AN: I saw Charlie St. Cloud earlier this week and it was fantastic! Definitely recommend everyone to check it out when it comes out for the general public this Friday. With that said, I'm pushing the Midnight Stroll chapter back, so this will come first. Hope you guys enjoy it regardless.
Desire
"You kissed Tyson Ritter? As in the lead singer of The All American Rejects?"
The sound of those words from his mouth made her blush, leaving her then to wonder how it was possible for him to have such an effect on her.
"The way you say it makes it sound like so scandalous..."
Troy chuckled dryly, biting off his slice. Truthfully, he wasn't exactly enjoying the discussion of first kisses and past relationships, but then again, he was the one who instigated it. He wasn't sure exactly how they managed to land upon this topic during their conversation, but it was still intriguing to learn about her past nonetheless.
"Sorry, it just came off as shock, that's all. I mean, wow... how many people in this world can say that their first kiss was from the lead singer of The All American Rejects."
"It's really not a big deal," Gabriella said in a small voice, attempting to downplay the situation. She took small bites from her pizza before continuing. "It was at Warped Tour and my friend and I just donated to his charity by his tent, so he leaned down and offered me a kiss..."
Troy raised an eyebrow, "Offered?"
"Yeah," Gabriella replied sheepishly. "I mean, it's not like I could've said no. That would've been even more awkward."
Troy pretended to understand by nodding his head. "And your friend...?"
Gabriella shrugged. "I think he could tell that Taylor wasn't really much of a fan..."
Troy looked amused. "So you both donate to this guy's charity, but he only offers to kiss one of you?" He paused then added an afterthought, "Well, that's not rude at all."
Gabriella rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh, stop. It wasn't like that. I mean, Taylor was dating someone at that time anyway."
Troy looked up at her with curiosity, "Taylor who?"
"McKessie," Gabriella answered offhandedly, focused on finishing her pizza. Troy's mouth hung from shock.
"You know her?" Gabriella inquired, surprise lacing the tone of her voice.
"Chad's ex. I've met her a couple of times," Troy stated before breaking out into a grin. "You and I seem to know a lot of the same people, huh?"
Gabriella's mouth was full with the pizza so she nodded vigorously as she chewed on the food.
"Who else do you know from Collegiate?"
Gabriella swallowed the food then pressed the tip of the glass to her lips, drinking what remained of her Pellegrino.
"Uh, let's see. I know quite a few people. Uh... Josh Hatchers, Zeke Baylor, Jason Cross, Milton Heindick-"
Troy grimaced dramatically at the mention of Milton's name. The pained expression on his face made her giggle.
"Not a fan of Milton, huh?" Gabriella teased him playfully.
"Yeah, never been too fond of him..." Troy admitted. "He's a know-it-all who never lets anyone have a say in classroom debates. I think he has Little Man Syndrome or something. There's something about those vertically challenged people..."
"Hey!" Gabriella interjected, narrowing her eyes at him, "Don't diss the short people."
He chortled loudly, his grin never leaving his face. "You're only saying that because you're short."
Gabriella stuck out her bottom lip, looking down at her empty plate. "Shut up, don't make fun of my height."
"How's the weather down there?" He continued to tease her, flashing her a wink and a sly grin.
She glared at him warningly, warningly intoning, "Seriously, stop. That's what heels are for!"
Her cute attempt to look angry and intimidating always made him laugh. He stared at her with a look of mock apology before grinning, "I'm just kidding. I personally think short people are cute."
She beamed in delight at his confession before she realized that his words could be misconstrued. She smirked before remarking saucily, "So you think Milton's cute?"
Gabriella couldn't restrain the wild laughter that erupted from her throat at the look of horror that spreading over his facial features. His mouth hung open in a stupor while his eyebrows rose closer to his hairline.
"God, no. That's definitely not what I meant. I'm just going to shut up now..."
She smirked, "Good idea."
After a few minutes of awkward silence and sneaky glances toward each other when they thought the other wasn't looking, Gabriella finally struck up a conversation.
"So, since I spilled the details of my life already, I do think it's your turn to gush. Who was your first kiss?" Gabriella stared at him intently, eager to hear the sound of a familiar name in case she knew the person.
Troy scoffed, "Mine wasn't nearly as exciting as yours... nor was it pleasant. Just some dumb spin the bottle game in seventh grade. I don't even remember the girl's name."
Gabriella pretended to pout, "Aww. That's actually really sad."
Troy merely shrugged, tossing the leftover crust aside onto his plate. "It wasn't special in the least bit, so why should I bother recalling it?"
Gabriella tilted her head, silently musing his words. It made some sense, she had to admit.
After devouring two slices of the Venetian pizza, Gabriella's stomach was full. She wasn't surprised to discover that Troy was in fact right - the pizza was definitely tastier than typical pizza in New York. She and Troy quickly finished the bottle of Pellegrino soon after then stood up, ready to return back to Chad and Bailee with their leftover slices.
Upon exiting the restaurant, she felt Troy pull her hand towards a certain direction.
"C'mon, I know another route we can take," Troy said to her, deliberately leaving out the part about that said route being a tad bit longer than the route they took to get to the restaurant.
Gabriella simply nodded her head and followed Troy's direction. Her head swayed sideways, admiring the colorful buildings and stone bridges.
"I'm assuming you've heard of the Rialto Bridge?"
Gabriella nodded excitedly, "Yeah, of course! When we were in the gondola, we sailed under it, didn't we?"
"Yeah, we did. C'mon, let's cross it."
They walked in sync with one another as they came upon the two arches of the Rialto bridge. Gabriella felt the unpleasant feeling of the large portion of pizza that she consumed stuck in her stomach. She suddenly felt the need for some exercise.
"Hey Troy, do you like running?"
Troy frown in confusion, shooting her an odd look. Her statement seemed rather random.
"I guess? I like going for jogs every now and then and I have a lot of scrimmages to do during Basketball season, so-"
"Great," Gabriella cut him off, a mischievous tint gleaming in her brown orbs. "I'll race you to the end of the bridge!"
With that, she sprinted off towards the direction of the bridge, ready to cross it. Troy stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds, shaking his head at her spontaneity. Deciding he wasn't going to let her win with that head start, he sped off in her direction, making sure he didn't lag too far behind her.
Within a few second, he was trailing right near her. Pressing his strength even further, he managed to run up right beside her, pondering on whether or not he should let her win.
Noticing how fast he caught up to her even with her head start, Gabriella gasped. Now she was certainly determined to maneuver around the tourists that stood on the Rialto Bridge, taking photographs.
Troy simply smirked at her effort to run faster, wondering how she was going to manage to keep up her speed while making sure she didn't crash into anyone either.
Gabriella felt the rush of the adrenaline pumping through her bloodstream. She dodged every tourist hanging around the bridge and ran around the few that seemed unalarmed by her running full speed ahead towards them. She felt herself run out of breath when she noticed Troy hot on her tail, maneuvering around the crowd a tad better than she managed to. Then as soon as he reached her speed, he appeared to slow down as if not to pass her.
Even with the speed at which she was running, her mind couldn't help but search for a feasible explanation as to why he wasn't utilizing the majority of his energy to run past her. The run uphill the arch of the bridge was tough and used up most of her energy as she passed from pillar to pillar. But once she approached the center of the two archs and descended down on the second arch, running became much simpler and she need not put any effort on her feet which seemed to run on its own without much force.
It also became harder to stay clear of unsuspecting tourists as she came closer to the finish of the oldest bridge of Venetian history.
Miraculously, she somehow managed to move past every figure that popped up in her direction. Her eyes remained focused on the path, willing herself not to trip and fall flat on her face (she was notable for her extreme clumsiness), ignoring the strange looks that the tourists were casting towards the seemingly deranged teenagers racing through the bridge at full speed.
At last, the end of the bridge was visible. Troy finally put in the effort to speed past Gabriella right as they crossed the finish line. He skidded to a stop, his breath still even as if he did not just run that distance.
Meanwhile, Gabriella was out of breath and still charging ahead. From the end of the bridge, Troy crossed his arms across his chest and smirked in satisfaction as he watched her run as if the race wasn't over yet.
Running past him, she came to a halt upon a crack in the sidewalk. She placed her hand against her chest, breathing heavily to catch her breath. Once she took three deep breaths, she finally muttered, "I win."
Troy raised an eyebrow as he walked towards the spot she stopped at.
"Uh, I don't know if you noticed but I... made it here before you."
Gabriella nodded taking another breath before replying, "You did... but you didn't stop... here," Gabriella pointed to the area that was no longer descending down from the arch but was still technically part of the bridge.
Troy chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief, "You're just full of trickery, aren'tcha Gabriella?"
She playfully stuck out her tongue towards him. "Not my fault you can't follow instructions. I told you to race me to the end of the Rialto Bridge."
"Yeah," Troy deadpanned, stepping forward to her, causing her to move backwards. "And we're no longer standing over water, are we?"
Gabriella backed away from his approaching body, suddenly feeling nervous at his close proximity. She didn't even have a remark to refute his statement. Her nerves kept kicking up, rendering her unable to think the situation through to the best of her ability.
He grinned at her uncharacteristic submissiveness, glad that she was at loss for words for the moment. He stared down at her delicate curls, wanting nothing more than to run his hands through them and taste the strawberry lip gloss that she had on.
As she moved backwards, he approached her until she was trapped against the very last stone pillar of the bridge. Her heart began to beat rapidly, thumping at an abnormally fast pace like an 808 drum. The prospect of personal space seemed to simmer as his breath drew nearer to hers and his brilliant cerulean orbs stared intensely into hers. The delicate curves of his mouth formed into a small smile at her flushed cheeks and flustered demeanor.
At that moment, it mattered not that her best friend used to have the biggest crush on the blue-eyed cutie nor did it matter that said best friend and blue-eyed cutie currently hated each other. Her mind told her that she would only dig herself into a bigger hole if she went through with the impulse that her heart was aching to make. She knew that she should refrain from the action she was so desperate to make.
Nevertheless, her thoughts were lost as he neared even closer (if that was possible), closing the gap between their bodies completely.
With just one blink, his blue eyes fluttered shut as his mouth leaned down to capture hers. Gabriella felt her breath hitch, losing all consciousness of right from wrong. Her own eyes shut
as she prepared herself for the collision of their lips. Time slowed down, making the anticipation almost unbearable for the two teenagers.
Just as their lips were about to brush, the sound of a distant yet loud and familiar scream caused them to spring apart before anything happened. Gabriella's eyes widened in alarm as she recognized the voice - the voice coming from a blonde who was currently screaming at the top of her lungs.