Chapter 5: The Date That Wasn't a Date

Gabriella sat in the office of her dance studio typing up schedules for the summer when her phone started to ring. Gabriella blindly reached for the phone and answered it.

"Hello, Dynamic Movements Studio & Company. This is Artistic Director Gabriella Montez speaking how may I help you?"

"Hey, Gabi!"

"Hey Emerald, what's up?"

"So I'm parked outside the studio and my car is filled with baby shit."

"Um, I'm still in my first trimester, face ass."

"Okay be ungrateful. I'll return all of this shit right now. You're lucky I bought your ass anything." Gabriella playfully rolled her eyes.

"Come inside I'm in my office."

"Alright." A few minutes later Gabriella heard a knock at her door

"Come in."

"So, I think I've bought out the entire Babies R Us."

"You didn't have to."

"I wanted to Gabs." Emerald sat down in one of the chairs. "How you been?"

"Good, the baby's fine I heard the heartbeat last week."

"That's good Gabi, but really, how are you doing?"

"Okay, I haven't heard from anybody."

"Mario hasn't called you?"

"Nope, I've tried reaching out to him, you know he's supposed to be teaching our Adult Fitness class, but he bailed."

"I'll talk to him, Gabi. That's not fair to you at all!"

"It's alright Em, I'll be cool."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I have other fitness friends. Now you have to show me what you bought."

"I don't feel like showing you, so I'll tell you."

"Lazy."

"I don't care. I got you basically onesies and socks. I didn't want to get you too much because that's what a baby shower is for but yeah. I got you some crib beddings too. Also, some premie clothes in case your baby's extra tiny like you were."

"How would you know? You were five when I was born."

"I remember! You were like the tiniest out of all of us."

"Shut up."

"Have you heard from your parents?"

"Nope, I tried calling them but they blocked my number."

"What about Tina or Angel?"

"They just let my call go to voicemail."

"Damn, I'm so sorry Gabi. I really am."

"It's okay, I can handle this. Lots of women raise babies by themselves." Emerald looked at Gabriella with sympathetic eyes.

"So, are you going to stay with Tay and Sharpay?"

"Why wouldn't I stay?"

"I mean, you're about to have a baby. Does your place even have an extra room?"

"I never thought about it when you put it like that."

"If you need a place to stay, I have a couple of spare bedrooms. One for you, and one for the baby."

"I don't want to be a burden on you."

"Gabi shut the hell up. If you were going to be a burden then I wouldn't have offered."

"I'll talk to Shar and Taylor about it when I get home." Emerald was about to respond when Gabriella's cell phone started ringing.

"Hold on Em." Gabriella picked up her phone and answered it

"Hello? Oh yes, Hi Mr. James."

"Hey Gabi, did you forget about the violin recital?"

"Oh shoot! I said I was going to volunteer, I'm sorry. I'm on my way, I'm leaving my studio right now." Gabriella quickly ended the call and started to gather her things.

"What? What's up?"

"I forgot I volunteered to help out at the recital at the school. Shit, I don't have a sub and it's 5:50. Damn it."

"Gabs, call down. Do you forget I work here too? I can sub your classes."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'll just clean the dances. It's easy."

"Em, you're a lifesaver."

"No prob, now get to the school."

"See you later." Gabriella quickly hugged her cousin before speed walking out of the room.

"Hey, it's Montez," Gabriella smirked as she approached her fourth-grade teammates, Joshua Hunter and Lynn Sykes. Josh was a tall African American man, his smile could brighten up an entire room. Gabriella often says he looks like he could be Idris Elba's son. Gabriella met Joshua during New Teacher's Orientation, she noticed that no one would sit next to him so Gabriella took the chair next to him and they've been friends since. They didn't know they were working at the same school until they came in to set up their classroom. Lynn, an American Asian woman, joined their team this school year. She had heard rumors that Gabriella and Joshua were extremely cliquish and didn't like new teachers, but as soon as Lynn met them she found out that was completely untrue and the three of them had become the best team in the school.

"Where the hell were you?" Lynn asked

"I forgot and went all the way across town to my studio. I may have broken a few traffic laws getting here."

"Well, you're on program duty with me," Joshua smirked,

"Great, I get to stand next to you the entire time."

"You know you love me."

"That's debatable, Hunter." Gabriella walked off to her classroom to be her things down. Gabriella started teaching at East Elementary the September after she finished college. She earned her Education degree at Stanford and when she came back home after graduation, she saw that East Elementary was hiring for a fourth-grade teacher and here she is, four years later and she loves it.

"Hello, welcome to the Fall Recital." Gabriella had probably said that about fifty times.

"Hey Montez, we're going out for drinks after this. Wanna come with?" Gabriella smiled apologetically

"No, I have to get back to the studio and finish up some business." Gabriella hadn't told her co-workers, let alone her boss about her pregnancy. She wanted to wait until she reached the three-month mark before she told anyone else.

"This the fourth time, everything alright?"

"Yeah, just busy. It's still enrollment time at the studio, so I got a lot on my plate."

"Okay."

"Hey Ms. Montez," Gabriella looked and smiled when she saw Aria's mom approaching her. They shared a brief hug before she handed her a program.

"So, have you thought about my offer?" Tiffany smiled suggestively

"Tiffany I'm—Gabriella?" Gabriella frowned when she saw Troy standing before her.

"Troy, what are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here? You don't have any kids, do you?"

"For your information, I'm a teacher here.

"Wait, you two know each other? How and when did you meet my brother?"

"This the brother you were talking about?"

"You were discussing me?" Troy exclaimed and Tiffany rolled her eyes.

"Troy, I was trying to set you guys on a blind date, looks like you guys didn't need me to do anything." Tiffany smirked, "I'm going to find a seat, see you in there."

Troy waited for Tiffany to walk away before turning his attention back to Gabriella.

"Wow, what a small world."

"It really is," The two looked each other as Troy started to nervously scratch his neck

"So how are you and the—"

"Fine." Gabriella said quickly, cutting Troy off. He frowned at her and she motioned her head toward Joshua and Troy got the hint

"That's good," Joshua cleared his throat and gave Gabriella a knowing look, she rolled her eyes and handed Troy a program.

"Enjoy the show, Troy."

"Thank you, Ms. Montez." Joshua eyed Gabriella and she purposefully avoided his gaze

"You can stop giving me that look Josh."

"So, is that why you've been turning down our happy hour, you found someone else to help you destress?"

"Shut up, it's none of your business and it was literally a one-night stand."

"Does he have any friends or brothers?"

"How would I know and I thought you were with Kent."

"We broke up a couple days of ago, we wanted different things. That's not the point, who is he?"

"Shush, the show's starting." Gabriella smiled smugly as she walked off to find a seat in the back.

"Hey Em, how did practice go?" Immediately after the recital, Gabriella called her cousin to check on her studio.

"It was fine Ella, I cleaned up the dances. I even recorded it for you, do you want me to convert it to a DVD too?"

"Don't be an asshole, do you mind locking up for me? I thought I would be up to it, but my feet hurt and all I want to do is go home and eat a burger."

"I don't mind Ella, I'll come by tomorrow and drop off the stuff I bought."

"Oh shit! I forgot all about that! I can swing by real quick—"

"Gabriella Montez, take your pregnant ass home, eat and go to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Fine, see you later Em."

"Bye Ella!" Gabriella ended the call and checked her room one more time to make she had everything before leaving. As she was walking to her car, she saw Troy waiting beside it.

"Hi." Gabriella said questioningly "Are you some creepy stalker serial killer because I don't need that trait passing on to this kid."

"Aw man, you found out about my secret double life. How will I ever go back to live in society." Gabriella shook her head

"Seriously, why are you out here?"

"I noticed that your car was one of the last ones left, I wanted to make sure you got to your car safely."

"Thanks for waiting. I guess I'll see you around." Gabriella turned to walk away and Troy grabbed her hand.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to get a bite to eat.

"Troy, it's 9:00 and I'm sleepy."

"Your pick, wherever you want." Troy looked at her with puppy dog eyes

"Stop looking at me like that, meet me at the Five Guys across the street from East High."

"Yes! It's a date!"

"It's not a date, Bolton."

"Whatever you say, Montez."

"So, you've lived here your entire life and we've never met?"

"I don't know how that works either, Bolton." Gabriella sloppily ate the messy burger, some people stared but she didn't care, in her opinion, this was the best burger that she's ever eaten in her life. "I lived in the neighborhoods, my best friends went to West High and I went to Catholic school."

"West High?"

"Um, yeah. Don't tell me you went there too?"

"No, I played basketball for East."

"Oh, say no more, I know all about the East High and West High rivalry." Troy laughed

"Yeah, looking back on it, it seems kind of silly." Gabriella shrugged her shoulders.

"It's high school, doesn't everything seem silly." Gabriella smiled and ate her last bite of the burger. She eyes Troy's barely touched burger and raised an eyebrow.

"You gonna finish that?"

"Nope, it's all yours." Troy slid the burger over to Gabriella, which she graciously took. "So, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Two sisters, Christina and Angela. Angela is the oldest, I'm in the middle, and Christina is the baby. What about you, is Tiffany your only sibling?"

"I have five siblings."

"Five? Are you the baby?"

"Nah, I'm the oldest I have a twin sister, Tiffany, you already knew that, then it's Aaron, Hannah, Chase, and Mila, she's 3.

"Say what now?" Troy snickered at Gabriella's shocked expression

"She was an 'oops' baby, my parents had five kids back to back. My mom said was done after she had Chase and then when they were 45 they got pregnant with Mila."

"Wow, what does it feel like to have a sibling that young?"

"It's okay I guess, I was already out of college when she was born so, I didn't really have to live at the house."

"Wait, if Tiffany is your age, that means she had Aria young?"

"Yeah, at 16 and she had Aria's little brother at 19. Her husband, went into the Air Force after high school and they got married when they were 21."

"Is he still active?"

"Yeah, he's going to retire next year.

"What—"

"Excuse me?" Gabriella was cut off by a Five Guys worker

"We closed ten minutes ago, so I'm going have to ask you two to leave so we can clean up."

"Thanks for taking me out and letting me eat your burger."

"I can't have you go hungry."

"We should do this again."

"Really? I thought it wasn't a date?"

"Shut up, I mean hanging out, getting to know each other."

"We're going baby shopping on Saturday, remember?" Gabriella rubbed her nose.

"Oh yeah, I forgot all about that. Can you pick me up since you have a truck?"

"Sure, see you Saturday." Troy winked, Gabriella playfully rolled her eyes.

"Bye Bolton."

That next day Gabriella woke up nauseous, she wanted to call out sick but she had to give a test and she didn't want to use her personal day. So, she toughed it out, luckily there was an adjoining bathroom in her classroom. So, whenever she felt her nausea coming she would quickly excuse herself to the bathroom. The end of the school day dragged its feet but as soon as the last student left for the weekend, she slumped down in her chair.

"Gabi?" Gabriella groaned out loudly, Lynn was walking into her classroom and all she wanted was some peace and quiet

"Lynn, please I just need a moment."

"I just want to make sure you're okay, you've been running to the bathroom all day. You didn't touch your lunch, what's up?" By now Lynn had walked over to Gabriella's desk.

"Don't tell anyone else, not even Josh."

"Promise, now spill." Gabriella looked at Lynn like a big sister, she's about six years older than her and she's been teaching for almost. Gabriella exhaled heavily and looked up at Lynn.

"I'm pregnant," Gabriella said quietly, Lynn engulfed Gabriella in a hug and yells out happily

"OMG! Congratulations honey!" Lynn wasn't sensing Gabriella's excitement, she pulled away from the hug and Gabriella was barely holding in her tears. "Gabi, what's wrong honey?"

"Lynn, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not married, I don't have my own place. In nine months I'm going to be responsible for a human. I'm not ready to be a mom, I don't know the first thing about being a mom. The one person I want to talk to the most doesn't want shit to do with me."

"Gabi, look at me. Do you have friends?"

"Yeah," Gabriella wiped her eyes

"Is the father going to help you take of that baby?"

"Yeah,"

"Then everything is going to work out." Gabriella opened her mouth to protest but Lynn grabbed Gabriella's hands, "I know you want your Mom to tell what to do if this happens or that happens, but if you have all of these people in your support corner, that baby growing inside you is going to be the most loved and cared for baby ever and you know why?" Gabriella shook her head meekly, "Because you're going to be their Mom. I know everything seems scary right now, but I promise you, the moment when they put that baby on your chest and you get to hold him for the first time, there's not a love greater. Believe me, I have two and that first time I physically saw them, I can't explain it. I know you'll be fine if you need anything just ask me." Gabriella hugged her friend

"Thanks so much, Lynn."

"Just don't ask me to babysit, not before they're potty trained." Gabriella giggled

"Feel better?"

"Yeah, thanks, Lynn. I didn't mean to dump that on you." Gabriella wiped away her tears.

"Don't apologize, believe it or not, I felt the exact same way when I was pregnant with Tyler and I was married, it's perfectly normal."

"I'm pretty sure you didn't get pregnant during a one-night stand."

"No, but it was in a bathroom at Moe's Bar after the NBA Finals. We were drunk and we had sex in the bathroom. Then a month later, I found out I was pregnant with Tyler. I wasn't ready Gabi, I was freaking out. I was in my first year of teaching, Jacob had jut started working at his firm, we didn't even have furniture in our house. My whole pregnancy I was worried if I was going to be a good mom, is he going to like me, am I going to like him? As soon as they put him on my chest, all of my worries went away."

"Thanks, so much Lynn, I really needed this talk."

"Of course, whenever you need someone to talk to or someone to listen, I'm here."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, now go home, eat some good food. It's Friday, you better not be in here past 3:30." Lynn laughed as Gabriella rolled her eyes playfully

Gabriella felt a whole lot better after her talk with Lynn, she wished that her mom would talk to her though, but now that she can talk to Lynn, she'll feel so much better about things. Once Gabriella was inside her home she kicked her shoes and dragged her feet over to the sofa in the living room and plopped down on it. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, enjoying the peace and quiet. Just as she was about to fall asleep,

"Gabi?" Ryan whispered, Gabriella inwardly groaned, she opened one eye and saw Ryan standing over her. She sighed as she sat up

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go get dinner?"

"Uh, sure, are we waiting for Shar and Taylor?" Ryan nervously laughed

"Uh, no, no. It's going to be just the two of us," When Ryan saw the look on Gabriella's face, he thought she was changing her mind "unless, you want to wait for Shar and Tay, is that'll make you feel better." He quickly added.

"Ryan, it's fine. Let me go change my clothes."

"Okay, I'll be down here." Ryan waited until Gabriella was completely upstairs before he did a quick celebratory dance. Ryan sat on the sofa and played on his phone until Gabriella came back down.

Ryan checked the time and noticed it had been almost twenty minutes since Gabriella went upstairs. All of these thoughts ran through his head, what if she passed out again, what if when she passed out she hit her head. Ryan didn't need to think of anymore scenarios as he raced up the stairs to Gabriella's room, he opened the door and relaxed when he saw Gabriella fast asleep on her bed. He smiled warmly as he placed her covers over her, he brushed the hair out of her face and kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight Gabi, I love you." Ryan whispered before leaving the room, closing the door quietly behind him.