Gabriella couldn't breath as she took a step forward with her eyes half squinted as if she couldn't believe that he was standing there. She looked him over and he was wearing dark blue jeans with a dress shirt and a suit jacket, his hair was short and spiked up, and he still had the smile that Gabriella possessed. Gabriella shut her mouth savoring the air that she held for now as she finally let out a small gasp.
Carlos Arias just stood there awkwardly holding the show's pamphlet. He looked around as if taking the backstage into perspective before settling his eyes on his daughter again. "You did great tonight honey." Carlos said in a soft voice as if the Gabriella would forget the last 12 years of her life.
Gabriella stepped back as if it was a natural reflex and he had some contagious disease. How dare he just show up on her night nonetheless?! Did he see her perform? Did he come back to apologize? Did he come back to get back with her mother? Did he want to start another family?
Gabriella shut her eyes as she knew that they were glossed over and even though he probably didn't come here to make her cry, she wasn't going to give him the knowledge that she was close to it. Gabriella took a deep breath as she narrowed her eyes on him and channeled all her anger. "What the hell are you doing here?" Gabriella knew her tone was harsh, but he deserved it.
Carlos looked at Gabriella with sorrowful eyes, he didn't expect her to welcome him with open arms. "Gabriella, just listen to--" Carlos stopped talking as his eyes widened a little at the sight before him.
Gabriella was listening to her dad speak, but then all of a sudden he stopped talking and she felt two hands slip around her back from behind as Troy's already familiar lips pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
Troy looked up and saw that Gabriella wasn't just standing in place like he thought she was, she was actually talking to someone and for that mistake Troy felt the color go up to his cheeks. Troy looked from the unknown man to Gabriella and noticed that neither one of them were talking now. "Um…did I interrupt something?" Troy asked.
Gabriella looked at Carlos again and backed up with Troy. "No, we should get going." Gabriella said as Troy looked at Carlos one last time with a little sympathy in his eyes as Troy just shrugged at him not knowing what else to do. Troy felt Gabriella tense up in his arms once the man started to speak again.
"Gabriella, wait. I wanted to--"
Gabriella turned around. "No dad, I'll tell you what I wanted." Gabriella said drawing the attention of her mom, Eric, Taylor, Chad, and Jake. Troy looked from father to daughter and his eyes were wide along with everyone else's that were now walking over to the three. This was Gabriella's father? "I wanted a dad in my childhood. I wanted a dad to cheer me on at dance. I wanted a lot of things that couldn't happen and I lived. Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you around in the next 12 years." Gabriella said as she interlaced Troy and her hands and started walking away from her dad.
Troy glanced at Gabriella out of the corner of his eye and offered her a small smile. "Are you okay?" Troy asked out of the corner of his mouth.
Gabriella nodded. At least she thought she was okay. She was just hoping that this was a one time thing and he would just up and leave and her mom wouldn't know anything about it and they could all forget about it
Troy stopped Gabriella in the archway of the door that lead to the hallway so that they could leave. Troy caged Gabriella in with his cute smile on his face as Gabriella looked up at him with a straight face and gleaming eyes that spoke hundreds of words to Troy.
"There's nothing I can say that will make you forget this, is there?" Troy asked as he leaned down and their foreheads connected.
Gabriella shook her head, "No, but hopefully it will all go away soon and hey, the dance is coming up next week and you can help me forget about it then." Gabriella said with a smirk.
"Are you insinuating what I think you are insinuating?" Troy asked as Gabriella bit her lip slightly in a seductive way as she nodded her head and let her fingers trail down Troy's chest completely forgetting that her mother, friends, Eric, nor her father left the backstage yet.
Troy caught Gabriella's hands before they could get past his navel and smiled down at her liking this side of Gabriella that he hasn't seen yet. "Gabi, you're gonna have to stop or else we're gonna have a problem on our hands."
Gabriella raised her eye brows. "We're gonna have a problem or you're gonna have a problem?" Gabriella slyly questioned as Troy was about to retort when something caught the corner of his eye.
"Um…Gabi." Troy said urgently.
"Yeah?" Gabriella asked as she pulled Troy closer by the belt loops.
"Um…you might want to look to your right." Troy said as they both turned their heads and Gabriella's mouth dropped open. So much for forgetting that her dad ever came to visit, there was her mom talking to her dad, more like yelling as Eric stood behind her, and her and Troy's friends stood around them as everyone else was gone in the theatre.
"Holy fuck." Gabriella mumbled as she let go of Troy's hand and hurried over to the group with Troy following. "What the?" Gabriella mumbled as she nudged Taylor to see if she knew anything. Taylor turned and saw Gabriella as she shrugged with a worried face on.
"I'm not gonna let you just waltz in here after years of not showing up or calling and let you just take her away from me." Anna said heatedly.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't want to take her away from you. I want to just talk to her, get to know her. She's my daughter too." Carlos protested.
"Maybe you kids should start to head out?" Eris suggested to Chad and Jake who were standing by him. Chad nodded as he walked over to Taylor and they both gave Gabriella a sympathetic smile as they walked out. Jake just stood his ground glaring at Carlos like any best friend would do.
"You had your chance, no scratch that…you had chances and you messed them all up. You called two years ago and wanted to visit, but did you show up? No! That was the last straw, there is no way that I'm gonna let you get her hopes up and let you make her feel like she did something wrong the next day when you up and leave without explanation!."
Gabriella knew that her mother nor father realized that her and Troy came back as they continued to fight over her and Gabriella felt a little sorry that Eric had to actually witness his girlfriend fighting with her ex-husband over her teenage daughter.
Carlos put a hand to his head as he sighed. "This is why I called last week. To tell you that my business transferred me and I was reassigned to Albuquerque again." Carlos looked up and for the first time noticed that his daughter was back again standing next to the blonde haired guy and the brown haired guy. "I'm back for good. Or at least two years, until Gabriella graduates and then my contract is up and I'll be transferred again."
Anna gasped as she felt the anger course through her body. She saw where Carlos was looking and saw Gabriella's hurt face. Anna realized that Carlos let one thing slip that she was trying to hide from her daughter, to just protect her from getting hurt again.
"You called?" Gabriella addressed towards her father. Gabriella didn't wait for him to answer as she turned to face her mother. "He called?!" Gabriella exclaimed.
Everything went silent. It wasn't a comfortable silence that was for sure. Gabriella was looking at her mother disappointed that she wouldn't tell her daughter that her dad called for the first time in two years, or God only knows how many other times he has tried calling!? Eric looked between the three related people and then to Jake and Troy who were looking at the ground. It was obvious this was far from what the two young men wanted to do that evening.
"You two, why don't we go wait out in the lobby." Eric softly demanded in a whisper so only they heard along with Gabriella as Anna and Carlos were busy glaring at each other. Troy nor Jake budged as Eric came up to them and laid a hand on both of their shoulders. "I think it's best for everyone if we kind of just clear out and give them privacy?"
Jake and Troy looked at each other and Troy was the first one to start moving as Jake followed closely after. Gabriella avoided all three guys eyes as she looked down at the ground with tears threatening to fall. God, so many things were going on with her now and she felt like it was all happening too fast. Once the guys were out of the room Anna started talking again.
"How dare you bring up that phone message you left us." Anna leashed out.
"How dare you not give her the message I left her, letting her know that I'm returning." Carlos retorted with anger now.
"I was protecting my child." Anna seethed.
"Our child." Carlos corrected. "And we could've avoided tonight if you would've given her my cell phone number so she could've called me back and I would've been able to just talk to her, to let her know what's up."
Anna rolled her eyes, "But yet you decided to talk to her here instead of waiting for a more private place?!" Anna laughed sarcastically. "That's just a great idea, mind if I use it sometime?"
"Don't give me that bull shit. I've been trying to talk to her for the past week, and I admit this wasn't one of my greatest plans, but hey, I had to talk to her sometime and it's not like I could when she's at school or dancing." Carlos narrowed his eyes on Anna to match her glare.
There was a silence as Gabriella looked between her parents. She didn't know who she was more madder at right now, her dad who supposedly tried contacting her this week, but other than that the last time she had heard him was two years ago, and the last time she saw him was…she couldn't even remember, and then there was her mother who was keeping things from her.
"I'm not giving you bull shit. You're eating it yourself without my help. God, you're something else. How can you expect me to just let you take my only child away from me after all these years?" Anna asked.
"I'm not trying to take her away. I just want to get to know her. Talk to her, I've already told you this." Carlos pointed out.
"What makes this time any different? Huh?!" Anna snapped. "Why should we believe you this time and you're not just gonna leave again?" Anna swallowed as Gabriella looked between her parents who seemed to be calming down a bit.
"I made my work promise that they wouldn't transfer me anymore, I told them that I needed to come back to my hometown. I know I made a mistake walking out that door all those years ago…" Carlos stopped talking as Anna's mouth was slightly open and her eyes were wide and then Carlos realized what he said. "No, I don't want to get back with you, I think was can both safely say that that will never happen, but…I made a mistake leaving my child, and not being apart of her life." Carlos turned towards Gabriella as if this one night would make up for all he lost. "Gabriella, I'm sorry. I just want to…I don't know, get to know you. Become part of your life again."
"Honey, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. If you don't want to talk to him, then don't. No one is making you." Anna reasoned and Gabriella looked at the ground.
She knew her mom was saying that only because she was slightly afraid of losing her daughter to someone else, even though Gabriella would never be able to forget her. Part of Gabriella wanted to just let her dad off the hook and just let him hug her and back into her life, but the other part that was slightly stronger told her not too, that she would just get hurt in the end again.
Gabriella looked up at both of their expecting faces. Gabriella knew her mom was expecting for her to side with her, but Gabriella was still slightly ticked at her for keeping the phone call secret just because she was scared and for her own personal gain, and even though Anna probably meant no harm by it, she couldn't just side with her mom because Anna wanted to win one over on Carlos.
Gabriella shook her head as she backed up. "I can't do this right now. I'm…um…Troy and I…we're late for dinner." Gabriella said as she turned and ran out of the backstage and to the hallway.
Troy had no idea what the hell he was thinking. His girlfriend for a week dad shows up and now he had no idea what to do. He was never in this situation before and he was silently panicking whether or not to listen to Eric or stay by Gabriella's side, or just follow Jake's lead.
Troy was sat in one of the red cushiony lobby chairs as some of the janitors were cleaning up, Eric was sitting in the chair across from Troy, and Jake was leaning up against the concessions counter with his arms folded glaring at the ground.
They were silent for a mere twenty seconds before Eric's phone went off and he indicated to the two teenagers that he would be right back. Once he was out of ear shot Jake let out a grunt.
"I used to hate that guy, and now seeing him just show up out of the blue makes me hate him even more." Jake growled and Troy just looked at him. If him and Gabriella got really serious he would have to stay on Jake's good side, there was no question to it.
"Have you ever met him before?" Troy's curiosity got the better of him as Jake's narrowed eyes met his and softened a bit as the anger towards Carlos was pushed to the middle of his mind as he focused on just talking to Troy.
"I was supposed to 9th grade." Jake scoffed as he looked down at his hands that were on the counter and his black metal ring shined in the light. Jake shook his head not believing that he was actually having this conversation with Troy.
Troy looked down at his hands that were occupying themselves as he heard Jake sigh. "What happened?" Troy asked with a quiet voice that it even surprised himself that he could actually produce such a voice.
Jake rolled his eyes at the thought. "He bailed right before he was supposed to show up. But Gabriella…God." Jake let out a laugh and Troy didn't know if it was a good sign or a bad sign. "She didn't let it get to her, or at least she didn't let it show."
Troy looked down at his almost new white sneakers just trying to occupy himself as he listened to Jake talk about Gabriella. Troy smiled down at the ground as he thought about all of Gabriella's personalities as the list was still growing. He knew the cool-laid back Gabriella that attended school and dealt with the popularity, then there was the carefree loving side of Gabriella that he saw out on their dates and everyday also, next there was the seductive side and Gabriella barely had to try for that, and now there was this strong side to Gabriella that he was slowly coming into terms with.
"She put on a strong face, held back the tears that girls are known to let loose, and you want to know what we ended up doing that day?" Jake asked as he looked up from the counter. Troy looked up and met his eye as he just nodded his head. "You know A&A company, the one that has something to do with the high tech stuff that other business's use? They're located on the corner of Jefferson and Amanda Street?" Jake asked.
Troy felt his forehead crease as he looked at the teenage boy before him. "Yeah?" Troy said in almost a question.
"Well the second A is Carlos's last name…Arias. And I guess this company is run by some other huge company in New York so they're the ones that transfer Carlos from state to state, although he makes a shit load of money." Jake said as Troy took this all in. And then he wondered how mad Gabriella would get if she ever found out that Jake was telling him this stuff.
"So anyways…we egged A&A, got caught by the police, and were given tickets of $200 each."
Troy laughed slightly and Jake joined in. "You two are close." Troy heard it come out in more of a statement than a question and Troy and Jake all of a sudden turned a little serious again.
Jake scratched the back of his head. "Yeah…she's the best of friends anyone could ever ask for." Just then both boys' heads turned as they heard footsteps approaching and Gabriella came into view. Troy stood up as Jake straightened up also.
"Hey Gabs." Jake said.
"Hey." Gabriella said looking at the ground and then looking up to make eye contact with both guys. "Um…sorry about dinner being kind of ruined." Gabriella said shyly to Troy.
Troy flicked his hand as if it was nothing. "Don't worry about it, we can always make it up." Gabriella looked at Troy and gave him a small smile. She knew that he wasn't really bothered and that calmed her a little bit.
Just then Jake's phone went off indicating that he had a text. When Jake put his phone away he walked over to Gabriella. "That was the mother, I'm officially one hour past curfew and it doesn't help that I'm already grounded. Call me later if you need anything." Jake said as he waved to Troy. "See you two later."
Gabriella turned back to Troy as Jake was out of sight. "Where did…"
"Eric had a phone call." Troy said as he stepped closer to Gabriella. "Crazy night." Troy let out a small laugh as he slung an arm around Gabriella's shoulder. Troy had no idea what to say to this situation, what do you say to your girlfriend for a week who's dad just came back after 12 years of missing out?
Luckily Troy didn't have to say anything as Gabriella spoke up. "Troy, I know we're all dressed up, but how about we go through a drive through and get some dinner because I'm starving." Gabriella said as she walked over to Troy with a smile.
Troy smiled back at her as he slung his arm over her shoulder. He was glad that the strong side of Gabriella was coming out again because he probably would've tried to say something, but only have it come out the wrong way.
"We can do that." Troy kissed the top of Gabriella's head and then realized something that he was meaning to ask her for about a week now. "You haven't called me Troy Boy for--"
"Since the beach, well…Troy, you're my boyfriend now which means new nickname. I just have to figure something out." Gabriella smiled cheekily up at him as Troy smirked.
"There's always the nickname Sexy." Troy suggested as Gabriella laughed jokingly.
"You're full of yourself Troy Bolton." Gabriella looked up at him as he held the car door open for her. "But that's why I like you." They shared a kiss as Gabriella smiled into it. Although their dinner was ruined, Gabriella could tell just from that kiss that even though they probably were going to just run through McDonalds, that was fine. She didn't need some fancy restaurant to reassure her that Troy was her boyfriend, she liked things just the way that they are.