Disclaimer: Own nothing. It's a sad life.

AN:I know, I know. This took more than a few days, and I have a legitimate excuses that I'm sure nobody is interested in, so on to the chapter.

But first, a HUGE thank you to palmbeach for taking the time to reaview to let me know you want me to continue...follow her example people! :-P

He couldn't believe it. The girl who had unknowingly been controlling his life for the past several years, was sitting six feet from him right now, an event he thought he would never have to suffer through. Of course her mother still lives in Albuquerque, but with how big this city is, he thought he could do a pretty good job of avoiding her. Obviously not.

Their eyes remained locked on each other for several unusually long seconds before Gabriella gasped, as if her brain and finally caught up to her eyes, and turned back around to face her mother. Troy took this time to let his eyes run up and down her body, taking an inventory to make sure everything was still as he remembered. Yep, it was. Damn her for still looking amazing.

"Ohmigod." Gabriella uttered under her breath.

"Isn't that all your friends, Gabi? How exciting, lets invite them over!"

"Mom no…" Too late.

"Troy, Taylor!" Mrs. Montez called out, while madly waving her arms, indicating that they should join them.

Gabriella knew her mother was just trying to help, but she couldn't help the death glares her eyes were emitting. She definitely had to make a mental note to give her mother hell for this. But that would have to wait, for now she nervously bit at her finger nails while her brain ran a mile a minute, trying to come up with a plan that would get her out of this disaster. Her worst nightmare was coming true on her first night back; she was hoping and praying to have a little bit more time to mentally prepare for this.

Chad and Troy looked at each other, trying to telepathically decide what to do. Chad could see the pain in Troy's eyes, but the pain had company; want. Although it hurt like hell, a small part of Troy just wanted to run over to her and give her a bear hug and continue right where they left off. Clearly not getting any direction from Troy, Chad glanced over at Taylor, who showed no emotion at all. He had gotten so good at reading Taylor during the many years they had been together, but this one time her face was a blank slate that he could not decipher.

Troy turned and walked out of the café. That was his cue, being the best friend who is supposed to support him no matter what, Chad started to follow.

"Come on Tay…guys." He called as he followed Troy.

Everyone did what they were told; everyone but Taylor McKessie. Instead, she started to walk towards Gabriella's table.

"Taylor!" Chad couldn't believe his eyes.

But she kept on walking with out so much as turning around to provide an explanation. Chad was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Follow his best friend, or his girlfriend. Damn them for putting him in the middle of all this, he knew either option would mean pissing somebody off.

After a moment's hesitation and frantically glancing back and forth between Troy and Taylor for some direction, he decided to follow to old adage, "bros over hoes," and turned to continue on his way out of the café. He had seen Troy suffering for far too long to turn his back on him now. Taking one last glance over his shoulder, he saw Taylor taking her seat next to Gabriella. She's a big girl, she can take care of herself; he closed the door and let her be.

Gabriella didn't know what to do. When she turned away from her old group of friends, it was so that she wouldn't have to deal with all the dirty looks they were sending her way. Looks she knew they had the right to give, but nevertheless, weren't fun to receive. She sure as hell didn't expect Taylor, her ex-best friend, of all people to be standing in front of her right now.

"Can I sit down?"

"Uh…I guess so." Gabriella scooted over to make room, but kept her eyes averted.

Trying to break the ice, Taylor turned to address the other dark hared woman. "Hello Mrs. Montez, it's good to see you again."

"Oh, you too Honey. It's been lonely without you and Gabi taking over the house every day."

They both shared a soft, awkward laugh. They knew it would take time to build back the comfort level they used to have…for all of them. She knew she couldn't delay any longer.

"Gabriella."

"Taylor."

Rolling her eyes at Gabriella's stubbornness, she pulled on the trademark curls playfully. "Would you please look at me, Gabi?"

Gabriella snapped her head up. "Why? So you can yell at me for the past 5 years? Well no thank you, I'll pass. You can head on back with your friends now." Taylor didn't move. "Go."

"I can't believe you would even say that Gabriella, you know me."

"I knew you. Past tense."

"Well some things don't change, and I'm sure as hell not going anywhere, whether you like it or not."

Gabriella didn't want to believe her, but she should see the hurt in Taylor's dark eyes. Hurt that she would accuse her of not caring, hurt that she was pushing her away…again. Maybe she really did still care, but that would mean letting her in, and Gabriella was still too scared to let her well built walls down. Walls she had built particularly for encounters like this one. She didn't like letting people in anymore because she was scared she would hurt them, just like she had done to everyone once close to her. This was too much, too fast. Sighing, Gabriella raked her hands through her hair, a habit she would always resort to when she was frustrated.

"That is my cue to leave." Mrs. Montez said while standing up from the table. "I'll just let you girls talk."

"Mo…"

"No, it's okay." Taylor interrupted Gabriella. "I can give Gabi a ride home. I came in a separate car from the boys."

Mrs. Montez smiled her thanks before quickly making her exit.

"So…" Taylor tried to continue the conversation.

"So." Gabriella, obviously wasn't going to help.

"Okay…So how have you been?"

"Just dandy."

"Come on Gabriella! You can try a little, or is that too much to ask?"

"Fine. How have you been?"

"See that wasn't so hard Sunshine. I've been great, I'll have to catch you up soon."

"Don't call me that."

"Don't call you what?" Taylor asked, confused.

A blonde, teeny bopper-esque waitress walked up and placed Gabriella's burger in front of her, oblivious to the intense conversation she was interrupting. "I noticed all the others left, but do you still want your usual Tay?" Alice asked, smacking her gum in between words.

Wanting to get Alice away as soon as possible she just shook her head no. The waitress just stood there a moment looking back and forth between the two of them, finally picking up on the tense vibe that surrounded them. "Alrightly then, just let me know if you guys need anything else. " She reluctantly walked out of ear shot.

Taylor rolled her eyes. "She is the gossip queen of the café, I'm sure it physically pains her to not know what's going on in everyone's lives."

Ignoring Taylor's previous comment Gabriella continued from where they had left off. "Sunshine."

Getting the hint, Taylor moved back on topic as well. "Why? That's what I've always called you."

"Yeah, when we were friends. We aren't friends anymore Taylor."

"Do you seriously not get it?! That's what I'm trying to do right here! You were my best friend, so is it illegal for me to try and repair what we have lost?"

Gabriella looked at her skeptically. "But why? Why would you still want to be my friend after all this?"

"Because you are you, and I am me. Taylor and Gabriella. We are just meant to be friends. I didn't realize it until it was too late." Taylor soft, sad, voice replied.

"If you believe that, why didn't you try to fix it sooner?" Gabriella asked.

"Cause I'm an idiot and was too stubborn to be the one to make the first move. Plus, I didn't realize how insanely I missed you until I saw you sitting here just now. But trust me when I say this, I have never stopped thinking about you, and I don't have any bad feelings towards you." After a moments thought, she added. "You're my Sunshine."

This time Gabriella just smiled instead of correcting her on the old nickname. Her walls were slowly crumbling.

"I just don't get how you can't have hostile feelings towards me, Taylor. Us not being friends anymore is all my fault. You should hate me." As much as she didn't want that to be the case, she knew she couldn't expect anything different.

"I could never hate you, Gabi. You did nothing wrong. It happens all the time, people drift after college."

"But you tried to keep our friendship strong! I didn't. I always turned you down when you offered to come out and visit, and when you were in town I totally ignored you. You can't forgive me for that." Gabriella said while looking down at her hands shyly.

"Well too bad, because I do forgive you. I went through the same thing, so how can I not forgive you?" Gabriella looked up at Taylor in surprise. "Its true, you aren't the only one to get so wrapped up in college work that you ignored everyone around you, even the ones you cared about the most."

"That's not true, it can't be, you are still friends with everyone." Much more softly she added. "And you still have Chad."

Taylor knew the sad brown eyed girl was thinking about her sad blue eyed boy, but that was something she would address later, once they got past this initial stage of becoming comfortable with each other again.

"There is only one difference between you and me, Gabriella." She paused to wait for Gabi to look up at her, so she could look her in the eyes when she said, "I realized what was happening before it was too late, you didn't, and that, my dear, is your only flaw."

Feeling overly emotional all of a sudden, tears began to form in the corners of Gabriella's eyes. She quickly wiped them away before they got a chance to fall. "But everybody else hates me for that flaw." She whispered.

Troy shook her head. "Nobody hates you Gabi, they are just hurt. Just give them time and I know they will all welcome you back with open arms…Even Troy."

Gabriella snorted. "Yeah, right."

Not wanting to argue her case right now, Taylor just smiled at her. "You'll see."

Gabriella picked at her now lukewarm burger, secretly hoping Taylor was right, but not wanting to admit it out loud incase she would jinx it. She wasn't even hungry anymore, this conversation has been successful in killing her appetite.

"Do you want this, Tay? I'm not hungry anymore." Gabriella asked what she thought to be an innocent enough question, but was taken aback when Taylor pounced on her and wrap her dark, strong, arms tightly around her next.

"Whoa! What was that for?" Gabriella muffled into Taylor's hair.

"You called me Tay!"

"Yeah…" Still didn't get it.

"You called me Tay!" She said again, as if it was obvious. "Sunshine and Tay are back."

Gabriella just laughed at her. "Yeah…I guess you are right. At least the beginnings of what I hope to be Sunshine and Tay, take 2." For the first time in a long while, she actually felt a small dose of happiness, and it felt so good that she wanted more. In that moment, Gabriella vowed that she would find happiness again, no matter what it took.

"You just have to promise me you won't return to your old ways once you go back to California." Taylor pleaded.

"No problem. I'm not going back."

"What?! Why?" Taylor definitely wasn't expecting that answer.

" It's a long story."

"Well we've got all the time in the world." They shared and sincere smile. "Now spill."

Hope you liked this chapter, its main purpose was to let you in on how the friends were feeling about things. Next chapter, Troy and Gabriella, finally!