AN: You guys got an update a little faster this time, mostly because I'm bored. So here it is!
Title: Where She Belongs
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: Ms. Montez's company transferred her back to San Diego, California. Troy and Gabriella lost touch after the move, but what will happen when they meet up again in college?
Genre: Romance/Drama
Chapter: Chapter 9
Hours later, somewhere around two a.m., when Troy and Gabriella could no longer stand the dull thumping coming from the DJ booth, the two of them dragged their eight drunk, sweaty friends out to the parking lot, stuffed them into the two cars, and drove them back to Ryan and Kelsi's apartment.
They had to half-carry all of them up the stairs to the apartment, and all of them collapsed into their respective beds/rooms as soon as they stepped inside. Troy and Gabriella, however, did a little more before going to sleep, like brushing their teeth, washing their faces, and changing into sleepwear.
Gabriella went into bed and started reading for a while, situated right in the middle. It wasn't until Troy walked in the room, wearing UCLA sweats and a white wife-beater, did she remember she was sharing the bed with him.
"Oh, sorry!" she exclaimed, quickly moving over.
"No problem," Troy pulled back the covers and climbed into bed next to each her.
Gabriella read for a few more minutes, but couldn't really focus because she was so nervous. She was sharing a bed – with Troy. They were in a bed – right next to each other. Granted, they were as far away possible from each other as possible without falling off the bed, but they were still sharing a bed.
She book marked her page and set it on the bedside table, switching off the light. She put her head on the pillow and a few seconds later Troy turned off his light too. It was completely silent, although Gabriella could hear her heart thumping. Could Troy hear it too?
After a few minutes, Troy whispered, "Gabriella? You awake?"
"Yeah," she answered softly. She turned around on her side to face Troy, to find that he was lying on his side, already facing her. She smiled.
He grinned back. "Did you have fun tonight?"
She gave a half-shrug. "It was okay. But I can still hear the music pounding in my ears."
Troy laughed a little. "Yeah me too." He paused. "It was fun talking to you though."
"Yeah," she agreed.
There was another pause, where the two of them just looked at each other. Then Troy cleared his throat nervously and said, "So, uh, have you heard from Jeremiah yet?"
Gabriella sighed. "No." After a moment, she added, "I just don't get him. Why would he act like a great boyfriend, and then act like this? It just doesn't make sense."
"Well," mused Troy. "Maybe he is a great boyfriend, and he just doesn't want to lost you to anyone."
"Maybe," said Gabriella, unconvinced.
She turned over again and after a few minutes, Troy said, "Um, you don't have to sleep on the edge of the bed. I don't bite." He chuckled.
"Oh!" exclaimed Gabriella, blushing furiously. Luckily she wasn't facing Troy, so he didn't notice. "Um, okay." She scooted more into the middle of the bed, and felt her body touch Troy's. "Sorry!"
"No, it's okay," Troy murmured.
They lay like that for a while, their bodies touching ever so slightly, before Troy slowly put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.
Gabriella felt her body tense up, and Troy must've noticed, because he said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," and he released her.
"No," protested Gabriella before she could stop herself. "No, don't stop... it felt good."
"You sure?"
"Yeah..."
He put his arms around her again and pulled her against his body; Gabriella couldn't help but notice how well their bodies blended together; how well they fit together. She felt like she was lying on one of those mattresses they were always advertising on TV – the ones that fit your body to perfection.
For a few minutes before she fell asleep, Gabriella wondered what she was doing with Jeremiah. She definitely had great chemistry with Troy, and he still liked her. So why not just go out with him again?
But I do love Jeremiah, Gabriella thought to herself. But I like Troy too...
Slowly she drifted off to sleep, and the next thing she knew, she was waking up to a brightly lit room.
She blinked slowly. Troy wasn't holding her anymore; he was sitting up in bed. He grinned down at her and stretched. "Did I wake you?"
"Nope," Gabriella sat up too and yawned. She glanced at the clock. It was 9:30. "Wow, I haven't slept in this late in a long time!" she exclaimed, throwing the covers off her and stretching.
Troy laughed. "I sleep in this late every Saturday."
"That's because you're lazy," teased Gabriella.
"Hey," said Troy, feigning hurt.
"Oh, come on. Mr. UCLA Basketball Man has to have thicker skin than that!"
"Well, I don't!" said Troy, leaning over. He started tickling her in the ribs, causing her to squeal in laughter.
"Troy!" she gasped. "Stop!"
Troy stopped tickling her, laughing.
"That wasn't fair!" pouted Gabriella getting out of the bed and stretching. "I hate you now."
"Aww, no you don't," Troy smiled cheekily, "You looove me!"
"Nah," joked Gabriella. She opened her suitcase, which was at the foot of the bed, and pulled out a knee-high pink skirt, a white quarter-length-sleeved shirt, and a bra and underwear(which she hid from Troy). "I'll be right back," she told Troy after grabbing her makeup back.
She knew no one else in the apartment was awake, due to what was sure terrible hangovers, so she knew that no one would be in the bathroom.
Gabriella entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She had just been totally flirting with Troy. Why couldn't she stop herself? It was just as if something was there.
But I love Jeremiah, Gabriella convinced herself silently.
She peed, brushed her teeth, washed her face, and got dressed. Then she put on a little mascara, in case she and Troy went somewhere before their flights home later that afternoon, and ran her comb once or twice through her hair. She hoped they did go somewhere; she didn't want to be stuck in an apartment with a eight hungover people, even if they were her best friends, having to be super quiet so as not to worsen their headaches.
She crossed the hall to enter the bedroom – only to find Troy was in the middle of pulling up his pants.
"Oh, my God!" cried Gabriella, fleeing from the room, horrified. "I'm so sorry, Troy!"
"Don't worry about it!" called Troy from the bedroom, sounding oddly unconcerned. She'd seen him practically naked; did he not understand that?
"I should have knocked! I'm so, so sorry!"
Troy laughed. "It's okay, Gabriella. You can come in now, I'm decent."
Gabriella slowly entered the room again, to see Troy sitting on the unmade bed, now fully clothed in a pair of jeans and a white American Eagle t-shirt. He grinned.
She blushed harder than she ever had in her life and dumped her pajamas and makeup bag into her suitcase, looked anywhere but at Troy.
"Gabriella, calm down," said Troy soothingly. "It's okay. You have nothing to be embarrassed about."
Gabriella looked at him, still grinning. She smiled slightly back.
"Is anyone else awake?"
She shrugged. "Probably not."
"Let's check," he declared, leading the way out of the room and pulling her after him.
They peeked into Kelsi and Ryan's room. They saw two lumps in the bed to show that it's occupants were still passed out. They found the same thing in Sharpay and Zeke's room.
In the living room, they saw that Jason and Brooke were sleeping gracefully – Jason had his arms around Brooke, like Troy had done to Gabriella, and the covers were over them neatly – but Chad and Taylor were sprawled on their bed – They were on opposite sides, the blankets twisted haphazardly around the two's feet, and Chad was drooling.
Gabriella laughed softly at her friends, but then Taylor stirred.
"Oooh," she moaned, sitting up, with a hand on her forehead. She squinted her eyes up at Troy and Gabriella. "T-T-Troy?" She yawned. "Gabriella? You guys already up?"
"Yeah, it's like, ten," said Gabriella quietly, not wanting to wake anyone else up.
Taylor moaned again and flopped back on the pull-out bed. "I always tell myself not to drink again whenever I get a hangover, but I never listen to myself."
Gabriella and Troy looked at each other. "Um, sorry?"
"Shh!" she hissed. "Don't talk so loud!"
"Do you wanna get out of here?" Troy mouthed to her.
"Where?" she mouthed back.
Troy shrugged. "Walk around?"
She nodded. "Um. Taylor?"
"What?" her friend groaned.
"Troy and I are gonna go walk around. Tell everyone else later, okay?"
"Okay, okay, just leave!"
Gabriella giggled. The two of them went back into their room to get their shoes, Gabriella grabbed her purse and Troy some sunglasses and his wallet, and then left.
They slowly walked down the stairs to the parking lot of the apartment. Gabriella looked around and said, "Um, where should we go?"
Troy shrugged. "Everything that there is to go is pretty much in walking distance." He checked his watch. "I guess we can go see a movie and then grab some lunch."
"Sure." Gabriella laughed. "Do they have a Starbucks around here?"
"Probably," Troy grinned.
They started walking along the streets slowly, towards, what Troy said, the movie theatre. After a few minute of them slowly walking, just enjoying each others company, Gabriella spotted a Starbucks. They went inside, got their respective coffee's and, of course, a muffin, and slowly continued their walk to the movie theatre. They shared the muffin between themselves, wanting to get a decent breakfast before eating greasy popcorn and who knows what else at the theatre.
When the two of them reached the theatre, they'd finished the muffin but still had their coffee's. They got two tickets to see Scary Movie 4 (turns out there weren't any good movies out) and presented their tickets to the ticket barrier, to get inside.
"I"m sorry, miss, but you two can't bring those in here," said the teenage, pimply, awkward-looking ticket boy.
"Really?" exclaimed Gabriella. It'd been so long since she'd been to a movie theatre. She pouted.
"Awww, it's alright," said the guy sheepishly, blushing. "You guys can bring them in." He gave Gabriella an awkward grin as he handed their tickets back to them.
Gabriella took back her ticket, a surprised expression on her face.
"Nice way to abuse your assets, Gabriella," muttered Troy in her ear.
"Oh, my God, I so did not do that on purpose!" exclaimed Gabriella. "I swear!"
Troy smirked.
"Really!" she cried. You're flirting again...! But she couldn't stop. It just felt perfectly natural.
"Whatever you say," he laughed. "You wanna get anything to eat?"
Gabriella shook her head. "Nah. Greasy, unhealthy food probably isn't good so early in the morning."
"True,"
The walked to the door of their theatre and entered, seeing that the previews had already started.
Troy and Gabriella watched the movie without talking, Gabriella's mind constantly wandering. The one topic it was stuck on was – Troy or Jeremiah?
Troy was a great guy, and they had a lot of chemistry together, but what about her current boyfriend? She loved him so much, and she could see herself being with both of them. Jeremiah lived near her, while Troy lived about 9 hours away. If they dated, they wouldn't really see each other that much. But Troy could probably give her everything she needed, and more.
Gabriella was surprised when the movie ended; she hadn't really paid attention to any of it. The two of them stood up and left the theatre.
"Man, that movie was so stupid!" exclaimed Troy, laughing, as they started walking along the streets again to look for a place to eat lunch. Gabriella welcomed the heat from outside, since it had been cold in the theatre. "I can't believe we spent our money on that."
"Yeah," agreed Gabriella. She hadn't actually watched the movie, but it had to have been pretty boring if it couldn't hold her attention.
They walked for a few minutes, sneaking glances at each other. Then they spotted a cute little restaurant on the corner of the street, about six blocks from Ryan and Kelsi's apartment.
"Wanna eat here?" asked Troy.
"Sure!"
There was no wait, and they got a table at the very back, outside, so they were ride next to the sidewalk. They flipped through their menus, trying to decide on whether to have breakfast or lunch.
"I'm gonna get breakfast," declared Gabriella. "I haven't had a real breakfast in a long time."
"I think I will too," Troy put down his menu. "You should start having real breakfasts, Gabriella."
Gabriella shrugged. "Yeah, I know, but-,"
"You wake up early every morning, so what is that you do? Instead of going to Starbucks, maybe you should go to a restaurant and get some breakfast."
"That's a good idea,"
There was a pause. "What do you usually do on weekends?"
Gabriella thought about that. "Well, nothing really." She felt the heat creep up into her cheeks. "That makes me sound like such a loser. But I really don't do anything. Well, last weekend I went to your guys' game and this weekend I came here, but I usually just hang around in my dorm room, watching TV or something, or I'll do homework. Sometimes I'll go for a run. Oh, but I always go out for coffee."
Troy simply nodded.
Their waiter came up to them at that moment, and they ordered. Then when he left, silence fell again.
"So did you have fun this weekend?"
"Yeah! It was great!" said Gabriella enthusiastically. "Most fun I've had in a long, long time."
Troy nodded again. "That's good. I had a lot of fun too."
Gabriella laughed. "It seems like you and I have been stuck together a lot."
He grinned. "Yeah." Then he looked down. After a moment he looked back up and spoke. "What you said yesterday before we went to the club, about not liking me in that way... was that true?"
Before Gabriella had a chance to answer, their food came. The waiter set in front of them two plates loaded with steaming scrambled eggs, greasy bacon, burnt hash browns, and a large biscuit each. This time Gabriella had ordered first, so Troy had gotten the same thing.
She sprinkled some salt on her eggs and took a bite. It tasted wonderful.
After a few moments of them eating, Troy cleared his throat and said casually, "So, um, the answer to my question?"
Gabriella chewing the piece of egg in her mouth slowly. She'd tried to avoid answering it, but how long could she do that for? She swallowed and then said, "Well, yeah. I mean, I'm dating Jeremiah. I love Jeremiah. I love you, but as a friend."
Troy nodded slowly. After another few minutes, he dropped his fork with a loud clang! and Gabriella looked up at him in surprise. "You know that I like you, don't you?"
Gabriella paused, and then nodded.
"So, you know that I'm still in love with you, and you don't love me. Then why are you leading me on?"
"Leading you on?" repeated Gabriella, flabbergasted.
"Yeah!" he exclaimed. "You keep flirting with me. You let us sleep... like that... last night. What's the deal?"
Gabriella paused again. Troy was 100 right. She was leading him on. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "You're right, I'm leading you on. But it's not intentional!"
"It's not?" he asked. "So, you're flirting with me is unintentional? What does that tell us?"
"What?"
"That you do have feelings for me! You're kidding yourself about Jeremiah!"
"No, I'm not!" said Gabriella loudly. A couple people in tables around them looked over. "I'm not," she repeated, lower this time.
"You know, you always get defensive when I mention Jeremiah," said Troy angrily. "Is it because you have to persuade yourself you like him? Because you're kidding yourself?"
"No!"
"Yeah, I think that's it," said Troy. "You really do like me, but for whatever reason, you're convincing yourself that you love him. I don't get it, Gabriella. Why not just be with me?"
"Because I love Jeremiah!" Gabriella hissed. People were starting to stare.
"No, you don't," Troy insisted. "You're just telling yourself that. How come? You don't wanna hurt his feelings?"
"NO!" Gabriella screamed, standing up. She'd never yelled like that at someone before, and it took her a second to realize why she'd just yelled at Troy like that. Maybe because he's right?
Troy blinked up at her for a moment. The outside portion of the restaurant had fallen silent, while some passersby were stationary and watching them too. Troy slowly stood up, reached into his wallet, slapped $20 onto the table and said quietly, "I'll take that as a yes," and stormed out.
Gabriella fell back into her chair roughly and started to cry. What was wrong with her? Everything Troy had said was true. She really was afraid of hurting Jeremiah's feelings, and... she did love Troy.
"Troy, wait-," Gabriella looked up to try and call him back, but he was already all the way down the street. Before turning the corner, he turned back and looked straight into her tear-strained eyes. For a moment they stared into each other's eyes, and Gabriella briefly thought everything was going to be okay – but then he turned on his heel, rounded the corner, and was gone.
Gabriella sobbed into her arms. She'd just ruined everything. Everything. Troy would probably never talk to her again.
People in the restaurant were still paying attention to her. She heard one woman whispered, "Oh, the poor dear," and another lady reply, "Well, from what I could tell, she had it coming..."
She heard someone walk up to the table, and the waiter said tentatively, "Um, the check, miss?"
Gabriella nodded miserably. He walked away and she checked the receipt. It was only $25, and Troy had already left a 20. So Gabriella left a 10 on the table, grabbed her purse, and left.
She walked back quickly to Kelsi and Ryan's apartment, eager to talk to Troy.
However, when she got there, she realized Troy wasn't home. Zeke, Sharpay, Kelsi, and Ryan were still in their rooms, Taylor, Chad, and Jason were sitting up in their respective beds, watching 'My Super Sweet Sixteen' on MTV – Is that show ever not on? Gabriella couldn't help but wonder – and Brooke was drinking orange juice while reading CosmoGirl!
"Damn, I never even dreamed of having a Sweet Sixteen like that," said Taylor. "My Sweet Sixteen was held in my backyard. Remember?
"It was fun, though," said Chad loyally.
"Hey Gabriella," said Taylor. Then catching sight of her expression, said, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing..."
Taylor stood up and dragged Gabriella into the room she'd shared with Troy, and then steered her into the closet, so no one would over hear them. "Okay, spill. Why do you look like you've been crying and why did you get back here without Troy?"
Gabriella sighed in defeat and relayed the days events to Taylor.
"Taylor, I'm gonna go catch an earlier flight," said Gabriella, seeing that it was one o' clock. "I don't wanna stay here any longer."
"Oh, but Gabriella-," protested Taylor.
"No," said Gabriella firmly. "I'm going now. Do you think Jason or Ryan can give me a ride? My stuff is already packed."
Taylor was silent. Gabriella sighed impatiently and pushed past her. She grabbed her suitcase, purse, and strode into the living room, saying, "Hey, Jason? Can you give me a ride to the airport?"
Jason blinked at her. "How come?"
"I'm taking an earlier flight," Gabriella informed him.
"What? Why?" asked Chad.
Jason stood up and pulled a pair of shorts on over his boxers and a gray shirt over his undershirt. "Sure, Gabriella, no problem."
"Thanks," she said to Jason, and then to Chad, "I'm not feeling well."
"Oh," said Chad, unconvinced. He glanced at Taylor quickly before getting up and giving her a hug. "It was great seeing you again, Gabriella. I hope you can join us next time."
Gabriella nodded. "Definitely," she assured him, even though she knew she wouldn't. She – no, Troy – had ruined everything.
She hugged Brooke too. "It was lovely meeting you," said Brooke.
"You too,"
Gabriella hugged Taylor stiffly, and, since Sharpay, Zeke, Ryan, and Kelsi were still sleeping, Gabriella couldn't say good-bye to them.
Jason drove her to the airport and hugged her good-bye as he helped her out. "Hope you had a great time," he said earnestly before driving off.
Gabriella purchased her ticket, which was luckily a time only twenty minutes from then, so she boarded the plane immediately.
On the short ride home, Gabriella thought about where she and Troy stood. He was obviously angry beyond reason with her...
So why should I feel sorry? Gabriella felt herself thinking angrily. Who needs Troy, anyway? Sure, I love him, but I love Jeremiah. I can forget Troy.
By the end of the plane ride, Gabriella had convinced herself that she didn't need Troy, she needed to forget about him, and focus on her relationship with Jeremiah. He was the one for her, anyway.
It was around 4:30 when she landed, and after the taxi ride back to her dorm, it was five o' clock. She half-expected Troy to call her, to ask why she left early, but he didn't. Forget about him, she told herself.
She walked up to her dorm room, happy to be home after that long weekend, and was immensely surprised to find Jeremiah standing in front of her door.
"Gabriella!" he cried, relieved, when he saw her. He quickly walked to her and swept her up into a tight hug. "I missed you so much," he whispered before swooping down to kiss her passionately.
"I missed you too, Jeremiah," said Gabriella, smiling up at the man she loved.
"I'm sorry I didn't call after our little tiff yesterday," he apologized. "I just got so worried about you, but my buddies said not to worry, because you're a responsible girl and can take care of yourself."
Gabriella beamed up at him. "Thank you, Jeremiah," she put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I love you," she murmured into his ear.
Instead of replying, Jeremiah pulled away nervously. He walked away from her a few steps, and then walked back.
"Jeremiah?" asked Gabriella, perplexed.
He didn't answer. He instead lowered himself in front of her, on one knee.
"Jeremiah-,"
"Gabriella, I love you," he recited. "I've had so much fun with you these past six, almost seven, months. I know we're made for each other, and I love you for than anything in the world." He pulled a small, dark blue, velvet box from his pocket and opened it, revealing a small, yellow-diamond ring. "Gabriella, will you marry me?"
Gabriella stared at the ring. It was beautiful, although it was hard to overlook the fact that yellow was her least favorite color. But other than that, the ring was gorgeous.
Should I say yes? a voice floated through her brain. Of course I should! I love Jeremiah!
But Troy... a smaller voice argued.
Troy, Shmoy! You're with Jeremiah!
Gabriella smiled even wider at Jeremiah.
"Of course I'll marry you, Jeremiah. I'd want nothing more."