2nd one-shot

Change

She was once beautiful. She remembered this, nostalgically. She was once a beautiful girl with vibrant brown curls and an angelic smile. But like, the 10 years that had come and passed, she had changed, just like the man that she had once, or unfortunately for her, would always love.

3 months. 3 months of him coming home in the middle of the night and crashing down on the couch. 3 months of him never speaking to her, kissing her good-bye, and holding her when she needed it the most. 3 long months of silence.

After high school graduation, she had sacrificed her big dreams of Harvard to attend UCLA with him. She scrimped money while he lived a nice life as a college athlete who had the whole world at his fingertips. She proudly watched him and he convinced her that one day, they'd truly have everything they would have wanted.

He had fulfilled his dreams as a star, where he really belonged. He scored uncountable baskets, made millions off of various endorsements, and wore his Lakers jersey proudly as she gave up her dream once more to work as an average Kindergarten teacher at a famished pre school.

He didn't finish his education. When he was 20, he was recruited and she hesitantly agreed to his dreams. What a stupid decision for someone who had scored a perfect score on her standardized tests.

By the time he was 27, he was still on top of the world until a tremendously tragic accident had caused him to go through surgery and never play again. 7 years of a legacy in the NBA. And it was gone.

She had moved in to help him through his pain and suffering, helped dress him, feed him, and even survived through his temperamental outbreaks, her heart was breaking piece by piece.

A thousand times over, people had asked her to leave, and Gabriella considered it herself. But how could she leave the man that had given her everything at 17 and would still be with her 10 years later? How could she ever let go of that loose thread that held all of their lives together. If she let go, his world would go crashing down and hers would tumble over, and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to pick up the pieces.

No matter how many times she considered it, she would never follow up on that promise, but no one could truly forget their first love.

Her dreams were so far out of sight…

She had finally snapped a year later, when he sat, drunk, on the couch, remnants of Chinese take-out on the kitchen counter. She was truthfully tired, exhausted, and wanted a way out. No one told her she had to deal with all of this, but she did it because she cared, because she loved him, but she never got the feeling the same emotions were returned, because he never did anything back.

"Troy. Troy, please say something," she whispered to him as she went to his side.

His eyes drooped heavily and she kicked the floor, screaming. "One year, Troy. A year and 3 months and you still won't do anything."

"This is who we are now, Gabi." Troy lifted his head up and opened his eyes. "I made you give up your dreams and convinced you that I would give you more, and look at us now. I gave you nothing. We've become useless."

"You became useless, Troy." Gabriella broke out in tears and sweat. "So your career ended, but at least you've got everything you've ever wanted. I've waited 10 years. Ten years for you to make a move, for you to follow up on everything you've said, your career may have ended a little early, but your dreams still came into your grasp, but mine are still as far away as anything else."

She lifted herself up and retrieved a suitcase out of nowhere, packing up all of her belongings. Tears still poured out of her eyes until she finally opened the door, looked at his sad figure one last time, and slammed it, closed everything of her former life.

She had wondered for 6 months what it would be like to face him again, meet him in some very moment in time in another world, and see how he would react. Would he say he missed her? Scold her for not being there in his time of need? Beg for her forgiveness? She wondered all the different possibilities in her head.

Nothing had changed. Nothing had changed except that she no longer saw his scruffy but still handsome face in her living room. She had attempted turning her life around and saw that it was partially her fault for taking a career she would never be satisfied with. Balancing 3 and 4 year olds was not her dream job. Yet she kept on coming back, a reminder that she would never let go of her old life.

She could never let go of Troy, no matter how hard she tried, no matter how many times she tried to avoid thoughts of him, tried to replay different situations in an alternate universe.

Her aching heart and over thinking nature had caused her to sit down on a Saturday night, listening to a Babyface song on the radio and stirring a pot of black coffee.

6 months, 6 months without her soulmate and she was barely surviving. No matter how many times he hurt her.

Her nostalgic thoughts were soon interrupted by a door ring and she quietly opened the door, expecting a total stranger, when in fact, it was the complete opposite.

There he stood, uncertain and afraid with his hands in his jean pockets, with a black jacket on, and his face shaven. He looked clean and for the first time, she didn't see him with a beer bottle in his grasp. His eyes were wide awake and were not red and emotionless but rather filled with hope and anxiety.

"Troy," she whispered.

"Hey, is it okay if I come in?"

"Yeah, of course."

She opened the door wider and he sauntered in, glancing around her small, cramped apartment.

After a few moments, she finally spoke. "Troy, what are you doing here?"

Troy gulped and fidgeted. "I came to apologize. A long delayed apology is due and I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry for how I treated you, for everything I've done."

"Is that it? Or is there something else that you wanted to say?"

"Gabriella, I miss you. I've missed you forever."

"I can't just forgive you like that, Troy. A relationship takes time and effort and two people. But so far, I'm the only one involved and all you do is give me a half-hearted apology and no compromises."

"I know that Gabriella. For the past 10 years, I've given our relationship 100 percent."

That almost made Gabriella explode.

"No you haven't," she said calmly. "I've been with you for nearly all my life. You are the only guy I've ever been with. Ten years, Troy. Ten years and our relationship moves nowhere. It's not growing, not changing. I frankly don't know what to do next."

Troy nodded, his expression turning from hopeful to shocked.

"Are you saying that you want more? I'm not giving you enough? Because I've worked my butt of trying to give you everything you've ever needed or wanted."

"Troy, no! No! I didn't ask for security or for luxury, but I wanted to put ourselves to the next level. I'm tired of being your girlfriend, I'm tired of being your high school sweetheart. I just want change."

"I've always been afraid of change, Gabriella."

"I know you do, Troy. I know, that's why I've waited. But 10 years is far too long for me to wait."

"Okay."

"What?"

"I said, okay."

Gabriella lifted her eyebrows in surprise. Her Troy never really got the full picture and accepted so easily, he was so stubborn, it gave her wonder why she was ever attracted to him.

Troy reached into his pocket and lifted a blue velvet box revealing an oval diamond ring. "I know it's long overdue, but I think some change wouldn't hurt." He got down on one knee and took her hand. "Marry me?"

Gabriella stared back at him in awe. After 10 years, 10 years of waiting for the right moment, he had picked now out of all. When they were in limbo, and had just started talking.

"Troy, are you sure about this?"

"Why not? I know what you mean by change, and I know I'm cautious and never want to take a full step ahead, but why don't we be impulsive for once. You want more, I'll give you more, I'll marry you, I'll make you my wife, and we'll have what we wanted. I'll give you your long overdue dreams and hand you back what you deserve."

"Okay." Gabriella earnestly smiled for the first time in 9 months. "I'll marry you."

"Yes!" Troy chuckled and adjusted the ring onto her finger, a place where something had never fit so perfectly.

"But first." Gabriella smiled, pulling him up. "Let's take this slow. Let's travel back to square 1."

"You mean, start all over?"

"Forget everything that's happened before and slowly go back to how we used to be before your accident. But while we're in that process, we're getting married under a period of 6 months. I've waited too long to be Mrs. Troy Bolton."

"Okay."

And for the first time, with the ring on her finger and the state of their relationship back on again, Gabriella had never been so beautiful. To Troy, she had changed in an instant of a second with her giddiness and joy.

Gabriella Montez had always amazed him with her unwavering kindness and loving personality, but it was her ability to love him, no matter who the man he would be, that amazed him the most.

Gabriella was his soulmate, he realized, and this is where they belonged.

And with that, he leaned in and closed the space in between them.