looking at him, but still settled in his lap.
"Yes, you are." Troy pressed a kiss into Gabriella's dark curls. "But that's just one of the many things I love about you. I mean, if you weren't a nerd, whose answers would I copy?"
"You're not supposed to be copying my answers!" exclaimed Gabriella, smacking Troy's arm again. "When did you copy?"
"Um...I've never copied..." Troy attempted.
"You liar," said Gabriella, amusement glittering in her eyes.
"Hey! Don't call me a liar! If you do it again, I'm gonna have to make you give me a kiss, and I know you don't want to do that."
"Liar," Gabriella repeated.
"Well, I warned you, and you know what you have to do now." Troy leaned in until his lips were only millimeters away from Gabriella's. "You have to kiss me," he whispered, one hand coming up to caress her cheek.
"I have to?"
Troy nodded, a smile pasted on his face.
"What happens if I don't?"
"Simple. Then I'll kiss you." Troy shrugged. "And then hold you and hug you and take you home with me so we can finally cuddle up in bed and you can fall asleep in my arms."
"Mmmm, that sounds nice, but-"
"You talked before you kissed me," Troy pointed out. "Now that means that I need to kiss you and take you back to my house for a sleepover. And since we'll be at my house, you need to follow my rules, and one of my rules is that you can't study." He winked playfully before connecting his lips with Gabriella's for a few seconds.
"Troy!" pouted Gabriella. "I can't sleep over. I really have to study and I think fifteen minutes is up, so I'm gonna have to kick you out." She climbed off his lap, then made her way over to her balcony door and opened it. "Bye, Wildcat. I'll see you in the morning."
Letting out a defeated sigh, Troy slowly walked through the doorway. "Bye, baby girl. I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you, too, Wildcat. But I promise that next Saturday after finals are all over with, I'll have a lazy weekend at your house with you...or maybe just a lazy Sunday if you want to be sweet and take me out to the movies Saturday night." Gabriella put on her sweetest face.
"I'm afraid we'll have to go for an entire lazy weekend, sweetheart. I'm kinda broke right now."
"Could we go on a picnic or something in place of the movies?"
"Sure." Troy smiled. "That sounds like a plan."
"Okay. Well, I really need to get back to studying now, so I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you." Troy turned around, about to climb down the tree that provided access to Gabriella's room, but then turned around, rushed back through the doors, and caught Gabriella tightly in his arms, allowing his lips to fuse with hers.
"What was that for?" Gabriella queried with a smile when Troy released her.
"I just wanted to be romantic," Troy replied, leaning in for another kiss.
Sorry this chapter was so short! I was planning for it to be longer, but it turned out to only be this long. I know not much happened in it. It was just kind of supposed to be a cute, fluffy chapter:) But anyway...please review!