A/N- Thanks for all the great reviews. They were so fun to read!! Keep it up!!

First Bad Habit

Troy tried to shake the previous night's conversation from his head as he jogged up the steps that led to his office. He quickly unlocked the door and walked over to his desk where he flipped open his laptop and threw his briefcase under the desk. After hanging up his jacket, he plopped down in his chair and took a sip of coffee. He cringed at the taste and set it down. He'd never really acquired a taste for the hot liquid but he'd developed a habit of drinking it his freshman year. And after seven years, the habit still held strong.

A musical tone rang from his computer's speakers signaling that it was done loading up. He directed his attention to the screen and clicked on the icon that would connect him to the internet. He cringed again as he took another gulp of coffee and wished that he could break the habit. But breaking habits is a hard thing to do and requires dedication and time. Two things that Troy did not have a surplus of, due to the fact that all of his dedication and time went into his job. A job that would officially begin in 5-4-3-2...

The door flew open and a bumbling, breathless Ryan Evans stumbled blindly into the room. "I'm so sorry. I know I'm," he paused to check his watch, "3 minutes and 27 seconds late but I have an excuse. You see, I was walking down the street and..." The sound of the door slamming shut distracted him and he stepped back and bumped into a decorative table. The vase on the table fell to the ground and shattered.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry. It looks really expensive."

"Ryan," Troy interrupted.

"I'll totally pay for it. Just add it to my bill."

"Ryan," he repeated calmly.

"I know this is no way to start off."

"Ryan," he snapped rubbing his temples.

"First I embarrass myself at lunch, then I get arrested and you have to bail me out..."

"Ryan!"

"Then I arrive late to our rescheduled meeting, at a time I told you I'd have no trouble making..."

"Ryan!"

"Which is still the case. It's that I was walking by this store and in the window they had this outfit that would be perfect for my next show. So I had to call my wardrobe person and..."

"RYAN!" Ryan closed his mouth and stared terrified at the angry Troy; whose usually bright blue eyes had turned midnight blue and were boring into him. Troy inhaled and exhaled deeply. "I apologize. That was rather rude of me," he said finally. "Why don't you take a seat?" he suggested motioning to the chair situated in front of the desk. "Coffee?" he asked picking up his cup and walking towards his desk. Ryan shook his head and sat down as he wearily watched as Troy finished his cup and leaned back in his chair.

Ryan cleared his throat and asked, "What about the vase?"

"The what?"

"The vase," he repeated. Troy stared at him, puzzled. "I broke the vase," he said glumly motioning to the pieces of pottery lying on the ground.

Troy smiled and turned towards the cabinet behind him. He pushed the huge, wooden doors apart to reveal hundreds of identical vases lining the shelves. "Which one should be the lucky replacement?" he asked with a grin.

"How did... I mean... How did... I..." he gaped.

Troy chuckled and grabbed the closest vase before closing the doors. "In my first week here, I broke twelve of these things," he said as he began to clean up the ruins of the old vase. "I ran into five, slammed the door into three, knocked over two with stray paper footballs, and another got broken when a bird flew in here," he recalled as he threw swept the rest of the pieces up and threw them into the trash can.

"What about the last one?"

"Huh?"

"That's only eleven vases, you said you broke twelve."

"Oh, right. Well on my last trip to the shop, after I bought the vase, Mrs. O'Hara, the one who makes the vases; handed me and envelope. Inside were the keys to a moving truck and a note that read "I'm so sick of making those things. Just take them all and don't come back." So I walked out the truck and found hundreds of vases surrounding this huge cabinet. I was so shocked that I dropped the one I'd just bought." They sat in silence for awhile before Troy broke it by saying, "Man, I love that woman."

The two of them laughed until Troy cleared his throat and asked, "So, what about the one you're after. That's why we're here isn't it?"

"Right of course." he replied excitedly. Troy leaned back and relaxed as Ryan began babbling about all of her "amazing qualities," as he called them. As he went on, Troy found himself thinking about the conversation he'd had with Chad at the bar. And as his attention turned away from Ryan, he found himself missing most of his rambling. Not that is mattered too much. He still managed to grasp that he'd met her at an audition and that she taught music at an elementary school. He also heard that she has dark, curly hair and brown eyes. And after that he totally zoned out. All he could think about was the girl he'd lost.

Flashback

Troy stood in the middle of the crowd and searched for her familiar face. He was never going to find her in this mess. Holding onto the two ice cream cones, he pushed his way through the crowd and waited by the fence. He felt something cold running down his hand and groaned when he saw what it was. "Great, they're going to melt. Gabriella is going to kill me."

His head fell back and rested on the fence as he waited. Why hadn't they arranged to meet at a certain place? She probably thought he'd abandoned her. She could already hear her voice yelling... "TROY!" Wait a minute, that was her voice! Troy's head shot up and his eyes batted back and forth, searching frantically for the owner of the voice. Then he spotted a curly ponytail bouncing up and down.

Troy laughed as he watched his friend jumping up and down on the bleachers trying to spot him. The people around her seemed angry and as he walked closer he could hear them arguing.

"Listen little girl. Some of us are trying to watch the game."

"Yes, and with all your jumping, we can't hear a thing."

"First of all," she said, "the game- jump- doesn't start- land- for another half- jump- an hour- land. And I- jump- am currently- land- watching for- jump- my best friend- land. So I suggest- jump- that you- land- shut-up unless you want TROY!" She screamed mid-jump. The people around her sighed in relief when she stumbled down the steps and threw herself at him.

"Whoa, careful. You don't want me to drop these do you?" he chuckled as she wrapped him in a tight hug.

She let go and screamed, "ICE CREAM!" She grabbed one of the cones and kissed his cheek. "Thank you thank you thank you Troysie! You always know how to make my day!"

"No problem," he mumbled blushing. He glanced up and she her beaming at him. "All I want is too see you happy," he whispered sweetly. Gabriella's eyes softened and she slowly leaned in, there lips were only millimeters apart when...

"Dude, is that ice cream?!" Chad ran into Troy and bit into the cone.

A flustered Troy stumbled back and glared at Chad. "What the hell man!"

"Wuh? Aa'm ungree," he said spitting out pieces of cone at Troy as he spoke.

"That's disgusting man," he laughed. "Swallow before you talk."

Chad grinned at them but it faded when he saw Gabriella. "What's wrong G, you look bummed."

Troy looked up to see Gabriella staring at him with a look in her eyes he couldn't identify. "I'm fine," she sighed. "Let's go find our seats," she said, sadness pouring from her voice.

She remained silent for the first half of the game, and just stared at the backs of the people in front of her. Troy and Chad took turns trying to cheer her up, but nothing worked. She wouldn't budge. Finally the second quarter ended and everyone stood up for half-time.

"I don't know about you two, but this dawg needs some hot dogs. You guys want anything?" Chad said standing up.

"No I'm good. Gabi?" She shook her head. Troy shrugged, "Guess not, thanks man."

"No prob," he said. Then he leaned down and said, "Fix-it!" before running off.

Troy sat in shock. Did Chad think this was his fault? Had he done something wrong? He looked over at Gabriella and saw her staring at him again. She didn't look mad. She looked... what was that look. She'd never looked at him like that before.

"Gabi..." he said. "I..."

"And we're back with the second half in the game between the East High Wildcats and Carson High Jets. I'm Robert Shaffer, welcome back," the announcer said. Troy looked around and saw everyone back in their seats. Even Chad!

"When did you get back?" he whispered.

"Like five minutes ago," he answered. "What happened? When I came back you had this weird look on your face. What'd she say?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Chad questioned

"Yes. She just stared at me."

Chad groaned, "Well do something!" Then he took a bite of his hot dog and turned back to the game.

Troy looked back at Gabriella. She was looking down and biting her lip. "Dang it!" he muttered. She really was upset. He knew that she would only bite her lip if she was about to cry. He searched his memory for a reason for her to be mad at him, then he remembered- the kiss. They'd almost kissed.

He'd been dreaming about that moment since he'd first met her, but they were just friends. "Ugh. How could I be so stupid?" he groaned.

"What man?" Chad said. He looked up and noticed Chad and Gabriella staring at him.

"Did I say that out loud?"

"Yep!"

Troy glanced at Gabriella and then checked the clock; they were half way through the fourth quarter, but he had to talk to her now. He grabbed her hand and motioned for her to follow, and surprisingly, she stood without hesitation. He pulled her down the steps and over to the side of the bleachers before stopping and turning to say anything. One look in her eyes and it all poured out.

"Gabriella, I'm so sorry. It was just a spur- of the moment thing. I don't know what's wrong with me. I know we're just friends, and I'm perfectly fine with that. We are friends. Just friends. All we'll ever be is friends. I know that and it's okay. It was stupid, and we can totally forget it ever happened So, are we ok?" he asked worriedly. After a few seconds of silence, he looked up at her and was stunned to see pain etched across her face. A light bulb flicked on in his head, "You want to be friends right?"

Her eyes looked everywhere but at him as she stammered, "Ummm... yeah sure, friends. Of course we're still friends... just friends, always friends. Friends is good. We're good friends. I mean good as friends. But we're good friends too I guess. I want to be your... friend."

Troy stared down at her. She was usually so happy and energetic. She was always smiling and laughing and glowing with confidence. But none of that showed now. She seemed so nervous, so unhappy, so... un-Gabriella-like. And he knew why. Without thinking he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and she immediately reached up and wrapped hers around his neck. They didn't separate until they heard a loud alarm, loud cheering from the crowd, and the announcer scream, "And it's all over. Wildcats Win!"

The two teens smiled at each other.

"Gabriella..."

"Excuse me?" Ryan asked. Troy's eyes snapped open and glanced at a confused Ryan.

"Yes?" he said trying to sound calm. He'd completely zoned out. What had they been talking about?

"It's just... Never mind. As I was saying. I'm not sure how this... business, works but..."

"Then let me explain," Troy interrupted, happy to have changed to a more comfortable topic. "What I do is make her see you. And not just, oh there's that guy from that place who knows so and so. No, I make her see you. And we'll convince her, that what she sees, is what she wants."

"How do we do that?"

"Well, first you'll meet in a way that will have her thinking about you all day. She won't be able to get you out of her head. Soon she'll start wondering if she'll ever see you again, and as soon as that happens, you'll run into each other. And bam, she thinks it's the work of fate. Soon you're dating and wondering what you ever did without each other. And once she's yours, you'll no longer need me and you'll forget I ever existed."

"Oh I won't do that," Ryan assured him. "If you can help me win her, I'll never forget you!"

"Yes you will. It's part of the contract," Troy chimed in. Then pointing to the page said, "Now sign here- turned page- and here, and here, initial here, sign- oh no not there, here. Perfect. Mr. Evans, welcome to my clinic. I'm the Date Doctor, prepare to be cured." He quickly stuffed the packet into his draw and said, "Sorry for the cliché, I can never resist," he chuckled. "Now, did you bring that information file? Great," he said taking the manila folder.

"Is that it?"

"Yep. I'll do some research about her, get to know her, and turn you into her dream-guy."

Ryan's face scrunched up. "Change?"

"We can't make you into something you're not; that's lying and women hate that. So no, change is a bad word. More like polish, finish, tidy-up, or clean. Understood?"

Ryan sighed in relief, "Absolutely."

"Great, I'll see you Monday." Troy shouted as Ryan left the room. He nodded in acknowledgement and carefully shut the door behind him.

Finally. Troy stretched and organized his desk. For some reason he was dreading opening the folder. But he couldn't understand why. This was his job, he loved his job. He owed it to all the men out there who were in the same situation he'd been in so long ago. He had to help him. With his newfound determination, he opened the folder and stared at the picture in front of him, the girl he was to make fall in love with Ryan Evans.

He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing correctly. There was no mistaking the sight. With her heart shaped face, button nose, big brown eyes, and mocha skin, she could easily get a modeling career with any agency. She was beautiful. Just as beautiful as she'd been when he'd first met her the year before high school.

She just moved to Albuquerque from San Diego and was all alone. They were next door neighbors and quickly became best friends. She was a dancer, singer, actress, and basketball cheerleader. And he'd been a shy writer, musician, and according to the coach, a basketball prodigy. They'd spent hours shooting hoops in his backyard, not even caring about the score. They'd been so happy. But then she stole his heart and gave hers to someone else.

Now here he is, staring at her picture, preparing to set her up with another man. She'd been the only girl who had ever tried to know him, the only person who'd known him better than he'd known himself, the only person he'd never worried about being judged by, the only person he could truly tell anything to, the only one who'd ever had his heart: "Gabriella Montez."

A/N- Please review!! And check out my profile page if you haven't seen or heard the hsm3 promos or available song clips!