A/N: I hope you guys like this chapter. I really don't have much to say, but THANK YOU for your reviews last chapter. I worked hard on that one, and hopefully you guys enjoy this one also. Thank you!
She had to stay away from him.
Nothing more did she want than to run through the pack of excited freshman through Chad's jungle house to find him. Though she didn't have to look far, for she could feel his ice shattering eyes piercing two holes into her small back. The party was a success, for most at least, though Gabriella was on edge. She had to stay as far away from him as humanly possible. She could not let him ask her to the dance; though that was the only thing she wanted more than the breath of life.
"It's been two hours and he hasn't asked me yet!" Gabriella's best friend complained in a concerned whisper while Gabriella did her best to avoid the knee buckling eyes she knew were on her. Why was this happening? Why couldn't she like someone who WASN'T in the eyes of her best friend? Why couldn't Taylor just like… Chad or Zeke or something? Anyone but Troy.
"Hey guys, enjoying the party?" Another questioning voice asked as Gabriella's light head swiveled to the side to see Chad marching towards them with Zeke at his side. There was music playing softly in the background and most of the other freshman were enjoying themselves with Guitar Hero. Gabriella, on the other hand, was dancing around Troy's actions, trying to stay as far away from him as possible.
"It's great." Taylor replied distantly, her eyes on the one person Gabriella was avoiding. If she could just last another hour, maybe then she could say she was sick and leave. She owed this to Chad to stay, since he was one of her best friends, but she really couldn't do this right now.
"Gabs… what happened to your arm?" Chad asked cautiously, Gabriella immediately whipping her head around to see that there was a sliver of her yellow turning battle wound was slipping beneath the edges of her three quarter length white shirt. Reflexively, Gabriella's shaking hand shot to it to shield it from view.
"I slammed my arm in the shower this morning. Not a big deal." She mumbled before closing her eyes. Part of it was true, she just left out the part that she fully clothed and leaving the bathroom when her father came in to scold her about leaving the wet towels on the floor. And that led to her lying on the linoleum with her arm slamming against the side of the tub.
Gabriella had absolutely no idea that three days from now, she would not be worrying about the problem anymore.
The tension that was building beneath the rooftop of her house was beginning to mix with her school and friend life. Gabriella was always on edge, especially now, here, with him watching her like a hawk. It was extremely difficult to loose his cerulean eyes, though the only thing she wanted was to get lost in them. No! He was for Taylor, not her.
"Gabriella!" Another higher voice sounded, Gabriella turning her head to see a bright blond running to her. A smile grazed her face as she took Gabriella's small, cold hand. "Come on, I wanna play you in Guitar Hero!"
She was drawn out of her thoughts and her place while Emily pulled her happily to where two people were battling it out as though they would die if they lost. This made Gabriella giggle softly, waiting in anticipation to beat her new running friend at something so easy.
Unfortunately, Gabriella miserably lost with Emily dancing around happily as though she won the lottery. Laughing it off though, she noticed after turning around slowly that everyone was crowded towards a window, looking out towards the large backyard. "What's going on?" Emily asked curiously before Gabriella's thin eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Reflexively, her eyes searched the room for one person, but couldn't find him.
All it took was one whisper and a pointed finger, before the whole party seemed to spin on its heels and stare at the thin freshman. Her self conscious level exploded through the thick air as four girls bolted to her. "What are you gonna say?" One of them pressed.
"You have to say yes."
"Of course she will! Any girl would!"
Gabriella glanced at Emily in confusion. What were they… but Gabriella's thoughts skidded to a halt before her eyes expanded in horror and pleasure. Dodging through the spectators, Gabriella dashed to the window only to have her heart come to an abrupt stop. The sparkling white snow reflected the soft lights that beamed down onto the ground. Embroidered into the solid snow, written in perfect calligraphy, were two words. 'Gabriella, Winterball?'
Standing beside the words was something more beautiful than the snow. Troy's glinting blue eyes mirrored the snow's shine. Hope glittered within the depths of them, as his growing arms were folded to keep his bare arms warm from the cold. "Oh my God…" Emily whispered beside her.
Gabriella's immediate reaction was to bound down the slippery steps and jump into his arms, screaming yes. Her dark eyes caught something fuming in the corner though. Her head turned slowly to meet Taylor's deathly gaze, murdering her slowly with her eyes. "Tay…"
Taylor immediately took off in the other direction, throwing people aside. No matter how much Gabriella wanted to run to Troy, she had to get to Taylor first to calm her best friend. How could this happen? Why couldn't Troy just be awkward and not ask her in the most beautiful way ever?
Her arms pushed the others out of the way, hurrying to get to her best friend. She could imagine Troy's horror stricken features as she ran away from him, but Taylor had been with her since the beginning. Even if she didn't know about her father's abusive behavior, it didn't matter. Just being friends with her was enough to keep her somewhat sane. Without Taylor, Gabriella was certain she would die.
"Tay! Tay stop!" Gabriella screamed up the stairs and followed the dark figure before she saw a flash of a door slam. She leapt two stairs at a time before gripping Chad's bedroom door. "Taylor please!"
"GO AWAY!" Taylor screamed angrily through the thin wood. Gabriella's eyes shut in horror before pressing her cheek up to the door. "I don't ever want to see you again!"
"I didn't know he was gonna ask me!" Gabriella lied through her teeth in attempts to get on her good side. Obviously, it wasn't working, for she could still hear terrible sobs through the door. "I'm so so sorry!"
"You were supposed to convince him to ask ME! Not flirt with you!" She blamed back before Gabriella slid to the hard floor, acidic tears dripping down the sides of her smooth face. "Don't talk to me."
"Taylor…"
"I said I never want to talk to you again!"
Tiny sobs slipped from Gabriella's rough throat, in sync with Taylor's beyond the door. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not with her house becoming world war three. She needed her best friend, more than anything. Yes, Taylor might be overreacting, it didn't matter. She needed her.
"Gabriella?" A soft voice came from behind her, making the flexible body freeze in shock. She timidly turned her sobbing head around to see that Troy was kneeling down next to her, panic in his features. His smooth hair was brushed away from his flawless face, the white tinted eyes vomiting concern. "I didn't mean to embarrass you…"
"Oh Troy!" Gabriella whispered silently, not wanting Taylor to hear who she was talking to. "You didn't…"
"Then why…"
"Because Taylor likes you!" she hushed painfully, a tiny hurt realization dawning upon his tan cheeks. He gently chewed on the inside of his lip nervously. "Troy, my best friend hates me right now."
His shining eyes bulged out of his head. "I didn't mean to…"
"I know."
It was interesting how the two didn't even know each other that long, but they could practically read each other's thoughts. Maybe that made it worse. Because as Gabriella searched his face as though it would give away some answer to this pain, she felt her beating heart crash further into him. Silence washed over them, but Troy's warm hand reached out and tenderly grazed the exposed skin on her arm. Even though everything was falling to pieces, just that touch made Gabriella suddenly see a burst of a light. A hope. Something might go right. "So what do we do?"
Gabriella's knew what had to be done. She couldn't bare it, but she couldn't loose her best friend. "I think… I think… we should stay away from each other… just until she cools down."
Troy's hurt eyes slammed shut devastatingly. Somewhere in the distance, a chunk of his already mangled heart crashed into the deep waves of an ocean of death. "You don't wanna… even be friends?"
Gabriella's own heart smashed into tiny pieces. The tearful brown orbs couldn't stay open. She didn't want to loose him as a friend, but maybe if they just didn't talk for a few weeks, everything would be ok. "Just for a couple weeks. I… you need to… like her."
"I like you." Troy whispered huskily, the first time Gabriella had ever heard the desire and pain in his voice.
"Please Troy… three weeks at the most." She begged shaking, but she was strangling on the inside. Troy was her best guy friend, and first guy she could actually trust. Was she really ready to give him away just like that?
"Three weeks…" Troy mumbled fearfully, Gabriella took that as an agreement.
Neither had any idea that three weeks quickly turned to three years without a friendship.
"You're shitting me."
Troy smirked amusingly at the words that slipped from his girlfriend's dry mouth. The liquid dark topaz shined in the glowing neon lights brilliantly. Her striking features were only comprehendible as shock, unable to actually believe they were standing outside at this very moment. The tiny building let the glass of the business reflect off the lights that sprinkled snow from the roof. An enormous purple sign hung above it, swaying lightly in the wind. Troy hunted throughout the whole town to find the best and safest one, and he did the best he could.
"You said you wanted a tattoo…" Troy sung, tenderly lifting their laced hands and brushing his ice back of his hand against her velvet cheek. Shivers coursed down his blood stream just at her touch. He would never get enough of it. "Merry Christmas."
"Christmas was four days ago Troy!" Gabriella complained halfheartedly, even though her eyes were sparkling with excitement.
"So? Can't a boyfriend spoil his girlfriend?" Troy questioned rhetorically, but both knew that he just couldn't stop saying it girlfriend. Something about the roll off the tongue gave him a feeling of warmth, and love.
"Not that I'm complaining, but why the hell a tattoo?"
Troy chuckled lightly before pulling her warm body closer to his frozen one, gently running his magical fingers up and down the curves of her hip. He felt her shutter beneath him, knowing that it wasn't because of the snow cascading from the setting sun. "You said it's something you've always wanted. So I'm giving it to you."
"Aren't you a nice guy?" Gabriella rolled her eyes as they began to march towards the cozy tattoo shop. Was there even a way for a tattoo shop to be cozy? Well, Troy obviously could work miracles. Gabriella could prove that.
"You don't give me enough credit." Troy proved his ways by gripping the smooth handle of the door and pulling it open, reluctantly letting go of Gabriella's waist before she stepped inside. Troy followed her footsteps, with her soft hand reaching backwards to grip his, finding their lace comfortable.
When it was first revealed that Troy and Gabriella were a couple, their friends practically fell to the floor in shock. No one had expected it, though everyone secretly wished for it. The two had been dancing around each other for three years, after the whole incident at Chad's party freshman year; Troy recalled asking Taylor to the dance four days after asking Gabriella. This seemed to brighten up her mood, causing Gabriella and her to become timid friends again. The night of the dance, Troy asked Taylor to be his girlfriend, just because he knew it would make Gabriella happy. A month later, Taylor could barely stand Troy being a boyfriend, for Troy had fallen into a depression and couldn't stand doing anything. She broke up with him two weeks before his house started on fire, changing his life forever.
"Welcome to Charlson's Art and Design." A sudden dreamy voice filled the air, acting as though it was a printing company instead of a tattoo and piercing shop. The walls were a vibrant green, the floor boards beneath them in perfect shape. Lining the bright walls were what looked like thousands of piecing of paper, holding little and large designs of what would be pressed onto people's skin. Through a beaded door way walked a man who was not obese, yet he was not thin either. His milky skin contrasted against his black hair, but his midnight eyes expelled warmth. His muscular arms revealed several large ink tattoos.
"Hi… I called about…"
"Oh yes," The large man responded with a happy grin on his face. He smashed Troy's stereotypes about tattoo artists, for this man seemed more like a happy father than someone who was going to permanently draw on you. His gray balding head turned to Gabriella. "You must be Gabriella."
Troy glanced sideways, and hadn't even noticed that Gabriella now had an adorable timid look on her face. It must have just finally caught up to her that he was going to be pressing a needle against her skin. Her smooth face was ghost white and her soft hands were shaking against Troy's laced fingers. He wrapped his arm around her protectively, showing her he was here for her. "Uh… yeah…"
Three months turned to three years. Troy now couldn't even describe why they didn't start being friends again. He had a feeling it was because neither wanted to be hurt like how they were at home and how they were that night. After breaking up with Taylor, it was almost like an unwritten rule that they just wouldn't talk. Steal glances from each other, few words slipping here or there. Ultimately, it was as though they weren't on the same planet. It was hard to believe that over two months ago they didn't say a word to each other, and now here she was, standing beside him about to get a tattoo with her trembling hand gripping his muscular arm fearfully.
Life was funny that way.
"My name's Victor," The balding man introduced as his heavy arm shot up. Gabriella timidly reached out to shake his hand, though it looked like she was afraid it was going to bite her fiercely or something. Troy stifled his chuckles, the fearful eyes shooting daggers towards him. He let go over her sweating hand which dropped limply at her side. Troy reached down with the arm that was around her waist and lifted it tenderly, threading their fingers as he put his arm around her shoulder. "Well take a look around! Pick one you like."
"Thanks…" Gabriella's trembling voice vibrated before she quickly turned both of their bodies around. Troy finally let out the chuckled that persisted to erupt, before gently placing his tingling lips in the tangle of her curls on top of her head.
They stopped in front of the laminated posters eyes immediately beginning to scan. Troy ripped his body away from hers sadly, but their pinkies remained an electric knot as they searched for the perfect mark. "So you want a star… right?" Troy questioned, remembering the conversation they held in her kitchen so long ago.
"Uh huh." Gabriella whimpered softly, Troy still chuckling at her fear.
"You could get a heart and put 'TB' inside it." Troy suggested jokingly before both sparkling eyes made a knee buckling connection.
"Well, my mom WOULD kill me," Gabriella sighed as though that was exactly what she wanted. "But I don't know if I'd want an idiot on my hip for the rest of my life."
"Ouch, that hurts." Gabriella giggled loosely, Troy ecstatic that she could laugh still. A blind man with no guide dog could see she was scared. It didn't take a genius to figure out.
Troy's tough shoulder collided with the lamination on the tan wall, still connecting their pinkies as through they would be separated from each other if they were touching. Gabriella's mystified eyes surveyed the choices, Troy unable to take his brilliant blue eyes off of her gorgeous body. It was moments like these that Troy just wanted to run his hands down the entire length of her body. In the least sexual way possible, just in the way that he wanted to be able to explore every inch of her, discover the secrets beneath the olive skin, behind the glistening orbs.
Her wide eyes enlarged astronomically and gripped Troy's full freezing hand, forcing him to her excited side as her hand happily pointed towards a single object. "That one. I want that one."
Troy narrowed his lucid eyes to get a better look at the tiny star. It had a midnight black outline, with liquid silver filling sparkling from the inside. Around the star were three matching black marks, as though it would be shooting across her tan stomach. A lazy smile draped across Troy's smooth face. "You sure? Cuz once it's on…"
Gabriella's nerves began to climb again, Troy could tell by her facial expression. "That one. I want it."
"Great choice. No one ever picks it cuz it's too small, but it's my wife's favorite," Victor chuckled from behind them, making the two in love teenagers turn around to smile, well, Gabriella's was shaking. "Come on over here and we'll get started."
The striking brown orbs mutated to huge piles of fear. Troy turned around quickly to face her, snaking his cold hands to her shoulders to force her to look into his cyan eyes. "It's ok alright? Don't worry. I promise."
Gabriella's heavy head sunk to the ground, just before her glossy eyes glanced up. "Hold my hand the whole time?" She questioned nervously.
Troy smiled gently before swooping down to press his tender lips against her shaking ones. Electric spark waves multiplied until they broke apart. "I'll never let go."
Before he knew it, Gabriella's shaking slim body was stretched across a long chair that resembled something you would find in a dental office. Troy's hard forearm was pressed above her head, his slender fingers playing with one of the curls beneath. His other hand was holding the snow white knuckles that gripped him as though her life depended on it. She was now sterile and her black band tee was pushed up, so the sketch of it outlined on her tan stomach. "I'm ok… I'm ok…" Gabriella whispered encouragingly to herself.
"You're gonna be fine." Troy promised before resting his forehead against her sweaty one. She closed her eyes blissfully for a moment, Troy inhaling the sweet vanilla scent he was so in love with, before gently pecking her trembling lips.
"Are you ready Gabriella?" Victor asked with a sweet smile on his face before Gabriella nodded fearfully.
Troy glanced to the side and his own eyes grew several sizes too large. He was holding a black inked pen, the tip covered in midnight paint. Though it wasn't a needle, Troy couldn't help the sickening turn in his stomach. 'Gabriella, Bolton… you'd stand anything for her'. Just thinking that thought killed the feeling, though it didn't seem to calm Gabriella.
"Try not to move." Victor cautioned before his steady hand pressed down against her hip.
The large spinning sound lifted through the air of the room, but not drowning out the scream that shrieked from Gabriella's throat. She violently slammed her bright teeth against her puffy lip, tears immediately streaming down her soft face. Troy's heart broke watching her pain, but he knew this was what she wanted. "Troy!"
She called for him, squeezing his hand so tight he was certain the fingers were going to pop off and sling across the room. Troy's lips pressed against her clammy forehead, before taking them away and heating it up again but shoving them back onto her skin. He kept placing earth shattering kisses onto her forehead, to calm her, which seemed to work. "Keep your mind off it." Troy coaxed before nuzzling his head in her hair and kissing more.
"It hurts." She cried tearfully.
"I know baby… I know…just hold it out."
His eyes remained off her writhing body, attempting to distract her from the excruciating pain by locking on her tear streaking eyes and pressing kisses to her wet face. It wasn't until the buzzing stopped that Troy could actually hear her tiny sobs through her throat. "Finished."
Gabriella took lung filling gasps of air, Troy pressing a final kiss to her temple. His cerulean eyes shifted over to the sexy hip, almost dropping his jaw at the erotic design. It was so simple, but the silver matched her dark skin perfectly. Gabriella's sobs turned to heavy pants as she propped up on her fore arms to examine the work. "Oh my God."
"It's so sexy." Troy complimented huskily, since Victor was now standing and searching for something.
Gabriella's face was written with shock as her hands trembled. "I… I love it."
A smile beamed across Troy's happy face before he excitedly pressed his lips against hers. Gabriella leaned up into the kiss, knotting her hands into his chestnut hair, passionately forcing him down. He knew it was a defining moment for her, a moment of rebellion. More that just a tattoo, she had endured pain and over came it. It was a present to herself, and Troy was in love with her more now than ever before.
"I love…" Troy paused when they broke apart, Gabriella's eyes glowing like the bright sun in anticipation. "…it too."
Her brown eyes narrowed and her weak hand hit his shoulder playfully. "Tease." Troy was positive she mumbled, but knew she tried to hide it.
'I love you' Troy thought the phrase, but decided that even though the tattoo shop was cozy and clean, he wanted his first 'I love you' to be meaningful and perfect.
Just like her.