Chapter 13

Troy had been holding his teary-eyed girlfriend for fifteen minutes. They sat in the driveway of her house.

"Baby?" he finally asked, cooing softly and stroking her hair, "you wanna go in? Your parents won't be home for a couple of hours. You don't have to be embarrassed about them seeing you so upset."

Gabriella sniffed and looked up at Troy. It amazed her that he knew so much about her, though they had not spent very much time together yet. How was it that he knew she would be embarrassed to be seen in tears, "I really shouldn't be so upset, should I?"

Troy offered her a comforting smile and a shake of his head. Gabriella peeled herself from his embrace and opened her door, "Let's go in."

Troy held in a chuckle at how cute she was – even with tears and sniffles.

"What's to be upset about?" He kissed the side of her forehead as they walked to her front door together. "The girl of my dreams told me that she loves me." He grinned from ear to ear as she began to giggle.

"I had hoped my confession of love for you would have been a bit more dignified and eloquent." She muttered almost to herself as she unlocked the front door and ushered Troy inside.

"Hey," his fingers tangled into her hair as be brought her face close, whispering against her cheek, "it was perfect. I kinda wish that you hadn't beat me to it, but, y'know, it's nice to know that the feeling is mutual."

"You love me too?" her hooded eyes and unassuming question stole Troy's breath.

"Of course I love you too." He kissed her gently. "I've only had you as my official girlfriend for a little while, Brie, but I would like to have you forever."

"'Have me,' huh?" She joked. "I'm not some prized pony, Mr. Bolton." She pulled him by his tie into her living room. Her first act once they entered the room was to push him to the sofa and straddled his waist. She then commenced to peppering his lips with kisses. "But I do love you, and I suppose I'll keep you...maybe even forever."

Troy liked that it had taken relatively little effort to steer Gabriella's mind toward his favorite part of the night – her confession – successfully bypassing the inevitable conversation. For now, however, he was happy to have his beautiful girl in his lap, relishing her sweet-as-sugar lips and soft-as-butter body.

"You be my prized pony and I'll be your stray puppy." Troy let his slow kiss build in intensity as Gabriella clung to him. He licked her lower lip, gently asking for permission. It was granted without hesitation.

"Deal." Her breathy word was so sultry that Troy could no longer stifle the moan that had been steadily growing in his throat, filling his whole body and making its way out of him.

He reluctantly tore his mouth from hers to allow them each a much needed breath. Troy placed his forehead against Gabriella's, "How is it that one word from you can drive me insane?"

Gabriella grinned at him, and rubbed her nose against his. "Because you love me." She told him matter-of-factly. "The same reason your cologne has been driving me crazy all night."

Troy didn't respond with words. Instead he began to kiss her again. It was slow and languorous, as if he were savoring her totality.

The silence of Gabriella's home was soon decorated with words of endearment and sounds of romantic embrace. Lips puckered. Moans escaped, and the frequent mewls that Gabriella was eliciting left little to the imagination should someone walk into the home.

As Troy moved his lips from Gabriella's own sweet mouth to her nose and cheeks, he realized that her face was wet. He pulled away alarmed, only to realize that she was crying.

"Brie?"

"I love you so much, but how will we ever be together if your parents hate me?"

She was crying into his shoulder again, her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Baby, they don't hate you."

"They do, Troy; and for good reason. I was absolutely awful. I was such an instigator."

"Hey." He manoeuvred so that they were face-to-face, his hands holding her steady. "Tonight was one of the best nights of my life. I absolutely love that I am wrapped up in you right now, sharing kisses and touches and I love yous, but that's not all that tonight has brought. Gabriella, tonight my parents finally listened. It wasn't pretty – by any means – but it needed to happen. I've never felt freer. It's going to get worse before it gets better," he admitted, thumbing her flushed cheek. "I still have to go home and talk to them – and I use that term incredibly loosely. It will probably be Dad yelling. It might be hard, but we'll get through it together, yeah?"

She nodded. "Of course."

"And then they will see how happy I am at uni and with my beautiful girl, and they'll know how much you mean to me. Then, I'll do just what I said I would when we were on the roof together during prom."

Gabriella sat dumb-founded for a moment before realizing what he was referring to, "Oh." she blushed and sat quietly for a moment before whispering, "And I'll say 'yes'."

They were silent for a few moments before try began grinning, "You know, I've never seen my mom so feisty. I was really surprised. You've already got this whole "daughter-in-law relationship with mother-in-law" thing down."

"That's not funny, Troy," she smacked his his bicep as he continued to laugh. "Your parents are the first adults to ever not like me." She sighed exasperatedly and threw herself back onto the couch, her arm shielding her eyes. "This is great. Just great."

"Baby," Troy began diplomatically, but seeing her laying so haphazardly on the couch stole all coherent thought. He couldn't remember why he had addressed her, or what they had been talking about. Instead, all he could focus on was the way her hair spilled around her face and the way her thighs were showcased in her flowy dress. Earlier, he had taken only a few moments to admire how lovely his shy girlfriend was, but now, she was all he wanted to focus on.

Troy moved seamlessly around her living room, adjusting the surround sound of her stereo before choosing a CD entitled "Gabriella's Indie Mix/Daddy's Least Favorite CD". He grinned as a feminine voice flowed through the room.

When he turned back to Gabriella he noticed that she was staring at him curiously, gentle adoration evident in her eyes.

"Dance with me?" He asked. At her apparent hesitations he backtracked, "I mean, I know it's cliché and all, but you look so beautiful, and I just want to hold you, and – " he was cut off by the warmth of her hand caressing his cheek.

"You never have to explain why you want to dance with me, Troy. I would be honored. Besides," she blushed, "I like it when you hold me."

They wrapped one another in a warm embrace. Neither was sure how long they danced, or how many songs played through. Neither noticed the sound of a car pulling into the drive or the sound of a honk indicating that said car had been locked. Neither noticed when Mr. and Mrs. Montez stood staring in the entry-way to the living room.

Gabriella's head was tucked securely into the nook of Troy's neck. This gave him perfect access to turn his head and repeatedly kiss her temple. She looked up at Troy and he read the hidden worry in her eyes, "I love you," he whispered in assurance. "Try not to worry about my parents."

"I love you too," she nodded. As her arms wound around his neck in anticipation of a sweet kiss, the young couple heard someone clear his throat. They turned to see her parents standing no more than ten feet away.

"Say goodbye to Troy, Gabriella," her father instructed before being tugged into the kitchen by Mrs. Montez.

"Goodbye, Troy," she obeyed, but she didn't leave his embrace.

"Bye, Gabriella," Troy swooped down to kiss her once more before departing. "I'll call you in the morning. Tomorrow is Saturday," he smiled, "and I intend to spend most of it with you."

"Sounds perfect."

Gabriella walked him to the door before offering a shy wave goodbye. She stood in the doorf rame until his rusty, old pick-up truck was out of sight.

"Honey?" She felt her mother's hand on her shoulder, "Come to the kitchen. I made us all some tea so that we can talk."

"Okay."

Her father was sipping his tea and flipping through a National Geographic magazine when the Montez women entered the kitchen. The sight made them both smile, Gabriella seeing her Daddy be simply that, and Elena seeing her husband for gentle nature. Everyone thought that Gabriella got her sweet side from her mother, but Elena had always seen it as coming from her father. She remembered when Gabriella had come home for the first time. Antonio had been so careful with her, afraid that he would break his new little girl. She remembered how protectively he had tucked their daughter into bed every night for ten years. Antonio was the gentle one, not she, and Elena knew that playing the protective, "bad cop" father was hard on him. Because of this, she was the one to speak to Gabriella.

They all sat together, Elena placed a hand over her daughter's. "We love you so much. Parents couldn't ask for a better daughter. You are sweet, gentle, kind, and so smart. You have the biggest heart, and I think I speak for the both of us when I say that you, Gabriella, are our hero."

Gabriella bit back the tears and the blush that threatened to take over her face.

"It's very hard to reprimand your hero, honey," Elena gave a half-hearted smile, "but I suppose it must be done." She still held her daughter's hand. "Just so you know, we are not mad at you or Troy in any way. What we saw was a sweet, sweet reminder of what new love looks like. We know that you both mean so much to one another, and Daddy and I want your relationship with Troy to flourish. However, we are going to set some guidelines." Elena paused, giving Gabriella time to process this all.

"We don't want you to think we are jumping to conclusions. We're not. We just want to be proactive, not reactive. Proactively, we are suggesting guidelines; and we trust that you will consider them. You're a good girl and Troy is a good boy. We have not hesitation about the pair of you spending time alone. This being said, you may not spend time alone in your room unless Daddy or I are present in the house. If you decide to spend time alone in the basement, we would like for you to leave the door open and to at least keep the lamp on, if not the overhead lights. We have no say on what happens at his house, but we would really appreciate it if you would transfer these types of rules to his home in governing your behavior as well."

"Mama, Troy and I aren't anywhere near that part of a relationship." She knew to what behavior her mother was alluding.

"We know, honey, but we don't know how quickly your relationship will progress, and we want to make sure we cover all the bases now. I guess our overarching request is that you use your very best judgment. And all of these are suggestions and requests, Gabriella, because Daddy and I know that we cannot dictate your entire relationship. We trust that you will respect our feelings on the matter. You always have, and we've never had to set rules of behavior for you. Similarly, we don't feel like we need to now, because we know giving you a set of rules does nothing if you don't respect us and we don't respect you. You and Troy could spend innumerable instances in your bedroom while we are not here, and we would never know it, but we love you and trust you."

"I know," Gabriella moved over so that she could cuddle into her mother's side. "We won't do anything that would make you uncomfortable or upset. I love you both."

"Also," Elena kissed her daughter's forehead, "once you do reach that part of your relationship, please be safe and smart. If I need to explain what safe and smart entails, then I will. Please, please come to us if you need anything. I cannot promise that we will be happy when you and Troy progress in your relationship, but I can guarantee we will be even less happy if we become premature grandparents."

"I promise I'll come to you if I have questions or if I need anything."

"That's all we ask."

"Can I go to bed now?"

Elena and Antonio both chuckled.

"Of course, sweetheart," Antonio finally spoke.

"You were very quiet during this conversation, Daddy," Gabriella was still snuggled up to her mother as she directed her attention to her father.

"What can I say? Your mother is a very smart woman, and she speaks well for the both of us."

Both women smiled as Gabriella stood, "love you," she kissed both of her parents before heading upstairs.

Xxx

Troy waited for as long as he could before exiting his truck. The light in his living room was still on. He didn't want to face them. He was tired. He just wanted to go to bed with thoughts of Gabriella to lull him to sleep. However, he would have to face his parents eventually. Now was as good a time as any.