THE WINDOW

Part Two

Two and Two Make Four

"Do you think she's still asleep?"

"Of course she's still asleep, otherwise she would have tried to stab us with her kitchen knife and or blind us with her pepper spray by now."

There was a giggle.

"We should just go in and see if she's dead or something."

"Oh! Maybe someone stabbed her with a kitchen knife!"

Sharpay smiled into her pillow and tried to hold back her laugh. She was slightly cold beneath her sheets and her body tingled all over – a nice feeling. Which was probably why she did not stomp out of bed to kill her the two woman who had entered her apartment with the spare key she, without a doubt, had given them doing a momentary brain lapse. She did not get why they had to be so loud when they visited her in the mornings, which they usually did. They knew she could be out really late because of her job, and what time was it now?

Sharpay lifted her head slightly and glanced at the clock on her bedside table. Fuck it, it was 8:30am and her so-called best friends were all there, ready to wake her out of her peaceful slumber.

"Shut up, Valerie, don't even kid with that."

"Buha Denise, just go to Momma Sharpay and cry your eyes out."

"You know what? Maybe I will."

Their footsteps came closer, and Sharpay turned onto her other side, to look away from the entrance to her bedroom. She didn't want them to be able to see her smile when they entered. She screwed her face up in discomfort when she turned, all the contents of her stomach slopped around inside of her, and for a second she felt like throwing up.

Had there been.... drinking last night?

Oh yeah. She'd had a few or five with... GABRIELLA?!

Gabriella?

Sharpay sat up in her bed quickly, while the two fools still chatted, taking their time to find out if she was really dead or not. The blonde looked around her bedroom, quickly scanning every inch of it, not finding Gabriella anywhere in sight. But her clothes were still on the floor.

"So she did not make a run for it." Sharpay told herself, nodding her head slightly, while she contemplated whether or not that was a good thing or not. Well, it was probably good, but it was going to be awkward to talk to her again. Last night had been really amazing in her opinion. Of course it was not the best sex Sharpay had ever had (hello, it was Gabriella's first gay experience – that was to be expected!), but it had been really special. And Sharpay was not afraid to admit that she wanted more of that. She could actually imagine herself with Gabriella. The question was just if the other woman felt the same way?

Sharpay suddenly heard the water start in her bathroom again and fell back into the pillows in relief. Gabriella was just taking a shower – they'd talk after, she just needed to shower. It was nice to know that she was still in the apartment, and that she wasn't close to leaving because her clothes were still scattered around Sharpay's fluffy carpet.

"Oh look, she's already awake."

Sharpay turned her head to the side to find Valerie standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips and a foot tripping. Her faint red hair rested on her shoulders beneath her pink cap while her green eyes shot Sharpay a suspicious look. She was wearing the usual – lose sweatpants, a tight work-out top and sneakers. She was a dancer, and that was actually how she and Sharpay had met in the first place.

"So, she's not dead, damn!?"

Sharpay made a face in Denise's direction as the other woman entered her bedroom too. She had a mischievous look written across her boyish face; her short, black hair was spiced up today and she was also wearing her every-day clothes – jeans and a dress shirt. She worked at a newspaper and was a fairly good fiction writer as well.

Valerie took a seat by the foot of Sharpay's bed, "Why are you still snoozing?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, "We brought breakfast before work."

Sharpay begged that they would not hear the water running in the bathroom if she kept the conversation flowing nicely, "Well, I-" she paused as she thought of what Patrick had said last night about being 'sick', "I don't feel too well today. You might as well go on to rehearsals without me, Val."

Denise sniggered and took a look around the room, "Do I look stupid to you, Evans?" she questioned, and Sharpay had to watch in horror as she bent down and removed Gabriella's red bra from the floor with a finger, as if she didn't want to touch it completely.

Valerie's eyes went wider, and she reached for the piece of lingerie without caring that it was someone else's – she grabbed it with both hands to study it closer. She looked up at Sharpay and made a kissy sound.

Denise looked at the bra again and Sharpay wondered, for what seemed like the thousandth time, how the two of them could really make a relationship work; they were both insane! Denise cringed and continued her accusations, "The last time I checked, this was not your cup size, Ms. Superstar."

Sharpay made sure to cover herself completely before she reached forward and grabbed Gabriella's bra, feeling like she had to do something with this; she didn't want to fuck anything up with Gabriella, and she had a feeling that the other woman wouldn't like it, if she came into the room again and found some stranger with her bra in their hands, "And you know what you're talking about, don't you?" she just fired back; it was the best thing she could muster at this time of the morning.

Denise smirked and Valerie rolled her eyes, "Please, I do not want to be reminded of the fact that you two used to go out."

There was a beat.

"Nah, me neither." - Denise.

"No, could we please not?" - Sharpay.

And then the three of them looked at each other and broke into a full-blown belly laugh. Valerie's laugh had always been really loud and annoying, but both Sharpay and Denise had learned to live with that, and sometimes it just made them laugh even more than they were to begin with.

When Sharpay was done laughing she let Gabriella's bra fall to the mattress beside her and she poked a foot through the sheet on her bed and pointed at the tee on the floor, "Could you get me that?" she asked Valerie with a sweet smile.

The redhead reached for the tee and Sharpay quickly shot her another smile.

"You seriously don't want me to give you your underwear too, do you?" she just stated in a I-will-not-do-this voice.

Sharpay shrieked, "You can take a clean pair in the drawer!"

Denise sighed wildly and quickly pulled out a pair of black boys underwear from the top drawer, where she knew Sharpay kept her lingerie. "Here you go." she said, and pulled the rubber band out tightly before she let go, which caused it to fly across the room and hit Sharpay in the face.

Valerie laughed again and Sharpay shot Denise daggers while she struggled to put on her clothes while still covered, and Denise threw herself onto the bed on her stomach, lying where Gabriella must have slept peacefully only an hour ago.

"So, who's the chick you scored with?" Denise loudly asked.

"Yes! We wanna get the dirty details!" Valerie added.

Sharpay hit them both with a pillow, "Shut up, bitches!" she said, before she let the pillow drop to the floor next to her bed and continued, "She's in the bathroom, alright? And it's Gabriella."

Valerie's jaw practically hit the floor, "The straight girl from back home?" she questioned, "That's crazy! How did that happen!?"

Sharpay shrugged, actually couldn't believe it herself when she really thought about it. She had convinced herself that she'd never see Gabriella again, and had also come to the conclusion that that was probably for that best. But now, when she thought about last night, she did not want to change a thing. She could see herself really loving Gabriella. She was sure that she was already on the way.

"She seemed so straight." Valerie added with a shake of her head.

Denise fiddled the sheet on Sharpay's bed, running a finger across it, "Well," she said, as she looked up at the two of them with a sideways smile, "everyone's straight until they're not. I was even straight once."

Looking at her now, that was very hard to believe, but Sharpay knew that she had actually had a boyfriend back in eight grade or something. Even the gayest girls had once tried a boy. Sharpay herself had been with Troy, and she liked to describe herself as so gay.

"Or maybe she's just a spaghetti girl..." Sharpay said and tried to hold back her smile; she simply couldn't help herself – she was too happy about last night, it was impossible for her not to smile, "Y'know? Straight until wet."

The three of them laughed again, but Sharpay stopped abruptly when the door to her bathroom opened and Gabriella stepped out, wearing only a towel. For a second Sharpay was very worried about what her reaction would be, but when the Latina cracked a smile, Sharpay felt better.

"You know that's not a bad theory." she simply said, and Sharpay laughed lowly, because both Valerie and Denise turned around quickly, both looking very embarrassed. "Hi, I'm Gabriella." she continued.

Denise nodded shortly, "Denise."

"And Valerie, hi." the other woman said and gave a funny little wave, "I did not mean to steal your bra, it was just a very big cup size."

Sharpay felt like that was probably not the best explanation or the best way to be introduced to one another, but Gabriella didn't seem to mind, she just smiled at them, "Good morning." she said to Sharpay, as their eyes locked. Sharpay felt her entire body tingle just by the look and she wanted nothing more than to stand up and kiss Gabriella, but she wasn't quite sure if they were at a place where that was acceptable for her to do.

She pushed a runaway hair out of her eyes, "'Morning." she lowly whispered.

Denise and Valerie must have somehow felt their their presences were definitely not needed and appreciated, because the two of them turned to look at each other, and stood up at the exact same time.

Valerie reached the door first, "We're just gonna-" she pointed through the doorway and was out of there before she had time to finish her sentence.

Denise followed right after, "-set the breakfast table? For four, yes? Alright, see you." and she smacked the door close behind her.

Sharpay turned to look at Gabriella again after the little scene her best friends had made, and Gabriella stiffly sat down about where Valerie had formerly been seated. Her hair was still very wet and droplets of water rolled down her skin, and Sharpay found her very much appealing.

The blonde pushed her sheets aside and moved over to sit next to the Latina. She nervously placed a hand on her thigh, and was relieved when it was not pushed away, "Are- are you alright?" she softly asked.

Gabriella turned her head and stared at her completely. Their noses were inches apart, their eyes locked, brown and brown, "I'm wonderful, actually, I've never..." she stopped, and Sharpay could feel anticipation prickling in every fibre of her body, she could feel emotions rushing through her veins, and it was amazing, and she never wanted it to stop, "I never felt better." she firmly finished.

Sharpay felt like her smile went all the way to her ears, but for once she did not care if she looked like a lovesick fool, "Really? So this was more than just for trying it?"

Gabriella reached out, firmly grabbed her hand and locked it in her own. It felt nice to be this close to her; it was different from last night at McDonald's because now they had shared something sacred, something so wonderful and secret and Sharpay loved every second of it, "I'd be stupid if this was a one time thing." Gabriella said, her voice so full of love and anticipation, "If I didn't give it a try."

"So you wanna give it a try?"

Gabriella nodded, "I've only felt this way once before, and that was with Troy." she revealed. She stared briefly into the floor and Sharpay let her have her space, let her think through it, "And it was a wonderful feeling, but it didn't last." she looked up at Sharpay again with a specific sparkle in her eye, "Now I've got it with you and..." she trailed off, and Sharpay waited for her to say more, but it didn't happen.

The blonde squeezed her hand tightly, urged her to continue, "And?"

"And the sex is so much better."

Sharpay couldn't help but laugh aloud at that one, so she giggled madly for a second or two, and Gabriella chuckled along with her, and it was different, but it felt so nice.

"What are we gonna do about Troy?" was the first thing Sharpay asked when their laughter had calmed down and they were once again sitting in silence.

Gabriella shrugged, and Sharpay knew that this was hard for her. It was a guy she really cared about, a guy she had shared a bed with for so many years and what they had was special as well. But she could see that Gabriella really wanted to try this out too; she wanted to see what it was like. It was a risk to take for a straight girl. She could lose all her friends if she was unlucky and they didn't understand. Plus, the two of them lived so far apart, there was no saying if anything would work out. It was risky, but Sharpay could tell that she really wanted to take that risk.

The Latina sighed and said, "I guess I'm gonna have to talk to him when I get home, don't I?"

Sharpay nodded, "I think you do." she said. It sucked, but that was reality. If they wanted to try out what it would be like to be together, then Gabriella would have to break it off with Troy – and that was that. It wasn't up for discussion.

"But let's not talk about that!" Gabriella quickly said, bringing the happy mood back to the room and to the day – they shouldn't be sulking, they should be happy!, "Were those two your friends?" she asked in stead, referring to Denise and Valerie of course, whom, Sharpay was sure, were both standing on the other side of the smacked-close door to try to listen to what they were talking about in here.

She stood up from her seat on the bed to find something to wear in her dresser while they talked, "Yeah, they are..." she trailed off as she opened the first drawer to find a clean bra, "I used to date Denise, and that wasn't pretty." she explained, "Then I met Valerie at rehearsals for Chicago. She's a dancer. I set them up, thought their craziness fitted perfectly."

Gabriella giggled lowly as she stood up to find her clothes as well; that was only the ones she wore last night because her suitcase was back at her hotel, "Well, they seem like very nice people."

Sharpay looked up after stuffing both her sweatpants into her socks, "You'll have to get used to them." she just said.

"I guess that could really be okay." Gabriella replied back and stopped up, only inches from Sharpay, "Can I kiss you again?" she then added.

Sharpay nodded, couldn't keep the smile off her face as she leaned in, anticipating the moment where their lips would touch again. She still had Gabriella's taste in her mouth from last night, and as she felt right now, she never wanted to lose that taste ever again. It was weird to be thinking stuff like that, but it made the butterflies in her stomach go crazy with their wings.

Their lips touched, and even if it was meant for only a second, Sharpay couldn't control herself; she let her feelings run, stroked Gabriella's bare arms and ran her fingers through her hair. Then they pulled apart, both with bigger smiles across their faces.

"Sorry," the blonde whispered, so crazily in love, "my lips really like your kiss."

Gabriella licked her lips shortly, stared her deeply in the eyes, rested her forehead against hers, "That's quite alright." she said, "We're gonna have to talk about what to do next, we're gonna have to do that before I leave."

"Of course."

"But what do you say? Should we go have breakfast with your wacky friends before anything?"

Sharpay giggled again and gave the Latina another peck on the lips, "I say that that's a very good idea."

–

"So what did you think of our show last night? I'm a dancer, you know."

Sharpay smiled at Gabriella and urged her to answer Valerie, who valued the opinion of about anyone she could ask for it, and the redhead was quite the talker, so that was a lot of people in the end.

Gabriella reached for a croissant from the bag on the table (for once she wanted to eat breakfast – the workout last night had gotten her quite hungry), as she nodded to Valerie, "It was good. I liked it a lot, but it's Broadway, nothing on Broadway is not worthy of Broadway, am I right?"

"I like you." Valerie said, and for a second Sharpay thought that it was the compliments that did the trick, but then the other woman continued, "That is one of the weirdest sentences I've heard, and that's something, I'm tellin' ya'!"

Denise laughed briefly and stuffed her face with the last bite of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, "True, true Gabriella, Valerie has heard some pretty screwed up things."

Valerie screwed her face up in a weird direction, "What do you know about that!?" she questioned her girlfriend with huge eyes.

Denise argued back and Gabriella turned her head to the other side, which made Sharpay very happy because then she'd be able to see her beautiful face, "Did you really mean it when you told me that I'd have to get used to that? Do they always bicker?" the Latina asked.

Sharpay nodded her head. It was true. They did always bicker, they did always argue, but when it came to it, they were the happiest people together. Sharpay had never seen either of them as happy as they were once they had started dating. They brought the best (and sometimes worst) out in each other. "Yeah, but... you learn to tune it out."

Before Gabriella managed to reply to that statement, Valerie had something to say yet again, "Hey Shar? We have to be at rehearsals in thirty minutes, maybe it's time to leave, considering it takes at least forty to get there."

Sharpay rolled her eyes, and Denise reached a hand out and placed it on her forehead, "She feels kinda warm though, Val, I think it's better if she rests until tonight so she'll be able to giver herself 150 percent."

Valerie sighed heavily and pushed her chair back, "Sure, she's very sick!" she mocked as she turned to gather up all her belongings which she had managed to scatter around the flat during her, so far, thirty minutes visit, "So? What do I tell them all? That you'll definitely make it tonight?"

Sharpay snickered, "I do have obligations, so I'll definitely be there." she replied. Gabriella would already be gone then anyway, and she felt weird about being 'sick' because she loved her job and they had hired her because of her commitment. But she needed to spend some time with Gabriella – there was nothing to discuss about that, they'd just have to be able to rehearse without her.

Valerie just shook her head at her friend as she picked up her purse from the floor and Denise stood up too, "Well, goodbye ladies, I do have to work too." she said and then poked her hand into Gabriella's, "It was nice to meet you, I can't wait to spend more time with you."

Sharpay watched happily as Gabriella shook her hand and replied with a smile. It was good to know that so far they clicked. Because Denise and Valerie were her two best friends in the city – and her two gay friends. There was Patrick too, of course, but he had his family to spend time with. It was easier with those two because they were at the same place in their lives and they could always hang out. Gabriella would be a part of that – when she came to visit, or if she, perhaps, ever decided to live here?

The two fools left her apartment and Sharpay turned to Gabriella again, happy to finally be alone with her. They were so many things they needed to discuss – it was important that some of it were settled before Gabriella left for Albuquerque.

Gabriella shot her the cutest smile too and reached for her hand, so their fingers were linked, "When I've broken up with Troy... do you think I could come here every other weekend to spend time with you?" she lowly asked. Her pointer finger kept moving in Sharpay's hand and it tickled wonderfully.

The blonde smirked at her; wondered how she could even ask if she could, she had to! It was an order, she must, "You better." she just replied, feeling the warmth of her body release through her smile and her eyes in the happiest expression she had had in a very long time.

"Good." Gabriella smiled.

There was a silence between the two of them, but it was not awkward like it could sometimes be when one didn't know what to say to someone else; it was nice and comfortable, and it felt like they had been sitting at a breakfast table together a gazillion times before because it was so familiar, and Sharpay hoped to be doing this again in a year – or ten.

Gabriella then looked around the tiny kitchen with a curious look across her face, "Where did I drop my purse last night?" she asked and Sharpay shot her a questionable look to get her to elaborate, which she quickly did, "I turned off my cell last night, I'm sure Taylor must have tried to call me all night."

Sharpay raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. Why would Taylor try to reach Gabriella so frantically? She was a grown-up woman, she should just leave her alone for a couple of days!, "Why'd she do that?" she quickly questioned.

Gabriella got a small smile on her face and Sharpay really wanted to know what had gone on with them. She didn't have to beg though, because as Gabriella stood up to find her purse and with that her cell phone, she also started to tell her, "I sorta turned it off in the middle of a very important conversation." she explained as she walked out of sight.

Sharpay turned her head to follow her to the doorway, "What kind of conversation?" she teased her in a giggly voice, even if she was serious about wanting to know, too.

Gabriella appeared in the kitchen again with an even bigger smile across her face, "We were talking about you." she revealed as she sat down on her seat and dug into her purse for the small device.

The was certainly even more interesting than Sharpay had thought it would be, "Me?" she couldn't help but ask, a finger pointed to herself.

Gabriella couldn't help but laugh as she finally looked up at Sharpay with the cell in her hands, "I just told her that I knew I was into you." she cringed, "I think she might be fretting to know what that's all about."

Sharpay couldn't help but laugh, "Knowing Taylor, she's without a doubt doing that!" she giggled as she watched Gabriella turn on her cell. She couldn't really believe that Gabriella had told Taylor that, though, it was kind of weird to think about. She was flattered that Gabriella had already felt like that before she suggested her brilliant 'schedule' for the evening last night, but it worried her slightly what Taylor might be thinking now – and what she would think of her in the future.

As soon as she had turned on the phone it kept vibrating, loading up message after message; probably all from Taylor. If it continued much more, the phone would move off of the table, where Gabriella had placed it before. The Latina watched it in horror and then she raised her head and stared at Sharpay with wide eyes too. The blonde placed a hand in front of her mouth to keep herself from giggling.

"She must really be fretting." Gabriella simply said, staring back down at the phone in astonishment.

Before Sharpay managed to shoot back a witty comeback to that, the phone started buzzing like crazy and soon it started ringing and the two woman locked eyes in surprise. Sharpay reached a hand out and pushed it closer to Gabriella, "Pick it up!" she shrieked, afraid because Taylor's picture was flashing madly across the screen.

Gabriella shook her head, "No!" she shot back and pushed the phone closer to Sharpay, "You pick it up for me! I can't deal with her right now!"

"It's your phone, I won't pick it up!"

"Pick it up!"

"No!"

"Do it!"

"No!"

"Please Sharpay, just do it, won't you!?"

And so then Sharpay reached for the phone and held it to her ear, "Hello?" she questioned, very much afraid of what would happen next. She did not want to do this, but right now she just wanted to please Gabriella, because that was what would make or break her future. She was afraid to hear how Taylor would handle this – it was important that she liked her, after all – she was Gabriella's best friend, wasn't she?

She could hear the other woman hesitate on the other line, "Gab – Gabriella?"

Yeah, it was definitely Taylor, Sharpay was sure of that, but she could hear clearly that Taylor was not sure if it was Gabriella she was talking with or not. Of course she would be uncertain, because their voices reminded nothing of each other, but still she was doubting, because this was Gabriella's phone, so who else would be answering?

Sharpay stared at Gabriella, who was listening closely, as if trying to hear what was going on, "No." Sharpay firmly said, replying to Taylor's questioning statement, not sure about what else to say.

Again there was a brief pause, but then Taylor seemed to catch on, and Sharpay would have expected that, she graduated best of their class, "Sharpay?" she asked, and suddenly her voice had turned much harder and she sounded pretty accusative.

Sharpay let her eyes focus out the window, tried to take this in the best way possible, "Yeah, this is she." she replied.

"What the crap are you doing?" was Taylor's first reaction. Her voice was snappy and rude, and Sharpay knew that she was about to get some sort or lecture from her – Taylor did not like this, that was very clear to the blonde actress, but what could she really do about it? She liked Gabriella a lot, and Gabriella liked her too. Taylor should be happy for them.

She sighed heavily, "Talking to you?" she dared to question back at the fiery woman, who was very opinionated.

Taylor did not appreciate that response, "Don't start with me, Sharpay!" she said, quickly moving on to the next thing, "What the fuck is going on? Gabriella text me something huge last night and then I can't get a hold of her, and I've been trying practically all night, I did not get an hour's sleep, and now I'm talking to you instead of her, and I just want to know what's up!" she paused and breathed heavily at the other end, "And I'm rambling, am I not?"

It wasn't as bad as Sharpay had feared it would be, so she dared to sneak a smile and turn to look at Gabriella again, who was drumming her right hand's fingers against the table, "Yeah you are, Taylor, you're rambling." she softly replied.

"I know." was the only thing she got back.

There was a pause where Sharpay didn't know if Taylor was going to speak again or if she should say something. But when nothing came from the other end, Sharpay decided to try her way with talking, "I don't know what to say to you, Taylor... I'm sorry if this upsets you, but since I first laid eyes upon Gabriella," she locked eyes with the Latina again, as she had raised her head with the biggest smile this morning, "I've liked her. And I can't describe it, but Gabriella knew my feelings from the very start, and yet she still came to see me again."

That was all she could explain. She didn't know what went on inside Gabriella's head, so she could only speak for herself, but she felt like it was a good thing that Taylor knew that she really cared about Gabriella and that she hadn't lured her in or anything.

Taylor breathed softly in and out, probably contemplating what to answer to that, "...can I speak to my best friend now, please?" she then lowly tried.

Sharpay let the phone fall from her ear and covered it with one hand, "She wants to talk to you." she said as she held it out for Gabriella to take.

The Latina looked slightly nauseas, but Sharpay offered her an encouraging smile until she took the phone and raised it to her ear, "Tay?" she nervously begun.

Sharpay felt like this wasn't really her business, so she pushed her chair back and decided to go fix herself completely. If she knew herself, which she really did, her hair was one big mess about now.

–

There was a bit of an awkward tension between them because Gabriella's conversation with Taylor had not been as calm as Sharpay's had been, and right after they had hung up, before Gabriella even had had time to gather herself together, Troy had called her up to tell her 'good morning' and hear how it went yesterday.

During that conversation, Sharpay could tell that Gabriella felt really uncomfortable, and once it was over, the good mood had sort of faded and there was just tension between them.

Sharpay felt like it was her fault that Gabriella felt like this now, because hadn't it been for her, she wouldn't be having problems in her relationship with Taylor, and she wouldn't feel so uncomfortable talking to Troy. She opened her mouth to speak, only said, "Do you-" before she cut herself off, not really sure about what to say, how to really phrase herself without sounding completely stupid.

Gabriella looked at her from the seat on Sharpay's bed where she had thrown herself in frustration after the phone call had ended; Sharpay was sitting on the floor, back against a wall, with her leg pulled up to her chest, "No." Gabriella firmly said, trying to give her a small smile, but it didn't go down so well, "It's not your fault Sharpay. I want this."

Sharpay didn't say this aloud, but she was happy to know so. And it also pleased her that Gabriella knew exactly what her concern was, even if she didn't tell her so. She knew her so well already, and it was scary how quickly it all seemed to happen. Before she could count to ten, Gabriella would have told Troy and they'd officially be girlfriends.

There was a silence between them again and Sharpay hugged her legs closer to her body, rested her chin in the nook between her knees, watching Gabriella intensely. The other woman sat up straighter and glanced quickly at the clock next to her. "I should probably get to my hotel and pack my stuff." she softly said.

Sharpay lifted her head from the nook and said, "Oh... okay." she nodded and got off of the floor, to give Gabriella a proper goodbye. She also had stuff she needed to do, and it was probably about time. She stuck her hands into her pockets and shrugged, "I better get to work as well."

Gabriella giggled lowly and it eased the tension a little bit, but it was still to be cut delicately with a very formal knife, "I'll call you tomorrow." she said, as they left the bedroom to walk through the flat and to the hallway, looking for any remains of Gabriella' s stuff on the way.

Sharpay paused briefly as she walked past her stereo, wondering what to do. She made a quick decision though and grabbed the burned CD from on top of the stack on the floor. She caught up with Gabriella in the hallway, who were leaning against the wall, slipping into her footwear.

"Here." Sharpay firmly said and handed her the CD with a shy smile, "I want you to listen to this on the plane. And I want your honest opinion."

She was worried what Gabriella might think, but it was always better to hear the truth than some lie some people tell just because they're afraid of what will happen if they do speak their minds. She valued what Gabriella had to say – she wanted to know, otherwise she simply wouldn't ask.

Gabriella smiled back, her eyes were sparkling with love and adoration, and Sharpay felt really loved, "Is this you singing?" Gabriella questioned, glancing firmly at the blank CD that had nothing written on it.

Sharpay nodded her head, "I made that demo a few months ago. It's one of my own songs." she said, remembering how nervous she had been when she had to record it. It was one thing to stand on a stage and sing her heart out every night, and it was alright to record the songs from various plays because they had to release a soundtrack – it was a whole other thing to record one of her own songs, with very personal lyrics. But it was nice, because she felt like the record would come right from her heart and it was a dream come true.

Gabriella nodded almost unnoticed and safely placed the CD in her purse, "I'll definitely listen to it." she replied, and the two of them looked each other in the eye again. There was a pause, and she said, "I'll see you soon." and then she leaned forward and placed a quick peck on Sharpay's lips.

"Bye." Sharpay whispered as she pulled back, the feeling of Gabriella lingering everywhere on and in her body.

Gabriella did not say another word. She turned and left the apartment, and Sharpay sighed heavily when the door smacked close. She was so happy. But she was also so nervous – how on Earth wouldn't this end?

–

Sharpay entered the dressing room after a brilliant show that evening. She was exhausted, but very happy. She felt as if her happiness had been shown through the entire show and it felt nice to affect people and bring them joy in that certain way.

Falling into her couch, she pushed her hair back, happy to be alone now. She just wanted to go home and sleep and have wonderful dreams about Gabriella all night.

Her phone started ringing from where it was lying on the table, and she could barely reach it from where she had thrown herself, but she managed to snatch it with two fingers and couldn't keep herself from smiling even bigger when it was Gabriella's name on that display. She quickly flipped her phone open, "Hi." she softly said, not believing that she actually missed the Latina so much already. She barely knew her, and she had barely been away from her.

"I – I listened to you song." Gabriella whispered at the other end of the line.

Sharpay didn't bother asking if she had talked to Troy or not, because it was clear that she was making this call in secret while he was either sleeping or watching TV, and it was okay, because Gabriella had lots of time to talk to him; she could do it when she felt like it was a good time.

She bit her lip instead, anticipating the response, "Yes?"

"It's really beautiful."

Sharpay didn't know what to answer to that. She felt her heart swell just a bit, but she didn't want to thank Gabriella aloud; the Latina knew what it meant to her. Instead, she said, "I miss you already."

There was a beat.

"I miss you too."

Sharpay bit her lip and ran a finger across a broken hem on her costume, while she tried not to act like a complete fool, "I can't wait to see you again."

Gabriella sighed at the other end of the line; it was hard on her too, Sharpay could tell, "No, I can't wait to see you either." she softly replied.

Sharpay nodded to herself, "Well... see you."

"You too."

Sharpay closed her phone with a click and dropped it carelessly to the floor. Falling to the couch, to lie down completely and rest, she couldn't help but ask herself, What the fuck have I gotten myself into?

Thank you so much for all the kind reviews. I can't believe so many of you seem to enjoy this story, but it makes me very happy! (; I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well, and please drop me off your thoughts. It'll be a while before the next part is up, because I have a small project I'd like to work on first (it's a one-shot), but I don't know if I'll finish it completely before I write the next chapter of this, because it needs a lot of work, since my idea is still not completely thought through yet.

Anyway, thank you all so much!

Disclaimer; I don't own High School Musical or anything related to that.