Mistakes
Hey guys, thanks for your reviews from the last chapter, anyway, here's chapter 19, I hope that you enjoy it. The final chapter will be up in the next few days, but please review this one and tell me what you think!
Chapter 19
Gabriella's dark brown orbs widened in shock as she gazed into the stunning blue eyes man kneeling before her. A quick flicker of her gaze to look at her daughter and everyone else only confirmed her suspicions that this had been a spur of the moment decision to ask her to marry him, where the ring had appeared from, she had no idea.
"I know that we've had a lot of ups and downs, Ella," Troy whispered, holding her stare once more. "But please, don't give up on us now, not when we're this close to being the proper family that we always should have been. Ella, it may have taken me over sixteen years to realise, but I need you, I've always needed you. You hold my heart Ella I love you so much. You and our daughter are my entire world, even after all of this time. Please say that you'll be my wife?"
Gabriella glanced once more at Lilly-Ella and the gang, all of who were now nodding enthusiastically, before capturing Troy's hopeful eyes with hers once again. "Yes," She croaked, tears streaming from her eyes, "I love you too, Troy, always have, always will."
Troy grinned, standing up and lifting Gabriella over the barrier currently separating them, while attempting to place the ring on her finger. "Thinking of leaving me were you?" He asked with a grin and a quirked eyebrow, making her blush. Tenderly, he pulled her securely to him and bent his head, allowing his lips to brush against hers. The electricity zapped through both of their bodies as the kiss became more heated, both of them oblivious to the cheers and screams all around them.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Maria roared, glaring at Troy and Gabriella as they separated. Lilly-Ella flounced quickly over to her connected parents, squashing in between their joint arms. "There is no way that I am going to let you run off with this man and his child, Gabriella! You disgraced the Montez name once by getting pregnant in the first place, I will simply not allow this to happen again!"
"Actually, Mother," Gabriella snarled herself, surprising all of those around her with the venom in her tone. "The only one who has disgraced the Montez name, as you so royally put it, is yourself. You only gained the name through marriage, and considering that you cheated on Daddy right up to his deathbed, you don't deserve to carry the name Montez. I am finally seeing through that and honouring what Dad would have wanted me to do all along. I'm going to stand up for what I believe in, and I am going to live my life to the fullest I can with the love of my life, and my daughter."
Turning her back to her Mother, Gabriella glanced first at her daughter, and then at her fiancée, "Lets go home," She grinned. Taking one final look over her shoulder, Lilly-Ella stuck her tongue out at Maria, before prancing over to Matt's awaiting hand, the two of them and Sassy leading the excitable gang out of the airport. Chatter of weddings was already the recurring theme, as the boys battled it out to see who would get to be best man, with the girls simply laughing at them. Each of them simply ignoring the older woman that was throwing a temper tantrum behind them. The spectacle attracting many people to watch, laugh, point and take photos or videos of her.
6 months later…
"Oh G-d, oh G-d, oh G-d," Gabriella gasped, wringing her hands in front of her nervously as she paced around her dressing room. Unable to stop themselves from chuckling softly, her four bridesmaids, Taylor, Kelsi, Sharpay and Sassy quietly watched the distressed young woman.
Stepping back into the room, Lilly-Ella rolled her enormous blue eyes and stomped over the Gabriella, taking tight a hold of her hands. "Mom, would you please stop stressing already?" She questioned, managing to get Gabriella to stay still long enough so as to be able to actually look into her eyes, "I mean this is Dad that we're talking about you marrying here Mom, Dad. You know the one who always manages to gross me out whenever he's around you, you two are like lovesick puppies or something," Lilly-Ella pulled a face as Gabriella laughed softly, "What I'm trying to say is though Mom, you have no reason to panic, Dad loves you for you, not because you're pretending to be someone that you're not or anything like that, so you have nothing to worry about." Smiling reassuringly at Gabriella, Lilly-Ella released her Mom's arms and stepped backwards so that she could study her properly. "Plus, I can't ever remember seeing a more beautiful bride," Lilly-Ella beamed, capturing Gabriella in a tight hug.
"How's your Dad doing anyway kiddo?" Sharpay questioned as Gabriella resumed her pacing, now muttering her vows under her breath.
Rolling her eyes once more at Gabriella, Lilly-Ella sauntered over to the others, giggling as she did so. "Well, if you think Mom's in any kind of state, it's nothing compared to Dad," The others all laughed, watching as Lilly-Ella swatted Taylor's hand away as she attempted to fix a lose strand of the young woman's hair. "Pacing is one thing, but I think that he's already threatened to kill Chad and Uncle Ryan so far for making snide comments and he's now doing exactly what Mom's doing, reciting his vows over and over again."
"I really don't see why the pair of you are freaking out," Sassy muttered, rolling her eyes, "I've only lived with the two of you for six months and I can already see that neither of you will ever let the other go again."
"It's just how they've always been," Kelsi laughed softly, fully ignoring the glare that Gabriella sent her way. "Even in high school they panicked all the time. You should have seen them the first time they tried to say 'I love you' to each other, it was pretty hilarious."
August 28th 2006
"Please just tell me what you do at sleepovers!" Chad whined as he trailed after Taylor and Gabriella in the hallway towards the Lava Springs lobby. The rest of the gang were already waiting for them, all having finished work much earlier. "At least tell me that you have really hot pillow fights?"
The two girls glanced at each other before whirling on an unsuspecting Chad, each hitting him over the side of his head as the rest of the gang laughed, having obviously heard what Chad had asked to get himself hit. Chad proceeded to yelp and run to hide behind Troy, hiding from the two girls that he had been irritating all day to find out what their plans for the sleepover were.
"Hey baby girl," Troy smiled as he shrugged Chad off. He walked to Gabriella and swept her up into his arms as he pressed a kiss to her lips, her giggles ringing out as he repeatedly pulled away and then reattached their lips, before finally pulling away, grinning at her as he rested his forehead against hers. The sound of the other four guys' gagging behind them drew their attention as they both turned around and Gabriella rolled her eyes to find Sharpay, Kelsi and Taylor with sweet expressions on their faces, while the guys' each had their fingers down their throats.
"Why aren't any of you ever romantic like that?" Sharpay yelled, whirling around on three of the guys'. Ryan meanwhile stepped off to the side, trying to stifle his laughter as Chad, Zeke and Jason each tried to come up with explanations as Taylor and Kelsi also whirled around to glare at them.
Gabriella felt Troy shake with laughter as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, burying his face into her hair, knowing that the girls' would kill him for laughing at a time like this. Gabriella on the other hand lifted one of her hands from their resting place on top of Troy's and covered her mouth as she tried to avert her eyes from the scene before them. The guys' mouths were flopping open and closed like fish as Ryan joined the laughing couple on the sidelines.
"Great Bolton, you have to be a romantic, so we get in trouble," Zeke yelled over the heads of the girls'. Troy raised his head from Gabriella's and just grinned at the three of them, watching as all three tried to calm down their infuriated girlfriends'.
"Fine then," Kelsi huffed. She pulled out of Jason's grasp when he attempted to reach her, and stalked over to Troy, Gabriella and Ryan, the other two hot on her heels, but not before shooting their boyfriends' one last glare first.
Kelsi smiled at Gabriella and hooked her arm through Gabriella's spare one, as Taylor took hold of Kelsi's other arm and Sharpay took her spare one. "Well then girls', we have a sleepover at Gabby's to attend," Sharpay smiled, the four of them walking out of Lava Springs, heading straight for Sharpay's bright pink car. Only Gabriella looked back over her shoulder to mouth a 'help me' to Troy, and send him a desperate look, to which he just laughed and shook his head, causing her to scowl and stick out her tongue, before climbing in the passenger side of Sharpay's car, with Taylor and Kelsi in the back seats.
Two and a half hours later, the girls' were all sat around in Gabriella's bedroom, having just finished watching 'The Notebook'. They were currently indulging on the cartons of Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice cream that they had dozens of, along with the masses of other sugary snacks that littered Gabriella's floor. Surrounding them were masses of blankets and pillows, as they struck up light conversation, already dressed in their matching pyjamas that they had bought days earlier at the mall, when Taylor brought up a slightly soar subject, that made Gabriella instantly wince.
"Briella, don't you ever get tired of being left by yourself when your Mom goes on business trips? I mean, this is like the third one she's been on since we broke up for the summer," Taylor questioned, genuinely concerned about her friend as Gabriella sighed softly and looked the other way.
"In all honesty?" Gabriella asked, and all three girls nodded their heads. "Yes, I do, but I know that she only does it because it means that the more she goes on now, the more likely she is to be around for the better part of the year, for Christmas and everything. I mean this is going to be her last one for eight and a half months, so I can't really complain," Gabriella looked up and grinned at them then, "and besides, because she feels so guilty for leaving me so much, it means that I get to have you guys around as much as I want, and that she'll pay for as much sugary stuff as we want."
"Or maybe she just wanted to get away from you," Sharpay snorted, laughing slightly as Gabriella glared at her playfully.
"Hey, Miss. Evans, that's not being very nice," Gabriella giggled, hitting her newly formed friend with the first pillow that she picked up off of the floor.
"Oh, you so did not just do that," Sharpay muttered, her eyes narrowed, as Taylor and Kelsi looked at each other, gulping before diving to hide behind the bed, peeking over the top to see the blonde and the brunette in a staring contest, before quick as lightening, Sharpay reached out and grabbed a nearby pillow, instantly hitting Gabriella over the head with it as both girls squealed, and started a full on pillow war, as Taylor and Kelsi watched in shock from the sidelines, watching as Gabriella jumped up on top of her bed, and hit Sharpay from overhead, before Sharpay jumped up too, and the pillow war resumed.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Taylor yelled out over the shrieks coming from both girls, making herself visible once more, "What the hell is going on? Have we somehow ended up in Chad's imagination or something?" She questioned seriously, as Kelsi appeared beside her, grinning like a lunatic, and Gabriella and Sharpay hopped down from the bed, still laughing breathlessly.
"I don't know, it seems like it," Gabriella laughed melodically, "But it was so much fun all at the same time," She grinned at Sharpay, who laughed and nodded her head.
"I wanna do it again!" Sharpay whined, and Gabriella suddenly smirked, a gleam entering her eyes.
"What are you thinking G?" Kelsi wondered cautiously, knowing that gleam in Gabriella's eyes all too well.
"Well, like Taylor just pointed out, this would be something out of Chad's head, so how about we mess with the guys' a little?" Gabriella grinned, and the other three looked hurriedly at each other, before turning eagerly back to Gabriella again. "I was thinking that I could put my camera on like a ten minute delay or something, and by that point, we could be into a full blown pillow fight, and then one of us would just happen to accidentally drop a copy of the picture in one of the guys' house one day, it would drive them mad," Gabriella beamed, and the other three grinned at each other, each grabbing a pillow, as Gabriella ran off to her desk to grab her camera, before setting it up and grinning at the girls'.
"Ready?" She asked, and the other three laughed.
"Definitely," Taylor grinned, striking Sharpay over the head as she did so.
A little while later, and the girls' had completely forgotten about the camera, instead they were just enjoying themselves by having a full on war, laughing hysterically as Sharpay hit Gabriella over the head, the fourth pillow to do so burst, sending even more feathers flying over the laughing girls as they bounced around on Gabriella's bed, each getting a swing in at each other wherever they could.
Suddenly the sound of twigs snapping and hushed voices from outside stopped the girls' in their tracks, and they all instantly turned around to face the door, clinging to each other with fearful expressions on their faces as they heard a groan from outside and stepped down from the bed.
"What was that?" Gabriella whispered her eyes wide with fright.
"I don't know, Gabby, go take a look," Sharpay murmured back, her own chocolate eyes mirroring her friends' as she shoved Gabriella forward.
"What? No way, we don't know what's out there; I am not risking my life to find out!" Gabriella whisper yelled, as she glared at Sharpay, and moved to stand on the other side of the group of four girls', clutching onto Kelsi's arm as the sound of more twigs snapping came from outside, and all of the girls' froze in place.
"Well someone's gonna have to go look," Taylor muttered, eyeing up the other three, "We need to know what's out there!"
"Well then you go," Kelsi mumbled, pushing Taylor forward, who immediately took another step back, and took a hold of Sharpay's arm tightly once more.
"What? No way! If anyone should go, it should be Gabriella, because this is her house," Taylor murmured
"So not happening," Gabriella whispered back, "And anyway, I'm the youngest, you lot are supposed to protect me!"
"I don't wanna die!" Sharpay wailed, as the other three stared at her.
"Sharpay, stop being such a drama queen, I think that you should do it!" Kelsi snapped.
"Take that idea and can it Nielson," Sharpay hissed, "I'm the president of the drama club, the entire school needs me. And why exactly can't you do it?"
"Because Evans," Kelsi mocked, glaring straight back at Sharpay, "Unless you haven't noticed, I'm the smallest here, with the weakest eyesight, hence the glasses, so I probably wouldn't see whatever it is anyway."
"Okay guys, we need to cool it, we can't turn on each other," Taylor whispered, and the others nodded, their gazes softening once more, "What we need is a foolproof way of choosing someone, that gives us all an equal chance. What about a game of rock, paper, scissors, and then whoever loses has to open the door?"
The others all nodded, and they stood in a circle, each chanting rock, paper, scissors, and revealing what they had chosen.
Gabriella glanced around, her smile rapidly turning into a frown when she realised that whereas the other three had picked rock, she had picked scissors, making her the loser, and the one to open the door to whatever was waiting on the other side.
"Best two out of three," Gabriella whispered apprehensively, smiling innocently up at the trio, before Sharpay turned her around and pushed her towards the balcony doors.
Cautiously, Gabriella headed towards the balcony doors, turning around to give the girls' a pleading glance, and mumbling curses directed to the three girls' behind her under her breath, and flung open the doors, coming face to face with what had scared the girls' half to death.
"What the hell are you guys doing out here? You scared the crap out of us!" Gabriella exploded, glaring at the guys with her hand over her thumping heart, the girls stood behind her each with matching glares and holding a book, ready to attack the creeps on the balcony, as the guys withered under the glares and smiled sheepishly at their murderous girlfriends/friends/sister.
"Umm… well you see… umm," The guys' all stuttered, before each of the girls' leaned in and grabbed the collar of the t-shirt of one of the guys' and hauled them inside the house, Gabriella grabbing two of them, as she looked up at the girls' and smirked, each of them leading their hostage of to another area of the house.
Smirking, Gabriella reached the kitchen and threw Ryan and Chad onto two of the stools by the breakfast bar, both of who looked terrified at the sight of their little sister pacing up and down in front of them, never having seen her so angry before.
Ryan stood up and attempted to move towards Gabriella, in an effort to calm her down, but before he had even taken two steps, Gabriella whirled around and glared at him, "Sit down," She snarled.
"Yes Ma'am," Ryan squeaked, basically falling back onto his stool as Chad started to chuckle, only to be immediately silenced by yet another glare from Gabriella.
"What the hell were you guys' doing? You scared us half to death," Gabriella screamed at them, and both guys' looked suitably guilty, although neither one opened their mouth to answer Gabriella's question, "Not willing to talk then? Fine, I guess that you guys' want the punishment," Gabriella smirked as they each turned their wide eyes on each other, and she reached into an open draw, pulling out a bright pink, sparkly lip gloss, and heading straight for them, a smirk still covering her features.
"Oh hell no," Chad shrieked, pulling away from Gabriella as she held is face in between her hands and attempted to put the lip gloss on, Ryan watching with horror etched into his features.
"Oh come on Chaddykins, its not so bad, now hold still," Gabriella grinned, grabbing Chad's face in her hands again.
By the time Gabriella's interrogation had finished, the guys' still hadn't answered any of her questions, and looked more hysterical than ever, bright pink glittery lip gloss smeared on their lips, sparkly pink eye liner outlining their eyes, blusher splattered across their cheeks, some of Sharpay's nail varnish covering their nails, and with Chad's hair pulled back into two braids, whereas Ryan's held glittery butterfly clips.
"My, my, don't we girls' look pretty?" Taylor smirked from the doorway, and both guys' glared at her, as a grinning Gabriella turned around once more, "Gabby we need you out here," Taylor smiled and Gabriella nodded, warning the guys with her eyes not to move a muscle out of place as she followed Taylor from the room, only to find Taylor and Kelsi already waiting for them in the hallway, the sounds of Vanessa Hudgens 'Never Underestimate a Girl' and the movie 'Ghost' floating through the house as Gabriella looked at them questioningly.
Sharpay shrugged with a sly grin, "Troy's not talking, but let's just say that he'll have a severe aversion from Vanessa Hudgens from now on, I've had that song on repeat for the last two hours during the interrogation."
Kelsi grinned as well, "And I'm pretty sure that Zekey boy is pretty much going to hate any chick flicks after this more than he already does, we're currently on our second run through of Ghost."
"As for Jason," Taylor smirked, "Well, he's now decked out in a pink halter neck, a mini skirt, some pink sparkly high heeled shoes and has countless jewellery on, but he still isn't talking," Taylor frowned slightly, before grinning back at Gabriella, "But I have to say Brie, I love what you've done to my boyfriend and Ryan."
Both Kelsi and Sharpay turned to Gabriella with interest, and she just smirked, "Let's just say that they've become a lot more feminine," she muttered, her eyes twinkling as the girls' all burst into laughter. "Okay, this keeping them apart strategy isn't working and it's already past midnight, so we should get them all back up to my room and work on them together."
The girls' all nodded, before rushing off to get their individual charges, heading straight for Gabriella's room, with Gabriella bringing the last to reluctant boys' in and immediately bursting into laughter at the sight before her. The girls' had finally realised that they weren't going to get any information from the guys' by interrogating them, so they had decided that maybe when they saw the state that their friends were in, they would crack then, but it didn't stop the girls' from laughing at the sight of them in the mean time.
Jason was dressed from head to toe in a mixture of the girls' clothes and jewellery, topped of with a pretty pink bow in his dark hair. Chad and Ryan had obviously had all of their hair and make up taken care of by Gabriella. Zeke was currently rocking back and forth, a blank expression on his face as he muttered something about how the guy was dead, but somehow he was still there, and Troy was pretty much the same, although he kept repeating "Never Underestimate a Girl" over and over again.
"Okay, we know that we're not going to get any information out of you separately, so now, you're all together again, so does someone want to explain why you needed to give us heart failure?" Sharpay demanded as the boys' all shuffled from foot to foot, each snapping out of their trances and glancing at each other nervously, before Chad finally cracked.
"Alright, alright, I can't take this anymore! Lover boy here needs to tell Gabriella something, before we all try and kill him," Chad sighed, jabbing a thumb at Troy who turned scarlet under the girls' intense gazes.
"What is it?" Gabriella asked, her angry eyes immediately looking concerned as she made her way to stand in front of Troy, one hand resting on his arm as she tried to coax him to look at her.
When he did eventually look at her, Gabriella had to try harder than ever before to suppress the gasp that always seemed to appear on her lips when she looked directly into his eyes, and this time, they showed something which terrified and excited her all at the same time. They showed their usual happiness, friendliness, lust and affection for her, but now a much stronger emotion joined those ones, one that Gabriella could only describe as …love.
"Umm, Ella," Troy sighed softly, and every eye in the room was on the couple as Troy fearfully reached up to scratch the back of his neck, taking another deep breath, as his eyes caught back onto Gabriella's, and a look of complete seriousness crossed over his features, "Gabriella, I've needed to tell you something for a long time now, so I'm finally just gonna suck it up and do it already, before any of the guys' actually do kill me," Troy smiled slightly at her, and took a hold of one of her hands, as her eyes quickly drifted around the faces of the guys' in the room, who were all grinning, obviously knowing what was to come, "This summer, when we broke up," Sharpay shifted awkwardly on the sidelines, and Zeke wrapped an arm securely around her, smiling at her slightly, "I realised how much I need you, I don't know how I would ever cope without you in my life, those few days were like torture for me Ella, and I want to be the one there with you forever and ever, so I guess, what I'm trying to say is, Gabriella Montez, I-I love you," Troy smiled again at her, his voice breaking from the emotion of it all, as Gabriella looked up at him in shock, her eyes shining with happiness, and her hands still clutched gently in his larger ones.
Gabriella beamed up at Troy, tears of happiness shining in her eyes, "Yeah well, I've been meaning to tell you something for a long time as well Troy, I need you and I love you more than anyone in this universe."
Troy's head snapped up, and his eyes caught on hers once more, surprise shining in them, "You do?"
Gabriella giggled and pulled her hands out of his, wrapping them around his neck and tangling them in his hair as she pulled him in for the most passionate kiss the two had ever shared, both of them completely forgetting about their friends, who couldn't help but smile as they watched the young couple from the sidelines.
"That answer you're question?" Gabriella asked breathlessly, as she finally pulled away from Troy, resting her forehead on his as cerulean and coffee coloured eyes mixed together.
"G-d I love you," Troy whispered, and Gabriella giggled once more.
"I know, and I love you too," she murmured back, pulling him in for another love filled kiss.
Present Day
The five girls' in the room now couldn't stop laughing the elder ones having just recovered what to them was an amazing memory, whereas the younger two were picturing the events that had been described. Even Gabriella had long forgotten her nerves, creased up in the chair beside her daughter. A knock on the door disturbed their joyful reminiscing as they all grinned at one another. "Come in," Taylor yelled, still chuckling softly.
"It's time," Matt smiled softly, sticking his head around the door, glancing at each of the girls. His eyes were drawn to Lilly-Ella, his breath instantly drained from his lungs as his mouth dropped at her aura of beauty.
"Okay lover boy, we'll be there in a few minutes, get out," Sassy smirked, pushing Matt from the door.
Gabriella had instantly paled once more, but she nodded and stood up straight. "Alright, let's do this, I'm getting married! Finally," She laughed, leading the way out of the door to where the wedding planner was stood waiting for them. Smiling she handed each girl a bouquet of white lilies and red roses, directing them to their partner.
Troy stood nervously at the front of the church, swaying from foot to foot as Ryan, his best man, tried to stop himself from chuckling. Placing a hand on Troy's shoulder, Ryan nodded towards the entrance to the church as the music changed softly.
The bridal procession began with Taylor being escorted down the aisle by the excitable Joe and David, both of who grinned and gave Troy a thumbs up as they moved to stand by his side. Following the three of them were Kelsi, escorted by Jason, Sassy, escorted by Matt and Sharpay, escorted by Zeke.
Troy's expression changed and a soft smile overtook his face as the maid of honour started to slowly walk down the aisle. Just as the other four bridesmaids, Lilly-Ella's hair was pulled back into a loose, twisted bun. Unlike the others though, more of her dark curls had managed to escape the confines of her bun, and were framing her face defiantly. The loose bun allowed her sparkling cerulean eyes to clash with her baby blue dress, again the same as the other bridesmaids. The strapless dress reached just beyond her knees, with the white sash tying the entire outfit together (picture in profile). Sending a stunning smile at Troy, Lilly-Ella took her place beside where his bride would be standing momentarily.
The music changed once more and the whole congregation stood to watch the bride walk down the aisle, at long last. Troy peered over the heads of his family and friends and suddenly found breathing difficult as he watched the most gorgeous woman he knew he would ever see floating down the aisle towards him.
Gabriella felt herself blush as she looked up to meet Troy's amazed sapphire eyes. Her hair was pulled away from her face with two diamond studded barrettes, her long curls tumbling down past her shoulders. The dress which she had finally found to be the one framed her figure magnificently and Gabriella herself felt as though she were on cloud nine. The white material of the dress fell away from her body once it reached her hips, but the stunning design didn't stop there. The dress itself was strapless, with a studded design around the top, the dress then went to cross over at her hip, a silver studded brooch like design holding the two pieces of the dress together. Where the overlapping pieces were missing, a flower netted material replaced them. The back of the dress appeared corset like with the white ribbons holding the top part together, while once the dress fell away from her body, it was pinched together in small ruffles in three separate areas (Pictures of the front and the back in profile). To put it lightly, it was what Gabriella had always dreamed of, and now, walking down the aisle with Chad, she felt like a princess.
Reaching Troy after what felt like a lifetime, Gabriella felt herself blush harder as he took her from Chad and placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. Handing her bouquet to a grinning Lilly-Ella, Gabriella's beam said it all as she turned back to Troy. Troy himself was watching her with so much love and devotion that it was enough to send anyone reeling.
Troy kept tight hold of Gabriella's hand the entire way through the proceedings, each of them still grinning. Any time that they happened to catch each other's eye however, they would instantly smirk and have to look away before one or the other burst out laughing. On a number of close calls, Troy had winced as Gabriella had dug her nails into the palm of his hand.
The minister smiled at each of them, able to remember Troy from when he was only a tiny baby and he himself had christened him. Gabriella, on the other hand, he had found to be a very inquisitive child when he met her aged fifteen when she and her mother had first moved to Albuquerque in her sophomore year in 2006. Although neither were regular churchgoers, he had watched them grow up within the neighbourhood, and had seen firsthand how they had often lost their way, he was glad to see that they had now found it, together. "And now," He smiled at the people gathered before him, "I believe that these two have written their own personal vows, Gabriella, if you will."
Gabriella took a deep breath and turned towards Troy. "Troy, from the age of fifteen I knew that you were the one for me," She blushed as he grinned at her, "From the moment that the DJ shoved the pair of us on that stage together, I knew that I had met my perfect match. Don't ask me how I knew because that's still something that I'm trying to wrap my head around today. You saved me countless times in those first few years, even when we made what most people would consider to be one of our biggest mistakes at eighteen," her eyes flickered to Lilly-Ella, who looked at the floor and shuffled nervously, "I think that she turned out to be our greatest blessing ever," Gabriella grinned at Lilly-Ella as she raised her head and smiled, softly blushing at Gabriella. "She definitely worked the hardest to bring us back together and if it weren't for the pair of you, I'd be living a pretty miserable existence with my mother, of all people." At the horrified look on Gabriella's face, the gathered family and friends chuckled amongst themselves once more, "As you said to me in the airport Troy, you and Lilly-Ella, you two are my entire world. I love you, it's that simple. I love you so, so much, and I cannot wait to spend my whole life with you." By the end of Gabriella's vows, many of those gathered were openly crying, with most others beaming at the couple.
"Troy," The minister smiled at the blue eyes man who was entranced by the woman of his dreams. "Your vows please."
"Wow, errm, I think that you stole my first few lines from me Ella," Troy grinned as Gabriella's giggles filled the air. "It's true that the first moment that I saw you that I couldn't help but think that you were the most beautiful girl that I had ever, ever seen. I loved watching you grow from that shy little girl that would have rather been anywhere but on that stage into the incredibly talented young woman that forced our entire homeroom to be a part of the senior year musical. Leaving you at eighteen was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do, but knowing that I had a chance to get you back and keep you, there was no way that I was ever going to let you go again. I don't think that you will ever know the pure terror that I felt when Lilly-Ella told me that you were leaving again. I don't think that I truthfully would have survived losing you to your Mother," Troy grinned at her once more, "I love you Ella, you are one of the two reasons that I wake up in the morning, and anyone can call me whipped if they want to, I am and I know that. I love you and I am never ever going to let you go, ever."
"Do you, Gabriella Anne Montez, take Troy Alexander Bolton to be your lawfully wedded husband?" The Minister questioned, turning his gaze to Gabriella with a soft smile.
"I do," Gabriella beamed; her gaze never leaving Troy's shining sapphire eyes.
"And do you, Troy Alexander Bolton, take Gabriella Anne Montez to be your lawfully wedded wife?" The Minister grinned, always happy to watch a happy ending.
"I do," Troy grinned, all of his dreams coming true, his family becoming complete once and for all.
"Well then I now pronounce you husband and wife," The minister beamed, most of the women in the audience crying softly, small smiles filling their faces. The men on the other hand all burst into thunderous applause, the entirety of the gathered people rising to their feet. "You may now kiss the bride."
Undeniable happiness emanated from the happy couple as Troy leant forward and captured Gabriella's lips with his, pulling her into his arms. The pair kissed passionately, but their joyous laughter soon got in the way and they pulled apart to join in the celebrations with their loved ones as Lilly-Ella rushed forward, throwing her arms around both of them.
Hours later, everyone was dancing the night away, celebrating the union of the two newlyweds after all of this time. Troy and Gabriella themselves were deliriously twirling each other around the dance floor, the gang dancing around them, each one of them simply laughing and enjoying their night. When the song stopped however, there was slight interference, before a microphone picked up, in place of where the song should have been.
"Mom, Dad," Lilly-Ella grinned, holding tightly onto Matt's hand with one of her hands and onto the microphone with the other, shaking slightly as she looked at the mass of people in front of you. "I know that you couldn't decide on a wedding song, and so therefore Matt, Sassy and I decided that we would find one for you," Lilly-Ella blushed and giggled softly as the people gathered before her began to laugh. "This probably isn't the most conventional song which anyone would have normally chosen for you both. But we examined the lyrics and I know firsthand what you were like without Mom, Dad, whereas everyone else told us what Mom was like. The song we chose was Broken by Lifehouse. The lyrics fit you both exactly. You fell apart without each other, you both tried to keep yourselves guarded from each other and failed, finding instead that the other was the one who kept you from falling apart. You both knew that barely holding onto each other was better than letting go, because if you let go of one another, you would truly fall apart, once and for all."
Nodding at the DJ, Lilly-Ella handed him the microphone back. The DJ grinned at her before reaching forwards and placing the song which she had requested weeks ago on, the dance floor clearing out apart from the newly wedded couple.
The broken clock is a comfort, it helps me sleep tonight
Maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time
I am here still waiting though I still have my doubts
I am damaged at best, like you've already figured out
Troy smiled and pulled Gabriella tightly to him, gently swaying and twirling her around the room. Gabriella sighed softly, resting her head on his shoulder and gazing up at her new husband.
I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain, there is healing
In your name I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on
I'm barely holdin' on to you
Feeling Gabriella's eyes on him, Troy glanced down at her. Grinning, he leant his head down and captured her mouth in a sweet kiss, the audience around them laughing and clapping as the couple continued to twirl.
The broken locks were a warning you got inside my head
I tried my best to be guarded, I'm an open book instead
I still see your reflection inside of my eyes
That are looking for a purpose, they're still looking for life
I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
with a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain (in the pain), is there healing
In your name (in your name) I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin')
I'm barely holdin' on to you
Smiling at his girlfriend watching her parents intently, Matt held out his hand to Lilly-Ella. Glancing between his hand and his face, Lilly-Ella's eyes grew wide and she started to shake her head, mouthing 'no way' at him. Grinning once more, Matt's golden eyes twinkled mischievously as he grabbed Lilly-Ella's hand and all but dragged her onto the awaiting dance floor. Other couples followed momentarily, the dance floor filled with everyone from Taylor and Chad to Troy's parents.
I'm hangin' on another day
Just to see what you throw my way
And I'm hanging on to the words you say
You said that I will be OK
Seeing Sassy standing on her own on the sidelines of the dance floor, Joe grinned, checked his reflection in a nearby mirror and sauntered over to the blonde, holding out his hand for her. Looking up at Joe, Sassy's emerald eyes widened in surprise before she blushed and took his hand. Lilly-Ella smiled as she spotted her best friend now dancing with the boy she considered to be her brother, both of them laughing and talking away with each other.
The broken lights on the freeway left me here alone
I may have lost my way now, haven't forgotten my way home
I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
with a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain(In the pain) there is healing
In your name I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'),
I'm barely holdin' on to you
I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'),
I'm barely holdin' on to you
As the song came to an end, Troy grinned at both of his girls. Looking over to see Matt dip his baby girl as she shrieked in protest and he just laughed at her, Troy just shook his head, his attention caught by the beautiful woman in his arms. Seeing Gabriella beam up at him, Troy couldn't help himself and leaned in to capture her mouth with his once more, giving in to the feelings that they both craved as the kiss grew in passion, ignoring the hollering going on around them.
I hope that you liked the chapter, please review and tell me what you thought of it and the last chapter should be up in the next few days.