- What time is it? Is it still okay?
- Yes, Taylor. – I replied in a dull voice, perching my tired head on the hand. I'm not a morning person. Never been one. Especially not when somebody wakes me up 2 hours earlier then my alarm clock was set to.
The reason for such abrupt start of my day is a sudden spur of loneliness and determination Taylor felt in the middle of the night. You see, yesterday evening Chad told her that he is going to spend practically the whole day somewhere on the outskirts of Albuquerque with his family, again. He of course asked her to join them, get closer to the family and all that other stuff, but Taylor very generously declined, stating that this was his rare chance to spend some needed time with his family and she didn't want to intrude. That's what she said. As for me, I'd say she chickened out. Hence the midnight meditations and rash decisions leading to a disgruntled yours truly. *Sigh*
- Here I am. How do I look like? – Taylor appeared in the kitchen, twirling for me with an anxious expression on her face. She was dressed in a light yellow summer dress, with accurate narrow belt separating the bust and the lower part of the dress and faint white flowers scattered on the material of the skirt. I took another gulp of my coffee (I think I'll need at least 2 more cups) and cocked my head to the side in contemplation.
- You look nice. If you're going to the local fair or something. – I replied honestly, earning a groan of exhaustion from Taylor. Like she is the exhausted one. Ha. She is not the one to work today. And deprived of 2 proper hours of sleep, mind you! – Tay, relax, just throw on your nice-fitted jeans, some pretty shirt or maybe a not too fancy looking short-sleeved blouse and it will suffice. It's not like Chad's family are soo sophisticated that they're going to look down on you if you wear pants. I mean, I don't think that they are, his parents are not like that, aren't they? – I quickly corrected myself. Slipping that I've seen Chad's family before (specifically, on the graduation day) and thus teasing Taylor's nerves into a hurricane is all I need right now for a perfect morning, really.
- Yeah, I guess you're right. – She said in a dejected tone, turning back to change what seems like the sixth outfit. I felt my phone vibrating in signal of a text. I checked it discreetly. "Quit sleepin, little girl! Good morning xo". From Troy. He thinks I just woke up. So naive. Sniff.- I'm sorry that I bug you so much today, Gabs. I don't know what I would've done if I was alone right now. – Her voice carried out from other room.
She probably would've just gotten dressed quietly and been already on her way. No, I'm all for being a supporting friend with angel-like patience. But unfortunately I'm just a human with close to zero tolerance for sudden events and threats thrown at my introversiveness. Two-three weeks of this chaos and my patience wears thin. I won't say any of those things of course; even in my sleepy state I realize that it's pretty mean. I'd even say bitchy. So instead I reply calmly.
- It's fine, Tay. I get that you feel on edge lately; and probably will continue to feel like that until you're waving from the board of the plane that takes you away on your honey-moon trip. I'm happy for you and I understand it. Just please, please don't wake me up in 5 of the morning when I won't have the possibility of taking a nap in the middle of the day.
No, I'm not tired of mentioning it. If you were wondering.
Taylor returned, smiling sheepishly. Now she was wearing light Capri-pants and a short-sleeved button up. I gave her thumbs-up, stifling a yawn.
- I'm not Shar, but I think it looks good. Let's go? – I asked with slight hope lacing my voice. I need to be at work at 9, and it's already almost 8. Yes, we've been searching for the 'perfect outfit' this long.
Taylor nodded, seemingly happy with my approval.
Feeling elated, I went to the door, deciding to wait for Taylor in the hallway. This way she will have less reasons for stalling. Exiting my apartment I instantly noticed golden fur, meeting face to face with Troy, who looked at me in surprise.
- Hey! – He beamed excitedly. – You're a little early today. Decided not to be late for a change? – He quipped, grinning widely. He shifted his weight, taking the pressure off of his injured leg, and squinted at me playfully. The corners of my lips went upwards all on its own.
- Good morning. - I glanced backwards, tucking my hair behind my ear warily. Troy's face shown confused expression before it was replaced by one of clarification when Taylor came up behind me. He greeted her politely.
- Oh, Troy! I heard from Chad that you've got your leg sprained. Are you alright, how are you feeling? – Taylor said in a concerned voice, examining his posture. He waved her off.
- Don't worry, everything's completely fine. Even the doctor said that I should be okay by the day of your wedding, so don't worry about it.
- Good! That's good. – Taylor nodded, wiping her palms on her thighs. She's too nervous over nothing, I swear. Everybody is in love with her already! What can possibly go wrong?
Seems like I'm not the only one who picked up on Taylor's mood.
- Chad told me you would be spending time together with the family today. They're really cool people, I'm sure they'll like you. – Troy spoke up, after we started for the elevator. Taylor only nodded, letting out a breath. – I'm serious. I remember the days when we were kids, his family always took me with them to different road trips, cause my parents we never much the nature type. We stayed in camping tents, went rafting… I remember how once we went in a pretty numerous company, with his grandparents, and uncles and aunts and two out of three cars got stuck in the mud. We were about ten and couldn't do much about it, so we just ran around, playing superheroes, effectively annoying adults. – He chuckled, reminiscing. That sounds so cool, I've always dreamed about having such kind of road trips… But with the company of 4 girls and, well, Ryan, we never even thought about spending time with such adventures. Troy caught my look and gave me a soft smile. I guess my wistful expression was apparent. Quickly looking away from me Troy shifted his eyes to look back at Taylor. – What I mean is, you and Chad, you're on the same wave. If there were any doubts before they completely disappeared after I've seen you interacting with his parents. They'll love you, Tay, I'm sure of it. – He said confidently, making Taylor look at him in appreciation. We were already in the cabin, with Troy standing in the middle of us and Gabby sitting diligently like a good girl in front of him. I jumped a little in surprise when I felt something slightly touching my hand. Glancing at him sideways, I saw that he was stifling a smirk.
- Thank you, Troy. Your opinion really means a lot, as his best friend. – Taylor spoke sincerely. I felt him squeeze my palm, rubbing small circles on it with his thumb. – I hope I won't let down your expectations. – She laughed, a little strained.
- I have faith in you. – He chuckled at her and interlaced our fingers. I kept quiet all through their interaction, enjoying the warmth of his hand against mine (placed so that Taylor can't notice, of course) and also engaging myself with a little disturbing thoughts. I just… when they were talking I caught something twitching inside of me. Like… Sparkle of irritation. Jealousy? Am I that weird? My best friend is head over heels in love and about to get married and I get jealous just because of their friendly talk? It's like there's some little dinosaur inside, that keeps chanting "look at me, speak to me, notice ONLY me". Crazy. And I kind of knew this would happen. And that's really not good.
My thoughts were broken when I felt Troy lightly squeeze my hand in parting as we exited the building.
- Thanks for reassuring me, Troy. See you later. – Taylor waved, heading in the direction of my car. I hesitated a little, wanting to say at least something besides 'good morning' to him. Not that there's much chance.
- I guess I'll see you later, too. – I said, biting my lip in frustration. I know we still didn't really discuss our relationship, but keeping it a secret have its cons. There's this pull in me to kiss him, hug him or just touch him in general and I can do almost nothing about it right now. That's not doing great things to my mood. Troy furrowed his brows, glancing back at Taylor's direction.
- I'm allowed to annoy you with texting, right? – He spoke softly, shifting his blue eyes back at me, making my heart melt a little.
- I won't even ban you from calling me. Only if you want to, of course… - I trailed off, looking nonchalant. He grinned moving his body a little forward, than backwards again, looking to my car.
- Will do that. You should go, little girl.
Nodding one last time with a shy grin, I ran to catch up with Taylor.
- My music officially hates me. – Kelsi stated in a grim voice. I looked up at her from my phone, puzzled at her comment.
I have been texting Troy pretty much all day today, with few interruptions to actually work. Today was kind of slow not that I really mind. I love my work but I love to laze around too, especially right now, being too engrossed in my, eh, relationship, with Troy. He texted me almost at the same time I entered work, probably not wanting to make Taylor suspicious with my buzzing phone. He was actually worried that I seemed a little off this morning. I'm kind of gushing mutely at him being such wonderful and attentive person. And (if I forget my odd reaction at their conversation) he acted like such a good friend for Taylor too! Isn't he just perfect?
- What is it? – I wondered.
- Well, - She blew away her hair angrily. – It all started when I installed the last update. Some off my playlists went crazy, mixing up the songs, some of them missing the right ones. And yeah, I guess, what's the big deal? Just add it back again. But that's so much work, you can't even imagine. My music is very important to me, so I have thousands of songs and it really irked me at the beginning. – She explained, looking at me, and I nodded at her to continue. – Then, when I was almost done I realized that some of them are showing on my computer but can't be played because of the 'wrong format'. I mean, what the hell? Earlier everything was just fine and now this? And when I tried to redeem the situation it just got worse. – She complained. I made sympathetic noises. I wouldn't be too happy if my music went wonky, I guess. – So it pissed me off completely and I deleted everything. Now I'm as good as deaf. – She finished, looking very upset.
- You really care about your music a lot, huh? – I asked, surprised at her wording.
- Yeah, I know that it isn't good to say such things, but it does mean a lot. – She looked as if she wanted to say something more but refrained, shaking her head and reaching for her cellphone. – You mind if I go on a break now? Or did you want to go first?
Because there are so few of us at the place we try to keep at least someone inside, so that if somebody comes, he wasn't welcomed by closed doors. It's not a strict policy, just our own thinking, so sometimes we let us overlook that rule but not often.
- No, I'm good, you go.
I waited as very frustrated Kelsi left the building and instantly dialed Troy's number.
- Miss me? – I heard a cheeky voice on the other end of the line. I laughed, shaking my head.
- I'm still tearing inside wether you're a really nice, kind, and thoughtful guy or if you're just a show off with a huge ego. – I said, taking a seat. I heard him laughing in response.
- What, can't a really good guy have a big ego? I know I'm awesome and I'm proud of it. And I'll even go as far as to say that you're pretty awesome too. – I rolled my eyes at that.
- Oh, really?
- Uh-huh. I mean, it's obvious that I'm perfect, duh, but you, you're not bad.
- Troy! – I laughed in protest and heard him laughing too. – How are you? – I asked after calming down, referring to his leg.
- I'm fiine. – He responded, stressing the last word. – It kind of pleases me though, that you're so worried about me. Montez, do you like me, or something?
- Are you twelve, or something? – I shot back, playfully.
- Naah, I am a grown up! I can do big things like adults do. – He drawled. I don't doubt it. I kept silent, fixing my ponytail. – Let me guess. You're blushing right now.
Duh.
- No. – I tried to reply convincingly.
- Riight. – He stretched, not believing me one bit. Oh well. He should be seriously used to it by now. – You're adorable, Gabriella. I kind of wish they will marry already and everything will settle down. Then we can easily spend the time together. I don't know, go out, or something, maybe. – He finished a little awkwardly. How can he manage to be this immensely attractive confident guy who can kiss me senseless and cute and shy person at the same time? It's magic used outside of Hogwarts, really, it should be illegal.
- Hm. Maybe. If I'm feeling like it. Don't count on it too much though… - I replied in a light voice, though my heart was pounding quite hard inside my chest.
- I.. You're amazing.
I examined the yard as I went up to the porch of Chad's home. A lot of cars were parked near the two-story house. The decorations were almost ready; the stage was put up in the far end of the yard, with enough space for people to dance and have fun. All music equipment was already set in place, and a few feet away from the stage stood small summer tables, with two large and long ones at the sides, designated for food. Everything was adorned with white and pink bindweed, looking beautiful, at least to me. Well, it's not exactly pink, it's that color Sharpay said earlier. Fuchsia, I think.
The door abruptly opened when I wasn't even done knocking on it, revealing excited Jason behind it. Whoa.
- Gabriella! Hey! Come on in. – Jason motioned for me to enter.
- Hi. – I squeaked. What? I get startled easily. – Uh, what are you doing here?
Not that it's any of my business. That was a bit rude.
Jason didn't seem fazed though, if he can ever be fazed at all. Dance rehearsals with Ryan aside, cause even super-Troy has problems with that.
- Oh, we were just practicing with a few of the guys from our high school basketball team.
- Oh. You, uh, you played basketball here? – I wondered.
- Noo! We practiced one thing for the wedding. You know, like surprise thing. - Oh. I'm stupid. Why would they be suddenly playing basketball at the groom's house, after all? – But then Chad and Taylor returned and we played ball a little, yeah.
Oh.
- They played. And I just stood there, feeling miserable. – Troy said, hopping to stand in the doorway to the living room. – Hey. – He greeted me, grinning adorably.
I went up to him, when Jason went back into the house, carefully standing on my tip toes to peck him softly on the mouth, watchful for the intruders. He pursed his lips making me laugh slightly at him.
- That wasn't a proper greeting. – He disagreed. I giggled.
- It's not like we can have a proper one. – I reminded him, my index finger trailing up his chest. He looked around quickly, squashing me into him and kissed me hard but only for a few seconds. Still, that made me feel a little out of breath. I blinked up at him.
- Now that was a proper greeting. We still have to learn so much, Gabriella, so much to learn… - He shook his head at me in mock disappointment. I glared at him playfully, smacking him in the chest.
- What are you doing here anyway? – I asked him. I thought he would be at home at this moment.
I came here for Taylor, because she called me asking for a ride home from Chad's. She again went into explaining how she doesn't want to interfere with his 'family time' but I didn't really mind picking her up.
- As Jason said, a 'surprise thing'. – He said. Oh, how informative.
- Uh-huh. Whaat kind of surprise thing? And didn't you take up a little too much surprises on you, superhero?
He smirked, looking down on me.
- Wouldn't you like to know what kind of surprise? Well, I'm not telling you. It'll be a surprise for you too, I guess. Besides, - He paused, seemingly thinking about whether he should proceed. – Besides, that other surprise, with you, was mostly meant and invented as an excuse to spend more time with you, to be honest. – He confessed, scratching the back of his neck.
- Awww. – I cooed. That's so cute. And makes me blush, but I think at least I'm not the only one blushing right now.
- Gabster! – Chad exclaimed, making me feel startled again. I waved at him, laughing at his entrance. – I'm sorry, Tay's still being pestered by my Grandma. I can't exactly interrupt them; Grandma doesn't like it too much. - I nodded in understanding. – Hoops, Al's asking for you there, something about that business you were doing earlier. – Troy immediately pushed back from the wall he was leaning onto, going inside. – I'm kinda sad that guys didn't include on whatever they're doing right now. – Chad pouted, amusing me.
- I'm sure that it's for the good cause. – I tried to assure him.
- I guess. So, - He suddenly clapped his hands, making me jump. – Sorry, - he snorted, making me sort of glare at him. – Seems like I'm left to entertain you with no other choice for you. Any ideas on how to spend our time? – I only shrugged. Dunno. Surprise me, buddy. He seemed to light up with an idea. – There are some photo albums left from when my relatives went through it with Taylor. Some of them are not even that embarrassing and there are also pictures of Troy, Zeke and Jason in it. Wanna look? Since we have nothing else to do. – He suggested. I agreed. Maybe I'll see there some cute photos of little Troy! Ohh, I'm evil.
He led me to the sofa placed in the corner of the living room, away from all the commotion going around Taylor. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that she seemed a little tired but on the whole happy and at place.
Chad went through the albums, finally deciding on the green covered one, handing it to me.
- It's mainly from school days. – He told me, while I was looking at his photos. We listed through it for some time, stopping at the most interesting and funny ones. Little Chad on the Ferris wheel; Chad and his mom at some zoo, near the camel who didn't look too happy about being in the picture; Chad and Troy with their parents playing basketball at the local park. Oh! Here's one of Chad and Troy, about 8 years old wearing red capes and standing in superheroes posture. I actually laughed out loud to that with Chad joining in. – Yeah, we liked to play around, pretending to be superheroes. I remember, I was a better superhero, than Troy was. – Chad said, puffing out his chest. I smiled. I need a copy of this picture! - Here's one from the day we won the championship for the first time. – He pointed at the picture with Chad, Troy, Zeke and Jason holding the championship trophy together, beaming proudly at the camera dressed in their Wildcats uniform. - We were an undefeated team. Wildcats were the best. Man, what a feeling! – He sighed. I turned another page, looking at Troy and Chad looking smart in suits, with girls standing in beautiful gowns beside them. One of the girls I recognized as Kristen, Troy's former girlfriend and the other one… I don't really remember; one of the popular girls Chad was hanging around at the time. Amelia, I think her name was. – This is one from homecoming Troy's mom took, giving a copy to mine afterwards. They work fast. – Chad chuckled. – I remember Mrs. Bolton being so excited for Troy to date Kristen and take her to that dance; she thought she was a serious and nice girl. That's pretty funny, considering how they broke up over some stupid picture.
I perked up at that, listening to him attentively. I think I remember something vague about how they were arguing over some kind of picture.
- Why would someone break up because of a picture? You mean a photo picture? - I asked confused. Because I am. Confused. Actually, I even remember being confused back then. I did add the latter question to will him into telling more.
- No, a picture as in a drawing. And, well, it wasn't exactly because of a picture, I guess. – He paused and squinted his eyes a little, as if searching for the memory. I held my breath not wanting to intermit Chad's sudden urge to gossip. – If you want my opinion, it was pretty stupid, their whole relationship. He didn't want to date at the beginning at all, I think we just bugged him too much about it and he got a girlfriend just to get us off his back. I thought he didn't want to because of basketball, studies and other sh- shings. – He smirked, lousily correcting himself. – But then, after they started to really fight with his girlfriend I figured out he didn't want to date because he already had an eye on someone. – He paused again and then laughed out suddenly. I scrunched my face in confusion. Why would Troy date Kristen when he had feelings for somebody else? Why not just date that person? It makes no sense. And what's so funny about it? –Yeaah, I remember! He was hanging out pretty often with that nerd girl, a tutor or something. I then thought, like, dude you can pass everything with just basketball, why waste your time with studies you're already not too bad at? – He shook his head. I felt my heart start to beat faster out of anxiety. Is he talking about me? – Turned out he had a crush on this girl, but didn't want to do anything about it because, well, she wasn't exactly a beauty queen. – He chuckled looking at the ceiling still reminiscing while I slowly felt slight feeling of nausea creep up on me. He was talking about me. – I mean, Troy was almost the most popular guy in school, most of the hot girls wanted to date him and she was what? A brainiac who always stuck her nose behind a book, with that huge glasses and hideous figure. He was getting teased just because of their study sessions; if anyone would've seen them together he would've been a laughing stock! Really, you should've seen her, Gabriella, a poor creature… - He trailed off when he finally brought his eyes back to my face, looking as if a bolt of lightning had hit him and his afro did poor job on cushioning the impact.
I imagine my face was a sight at the moment. I don't know what I expected to hear from Chad but surely not this. This thing I could've imagined only in nightmares. Yet again, I really should have seen it coming, for Troy to think of me that way. I just don't know how a person can 'crush' on someone he supposes 'hideous' and 'poor creature'. I felt my lips started to tremble and my whole body shaking on the inwards. I wasn't about to cry I just felt something between seething anger and disgust. Towards what or whom, I wasn't sure.
- Gabriella… - Chad stopped, blinking. I think it dawned on him, suddenly, who he was talking to, because he started to fidget and looked pretty uncomfortable. Whatever. I don't care that he realized who I am, and, frankly, I don't give a shit what he thinks of the fact that all this time we were making it seem as if we met for the first time. We. I guess it's obvious now why Troy was so reluctant to get out in the open too. I doubt Chad would have thought much about it, he's not Taylor. Oh, if we overlook the fact that Troy would have announced that he is finally dating that hideous creature he tried to avoid at high school, that is. – Who cares about high school anyways, right? – He attempted to laugh half-heartedly.
I gave him a grimace and stood up abruptly. I need to find Taylor and get the hell away from here.
AN: Yeah, that's my point of view on drama, lol. I was intending to post it yesterday, on Thursday, but it's the last scene that asked for an extra day. So I'm pretty nervous on what you think about it, to be honest, and hope that I managed well enough in expressing my thoughts. In between writing chapters I read other fanfics and always think "why am I even doing something, it'll never be even close to good" but then I remember that I should finish what I started and return back to writing, eventually. So, as always, thank you to those, who review, especially Tina; it encourages me to proceed. And, of course,
Possible feedback and reviews are always appreciated.