Troy was lying in his bed, starring at the ceiling, sighing constantly. He was thinking about Gabriella again, just like he had been for every spare second since about three weeks ago. Now, he thought, it was starting to get ridiculous. He was thinking about it so much as he laid there that he could hear that tapping noise on his balcony window that he heard only nights before the incident. He tried to ignore it, but after another tapping sound he started to think that it wasn't in his imagination. He sat up and quickly jumped off of his bed when he saw someone standing on his balcony. He ran toward it and opened it, letting the rain pour against him.
"Troy…" Her voice quivered.
"Oh my god, Gabriella." Troy said as he quickly pulled her into a hug and held onto her so tight that he thought for sure he would crush her if he didn't let go of her soon, but he didn't and she held onto him too and cried into his shoulder taking in the scent that she missed so much.
"I thought they killed you." She said as she started to cry uncontrollably.
"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" He asked her as he looked at her and ran his finger over her forehead where a small bruise was formed.
"I'm fine; they didn't do anything to me. I'm just glad you're okay." She said quickly as she hugged him again. "They shot you again and I thought for sure you were dead."
"I'm so sorry that I couldn't protect you." Troy said quickly as tears came to his eyes.
"Don't say that, Troy." Gabriella said as she looked into his eyes and then to the scar that was on his shoulder.
"Where were you?" He asked her as he lifted her chin up so that she would stop looking at his scar.
"It doesn't matter anymore." Gabriella said as more tears fell from her eyes.
"Are you sure they didn't hurt you?" He asked.
"I'm sure." Gabriella said with a nod. "I can't believe this happened."
"I know." Troy said as he brushed her hair away from her eyes. "I love you so much, Gabriella." He said honestly.
"I love you too." Gabriella said as she started to cry even more. "I love you too." She said again as she hugged him tighter.
Gabriella looked over Troy's shoulder when she heard his bedroom door open and Troy turned to see who it was. Mrs. Bolton's eyes widened when she saw Gabriella and she immediately rushed over to Gabriella and gave her a hug.
"Oh, honey." She said as she hugged her tightly. "Get inside." She said quickly. "You're soaking wet." She said. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"Yes, Mrs. Bolton. I'm fine, honestly." Gabriella said with a small smile.
"Does your mom know you're here?"
"Yeah, everyone does. I didn't know that Troy was… well you know."
Mrs. Bolton smiled sympathetically and rubbed Gabriella's arm gently.
"Well, I'm going to call your mom and talk to her. Troy, get her some dry clothes." Mrs. Bolton said as she directed her attention to her son. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Me too." Gabriella said with a small smile.
Mrs. Bolton walked out of Troy's room and Troy walked over to his dresser from his spot by the balcony doors and fished through his top drawer. He tossed Gabriella some basketball shorts and walked toward his closet.
"You can change into those while I look for a sweater or something." He said as he walked into his closet.
Gabriella changed into his shorts and put her jeans over Troy's chair that was placed to the side of his room. Troy came back out of his closet and handed her a basketball sweater and politely looked away while she changed. He turned around after a minute and was a little too early and saw a huge bruise on Gabriella's back before she could pull the sweater down over it.
"Gabriella!" He scowled as he walked over to her.
"What?" She asked as she turned around.
"You have a huge bruise on your back." He pointed out.
"It's not bad." She said quietly as she pulled at the grey sweater.
"Let me see it." Troy said quickly.
"I'm fine." Gabriella said annoyed.
"Don't argue with me, G." Troy said.
Gabriella sighed and lifted her sweater up a little past her belly button and turned around so Troy could see her back. She heard his breath catch in his throat and she quickly put the sweater back down and turned around to face him.
"I'm fine." Gabriella said quietly.
"I'm getting you some ice." Troy said as he started to walk toward his bedroom door.
Gabriella sighed and didn't bother arguing. She sat on the side of his bed and looked at the back of his door, waiting for him to come back because she was afraid that when he left the room she might have to wait for a long time before he came back again, but she was happy when he was back within minutes, not hours or days. Troy walked over to her and she put her hand out to take the ice pack but he shook his head.
"I'll do it." He said simply.
"Troy…"
"Gabriella, how are you going to be able to do it? Just lie down and relax." He instructed.
Gabriella rolled her eyes, but once again didn't argue because that's how she got the bruise in the first time. She lay down and Troy sat down next to her and placed the ice pack carefully on her back. Gabriella tensed up and flinched when the cold ice pack was set on her throbbing bruise and she squeezed her eyes shut to help ignore the pain.
"Are you okay?" Troy asked as he lifted the ice pack away from her.
Gabriella nodded and felt the ice pack placed on her back again. She started to relax when she felt Troy rubbing her side and sighed heavily.
"I haven't slept in forever." She said quietly.
"Go to sleep then." Troy replied quietly.
Gabriella nodded and watched as Troy shut the lamp off that was on his nightstand. He lay down next to her and kept his hand on the ice pack to keep it in its place. He smiled at her when he saw her looking at him and started to play with her hair.
"You're okay. Nothing will happen to you." He reassured her.
She smiled and closed her eyes as she slowly drifted into a light sleep. Troy watched her, intently, memorizing everything about her and he scouted closer to her, feeling too far away from her and slowly fell asleep.
Troy was suddenly wakened up a couple of hours later when he heard Gabriella gasp.
"Owe!" He heard her say.
He sat up quickly and saw her sitting up with a hand on her back as she breathed heavily.
"Are you okay?" He asked quickly.
"I had a bad dream." Gabriella explained.
"What was it about?" Troy asked as his eyes started to adjust to the darkness.
Gabriella didn't say anything and Troy saw her bring her hand to her forehead and shake her head. He saw her shoulders start to move up and down and he put his arm around her slowly.
"Hey, it's okay." He said as he rubbed her arm softly.
Gabriella leaned into him and cried as she thought of her nightmare. Troy held onto Gabriella tightly, but gently, as she continued to cry and he tried to calm her down as he rocked her back and forth, but nothing seemed to be working.
"Gabi, what was the nightmare about?" He asked quietly.
"They were in the hallway and…" She shook her head and wouldn't finish as she held onto Troy.
"You have to tell me or you'll never get past it."
"They killed you in front of me. I couldn't stop them this time… I couldn't get to you fast enough." She said as she started to cry harder.
"Gabriella, calm down. Everything is going to be okay. They're gone now. I'm here, I'll always be here."
"It's not going to be okay, Troy. Not after what happened. You don't know that you'll always be here. I thought that too and I was taken away from you." She said as she shook her head angrily.
"Gabi, look at me." Troy said as he wiped away her tears with his thumb and turned her head toward him. "I love you, okay? You're not going to be taken away from me again and everything will be fine."
"You don't know that. Nobody knows that." Gabriella whispered as she looked into his eyes.
Troy blinked quickly to avoid the seriousness he saw in Gabriella's eyes and she wiped away her tears and lay back down. Troy looked down at her from his sitting position and watched as she closed her eyes and let more tears squeeze past her eyelids. He sat there for a minute and wondered if Gabriella's opinions on love and about the future had changed because of her kidnapping. Maybe now instead of him being afraid of getting close to someone and having them taken away she was now the one. That scared him as he lay down next to her and wrapped his arm around her small waist because maybe now she was taken away from him while being right next to him.
She's back! Review, and again, sorry for the wait!
Much love,
unknownbyhim22