Chapter 38
Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.
Gabriella got out of the shower and sat on the couch waiting for Troy to get back before starting breakfast searching for the literature she needed to begin her next assignment. Sophia came out of her room yawning. "Is the bathroom free?" she asked.
"Yeah I think Alia is still asleep" Gabriella nodded.
"Where's Troy?" Sophia asked half expecting Gabriella to say he wasn't feeling well enough to get out of bed.
"Out running" Gabriella said absently looking up from her book.
"After how wrecked he looked last night?" Sophia asked surprised.
Gabriella shrugged "He's fine, he needs to run the last of the stiffness out" she said.
"That sounds a bit harsh" Sophia commented.
"I didn't force him to run" she said ignoring the fact that she had ordered him to go.
"I thought you'd be offering him a more horizontal form of exercise this morning after he was too tired last night" Sophia teased smirking.
"Who said he wasn't up for it last night?" Gabriella asked smirking back.
"You were sitting studying last night after he fell asleep at the dinner table" Sophia reminded her.
"I did tell you he wouldn't sleep all night. He woke up and we went for a walk and he finished his dinner. You should get in the shower before he gets back" Gabriella suggested.
"Okay talk to you later" she said hurrying into the bathroom and Gabriella went back to her research.
By the time she got out of the shower Troy and Gabriella were in the kitchen making pancakes. "Hi Troy, showers free" Sophia said admiring the toned and sweaty body of her friend's husband.
"Thanks Sophia" Troy said leaving the room.
"You are one lucky woman" Sophia said quietly to Gabriella.
"Believe me I know that" Gabriella said smiling "And not just for his looks."
"What are you guys going to do today?" Sophia said stealing some pancakes.
"I don't know if Troy has anything planned. If he has to meet the team I might go along and have a look around the Berkeley campus. Otherwise we'll probably do some tourist stuff, maybe go to the beach if the weather's nice" Gabriella replied. "There's not much more we can do to plan for next year."
"That sounds fun" Sophia said.
"Do you have plans?" Gabriella asked her friend.
"Yeah I'm meeting Damon for lunch and then Alia and I are going to explore the other parts of the campus we haven't seen yet. Maybe check out the sports fields and see if some of the athletes are training" Sophia answered enthusiastically.
"Yeah this place is huge" Gabriella agreed smiling.
Sophia smiled realising that Gabriella had completely misread her motivations. "Well you and Troy have fun. You deserve a break from all the studying" Sophia said.
Troy came into the kitchen wearing jeans and a polo shirt and walked up behind Gabriella who was standing at the stove and wrapped his arms around her in a gentle hug.
"Hey Troy. Hungry?" Gabriella said turning her head to give him a quick kiss.
"Starved" Troy said kissing the top of her head.
Gabriella handed him the pile of pancakes she had been keeping warm in the oven.
"Come sit and eat with me" Troy encouraged turning off the stove. "Sophia and Alia can cook the rest."
"Do you need to go to Berkeley today?" Gabriella asked.
"No not unless you'd like to see it" Troy replied smiling.
Gabriella thought for a moment "Not today" she said at last. "I do want to see it, maybe next year when you can show me around" she suggested wanting Troy to have the pleasure of showing her his campus like she had hers last night. "I was thinking we could go to the beach."
Troy smiled "That's a great idea" he said enthusiastically. "I'll go put on some shorts."
"It's beautiful here" Gabriella said as they walked along the sand.
"Yes it is" Troy said looking at Gabriella's smiling face.
"I can't believe I'd forgotten how much I loved walking on the beach" Gabriella said surprised at herself. "I wish we were going to live close enough to come here every day."
"Hayward's near the water too but in the harbour. There'll probably be a beach we can walk along near home next year" Troy replied encouragingly.
Gabriella smiled.
"Are you looking forward to moving here?" she asked seriously.
Troy thought for a moment how to best word his answer "I'm looking forward to having our own apartment but not to being so far away from our families and friends" he said. "I don't think I realised until now how hard it has been for you to stay in Albuquerque while Maria is in Mexico" he said apologetically.
"It would have been just as hard to go with her, maybe even harder" Gabriella replied reassuringly.
"Yes" Troy agreed. "And I know that Mom and Dad try but it's like when I was staying with you. I really like Maria, she did her best to make me feel at home and most of the time she succeeded but it still wasn't the same as living with Mom and Dad. And I still got to see Dad nearly every day and knew I could go home and visit whenever I wanted."
"I think that was probably part of the problem. You didn't have to emotionally commit to living with Mom because you still had a home just a couple of blocks away. It helped too that we moved to your parents' after we'd all been away together at Christmas. It felt like we were family" Gabriella said smiling.
"Yeah being all together over Christmas was great" Troy agreed also smiling at the memory. "Do you think Maria will come with us next year too?"
"I guess it depends on what Aunt Ginevra is planning to do for Christmas. We normally spend it with her" Gabriella reminded him.
"Will she be back from France or Italy or wherever she is?" Troy asked.
"I'm not sure. She talked about spending two years there but that was when she thought I would need to go into hiding until I turned eighteen" Gabriella said. "Even if she's still working in France she could still come home for Christmas."
Troy nodded "Yeah" he said thoughtfully, "would you want to stay and have Christmas with your mom and Ginevra?" he asked quietly. Troy would choose to stay with Gabriella but he would miss Christmas with his family.
"I don't know, Aunt Ginevra may decide to spend Christmas in Italy with Nonno and Nonna anyway. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."
"If it is just Ginevra maybe Aunt Denise could squeeze in one extra person" Troy suggested.
"That's not fair to your Aunt" Gabriella protested.
"She didn't mind having Maria" Troy pointed out.
"That's different we were in hiding it was an emergency" Gabriella said exaggerating slightly.
"It wouldn't have mattered she invited Maria to come again any year she was free" Troy argued.
"Yes now that Denise knows her. I wouldn't want to take advantage of your aunt's hospitality like that."
"Aunt Denise would rather have an extra person stay for Christmas than know your mom was worrying about her sister being alone" Troy said quietly.
Gabriella let the subject drop knowing they would continue to disagree and not wanting to let it escalate into an argument. She lay back enjoying the feel of the sun on her face.
They were both quiet for a while thinking their own thoughts. "Are you enjoying the honours program?" Troy asked breaking the silence.
"I enjoy the challenge of the classes though it is a lot of work each day to be prepared for them all. The professors all seem great and I'm looking forward to the research projects" Gabriella replied.
"You're really bored by the classes at East High aren't you?" Troy said sadly.
"I love East High" Gabriella protested.
Troy just looked at her.
"Yes most of the classes are too easy" Gabriella admitted. "But all the other schools I've gone to have been the same. I love the school itself and I have my correspondence classes to keep my brain occupied."
"So you're really looking forward to college?" Troy asked.
"I feel the same way you do. I'm looking forward to the classes and having our own apartment but at the same time I wish we could stay at East High with all our friends a little longer" Gabriella said almost sadly.
"We still have the summer" Troy said reassuringly.
"Remember when you were little and summer vacation seemed to go almost forever" Gabriella said.
Troy smiled "Yeah" he agreed "Summer seems to get shorter every year."
A/N: Thankyou to Pumpkinking5 , Kiara, CimorelliMIA, Wildcats2016, Ceciliaa93, hayster83 and guest for you support. Sorry about the delay in finishing this chapter.