THE SIMPLE NEED
xxx
ELEVEN
Time has a funny way of moving faster, right at a time when all you want it to do is slow down.
Troy would've liked a few extra days, weeks, months to prepare for their first gig as a trio - and his first gig as the man up front. Instead, the week flew by quicker than ever. Between dedicating spare time to rehearsing lyrics, spending time with Gabriella and putting in overtime at his store, Troy felt like it was yesterday that he'd been at the Lion's Den hearing Drew's announcement, when it had just a week earlier.
A week was nothing.
A week was not enough time to wrap his head around the idea of the new potential life path that lay in front of him - a potential life path which he'd desired in the back of his mind, but which was becoming closer to reality.
But a week was all he had – and in that week, they had a somewhat raw but nonetheless prepared set.
There was just half an hour until the gig was scheduled to start. They were backstage, having met up earlier for an extra rehearsal, and then setting up an hour earlier than normal. Troy wanted to do a proper sound check – normally he didn't bother with testing the equipment, they just did a series of "1, 2, test test" to make sure the audio was right; but he needed to get used to being able to hear both himself and his instrument and to find the balance in his volume. The lucky few who were around heard a preview of one of the tracks for later in the evening. They'd received a positive smattering of applause, which Andy had taken as a good omen but it wasn't enough for Troy.
Andy had headed out to grab their water bottles and to check out the atmosphere, and reappeared backstage with a wide grin on his face.
"The bar is packed!" Andy exclaimed.
"College exams finished today. They're celebrating," Steve pointed out.
Troy exhaled loudly, fingers rapping against the wood of his acoustic guitar which he was cradling as he sat on the couch.
"Tell them to go elsewhere," he mumbled. He hadn't felt stage fright since the first time that he'd performed with a band. He felt quite literally ill - overheated and sweating, a touch of nausea.
"No way bro, today is do or die. We wanted a test – we get a real test," Andy responded.
"You wanted a test. I just wanted to make my few dollars and enjoy our bar tab," Troy muttered under his breath.
Troy felt his cell phone buzz in his pocket, and he retracted it. He smiled at the sight of who had sent him the text.
"You and your girl are tight, huh? Who thought the day would come that Bolton would settle down again," Steve mused. The look on Troy's face was the kind of look that a guy only gets when he'd texting with his girlfriend.
However Troy wasn't really listening, he was staring at the text before him.
Good luck xxx
In that moment, no amount of text message luck could succeed in quashing the feeling of nausea in his stomach.
I can't do this.
Troy tuned out from the white noise of Andy and Steve's small talk, focusing on keeping his eyes closed and breathing exercises. He didn't even hear the knock at the door, or realise that Andy had stood, gratefully invited the visitor to come backstage and brought her over to stand in front of Troy.
"Troy," Gabriella's soft voice spoke.
Troy's eyes opened and he felt a little shocked, but simultaneously felt a strange calm from her presence.
"Come talk with me outside," Gabriella urged.
He didn't respond, just set his acoustic guitar down and allowed her to lead him to the back door, the door that they'd tumbled out of in a mess of frantic kisses back in February. Once outside, the din from the merry patrons inside was a distant buzz, and he felt himself calming a touch, taking in breaths of the cool night air.
"What's this text about? Don't tell me the big superstar is afraid?" Gabriella said, somewhat lightly. It had taken one look at him as she'd passed the threshold into their little backstage cocoon, to see just how much he'd been affected by his nerves.
"I'm not afraid," Troy shot back, giving her a slightly dirty look. But then he sighed – afraid might not be the best choice of word, but he wasn't exactly confident.
"Nervous, then?" she supplied a better word.
He leaned back against the brick wall, eyes closing. "Maybe."
"You've been rehearsing all week. You're ready, I know you are."
"I'm not nervous about like, remembering the lyrics and the music. I've got all that. It isn't like the whole set is new – it's all stuff that we've either done before, or that Andy and me have worked on."
"Then what?"
"Andy wanted to push me. He succeeded. In making me sing about things that are personal."
"Singing with feeling, emotion?" Gabriella supplied. "The kinds of things you once insisted to me you remained detached from in your music?"
He sighed. "Yeah well... I lied. Well not totally. I haven't performed them before. Well some of them, yeah, but not in one big lump."
"It's confronting, isn't it?"
Troy nodded. "I kinda, you know, tend to ignore shit rather than dealing with it. I don't reveal all and put myself out there to be judged every day."
Gabriella couldn't help but smile. "Really? Here I thought that your transformation into Troy Bolton, Playboy, was some sort of Psychiatrist prescribed coping mechanism."
"Playboy is an exaggeration."
"I don't think this is a conversation for right now."
"Probably not, because I need you to not be mad with me."
"Tell me about the set list. I've heard bits and pieces but not the whole thing."
"It's like a fucking biography," Troy said snarkily. "I swear Andy just wants to see me crumple into a ball and cry or something."
"Isn't this a process you'll need to go through, if you and Andy start writing more? The best songwriters, they bare their hearts and souls." Gabriella didn't know a lot about music, and really she didn't know a lot about Troy's history – it was something that she was uncovering pieces of the puzzle to very slowly. One of the only weapons at her arsenal was ration.
Troy nodded. "Yeah. Andy says that if we're gonna do this, I have to start singing about stuff I relate to, I have to start feeling. When I called him on the set list, he said that if we're going to use tonight as a basis on which to talk about if we're gonna do this seriously, then I need to do this. And... intellectually, I know he's right. But emotionally, it's fucking scary."
"Troy, your average person in that bar won't even realise. They'll just take the songs as being songs, they won't be thinking about what it means to you – unless you do actually break down and cry on stage, which isn't going to happen. You're stronger than that."
"I don't care about what your average person thinks."
"Then whose opinion do you care about?"
He was silent, before admitting the truth quietly. "Yours."
"Troy, there is nothing you could do tonight to make me change how I feel about you," Gabriella said softly, but firmly.
"Even if you realise just how fucked up I am?"
"That could make me feel even more for you."
"Even if I sound like a lovesick douche and all my cards are on the table and I officially have no more moves, ever?"
"Why don't you share with me now... get it out of the way?" Gabriella suggested coyly.
"You just want me to serenade you."
"Seems like you would be the one to reap the benefits if you serenaded me," she shot back teasingly.
He smirked, memories floating back of the first time they'd met, dedicating saucy lyrics to her and singing by her ear, with the deliberate intent of causing a reaction in her.
"Turn around, I can't do it if I can see your face," he said quietly.
Gabriella complied, and turned around, facing back toward the back door. Troy's arms wrapped around her, and her hands came up to rest over his. Her eyelids fluttered closed, and Troy's smooth voice sang a few lines of lyrics.
"Here we are again, I feel the chemicals kicking in, it's getting heavy and I wanna run and hide, I wanna run and hide; I do it every time, you're killing me now, and I won't be denied by you, the animal inside of you..."
He trailed off, pressing a soft kiss to her neck. Before Gabriella could respond - a response that likely would've involved pushing him against the wall and throwing all of their work to 'take it slow' out the window, they were interrupted.
"Beautiful," a voice said.
Gabriella opened her eyes and Troy looked up, both seeing Andy standing at the doorway with a coy smile on his face.
"Time?" Troy asked.
Andy nodded. "Yeah. You can have another minute or two." He gave a quick wink and closed the door behind him.
Troy turned back to Gabriella – and found himself being pulled down, Gabriella's hands grabbing his t-shirt and kissing him hard.
"Don't be scared to put your cards on the table. You can do this, I know you can," she murmured by his ear.
xxx
With Gabriella's words floating through his mind, Troy did exactly that. He spent fourteen songs putting every single card he had on the table. Andy's carefully constructed set list told a biographical tale. He sang about his fathers disapproval, about falling in love and being cheated on, about the anger and pain and hatred, about trying to drown out his sorrows, and then about falling in love again and screwing up and needing second chances.
He sang from the very depths of his soul – and despite the reign of terror, he emerged feeling strong, feeling triumphant. He hadn't reverted to foetal position, in fact it was the opposite – the experience was cathartic, liberating.
xxx
Troy was in a haze as they exited from the stage. From the backstage area, the cheers from the crowd were louder than they'd ever been before. He was aware that they'd nailed it, he was aware that it was the best set that they'd ever done – and he was aware that he was the one who had carried it.
The bar manager, Larry, came bursting out the back with a round of water bottles to hand over to the guys. Troy was standing wordlessly and Andy and Steve were high fiving and exclaiming to one another.
"Guys, shit, that was sensational!" Larry exclaimed. "To think that I was worried about how people would respond to you guys without Drew. They want an encore – how about it? Do you have another trick up your sleeves?"
Andy glanced at Steve and Troy. "We cut Elevation?" he pondered. It was an important decision. If you come back and do an encore, it has to be good – there is nothing worse than coming back for a bad encore song.
"I dunno... I think we cut it because it wasn't quite right," Steve mused.
"Kings. Use Somebody," Troy spoke for the first time since leaving the stage.
It was a track that they'd performed with the whole group, with Troy picking up lead vocals and Drew doing back-up, one they'd received volumes of positive feedback for, and one that Andy always used to try to convince Troy that he truly was capable of fronting a band.
"That's it," Andy agreed immediately. Steve also gave his nod of approval.
"Excellent," Larry said with a fist pump, and headed out on stage to introduce the guys back onto stage.
So much of the set had been about her – about six sings he sang with her and their experiences in mind. Not even as they'd performed a stripped down version of The Reason by Hoobastank had he dared to look at her. But this time, it felt different. He'd performed Use Somebody before, and for him, the lyric was an abstract, the 'somebody' was an undefined entity that he knew he needed in his life. However now, there was no doubt that he connected every ounce of the soul and energy and melody and rhythm to her.
After the opening bars had been played, as he took a breath and was just about to sing the first lyrics, he found his eyes darting around and seeking her out. He found her, and was a little surprised to see her staring right back at him. The lights were bright and so her figure wasn't completely clear, but there was no doubt that she was staring directly at him – not paying a lick of attention to Andy, Steve, her friends or the drink on the table in front of her. His gaze met hers, and remained steady as he sang the first few lines.
I've been roaming around, always looking down at all I see...
A couple of hours earlier, Troy had been utterly terrified of standing on stage, playing and singing and exposing his soul to the world. It still terrified him – a part of him kept waiting for the tomatoes to be thrown, he was waiting to get online after the gig and see comments about how much the band sucked now that Drew was gone. But a part of him felt a relief, it felt cathartic to be open, to spend that time without a single bit of pretense.
To be real.
He found it hard to express in words to Gabriella how he felt about her – he sensed a certain level of reservation from her, at times. It was like she was waiting for something to happen, for the penny to drop, for him to suddenly baulk.
However he needed her to know, unequivocally, that even though he was bound to make mistakes and even if he fucked up from time to time – that he needed her. She was more than something he wanted – she was something he needed.
Expressing that through his music was infinitely easier than using the words.
I hope it's gonna make you notice, I hope it's gonna make you notice, someone like me
xxx
"Fuck, you guys!" Steve exclaimed. "You're making me want to quit my job and do this whole rock star gig full time!"
The guys were hauling equipment out to the van. Andy and Steve were still ecstatic, just as they had been prior to the encore – and Troy was still somewhat gobsmacked, however had regained a little composure.
"Do it! Seriously, fuck man, that was incredible. Best gig ever, and we did what, two full rehearsals?" Andy said incredulously.
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Troy remarked, rolling his eyes. "It was still just a bunch of covers."
"Right now. You say the word, and we can make it much more," Andy declared.
Troy gave an aggravated sigh. "I opened the door for that one, didn't I?"
"Dude, you have no idea what we just did, do you?"
"Actually, I do. Which is the scary part," Troy admitted.
"Guys, I'm gonna say it again – don't write off the idea of doing original stuff. Everything acoustic we did, the kind of stuff I know you guys would write – that's the shit that they really seemed to dig, at least, it seemed that way," Steve pointed out.
"I can't wait to go on Facebook later," Andy said with a gleam in his eye.
"You're such a fame whore. It's a bunch of drunk college students. They'll cheer for anyone who can carry a tune," Troy scoffed.
Steve laughed. "True but... it felt like it could be more."
"You guys are just going like, full speed ahead here, like, a zillion miles an hour. A week ago it's just the four of us having fun. Now Andy's playing fucking therapist..."
"Therapist?!" Andy repeated.
Steve held his hands up defensively. "I want nothing to do with this conversation. I'm going back in to take advantage of our bar tab and the hot chicks and I'll leave you two to bicker. Feel free to join me."
"I'll be there after I talk sense into Troy," Andy said, giving Steve a nod, the two exchanging a fist bump before Steve headed away.
"I think maybe you're the one who needs to have sense talked into him," Troy pointed out, attention focused on his starry eyed friend.
"Why? Because I want us to take this a bit more seriously?"
"I just think you need a reality check, that's all."
"What happened to the dream, man?"
"The dream is nice, but let's be real."
"You cannot tell me for one second that you didn't fucking love that. Yeah, I get it, you were shit scared..."
"Of course I was shit scared, which you forced me to be. Picking a bunch of songs that you knew would get to me."
"Oh no, God forbid the tough guy sing something real for once," Andy rolled his eyes. "Troy, you can drop the act. I know you. I knew you before you got fucked over, I've been there through your douchebag years. Drop it all. The reason you're freaking out is because tonight, we did something real, and that scares you. It isn't about you being scared of singing about feelings. You're scared that if you actually try at something and we fail, then you won't be able to cope."
Troy was silent, before responding somewhat snarkily, "You sure you went to Juilliard? Sounds like you studied Psych."
Andy ignored this comment. "You say I'm getting ahead. Okay, let's think about it. What's the worst case scenario? We start writing, we gig, we record. We make an EP. We get some airplay on local college stations, we have songs on iTunes which like, a handful of people actually buy. We get to gig and play our stuff and when you hold that microphone out to get the crowd to sing, a group of ten people know our lyrics."
Troy couldn't help but grin at that part of the vision. This was a huge part of the dream – he loved looking up YouTube videos of live gigs with his favourite bands, and seeing the electric atmosphere in the crowd when they all unite to sing a lyric that has inspired them.
"Along the way, we'll have a fuckload of fun. I'm just... I'm not saying that will be easy, but you and me, we already put our souls into this. Why not at least try to see what can come from it. If that's the worst case scenario, then I don't know why we don't give it a go."
Troy considered this, before responding, "Worst case scenario is that everyone hates our music, and no one buys it, and we're at a gig and no one bothers coming."
"My mom will buy it, so will your mom. We have friends who will come. I bet Gabriella will be there right up front, singing her hot little ass off." Andy wiggled his eyebrows.
"Gabriella might wake up next week and realise she's way too good for me and dump my ass."
"Doesn't look likely, from the little that I've seen," Andy observed.
The night air went quiet, or as quiet as it could be in New York City. The music from the DJ set that was now playing could be just heard, along the general buzz of Manhattan – traffic noises, cars honking, someone shouting from a nearby apartment window.
"Let's start with writing," Troy said finally. "That's... I mean, that's where we have to start anyway. Let's jam and try to write and... take it from there."
"Write together? Not me writing, we are going to write?"
Troy nodded. "Yes."
Andy grinned. "I'll take that for now."
"You'll have to."
"We'll keep gigging with Steve, get you more experience out front, yeah?"
"Yup."
"And... maybe look at putting our songs into the set?"
"Dude, don't push me," Troy warned, but deep down, he knew that Andy was going to get his way.
Andy laughed. "Come on. Let's go back inside. Hysteria awaits."
If Troy hadn't felt like a true rock star standing on the small bar stage with people cheering and applauding, then walking back into the bar was certainly a step in the direction of coming to terms with just how successful the set had been. There were regulars at the bar – whether regulars for the band or just because they liked the bar and they liked having a few drinks on a Friday night – who Troy had developed a rapport that sat somewhere between acquaintances and friends. Suddenly, they were all his friends, enthusiastically greeting him, shaking his hand, clapping him on the back. Women whom he had flirted with – some of whom he had slept with – were vying for his attention the moment he appeared through the door. Six months ago, Troy would have certainly enjoyed the female attention aspect of his elevation into leading man. Now, he felt uncomfortable with their attention, and he felt concerned that he could be misconstrued as encouraging the behaviour. As politely as possible he thanked people for the feedback, but pushed on through, headed straight to the tables toward the back in the middle, a tunnel vision approach.
"Dude!" Chad exclaimed, stepping forward to give Troy a half hug and a hand shake.
Troy went through the motions of greeting his friends, but he kept an eye on Gabriella the whole time. He couldn't help but feel a little perturbed at her lack of an overwhelming reaction. He knew her well enough to understand that in front of not only their friends but surrounded by a noisy bar of people, she wasn't the type to become overly clingy or emotive. However he expected something from her. Instead as he arrived at the group and exchanged handshakes and hugs with the others, she stood stoic, staring at her empty glass on the table. He'd expected at least a hug to be initiated by her, but he found himself having to initiate the contact.
"Uh... hi?" he said questioningly, his hand resting gently on the small of her back.
It was only when she turned to look at him that he realised that he'd mistaken her withdrawal for disinterest. Instead, it appeared that she had been trying to keep herself under control.
"Troy, that was..." she trailed off, and took a deep breath. It was hard to pinpoint her reaction, not in a few words while surrounded by dozens of people and loud music.
He gave her a sympathetic smile. "Well, you did once ask me to play something real. I might've taken my time, but I delivered. Better late than never, right?"
He'd wanted his wry remark to somewhat break the tension, but instead, her response was the opposite. Her face broke, her eyes filled with tears, a sob escaped from her lips.
"Hey, hey," he said soothingly, pulling her in to hold her tight.
She clung to his frame, overcome with emotion, feeling like the only person who could ground her was him.
"Why do I get the feeling that you clinging to me right now is about something more than being glad to see me?" he murmured. She didn't respond. "Do you want to go out back for a minute? Away from the noise?"
He felt her nod against his chest. Troy didn't even acknowledge his friends, he simply led her away. He took her straight back into the backstage area which was now void of occupants, and over to the old couch. He sat down, and pulled her down to sit beside him. She found herself falling on top of him, straddling his lap. His hands fell onto her waist, her fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck.
"What's going on?" he asked quietly.
"I'm sorry, I feel so terrible, you just... you did that incredible set which I know was so hard and you were so amazing," she murmured, and leaned forward to kiss him softly. "I can't even imagine how hard it was for you... and I just... I can't believe how emotional I feel."
She pulled back slightly, gazing at him. Troy returned the stare momentarily, trying to read her. He sighed.
"Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"With that pitying look. Like 'wow he's fucked up, I knew that but now I know just how fucked up.' That's the emotion that's going on for you."
Gabriella considered this for a split second, before shaking her head. "Actually, no, that's not it at all."
"Then what? Talk to me."
"I was thinking about how... crazy I am about you. And how privileged I am to have seen that. I feel... I feel like I know you even more now. I feel like I saw your soul tonight. And how... how amazing you are and... pretty much how I am planning to quit my job and become a groupie. Not for the band, but for you, personally. Because I'm just..." she took a breath, feeling the need to halt before she allowed the raw emotion of the moment to overtake her and lead to admissions that they weren't ready for.
"I have no objections to having a personal groupie," Troy teased lightly.
She ignored the tease in his tone. He tended to do this – make light of a serious moment, to deflect from discussion. "I could tell how personal that set was for you."
"I tried to keep myself removed but... it was pretty impossible."
She'd understood that he'd been cheated on, but it had never really sunk in for Gabriella that he'd been crushed – that he'd been genuinely in love before.
"Tiffany broke your heart."
"Yes."
"You loved her – like, you really loved her."
"Yes."
"She cheated on you with... a friend?"
Troy nodded. "A band mate. Andy and I used to play with a different band. Tiffany wanted me to just keep teaching even though I hated it. I went back to substitute teaching for her, after quitting, to try to make her happy, but she wanted me to do it full time. It was always this point of contention between us. I think she was scared of the uncertainty that came with my... you know... trying to figure out what I wanted to be doing with life. They were sleeping together for weeks. When it all came out, the band broke up. Not long after Andy and I started playing with Drew and Steve, and we got the gig here."
"Where you could gig regularly around groupie college girls and drown away your sorrows with liquor and sex?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, it was frank.
He couldn't deny her summary, though he felt it was a whole lot more simplistic than he'd like.
"I was hurt. I was mad. In the first few weeks of being a part of this band, I was hurting and somehow, it was easier just being... that guy. Sex was about sex. It felt good, physically, but it never felt like more."
"Did you try dating?"
Troy nodded. "Yeah, a few times. But I just... I wasn't ready. I couldn't trust enough. Chad always told me that if I met someone that I felt that spark with, then I'd quit fucking around, and that's how I'd know that I was ready. I didn't believe him... til you."
"Tonight was the first time that I... that I think I was really able to understand. And also the first time that I was able to believe."
"Believe?"
"I'm falling for you so hard that it terrifies me. I'm normally quite reserved with my heart but with you... it's like you make me throw all of my usual ration out the window. But I've been... I guess holding a part of myself back. Waiting to see if..."
"If I run?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"A few weeks ago, I was scared of that too. But now I just... I'm here, Gabriella, and I'm not going anywhere."
"I wasn't sure if you knew what you wanted," she admitted.
"What do you want?" he asked, cocking his head.
A part of her wanted to throw the challenge back at him, but she figured that after all that he'd exposed to her through song, it was only fair that she take the leap.
"With you I... I want to hold your hand in public. I want to snuggle in front of our friends. I want to spend inordinate amounts of time with you. I want us to update our Facebook profile photos to be a 'couple shot.' I want to know, for certain, that you're interested in me and only me. But I don't want to push you because I'm terrified of scaring you off, of being that girl."
"I told you last weekend that I haven't been with anyone else since you. I have no interest in being with anyone else but you," Troy said truthfully.
"I'm sensing a but."
Troy sighed. "You spend two years being mistrusting and using sexual innuendo as a defense mechanism... it kind of becomes ingrained habit."
"Why do you need a defense mechanism around me? Troy, I'm not your ex-girlfriend. Surely you get that not all women are like her."
"It's not about that," he mused. "It's... Tiffany didn't want to be with me because of my lifestyle, for lack of a better word. I guess I'm wary that you're going to wake up and realise how much better you are than me."
"Better?" Gabriella repeated.
"I don't have my shit together. It's all good that you say now that you don't care that I live pay check to pay check. But that will change, you say it won't, but it will."
"How together do you think I am?" Gabriella asked incredulously.
Troy shrugged. "Certainly a hell of a lot better off than me!"
"I'm not going to sit here and deny that, but I think you need to get a little perspective. I'm 26 and I have a mortgage on a condo in Greenwich Village, which is a pretty insane decision to have made, especially when going into a new job that I didn't even know if I'd like or even be any good at. I'm only six months into my employment with NYU, with no certainty of being kept on beyond the next eighteen months. A couple of times, I've had to dig into my inheritance from my father to make my mortgage payments, something I promised myself I wouldn't do, but I live on a budget and sometimes I go over budget and it becomes necessary. I drink the cheapest wine I can possibly buy that comes in a bottle – I draw the line at wine in a box. I love when I get drinks from your bar tab here – every 'Orgasm' you order saves me a few dollars." Troy laughed at the memory, and she continued. "I don't expect you to take me to fancy restaurants or send me ridiculous flower bouquets 'just because'. I don't really like pretentious restaurants and flowers make me sneeze."
Troy glanced around. "Really? Shit, I'd better cancel that delivery of 100 bouquets of wildflowers that was coming to your office on Monday."
Gabriella laughed, and pressed a kiss to his lips, a kiss that he returned with vigour.
"I'm so crazy about you, and I intend to spend an inordinate amount of time with you to prove it to you," he murmured. "Starting tonight."
"Tonight?" she asked, a playful smile on her lips.
He nodded. "Yes. Because we are going to walk back into that bar hand in hand and celebrate that I did a fucking amazing set, and drink alcohol because I agreed that Andy and I would start by doing some writing and that's fucking terrifying and I need a drink to settle down."
"It might be terrifying, but that's the second best decision you've made this year," Gabriella said.
"Second best?"
"The best was to come over to my place with my bra in your pocket."
Hand in hand, Troy and Gabriella emerged from backstage back into the bar. They first went to the bar where he obtained them drinks – a double bourbon and coke for himself, and a vodka, soda and lemon for her. Their friends had disappeared from the small table, but it didn't take long to find them at one of the larger booths on the other side of the bar, along with Andy, Steve and one of Steve's work colleagues. It was away from the dance floor and speakers, making it a little quieter and more suitable for conversation.
"Finally, the man of the hour arrives!" Steve declared.
"Sorry, I stole him away," Gabriella said with a smile.
"I don't think you guys have met, Gabriella this is Steve; Steve, my girlfriend, Gabriella."
Gabriella gave Troy a sharp glance at his usage of the word girlfriend. He noticed the glance and merely smiled at her.
"And this is Steve's buddy Dylan," Troy continued.
Gabriella exchanged handshakes with both of the guys.
"I'll find a couple of chairs," Troy said, glancing around.
"No it's okay, we're actually about to go chat to those chicks over by the back corner," Andy said, gesturing to himself, Steve and Dylan, the guys standing up from the booth they were sharing with Troy and Gabriella's friends.
"We'd ask you to come Troy, but looks like you're not interested," Steve teased.
"Not in the slightest," Troy said, completely sincerely.
"The blonde one is a sophomore at NYU," Gabriella supplied.
"Dibs!" Dylan exclaimed.
"That's disgusting," Taylor said with a shake of the head, but not at all surprised. She was familiar with Troy and his extended group of band buddies and their habits of chasing after college students.
"She's taking one of your classes?" Andy asked. "Aren't you like, a science professor?"
"Took, we just finished the semester. Intro to Modern Chem."
"How smart is she?" Dylan asked.
"Too smart for you, I bet," Chad joked.
Dylan raised his eyebrows. "I'm not some moron, I am an accountant, you know."
"Okay then, less talk, more action," Troy challenged.
"Let's go, boys," Steve said.
Troy and Gabriella slid down into the side of the booth where the guys had been sitting, places officially being traded. It wasn't lost on the others how closely together they were sitting, however no one openly commented.
"I can't watch, these guys are gross," Sharpay said with a shudder. She gave Zeke a look. "I hope you didn't pray on women in bars when you were single."
"Me? Never," he said with a straight face, lying through his teeth.
"And you're trying to claim that you've never, ever, put on a short dress and gone to a bar and flirted to get a guy to buy you drinks and then..." Chad trailed off, letting the words remain unsaid.
"Never?" Taylor repeated. "Honey, even I can't claim that."
The group spent the next hour hanging out, chatting, having another round of drinks. At one point Sharpay grabbed her cell phone and snapped a few photos – one of her and Zeke, one of Troy and Gabriella, one of her, Taylor and Gabriella. It was a first for Gabriella and Troy – to take the affection they'd developed in private, and to display it in public. They weren't being openly awkward with inappropriate public displays, but there was such a shift in the dynamics they'd experienced among the group previously. For Taylor and Chad, it reminded them more of the friendly, natural chemistry that they'd seen the night of Gabriella's impromptu dinner party the day that she and Troy had bumped into one another at Starbucks and wound up back at her apartment putting her bed frame together - but with more obvious affection. Entwined hands, footsies, pecks on the cheek. It was behaviour which they hadn't seen from Troy in years.
The night was winding down, and Gabriella excused herself to use the bathroom, knowing that she wouldn't make it back to her apartment without needing to go. Taylor accompanied her, the two standing in line.
"Gabriella... I am kind of in disbelief," Taylor confessed.
"About what?" she asked.
"You! Him! It's... it's kind of sickeningly perfect."
Gabriella laughed, ducking her head. "I don't know if I'd say perfect but... it is kind of amazing."
"You're making me jealous. I miss that feeling at the beginning of a relationship, when it's all new and exciting," Taylor sighed.
"It is fun, but you have to know that I look up to couples like you and Chad." Taylor made a scoffing sound. "I do! I love that you guys are so different, but you don't compromise who you are in your relationship."
"You've had too many drinks."
"I've only had a few," Gabriella chuckled.
They were at the front of the queue and a stall became available, Gabriella ducking in. After she came out and washed her hands, she quickly reapplied her lip gloss, and then felt her cell phone vibrate in her purse. Taylor had just emerged from her toilet stall when Gabriella pulled out her phone. The vibration had come from a few Facebook notifications that had come through. The first was that Sharpay had tagged her in a photo. Gabriella grinned, seeing the photo that Sharpay had snapped of her and Troy not long before. It was undoubtedly a cute photo. She grinned – it had only just been uploaded, but already it had a couple of likes.
Troy Bolton and 1 other person like this.
The second that caught her eye was a notification from Troy – she had him "starred" as a "favourite friend" and so received notifications about almost all of his Facebook activity. And according to her current notifications, she was advised that he had just changed his profile picture. She clicked on the link, the photo opened, and she immediately smiled widely.
"What? Naughty text?" Taylor asked as she patted her hands dry on her jeans, as the bathroom had no paper towels and the hand dryer was out of order.
Gabriella shook her head, selecting the "like" button on his new profile photo. "Um, no. You ready?"
Taylor nodded and the pair headed back toward the table where Sharpay, Zeke, Chad and Troy were waiting. Troy appeared somewhat disengaged from the conversation the other three were having, sitting with his arm sprawled across the back of the booth. He seemed to have been waiting for Gabriella's return, and the moment that she was within his eye line, their eyes locked, a playful smile on his lips. Gabriella strode straight back to him, sliding into the booth beside him and immediately pressed her lips to his, initiating a heated kiss. Their friends around the booth were of no relevance or bearing, all that Gabriella was focused on was him.
"I didn't quite expect that reaction," he laughed when she pulled back.
"Troy... I want us to leave now. I want to spend inordinate amounts of time with you and you alone tonight," she murmured by his ear.
"What happened to slow?" Troy asked, swallowing.
Gabriella's hand fell to his thigh, ran up over the fabric of his jeans and momentarily cupped his groin. He winced, immediately feeling it perk to life.
"I'm sick of slow. You don't need to be polite. Your gentlemanly gestures have more than paid off."
"I have just one question."
"What's that?"
"Your place, or mine?"
xxx
Author's note:
I have created a full set list which the boys would have performed, I actually spent copious hours putting this together and YouTubing for covers and live sets and acoustic versions. Some of the songs are performed in a more acoustic version than the radio edit you're likely familiar with. I've put an * beside those songs, to try to paint a picture that Andy has worked hard to try to gradually establish a new tone with Troy as their lead man, without alienating their current fan base.
Numb – Linkin Park *
Sugar We're Going Down – Fall Out Boy
Fuck You – Cee-Lo *
You Oughta Know – Alanis Morisette *
Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have – Panic! At The Disco
Tonight Tonight – Hot Chelle Rae
Rock Star – Nickelback
Crashed – Daughtry *
The Hard Way – Thirsty Merc
We Are Young – Fun
Animal – Neon Trees
The Reason – Hoobastank *
This Is For Real – Motion City Soundtrack
Sing – My Chemical Romance
Use Somebody – Kings of Leon
If you really look at these songs from a lyrical perspective, they tell a biography of Troy's life; and I see the set as being broken into pre-Gabriella; and post-Gabriella – Crashed by Daughtry would be the turning point.
I've also created a mix of these songs via 8tracks . com (minus the spaces) which is this amazing website. Go to 8tracks dot com slash pandora147 slash the – simple – need – troy – s – leading – man - debut (minus the spaces)– if you can't get the link to work, look in my profile to find it.