I don't own anything.
A/N: Sorry so sorry for the delay! Right now I want to thank my reviewers from last time; NaeNae1495, chaylorXtraylorlover, mestinylover, 5k, Tina, and Traylorx3. Thank you guys so much I hope you all enjoy this new chapter and please don't forget to Review.
Baby S
Chapter Fourteen
The start of East High's basketball season was soon approaching as was Troy's fifteen birthday. Taylor for the most part felt nervous, nervous for Troy and the basketball season but mostly she was nervous about him learning how to drive and getting his license. She knew that her fear mainly came from the way her father had died. She still remembered the accident, how the car turned and turned until they were both hanging upside down in the vehicle, her father's pained moans the only sound she heard for close to an hour before the ambulance finally arrived. She didn't want to experience that feeling again with Troy, she didn't want him to die in a car accident. That was her one fear, the one that was currently keeping her up at night. She glanced over at her boyfriend as he practiced on the half court in his backyard, she knew he was probably pushing himself to hard but Troy wanted to be prepared for the first game so she told him to take a break every once in a while just to make sure that he wouldn't pass out from the heat. Looking him over, as he squared up for a shot, she decided to distract herself with his form. Although now taking him all shirtless, she wondered how she ever thought she would be able to complete her AP English assignment. Propping her head up with her hand, she sighed and tapped her pencil on the book's edge. "What was that for, Tay?" Troy asked pulling her from her thoughts and his chest. Jerking her head up, she saw him standing no more than five feet away from her arms crossed over his sweat covered chest.
"Um nothing just thinking about homework." Taylor said as she gave him a quick smile, he gave her a look and then smirked.
"Sure you were." he said as he walked up the porch steps and sat down beside her. He picked up his chilled bottle of water and took a quick sip while looking over at her. Taylor stopped tapping her pen on the table and looked over at him.
"What is that suppose to mean?" she said referring to his earlier statement. He smirked at her question and shrugged his shoulders as he watched her.
"Nothing other than I know you like what you see." he said as he popped his pecs at her. Taylor's mouth dropped open in shock as she looked at the control he had over his body. His knowing laughter pulled her out of her thoughts and forced her to glare at him.
"For your information I was thinking about my homework, like I said." she huffed, rolling her eyes at the smile that was still plastered on his face. "And you need to go and stop distracting me." Troy shifted his chair so that he was a little bit closer and sent her a small grin while shaking his head.
"But I love distracting you, baby." he said dragging out his words, Taylor blushed and shook her head just as Mrs. Bolton came outside. Troy lifted his gaze towards his mother and then looked down at himself before sighing. "Mom, this isn't what you think?" Lillian Bolton placed both hands on her hips and glared at her son.
"Oh really so what is it then. . .that I should be thinking." Troy dropped his head on the table with a small groan while Taylor giggled at his antics.
"Yeah, you would think it's funny." he mumbled from his arms, Taylor just shook her head and looked over at Mrs. Bolton. Smiling, she patted Troy on the back while looking at the woman who had become more of a mother to her than her very own mother.
"Nothing happened," she paused at Lillian's disbelieving gaze and smiled. "Seriously Ms. Lillian, he didn't anything but take a break, now as for the shirt I don't know what happened to that." she said with a small smile as she looked over at Troy who just rolled his eyes at that.
"You know exactly what happened to it. . .this heat." he said with a shake of his head. Lillian shook her head as she looked at her son, who grinned back at her and shrugged his shoulders. "Gotta do what I can to keep cool, that's what the news said and since I know you both want me to be safe. . ." he trailed off and his smile grew even more. "So Mom what brings you out here?"
"Just wanted to see you and talk to Taylor for a bit?" she said as she made her way to the table and sat down beside Taylor.
"Oh so I see it's a girl only conversation."
"Yes so you can see yourself out." Lillian said, Troy stuck his tongue out at his mother before leaning over and giving Taylor a quick on the cheek.
"Don't let her corrupt you to much." he said before jumping over the side of the porch railing and onto the ground, he turned around at his mother's gasp of concern. "See you do care, Mom."
"Boy you better not do that again."
"Yes mom." he said before picking up his basketball and heading towards the court. Once he was fully into his practice, Lillian turned her attention to Taylor who was looking at her expectedly.
"What did you want to talk to me about Ms. Lillian?"
"Oh I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to help me plan Troy's birthday party," Lillian said keeping her voice down just a bit in case Troy overheard them talking. "It's going to be his first birthday without his father and I want him to have a good birthday."
"I've love to help Lillian." Taylor stated truthfully as she looked at the woman. "I really would just tell me what to do and I'll do it." Lillian graced her with a small smile as she looked over at Taylor before nodding her head.
"Thank you, Taylor. I really want to make this special for him."
"I'm sure he'll like whatever it is you come up with." Taylor said with a bright smile, Lillian nodded her head and then reached out for Taylor's hand.
"Good, I'm glad we got that out of the way. Now I wanna know what's been making you look so down lately," At Taylor's shocked expression, Lillian released a soft chuckle and shook her head. "I've seen you sometimes when you think no one is looking, you look absolutely sick to your stomach."
"I've just been thinking about something."
"Like what?"
"It's not important." Taylor said with a shake of her head as she looked back down at her English book, Lillian sighed at that and shook her head.
"You're important to me, Taylor and that makes whatever is bothering you important." Taylor met Lillian's gaze and then looked over towards Troy.
"I'm worried about him." she admitted softly as she looked at the woman. Lillian's mouth dropped open in shock for a moment before shaking her head.
"Why are you worried about Troy?"
"He's gonna be driving soon." Taylor murmured as she looked back over at Lillian. "And I don't want him to start driving." Lillian Bolton was quiet for a few moments as she looked between her son and his girlfriend. She knew about Taylor's past and especially about how she had lost her father. She had been shocked to learn that Troy and Taylor had lost their fathers in such a similar way.
"Sweetie, I know you're worried."
"I'm terrified." Taylor corrected as she looked at the woman before her. "I'm terrified that once he gets behind the wheel, he'll be-." Lillian placed a hand on her forearm and shook her head slowly as she took in her expression.
"He'll be fine. . .Wilson already called and told me that he would teach him how to drive." Taylor looked up at her then and slowly nodded her head.
"Wilson is a good driver."
"And it seems he already knew about the problem you might have with Troy driving or learning how to drive. . . he called me a couple of days ago." Lillian said with a ghost of a smile on her face. "So tell me how are you feeling about Troy learning how to drive."
"Less terrified." Taylor whispered as she looked over at Troy. "I trust Wilson when he drives and if Troy is gonna learn from him, he's gonna be safer than most out there." Taylor whispered, Lillian gave the girl a small smile.
"He's going to be fine, Taylor. Believe me, he'll be safe." Pushing back her chair, Lillian stood up from the table. Leaning down, she gave Taylor a quick kiss on the forehead. "I'll work on some type of overview for the party and then get back to you to see what you think."
"Okay Ms. Lillian." with that said, Lillian walked back into the house just as Troy stopping shooting.
"So what was that all about?"
"You heard your mother, this right here was a girl conversation. No boys allowed." Troy's mouth dropped open in shock at that while shaking his head.
"I can't believe you said that," he said as he placed a hand over his heart. "You wound me, Taylor. You wounded me bad." She rolled her eyes at his antics and just shook her head while looking at him. Smiling, he walked up the porch steps and made his way towards her. "You better apologize with a kiss before I hug you."
"But you're all sweaty and-." He sent her a wink and nodded his head.
"Oh I know. . .and I'm coming for you." he said with a large grin as he made his way towards her. Taylor jumped from the chair as Troy neared her. "All you gotta do is give me a kiss."
"See this right here is why your mother is always checking up on us. You can never behave."
"You make it so hard baby."
"Oh my goodness, just get over here you big baby." Troy laughed and walked over to Taylor and pulled her into a quick kiss. She smiled at him and pushed back into her while rubbing her hands over his chest.
"You like that huh?" he asked as he watched her rub her hands over his chest one more time before dropping her hands and stepping back.
"You are so cocky."
"I guess but I like to consider it being confident." he said with wink. "Now do you want to tell me what you and my mom were talking about."
"Nope!" she said as she turned and headed towards the backdoor. "Don't stay out here to long, Troy it's getting a little hot. Troy just smiled and watched as she disappeared into the house. Turning back around, he looked at the court and shrugged his shoulders. He still had some things to go over before he called it quits for the day.
"So man you ready for our first game?" Chad asked as he, Troy and Zeke made their way towards the gym for their afternoon practice. Troy looked over at his friends for a moment and nodded his head, ever since he had rejoined the team all he thought about was getting back on the court and doing his father proud, that was basically all he thought about when he had a basketball in his hands. Doing his father proud since he would be playing beneath his father's retired jersey.
"Yeah I'm ready for it, but do you think Coach Woodson is gonna play us?" he asked as they stepped into the gym. They all knew they were early so they didn't try to lower their voices as they made their way towards the locker room.
"Well he's gonna play you," Chad said with a shake of his head as Troy sent him a disbelieving look, "What you know I'm right, man you're even better than you were last year. You're sick man absolutely sick on the court." Chad said with a shake of his head as Zeke just nodded his head in agreement while holding the door open to the locker room. "So of course he's gonna play you, we all want to win and I think it's become quite clear that in order for that to happen you need to be on the floor man."
"Stop blowing my head up," Troy muttered, "The Seniors are all gonna start."
"On Senior Night." Chad said with a laugh as he shook his head while looking at his friend. "You're skill set is raw and pure talent man, I know Coach Woodson is gonna start you." Troy waved him off and walked over to his locker. Zeke noticed that something was bothering Troy, so he silently sent Chad a look that plainly told the curly headed boy to be quiet.
"So what's wrong with the you. . .you've been a little out of it ever since Taylor and the girls went off to music class." Troy settled down on the bench in front of his locker and released a deep sigh while looking at his friends.
"I'm just worried about Taylor."
"Why? Has her mother contacted her or something?" Chad asked, Troy gave him a look and shook his head.
"Of course she hasn't and my mother wouldn't just let that woman contact Taylor." he said with a shake of his head. "Besides that's not it, ever since you talked about me driving, Taylor's been looking at me like I'm gonna disappear one day." he said with a sigh.
"So she's worried about you driving?" Zeke asked, Troy looked up at him for a moment before shaking his head.
"She's worried about me dying while driving." he mumbled. "I already talked to Wilson and he told me he'd teach me and I agreed mostly because I knew, that if Wilson taught me that it would at least put some of her worry to rest."
"So that's what's been bothering you."
"Yeah, I want to put Taylor at ease. I don't want her thinking that something gonna happen to me when I'm doing everything in my power to make sure that never happens." he said with a small sigh, Chad and Zeke nodded their heads at that.
"So are you still going drive?"
"You know I thought about not doing it but Wilson told me that he wanted Taylor to get over her fears. It tears him up when he sees her struggling in the backseat, he said that I'm probably the only person that could help her get through this. He told me he's never seen Taylor so calm as when I'm riding in the backseat with her so now all I have to do is get her to ride in the front seat with me."
"Well I wish you luck with that." Zeke said as the door to the locker room opened and the older boys walked inside. Mark Hudson saw them and walked over to Troy and laid a heavy hand on the boy's shoulder.
"What's up man, you ready for Friday's game."
"Yeah I'm ready." Troy said as he looked up at the older boy, some of the guys in the back chuckled and nodded their heads.
"You better be ready word is Coach is gonna start you at point." one of their teammates said. "So we expect you to play like you've been in practice."
"Yeah I'm ready for you to embarrass the hell out of the other team," Mark said with a smirk. "You're gonna cut their defense right up." Troy nodded his head as the rest of their teammates headed towards their lockers to get ready for practice. Troy, Chad and Zeke were the first to change so they headed out to the court where Coach Woodson was setting things up. When Coach Woodson saw them, he motioned for his assistant Coach to continue and walked over to Troy.
"Bolton let me talk to you for a minute." he said as he lead him over to the side. "Now I know some of the players are talking but I wanted you to know that I'm starting you this Friday." Troy crossed his arms over his chest.
"Thanks man but I have to ask are you sure cause Jason is-."
"He's pretty good, yeah I know that but you're better and that's why you're getting the start." Coach Woodson said with a small smile. "You certainly made up for missing the conditioning practices and you're great at point so I don't see any problem with what I'm suggesting unless you do."
"I don't see anything wrong with that, Coach Woodson." Coach Woodson smiled and nodded his head.
"That's good, will your mother and girlfriend be in attendance Friday night."
"Of course, they wouldn't miss it." Troy said with a bright smile as he looked up at Coach Woodson. "I told you that they were going to support me and they are."
"That's good to know, now get ready for practice." Troy nodded his head and ran back over to where Chad and Zeke were and began practicing his jump shot.
Taylor tapped her hand on the edge of the piano as she listened to Ryan play the beginning notes of the music she had just written down. "This is really nice, Tay." Sharpay said as she listened to her brother play. "When did you come up with this one?"
"A couple of weeks ago."
"You mean Troy left you alone, long enough for you to come up with some sheet music." Gabrielle said as she walked up and gave Taylor a slight hip bump. Sighing, she gave her friend a look and rolled her eyes.
"We aren't that bad." she said but noticed the looks that Sharpay and Gabrielle were sending her way. "Well we aren't."
"You really are. . .though I wouldn't say the word to use is awful, you guys are just sickeningly cute." Sharpay said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Besides how many times are you gonna tell us about his mother catching you guys plus let us not forget Troy's "workout." Ryan smiled at this and stopped playing.
"What is this 'workout,' my sister is talking about sounds kinky."
"Ugh! I swear you guys are the worst." Taylor said as she felt her cheeks heating up from embarrassment.
"We're just here to keep you honest." Sharpay said. "I mean can you seriously look us all in the face and tell us that you and Troy aren't sickeningly sweet." At Taylor's silence, Sharpay just smiled and shook her head. "So what are you getting your boy-toy for his birthday."
"Well me and his mother are coming up with a party but um I'm still at a lost over what to get him for his birthday. I've been looking for a lot of things and I know he doesn't really care for material things. . .so I want to do something sentimental for him. Something that will mean something to him."
"Well it sounds like you're going in the right direction." Gabrielle said, while Taylor just nodded her head.
"I've been thinking about doing something but I'm really gonna need his mother's help if I want to pull it off."
"Like Mrs. Bolton wouldn't help you." Sharpay said as she placed a hand on her friend's arm. "You might as well just tell her so you two can get it done cause I'm sure whatever it's you're thinking about doing for Troy's birthday. . .he's gonna love it."