I don't own anything.
A/N: Alright it's time for another update but first off I want to thank my reviewers from last week; NaeNae1495, OriginallyImperfect, chaylorXtraylorlover, traylorlove, Aipom4, TragicTheGathering and chaylorfan. Thank you guys for the reviews a.k.a. my inspiration. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and please remember to Review.
Baby S
Chapter Five
After Taylor left, Troy couldn't help but think about all the things that Taylor had shared with him that evening. She told him about how her father had died and how she had been there with him during his last moments. They also shared a secret of blaming themselves for their fathers' deaths. Taylor for the most part seemed to be handling her father's death quite well. He didn't know how she handled something like that but he admired the trait. He would be the first person to admit it, because he still wasn't handling his father's death well. The blame that he had placed on himself for his father untimely death had kept him from handling it it, but last night's conversation with Taylor had slowly made some of the guilt go away. Now he only felt guilty about the last words he spoke to his father. Words that didn't need to be said to his father during his last hour here on earth. He lifted his head up as the doorbell broke through his thought, glancing at the clock he smiled as he realized what time it was. Standing up, he quickly made it over to the door and opened and smiled as he saw Taylor standing on the other side with her trusty lap top bag in hand. He gave Wilson, her driver, a nod before reaching out and picking up Taylor's bag. "Hey." he murmured as he led her inside while closing the door. She looked at him silently, probably trying to gage where his mood was especially after their talk last night.
"Hey." she whispered back as she clasped her hands in front of her and rocked back on her heels. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm alright." Troy murmured as he looked at her. He walked into the dining room and sat her laptop bag down, he came back out just as Taylor started to follow him. Holding up his hands he looked over towards the stairs. "I wanted to ask you something?"
"Sure what is it?"
"Well it's kinda of a favor. I was wondering if you would be able to help me with something, if that's okay."
"Troy what is it?" she asked as she took off her jacket and draped it over the edge of the couch while still looking at him. Troy watched her for a moment before looking up the stairs where his mother probably was at the moment.
"I was wondering if you would help me tell my mother about the school ceremony, I would really appreciate if you did that." he rushed out, wincing at the awkwardness he heard in his voice. Taylor just smiled and nodded her head.
"No worries, Troy. I'll help you." she stated. "But first how about I give you, your treat." Troy raised an eyebrow almost immediately at her words, he looked over at her as if she had completely lost her mind.
"Excuse me treat-what for?"
"Well I remember last time you told me," she paused and shook her head. "I mean gave me a list of what you thought a good treat would be and since I just got back the results of that history exam I figured now would be the perfect time to give you a treat." Troy stood there silently as she walked pass him into the dining room and grabbed her laptop bag. She dug around in it for a bit before pulling out a small bag with two orange sherbet stick. "I had Wilson pick them up on the way here." she paused and held one out to him. "Congrats on a job well done." she stated with a wink.
"How'd you know these were my favorite?"
"I don't. I just know they'll mine." she replied back as she rolled back the paper on hers and took a soft swipe of it with her tongue. Troy followed her tongue with his eyes before quickly focusing on his ice cream.
"I guess that's something we have in common." Taylor only responded by a sound as she bit into her ice cream, Troy was sure his face was bright red as he watched her. "So does this treat mean I don't have to do any work today?" Taylor looked at him and slowly shook her head.
"No, when you finish this. . .we'll start with some more homework. We have to kept up the pace if you're suppose to be coming back to school next year." Troy looked down at her words then, and Taylor couldn't help but feel her own eyebrow raise in surprise. "This is your plan right."
"I don't know." he murmured with a shake of his head as he looked at her. "I kinda of like staying here," and having you come here to see me. He finished in his head, because he could tell just by the look that she was currently sending him that she wouldn't be very happy with that statement. "Oh come on don't give me that look."
"Oh I'm gonna give you that look, Troy." Taylor murmured with a shake of her head. "I can't believe you're seriously thinking about staying in this house for what the rest of high school." Troy sighed and looked down at her.
"If it's something I want to do. Then it's something I want to do." Taylor narrowed her eyes at him and marched across the room. Troy watched silently as she came to stop right in front of him.
"As your friend I'm not going to let you hide out in this house. I don't care how I do it but you'll be coming to school with me by next fall, I guarantee you that." Troy stated down at her and then slowly nodded his head.
"Fine."
"Good, let's not have this conversation again." she mumbled as she stepped back away from him. "Almost ruined the taste of this good ice cream with your nonsense." Troy just chuckled at her words and walked over to the sofa and sat down on the arm while watching her.
"I'm sorry then, but I guess I had to try." he murmured with a shrug of his shoulders. Taylor just gave him another look and he chuckled again before bitting off another piece of ice cream so he could have a reason to keep his mouth shut.
Nearly twenty minutes later, they were both finally sitting down at the dining room table working. Troy looked up from his science homework and studied Taylor for a bit. He took in the fact that this afternoon she wasn't extremely tired like she had been the night before. He didn't know if he was happy or sad about that fact. Considering, he really like how she had rested against him last night until Wilson had come to pick her up. The whole incident to him had been peaceful, she might have been embarrassed by it but he wasn't. He enjoyed every soft breath that she took and every little snuggle that she had done. It gave him something least to dream about besides the last conversation he had shared with his father. He didn't know if Taylor was a distraction for him especially when it came to him thinking about that night or if she was really a sign that he was moving on and thinking about other things. "I think it's my turn to ask if you something's wrong?" Taylor murmured over the silence, pulling Troy out of his thoughts and making him really look across the table at her.
"I'm sorry. I'm just think about some things." he answered vaguely.
"Oh good, cause I was seriously starting to think I wasted some ice cream on my clothes or face or something."
"Why would you say that?" he asked in confusion.
"Because you were staring at me so hard." she murmured as she met his confused gaze with her own. Troy didn't have to look in a mirror to know his cheeks red, he looked down as he blushed and tried to think of something else to say.
"Sorry about that." he murmured weakly. "I was really just lost in thought. I was just staring ahead and-."
"And I'm sitting right in front of you." Taylor finished with a nod of her head. "Got it." she finished with a shrug. Troy just sent her a small smile before looking back down at his work, while looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Do you want to know what I was thinking about?" he asked her softly. Taylor lifted her head and looked over at him for a moment before nodding her head. Troy however didn't say a word, he held out his hand.
"What are you doing?"
"You know you have to give me a penny for my thoughts. That's how this thing usually works when someone wants to know someone's thoughts." he stated with a childish grin as he looked at her. Taylor laughed and slapped his hand away from her.
"You're crazy. . .I'm not giving you a penny." she stated jokingly as she looked at him. Troy pulled back his hand and gave her a pout.
"Dang that hurts me right here." he placed his hand over his heart and looked at her. "And you seemed to be such a nice girl." Taylor just laughed and dropped her head on the table as she continued laughing.
"Oh you got me." Troy smiled as he watched her giggle before nodding his head and reaching out yet again for her hand. She stopped as he latched onto her fingers and gave them a gently squeeze. Lifting her head up, she looked at him silently as he spoke.
"I was wondering if you would come with me during the ceremony?" Taylor looked at him in confusion then and just shook her head.
"I'm going to be there, Troy. Coach Woodson told me it's going to take place in front of the whole school. No worries there." she murmured with a shrug of her shoulder. "Besides I wouldn't miss it I-." Troy sighed and pulled his hand free as he shook his head.
"No you aren't understanding me. What I mean is will you be there with me. . .with me," he paused at the look of uncertainty that crossed over. "I mean as a friend during the ceremony. You know like sitting there with me and things like that."
"I don't know."
"Oh come on, you're my friend Taylor. I need your support." She frowned and sat back in her chair, slowly shaking her head.
"There you go again with that pouting." she murmured as she looked at him. Troy lifted his gaze and stared her in the eyes before releasing a soft sigh.
"Well tell me is it working?" he asked giving her another look, before adding on to his pout. She smiled at him and then slowly nodded her head.
"I'm afraid it is this time." she whispered as she looked at him, before shaking her head. "But seriously don't expect that to work anymore. From now on I'm completely immune to that-that pout." she pointed out with a shake of her head. "Can't having you thinking you can get me to do things with just a pout." Troy smirked then and pulled his book towards him.
"Oh of course not." he answered sarcastically which only earned him another look from Taylor. "But seriously thanks for agreeing to come." Taylor just sent him a small smile, as Troy drummed his fingers on the table. "Now I just have to figure out a way to talk to my mom."
"And I'll be there with you. Don't worry I'm sure she'll handle it well." she whispered, Troy slowly nodded his head as Taylor reached across the table and patted the top edge of his book. "Now please back to work, please." When Troy lifted his head, he saw Taylor was trying to pout up at him. Smirking, he pulled his book closer to him and just looked at her. Taylor kept up the pout for a little longer before Troy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"That look is truly embarrassing." he stated jokingly as he looked back up at her. Taylor stopped pouting and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Oh so it doesn't work."
"Nope!" Troy replied popping the 'p,' in the word as he looked at her. "But I'll just go ahead and study since that's what you want me to do right." he stated with a soft chuckle as he shook his head. "Besides the master of the pout can't be forced to do something with a pout. Just doesn't make sense."
"You don't make sense." Taylor countered as she playfully stuck her tongue out at him. Troy just sighed and sat his book down.
"And now you're forcing me to rebel against you with that little snarky remark and move there." he stated as he looked across the table at Taylor before sighing as if his world was falling apart all around him. "And I really wanted learn all about," and looked at the book before him. "Shakespeare's Sonnets."
"Troy!" Taylor countered as she looked at him from across the table, he sighed then and picked up the book.
"You know maybe it's your eyes that makes people want to do things for you. They can get all kinds of scary sometimes." he muttered as he picked back up the book and started reading. Taylor just smiled and returned her attention back to her work. Wondering if Troy had almost been so playful because she had to admit that she liked it.
When their allotted time for studying was up, Troy helped pack Taylor's bag and looked anxiously towards the stairs. Taylor looked up and followed his gaze and then reached out and placed a hand on his arm. "Do you want to do this now?" Troy slowly tore his gaze away from the stairs and allowed it to settle on Taylor.
"Um no not really. It's late and if she hasn't been downstairs yet she kinda just wants to be left alone for the night." he admitted softly, and Taylor could see from his gaze that shifted back to the stairs that he was deeply worried about his mother.
"Well we can tell her some other time like maybe tomorrow." she suggested, Troy slowly nodded as an idea popped into his head. "How about we tell her tomorrow over dinner. She needs a nice home cooked meal. I know she hasn't felt like cooking in awhile but that doesn't mean I can't cook for her with your help of course."
"What makes you think I cook?" Taylor asked in utter surprise as she look at Troy who was now focusing all of his attention on her. "I could be a horrible cook for all you know," she stuttered out as she looked up at him. "Heck I can burn toast?"
"That's how my mother likes it." Troy countered with a smile, Taylor eyed his bottom lip almost positive that he was going to poke the thing out at any moment.
"I can't even boil water."
"That's how my mother likes it. . .the steam, she says helps gets the kitchen settled in the right temperature for cooking." he grinned at the face, she made and just smiled down at her then. Taylor frowned and placed her hands on her hips.
"I guess it doesn't matter what I say then does it." Taylor stated mainly to herself. "You're just going to fine something witty to say for ever negative trait I bring up." Troy just shrugged his shoulders and leaned down towards her ear.
"You can either keep trying or you just say you'll help." He pulled back away from her with a small smile on his face as he looked down at her. "So what will it be Ms. Taylor, will you continue to try and find a way out of all this or will you help a friend fix dinner for his mother." As he finished his statement he produced another pout that had Taylor rolling her eyes and muttering that she'd help him.
By the time Taylor finally made it home, it was a little later than she normal. As soon as she opened the door she was greeted by her mother and Charles. Taylor watched wearily as her mother placed her hands on her hips and glared at her. "And just why are you coming in at this time of night." Taylor merely shrugged her shoulders but at the stiffening of Charles answered her mother.
"I was tutoring and we went over." Whitney McKessie arched an eyebrow at that and shared a glanced with Charles.
"Tutoring that goes into the night, Taylor." Unable to keep her anger in any longer, Taylor found herself rolling her eyes at the false concern she heard dripping from her mother's lips.
"Yes, I'm tutoring at night. I only start when I get out of school and since he's far behind in his work I stay there to help him." Taylor stated with a huff, she had really stayed late so her and Troy could get through with his work for tomorrow so he could cook his mother a dinner and also tell her about the ceremony for his father that the school was holding.
"I feel like calling that school and telling them that you will-."
"Why would you do that?" Taylor snapped out angrily. "I'm not doing anything wrong. I really don't know why you're acting like you're this great mother especially when you and I both know that isn't true." Taylor snapped out, Whitney's mouth dropped open in shock for a moment before narrowing her eyes.
"How dare you?"
"How dare I?" Taylor stated pointing a finger towards her chest. "No mom how dare you? We've already had this conversation before do you really want to have it again." Taylor asked as she flicked her gaze over towards Charles who stood watching her silently. Whitney narrowed her gaze at her daughter for a moment before speaking.
"You keep up this attitude and there will be some changes." Whitney snapped out angrily. "You can try me if you want, I'd really like to see if you can." Whitney stated smugly as she sent Taylor a look. Taylor stood there in front of her mother and just sighed. She didn't want to try and push her mother's hand. In fact the threat she made earlier about possibly taking tutoring away from her really frightened her because nowadays the best part of her day was seeing Troy. She enjoyed their time together and didn't want to see that change anytime soon.
"Fine can I go to my room now."
"Yeah sure whatever." Whitney snapped out as Taylor quickly hightailed it towards the stairs intent on getting away from her mother and Charles. Once they were alone, Charles looked over at Whitney and shook his head.
"The girl is still too disrespectful for my taste." Whitney looked over at him and placed her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, well she got with the program tonight. She didn't try to fight me tonight. I think you scared her the other night with that little grab action of yours." Charles tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling.
"I don't really don't care if I scared her. She shouldn't have been disrespectful. She's lucky I didn't do more, now let's go to bed." Charles stated with a shrug as he started up the stairs as well. When he didn't hear Whitney following behind him, he turned and looked down at her. "Well are you coming to bed or what?" Whitney just nodded her head and then quickly headed up the stairs after him.
The next day, Taylor quickly left with for school and was silently thankful that Charles and her mother had left her alone for the night. She really didn't like them confronting her like they did and she knew that since she was going to be staying for dinner with Troy tonight that things wouldn't be much better. As she entered the school, Sharpay Evans quickly latched onto her arm. "What's that smile for?" Sharpay asked as a bright smile went across her face while looking at Taylor who at the moment held a very surprised look on her face. Taylor really didn't know she had been smiling, turning she looked at Sharpay who seemed to read Taylor's thoughts. "Oh yeah you were smiling big enough for the both of us. If you were anyone else I would have just thought you were feeling a little cocky about some new toothpaste."
"New toothpaste," Taylor repeated with a shake of her head. "You know you truly are something else, Sharpay."
"I'm going to ignore the underlying insult in that statement and just assume that when you said I was something else that you meant I was you fabulous or something equally as nice." Sharpay gushed as she looked at her friend. "Now seriously what put that lovely smile on your face." Taylor didn't know if she wanted to tell Sharpay that she had been thinking about Troy, even though when she was thinking about him it had been in the context that her mother would be upset with her getting home late from having dinner with-."
"There it is again." Sharpay exclaimed cutting into her thoughts again. "Oh alright now you know, you have to tell me."
"I was just thinking about something, Sharpay."
"Look, you know you get on my nerves when you avoid my questions." Sharpay pointed out with a sigh. "So please just tell me what is going on, with you Taylor." Taylor didn't say anything instead she walked over to her locker and started putting her books away, while Sharpay hung near her tapping her foot impatiently. "Well."
"I'm having dinner with Troy and his mother tonight." Taylor finally stated as she closed her locker shut and turned to look at Sharpay who had a silly grin now plastered on her face. "Oh come on Sharpay it isn't that serious." Sharpay's eyes widened in shock as she looked at her friend for a moment before slowly shaking her head.
"What are you talking about of course it is. Your boyfriend wants you to have dinner with him and his mother. You're meeting the par-," she paused for a moment and bit her lip before continuing. "You're meeting the mother and that usually doesn't happen until after you hang out with the friends for a while but I guess since he has them playing bodyguards for you, you've already met them."
"It isn't like that. He just wants me there to help out with telling his mother. I guess he needs me there for support."
"Yeah, needs his girlfriend there for support. Oh, Taylor I'm so happy for you. I know this is like your first official boyfriend since well elementary school and we all know those don't count anymore." Taylor raised an eyebrow at Sharpay's words and looked utterly offended.
"What do you mean it doesn't count anymore. Kyle Bennett was a sweet guy. I mean he brought me candy and he even got my dad to agree to letting him and his mom take me to a movie." Taylor pointed out with a smirk. "That does count and wherever he is now I'm sure he is making some girl happy."
"Yeah, well Kyle is the past and this is present. Troy is really your first official boyfriend since we starting changing classes every fifty minutes."
"He's not my boyfriend. He's a friend that wants me to be there for him tonight and I have absolutely no problem with that."
"No problem with what?" Gabriella asked as she walked to them, Sharpay looked at her before glancing back at Taylor.
"Troy invited Taylor over to his house for dinner."
"It wasn't an invite Sharpay, geez. I'm already gonna be there to tutor him, I'll just be staying for dinner." Sharpay just rolled her eyes at Taylor and looked back at Gabriella who was looking on with a small smile on her face.
"It's an invite to dinner no matter what she says." Taylor just rolled her eyes at her friend's antics and released a soft sigh that as Gabriella started talking about what Taylor should wear to dinner like she had time to go home and change. Instead she just decided to listen to her friends chatter on and on about what she should do at the dinner tonight, as they pulled her towards class. All she could do was thank God, Chad and Zeke weren't there. She didn't want this conversation to have any chance of getting back to Troy.
"Alright are you ready to get started?" Troy asked as he held the door open for her and gave Wilson a wave before reaching down and taking the lap top bag from Taylor's hand. Closing the door, he turned and saw her with her hands pressed to her hips and the most adorable frown on her face. He turned fully so he could look at her and smirked. "What?" he asked with a small smirk going across his lips. She studied him for a bit.
"Do I not even get a hello."
"Hello Taylor. How are you? Are you ready to get started?" he called out in rapid fashion as he set her things aside and walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He looked down at her and grinned widely.
"I really am not liking you right now." Taylor muttered with a roll of her eyes as Troy followed behind her with a large grin on his face.
"I'm sorry. . .it's just that I like picking on you." Taylor turned then and placed her hands on her hips and Troy was once again greeted with that all adorable frown that he liked seeing. "But I'll stop because you'll here to help me." he stated as if reading her mind. Clasping his hands together, he looked over her shoulder towards the kitchen. "I guess we should get started then huh."
"What are we cooking?" Taylor asked as she allowed Troy to place his hand at the small of her back and lead her into the kitchen.
"And old family recipe," he paused for dramatic effect and looked over at Taylor. "Spaghetti."
"That isn't an old family recipe, Troy." she admonished with a shake of her head. Troy just smirked and nodded his head.
"I guess you're correct, it isn't but I seriously didn't think we could handle anything else. It seems like an easy enough recipe and -."
"We'll figure it out come on let's get started." she mumbled as she reached for for his hand and pulled him towards the stove. "Did you at least print off a recipe." Troy walked over to the counter and picked up a piece of paper with his handwriting on it.
"Yeah I did, it's says we need to boil the water with a little salt in it and then add the noodles and it also says once you add the noodles you need to brown the meat." he lifted his head up and looked at her with a small smile. "See it sounds real simple, and I'll be here to watch over the water so you would steam out all the water." he pointed mentioning to her what she had used as an excuse the other day. Rolling her eyes she walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a large pot and handed it to Troy.
"Boil the water in this and don't forget the salt and I'll get the other things ready." Troy just focused on Taylor as he took the pot from her hands.
"I knew asking you to help me would be a good idea," he stated with a wink. "I think this dinner will turn out to be good." Taylor just nodded her head as she walked around the kitchen trying to find out where the rest of the ingredients were.
"Hopefully next time you want to cook dinner you can do it by yourself." Troy looked up from the pot that was now filled with water and was slowly heating on the stove in front of him. Glancing over at Taylor who was pulling out a large packet of ground beef, he spoke up.
"I'll keep that in mind. Maybe next time I'll cook for you." Troy called out, which only caused Taylor to pause in what she was doing and look over at him with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, maybe I'll cook you a thank you dinner once you're done tutoring me."
"Geez, why can't you just take me out for ice cream or something." Taylor asked with a smirk as she pulled out a large circular pan, while Troy looked at her from his position at the stove. Walking over to him she placed the pan down on a free stove eye and looked up at him. "What?"
"Are you trying to say something about my future cooking?"
"I didn't think I tried. I thought I did." Troy chuckled then as Taylor looked over at him and raised an eyebrow in challenge. Troy looked back down at the boiling water and released a well practiced sniff before looking over at her again.
"You know you just hurt my feelings." he muttered with a pout, but Taylor could tell by his eyes that he was playing. "So just for that I'll fix you a baloney sandwich for a treat how does that sound."
"Edible." Taylor replied back with a smirk as she took in Troy's face. "You know that little pout of yours isn't going to work on me forever."
"Sure whatever you say, but I think I'll use it until you're sure it no longer can be used how does that sound to you." he said with a wink. "Besides you've already talked yourself out of any future food I might have learned how to cook so you shouldn't try to rid yourself of the adorable looks I can make with this face."
"Oh my God, you really are full of yourself."
"I suppose so." he muttered back with a shrug of his shoulders. "But we both know that you like it." he countered as he turned to look at her. "The waters boiling so what now?" effectively changing the flow conversation, and judging by the reddening of his cheeks he hadn't meant for that last statement to slip out.
"We add the noodles, Troy." Taylor replied with a shake of her head. "I did just read you the recipe, you would think-."
"Don't do it. Don't insult me, my heart won't be able to take it." Troy replied with a smirk as he took the box from Taylor and dropped them into the pot, picking up a spoon he stirs the contents of the pot a few times while looking over at Taylor.
"Better pay attention to the meat. It said brown not burnt."
"Ha ha, you think you're so funny."
"Hey I'm just looking out for the food. This isn't just my mom's dinner. It's our as well." he pointed out with a shrug of his shoulders. "I like my food edible too." he replied using a term she had used on him moments earlier.
"I bet you think, you're funny." Troy tilted his head back and gave her a look that suggested he was going to be the one who got the last word.
"Hilarious, that's what I am. Now let's focus on this food, the less you look at me and my lovely face the more we'll get done." Taylor could only roll her eyes at his statement, while Troy just returned his attention back to what he was doing with a very pleased smile on his face.