Chapter 9:

I Love You

This chapter is SO cheesy so make sure you bring sandwich's. x)

Now that the Montez Trio was done fighting their four hour fight, they and Maxine were locked in Gabriella and Maxine's room, trying to find something perfect for her date with Troy.

"Okay, we can try this," Reva suggested, coming out of the closet with a gold, shimmering colored mini dress. Real two carrot diamond's danced around the V on the neck. Gabriella pulled a face and shook her head. "I want to show him I like him for his personality, not so I can get in his pants and see how good at sex he is."

"How about this?" Maxine came up with a cute royal purple halter top and dark denim skinny jeans. Right by her feet was four-inch purple stilettos. "But I kind of want that dress."

Gabriella grinned and went to hug Maxine. "Okay, it's perfect. And yes, you may have the dress."

"Oh, yes!" Maxine cried, jumping up and reaching for the dress. Gabriella peeled off her shirt before throwing on the purple halter top and then shimmying into her jeans. They weren't too tight, but they weren't baggy, either. Gabriella plopped down at her vanity set as Selena pulled out her make-up kit.

"Okay, Booboo. I'm going to make you look absolutely gorgeous!" Selena said, talking like a really gay hair stylist. Gabriella laughed. "Okay, close your lips and purse them like you're kissing Troy. And stay like that." Selena went to work with a strawberry flavored and colored lip-gloss. It made Gabriella's lips shiny and kissable.

Reva went to work on her hair while Selena finished applying a bit of mascara, blush, and eye shadow. When she was all done with the styling experiment, Gabriella turned to her full length mirror and gazed at herself.

Her hair fell softly down her shoulders and reaching her rib-cage in a bundle of black waves and the halter top hugged her waist perfectly and leveled her breasts and the skinny jeans brought out the curves of her butt. She turned to the girls and grinned. "It's like you're my own personal stylist when I go to a movie premier or award show."

"You look totally hot," Maxine said. Reva and Selena agreed and then they heard the echo of the door bell. Gabriella's eyes went wide and she made sure she was all ready before going to the door.

But Sammy already beat her.

He was staring up at Troy with narrowed eyes. "Listen, buddy, Gabi is my girl and no one, especially not a pretty boy like you, will take her away. Now, scatter away and come back another day."

Troy laughed and ruffled Sammy's hair. "I love you, Sammy. But, okay, where's Gabriella?"

"Did you just hear me?" Sammy smacked Troy's hand. "She's my girl. Go find your own." Sammy rammed into Troy, making him loose his balance and fall over. Gabriella's eyes shot wide open and she quickly ran to them, prying Sammy off of Troy. Sammy tried to scratch at Troy's face. "Let me have 'em!"

"Sam, Sam, calm down," Gabriella said, putting him down. She crouched down in front of him and looked him straight in the eye. "Okay, I'm your girl. It's okay. Troy and I are just going to have some fun. Maybe go to Chuckie Cheese or the movies. Is that okay?"

"Not with you looking like that! Babe, you're smokin'," Sammy said, looking over Gabriella. Gabriella quickly stood and sighed. "Okay, I have no idea where you got your mouth from, but, Sammy, we're just going out on a date. We're not going to kiss or something. I promise."

Sammy thought for a moment. "Promise?"

"Cross my heart."

"Well, okay, but you have to be back before my bedtime or else I'm calling the police. Okay?"

Gabriella nodded and saluted him. "Yes, sir."

"Okay, remember our promise!"

Gabriella nodded before quickly walking over to Troy who was leaning against the door jab. He had his hand covering his balls. "He…punched me…in my balls."

Gabriella laughed and tugged him out the house. "You'll be fine. Tonight is all about you and me. No Sammy, no sisters, no pa—"

Gabriella gasped as the annoying flashes of cameras blinded her vision. "I stand corrected," she mumbled, pulling on her shades. Troy wrapped an arm around her and guided her to his car.

"Gabriella, Gabriella, look this way!" "Who's the guy, Gabriella?" "Gabriella, give me a smile!" "Are you cheating on Justin?" "Are you two dating?" "Hey, what's your name?" "Gabriella, Gabriella!" "Hey, boy, let me see your face!" "Are you going on a date?" "You look gorgeous, Gabriella!"

Troy quickly pushed Gabriella in the car before getting in himself. When he closed the door, he sighed and leaned his head against the seat. "How the hell do you put up with that?"

Gabriella shook her head. "Seriously, I have no clue. But you better hurry up and drive before they topple the car over." Troy chuckled before honking the horn, but the paps didn't move. "Pretend like you're about to run them over," Gabriella told him. He put the car in drive and jerked forward. The paps quickly scattered out of the way and Troy zoomed quickly away. "This is how you live," Gabriella said, grinning at Troy. "Carpe diem, as my dad would always say."

Troy chuckled. "No, this is how you get yourself killed. I kind of don't want to be marked as the kid who got ran over by a herd of paparazzi."

Gabriella smiled. "So, where are we going?"

"Well, Sharpay's country club. There's a golf course there and Sharpay immediately said yes when I asked if we could have a date there. She was excited that Gabriella Montez would be on her grass, I guess."

Gabriella smiled. "I guess she's a big fan."

"You guess?" Troy pulled up into a drive way. The gate closed behind them, stopping all paparazzi. "Well, no. I mean she is a fan."

"And it's incredible. She thinks she's the best, but when you and your sisters came, she's now fourth best."

Gabriella giggled and peered out the window. Lights were plastered all over the sandy colored buildings and as Troy stopped the truck she could see the light rose petals making a narrow path to a single table with a candle lit in the center of it. Gabriella jumped out of the truck and grabbed Troy's hand as they made their way over to the sight.

"This is…incredible."

Troy picked up a rose from his pocket and handed it to Gabriella. "Uh, Leilani helped me come up with the idea. I wanted to add the violinist, but I figured that would be a little much."

Gabriella giggled and accepted the rose. "This is perfect. Thanks so much, Troy. I never got a chance to go on a first date planned out like this." Troy pulled her seat out and Gabriella sat down. Troy sat down also and pulled up a bottle of champagne from a bucket of ice cold water. "Chad sneaked me a bottle of his parent's finest champagne bottles. It's from Italy. Do you want some?"

"Of course I do." Gabriella looked up to see a waitress dressed like a penguin coming over. Literally, he was dressed like a penguin. And it was Chad. Emil was behind him, dressed as a chicken. "Happy first date to you. Happy first date to you. Happy first date to you. Happy first date to you," they sung forlornly. Chad placed a huge dish of spaghetti in front of Troy and Gabriella. Emil came over with two wine glasses. He poured each of them champagne.

"Enjoy your meal," Chad said. "Lady and the jackass tramp."

"Yes…enjoy." They quickly walked away. Well, Chad waddled away and Emil kind of skipped. Gabriella turned to Troy with wide eyes. She started laughing and Troy followed after. "They lost a bet," he explained. "Who could balance the most amounts of eggs on their tongue. I won."

Gabriella raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh, really? How many did you balance?"

"Uh…one egg. Chad and Emil couldn't even get the egg on their tongue."

Gabriella giggled before picking up her fork and swirling it in the pasta. Troy also gout a fork full of spaghetti and put it in his mouth. "So, is this going to be like the Lady and the Tramp when we eat the same noodle and end up kissing?"

Troy shrugged and wiped his mouth. "Uh, I was planning on it."

Gabriella picked up the end of a noodle and Troy picked up the other end. They slurped the noodle and then kissed. Troy moved the noodle from her mouth and into his. Gabriella came away from the kiss giggling. "That felt totally weird. Can I get a kiss that is not so weird?"

Troy leaned over the table and pressed a light kiss to her lips. When he pulled back, Gabriella was grinning dreamily. She wanted to say it. She wanted to say 'I love you' to him. But it was too soon.

When they finished their meal, Troy asked, "Do you want to dance? I have this really slow song called "Because I Loved you". Ring any bells?"

Gabriella grinned and nodded. Troy stood and took her hand and pulled her up from her seat. "This is so surreal. Like I'm filming a movie," she whispered to him, looking into his eyes. "But more real."

Troy interlaced one hand with hers and the other wrapped around her waist. Gabriella placed a hand on his broad shoulder and the two waltzed around the course, even when the song ended.

Gabriella laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. "What do you think happens to people who die? Is there really an afterlife or do they just disappear forever?"

Troy thought for a moment before saying, "You can believe in what you want. Some people believe in afterlife, some don't."

"I think I do," Gabriella told him softly. "Then maybe my dad is watching over me, smiling at what I've achieved."

Troy grinned and pressed a soft kiss to her temple. Gabriella looked up at him and Troy pushed a strand or hair behind her ear before bending and kissing her. Gabriella's arms wounded around his shoulders and neck as they kissed. It wasn't like a kiss with Justin or a co-star. It was real. It was magical and wonderful and it made her insides jump with joy. She wished this could be forever. That they could be together forever.

Gabriella pulled away. She could feel the tears wetting her eyes. "I don't want to leave you," she said. "I don't want to go."

Troy bent and kissed her forehead. "It's just us now, Brie. Pretend there's no one else in the world and it's just us, dancing on the ocean. Until you leave, we're us. We're together. And no one can stop us from being us. Not Sammy or Reyna or LA. This is our time and we're going to use it."

Gabriella stared up at him. "Can I tell you something, Troy? Something that you could possibly run away from?"

Troy wiped away a tear with the pad of his thumb. "Go ahead. No matter how dreadful or shocking it is, I won't run. Remember, it's us."

Gabriella sighed and rested her head just above his heartbeat. She could hear the steady depths of his heart beating. It was so amazing. She grabbed his hand and guided it slowly to her heart. "It's beating so fast, Troy," she murmured softly. "For you. And it's because I…I love you."

Troy wrapped his fingers around hers and grinned. "I guess my mom was right about not having a time period for love. My dad said he loved her the day after he met her and they're still together." He looked down at her. "And I love you, too. More than I already did."

Gabriella smiled and threw her arms around him. Troy picked her up and Gabriella wrapped her legs around his waist. They kissed the night away, swaying in the wind and to the soft melody of music. Nothing could break this.

Well, they hoped for that.