Hey everyone! I was going to update yesturday, but oddly, I went to the farm. And I babysat. Thank you all so much for the reviews! Don't forget to check out this trailer on YouTube! Enjoy!

Loving Love

Chapter seven

Baby Steps

Gabriella was bending down behind the counter of the diner when she heard the bells on the door chime. She stood up, hearing her knees crack as she straightened them and she came face to face with Troy's little sister. Her dark blue eyes looked sad as she sat in Troy's usual seat and Gabriella looked around to see if anyone had come with her.

"Hi." She smiled shyly, taping her fingers on the counter as she looked at Gabriella.

"Are you here alone?" Gabriella asked cautiously, moving a few dirty plates away from her.

"Yeah." She nodded, her nervous fingers stopping their motion as she looked somewhat guilty.

"Are you okay?" Gabriella asked, putting her hands on her hips as she looked at the little girl, knowing that she shouldn't be there alone.

"I'm kind of hungry, but I don't have any money." She explained, glancing at the cupcakes that were sitting on the counter.

Gabriella smiled softly, taking a pink cupcake off of the large plate and handed it to her.

"It's on the house." She said with a smile as Bailey- Troy's sister- took it from her happily.

Gabriella watched as she bit into it, tending to a few of her customers before coming back to the counter where Bailey still sat after a few more minutes. Gabriella leaned against the counter as she faced the girl, noticing how much she looked like Troy.

"Why are you here alone?" Gabriella asked her after just watching her for a few more seconds.

"Troy's babysitting me." She told Gabriella as she folded her hands together on the top of the counter. "He was being mean to me." She explained.

"So…" Gabriella started, still not putting the pieces together.

"I ran away." She simply stated.

"You what?!" Gabriella asked loudly, her eyes widening. "You walked here by yourself?" She asked in shock. "Does your brother know you're here?"

"No." She answered. "He probably doesn't know I'm gone."

"I'm sure he does!" Gabriella said with a quick nod, grabbing the phone off of its place on the wall, ready to dial an array of numbers, but then she remembered that she didn't know Troy's number, and then the look that Bailey had on her face stopped her.

"Please don't call him! I promise to go home in a little bit, but he's such an idiot! I hate him!" She said seriously, looking extremely mad as she thought of her much older brother.

Gabriella's heart seemed to grow heavy as she looked at Troy's sister, laughing softly after a minute.

"You sound like me." Gabriella admitted, seeing Bailey smile softly.

"So he's a lunkhead basketball player around you too?" She asked.

"You could say that." Gabriella answered with a laugh, excusing herself as the phone started to ring.

Turning towards the wall as she answered the phone, Gabriella said her usual "Gabriella speaking, you've called Rebecca's how can I help you" greeting when she heard a panicking Troy on the other line.

"Is Bailey there? One second I'm peeing and the next she's gone!" He shouted into the phone, out of breath and no where near calm.

"Yeah, she's here." Gabriella replied, glancing behind her shoulder at the counter.

"Don't let her out of your sight! I'll be there in a minute!" Troy said quickly.

"No, wait!" Gabriella exclaimed, hearing the motion that she heard on the other line stop and Troy's breathing grow more impatient.

"What?" He asked loudly.

"I think she needs some time alone." Gabriella explained to him, hearing an annoyed groan from him as if he didn't understand the female mind. "I'll walk her home when she's ready to go."

"Make sure she's okay for me." Troy said vulnerably, his voice quieter than it had been since he called.

"I will." Gabriella nodded even though he couldn't see, and as she was about to say bye she heard the buzz of the other line, indicating that Troy had hung up. She rolled her eyes before hanging up the phone and turned to see Bailey watching her.

"That him?" She asked dully.

"Yeah, but I told him I'd take you home when you were ready." Gabriella smiled.

"And he agreed?" Bailey asked in surprise as if her brother never let her get away with things like this.

"Yup." Gabriella answered with a soft smile. "I'll be right back. I have some customers to get to."

Bailey nodded, staying in her seat as she waited for Gabriella to come back, watching Gabriella carry multiple plates of food at a time around the diner. The hair being held up by her ponytail was slowly falling out of it, trailing down her shoulders as she made more trips. Gabriella smiled at Bailey when she noticed that she was being watched by her and she pulled her ponytail out of her hair to readjust it. She cursed under her breath when the hair tie broke as she was twisting it around her hair, and she sighed as she continued to do her work, ignoring her long hair.

"You should wear your hair down all of the time." Bailey said as Gabriella filled up a few cups with Root Beer.

"Why do you say that?" Gabriella asked with a laugh, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"It's pretty." Bailey stated.

"Thanks." Gabriella replied somewhat shyly, wondering why the comment sounded so weird to her, but then she realized it was because no one ever complimented her.

"Gabriella?" Bailey said suddenly. "Do you think I should go home now?" She asked somewhat shyly.

"Sure." Gabriella smiled. "I'll walk you home."

***

"Do you think he's going to be mad?" Bailey asked Gabriella as they walked hand in hand along the sidewalk, talking about anything that they thought of as they walked.

"Isn't he always mad?" Gabriella commented with a small laugh, seeing Bailey nod as she looked up at her.

"Lately he's been especially angry." Bailey told Gabriella. "With everything going on at school and stuff, he's apparently stressed. At least that's what my mom told me the other day after he yelled at me for being in his room."

"What do you mean? What's been going on at school?" Gabriella asked her curiously, looking down at her.

"Well, I don't know the whole story, but Chad hasn't been over lately, and I heard my dad talking to my mom about how Troy wasn't performing well at practice." Bailey said.

"Why's that?" Gabriella asked her, becoming increasingly curious about the situation.

"Between you and me," Bailey started with a smile. "I think he likes a girl." She said with a small giggle after.

"A girl, huh?" Gabriella questioned, laughing slightly at the laugh that escaped Bailey's lips. "Who's this girl?"

"I don't know, but she has to be driving Troy crazy! I heard him singing in the shower the other day! Can you believe that?" Bailey asked excitedly, loving the small amount of happiness that her brother sometimes gave off.

"That is surprising." Gabriella laughed softly.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Is my brother mean to you?" She asked, looking up at Gabriella who tried not to look saddened by the question. Bailey continued to look at her as they walked together and Gabriella sighed, looking straight ahead as she came up with an answer.

"High school is weird, Bailey." She started, trying to put her answer as nicely as she could. "There are tons of different groups of people with different friends, you know?"

"Yeah, like the cheerleaders and jokes? And the nerds?" Bailey said. "Are you a cheerleader? You look like one."

Gabriella's mouth fell open and she looked quickly at Bailey who seemed completely serious about her question. Bailey looked up confused, wondering why Gabriella wasn't saying anything.

"I would be considered a nerd at East High." Gabriella admitted.

Bailey was quiet for a minute as they walked down a familiar street. She started to walk slower and Gabriella smiled softly, knowing their walk was coming to an end.

"So Troy's not friends with you because you're a nerd?" Bailey asked, not seeing the hurt look on Gabriella's face.

"I guess so." Gabriella faked a smile, wanting Bailey to know that it didn't bug her. "Sometimes people aren't meant to be friends."

"That's too bad, because Troy needs someone in his life like you." Bailey said. "Someone who will stand up to him and not make out with him would make him a better person."

"Um… what?" Gabriella asked in surprise.

"He makes out with tons of girls at home when my parents think he's babysitting me." She explained. "It's really gross."

Gabriella didn't answer as they approached the Bolton's house. The night sky was a dark blue and there was a cool breeze moving around them. Troy stood up immediately from the porch step that he was sitting on when he saw the two of them and jogged towards his sister, trying not to notice her flinch as he picked her up quickly, pulling her into the tightest hug he might have ever given out.

"Never do that again!" He said angrily to his sister, burying his face into her straight hair as she hugged him back softly.

Gabriella stood awkwardly on the sidewalk as she tried not to faint as she witnessed Troy caring so deeply about a breathing object. She ran a hand through her curly hair and crossed her arms over her chest as a chill ran down her spin.

"Troy, I can't breathe." Bailey squeaked softly.

Gabriella laughed softly, watching as Troy loosened his grip and looked at his sister seriously.

"Why the hell did you run away?" He asked her.

"You were being mean." She said quietly, looking down at her brother's t-shirt, pulling on a small string on the shoulder so that she didn't have to look at him.

"Don't scare me like that! You have to promise me that you'll never do that again." He begged her, smiling softly as she began tearing up, promising that she wouldn't do it again.

He set her down, realizing that she wasn't a little kid anymore and that he couldn't pick her up for that long anymore. He finally noticed Gabriella standing next to them, awkwardly trying not to make eye contact. He opened his mouth to say something, but Bailey interrupted him before he could.

"Can Gabriella come in and watch American Idol with us?" Bailey asked Troy, grabbing Gabriella's hand, tugging her towards the front door.

"As long as she sits on the opposite end of the couch." Troy said seriously as he opened the front door for his sister and Gabriella.

Gabriella laughed when she ended up sitting right next to Troy when American Idol came on. Bailey didn't want to sit on the crack between the two couch cushions so she made Gabriella switch with her, which resulted in Gabriella sitting next to Troy, her legs folded underneath her as she tried not to bump into Troy.

"Who's your favorite so far?" Bailey asked Gabriella quietly.

"Shush." Troy said as he heard the voices next to him, wanting to watch the embarrassing auditions.

"It hasn't started yet." Gabriella giggled at Bailey's enthusiasm.

Bailey smiled as she leaned against the arm of the couch. Gabriella could feel Troy's leg against her knee and as Bailey pushed her towards him slightly as she stretched her legs out, she glanced at him, now fully resting her thigh against his leg. He was too interested in the show to realize she was touching him and she breathed a sigh of relief, going back to watching the show.

Gabriella was in the middle of cracking up with Bailey as a blonde girl appeared on the screen who couldn't sing at all when she felt something brush up against the back of her head lightly. She glanced over at Troy and saw that his arm was now resting on the back of the couch behind her. She furrowed her brow subtly and cleared her throat after her long laugh and looked back at the TV screen.

"Gosh, I would never put myself through that!" Gabriella exclaimed as she saw the crying teenaged girl begging the judges to give her a second chance.

"You'd have to be crazy." Bailey giggled, shaking her head at the screen.

"You two are a bunch of sissies." Troy said with an eye roll, although secretly he agreed with them.

"So you're telling us you'd audition?" Gabriella asked with an eyebrow raise, looking over at Troy.

"No, I'd win too easily." Troy said egotistically, looking over at his sister as she started to comment.

"Yeah right." Gabriella replied with a laugh, seeing Bailey looking at the two suspiciously.

"Troy, why do you have your arm around Gabriella?" Bailey asked as she looked at her brother, seeing him look at his arm as if he had no idea how it ended up there.

Gabriella giggled awkwardly, looking over at the TV for a moment so she didn't have to look at Troy.

"I don't." Troy replied curtly. "I'm resting my arm on the back of the couch." He explained.

"That's not what it looks like from over here." Bailey said in a sing song voice, smiling softly as she exchanged a look with Gabriella.

"Shut up, Bailey, or I'll tell Mom and Dad that you ran away." Troy threatened, looking over at his sister as Gabriella sat quietly in between the arguing siblings.

"No you won't because then they'll know that you weren't watching me!" Bailey shot back, sticking her tongue out at him.

Troy rolled his eyes while he kept his arm on the back of the couch and Gabriella laughed softly, running a hand through her long hair. Troy looked over at her, shaking his head as she tried to hide the fact that she was laughing at him.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you." Troy told her mysteriously.

"And what if I continue? Are you going to beat me up?" Gabriella asked with a smirk, laughing still as Bailey giggled next to her.

Troy's eyes grew playfully angry and he moved closer so that he was face to face with her, her hand now resting on his leg as she became instantly still. A small smile grew on his lips as her laugh softened; the hand that was resting behind her slowly coming to rest on her back.

"If you keep laughing I might have to kiss you." He whispered to her with a competitive look in his eyes.

Gabriella's laugh instantly silenced as a gasp escaped from her lips while she looked directly into Troy's eyes. Troy smiled to himself, pulling away from her as she looked somewhat terrified and he laughed out loud, seeing his wide eyed sister.

"I know just what to say, don't I?" Troy said as he chuckled, hearing nothing but silence from the two girls next to him.

When he looked over at the girls a few minutes later, Bailey was leaning against the arm of the couch, looking at the screen with a smile on her face and Gabriella was staring at her hands that were placed in her lap with a confused look on her face. Troy sighed softly, and when he looked back at the screen and then at the girls once again he saw his parents standing in the doorway, looking at him in wonder.

"Hey, guys." Mrs. Bolton said with a smile, looking at her sparkling watch that was secured around her wrist. "Bailey's supposed to be in bed by now."

Troy glanced at the clock on the wall and groaned loudly, realizing now that he had lost track of time and never told his sister to get ready for bed. He'd probably get into trouble for that, definitely since he had been losing track of time a lot lately.

"I begged him to let me stay up." Bailey said quickly, leaping from the couch so that she could give her dad a hug before she went to bed, giggling as Mr. Bolton twirled her around with a laugh.

"We'll be up to tuck you in." Mrs. Bolton said to Bailey, waiting until Bailey was racing up the stairs before she exchanged a look with her husband.

"What brings you here, Miss Montez?" Mr. Bolton asked Gabriella, seeing her and Troy stand up awkwardly from their position on the couch.

"Oh… I… um…" Troy ran a hand through his hair as she tried to cover for both Troy and his sister and what came out of her mouth as her excuse made Troy laugh softly. "We got your mail." She nodded. "I brought it over and Bailey asked me to stay to watch American Idol."

Mrs. Bolton nodded suspiciously, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Do you need a ride home?" Mr. Bolton asked with a smile. "I can take you home in my car."

"No disrespect Mr. Bolton, but I don't think my mom would be too happy if I was dropped off in a cop car." She smiled, shrugging as Mr. Bolton laughed softly.

"I understand." Mr. Bolton laughed. "Troy will walk you home. I don't want you walking home alone."

"Who's going to walk me home?" Troy asked his dad sarcastically. "Do you not care if I get home safely?" He asked dramatically.

"I'm sure you'll make it." Mrs. Bolton said to her son.

***

Gabriella looked up at the night sky as she and Troy walked on the sidewalk towards her house and she felt her arm brush up against his, causing her to look away from the starry sky so that she could concentrate on walking straight.

"You're on my side of the sidewalk, Montez." Troy told her, looking over at her as she purposely moved closer to him, digging her elbow into his side.

"I didn't know the sidewalk was divided." She replied, shoving him onto the damp grass separating the sidewalk from the road.

"Watch it." He warned her, sending her a look as he got back onto the sidewalk.

"What are you going to do? Kiss me?" She asked, giving him a playful look as he glared at her.

"I only said that to shut you up." He replied seriously, glancing at a pacing car as if hoping no one inside of it knew him.

"If you say so." Gabriella replied with a soft laugh, looking down at her feet, playing her own little game of trying not to step on the cracks of the sidewalk.

Troy looked at Gabriella when he saw her jump shortly over one of the cracks on the sidewalk and he gave her a weird look that she didn't catch since she wasn't paying attention to him and as he cleared his throat, she stopped paying attention to the sidewalk and looked up at him as they continued to walk.

"You cleared your throat loudly?" Gabriella told him, wondering what he wanted since he had so obviously wanted her attention.

"Did Bailey say anything to you?" Troy asked her.

"Say anything about what?" Gabriella asked dumbly.

"Are you choosing this moment to be stupid?" Troy asked her with an eye roll, watching as she smirked secretly.

"Should you be calling the person who your sister poured her heart and soul out to stupid?" Gabriella asked him, making the statement a lot more dramatic than it actually needed to be.

"Well, sorry." He said distantly. "I just wanted to know what made her run away."

"The answers obvious." Gabriella said seriously now, looking over at Troy as their steps became equal, the sound of their shoes on the pavement came together to form some kind of tiring pattern and Gabriella breathed out slowly, finishing her answer. "You did."

The sound of a loud sigh came from Troy as he shook his head, looking at the pavement in front of them as he remained quiet for a minute.

"What did she say?" Troy asked her, glancing at Gabriella quickly before going back to observing the space in front of him.

"She said what any eleven year old girl who was mad at her brother would say." Gabriella told him, not wanting to go into detail about what she had said. As much as she hated Troy Bolton, she didn't want to repeat the somewhat hurtful words towards him.

"And what's that? I've never been an eleven year old girl before." Troy said as he looked over at her, laughing slightly while she shook her head in annoyance.

"She said that she hated you." Gabriella said quietly, trying to drop the bomb gently.

Troy was quiet as he looked away from Gabriella, looking up at the stars and then back to the pavement in front of them as he shrugged, breathing in deeply before replying.

"It's nothing I haven't heard before." Troy told her, making Gabriella laugh quietly to herself.

"You've probably heard it more from me than anyone else." Gabriella replied, feeling somewhat guilty.

"Actually, I've only heard it from you." Troy admitted, smiling softly as the guilty look on her face grew. "But don't feel bad, I'm sure we're even."

"Why do we have to be even?" Gabriella asked quickly, stopping their walk as she exclaimed the question, startling Troy.

"Uh, what? Do you want to say you hate me more than I hate you?" He asked her unsurely, looking somewhat confused.

"No, I mean…" Gabriella shook her head, starting to walk again as her words quieted to nothing. "Never mind."

"Come on, you can tell me. I promise to actually listen." Troy told her, not letting the subject go because her random outburst had made him curious.

"I can't believe I'm telling you this." Gabriella said more to herself than she did to him. "Why should we even have to be mean to each other? Why are we keeping tallies of who hurt who when and how many times?" Gabriella ranted, throwing her arms in the air and letting them fall to her side with a thud. "I'm sick of keeping score because I never signed up for this game."

"What game?" Troy asked her.

"You know, cat and mouse… tag. You hurt me; I retaliate with a profane comment." She explained. "I'm just tired of getting even with you."

"Okay, so speaking hypothetically, what if I called an end to this game you're talking about, what would happen then?" He asked her curiously, wondering why she had a smirk on her face that was obviously holding back a laugh. She looked as if she was thinking of something else, but then she sighed, smiling still as she kept her eyes on him.

She stopped walking, sticking her hands in her jean pockets as he stopped in front of her.

"So you get to call an end to this? I don't get to do the honors?" Gabriella asked with a smile, seeing him rolling his eyes.

"Well, do what you need to do before I change my mind." Troy said as if he was preparing himself for a nice gesture or something. He was somewhat leaning away from Gabriella as she continued to look at him.

"I guess we can just say goodbye." Gabriella told him, shrugging.

"I'm supposed to walk you home though. It wouldn't be very nice of me to ditch you in the middle of our walk." He replied, smiling softly.

"This is my house." Gabriella laughed, pointing to the house behind her. Troy looked at the house that belonged to the driveway they were standing next to and he let out an "ooohhh" as he nodded.

"I pass this house everyday and I never knew you lived here. Those tulips are really odd, by the way." Troy told her with a joking laugh, eyeing the red tulips in the pots on the porch. Everyday he wondered why normal flowers weren't planted there.

"They're my favorite."

That explains it.

"Since we're going to try to be nice to each other I'll refrain from the comment that I could say." Troy said with a smile, laughing as Gabriella swatted him on the arm.

"Well, thanks for walking me home. I hope you make it home by yourself." Gabriella said with a small laugh.

"How are we supposed to depart? Do I give you a hug or is that weird?" He asked her seriously.

"We're taking baby steps, Troy, not leaping over a freaking bridge. I think me saying thanks was just about enough." Gabriella said with a laugh, running a hand through her hair as she started to back up her driveway.

"Night!" Troy shouted as he made his way towards his house, laughing as Gabriella looked quickly behind her at him, shaking her head before disappearing into her house, passing the red tulips on her front porch with a smile.

Like it? Review!

Much love,

unknownbyhim22