Hi everyone! Yes… it's true… I have finally updated! I'm so sorry it took me so long, but I've been busy and for some reason I just couldn't get this out… I was actually going to add more to this, but I think it's quite long enough already and it's about time I gave you all an update anyway… so I hope you like it! Don't forget to review, please!
Disclaimer: I do not own HSM or any of the HSM characters that may or may not be mentioned in this fic… I own none of them…
CHAPTER 4: It's the Best Thing For Both of Us
"Gabriella? Is that you?" the sound of her mother's voice wafted through the house as Gabriella closed the door behind her, hands laden with shopping bags.
"Yeah mum… it's me... I went and bought some groceries like you asked me to," said Gabriella as she walked into the kitchen where her mum was chopping vegetables.
Gabriella walked over, giving her mum a quick peck on the cheek and put the shopping bags down on the bench.
"Oh, that's great honey… were you able to get everything I asked for?"
"Well… um… most of it…"
"What do you mean most of it? Were they sold out or something?"
"Erm… ye-no… they might have been… I'm not sure… I was… distracted…" answered Gabriella vaguely as she thought of Troy, her 'distraction'… She moved around the kitchen absentmindedly putting the shopping away.
Her mother stopped what she was doing and watched, eyebrows raised as Gabriella stuck ice-cream in the cupboard and carrots in the draw… she was about to put a bag of onions in the already, preheated oven when Maria, her mother, took hold of her shoulders.
"Gabriella! What's wrong with you? You're about to put onions in the oven!" Gabriella blinked, snapping out of her trance and turning to look at her surprised, "Gabriella… what do you mean you were distracted? Did something happen at work?"
"No, no… work was great, I learnt a lot!"
"Well then? What is it?" Maria pulled on Gabriella's arm as Gabriella moved towards the groceries again, "Don't even think about it! Get away from the shopping before you stick a can in the microwave and blow us all up! Tell me what happened to make you this way!"
Gabriella stood there, looking down as she twiddled her thumbs.
"Well… I… erm… I ran into someone in the grocery store… someone who I haven't seen for a really long time…"
"Ah I see…! I think I know where this is going… you mean someone like… Troy Bolton?" queried Maria as Gabriella looked at her surprised.
"Yeah… how'd you- Wait! You mean you knew that Troy lived here in Albuquerque!" asked Gabriella blinking in surprise.
"Yeah… he's been back for quite sometime… he's a teacher at the high school."
"Well, if you knew… why didn't you tell me? Is it just something you forgot to mention?"
"No… I didn't forget… it's just that… well you've never brought him up in conversation since… well since you two… err... split ways…" Maria was choosing her words carefully, "… and well given… you know… the situation…" Gabriella nodded her head, thinking she was referring to their break up, "… I didn't want to add to your stress… I wasn't sure how you'd react. Plus I figured you would run into him eventually so I though I might as well leave and let nature run its course."
"Oh… well I guess I see what you mean… I was pretty touchy when it came to the subject of Troy…"
"Yeah… you sure were… so how was it? Seeing Troy again? What do you think about hearing about his life now… What did you think about his new… erm… responsibilities?"
"Erm… it was actually surprisingly easy, seeing Troy again… you'd think it would have been awkward, given our past but it wasn't at all…" replied Gabriella, looking down and smiling… it had been very easy… almost like there had been no awkward past between them… "…it was just like catching up with a good friend that you hadn't seen in awhile and… picking up where you left off…"
"…you mean as good friends?"
"Yeah of course, what else would we pick back up as?" Maria raised an eyebrow at Gabriella in response to this and Gabriella looked away… immediately recognizing what her mother was saying with her eyes.
Realizing that Gabriella probably didn't have any intention in continuing the conversation in the direction it was going, Maria decided to change the subject, and ask something else that was on her mind about the whole situation.
"So Gabriella… how did you take the news of learning about Ab-" started Maria but was cut off by Rob as he walked down the hall.
"Hello, hello!" greeted Rob, cheerfully, as he walked past the kitchen door, heading down towards the den, probably to drop off some papers on his desk.
"It sounds like someone is happy…" commented Gabriella in amusement.
"Oh, you know that's what he's always like!"
"Yeah I know… he's a very happy guy… Troy used to say that he liked him because he enjoyed his constant energy…" mused Gabriella, the edges of her lips curling into a small smile.
Maria saw Gabriella's expression and smiled slightly to herself but remained silent thinking to herself… So there 'is' something there after all… even after all this time…
"Well anyway… speaking of Troy… we talked a bit in the supermarket… and I may have… invited him to dinner… so we could catch up some more…"
Maria raised her eyebrows at her daughter, "May have…? Or actually did? I have a feeling it may have been the latter, am I right?"
Gabriella nodded slowly, "Yeah, you're right… is that okay? I'm sorry… I should have asked first… it was kind of spur of the moment…"
"No, it's fine… you know I always liked Troy and Rob likes him too… it would have been better if you'd actually brought home everything I'd asked for though! But I'm sure I can find something here…"
"Oh good… thanks mum…" Gabriella smiled as her mother went back to chopping vegetables, "Do you need any help with dinner or is it alright if I go up and take a shower?"
"No! It's fine… go and take a shower… I think I'll be better off on my own, with you're currently erring state of mind! Besides… Rob's here now… he can help me, can't you?" asked Maria, turning to Rob, who had just entered the room. He looked at her surprised as he pecked her on the cheek.
"Wow! I only just walked in and I've already been conscripted! Yeah of course I can help… what, you think you have a useless husband?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"No… no never… my husband isn't useless at all! ... You though… I'm not so sure…"
"Oh! Aren't we the cheeky one today? Who's this other husband, you're hiding? I think my fist wants to have a word with him…" replied Rob, grabbing her waist and kissing her softly…
"Oh! Jealous are we? You know violence is never the answer…" Maria wrapped her arms around Rob, apparently they forgot Gabriella was still in the room.
"Erm… guys! I'm still here, you know!" cried Gabriella putting a hand over her eyes… she turned to walk out of the kitchen, yelling over her shoulder, "Obviously you two aren't used to having anyone else in the house anymore… I'm gonna leave you two, to it… I'll be upstairs if you want me for anything…"
"Okay, sweetie!" cried Maria as she and Rob separated.
She looked over at Rob who was looking over at the cupboard with a confused look…
"Erm… Hon? Why is the ice-cream sitting in the cupboard?" he took a step backwards, away from Maria and nearly tripped on the bag of onions that lay forgotten on the floor, "Ah! … And why are these onions just sitting here on the floor…? …? Hey… is that… is that a carrot poking out of the draw?"
Maria chuckled slightly, shaking her head slowly… "Gabriella ran into Troy at the grocery store and he's now coming for dinner…"
"Ohhh… I see…" Rob grinned as he nodded his head in understanding… "Well… this will certainly be an interesting evening… those two, together again… Hey… is he… uh… is he bringing…?"
"No idea…" replied Maria, shrugging her shoulders, "she's a beautiful child though… I wonder what Gabriella thinks of it all…"
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Troy looked out the window of his car at the back wall of his garage… he'd been sitting there for at least ten minutes. He couldn't actually remember driving home… actually maybe he could, but he wasn't thinking about that… he was thinking of the utter serendipity that brought him such an unexpected meeting with his high school sweetheart.
"I just ran into Gabriella Montez at the supermarket!" he cried out loud, to no one in particular… his steering wheel perhaps… Well… technically, she ran into me… but I still can't believe it! And now I'm having dinner with her!
Troy ran a hand through his hair; he couldn't get the image of Gabriella out of his mind… She's still gorgeous… maybe even more so then I remember… Troy blinked twice… rubbing his eyes… he wondered if maybe he'd dreamt the whole thing… whether maybe the dreams he had when he was sleeping, where somehow now coming to him during the day as well…
Troy got out of his car, pulling out the few bags of groceries he had bought, he sighed… he knew he'd have to go back for more supplies tomorrow… Never mind about tomorrow… what about tonight! Dinner with Gabriella Montez… Troy had a sudden thought, and sighed slightly, and her mother… and Rob…
He walked through his house towards the kitchen and suddenly thought of Abbey as he walked past a photo of her, hanging on the wall… Abbey! I almost forgot about Abbey… again! Pull yourself together Troy! You talk to Gabriella for 5 minutes and you're already losing your mind! Abbey was at his parents place… Troy had to coach the boy's basketball team after school that day and so his mother had picked up Abbey from the preschool. I'm sure my parents will be happy to take Abbey for the night… they love having her around… and I'm sure Abbey wouldn't mind either… Troy… still hadn't given much thought about the fact that Gabriella still didn't know of his daughter… but he didn't have much room left to think of it now, his mind was far too preoccupied with other things… he figured he'd just wait until the right time and tell her.
After putting the groceries away, he walked upstairs into Abbey's room, digging out some sleeping gear as well as clothes for the next day and any other items she might need, for example her toothbrush and Ted, a brown fluffy bear that her mother had sent to her for her first birthday… that had been the last time Rachel had had any contact with them…
Troy then took a shower, taking extra time to shave and wash thoroughly… he layered on his best aftershave and cologne, washing it off several times to start again as he became paranoid that he either applied too little or too much… Pull yourself together man! It's only dinner! Next Troy headed for his wardrobe to find something to wear… as it would turn out… this ordeal took longer than his trip to the bathroom. Troy pulled out a number of shirt and pant combinations… tossing several failed options around the room, as he considered each one… This one's too dressy… this one's not dressy enough! … This one just makes me look desperate… Oh great! Now I just look gay! Gah! This is hopeless! Eventually he settled on a blue and white striped polo with dark jeans… he looked at himself in the mirror… pleased with his decision… Great! Casual without looking like I tried too hard, but not too casual that I look like I'm about to spend the day sitting at home… Troy grinned to himself, but then began to frown as a thought occurred to him… Oh god! You're starting to sound like a woman! Cut it out! Pull yourself together!
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Gabriella sat in her bedroom, absentmindedly brushing her slightly damp hair… she had showered longer than usual… mostly due to the fact that her mind had been elsewhere and so she kept forgetting whether she'd shampooed or conditioned her hair and so ended up washing it around 3 or 4 times with each… she also managed to reduce a full bar of a soap down to a small oval shaped slab, by simply working it into her hands while her mind replayed the afternoon's events.
Gabriella let her eyes roam all around her room, not really resting on anything in particular… she was in a daze… her right hand continued to wield the brush, making firm sweeping movements through her hair, but the motion was completely automatic… her mind was not in it at all… in fact, her mind was not even in the room, or the house, or anywhere in a 2 mile radius… it was the same place that it had been when she was in the shower, when she was down in the kitchen with her mother, and when she was driving home… her mind was still back in the supermarket, going over and over her meeting with Troy Bolton… she still couldn't believe that she had run into him… of all the people… Troy Bolton… I haven't seen or heard of him in years and here I go and bump into him at the supermarket! Literally! And it wasn't awkward at all! You'd think it would have been seeing as we haven't spoken since… since the day we broke up… since the day I… broke us up…
Flashback
Gabriella felt heavy hearted as she walked resolutely down the corridor… she couldn't believe that she was really going to do this… she wasn't sure if she could really go through with it… but she knew it must be done…
"It's the best thing for both of us…" she whispered to herself, saying out loud the same thing she'd been telling herself ever since she'd arrived… The phrase had become a private mantra for her, an attempt to convince herself that she was making the right decision... doing the right thing…
Gabriella continued to walk the dormitory corridors of Duke University's West Campus, dodging past people, left and right… It was almost the end of May and the halls were busy with people moving back and forth, preparing to leave for the summer holidays. She past a trophy case, as she turned right into another corridor and her eyes immediately identified the familiar face of Troy Bolton, sitting among the Duke Basketball team in a current team photo. In the photo, Troy was smiling and Gabriella shut her eyes momentarily, her stomach clenching, as she felt a sudden sense of guilt and foreboding. All of a sudden, Gabriella wanted nothing more than to turn back around and leave the way she'd come… she didn't think she had the strength to do this… she never believed that she would ever be in this position… she just always believed that her and Troy would be together forever… that they'd stick together through thick and thin… that nothing would ever break their bond…
And why shouldn't she have thought this once? That's the way it had been in high school… so why shouldn't it still apply now? … In her heart, Gabriella knew why… because she could no longer bear to feel so alone… so empty… to have something, but to not really have it at all… the distance was too great… the contact too little…
All too soon for Gabriella… she found herself at Troy's dormitory door… and she gripped her shoulder bag tightly as she felt muscles tense and her stomach become unsettled… she couldn't bring herself to knock on the door… she couldn't bring herself to face what she was planning… Gabriella blinked back some tears that threatened at the back of her eyes, as she thought of Troy… sitting on the other side of the door… her arrival would be a surprise for him, she was sure… of course Troy was expecting to her, but not until much later… Gabriella had taken the opportunity to get an earlier flight because she didn't want to put it off any longer… she was supposed to be coming to stay with him a couple of days before they both left to go home to Albuquerque for the summer holidays…
Gabriella could feel herself starting to perspire… she was aware of how strange she must have looked to anyone passing by to just be standing there staring at a closed door… but she didn't have the courage to knock… truthfully she hadn't seen Troy since Christmas and now that she was here… she wasn't sure she could bare to face him… Gabriella could feel her resolve falling away; as she felt herself tense up further and further… she really didn't want to do this right now… Gabriella turned and started to walk back the way she had come, but she didn't get 5 meters before she heard the sound of a door opening behind her and turned to see Troy, smiling at her. Gabriella felt another pang of guilt at his expression and she tried to smile back, but found that she could not do so convincingly… thankfully, Troy didn't seem to notice…
"Gabriella! You came early! Why didn't you tell me?" asked Troy, grinning broadly as he walked towards her… "It's sooo good to see you… you wouldn't believe how much I've missed you…"
Troy reached out to her… wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close… Gabriella felt herself tense noticeable from his touch and Troy let go at once, looking at her with worried eyes.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked her gently, bringing a hand up to brush some hair out of her face, before resting his hand against the side of her face, caressing her cheek with his thumb.
Gabriella closed her eyes slowly, enjoying the feel of Troy's hand there… for a second she forgot all about her reason for coming… she forgot all about her doubts and fears… all she could think of was Troy… standing there before her… Gabriella stepped forward and put her head to his chest in a warm embrace… she closed her eyes, breathing in his perfumed scent. Troy smiled, putting his arms around her and placing a gently kiss to the side of her head.
"Aw… I missed you too Gabriella… this long distance thing is sooo hard to cope with sometimes… I just wish I was with you all the time…"
Gabriella squeezed her eyes shut tighter as he spoke, squeezing back the moisture that was forming there… she winced slightly as his words reminded her of what she had came to do and she pulled back from Troy, looking in his eyes.
"Yeah I know Troy… it's really hard… too hard…" she whispered quietly… "Were you… alone… in your room, just then?"
"Um… yes…" he replied, a little surprised by her question. His expression soon became suggestive as another thought crossed his mind and he added, "…Why? Do you want to play a little… 'getting to know you' or something?"
Troy leaned down to kiss her, but Gabriella pulled away, blinking back the tears that continued to persist. Troy just looked at her, his forehead knitted in confusion.
"Erm… no Troy… I-I actually wanted to talk… about us…" she replied
"Ohhh… this doesn't sound like it's going to be a good thing…" said Troy and he walked back towards his room, motioning Gabriella to follow.
Gabriella walked into the room and shut the door behind her, while Troy sat down on his bed, looking confused and unsure... he saw the bag that she carried and couldn't help asking,
"Hey, is that all you brought with you? Just the shoulder bag? Where's all your stuff? Surely you don't plan to spend the whole summer vacation in Albuquerque with only a shoulder bag full of clothes…?"
"Well… no… I don't plan to spend the vacation in Albuquerque with only a shoulder bag full of clothes… because… I don't plan to spend the summer vacation in Albuquerque at all…"
Troy's eyes widened in surprise at her response… he hadn't expected that at all, and this was the first he'd heard of her changing plans…
"What? You're not spending the summer holidays in Albuquerque? But that's what we planned… why didn't you tell me this sooner…?"
"I'm sorry… I would have told you sooner, but this was just a recent decision…" said Gabriella, looking down at her hands… "… Taylor, Kelsi, Sharpay and I are spending the vacation, backpacking through Europe…"
"YOU'RE WHAT? You're backpacking through Europe? With Taylor, Kelsi and Sharpay?" cried Troy, incredulously, "How could you not share this with me? I thought we were going to spend the summer in Albuquerque together… we haven't seen each other in months and the first chance we get to spend some real time together you decide you're going to Europe!"
Gabriella continued to look down at her hands… the time was coming closer… she wasn't sure how she was going to tell him, but she did know that it would be very soon…
"I know Troy… and I'm sorry…" whispered Gabriella, "but… I… I just need time to… to think… to figure some things out…"
Troy looked at her perplexed… he couldn't see where this was all going.
"To think? What's there to think about? What 'things' are you trying to figure out?"
Gabriella looked up from her hands… staring Troy straight in the eyes, as she whispered softly, "… Us…"
Troy's eyes widened at her answer, and he stared at her with a hard expression, as if trying to guess whether she was joking or not…
"W-wha-what? Wh-why do you need to think about us? What's wrong with us?"
"Troy… you just said it yourself… we haven't seen each other in months… not since Christmas… and even then it was only for a week-."
"Yeah but… that's because we've been busy… and if you've forgotten, we basically live on opposite sides of the country…!"
"Yeah I know… that's what I mean… I-I just don't know if I can take it anymore Troy… all this separation… we're so… far away… what do we have… really? We have a single letter, every couple of months or so… a few emails, when we can find the time…and phone calls that we can't afford! On top of that we can only see each other during breaks, and that's expensive as well… even just to visit our parents in Albuquerque is too expensive to do too often…"
"But there's nothing I can do about that, Gabriella! I can't… I can't just drop everything and visit you anytime I want!" cried Troy, jumping up and running a hand through his hair. He started to pace the room anxiously.
"I know Troy! It… it just hurts, you know?" replied Gabriella, looking up at him… "It hurts, because we're together… but we might as well be apart… it's like I have you… but I don't… I'm lonely Troy… I feel lonely… I miss you all the time and it kills me to be so far away…"
"Well I miss you too Gabriella… more than you can know…" said Troy softly, grasping her shoulders and looking at her straight in the eyes, "If it hurts you so much to be apart… then why are you leaving when we can be together?"
"Because Troy… it's only temporary… and… and that's just not enough for me… I used to think it was… but it's not… I think I need to have you with me always… or not at all… it just hurts too much for it to be any other way…"
Troy stared at Gabriella, blinking back the tears that stung his eyes… his heart was beating wildly, he had a horrible feeling that she was trying to tell him something…
"What… what are you saying, Gabriella? Are… are you saying… that… you want to… take some time off…?" Troy asked quietly… shutting his eyes as he waited in dread for her answer.
"Yeah… Troy… that's exactly what I'm saying… just let me go to Europe… I can clear my head… and we'll see where we go from there…"
Troy shut his eyes, stepping back and rubbing the bottom of his palms up to cover his eyes… he tried to hold back the flood of tears, but found that it was an impossible task, he knew what 'time off' meant... if she left, that would be the end of them.
"No, no, no, no, no! Don't do this Gabriella… please! You don't have to go… we-we can work through this… together…" he said, pleading with her, "Gabriella… I love you! Please don't do this!"
Gabriella could feel her heart breaking… she didn't even attempt to stop the tears from flowing now… she felt like a part of her was dying inside, but she knew that this had to be the way… otherwise the rest of her would die instead. She shut her eyes, repeating her mantra inside her head, 'It's the best thing for both of us…'
"Troy… Troy… maybe… maybe some space will be good for us? I'll see a bit of the world and you… you can focus on you're basketball without having to worry about me… it doesn't feel right to me… you must feel so trapped to have a girlfriend on the other side of the country… despite whatever rumors that I hear, I know that you don't go out much and you don't really do much besides basketball… and that's not fair on you…" started Gabriella between her tears… she was going to say something else, but it hurt too much to even mention… regardless, Gabriella swallowed her pain and continued, "it's not fair for you Troy… to have to save yourself for me all the time… especially when I'm not around… you should go out… meet new people… new… new… wo-women…"
Troy looked up at her, alarmed by her suggestion…
"Wha-what? N-no way! There is no one else for me, Gabriella… you are my everything…" he choked; Troy ran a hand through his hair, wiping the tears from his eyes with his fists, "Wh-why are you doing this? Wh-why today of all days? I-I had a whole special night planned… I hired a… a… suit, and a-a limo… and I-I was going to take you out for dinner… and I was going to… I was going to… eugh! It doesn't matter anymore!"
Gabriella closed her eyes, as more tears flooded through… it hurt her so much to see Troy so upset… but didn't he see that this was the way she felt when they were apart? She couldn't take it anymore… Gabriella decided she better leave… better leave before she made things even worse.
"I'm so sorry Troy… I-I should leave… maybe I'll see you when I get back…?"
"No, Gabriella! Don't leave! Please don't leave!" cried Troy, sinking to his knees as Gabriella reached for the doorknob… she was about to walk out the door, when suddenly Troy's mood changed, his frustration getting the better of him, "FINE! LEAVE! Get out already! … See you when you get back? Pfft! Fat chance of that! Just get out of my life! I don't want to ever see you again! I don't know what I… what I ever saw in you anyway! It's clear that you don't love me! You're just… you're just a selfish bitch! GET OUT!"
Gabriella felt her heart shatter at his words… she'd hurt him so much… and now he was hurting her… hurting her with words she knew he didn't mean, but which hurt none the less… Gabriella said nothing more… she merely looked at him sadly as he lay scrunched up on the floor in the fetal position, before turning and walking out the door, closing it after her before making her way out of the campus… saying to herself once more, "It's the best thing for both of us…"
Gabriella was surprised to find that she had tears in her eyes, just remembering that day seemed to still be painful… it had quite possibly been the worst day of her life… or at least, the worst day of her relationship with Troy… the last one too, as it would happen. Despite what she might have said to get her friends off her back, Gabriella did not enjoy her trip to Europe at all… it had been a bad idea, but Taylor had suggested it as a way of getting over Troy… the only thing was that Gabriella hadn't really wanted to be over him… she was kind of hoping that there would be someway for them to work something out when she got back, but after the way she had so outstandingly broken his heart to pieces she just didn't feel she had the right to ask him for anything. It hadn't been that she didn't love Troy… she did… definitely more than she had ever loved another person… but, that just meant that the separation had been all the harder to bear… he had been enrolled at Duke while she at UCSF, they were on opposite sides of the country… and they really only got to be together during the summer…
After high school, Gabriella received a full academic scholarship to study at the University of California, San Francisco, while Troy earned a basketball scholarship… to Duke University in North Carolina. Even from the start Gabriella had had her doubts… she couldn't see how they could possibly make their relationship work when they were on opposite sides of the country… however Troy had persisted… promising that nothing would ever come between… that they could make it work… and he was right… at first. They were great… they talked on the phone every chance they got, they wrote letters, sent emails… they met back in Albuquerque for Christmas break and enjoyed a blissful Christmas and New Years… but things didn't stay so perfect for long…
Eventually, Gabriella got busier and busier with school… and Troy got busier and busier with basketball… and gradually… the phone calls became more scarce, especially as the phone bills started rising up and up… a letter once a week, soon became a letter once a month, then once every two months… and the emails they used to send at least once a day, reduced as well… and then came the rumors…
Gabriella had flown over to North Carolina, to be with Troy for Spring break because she knew that he was far too tied up in basketball to go anywhere… Troy, of course was over the moon that Gabriella came to visit… and the two spent as much time together as possible… however Troy was busy with basketball… training all day… most days… and Gabriella was forced to hang around the Duke campus, getting to know Troy's friends and chatting to other students… that's where she first started to hear the rumors… she had no idea where they came from… or who could possibly have started them… but over the next two weeks Gabriella heard more and more stories about how much of a bad boy Troy really was. She heard stories about all these girls he had apparently hooked up with… and the wild parties he regularly attended… at first… Gabriella pretended not to listen… refusing to believe that Troy would ever do such a thing to her… but as the stories continued and she started to hear more and more… she couldn't help the shadow of a doubt that echoed in her mind…
Regardless of the slight doubt, Gabriella couldn't bring herself to pursue the issue with Troy… simply telling herself that Troy would never do such a thing and that the stories were just rumors, made up by bored people... and so she left the matter unspoken of and went back to California… slight uncertainty still running through her brain… they spent the summer together, back in Albuquerque but the summer came and went faster than Gabriella could remember it.
When school went back, Gabriella became busier than ever, and often found she couldn't reply to Troy's calls or his emails… but he was patient… Gabriella often thought of the stories that she had heard, but she just couldn't bring herself to believe that Troy would ever cheat on her… in fact all the stories did for her, was enhance Troy's characteristics in her mind… the fact that he was so patient and still so loving, despite the fact he was so far away, was in some ways overwhelming for her to contemplate… and instead of feeling jealous the stories made her feel guilty… guilty because there was Troy, this wonderful, amazing guy, letting himself go to waste, all for her… it seemed wrong to her for him to waist his love on her, when she wasn't even there, it wasn't fair on him… how could he possibly be happy?
She didn't like the idea of Troy giving up himself for her like that… it wasn't fair on him, and she wasn't worth it anyway… over the months Gabriella felt herself become more and more depressed… she was finding it hard to imagine how they'd ever be able to be together for any sort of permanent time… and she was beginning to wonder whether… their whole relationship was worth all the effort. Gabriella had kept in contact with her friends while in college, and they knew the whole situation between her and Troy… they hadn't agreed with her initially, when she'd suggested that she break up with him, but when they realized how depressed the whole situation was making her Taylor suggested the big trip to Europe… and so she'd broken up with Troy or they'd had their 'break'… but of course when Gabriella came back, she didn't have the courage to go and see Troy, not after the way things had ended, and as it turned out… Troy never made any effort to see or contact her either… this hurt Gabriella immensely, but she couldn't blame him… she supposed he was still just hurt and angry with her, and there was nothing she could do about that… and so they'd ended up going off and living their own lives…
But now they had met again… by accident, and Gabriella just didn't know how she felt… she knew she felt a tingling in her stomach when they were talking in the supermarket but she also wasn't sure whether it was a good idea for them to start up anything now… especially when she'd ended things so badly the first time…
Gabriella's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sharp rap on the door.
"Gabriella?" came the voice of her mother… "I just thought I'd come warn you… Troy's here… he's down in the den, talking with Rob… why don't you go down and say hello?"
"Okay mum… thanks! I'll be right down…" replied Gabriella, but she remained where she was until she felt the soft thumps of her mother's feet on the stairs, as she descended down them one by one…
Gabriella stood up and looked herself up and down, in a full length mirror… she looked at her own reflection… eyeing it as if it were someone else entirely before taking a deep breath and whispering to herself quietly…
"Okay Gabriella… here we go…"
Okay, chapter's over… what did you think? Was it okay? I wanted to include the actual dinner in this chapter but I put in the break up flashback so I could explain why they broke up in the first place and I also put a little drabble about the lead up to the break up… I don't know… I would really appreciate your opinion on this one everyone… so please review… :)
Oh and by the way… I don't seem to be receiving any alerts of any kind from fanfiction to my email address any longer… that includes review alerts and private messages… does anyone have any idea why this might be, or is anyone else experiencing the same problem? Just wondering…