Little Talks

Gabriella had always known Sharpay would get married before she did. She knew it from the moment she had met her; it had been at a slumber party in her junior year of high school. They were playing truth or dare and someone had asked Sharpay who she dreamt about marrying. She had proclaimed Troy Bolton so enthusiastically you could practically hear the exclamation points in her voice. She then went into detail about the ceremony, the reception, and the honeymoon. Gabriella wished she hadn't gone into the amount of detail that she had when it came to the honeymoon part.

At that time, Gabriella never thought about marriage. She never thought about getting married or being in love, simply because she wasn't in love and there were far too many years of her life left to live before she even thought about spending it with one particular person. Of course, she hadn't met Troy at that point, so maybe if she had, she would have been further inclined and motivated to think about marriage beyond the, 'one day, when I have my career established, I'll get married' part of her life plan.

However, given everything that had transpired and everything that had happened, she somehow doubted it; doubted that even with Troy in her life at an earlier age, she probably wouldn't have felt any differently about marriage. She was a child of divorce so she felt weird about marriage in general, never quite sure whether she was for or against it. Even now at twenty-eight, she still wasn't one hundred percent sure of her feelings.

So, no, meeting Troy probably wouldn't have made any difference.

Sharpay still continued to think about getting married. She stopped thinking about Troy after graduation and she met Zeke Baylor. It was just as well, because shortly after, Gabriella met Troy at a party thrown by Zeke. She, Taylor, and Sharpay (along with Sharpay's twin brother, Ryan) had all gone to a private prep school on the other side of Albuquerque and dispersed after college, but Thanksgiving weekend when they had all been home had taken place in Zeke's basement. He and Sharpay had met at the University of Southern California and had fallen in love. It sounded dramatic to Gabriella at the time, but given that they were now walking down the aisle, she supposed they really had.

By Christmas of their first year of university, Zeke and Sharpay were officially a couple. As a result, despite Troy and Gabi getting together six months later, it was always implied, understood, and known that Sharpay and Zeke would be the first to marry, regardless of the fact that the two couples had been together relatively the same time. That was until Troy and Gabriella broke up six years into their relationship and Zeke and Sharpay kept going.

Sharpay glowed in her role as the first to marry among the group. "After all," she would say with a grin, "I am the first of our friends to be getting married." Sharpay's wedding was always going to be a spectacle; the girl herself was a walking one. But with the added title of 'First Wedding Among This Group of Friends' it was a big deal. They had stood for other friends and family; this was actually Gabriella's fifth wedding as she had been a bridesmaid in ceremonies for her college friends and roommates. But it was the first time that they were getting together as a group of friends to celebrate the union of two of their own.

It was funny. They used to be a group of 'couple friends'. Childhood friends as well, but the group was comprised of couples. Sharpay and Zeke. Troy and Gabriella. Taylor and Chad. Jason and Kelsi. But one by one, they broke off. Jason and Kelsi being the first, Taylor and Chad the second, and Troy and Gabriella the last.

So it made sense that in the end that Sharpay and Zeke were the first of their group to get married.

They were the only ones still together.

"I just think maybe the cupcake table was a bad idea," Sharpay said, running her hands through her long, curly blonde hair. She was twisted up into a chair, her iPad open in front of her as she flipped through pages on Pinterest. "I mean, it's a little much. Maybe I should have just gone with a pastry table instead."

Gabriella resisted the urge not to stab her friend with the pen that she was currently holding. This was the third time today they were having this conversation. "Sharpay, it's already booked. We can't really cancel without losing a lot of money, and with only a little over two weeks before the wedding, finding a place to cater pastries for a wedding of nearly three hundred and fifty people isn't very likely. Plus we have to take into consideration that you'd have to squeeze a tasting in as well."

"Hmm," Sharpay deliberated. "I just think this pastry table looks so cute!" she held up her iPad to display an image of a brightly coloured set up. "Cute, right?"

"It iscute, Shar," Gabriella gritted her teeth. Her head was pounding. "But you have a dozen different flavours of cupcakes, and gluten and dairy free versions. That really allows everyone at the wedding to get a taste. The pastries are limiting and you also have the macaron plates at the actual tables. I think you're good."

"But Gab, I just, I don't know. I think it might be a good idea to cancel it." She drew her bottom lip into her mouth and furrowed her brow. "I think it'd be a good idea, yes. You'll call them and cancel right?"

The look of annoyance must have been apparent on her face. It must have; Gabriella wasn't that good of an actress. Sharpay, however, was and she was very good at pretending situations weren't happening. At times like this it was like she was living in an alternate reality. A dreamland where no demand was too impossible to fulfill.

But Sharpay was very rich and also very spoiled, so perhaps it was more just that she actually lived in a dreamland.

"Yes, I'll cancel," Gabriella said stiffly. "But I really think you need to remember that a lot of your guests have allergies and a lot of them are girls who are doing the gluten free thing. You don't want to have people miss out on desserts and such at your wedding because they can't eat something because of their diet, do you? Isn't that a little unfair?"

Gabriella may not have been an actress but she studied law briefly as part of her double major. She had learned to be very persuasive.

Sharpay nodded, finally putting the iPad down. "You're right, you're right. We won't cancel it."

"Good!"

"But I think a pastry table wouldbe great, so if you could be a dear and maybe find one? I'm sure with the right number we can get someone to do it. And schedule the tasting for maybe tomorrow? If not Wednesday," she turned back to her iPad, pulling up images of flowers. "Just flash them my Black card and tell them we'll need roughly a thousand pastries. That's not a lot right? I want a variety. Now. Let's talk flowers."

"She's fucking driving me crazy, Taylor," Gabriella said over the phone an hour later. She was standing on the balcony that overlooked the backyard of Sharpay and Zeke's estate. You couldn't call their home a house simply because it wasn't; it was far too large and had far too much land and it's own garden, pool, tennis, and basketball courts. It was an estate. "When are you going to get to town?"

"Not until the weekend of the bachelorette party, Ella," Taylor McKessie said over the line. "I go to trial two days before. I'm coming just for the festivities and leaving right after."

Gabriella heard the familiar clicking of the keyboard in the background. While she had taken law merely as something to keep the other side of her brain going, Taylor had taken it because she loved it. She was one of the highest paid attorneys in the state of Pennsylvania.

"I just wish you'd get here already," Gabriella said, leaning against the balcony and staring out into the backyard. Zeke, Troy, and Chad were playing a game of pick up basketball. She tried to avert her eyes when she saw Troy was shirtless.

It was easier said than done.

"I wish I could, too."

"I just…I kind of need my best friend right now," Gabriella admitted. "This wedding planning is really hard and I still have work to do even though my next project is independent and I'm tired and there's, well, there's you know."

"How are you doing with that, by the way?"

"Work? It's—"

"Gabriella, you know what I mean. How are you doing seeing Troy again?"

Gabriella paused. There was no way she could lie about it, but especially not to Taylor. "Not very well. It feels like I'm getting punched in the gut every time I look at him." She glanced over at the basketball court. There was that jabbing feeling.

"I'm sorry, Ella," Taylor said, and Gabriella felt her throat close up. "I really am."

"Aren't you worried about seeing Chad again?" Gabriella asked, hoping desperately that she'd have someone to commiserate with. "It's been about a year or so, yes?"

"It has. I'm not worried about seeing him, though," Taylor said, rustling papers on her end. "We broke up a long time ago."

"So did Troy and I, though."

"Chad and I's break up was amicable. Yours and Troy wasn't, exactly. Besides, Chad and I were never you and Troy."

Gabriella watched as Troy dribbled the ball down the court. He seemed to be laughing as he did so, Chad and Zeke at his heels. "But you were together three years. You loved him."

"I did, but not in the way that you and Troy loved each other. "

"You still shared so much. You went through so much. Isn't it at all weird? Doesn't it make you feel anything?"

"No," Taylor said, her voice honest. "No, because I don't feel anything. Chad and I were meant to break up. We had our time and it's over and that's that. You and Troy, however, are a different story."

"What do you mean?" Gabriella watched as Troy threw the ball at the hoop.

"You and Troy weren't supposed to end. And you know that."

From the balcony, Gabriella heard the boys jeer as the ball bounced off the hoop. What a near miss. So close and yet so far.