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Here's chapter five...enjoy!

So, it's Friday. Only a few hours left until I must face my parents at dinner tonight...

I'm glad to be going back to work first, though. Yesterday was so abnormal it was almost scary. Not that I didn't like the end result. A date with Troy!

After the landlord finally returned my call last night and eventually turned up with a spare key, I rang Dani to tell her never to give me a sick day ever again. Work seems to be the only place I am safe from clumsy moments.

However, once I let slip what had happened with Troy, she was much more interested in that.

As was Sharpay, who called to find out if I'd plucked up the courage to ask him anyway. Of course, the minute I told her the new plan, she took some of the credit for it. Quite how that works, when she had no idea Troy would turn out to be my father's employee, I really don't know.

"I told you if you got to know him then you could solve your problem!" she exclaimed excitedly. "And I said you might end up with a real date!"

She wants a full report on how tonight goes. Right now I can't think past what to wear, let alone how the rest of the evening will unfold.

Better get to the bus stop, anyway. Maybe I can ask Dani to lend me something classy to wear to dinner...

.HSM.

6.15pm and I'm finally ready after an odd sort of a day at work...

But anyway, Troy is 'picking me up' (i.e. walking up to my flat to get me) at 6.30pm, when he will be driving us over to my parents' house in his car.

I'm going to stop looking in the mirror to check if I look okay now. No doubt my mother will find the time to nag me later if a hair is out of place somewhere...

Dani explained that my outfit didn't have to be anything too formal. Her husband, Andy, is a barrister; so she has experience with company dinner parties. She said that as long as I didn't try and get away with a 'clubbing-style' dress, anything in any colour would look perfectly suitable.

So I'm wearing my dark blue cocktail dress - something I bought a while back for a friend's birthday party. I've also got my best black heels on, and have piled my curly hair on top of my head in what I hope is at least a half-elegant manner.

Five minutes to go...

Oh my God. This isn't going to work, is it? Even if this is a real date, it's not a real relationship (yet?) and my mum will be able to spot me lying straight away.

Not sure if I can get away with this...

Then again, I also can't get away with not going. And someone sane actually wanted to accompany me – even if Troy does have to be at this party anyway. It's far too late to get cold feet now.

Ah! It's the door - he's here!

Time to get this 'show' on the road then I suppose...

.HSM.

If I'd been full of nerves before leaving the flat, that was nothing compared to how I felt some minutes later.

Suddenly, I wasn't so anxious about what my parents were going to say any more. I was nervous about the date I was about to go on.

Because standing outside my door, Troy looked even more handsome (there is just no other word for it) than any other time I'd set eyes on him throughout the week. He was dressed in smart evening wear; and his eyes twinkled, his face creased into that lovely smile.

He did not look like your average, boring businessman.

I was still staring at him wordlessly when he went to speak.

"Wow..."

That felt like it should have been my line, to be honest. Which is why all I could say back was, "eh?"

Not very classy...

"Well," Troy replied, grinning at me. "It's just that you look..."

"Oh, God, I'm not dressed smartly enough for this thing, am I?" I couldn't help but interrupt him with an attack of paranoia.

His expression changed instantly, his features softening as he rushed to correct me. "No! No, that's not what I...I was just going to tell you that you look beautiful."

And I knew he meant it, too. I felt so embarrassed that I'd ruined what could have been a very sweet moment.

Well, it still was a great moment for me. No man had ever said that to me before.

At least it had happened before I'd hit thirty...

"Oh...thank you," I managed to reply. "It's just that I never go to these kinds of parties so I..."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Tonight, I mean. It's going to be fine," he assured me, smiling kindly again.

By the time we'd made it to Troy's car, I had given myself a pep talk that involved strict instructions not to ramble on like an idiot.

The trouble was that because he kept putting me at ease, I felt more and more able to talk freely as time went on.

He asked me how my day had been, and I found myself telling him about the creepy customer I had today.

The man couldn't have been far from my age, I suppose. He just walked in for a hair cut without an appointment, and luckily for him I was free.

I wouldn't say it was quite so lucky for me, though...

Telling me his name was Tim, he'd droned on about how successful he was, running his own business. Then he had asked me if I was single, and whether I thought he was a catch!

Creepy, or just loved himself a bit too much? I wasn't really sure at the time, but I was practically speechless.

So I just didn't answer. I carried on cutting his hair, occasionally dropping in the odd question about the style he wanted, and how much hair I was taking off.

'Tim' simply smirked into the mirror, and then made a point of writing his phone number down and leaving it on the desk for me "...just in case you decide you are interested after all."

Men like that are the reason I've ended up staying single as long as I have.

"Somebody actually did that?" Troy asked incredulously when I'd finished relaying the story to him.

I nodded, then remembered he was busy driving, so I needed to give a him real answer.

"Unfortunately yes...why do men think that boasting will get them anywhere with women?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you...but I'm embarrassed for my own kind," he replied. I saw him hiding a smile.

"Yeah, I wasn't including you in that generalisation," I told him with a laugh.

No sooner had I said that, than we had arrived on the road of my parents' house.

"So...you ready?" Troy said softly as he parked, and we both stepped out of the car.

I smiled back at him. "Only if you're sure you still want to be my date!"

I was only half joking.

"If that's the only thing you're worried about, then we don't have a problem," he grinned as we approached the front door.

I looked at him in awe as he managed to calm my jitters yet again.

Then, just as my finger hit the doorbell, the door opened abruptly and we were greeted by my mother, who was beaming from ear to ear.

Had she been watching our arrival from the window?

"Gabi darling, here you are at last!" she exclaimed a bit too dramatically. As far as I knew, we weren't late or anything. Clearly Mum had been so desperate to meet my 'new boyfriend' that she'd been waiting to pounce on the door the moment she spotted us outside.

"Mum, hi," I replied as she ushered us inside. I could see her giving Troy the once over as we stopped in the middle of the hallway.

I took that as my cue to make the introductions. The thing was, I wasn't sure whether my mother had met Troy before, given that he was working for my father. But neither he or mum were giving any indication that they had seen each other before, so I decided to go ahead anyway.

"Mum, this is Troy," I said awkwardly. "And Troy, this is my mother, Maria Montez."

I smiled dutifully at her, and so did he as he offered his hand for her to shake while speaking. "Hello, nice to meet you!"

Mum took his hand after a moment of hesitation, but the smile on her face wasn't quite reaching her eyes, so I knew she wasn't satisfied yet.

Half a minute later, she proved me right. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your full name. Troy..." she enquired, shooting me a disapproving look because I hadn't included that vital piece of information myself.

Only then did it occur to me that I had never even found out Troy's surname.

Well, it had never come up. And he only knew mine now because it turned out he was one of my dad's employees.

Just as it appeared that he was about to clear up the mystery of the unknown last name, my father sidled up behind Troy and answered instead.

"Ah, Troy Bolton!" he boomed loudly, but cheerfully. Then he spotted me standing there, and looked back and forth between us for a moment. "Gabriella?"

I could see my dad trying to work out what exactly was going on, with his daughter and one of his assistants having arrived together.

"Yes, Richard," Mum said with a sigh. "It's Gabriella. You know, our only daughter?" She rolled her eyes exasperatedly, but I was surprised she hadn't caught on to the reason for Dad's confusion. "And this is her new boyfriend, Tr..."

"Yes, Maria dear, I do in fact know Troy rather well already. I did not, however, know that he was dating our daughter!" Although again his voice was echoing loudly across the hall, he didn't sound angry about the revelation – just completely puzzled.

Feeling uncomfortable on poor Troy's behalf as well as my own, I quickly cleared my throat. "Well Mum, it turns out that Troy is one of Dad's assistants at the company!"

I'd thought this might please her. Or she'd just be annoyed about the fact that she hadn't been able to set me up with one of the employees here herself!

She looked a bit stunned, so I couldn't tell whether she was thrilled or otherwise just yet.

"He's also my new neighbour...that's how we met. What a coincidence, eh?" I gave a little chuckle, then stole a glance at Troy, who looked like he was trying not to laugh himself.

The funny thing was that so far, I hadn't even had to lie. Well, not directly, anyway. It was my mother who had referred to my date as my new boyfriend – I'd simply let the title stand without any corrections...

And so the dinner party is 'to be continued' lol...

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