The next day Troy kept concentrating on not looking stupid. He had totally blown it the night before in front of Gabriella.
He definitely wasn't going to do that again.
Tonight he was going to take her to a little café out of town that he had discovered a couple months back. It was really good, and it was quiet and romantic.
Exactly what he wanted it to be like.
He hoped he wasn't giving the wrong impression. That was not what he wanted to come by. He really liked her, but he didn't know if she felt the same.
Troy looked at his watch. It was 5:45 already. He might as well go now. But early than late.
He grabbed his coat and headed out the door to his car. By the time he got to Gabriella's house, it was 6:00 exactly. He walked up to the door and knocked on the door.
Gabriella opened the door. Once again, she looked gorgeous. She was in a light purple sweater, light jeans, and a purse to match. She looked amazing.
"Hey Troy." She said sweetly.
"Hi, so are you ready to go?" he asked.
"Yep, let's blow this place."
They got in the car. Troy decided that now was as good as any time to apologize for last night. He wanted it to be a good night, and so he figured they should be on even terms.
"Um, Gabriella, I need to apologize for last night at your house. I don't know what came over me." He said sincerely.
She looked at him tenderly, with her big chocolate eyes. He completely melted inside when he looked at her.
"Troy, there is nothing to be sorry about." She said softly. He looked at her closely. A smile was on her face. He knew everything was ok now.
He turned his eyes back to the road. "Well, you're going to love the place I'm taking you tonight." He said happily.
She grinned. "Don't tell me, I want to be surprised." She answered.
"Oh you'll be surprised." He said grinning.
HSMHSMHSMHSMHMSHMSHMSHMSHMSHMSHMSHSMHSMHSMHSMHS
"This place is so cute Troy." Gabriella said as they ate their meals. They were one of few people there.
"I'm glad you like it. I found it a couple months ago. It's kind of far, but it's worth it." He said putting a bite of steak in his mouth.
They sat and talked about old times in school, and what they planned for the future. Overall, Troy thought it had been a very pleasant evening. They walked out to the car and Troy started to drive down the road. It was about an hour drive, so they had left a little earlier.
Then something happened. Something very bad happened.
They had been driving for about 15 minutes, when the started to make weird sounds. Troy said it was probably nothing. But the sounds didn't stop. Gabriella started to look worried. Then Troy's worst fear came true. The car started to slow down and jerked to a stop.
"Oh no." Troy said quietly.
"Troy, what's wrong with the car?" she said nervously.
"Don't worry, I'll go look and see what's wrong. Stay here." He got out and opened the top of the car. He looked in, but seeming how he didn't know much about cars, he didn't really see anything wrong. He knew he had plenty of gas.
He closed the top and got back in the car. He stuck his hand in his coat pocket, searching for his cell phone.
"Oh dang." He must have left his cell phone in his apartment.
"Here, I have mine." Gabriella handed him her cell phone.
"Thanks." He said grateful that one of them had been thinking.
He dialed his apartment to see if Robby could come and get them. But no one was answering. This was not good.
"No answer." He said.
"And there's no one at my place, because they're all gone for the weekend." Gabriella looked half scared and half miserable.
This was not what he had planned. He never wanted this to happen to her. So he tried to be positive.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait till morning. I have some emergency blankets in the trunk. So at least we shouldn't freeze. We can just sleep in here." He got out to grab the blankets. But to his dismay, there was only one. I guess he'd just have to give it to Gabriella.
He got back in the car and handed her the blanket.
"But Troy, there's only one here. What will you do?" she asked concerned.
"Oh, I'll be fine. Don't worry." He said comfortingly.
"Are you sure?" she said.
"I'm sure, here, why don't you sit in the back so you can lay down. You'll be more comfortable then."
She climbed into the back and laid down. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.
Troy laid back and closed his eyes. He fell into a dreamless sleep, knowing a beautiful girl was in his back seat.
Though it only seemed like minutes, Troy was startled awake from a big clap of thunder. It was raining hard and there was lightning flashing. Gabriella made a noise in the back.
He turned around and looked at her. She was wrapped up in a ball, like a little child hiding from a monster.
"Gabriella, are you ok?" he asked deeply concerned.
"I don't like thunderstorms." She said faintly.
"Oh, Gabriella, its ok, there's nothing to be scared of." He held out his hand and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.
There was another loud clap of thunder. Gabriella shrieked.
"Gabriella, calm down. Its ok, I'm right here." Then somehow his body climbed back into the back and sat her next to him. He put his arms around her protectively.
Another clap of thunder came. Gabriella buried her head into his chest. He held on tighter to her, wanting to shield her from everything terrible outside.
He whispered softly in her ear, trying to sooth her.
"Shh, shh, its ok. I'm right here and nothing can get you."
The storm eventually passed by, and Gabriella had fallen asleep in Troy's arms.
He looked down at her and smiled.
Well Bolton, I think your starting to get your touch again.
(a/n: Ok, there's that one. How was it? I'll put another one up tomorrow, if I have time, I'm going to be pretty busy, but I'll try. Please read and review.Thanks)