Troy was nervous. If he had to rate his nerves on a scale of one to ten then…he actually had no idea what number it would be rated, but he knew that it would be high up there. He ran his hand through his brown ruffled hair and flicked it to the side so it stayed out of his eye line. He was bound for a hair cut anytime now.
His hands were slightly clammy as he rang the doorbell again and self consciously glancing over his shoulder to make sure that no cars that belonged to the Montez's were coming and pulling into their driveway so that Gabriella didn't see him at her 'best friend's' house.
Troy looked at the perfectly painted green door with white trim as he rang the doorbell again waiting for an answer. He sighed as he thought he heard some kind of sound on the other side of the door.
He was starting to get slightly impatient as he stuffed his clammy hands deep into his front pockets. He sighed as the cool air nipped at his exposed skin. He knew he was offering himself up to walk through the lion's den, but maybe this wouldn't be so bad? Gabriella had told him the day before that things were slowly mending between the two as they managed to not scowl or yell at each other. And Jake no longer looked like he was talking through gritted teeth.
Troy stopped his shuffling of the feet as the door slowly opened with a confused looking Jake standing in the doorway. Troy now could rate his nerves…11.
"Are you sure your parents don't mind that you're having half of our class over?" Gabriella had to shout above the music.
Troy stopped his looking over the crowd for a certain blonde haired boy to see if he showed up as he looked down at his girlfriend and flashed her a smile as he felt her connect their hands.
"What they don't know, won't hurt them." Troy said as he took his gaze off of Gabriella reluctantly and went back to surfing the crowd for the boy who he talked to four days ago. He must've seen at least fifty different blondes, but no such sign of Jake yet.
"You mean they don't know?!" Gabriella shouted over the music not wanting to get caught by the Boltons and then she would really feel responsible for this since it was her birthday they were celebrating.
Troy shrugged as he tore his gaze away from the stairway and front door and looked at Gabriella. "They're not in town. They're like visiting my aunt or something who lives in Arizona since she couldn't make it to Christmas Eve."
Gabriella smirked at her boyfriend as she shook her head in disbelief that him, Taylor, and Chad did all this for her. "Happy birthday Montez!" Gabriella turned her head to where the sound came and looked over to see that the comment came from a group of football players as she flashed them a smile and nod.
Gabriella heard the song change and a smile graced her mouth. She looked at her boyfriend who for some reason was so transfixed with his front door that seemed to be opening and closing every ten seconds. "Come dance with me." Gabriella said as she didn't wait for a response, but started dragging Troy with her.
Troy took his eyes off of the door again and started to follow his girlfriend willingly with his two hands on her hips as she led the way. Half the girls here were wearing very, very revealing dresses and skirts, but Gabriella looked good. She was wearing a red strap dress that showed off some cleavage and went down to right above her knees along with the bracelet Troy got her homecoming weekend.
Troy cleared his throat after a moment of being under Jake's silent stare. Troy looked at Jake's upper chest where a football was on his gray t-shirt and briefly looked up at his face to see what he was thinking, but then quickly looked back to the football seeing as it was less intimidating than Jake himself.
Troy thought Jake didn't look like he wanted to rip his head off from what he could see. Jake raised his eye brows as Troy looked up again.
Jake looked at Troy with a blank face on. He was confused. Why was the boyfriend of his best friend who he was in a middle of a fight with. Jake looked at Troy wondering if he was going to say anything. He knew that his and Gabriella's friendship was very slowly mending. He wasn't mad at her anymore, he actually never was. He was just so disappointed in her and when he got like that he channeled his feelings into anger.
But now after just a week without talking to his best friend he had some time to think about the situation more clearly and he wasn't just disappointed in Gabriella, he was disappointed and ashamed in himself for blowing up at her, but yet…he was relieved that he had some common sense to wait a couple of days to let himself fully calm down and get some breathing and thinking time or else if he probably would've tried talking to Gabriella then things would've gotten even worse.
"Hey...uh…" Troy said unsurely as his feet shifted from underneath him and he stuffed his hands in his pockets even more. "Jake." Troy finished looking up at the blonde.
"Troy." Jake said with the same uncertainty as he let out a breath making sure that he doesn't lose control of his anger at whatever Troy was here about.
"Um…" Troy looked around slowly taking in the details of the older boys house. The flowers Jake's mom has set up on the porch steps, the small spots on the wood work of the windows where the paint was slowly chipping off, or the other end of the wrap around porch and the way the porch swing was slowly swinging in the breeze.
"What's up?" Troy asked as he tore his eyes away from the brown swing.
Jake raised his eye brows, he came over just to ask him that? "Look, if Gabriella sent you over--"
"No." Troy said quickly making Jake stop mid sentence. "I'm here…by myself…on my own." Troy said with somewhat awkwardness in his voice as he decided he should just get this over with, after all even though Gabriella and him were fighting, in the future Gabriella and Jake would both regret this.
"Well then…I guess I'm doing okay?" Jake more like questioned as he casually leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest.
Troy nodded. Okay, maybe this was going good. Troy felt a small smile grace his face, "So good Christmas?" Troy asked as he as Jake tense up and then realized maybe he was pushing his luck with all the questions and he should just ask Jake the question he really meant to ask in the first place before all his luck ran out. "Never mind, I'm sure yours was good, what I'm really here for is Gabi…"
"So how's the birthday girl?" Troy hears his best friend ask as Troy looks away from his front door again wondering if maybe he missed the blonde haired boy while he was busy dancing with Gabriella.
Troy looks down at Gabriella who was smiling as his hand was resting protectively over her shoulder, drawing her into his hip.
"It's going great." Gabriella answers as Taylor and her immediately break off from the two guys and leave Chad and Troy by themselves.
Troy brings the red cup up to his lips and takes a small sip as his eyes scan the crowd once more for what seemed like the hundredth time that night before settling on his dark skinned friend who had his own alcoholic concoction in his red cup.
"Any sign of him?" Chad asks as Troy shrugs.
"No, have you tried texting him?"
Even if Gabriella was looking for Jake throughout her party, she wasn't showing any signs of disappointment since he obviously wasn't here. Troy sees Chad shake his head no as his curls to his afro bounce a little.
"Yeah, but he hadn't answered any." Chad replies as Troy exhales and takes a bigger sip from his beer. There was a silence and Troy was almost glad that Chad started talking again so he didn't have to scan over the crowd again. "So did you tell her yet?" Chad nudged Troy as he wriggled his eye brows twice.
Troy gave Chad a weird look for his way of asking knowing that only Chad would make it sound and look dirty. "Not yet." As if reading Chad's silent question Troy continued with one word. "Soon."
Troy could tell Chad was smiling without even looking at him. "It's about time." He declared as Troy did a double take on his friend.
"About time for what?" Troy asked.
"That you two are gonna tell each other." Chad said as Troy felt himself roll his eyes. "What has it been, three four months?" Chad asked.
Troy nodded his head slowly, "Roughly." Troy answered thinking back to their first date and how ironically they went to Jake's party together. Troy turned his head and felt a smile grace his face as he looked out through the crowd, and then all of a sudden felt a body mold into his as he turned his head the other way and looked down to see his girlfriend with her arm around his waist and a smile planted on her face again.
"Hey Wildcat, do you need a refill?" Gabriella asked indicating to his cup as Troy looked down and saw that he still had half of it left and then looked back up at his girlfriend.
"Gabi, I should be asking you that. This is your birthday after all and it's my house." Troy pointed out as he then remembered what he was just smiling about and the news he was about to inflict on Gabriella. "Hey, guess who just w--" Troy was cut off.
Just then the lights went off and the swinging door that led into the kitchen from the hallway opened revealing Taylor who was carrying a chocolate white frosts cake that was big enough to feed the whole party maybe even twice and 17 candles glowing as the whole room broke out into the famous 'Happy Birthday' song.
Troy looks around as memories of his birthday over the summer float back to his head and he had just as many people over at Chad's house. But he quickly shakes his head of his memories as he looks over at the door watching for Gabriella's blonde haired best friend.
Troy took in a breath he didn't know he was holding as he just had explained to him what was happening for Gabriella's birthday in a couple of days. He looked at Jake in a questioning look as Jake looked at Troy skeptically.
This was one of the only "missions", which wasn't his choice of words but Taylor's who wanted to put everything in the simplest terms for Chad and Troy to understand, Troy was assigned other than supplying the house, and some alcohol as Chad was getting the rest of the beverages and food.
Somehow, word had gotten around that Jake and Gabriella were fighting and for the more 'low IQed' fellow wildcats who still didn't put two and two together and realized Troy and Gabriella were dating, they were sending Gabriella text messages saying how sorry they were that they heard the two broke up.
"Gabriella doesn't know you're hear?" Jake finally asked after mulling over the plans Troy, Taylor, and Chad set up for Gabriella.
Troy shook his head no, "No. This was completely Gabriella-free topic, well not absolutely Gabriella-free since it's about her, but…you know, it's…yeah." Troy finished lamely as he had no idea what came over him. He was usually so put together, but something about Jake just got to his nerves and he knew it had something to do with the fact that no matter what Gabriella and him would probably always be friends and he as her boyfriend would always be replaced since people broke up a lot now-a-days.
Jake nodded his head as Troy saw him thinking it over, "And you're sure she's not gonna like get mad that I might show up?" Jake asked again as he sincerely didn't want Gabriella to get upset on her birthday night even though it actually wasn't her birthday, but she was around all her friends.
Troy nodded his head not missing a beat, "I'm sure. Gabi would love to see you there." He answered more confidently.
Jake sighed as he looked warily at Troy, "We'll see. I'm not promising anything, but since Haley's probably gonna go then I guess I might see you there." Jake said.
Troy felt a smile take over his face. Even though Jake and him weren't the best of friends, Troy knew that this is what Gabriella needed. And he still believed that he and Jake could put their differences behind them for Gabi and at least start over as friends again.
"That's great." Troy says a little too enthusiastically as he chuckles nervously and starts walking backwards towards the porch steps. "I mean,…Gabi will be happy to see you there." Troy started to walk away before he embarrassed himself even more.
Jake nods his head, "Bolton, I said I might!" Jake calls out to Troy who was smiling with his back towards Jake.
Troy waves a hand carelessly in the air as he makes his way to his truck. "You say you might, but I say you will." Troy mumbled incoherently as he opens his car door and gets in.
Troy looks at Gabriella who just blew out her candles in one big breath and now Taylor set the cake down on the table as it was already precut. Troy smiles down at Gabriella who playfully nudges him with her hip and he rolls his eyes at her childness.
Gabriella smirked as she leans up on her tip-toes and plants a kiss to his cheek and his eyes look past Gabriella's shoulder and landed on a blonde boy, more specifically, Jake. Gabriella was going to have a good birthday.
Gabriella was in Troy's arms as she had just finished eating her piece of cake and was now watching the groups of kids do their own thing again. Some were dancing, making out, drinking, or eating as Gabriella was just letting Troy's body mold around hers.
Gabriella saw presents for her on another table as she knew that most of them were probably just little trinkets that she would hang up in her room or put under the bed, but she personally didn't care of she got something or not because the only time she really saw these people were at school.
"So…" Troy's mouth lingered by her ear as her back was pressed against his chest. Gabriella feels a smile grace her face and she bites her bottom lip in anticipation as his hands were lightly massaging her sides. "I have a surprise for you." Troy says huskily in her ear.
Gabriella smirks, "Yeah?"
Gabriella feels Troy nod his head against her shoulder blade. "Uh huh." Troy says as Gabriella waits for him to continue, but he doesn't as she turns her head to see what Troy was doing since she still felt her chin resting on her right side. She sees that he's looking around the room slowly as she tries to follow his gaze wondering what the hell he could be looking at.
Gabriella continues to look out onto the dance floor that was actually Troy's living room, but finds nothing out of the ordinary. She hears Troy's voice in her ear again, "He's right over there."
Gabriella's body was on full alert the second Troy said the word, 'him.' as Troy's hand reaches off of Gabriella's side and points off to the side of the living room floor and her eyes nearly double their size, her stomach does a flip, and her smile turns into amazement as she could almost feel Troy's smiling face behind her.
She keeps her eyes on the blonde haired boy who was sitting on the arm of the chair which occupied his girlfriend Haley, and a couple of their other friends who were on the football team and had girlfriends who were dancers.
"You're not mad that I invited him, are you?" Troy asks as Gabriella turns around in his arms and throws her arms around him as he immediately reacts and hugs back as his face nuzzles into her hair taking in her scent and Gabriella could make out the smell of his cologne and guy smell that she still wasn't able to put a name to it.
"Thank you Wildcat." Gabriella murmurs in his ear. She was beyond happy that Jake came. All week she had been dying to talk to him, but respected his wishes to just give him time. She had a lot of news for him as she was hoping that he felt the same way too. She wanted to tell him that she was going to try harder, that she was making a New Year resolution to do better in school like before, she was going to be the best friend that he knew and cared for.
Gabriella saw Troy looking down at her as she was still facing him with his arms on her waist, "So are you gonna go talk to him?" Troy asked.
"Do you think I should? Will he get mad?" Gabriella asked with panic in her voice.
"He's here isn't he?" Troy replied back with a smile on his face as he put one of Gabriella's curls behind her ear.
Gabriella nodded slowly as she pondered this thought. Jake wouldn't just come to her party just to throw it in her face that he wasn't talking to her anymore. Gabriella took her arms away from Troy and pecked him on the side of the mouth.
"Okay, I'll see you later?" Gabriella questioned as she mentally prepared herself to go and walk over to Jake and just start talking to him.
Troy nodded his head as he pressed a kiss to Gabriella's forehead as he spun her around and gently nudged her. "Yes, now stop stalling."
Gabriella nodded her head again as she took in a deep breath. "Okay…right." Gabriella started to walk forward slowly, taking small steps at a time. "Yeah,…I can do this." Gabriella told herself quietly as no one could hear her over the music.
She walked around people who were drunk and some were still sober or a little tipsy as they all pulled her into half drunk hugs, or pats on the back as Gabriella just nodded and had on an awkward smile as she didn't really hang out with them that much, only at school.
Gabriella was about thirty feet away and if there was no music blasting throughout the house and she talked in a little louder voice than normal then he would be able to hear her, but since that was not the case Gabriella knew Jake didn't even suspect her coming over by him.
She felt girls' eyes on her as they complimented her on her dress and she knew that people made a bigger deal out of someone's birthday than usual. That's one of the reasons why she didn't really care if she celebrated or not.
Gabriella looks away from the dancers she spent some time with over the past couple of weeks and looks up where Jake was sitting to see that he wasn't really saying anything as he just was looking at the five or six people around him talk.
Gabriella feels her feet taking more baby steps as she didn't really know why she was so nervous? After all they were best friends, but then again maybe she wasn't really nervous, but anticipating and eager to see if this was the day that they could finally put their problems behind them and continue being best friends.
Gabriella sees Jake finally look in her direction as he does a double take and their eyes lock. She feels her breath hitch in her throat as her best friend makes eye contact with her for the second time that week without getting red in the face and all angry at her. She's surprised, but then again why should she be? Troy was right, Jake wouldn't have shown up if he didn't want to talk. It just wasn't like him to rub something in someone's face like that.
Gabriella offers a small tense smile as she doesn't really know how to react to Jake after nearly watching their friendship break in half and now trying to fix it. Gabriella doesn't relax her smile until she sees Jake nod a little at her with his own half smile and waiting eyes that seemed to be full of suspense and happiness about what Gabriella's next move will be.
Gabriella nearly trips over her own feet as someone grabs her arm and she gets pulled to the side, through a couple of groups of people, nearly tripping on the rug, as she finally feels her body stopped being tugged and pulled and looks up as she straightens herself up and sees Taylor and Sharpay smirking at her.
Gabriella looks at them like they're crazy as she looks behind her shoulder and sees that Jake was no where to be seen now. Gabriella looks back at the smirking Taylor and Sharpay like they have three heads again.
"What the fuck guys?" Gabriella asks in a semi-light hearted but serious tone.
Sharpay giggles as she had her arm linked with Taylor's and Gabriella could tell that they were swaying a little as she could pretty much bet her life that they were getting past being tipsy and now heading over the drunken line.
"Hey GGG-GGABBBBS!" Sharpay said in a louder voice than usual as she giggled again at hearing her own voice speak and Taylor hiccupped.
"Hey?" Gabriella asked as she glanced around to see if Jake supposedly was coming up behind her since he saw her get pulled away and almost trampled on by her two friends.
"You look hot tonight Gabs!" Taylor exclaimed as Sharpay nodded her head eagerly. "Have you had a Montez yet?" Taylor hiccupped again as Gabriella scrunched her eye brows together in confusion.
"A what?" Gabriella asked as she now clearly understood that they were drunk as she only had not even one full can of beer.
"A MONTEZ!" Sharpay said as she tried to speak perfectly clear and up in Gabriella's face as Gabriella winced back a little as she waved her hand under her nose to clear the air of their alcohol breaths.
"Thanks Shar." Gabriella said sarcastically as neither of her two friends understood her tone held sarcasm.
"Here." Taylor said in a chipper tone as she shoved a red cup in Gabriella's face as Gabriella just processed Taylor was holding something in her hand. Gabriella gave Taylor a fake smile as she held in her uneasiness as she looked down at the liquid in the cup.
It was a murky brown with some kind of fruit chunks floating around in it as Gabriella was guessing that it was either lime or lemon chunks as the drink smelt stinging to the nose.
"What's in it?" Gabriella asked with disgust as she gave it back to Taylor who downed it in one gulp and Gabriella figured that whoever else was drinking a 'Montez' then they were drunk to begin with.
"Oh…" Sharpay's tone ranged from high to low as she lengthened the one word. "You know…vodka, gin, diet coke but only a little, ice, lemon and lime, and every other kind of liquor Chad brought with him." Sharpay explained. "And maybe even ketchup, but you would have to ask Chad on that because he's the one making them."
"And it's called Montez because?…"
Taylor and Sharpay laughed like it was the funniest thing as they held onto each other for support. "Because silly…it's your birthday and your night. We've given you a drink before!" Sharpay said as Gabriella laughed with a strained laugh just wanting to get away from the two and find Jake and then she could talk to her drunk friends because it was actually entertaining.
"I'm, uh…pretty sure you haven't." Gabriella said as she backed away a step.
"Yes we have." Taylor said as she laughed. "Gabs, you are so funny, pretending that you don't remember that time…and the table…and with that blue….uh, what was it Shar?" Taylor asked.
Sharpay nodded her head eagerly, "Yeah, the blue goop."
Gabriella nodded as she backed away again "Yeah, I remember that time. Now I'll see you two later, and drink a Montez for me!" Gabriella called over her shoulder as she sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
She looked around for Jake as she was walking over towards the kitchen knowing that's probably where Troy was and guessing and hoping that's where Jake went for a drink until she let out a strangled yelp as for the second time that night she felt herself get grabbed by the arm.
Gabriella didn't feel herself being pulled, as the person who had her arm just held her in place with a gentle hold as she looked up at the person who kept her in place and sigh in relief.
"You are one hard girl to get a hold of tonight."
Author's note--So what do you guys think? Good? Bad? What about the ending? I personally think it's kind of obvious who said that, but if you still don't know you're free to guess. Hope you guys liked it and review please and thank you. :)