life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Thank you all so so so much for your lovely reviews – they were all so positive and inspired me to keep writing. So, without further ado, here's another moment. Please tell me what you think of it! What's your favourite line? Your favourite photo? Tell me anything!
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the photo album
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'Don't you dare.'
His blue eyes were stormy in their ferocity, and she had to bite her lip from laughing.
'Oh, Troy, why not?'
His glare didn't fade. 'You know good and well why not, Mother.'
Elinor shared an amused glance with Gabriella Montez, who was sitting next to Troy on the opposite couch, her legs folded beneath her. 'He's angry. Whenever he uses the word 'mother' I know something's up.'
'Huh. I know he's annoyed with me when he calls me Gabriella rather than Gabi.' Gabriella was close to laughing, but one look at Troy's face and her eyes turned back to the steaming mug in her hands. 'I'm just drinking my tea.'
'No, you're not. You're conspiring.'
Gabriella raised her eyebrows. 'Conspiring?'
Troy nodded. 'You're siding with her.' He jerked his head in the direction of his mother. 'You're siding with my mother over me, your wonderful, loving boyfriend, who is generally wonderful and loving.'
The brunette smiled. 'But how am I going to know that you're really as wonderful and loving as you say if I don't know about your history?'
Elinor laughed. 'You should join the debating team, Gabriella.'
Troy ignored his mother. 'You hear enough about what I was like from that big mouth sitting over there.' His mother opened her mouth in mock-horror, but she was still smiling. 'You don't need to embarrass me further by agreeing to see the photos.'
Gabriella sighed. 'What is it that's really bothering you, Troy? Is it the fact that I might see you naked? Because I happen to think you look very good naked…'
Troy's mouth dropped open as he blushed bright red, struggling for words. His eyes flicked back and forth from his mother to his girlfriend. 'You…mom…now…'
Gabriella giggled, turning to Troy's mom. 'For the record, Elinor, I haven't seen your son naked.'
Elinor just grinned. 'Whatever you say, Gabriella.'
The petite brunette had the grace to blush a little, but laughed all the same. She found it so easy to talk to Troy's mom; Elinor was so warm and friendly and happy to hear about anything Gabriella wanted to talk about. She understood that her son was a teenage boy, who had typical teenage boy emotions, and despite the often thunderous reactions Jack Bolton had to his son's actions, Elinor didn't bat an eyelid. She could remember being that age, after all.
Troy had regained the ability to speak, disregarding the present subject completely. 'It's still embarrassing! No photos are going to be seen of baby Troy here today, Gabriella.'
His girlfriend tilted her head to the side, studying him. 'It's two against one, Troy.'
Elinor clapped her hands. 'And that's the winning argument. I'm getting the album out.'
Troy glared at Gabriella, his mother moving out of the room quietly. 'You want to kill me, don't you.'
She shook her head, smiling sweetly as him as placed her empty mug on the coffee table. 'Now why would I want to do that? I wouldn't have anyone to tease, or to laugh at, or to kiss…'
She leant forward, her lips brushing his lightly, loving the fact that he was right here, so gorgeous and sweet, despite all of her joking. She pulled away and leant her forehead against his, smiling a little cheekily. 'I'll make this worth your while, I promise.'
He tried to stop his face from lighting up at that particular prospect, but he couldn't help it. He didn't have to tell her he'd forgiven her; his eyes said it all.
'Here it is.' Elinor moved back into the room, clutching a big black photo album. Seating herself beside Gabriella, she opened to the first page, where a flushed and sweaty Elinor Bolton was holding a tiny white bundle in her arms, her face bursting with happiness. She turned the page again, and now Jack Bolton could be seen proudly carrying the bundle.
'The day he was born.' Elinor smiled. 'Made all that pain worth it.'
'Aw, Mo-om.'
Elinor turned the page, where a chubby blond baby was sitting on a blue and white rug, smiling wide at the camera. The opposite page held another of the chubby boy, shaking a rattle as if his life depended on it.
Gabriella giggled. 'Who thought that muscular Troy Bolton would ever have been so chubby?'
Elinor turned the page. 'Once he started walking he slimmed down.' She showed a couple more of the toothless, plump Troy, one in the bath to which Troy groaned loudly at, and then turned the page to a black and white close-up of baby Troy holding a basketball bigger than his head, his face full of wonder. Jack was lurking in the background, his smile wide.
'Aw, Troy!' Gabriella grabbed her boyfriend's hand, giggling. 'You still look at basketballs that way.'
Troy had been a happy kid. His eyes were always bright and happy, despite his facial expression – even angry, sad, shocked, embarrassed, Troy's eyes always conveyed an infectious joy that Gabriella could see reflected in him now. She could clearly see all the separate entities merging together to create that joy, all the people and events and emotions that had made Troy who he was.
Elinor, baking cookies, cheering him from the sidelines at soccer matches and basketball games, smiling at the camera as an oblivious Troy slept on her chest. Jack, ruffling his son's brown hair, watching him line up for a shot, holding a seven-year-old Troy on his knee at the doctor's surgery as the plaster cast was taken off the young boy's wrist. Troy's grandparents were amongst the many photos, his dad's father tall and intimidating, his mother's short and round, but both grandmothers wrinkled and kindly, helping the young Troy open birthday presents, scolding him as he ate a whole tray of muffins specially made for a bridge tournament, pulling his cheeks when he was just too damn cute to live with.
Gabriella saw photos of a young Chad Danforth, his hair still big and bouncy even in youth, his arms slung over his best friend's shoulders as they mucked about in sandpits together, played ball together, ate litres and litres of icecream together, started highschool together…
She found Zeke and Jason in old school photos and basketball shots; spotted Sharpay and Ryan in the front row of the class, matching in pink outfits, when they arrived to Albuquerque during middle school; searched for Taylor in other school shots and found her looking rather sullen; discovered so many people she had known for mere months that turned out to have shared a long history with Troy.
And then she saw herself. The picture had been taken during the Twinkle Towne audition, and she was beaming as she and Troy sang to each other, him in his Wildcat jersey, her in her lab coat. As Elinor kept turning the pages, Gabriella saw her face appear in almost every photo. In Darbus' homeroom class, during rehearsals of the musical, as Minnie on stage, dancing circles around Troy's Arnold, at the cast party in her new purple dress.
'Where did you get all these?' Gabriella breathed, unable to look away from the pages of her and Troy together.
Troy shrugged. 'Chad got some from Taylor. And Jason, you wouldn't believe, is a little bit of a closet photographer. Takes his camera into school a lot.'
Gabriella let out a short laugh, her eyes still locked on the photos. She was watching over the pool at Lava Springs, in her red lifeguard swimsuit, her eyes narrowed. Surrounded by her friends in one of the practice rooms as Ryan directed the Wildcat group, she was laughing. In the kitchen, partly obscured by a silver pan, giggling at a joke Troy had just told her. At the Talent Show, reunited with Troy, hands clasped tightly.
The last photo was one she hadn't seen, or even registered as having been shot. It was a close-up of her and Troy at Elinor's birthday picnic; she could tell from the blurred greenery around them. Troy's arms were slung protectively over her shoulders, and while she was laughing at the camera, her dark bangs obscuring her cheek, his eyes were only on her, a vulnerable, profound expression crossing his face.
She shook her head softly. 'I don't even remember that being taken.'
Elinor laughed. 'I'm so sneaky.' She glanced at the brunette, still gazing at the photo. 'You just look so happy…'
Gabriella smiled, looking up at her boyfriend, who was staring at her just as intently as his photographed replica. 'I am happy.' She placed a small kiss on the side of Troy's mouth, and then turned to Elinor. 'You don't have a spare copy by any chance, do you?'
Elinor closed the album and stood up, nodding. 'I think I have one…hold on a second.'
'So…' Gabriella looked over at Troy. 'Satisfied with my past?'
She grinned. 'Oh, Wildcat.' She scooted closer to him, resisting the urge to crawl into his lap, knowing Elinor could return at any moment. 'I never doubted you being wonderful or lovely. Despite never seeing you naked as a baby in the bath.'
Troy looked a little put out. 'Then why did you want to see them so badly? Why subject me to the horror?'
Gabriella giggled at his dramatics, shrugging. 'I just wanted to see you, your past…Why you've become this guy, this amazing, lovely, fun guy. I wanted to see who you were before me.'
'I was the same guy, Gabi.'
She nodded, looking down at her hands. 'I know. I guess…I just wanted to make sure.' She smiled, glancing back up into those gorgeous cerulean eyes. 'Besides, it was fun to tease you a little. I like seeing you all hot and bothered.'
Troy raised his eyebrow. 'Oh yeah? I'll show you hot and bothered…'
Their kiss was cut-off, however, when his mother came back into the room. Gabriella smiled at her; Troy scowled.
'Here it is. I knew I had it somewhere.' Elinor handed the photo to Gabriella, smiling slyly. 'I need to go to the supermarket. Will you two be fine by yourselves?'
Troy nodded firmly, his eyes drifting over to Gabriella, who was turning an adorable shade of pink. 'Yeah, Mom. We'll be fine.'