Chapter Four – A Party

"Mom, what is it? I couldn't believe how rude you were to Troy on Friday. I thought you wanted me to have a boyfriend. I like Troy a lot, and I wish you would like him too! What's wrong?"

"Gabriella Nicole Montez! Do not speak to me that way. Troy's father and I had a misunderstanding when we were younger and if Troy is anything like his dad, he means trouble. Be careful Gabi, I only want what's best for you!"

I tried my best to get more information from her but she wouldn't say a word. I called Troy and told her what she said. He decided not to try to pry his dad because we didn't want his dad to hate me.

The next two weeks were pretty uneventful. I was unable to coax more info from my mom. I hung out with Troy a couple of times but we didn't go anywhere big. Then one Friday we were talking on the phone. We hadn't gotten together with the gang recently, so we thought we should all do something together. Troy thought we should have a small party at his place the next evening. His parents were out of town so they wouldn't bother us. We called around and everyone could come. I was glad I would finally get a chance to hang out with all my friends at once.

The next evening I put on my favorite denim miniskirt and a cute purple v-neck tee. I applied a little bit of make-up before heading over to Troy's. I decided to walk. After all, then I would have an excuse to ask Troy to walk me home.

I was the last one to arrive. We all just chatted for awhile. Then we watched The Notebook, my favorite. We couldn't decide on a movie so we voted. Most of the boys wanted to watch Star Wars, but the girls and Ryan wanted The Notebook. So The Notebook it was.

After the movie everyone was in a bit of a romantic mood. So Sharpay suggested that we play Seven Minutes in Heaven. No one objected so Troy went to the kitchen to get a bottle. When he got back, he gave the bottle an extremely feeble spin. It moved about two inches, pointing straight at me. I saw Chad roll his eyes and I laughed. Then Troy took my hand and led me to the closet. As soon as the door was shut, we started kissing. It was soft at first, then it grew a little more passionate. Troy pulled me closer and I started running my hands over his muscular back. He had had his hands on my waist but slowly he moved one down a bit so it was resting on my butt. Then he moved it back up but it kept going up. He went under my shirt and rubbed my back. I pulled away.

"Troy, no. I'm not ready for this. We are moving too fast. Let's just stick to kissing, ok? I'm waiting til I get married before I – you know." He smiled.

"I'm very sorry Gabi. I would never do anything you don't want me to do. I guess I just got caught up in the moment. I'm not ready to go that far either."

I silenced him with a soft kiss.

"I love you," he said. I gasped and asked him if he had said what I thought he did. He confirmed that he had.

'I love you too," I said softly. Then we went back to kissing until Chad flung open the closet door.

"Time's up you guys!" he interrupted. We reluctantly returned to the circle. Then Chad spun. The bottle landed on Taylor. She squealed and they went to the closet. Everyone talked while they did their business. Then Jason spun and got Kelsi. After that we decided to stop playing because it was basically just a makeout session for all the couples and the point of the party was for us all to spend time together. So we hung out for awhile. Zeke had baked a crème brulee for the occasion so we munched on that. Then everyone slowly began to leave. It was just me and Troy. We just sat together and watched TV for awhile. I got up to go to the washroom, and when I got back I gave him a soft kiss. Then I sat down on his lap and we continued to watch. We decided to put on a movie. Troy went to go get some popcorn. When he came back, I grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the couch. I captured his lips with mine and we kissed for awhile. After a few minutes, we stopped and just lay there, holding each other tight. We didn't even realize it but we were really tired. That was how we fell asleep.

The next morning in the Montez household Maria woke up to find that her daughter hadn't returned home the previous night. She called Gabi's friend Taylor hoping she would know where her daughter was. Taylor reported that she'd last seen Gabi at Troy's the night before. Maria was furious. She hung up. Had Gabi slept over at Troy's? She decided to go over there and find out.