Hey, everyone! Guess what? I've got a little surprise for you, but it comes with conditions. 1) Forgive me for leaving yall hanging. As I previously mentioned, I had a lot of personal, real life stuff going on and it was getting hard for me to focus on What the Future Holds. I had to take a break from posting and concentrate on writing the story. But that's about to change... somewhat. 2) Please keep in mind that I'm still not finished writing the story, but I've gotten far enough along that I can start posting again. I'm about to start on chapter 17 and I expect there to be approximately 25. That being said, I will post a chapter a month. Hopefully that'll keep yall satisfied! ;-) 3) It may benefit you to go back and skim through- or even read in their entirety- the previous five chapters, just to refresh your memory.

And as always, I don't own anything except the storyline and my imagination from which it comes. I hope yall enjoy!

Chapter 6

Taylor flinched as Gabriella slammed the driver's side door shut. She rolled her eyes as she opened the passenger door and climbed out, slamming her door as well in the process behind her.

"Gabriella!" she called out to her hostess, increasing the speed of her steps to try and catch up. She reached her hand out and tried to tug on Gabriella's arm to try and turn her around so they could be face to face. "Gabriella, will you stop, please, and let's talk about this?"

"Talk about this, Taylor?" Gabriella asked as she yanked her arm free and turned on her heel so fast that it caused her guest to stumble while taking a step back. "You want to talk about this? What do you want to talk about?" Gabriella watched as Taylor squared her shoulders and prepared herself for a face-off as she struggled- yet failed miserably- to keep her voice down. Instead, it raised many decibels with each sentence she spoke. "The fact that you went behind my back and did something against my wishes? The fact that you basically lied to me? Or the fact that you have no faith in my relationship with Troy?" Taylor had no verbal response; she just locked her eyes to Gabriella's fiery gaze in a silent challenge. "And from the look on your face, you're not even sorry." Gabriella turned back around and stormed off toward the breezeway of the apartment building before their discussion got any more heated in the complex parking lot for all the neighbors to hear.

In the midst of her anger, Gabriella struggled to get the door unlocked. When she finally did, she crossed the threshold and reached down to take her shoes off one at a time and threw them across the room, one of them flying over the bar top into the kitchen area and landing in the sink. She walked around the room full of rage muttering to herself.

"...can't believe she did this. How dare she? Where's the phone? I need to call Troy."

"It's obvious you just need to sleep this off. We can talk about this more tomorrow," Taylor spoke up, keeping her voice calm despite the anger she was receiving from her best friend.

Taylor's voice caused Gabriella to stop mid rant.

"'Sleep this off'? You're right, Taylor. We need to sleep this off. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow you'll realize how wrong you were and fix this mess before it gets any worse." Gabriella snatched her purse from its spot on the floor where it landed when she threw it down and walked into the bedroom she shared with Troy and shut the door behind her, locking it in the process.

Taylor let out a sigh and sank down on the couch. She reached for the remote and turned on the television, quickly finding a marathon of Friends reruns on Nick at Nite. She pulled one of the throw pillows into her lap and allowed herself to get lost in the world of Central Perk. About ten minutes into the episode, Taylor laid down across the cushions and pulled the blue and gold Berkeley blanket from the back of the couch and snuggled down under the covering. It wasn't long before she fell asleep right there on the couch, with the television still playing, basking the room in a soft glow.

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The next morning, it wasn't the sun streaming in through the blinds that woke Taylor. It was the sound of a phone ringing from behind the closed door of the bedroom. She listened as the ringing stopped and she heard Gabriella's voice speak to who- after a quick glance at the clock on the DVD player and doing the mental math to figure the time difference- she assumed to be Troy on the other end. She strained as she tried to make out what was being said on Gabriella's end, but found it difficult to decipher the hushed tones.

"That girl really knows the meaning of a 'private conversation'," she mumbled to herself, as she threw the blanket off her body and pushed herself off the couch, stretching her body as she stood. She made her way into the kitchen and grabbed the coffee pot, filling it with water. As she made her way around the kitchen, she continued her one sided conversation.

"Eventually, she'll see that I did have her best interest in mind. She'll come around." As she hit the power switch on the coffee maker, she heard the bedroom door open. Taylor turned around in time to see Gabriella walk across the hall to the linen closet and retrieve a clean towel before turning back around and going back into the bedroom, closing the door behind her once more and not giving one look in Taylor's direction.

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Gabriella took a deep breath and released it slowly, lifting her head and allowing her eyes to focus on the ceiling above her as she let the warm water run down her body as she processed the last thirty minutes of her morning. She closed her eyes as she let her mind wander back to the morning conversation with Troy, which resulted in tears and ended with seeing Taylor making coffee in the kitchen, regardless of how much she was trying to avoid her.

Gabriella didn't sleep very well when Troy was gone as it was, so coupled with what went down between her and Taylor last night, she really didn't sleep at all. Her mind kept playing their conversation over and over, and she tried to work out how she would tell Troy. For that reason, when the sounds of Bruno Mars sounded throughout the bedroom at 8:15, she was more than anxious to talk to him.

"I'm so glad you called," she said into the phone, foregoing the customary 'hello' greeting.

"I'm glad I called, too," he told her. "I'm sorry it's so early. I hope I didn't wake you."

"No, you're fine. I actually wasn't asleep. Just thinking. I need to get up soon and start getting ready for class anyway."

"What are you thinking about?" he asked tenderly.

When he heard Gabriella take in a deep breath, he knew their conversation was about to take a serious turn. "Troy, I need to tell you something."

It was those six words that caused Troy's stomach to drop. "Oh-kay," he prompted her. "Go on, I'm listening."

"How long do you have? I don't want to get into this if you only have a few minutes. It can wait until tonight if we need it to."

"I'm on a break until 1:00. We've got time." He had a feeling he knew what was coming and, as much as he didn't want to hear it, he just wanted it out in the open and get it all over with. Like a band aid- the best way to take it off is just to rip heard Gabriella sigh before she started speaking again.

"Okay, but first, you need to know something."

"What's that?" he asked. He was working hard to keep his frustration at bay. 'Hear her out first, Troy. Don't get worked up over what could be nothing,' he told himself.

"I need you to know that I love you. And I didn't do this. Taylor started it and it all just grew from there. Promise me you'll hear me out before you get all worked up."

"Gabriella-"

"Troy, please. Promise me. I need you to be calm."

Troy sighed as he ran his hand through his hair- a sure sign that he was losing the battle over his annoyance and he was glad that she couldn't see him. "Fine," he told her.

"Troy..." Gabriella's knowing tone told him that that was not what she wanted to hear.

"I promise!" he finally relented with a roll of his eyes.

"Thank you," she said. "Now, last night when the study group was meeting, Taylor saw D- ...a cute guy... and I told her to go talk to him. I encouraged her to give him her phone number so the two of them could go out while she's here and possibly stay in touch when she goes back to New Haven." She paused, giving him time to let her words sink in.

"I feel a 'but' in there," he calmly told her. "Go on."

"But she gave him my number instead of hers and he's going to call me."

Troy sat there dumbfounded. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't realize how long he was silent until he heard Gabriella's voice calling out to him.

"Troy? Troy, are you still there?"

"Yeah," he said.

"I don't know what to do-" she started, but Troy cut her off.

"Do...do you really want to go out with someone else?"

"What? No! No, of course I don't. It...it's just that Taylor was talking and you and I have been together for five years now and...well...there are people who've been together less than that-"

"-who are engaged?" he interrupted her. "Is that where this is going, Gabriella? Because we've talked about marriage. We've talked about it a lot. And you've never been upset that we decided to wait to be engaged. You know I want to marry you. You know that."

"Troy, I know. I know, you're right. I just... You know what? I won't even answer the phone. This is no big deal really. I don't even know why I told you."

"I do," Troy said, letting out a sarcastic huff.

"What?"

"I know why you told me. You told me because of Taylor. She's never thought we could really make it. She's never thought I was good enough for you. And now you're starting to believe her. Especially ever since she and Chad broke up... it's like she's jealous that you and I do have something special and that they couldn't find it, so she wants to mess up what we've got. And now she's got you questioning it as well."

"No, Troy, she wouldn't do that. She knows us. And 'good enough' has nothing to do with it. She knows that what we have is special. She knows I love you, and that you love me. She just wants to make sure that you and I are sure... about each other. We haven't questioned that for a long time, if ever. At least, I haven't. Have you?" Troy tried to ignore the quivering of her voice. He knew that the deep brown eyes that he loved to look into were filling with tears and she was fighting to hold them back.

"No! I've never questioned it because I've don't need to. I know that there's no one else out there for me. No one but you." Troy pressed his lips together feeling the tightness in his chest from the pressure he knew Gabriella was feeling from both him and Taylor. "Sure, Taylor says she knows it, but she doesn't believe it. Brie, Baby, listen to me." Troy wanted to make sure she understood the severity of his next statement and purposefully made sure his tone expressed all the emotions he felt in his heart. "I know I'm all the way across the country right now. But if you want me to propose to you I'll do it right here over the phone. That's how sure I am. I'll get down on one knee and get some of the guys to witness it if you want. That's not how I want it to be, but for you... Baby, you know I'd do that." He stopped talking when he heard her sniffling on the other end. He knew her so well that he could almost see her using the sleeve of his old Wildcats tee shirt to wipe her face. Pushing that picture from his mind, he continued.

"Gabriella, I don't know what to think right now. If you aren't sure... if there are doubts in your heart about me- about us... then maybe Taylor is right. I don't want to pressure you into anything. I want you to be positive that you love me and that you want to spend the rest of your life with me. All I know is that I'm getting angrier at Taylor every second and I'm halfway across the country and not there with you to do anything about this." He paused in his heartfelt speech to swallow deeply, trying hard to get his emotions in check before continuing. "But you gotta tell me, Gabriella... right now, you've gotta tell me. Do you want me to propose right now? Forget what Taylor has said; forget the other guy that's going to call you. Right now, Baby, it's just me and you. I'll make it happen if that what you want."

"This isn't how it's supposed to be, Troy. I don't want a proposal like that. I don't want it to be because someone is pushing you into it. I want it to be special and meaningful and-" her voice trailed off as she choked back a sob.

"So you want me to wait. You want me to make it special. You want me to be able to look in your eyes and tell you how much I love you and how much I want you to be my wife. That's what you want, right?" Troy felt the knot in his throat and stomach tighten as he waited for her response.

"Troy..."

His name. She didn't say 'yes' or 'no' or anything else to give him a real answer of what she wanted. Just his name.

Troy cleared his throat and decided to just continue with Gabriella's initial conversation. "So what are you going to do if this guy calls?"

"I don't know. I don't want to go out with anyone else, but I don't want to seem rude, either. Does that make me evil?"

Troy couldn't hide the sarcastic chuckle at the last part of her previous statement. "No, Babe. That doesn't make you evil. That makes you you." Suddenly a thought entered his mind. Troy took a deep breath as he prepared to voice said thought. As much as he didn't want to, he knew he needed to. He just had to know. "Gabriella?"

"Hmmm?"

"Who's the guy?"

"What?" she asked, not sure if she heard him correctly or not.

"The guy that Taylor gave your number to. Who is it?"

She licked her dry lips to moisten them as she prepared herself to get him fired- up all over again. "It's Davis," she told him, her voice a small whisper.

The silence on the other end told her that he was none too happy with that revelation. She knew his silence was not a good sign. "Troy?" she quietly urged.

"I've got to go," he told her.

"Talk to me. Please?" she begged.

"I can't talk about this right now."

"Don't shut me out, Wildcat," she pleaded in a small voice that threatened to break his heart- as if the rest of this conversation hadn't already.

"I'll talk to you later tonight. I just need to take some time to process everything, otherwise I'm gonna say something that I'll regret later. I love you, Gabriella Montez. Don't forget that." He hung up before she had the chance to respond.

"I love you, too, Wildcat," she said to the dial tone that sounded through the phone. She hit the 'end' button and took a deep breath to calm her emotions, wiping her face with the sleeves of the oversized shirt she was wearing, before climbing from the warmth of the bed and making her way into the hallway towards the linen closet to get a clean towel so she could prepare to begin her day.

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Gabriella finished her shower and got ready for class in record time. One, she didn't have Troy there to distract her as he usually did and two, she was so ready to get out of the house and away from Taylor. She didn't know yet if she was angry at her friend or not, but she certainly didn't need to be in an enclosed space with her. She needed to get far away and process everything in her own way and her own time.

Her mind was already going in overdrive. When she got out of the shower, she noticed that her phone was blinking with a missed call. It was a number that wasn't programmed in her contacts list, but she was almost certain the missed call was from Davis. She keyed in the required numbers to access her voice mail and found out that she assumed right.

"Hey, Gabriella, it's um... it's Davis. I was just calling to uh... to see if you wanted to have lunch with me today? You can either give me a call back or I'll see you in class."

She rolled her eyes and let out an aggravated sigh as she hung up.

"Davis, you know I have a boyfriend," she said to herself. "Why are you even trying?" Oh, yeah, she thought to herself. Taylor told you to try. "Do you think that by calling, you're going to somehow worm your way into my heart? It's not that easy. Would've thought that you, of all people, would know that. Not gonna work, my friend."

With that, she picked up her Coconut Lime Breeze body splash from Bath and Body Works, gave herself a few final spritzes, took her phone off the charger, and emerged from the bedroom.

"Hey, look who's up," Taylor said, trying to strike up a conversation.

Gabriella continued to ignore her as she proceeded to fix her coffee in her red tumbler cup. As she came around the kitchen bar, she leaned down and picked up her book bag, throwing it over her shoulder as she walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Taylor asked.

"Class," Gabriella told her, closing the door behind her, leaving Taylor alone in silence.

Taylor gave a small sigh. "I think I liked it better when you were yelling at me. At least then you were talking," she said, directing her words to the closed door of the apartment. She looked over and found her phone sitting on the side table next to the couch and picked it up, scrolling through her contact list and finding the name of the one person that she knew she could talk to that wouldn't necessarily replace Gabriella, but would at least come close. Finally she heard the person answer after three rings.

"I've missed talking to you the past few days. Are you having a good time in San Fran?"

"Can I use you for awhile?"

"For what?" the person on the other end asked with a smirk.

"I did something and I need to talk it out."

"And you think I can help?"

"Well, Chad, seeing as how it involves Troy and Gabriella, I think you might be interested," she told him.

"What did you do and how much work will I have to do to fix it?" he asked knowingly.