Floor 6
...
Knock, knock.
Gabriella raced to the door, a smile breaking out upon her face as she opened it. Her family had arrived. After giving each person a big hug, she invited the small group inside.
"Hello, Greg," Troy greeted from the couch. "Good to see you again." Standing up, he made his way over to shake Greg Montez's hand.
"Hi, how are you, Troy? Taking good care of my Gabi?"
Gabriella struggled not to roll her eyes. She was an adult. She no longer belonged to anyone, and she definitely didn't need someone to "take care" of her. All that was necessary was a friend who would be there for her-and that's just what Troy was.
"Of course. She's like my little sister now. I mean, we get along great and I have no problems coaching her through her first semester of college. It's cool." Troy grinned.
"Glad to hear that."
Gabriella smiled. She was glad her father and Troy seemed to be getting along so well, despite the fact that her dad had acted as if her roommate had to take responsibility for her wellbeing. Now, the rest of her family just had to approve of him. "So Troy, this is my mom-her name's Maria-my big sister Catherine, and my little brother Alex."
"Nice to meet you guys," Troy smiled. "I'm Troy Bolton."
"Hey, dude. Thanks for not getting my sister pregnant," Alex laughed as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I sure am not ready to become an uncle yet."
"Alex!" scolded Maria. "That was uncalled for. I think you owe your sister and Troy an apology."
"Sorry." Alex hung his head in shame.
"Alright, let's change the topic," suggested Gabriella. "So to sleep, Troy and I decided that he can sleep on the couch, Mom and Dad can have his bed, and me, Alex, and Catherine can have my bed."
"Dammit, I gotta cram into a bed with my sisters?" Alex wrinkled his nose.
"It's only for a few nights. We don't really have extra covers and it would be completely weird and wrong for Troy to share with Catherine and I, so..." Gabriella bit her lip.
"Fine."
"Okay, I'm gonna go bring in some of our bags," Greg announced.
"Do you need help?" offered Gabriella.
"I got it," Troy cut in. "Don't worry about it, Brie."
"Aww, Gabi," Catherine began, "He calls you 'Brie'? That's too stinking cute."
Gabriella's cheeks turned red. "Come on. You guys call me that sometimes, too." She snuck a glance at Troy, immediately noticing that he looked just as embarrassed as she was. As much as she loved her family, they sometimes got on her nerves.
"Alright, guys. Let's leave your sister alone," Greg interjected. "And Troy, thanks for offering, but I think we'll manage. We don't have all that much."
"Okay, then," said Troy.
Troy and Gabriella watched as the remainder of the Montez family left.
"They're embarrassing," she laughed, leaning against her roommate's muscular arm.
"But I like them. They remind me of you." Smiling, he hugged her shoulders.
"Oh, shut up."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No." Walking away, she stepped into the kitchen and pulled a nearly empty bottle of cherry coke from the refrigerator. Upon opening it, she held it to her mouth and began to drink.
"Eww, Brie. That's disgusting."
"How? I'm gonna finish it, so it's all mine." She placed the cap back on the bottle and hugged it.
"You're obsessive."
"Be quiet. It's my boyfriend."
"So you went from a hunky frat boy to an inanimate object. You are too weird." He shook his head teasingly.
Gabriella wrinkled her nose, then chugged down more soda. "By the way, if you wanna come out to dinner with my family and I tonight, you can." Prior to the reunion of the Montez family, they had decided to eat out on their first evening together.
"Are you sure? I don't wanna crash the get-together."
"Of course I'm sure. They wanna get to know you. I mean, my dad is the only one you've gotten to meet before today." After finishing off the soda, she placed the empty bottle on the counter. "Well, I'm gonna go change out of my sweats awhile. If my family comes back while I'm gone, let them in." She began heading toward the dresser, then changed her course and moved toward Troy.
"What's up?"
"I want one more hug before everyone shows up again-like one of those big bear hugs." She held out her arms and smiled.
Returning her grin, he engulfed her in a tight embrace, his chin resting on top of her messy curls.
Damn, he gave the best hugs ever.
...
"It seems like you and Troy have a great bond," Catherine remarked. The Montez family was out to dinner with Troy, and the entire time they'd been there, Gabriella had constantly been teasing and, in short, acting crazy with him.
"Yeah," said Gabriella. "We made it a point from the time we moved into the apartment to spend time together and try to enjoy one another's company. Like we have movie nights almost every week and we usually talk about our day before bed. It's nice."
"I agree," Troy put in. "I'm glad I found someone good to room with. At first I was worried about living with a freshman girl, but Brie's pretty cool." He nudged Gabriella's arm, causing her to blush.
"So what year of school are you in, Troy?" asked Maria.
"My third, so I'm a junior."
"Oh, I thought Gabi said you were her age?"
"Mom, I've told you at least ten times that he's twenty-one," Gabriella interjected. "And he just said back at the house that I'm his 'little sister.'"
"Woah, you're legal to drink!" Alex exclaimed. "Got any beer in your house?"
"Alex, what did I tell you about underage drinking?" Greg spoke sternly. "I will not allow it from you, no matter if you're in public or in the privacy of someone's home."
"Yes, Dad," came Alex's nearly inaudible response as he hung his head.
"Hey Troy, do you want the rest of my burger? I can't finish it." Gabriella pushed her plate toward her roommate.
"Sure." Troy grabbed the burger and bit into it. "Mmm, this is good."
"Eww, you just French kissed my sister." Alex wrinkled his nose.
"What do you mean?" asked Troy.
"She got her saliva on that thing and now you're eating it. Sharing spit is French kissing."
"Shut up, Alex." Gabriella kicked her brother underneath the table.
"Ouch! You're so rude."
"That's what you get for embarrassing me."
"Well, I bet you guys have also made out while naked during your quote-on-quote 'movie nights.'" Making exaggerated air quotes with his fingers, Alex stuck his tongue out.
"Alexander! Stop that talk right now!" Greg reprimanded.
"Alright, I think it's time we got out of here," said Maria. "Is everyone ready?"
The group agreed that it was safe to leave. After paying the food bill, they all piled into the Montez van and headed back to the apartment.
"I'm gonna get my comfy clothes back on," announced Gabriella as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door.
"She's such a lazy bum," she heard Alex announce through the closed door.
"I can hear you!"
"Well, you are a bum!"
"Shut up!" She pulled a hoodie over her bare upper body and slipped back into her baggy sweats. After fixing her hair into a messy ponytail, she returned to the living room. "Okay, guys. Anyone wanna watch a movie with me?"
The Montez family agreed; however, Troy declined, as he said he needed to run some errands. Gabriella suspected that in honesty, he really didn't have anywhere urgent to go, but just felt the need to give her and her guests some space.
"I'll see you later, Brie," he said, grabbing his keys. "Bye." He gave her a quick side hug before heading out the door, leaving her alone to enjoy the evening with her family.
...
"So, when are you and Troy boy gonna start dating?" Catherine asked with raised eyebrows as she dug her spoon into her hot fudge sundae. The two girls had wanted a little bit of sister time, so they had come to the conclusion to go to the local ice cream shop together.
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Seriously?"
"Hey, if you don't see that he's into you, you must be blind. Actually, you know what? You have some feelings going on for him, too. You really are blind."
"But he's just my friend. He's like a brother to me."
"First of all, I've seen your Facebook. You're always posting photos of you guys cuddling on your couch and chilling up on the mattresses. Those friendzone captions like, 'Movie night with my best guy friend!' don't fool me."
Gabriella leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. "Like I told you before, we're close. We made an effort to be friends, and that's what we are."
"Hello? Gabi, get a reality check. He hugged you last night before he left the apartment for two freaking hours. Then, he hugged you again before bed. And I see how you two look at one another. It's not something that you can deny."
"We're just friends, I swear."
Catherine sighed. "You texted me the other week that you guys were going to see a movie together."
"As friends! Gosh, just because I go and hang out with a guy doesn't mean I'm dating him! You hung out with guys all the time in college!"
"Of course it doesn't automatically mean you're dating. And as for me, I never cuddled up with my guy friends." She raised an eyebrow. "Face it, you and Troy definitely have some major chemistry. I mean, he even has a special name for you."
Blushing, Gabriella took a bite of her ice cream. "Well...I guess I gotta admit, it is unusual that he chose to call me 'Brie.'"
"You know, just because Dad is overprotective of you doesn't mean you can't admit you like a guy. Besides, he's noticed you and Troy have something going on."
"But..." Gabriella turned redder.
"When he came home from helping you move in, he joked that you met your future husband. And just yesterday, he said that he wouldn't mind having Troy as part of the family as long as you two didn't have sex until you were thirty-five and married." Catherine laughed.
Closing her eyes, Gabriella groaned. Why couldn't her sister just be quiet about the matter? And why did her dad have to care so much about her love life? The whole situation was embarrassing to say the least.
"Is he single?" Catherine prodded.
"Well yeah, but..."
"But nothing."
"Does that mean you'll stop bugging me about this?"
"I guess, but it's so obvious you guys should make it official, like, as soon as possible, or else stop all the touchy-feely huggy stuff. When Mom, Dad, Alex, and I go home, you need to sit him down and you gotta say to him, 'Hey Troy, where do we stand? Where's this relationship going? I'm not buying this "little sister" shit you're giving me.'"
"Cat, I can't just do that. It'll make things awkward for days."
"Not if you do it in a sophisticated way."
"Pfft, you know I'm an immature little brat. Sophisticated doesn't exist in my vocabulary."
"Still-you gotta talk it over with him. You can't just not mention it."
"But if it backfires on me and we fight, it'll be bad. I mean, once he accidentally saw me topless and we didn't speak to each other for days."
"Wait, what? How?"
Sighing, Gabriella told her sister the story of when Troy had accidentally walked into the bathroom on her.
"That's it. If you don't marry this dude, you're only cheating yourself."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it sounds like he was a big sweetheart about it. Most guys would ask to see it again or start teasing you about sharing a shower or something. So either he's gay, or a keeper. And I know he's not gay cause of the way he acts around you."
Gabriella rolled her eyes.
"I'm serious. You and Troy boy as a couple-I ship it." Catherine finished off her dessert and sat back, leaving the younger Montez to stare back and shake her head in silence.
Inside, she toyed with the fact that her older sister might have a point. Maybe she was blind. Maybe Troy did like her. And maybe they did belong together.
However, she refused to consider what she feared the most: that maybe she had feelings for him, too.