Okay, Chapter 6 is up! Glad you all decided to stay with me for this long, hope to see you all for all the chapters to come! As usual, reviews are essential, thank you to all my reviewers who keep doing me favors! In this chapter, I decided to finally bring Gabriella back into the plot! Yea! I decided to make her more like a little sister to Troy, so I hope I don't upset anyone by doing so! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Six

(Ryan)

"I think Gabriella's flight just landed," Troy said to me as we got up from our seats in the airport. Gabriella was due back in town before her mother, so Troy had volunteered to pick her up from the airport. I volunteered to accompany Troy, hoping that I could get a chance to greet Gabriella in my own way, meaning: I hope you stay away from my boyfriend, bitch!

I'm only kidding, though. I knew that Gabriella would respect mine and Troy's relationship, and I did like her company once in a while. "I'm gonna go meet her at the gate."

"Alright," I replied. "I hafta go to the bathroom, but I'll meet you guys along the way." Troy nodded and placed a chaste kiss on my forehead before going off to the gate. I proceeded to make for the men's room, Mother Nature was calling, and I had put her on hold for way too long.

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I was washing my hands, when I heard Gabriella's familiar voice outside the men's room.

"I need to wait for Ryan," Troy said to her.

"Ryan's here?" Gabriella sounded excited. "Cool! Hey Troy, I heard you had a boyfriend," I started to go out of the bathroom, to find that Gabriella was turned away from me, perfect… "Who is it?"

"It's me." I came up from behind her, startling her a bit, so she playfully hit me in the arm.

"No way!" Gabriella's eyes lit up. "You guys are going out? I knew it! I always knew you guys would end up together!"

"Yea, you and everybody else." Troy shrugged. "Was it really that obvious that we would end up together?" he looked at me. I smiled.

"Troy, come on," I smiled. "It was fate, for cryin out loud!" We all laughed as we got Gabriella's luggage and headed out to Troy's car.

"Well, where are we off to?" Gabriella asked.

"We could go back to my place," I offered. "You could catch up with everybody else, we could party…"

"Sounds great." Gabriella smiled, and I smiled back. But I hafta admit, I wasn't totally smiling like, one hundred percent.

I was happy that Gabriella was back, but I was unsure about whether or not she and Troy had really settled for a "friends only" relationship. I wasn't trying to be jealous, or malicious, I just didn't want to lose Troy. I made myself believe that Gabriella would keep her place, even though I still had that nagging doubt in the back of my mind.

We pulled into my driveway, and went inside. Gabriella greeted everyone, and the party that had been running for quite some time continued. I waited for the opportune moment to pull Gabriella aside and tell her my true feelings.

"Look, I just wanted to tell you that while I am happy to see you, I'm kinda getting a bit jealous."

"Jealous?" Gabriella looked at me. "Really? Why?"

"Well," I took a deep breath. "I know that you and Troy used to spend a lot of time together last year, and I just wanted to make sure that you---˝

"Didn't steal Troy from you?" Gabriella asked, softly. "Look, Ryan, I'm glad that you and Troy are going out. I wouldn't try to ruin it just because Troy and I had our moments last year."

"It's not that I don't trust you," I said. "It's just that---˝

"You don't trust me." Troy was standing behind me, and he made me jump as he finished my sentence for me. "You don't trust me, do you Ryan?" I didn't know how to answer him, I wasn't sure! I thought I trusted him, but he and Gabriella did share in some pretty risqué moments last year, but he had put all of that behind him, hadn't he…?

"I---Troy---it's not that per say, but---˝

"Forget it." Troy muttered gravely as he turned and left the room.

"Troy, wait!" I called after him, but he ignored me and continued to go out to the deck, where he stood by himself.

I felt terrible. I felt like I had just let Troy down in the worst way possible. I doubted him, when there was probably no reason to doubt him at all. I felt my insides get tied into knots, as I stood there, speechless.

"Ryan, you should go talk to him," Gabriella broke the silence. "I know it seems too early, but you shouldn't let him harbor all this sadness for too long."

She was right. If I truly loved Troy, I would be trying to settle this problem as soon as possible. I had to be strong and confident in my apology, and yet also remind Troy that my thoughts were not too unrealistic.

That was easier said than done. My whole body was shaking as I approached the door that led out onto the deck, my eyes never left Troy as I opened the door, and slowly approached him.

"Troy?" I asked softly, coming up next to him. "Can we talk?"

"I don't know what to say to you," he replied, but not coldly. "But if you have something to say, then I'll listen."

"Look," I took a deep breath. "I know that it was wrong of me to doubt you, but you hafta understand something. I love you. I love you so much, that I'm scared to lose you. Troy, look at me," Troy glanced up at me, his beautiful eyes full of pain. I took another deep breath; Troy's eyes had caught me off balance… "I never meant to hurt you." My voice quavered as I said this. "Never…"

"Ryan, I understand where you came off from," Troy began, looking out into the distance. "What upset me was that you were talking about it with someone that wasn't me. And behind my back, no less. If you have something that you wanna talk about, you should've just told me."

"You make it sound so easy," I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I said this. "But it's not as easy as you think Troy. How am I supposed to tell you that I think Gabriella might take you away from me? Or that any other person, guy or girl, will be able to take my place?"

"No one can take your place," Troy said. "And you know that. I've never given you a reason to doubt me Ryan." He sounded so cold, and it was all new to me. I never wanted any of this drama to happen, and now my worst fears had come true. I tried to say something, but I couldn't. Instead, I opted to run up to my room, fall onto my bed and cry my eyes out. This whole situation was out of control, and totally blown way out of proportion. I didn't mean to upset Troy, so why did I feel so bad?

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I had fallen asleep for a little while, and dreamt of all the good times Troy and I had shared. I awoke, and instantly wanted to go back to dreaming, remembering the incident that just happened.

As I lay awake in bed, someone's arm snaked around my waist and pulled me close to a strong, male chest. I began to wriggle, trying to get out of this person's grasp, hoping it was Chad, playing a joke on me.

"You've gone through too much tonight, Ryan," A soft voice said in my ear. "You should relax."

"Troy?" I breathed. 'What are you doing? I thought you said…"

"Forget what I said," Troy whispered. "It's not worth it. I love you too much to let you go now." I smiled to myself; I knew that Troy wouldn't leave me. I turned to face him, and even though it was dark, I could tell it was him. His lips pressed against mine, and I could hear him murmuring, "I'm sorry," over and over.

"I'm the one who should be sorry," I said quietly. "But that doesn't matter now. The only thing that matters is that we're together." I held Troy in my arms, and we fell asleep in each other's arms, our heads pressed together, and our hearts still sending us on a wild ride. We dreamed together, of happiness and bliss, all that awaited us in our future years.

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Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Sorry it's a little short, the next one will be longer! REVIEW!

ShadowAngel26