I don't own anything.

Chapter Eight

She was on pins and needles for the rest of the day, after her mini confrontation with Troy. They had agreed to meet at the old lake where they used to hang out as teenagers. Their meeting was supposed to take place at eight, and now Taylor felt like a teenager all over again. Lucas looked at his mother from across the dinner table as she nervously picked at her food. Setting down his fork and wiping his mouth on a napkin he looked at her nervously. "Mom, you okay."

"I'm fine, sweetie thanks for asking." She replied with a bright smile, Lucas watched her for a few moments and then asked.

"So where are you headed at eight."

"Boy, you better stop trying to act like you're the grown up…I should be asking you where you and Olivia are going to be going this Saturday." He smiled over the table at her and sighed.

"Touché mother."

"Aww, look at that Olivia rubbing off on you already." He rolled his eyes playfully and then finished his food off. Standing he walked over to the sink and washed his dish off before putting it in the dishwasher.

"I better go ahead and finish my homework…mom I want you back in this house at a respectable hour." He said smiling at the look that spread across his mother's face. "Just playing mom, see you later." He said crossing the room and kissing her on the cheek. Taylor smiled and nodded her head. Unable to really finish her meal she got up and placed her plate in the sink after cleaning it off and headed into the hallway and grabbed her keys and headed out towards the lake. It took her about twenty minutes to reach the lake, she sat in her car for a few minutes just looking it over. It had literally been years since she seen this lake, getting out she headed towards the lake's edge as her mind went back to some of her happier memories that involved this very lake.

Years ago…

"Is there something wrong with me, Troy? Why did Joseph cheat on me? I'm I going to be one of those girls whose boyfriends constantly break up and cheat on her." Taylor asked sitting down next to Troy on the grass. At the age of fourteen they were both starting at their highschool East High. Troy looked over at Taylor and shook his head for a moment before replying.

"I told you he was no good."

"You say that about every guy I go out with." She mumbled in frustration, "In your eyes nobody will ever be good enough for me." She snapped angry at the prospect of not ever getting a guy Troy would approve, as well as being angry over the fact that yet again Troy was right about another one of boyfriends.

"That's right Taylor no one will ever be good enough for you." He said back as he looked out towards the lake avoiding eye contact with her. "You are and will always been too good for them." He admitted, Taylor looked at him for a moment and stood up placing her hands on her hips, Troy barely spared her a glance from his position on the ground as she stared down at him.

"Oh really so who is good enough for me." He shrugged and continued to look out towards the lake.

"I don't know…hell maybe no one is," he stood then towering above her placing both of his hands on her shoulders he looked at her and spoke. "I mean come on Taylor you're one of the sweetest girls I know those guys should have never even went out with you…they should have never known what it was like to kiss you and they damn sure shouldn't have known what it felt like to be with you."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Taylor it really isn't that hard to figure out…no man is ever going to be good for you except me." He said finishing his statement by taking a deep breath. They both looked at one another for a moment and then Troy pulled her into a passionate kiss, and after that the rest was history.

Now…

"This is where we had our first kiss…God Taylor I never stop missing you, and I damn sure never stopped loving you." Taylor froze as Troy's voice broke the silence of the night. Turning around she looked at him as he walked towards her. "Did you know that?"

"I missed you too, Troy but why did you do it…why did you break up with me back then." She whispered needing to know the answer. She could see the guilt wash over Troy's features as he looked at her for a brief moment. Shoving his hands into his pockets he looked at her and spoke.

"There's absolutely no excuse for what I did," he softly said as if he was afraid to admit it. "I was an immature child back then that acted first and thought later." Taylor looked at him for a moment and then shook her head.

"So what…when did you come to your senses."

"Too late." He stated simply. "By the time I was ready to go and beg you back you had already moved on…with Jason Scott." She raised an eyebrow at him for a moment and shook her had chuckling bitterly.

"Why didn't you want me to go to Harvard, Troy? You knew that was my dream." Rubbing a hand up and down his face he looked at her for a moment and sighed.

"I don't know…I think I was afraid that you'd get away from me and meet someone better, and that you would leave me."

"So you decided to do that before I could."

"No, I was trying to give you an ultimatum you were never supposed to leave at least that's how it worked in my mind." He said truthfully. "You were supposed to stay and be with me and go off to college with me and then when we finished college you were supposed to marry me."

"Well, your plan certainly worked." She stated sarcastically as Troy frowned and looked down at her face. "Yeah it certainly worked…here we are over a decade later talking about our feelings and you tell me something like this. Troy I was married and had a child…how does that make you feel." She asked needing to know; looking at her for a moment he moved closer to her and spoke.

"You aren't married anymore."

"But I was."

"You aren't now…and that's all that matters." He whispered as he looked at her for a brief moment before adding. "Even though it hurts me to know you got married to someone other than me."

"And what about Lucas?"

"What about him, Taylor. He's your son." She looked at him for a moment and then spoke her concerns.

"What about Lucas? How will you treat my son if you and I were to get back together?" Troy frowned at the question and stepped forward evading Taylor's personal space. He looked at her closely for a moment before speaking, trying to word his thoughts correctly.

"Taylor I love you…and Lucas is apart of you. I could never mistreat him, I could never dislike him because he's apart of you and if I did something like mistreat him or dislike him. That would mean…that would mean contradicting myself. I mean if I love you how can I hate someone who is apart of you…how can I hate your son." He asked. Taylor just sighed and smiled for a moment before speaking.

"You certainly know the right things to say."

"Everything I'm saying is coming directly from my heart." He said reaching out and grabbing her hand and placing it over his chest, over his heart. "I've waited literally over a decade to tell you how I feel." Taylor nodded her head and stepped back from Troy for a moment and looked out towards the lake.

"We've missed so much of one another over the last few years."

"Did we? I mean did we really."

"Troy, I missed some of the most important days of your life." She whispered. "Granted I was there but I should have been by your side. Supporting you...loving you."

"Oh really you were there and what were some of the most important days of my life. If you don't mind me asking?" He asked wanting to believe that she knew. Taylor looked at him for a moment and then spoke as her mind took her back to that day.

"How about your draft day?"

"I'm listening." He murmured as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Taylor took a deep breath then spoke.

"You had on a black three piece suit, you know the one me and you picked out for prom with that silver tie you were always so crazy about." She said looking at him, as he silently watched her. "You were nervous I could tell cause you were constantly tearing up that napkin." She paused for a moment as a smile broke out onto her face. "And then they called your name… 'with the 3rd pick of the night the Sacramento Kings select Troy Bolton from UCLA.' You should have seen the why your eyes lit up. The way you hugged your mother and father, even though I wasn't there I was so proud of you Troy." She whispered.

"You watched my draft," he whispered. "That had to be like four years after we broke up."

"I never stopped loving you." She whispered. "And even though I was with Jason I couldn't turn off those feelings."

"Any other days you want to tell me about." He asked, she looked at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"How about you tell me something hmm, after we broke up did you even try to find out about me. Did you come and see me on any of important days that had to deal with me?" When he didn't answer Taylor became a little bit upset. "See, and I saw your draft knowing Jason didn't want me looking at it….and you have absolutely nothing to say. If you cared…no if you loved me you would know of one important date…just one day." She said as she started to head back to her car. Troy turned and looked at her for a moment before calling out.

"It was July 25th …it was cool day in Settle, Washington. It almost felt like spring you know except for the Settle showers." He said watching as Taylor paused and stopped walking but she had yet to turned around. "And at the AME mid-town church there was a wedding." He said as he walked over to her moving so he could stand directly behind her. "It was your wedding." Taylor closed her eyes as he gently touched her shoulders, and then he slowly moved his arms so that he was holding her by the waist and gently pulled her to him. "There were orchids and tulips everywhere all of them white, so much white it was like I had walked into heaven…only my angel was marrying someone else." He whispered as his voice broke down with emotion after taking a moment he continues. "And the next thing I remember is you…you in your beautiful white dress walking down the aisle on the arm of your father…just like I had always dreamed. Except…except you weren't walking to me, the only thing that struck me as strange was that you weren't wearing that veil you always talked about." He turned Taylor around then and looked at her, both of them were openly crying at this point. Troy leaned forward and kissed her tear stained cheeks and then rubbed her shoulders. "I cried that day, Taylor. I cried as I watched your father give you away to someone that wasn't me. I cried that day as I watched you exchange vows and rings with someone that wasn't me and I cried that day as I watched a preacher proclaim before GOD that you were someone else's wife….and I cri-," he broke down crying at that point and Taylor immediately wrapped her arms around him holding him tightly. He turned his head and then said. "I cried that day as I watched my hopes and dreams disappear as you married that man, Taylor. See I came to an important day of your life. I came even though I knew it would break my heart." After saying that he pulled himself away from her and wiped his eyes and started to walk back to his car, Taylor looked after him for a moment before saying softly.

"I didn't wear the veil because that was our thing…that was supposed to be our wedding where I would wear the veil." She whispered hoping she could get through to him. "I didn't wear it because the only way I could see myself wearing something like that was if I married you, and I even though I was getting married I still thought that maybe we still had a chance." Troy slowly turned around and walked back to her.

"Would you have walked out of that church with me if I had objected?" Taylor looked up at Troy and reached out with her hand to touch his cheek.

"I would have walked out of that church with you, Troy. I would have walked out and never looked back" She whispered as he pulled her into a crushing hug, pulling back he searched her eyes for the truth and when he was satisfied with her answer he kissed her.

"Oh Taylor I love you so much." He cried as he kissed her, Taylor wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with the same passion he bestowed on her.

"I love you, too Troy. I love you too."