Author's Note: Before somebody else corrects me, I've been spelling Ngayong Nandito Ka wrong this whole time. xP Please forgive me. This chapter is about how Gabriella & Derek celebrated their monthaversary and their next date. I didn't want to ruin the Troyella-dedicated chapter… so the first part comes in-between the two parts of chapter six, and the second part (their next date) comes after the entire chapter. Hope you guys got that… or this could get confusing. This chapter and the next one have a scene inspired by the book Torch Red: Color Me Torn by Melody Carlson (one of my favorite authors). This chapter has a bit of Troyella, too.

Oooh, and in NNK, Garie's (Gabbie) boyfriend's name is Derek! O.o I just watched it today and can't believe I remembered!


Derek was just dropping Gabriella off at her house after a nice little night celebrating their "monthaversary." He pulled up into her driveway and asked, "Babe, do you mind if I stay for a cup of coffee?"

Gabriella felt a little ticked-off at his choice of words, but smiled and said, "of course," anyway. She was so frustrated with herself. She didn't know how to say "no" to Derek anymore. Which wasn't usually a problem since they agreed on most things… then again, having known him for only a month, she couldn't be entirely sure of that.

All of those thoughts fled from her mind when the door opened and she saw what was inside. Her entire house looked so different. Rose petals were scattered around the floor, and her plain, white-carpeted living room looked like a romantic garden. There were pictures of her all over the place. This was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. Makes sense—only Derek Brown himself could afford to go all-out.

Derek took a rose out of a glass vase and held it out to her. "Gabriella… will you marry me?"

Speechlessness.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Derek stepped closer to her.

Gabriella felt a little uncomfortable, but that could be because she hadn't been this close to a boy in awhile. Not since Troy, anyway. Ugh. There I go again.

Gabriella had to wait a little before sound could come out of her mouth. "Y-yes, Derek. I will marry you." Derek opened his arms for a hug, and she embraced him. The hug felt a little weird… again, probably because she hadn't hugged anyone of the opposite gender in awhile.

"Great." Derek presented her with a ring. Gabriella had never seen a shiny rock so big. "We can have another date next week, after we have dinner with Troy."

Gabriella plastered on a smile as Derek slid the ring onto her finger. Troy. Even after he had broken her heart, strangely, she had always imagined this moment with him. Then again… they were… weren't. Anymore.

---

On the way to their date, Gabriella couldn't even pretend to be interested in what Derek was talking about. She'd been pretending too long. Troy had called her, texted her, emailed her, even instant-messaged her… all telling her about how sorry and miserable he was. He'd even stopped her at work two times since the dinner. Every time, he had looked close to tears. But each time, Gabriella couldn't bring herself to just "forgive and forget." She had stiffly reminded him that their relationship was now "strictly business," and asked that he didn't bring up their past, especially since she was now engaged to Derek.

She was brought back to reality when Derek pulled into the parking lot of a five-star hotel. "What's this?" she asked, feeling her stomach churn.

"I promised you that our date'd be special," Derek said simply. This time, he didn't even bother to open the door for her. Something about him was different, and it scared her a little.

Dinner was nice, and Derek even convinced Gabriella to dance with him a little. They were the youngest people on the dance floor, and Gabriella enjoyed the attention she and Derek drew from the older couples.

"This is a nice place," she laughed lightly, forgetting about all the doubts she'd had whirling in her head earlier. They were entering the lobby, hand-in-hand. She liked hearing the click-clack from the heels of her brown boots against the shiny, beige marble tiles.

"Yeah… me and my dad go here sometimes on special occasions." Once they entered the lobby, Derek walked through it instead of heading towards the door.

Gabriella opened her mouth to say something, but by the look in his eyes she could tell he was fully aware of what he was doing where he was going. Her body tensed, but he didn't notice.

He led her into the elevator, telling her that he wanted to "show you something."

Gabriella helplessly followed and hated herself for it. I've been doing a lot of self-hating lately. When the elevator stopped at the floor Derek wanted, he led her into the carpeted hallways and stopped in front of a door.

"Tonight's gonna be special," Derek drawled, more to himself than to a horrified Gabriella.

Her eyes darted around quickly. Derek seemed drunk or high… something he hardly ever was. If she were to run, he'd surely catch up with her and who knows what he'd do then? They had discussed their views on abstinence, hadn't they? Maybe all Derek wanted was to show her something… but she was almost sure that wasn't the case.

Derek slipped the room card in and out, unlocking the door. He stepped inside first, leaving the door open for Gabriella, who unwillingly followed. There was a bucket on the bed, full of ice and with two small bottles of wine in it. Gabriella panicked again… hadn't they talked about alcohol, too? She was sure they had… maybe it was just for decoration… or maybe he never cared in the first place. Tears threatened to fall as she stared at the wretched rock sitting on her left-hand ring finger.

Derek took a bottle out of the bucket and opened it, taking a swig.

Gabriella stayed as close to the doorway as possible, in case she needed to run. "Derek… I didn't expect you to book us a hotel room."

"So you were leading me on the whole time?" Derek turned away from the large window to face her. He looked angry and advanced towards her, like he had the night of his proposal.

"I thought we were clear on that!" Emotion surged through her—indignation, anger, humiliation. Everything, she was sure, except for love, which she now realized she had never felt for him in the first place. "I thought you listened. I thought you cared!" She turned to leave, but she felt a strong grip on her wrist. She looked back into Derek's face. He looked angry, and the pain in her arm made her want to yelp. He pushed her onto the bed.

Gabriella held her breath and racked her brain for ideas. Derek could obviously overpower her whenever he wanted to, and he wasn't himself. His face was so close to hers that she could smell the alcohol. She'd heard of a date rape and shuddered at the thought. Suddenly, an idea came to her. Oh, God, if I get out of this safely, I promise I'll never date an idiot again…she prayed fervently. Her plan came with a lot of risks, but she was willing to take them, she decided, if it helped her get out alive.

"Wait, Derek," Gabriella murmured as seductively as she could muster, considering she felt disgusted, running her fingers through his hair. "We need to take it slow, okay?"

Derek lessened his grip on her and backed off, relaxing. "Yeah, baby. We can take it as slow as you want."

Gabriella had to keep herself from squirming underneath his hungry gaze. "I need to change out of this dress, hun, so I'll be more comfortable. Maybe into a hotel bathrobe. You close your eyes and keep the bed warm for me, OK?"

"Yeah, baby. I get it. I'll keep it nice and warm."

Gabriella got out of bed slowly, making her way to the bathroom. At the last second, she bolted out of the door and ran downstairs to the lobby. She came to the sick realization that she was stuck here, since Derek had brought her to this stupid, five-star place. Figures I'd forget my cell phone tonight. The only thing she had was… a business card from… Troy. "Call me if you need me," he'd said. Well, if there's any time I needed him… her footsteps were filled with dread as she headed towards a pay phone outside… it's now.

"Troy?" Gabriella sobbed into the phone. "C-can you come get me?" She spilled the entire story to him, not caring about the curious eyes she drew to herself. She finally hung up and hugged herself in the cold, waiting… for him. Glancing down at her fingers, she threw the ring off and ground it into the dirt with her heel.

---

Troy drove Gabriella to her house in silence. The only words she spoke to him were those that showed him where her house was. Troy nodded, and stole glances all along the way at her tear-stained face and her broken frame. She looked so hurt… so scared. He could only imagine what she looked like when he had told her he was getting married. He wanted to reach out and touch her… hold her again.


A/N: Awwww! This chapter was, oddly, a lot of fun to write. Even though it wasn't very NNK-like, except for the proposal part. I hope you liked it! I thought it was a nice change from Gabbie telling Troy off and everything…

♥♥♥ --- Christa (aka Sawk-Rawker)