Author's Note: Sorry if the last chapter disappointed you. (sigh) It disappointed me, too. 'Twas cruddy. 'Twas a filler. And so is this one, kinda.
"And it was almost like a date rape in that stupid hotel," Gabriella sighed, unconsciously resting her head against the palm of her hand. Having lost her appetite while talking about Derek, she picked at her food, rearranging the noodles and the side dishes so it looked like she had eaten a little.
Jacob shook his head disgustedly. "That's awful… why're you still working for that guy, anyway?... another question is, why am I?"
Gabriella smiled softly, twirling a lock of her curly dark hair around her finger. "I mailed in a resignation form. I don't really want to have to look at him again," she confessed bluntly, slipping the fork into her mouth daintily.
"Yeah, well, I'm going to work on mine when I get home," Jacob smiled back.
He is so adorable with his blond hair. "Huh?...oh, yeah. The resignation form. Gotcha." Gabriella was a little flustered before she stood reluctantly. "I have to go. But I had a great time." She placed a hand gently on his arm. "I'd like to do something like this again… with you."
Jacob's smile grew wider. "So would I." He stood up, too, left a tip, and walked her to the door. "See you later, Montez."
"Yeah… I'd like to."
---
Troy paced the floor of his room nervously. It had been just the night before yesterday when he drove Gabriella home from a date gone horribly wrong. And then it was just the next when she had received an invite from Jacob—a guy she hardly knew, might he add—to go out to eat. And good ol' Gabbie had accepted. He looked at the cell phone clutched tightly in his hand—so tightly that his knuckles looked almost transparent—and considered throwing it against the wall in frustration. He refrained because he really didn't want to pay for any costs that might have to cover the damage. Dad… he moaned inwardly. He knew that most of this was his dad's fault. And, as usual, he had to be the model son and oblige, sacrificing his and Gabriella's happiness in the process. Oh, how he wished death on himself.
It's now or never. He flipped his phone open and browsed for Gabriella's number. There it was—and her picture… the first one he had ever taken of her. She was beautiful, and she had blossomed over the course of time. Right now, she was more beautiful than ever… and he didn't blame Jacob at all for asking her out the first chance he got.
He pressed the "call" button and waited. "Please pick up, please pick up…"
"Hello?" Gabriella's voice rang out bright and cheery.
"Hey, this is Troy… how did your date with Jacob go?" Troy tried hard to not let his envy show, even though he was pretty sure that he was unsuccessful—by the tone of her voice, she sounded like she'd had fun.
"Oh, it was great, thanks." Gabriella remained unfazed. A good sign…? Troy hoped so.
"Listen… the reason I called you was to tell you that I'm really sorry. And I'm still waiting for forgiveness."
"You got it, Bolton."
"So… we're friends, right?"
"Sure, if you want me to be."
That and so much more. Troy leaned against a wall and lifted his chin to stare at the ceiling. "Yeah, I want you."
"I want you, too." After a pause, she continued, "Troy? I gotta go. Talk to you later?"
"Yeah… later."
A/N: Well, at least they're friends again! I didn't want to stuff too much into one chapter, so I kinda broke it down into two or three parts. I have the rest of the plot all planned-out, and I'm considering on rewriting certain parts of this story when it's all finished. Making it longer and more elaborate, maybe.
