Hey everyone! Thank you once again for all of the reviews! You put a smile on my face everyday! I won't be updating again this weekend (or at least I don't think I will be) because I have a 9 hour choir concert on Saturday... But in the mean time I hope to hear from you all again! Enjoy!

I'll Email You

Chapter seven

Mom and Dad

Gabriella yawned loudly as she came down the stairs a few days later and she walked into the kitchen, noticing the note taped to the microwave. She sighed, knowing what it was, not even bothering to read it. She pulled her usual cereal out of the pantry and poured it into a white breakfast bowl. She then poured milk into it and leaned against the kitchen counter, looking at the microwave.

"They left this morning." Gabriella heard Charlie say from behind her.

She turned to face him and he was tying his basketball shoelaces, leaning against the kitchen chair. She nodded as she took a bit of her cereal.

"No one thought of waking me up to say goodbye?" Gabriella asked her brother in annoyance.

"It's just another business trip. The goodbyes go the same way every time." Charlie told her.

"How long are they gone this time?" Gabriella asked her brother, taking another bit of her cereal.

"Two weeks." Charlie stated. "They got the call this morning."

"And we're told by notes." Gabriella sighed as she shook her head.

She left her bowl on the counter as she ripped the note off of the microwave and tossed it in the kitchen desk drawer where all of the other notes about last minute business trips were stashed. Charlie was headed for the front door and Gabriella walked towards him.

"Do you have everything?" She asked him as he opened the front door with his basketball bag slung over his right shoulder.

"Yes, Mom." He sighed.

Gabriella smirked as the door shut behind him and she crossed her arms over her chest as she watched him pull out of the driveway. She headed up the stairs and into her room, passing her parents empty, clean bedroom. She sat down in her computer chair and clicked on her new email from Troy.

To: GabriellaSWEETMontez(at)comcast(dot)net

Subject: Tonight

From: TroyPROBolton(at)comcast(dot)net

Ice Cream tonight? My house?

Gabriella smiled at the quick email sent to her before he went to basketball practice and she clicked the reply button and answered with the obvious answer.

To: TroyPROBolton(at)comcast(dot)net

Subject: Re: Tonight

From: GabriellaSWEETMontez(at)comcast(dot)net

Of course.

Gabriella stood up from her chair and grabbed a bath towel that was hanging on the back of her door and went to her bathroom. She sighed and closed the door, a lonely feeling suddenly taking over her body.

The afternoon sun sprinkled down on Gabriella as she walked over to Troy's house. She figured it would be a waste of gas and a beautiful afternoon if she drove there, so now she was walking, taking in the surroundings around her. Gabriella smiled when she walked up to Troy's house and he was waiting for her on his porch. She cut across his front yard and stopped as he stood to greet her.

"How are you?" He asked with a smile as he gave her a friendly hug.

"I'm okay." She smiled quickly.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked, sensing that something was up with her, but letting it go for now.

"Go? I thought we were having ice cream here?" Gabriella asked as they walked down the front walk way.

"Yeah, well, I like to change plans last minute." Troy smirked as Gabriella laughed quietly. "How about we walk to the park and get ice cream there. We can walk around."

"Sounds good." Gabriella told him as they headed towards the park.

Troy and Gabriella said their "thank yous" to the man at the ice cream cart in the park as he handed them their cones and turned as they started to walk down the sidewalk, around the park.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in a while." Troy said as he licked a drip of ice cream that was sliding down his cone.

"Hmm… the last time we saw each other was when you were running on the side of the road… so yeah, we haven't seen each other for a while." Gabriella agreed with him as she licked her cold strawberry ice cream.

"Thanks for the water by the way." Troy laughed.

"You seemed to need it more than I did." Gabriella told him with a nod.

"What were you doing out and about at ten thirty, anyways?" Troy asked her.

"I was at Sharpay's playing tennis. We were having some girl time." Gabriella explained as she bit into her cone.

"Ah, girl time, I understand." Troy nodded as he bit into his ice cream.

"Troy! Ew, don't bit your ice cream." Gabriella said as she shivered from the thought of biting into a cold scoop of ice cream.

"Why not?" Troy asked. "It tastes better that way."

Gabriella wiggled as she walked like she had ants in her pants, grossed out by Troy's ice cream eating ways. She laughed as Troy bit into it again, dragging it out and making sure she saw it.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Gabriella asked him as she shook her head.

"Nope. My teeth are amazing." Troy said with a laugh as he showed off his not so sensitive teeth.

"And covered in chocolate." Gabriella giggled as she pointed to his teeth, finishing her cone.

"Really? Where?" Troy asked, unembarrassed.

"Right there." Gabriella said as she pointed to his front tooth, stepping closer to him.

"Is it gone?" Troy asked as he ran his tongue over his teeth.

"Nope." Gabriella laughed as she pointed to it again.

"Now?"

"Nope."

"How about now?"

"Gosh, Troy! How long is this going to take?" Gabriella asked with a laugh. "It's right there."

"Well, I can't exactly see myself, Miss Perfectionist." Troy teased her as he licked his teeth again.

"Let me do it! This will take all night!" Gabriella groaned in frustration as she raised herself up on her tiptoes, leaning against him.

Troy smiled so that she could see his teeth and she laughed as she rubbed his front tooth and removed the chocolate.

"You're a dork." She said with a laugh as she stepped away from him, watching as he tossed his cone to a seagull.

"I'm the dork? You're the one scrapping chocolate out of my teeth." Troy said with a laugh.

"That sounds really gross when you put it that way." Gabriella said as she scrunched her nose up like she smelt something bad.

"That's because it is." Troy said with a laugh.

Gabriella rolled her eyes and shoved Troy playfully as they continued to walk along the sidewalk, watching as the sky started to become dark with the passing time. After about an hour of walking and talking it was soon night time, but they weren't ready to go home just yet. They were still in the middle of an intense conversation about basketball and even though Gabriella would say she never wanted to talk about basketball again since she heard so much about it from Charlie; she loved talking about it with Troy.

They laughed as they sat down on a bench that faced a large pond and they talked as the moon cast a silver shimmer onto the water. Gabriella's arm brushed up against Troy's as they got in the conversation of family and she was suddenly much less talkative then she had been earlier, and Troy noticed right away.

"What's up?" Troy asked her, eyeing her from his spot on the bench.

"My mom and dad left for another business trip this morning." She said as she rolled her eyes, looking away from Troy.

"I should have guessed." Troy said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked as she looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"You're never in a good mood when your parents leave." Troy explained to her.

"They're not regular parents." Gabriella started as she heard Troy's comment. "They're never home anymore. They don't care that Charlie and I fight and they don't have time for family things as simple as home cooked meals everyday."

"If it helps, my mom ordered Chinese yesterday." Troy said with a small smile.

Gabriella couldn't help but laugh at his effort to make her feel better and he looked over at her with a smile.

"I don't know, Troy, sometimes I just feel like I want a parent that will ground me for staying out past my curfew or for chucking something breakable at Charlie." Gabriella told him.

"Your parents love you, Gabriella. Sometimes people just don't know how to show it. They might want to have a good relationship with you, so they don't want to ground you." Troy said.

"But what bugs me is that they're not here to do any of that. I want to be able to talk to my mom like Taylor talks to her mom or like Sharpay talks to hers." Gabriella told him.

Troy sighed as he brought his arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

"Well, I'm no mom, but if you need to talk, I'll be here." Troy told her with a smile.

"Thanks, Troy." Gabriella said as she hugged him, setting her head on his shoulder.

"What are best friends for?" He asked quietly.

Gabriella smiled and breathed in his now familiar scent and snuggled closer to him. She sighed as he rubbed the side of her arm softly and looked out at the pond in front of them. A soft breeze blew against them and an occasional late night walker would pass them with a nice smile.

"Should we get you home before Charlie sends out a search party?" Troy asked her with a small chuckle as he looked down at her.

"I guess." Gabriella sighed as she sat up. "We should have drove here and then walked around. We have to walk all the way back home now." She said as she skipped over to the sidewalk.

"You don't seem too down about it." Troy noticed with a laugh.

"That's because I'm walking with you." Gabriella told him as she linked her arm with his and made her way down the sidewalk.

Troy smiled at her and laughed as they made their way towards Gabriella's house. Somewhere along the way, though, Troy ended up giving Gabriella a piggyback ride and she was laughing quietly as he bounced her up and down as he skipped.

"You're going to drop me." Gabriella giggled as she held her arms around his neck securely.

"I'd never drop you, Gabriella Montez." He laughed as he stopped skipping, walking along the few houses before Gabriella's.

Gabriella laughed, sending a chill down Troy's neck as her breath hit his neck and she smiled as he walked up her driveway, setting her down carefully on her porch step. He turned to face her once she was standing and he smiled at her softly.

"Thanks for the ice cream and the talk." Gabriella said to him with a smile.

"Anytime you need me, just send an email." He laughed.

"I will. Goodnight, Troy Bolton." She said as she hugged him from her spot on the step, leaning down so she could reach him.

"Night, Gabriella Montez." Troy said as he hugged her back, smiling as she walked into her house, shutting the door behind her.

Gabriella smiled to herself as she waved to Troy from inside and she turned around, stopping suddenly when she saw Charlie standing in the kitchen doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Where have you been?" He asked as Gabriella made a move for the stairs.

"With Troy." Gabriella told him as he followed her up the stairs.

"And what were you doing with him at this time of day?" Charlie asked her specifically.

"Talking." Gabriella stated.

"Talking?" Charlie questioned as he eyed her suspiciously.

Gabriella turned to face him once she was at her bedroom door and sighed as she placed a hand on her hip.

"I didn't ruin his basketball skills." Gabriella reassured him.

"Wonderful." Charlie nodded in satisfaction. "Goodnight, Gabriella."

"Night, Dad." Gabriella rolled her eyes as she walked into her room, closing her door behind her.

Gabriella walked over to her balcony doors and opened them, stepping out into the darkness of the night. She leaned over her railing slightly and peered down the street, laughing when she saw Troy turning the corner of her street, waving to her when he looked over to see her on her balcony.

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unknownbyhim22