Author's Note: Thank you once again for all the lovely reviews! I really love them. Anyway, here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical. Although I wouldn't mind Zac Efron. –wink wink-
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"You wanted to, uh, how was it you put it? 'Sit by the fireplace and chat like good old lads?'" Troy shouted out coming into Chad's rented apartment.
Chad had rented an apartment nearby, because he was considering moving her after the wedding. There were boxes everywhere, but there was enough stuff out to occupy him for a couple of weeks before the rest of his things were sent. The apartment was fairly small, but the perfect size for Chad. It had two bedrooms, a small kitchen, a living room and tiny dining room. Troy looked around, and found him sitting on the couch in front of the television watching Friends reruns. Troy looked at him oddly, but Chad continued to watch the television.
"Chad?" Troy asked, waving a hand in front of his face.
Chad ignored it, his eyes glued to the screen. Troy sighed, and the looked around the room. He found a piece styrofoam on a kitchen counter, picked it up and chucked it at his head. It hit its target, getting a very frustrated Chad turning around. When he saw Troy, his face softened. "Oh, it's only you. I thought you were one of those mover people who want to convince me to buy them a pizza," he replied standing up and walking towards him.
Troy rolled his eyes as he sat at the little breakfast bar in Chad's kitchen. Chad stood on the opposite side, and leaned on his elbows to look at Troy.
"So, what are you going to do?" he asked plainly.
Troy looked at Chad like he was insane. "What are you talking about?"
Chad sighed loudly, and then stood up straight. "I think you know. I mean come on, if I can see it, I'm pretty sure it's obvious," he answered.
"Okay, you and I must have switched bodies or something then because I really have no idea what you're talking about," Troy said confused.
Chad rolled his eyes and let his hands drop down to the counter top. "Gabriella, you dolt! What are you going to do?" he asked.
Troy just mouthed 'oh,' before looking down at his hands. "What about her?" he asked stupidly.
Chad looked at Troy with an skeptical look. "Don't pretend like you don't know. You still love her. Admit it. Admit it to me now, so we can pretend to act like adults and get to the root of the problem here," Chad said.
Troy stared in shock at Chad. "Since when do you want to act like an adult?" he asked laughing slightly.
Chad just scowled. "Shut up. That's not the point. Say it, Troy. Tell me you still love Gabriella."
Troy sighed and took an interest in the counter's tiles. "I can't," he replied.
Chad gave Troy a sympathetic look. "Yes, you can, Troy. You play basketball in front of millions of people, but you're telling me you can't say you love someone?" Chad inquired.
"You know what I mean. And there's really nothing to do, is there?" Troy responded looking up at Chad.
"What do you mean, 'there's really nothing to do?' Of course there is! And it's simple: Do not marry Melanie," Chad said slowly at the last part.
Troy switched his gaze from his hands up to his friend. "I can't just not marry Melanie. I mean, what would I say? 'Sorry, but I found my high school sweetheart again, let's just break up?' And I don't even know if she still loves me. Hell, I don't even know if she has a boyfriend!" Troy exclaimed.
"She doesn't have a boyfriend," Chad said simply.
"And how do you know that? For all I know she could be going out with that guy she danced with at the wedding she showed us," Troy replied.
Chad pulled up a chair and sat across from his confused friend. "Well, believe it or not, I talked to Taylor yesterday. We caught up, and she was telling me about Gabriella's life lately. Trust me; she doesn't have a boyfriend," Chad said leaning back in his chair.
Troy sighed and let his head fall back. "It still leaves the problems of Melanie and if she still has feelings for me," he reasoned.
Chad chuckled. "No, you just have one problem. Gabriella loves you; it's obvious. She did in high school, why would she stop? Did you really think feelings that strong would go away over time? If you need proof, why don't you try actually paying attention to her actions? You told me last night that she wanted to 'pretend' that you two never had a relationship. That obviously means that she wants to forget about it so that feelings won't get in the way of her job. If she didn't have a problem with it, she would have never said those things, but because she's afraid that old feelings may return, she did say them," he said with a smile of accomplishment.
Troy studied his friend's face before speaking. "You did talk to Taylor yesterday," he said in surprise.
"Yeah, did you really think that I would come up with that by myself? Of course I added some parts, so you can give me some credit," he responded, "but the point is she loves you. Your only problem is Melanie."
Troy put his hands behind his head and yawned. "That could be just a tad bit difficult to handle," he said sarcastically.
Chad looked at his watch. "We'll deal with that later. It's 4:45, don't you have to pick her up at five? For right now, just forget that Melanie even exists. Pretend it's not your wedding you're helping to plan. You do realize it's only you and her?" he asked.
Troy stood up and stretched. "Yeah, I know it's only us. I'll call you later," he replied as he started to walk towards the door. Chad waved goodbye and wished him luck as he got in his car and drove off in the direction of Gabriella's house.
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"Hey," Gabriella said breathlessly as she opened her door and stepped out. She was dressed much more causally this time; she was wearing jeans and a red long sleeved shirt with sneakers.
"Hi," he replied with a smile as she locked her door and walked down to the car together. "Where is the flower place?" he shouted as she went to one side of the car and he the other.
"It's on Fifth Avenue," she responded as she climbed in the front seat.
Troy nodded as he put his seat belt on and started the engine. On their way there, they joked around together, making each other laugh. Troy kept in mind what Chad had said earlier, and tried to pay attention to Gabriella's actions. When they finally pulled up to George's Florist, they got out of the car and walked in swiftly.
"Whoa," Troy said when they entered the shop. There was about twenty different aisles all filled with flowers. Gabriella trotted away to an aisle, and started looking around a certain spot loaded with white flowers. Troy guessed they were lilies, because they were exactly as Melanie described them the day before. Troy walked cautiously up to Gabriella, and started to look at the flowers she was gazing at. Feeling someone over her shoulder, Gabriella turned her head and saw Troy staring at the flowers. When he saw that she acknowledged his presence, he twisted his head so that they were looking at each other. Gabriella looked up him for a moment, but then broke the gaze and continued to look around and write things down on her pad.
Troy sighed and walked to the other side of the aisle, looking at another type of flower. They were daises, white long petals with yellow in the middle of them. He smiled; he remembered whenever Gabriella was sad or sick, he would buy her a bouquet of daises to cheer her up. They always worked too; Gabriella would grin and then give him a huge hug and kiss. Troy was snapped back to reality when Gabriella asked him a sudden question.
"Okay, Mr. Listener, I got down the lilies she wants. We'll browse around for something you think she will like. Does that sound good?" she asked with a bright smile on.
Troy returned the smile. "Yeah, that sounds great."
"Okay, let's start over here," she said pointing to a stack of carnations. They were in many colors, from pink to dark blue. Gabriella picked some out, and then smelled them. She then pulled her face away, and turned to Troy.
"What do you think of these? They're pretty, small and not to distracting," she suggested.
Troy looked at it for a moment, and then shook his head. "Nah, they're too small," he said putting his hand on one of the polls in the middle of the aisle to lean on.
Gabriella smiled and put the flower back. She continued to go down the aisle, and then set her eyes on some roses.
"Roses?" she asked with her eyebrows raised, "they're simple, every girl loves them, and perfect for weddings," Gabriella tried.
Again, Troy shook his head. "Too expensive," he replied.
Gabriella rolled her eyes playfully, but still proceeded to look at more and new flowers. After a couple minutes of searching, she bent down and brought back up an appealing red flower.
"What about petunias?" she asked hopefully, holding the flower out to him.
Troy grinned and took the flower, but when he smelt it, he made a face of disgust. "Nah, they smell weird," he said throwing the flower back with it's group.
Gabriella laughed and then let her arms drop to her sides. "What do you want then?" she asked.
He grinned, and then took his hand of the poll. Troy began to move slowly to Gabriella. "I like daises," he said.
She bit her lip and her face grew nervous as Troy came closer to her. "You used to give those to me," she said softly, so soft that it was barely audible.
Troy was now standing inches away from Gabriella. "I know," he whispered. They stood located so incredibly close to each other that they could both feel the heat coming from the other person's body. Gabriella took in a quick breath as Troy's hand flew up to her cheek and caressed it softly. Troy wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but at the same time he didn't want to break the gaze between the two. Gabriella bit her lip as Troy finally leaned in.
The events that then happened were very ill-timed and down right embarrassing. Some customer, a middle aged customer with apparently no timing or coordination, chose this moment to open the door and fall flat on his face, causing his groceries to fall over the place. Gabriella and Troy jumped apart, and looked at the man who was now splattered across the floor. Gabriella ran to help him, picking up fruit that had scattered across the floor.
"Oh, thank you Miss," the man said, taking the fruit from Gabriella's hands. Gabriella smiled and helped the man up. Troy smiled, Gabriella was always kind, even to people she didn't know. Once he thanked her again, he left for another aisle and Gabriella turned around. She began to walk towards her bag that had dropped and was abandoned before, and took out her pad.
"You said you wanted daises?" she asked, not looking up at Troy.
"Yeah," he replied, his voice cracking horribly.
Gabriella took a deep breath and wrote it down. "Okay, that's good. I think we're ready to go," she said as she picked up her bag.
Troy sighed and nodded. "Sounds good," he said lamely while throwing up his keys and catching them.
Gabriella gave a slight smile as she and Troy walked out of the shop. While they were in the car, there was a awkward silence through out the whole ride. As Gabriella sat in the front seat, she thought about what had almost happened. 'What am I doing? He's getting married! I can't kiss a man who's about to get married! I must be crazy,' She thought. When they finally reached Gabriella's apartment, Troy got out and raced to the other side of the car to open the door for her. Gabriella laughed softly and quietly as he held out his hand to help her out.
"Troy, you don't have to do that," she said quietly.
Troy grinned. "Oh, but I do," he replied as they walked towards her apartment building.
They walked up the stairs in silence, and as Gabriella reached her door, she turned around. "It was nice, today. I'll call you tomorrow," she said as she gave him a quick hug.
Troy wanted to hold on to her a little longer, but that fantasy was shattered when she pulled away. He took a deep breath as he saw her twist around and unlock her door. Before she went in, he broke the silence.
"Do you ever think about that promise?" he asked suddenly, making Gabriella turn around in her doorway.
"What?" she asked, almost dropping her keys.
"The promise we made, in high school," he said coming closer.
Gabriella bit her lip, and leaned against the door as she felt tears form behind her eyes.
"Troy, please don't," Gabriella said pleadingly.
"I know I do. I know I think about it each and everyday, and night. I don't know what you've been doing for the past couple of years, I don't know how many guys you dated, and I really don't know how you became a wedding planner. But I do know that I feel like an idiot for not keeping in touch," he replied, still walking nearer to her.
Gabriella took a deep breath as she looked down. She gulped, and then looked back up into those piercing blue eyes.
"Why would you Troy? She's perfect. Beautiful, straight long hair, stunning blue eyes, she has the ideal job. Why would you think about me? I'm just a wedding planner, and a high school sweetheart of an unavailable man. Melanie is a good person, and she loves you. So, besides your flower preference, that's all I need to know. Please go away," Gabriella said as she shut the door.
As soon as Gabriella shut the door, she collapsed on the floor, tears falling from her eyes. She knew she had done the right thing for Melanie and the company, but did she do that right thing for herself? Was the partner offer really worth it? Gabriella's thoughts tumbled around in her head as tears continued to fall. After thinking about it as she cried beside her door, she knew one thing she would do tomorrow; she was going to give the wedding to Cindy.
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Author's Note: Okay, what do you think? Tell me what you think in a review please. Was it terrible? Horrible? Good? Okay? Poor? Please review! Thanks!
