Chapter 28: Chad Danforth, Super Hero
Surely she's not serious... Chad blinked silently, dumbfounded by her words until the sound of Gabriella's voice broke through his thoughts.
"Chad?"
"What did you say?" Chad asked.
"I'm going to propose to Troy," Gabriella repeated, a little slower to make certain he heard- and understood- through his sleepy state of mind.
"I'm assuming you have a plan?" He repeated his question from just moments before as he sat up farther in his bed and leaned against his headboard, giving Gabriella his full attention. Knowing Gabriella, he had his answer, but he wanted to hear the words come from her mouth.
"I do have a plan and I need your help with it. Can we meet for breakfast? I know this is early, but say the IHOP near the high school at 7:00? That way I can be back before Troy wakes up."
"What if he wakes up while you're gone?"
"I'll tell him I woke up and went to the gym or something. Who knows, maybe I will go to the gym to work off the chocolate chip pancakes, so that way it won't be a total lie."
"Fine," he said with a sigh. "But only if you promise to hang up right now and let me go to sleep. If you do that, I'll meet you there," he told her, rubbing his tired eyes. His answer earned him a girly squeal in his ear, to which he groaned in response. "Why must you be so perky?"
"Great! I knew I could count on you!" she told him excitedly, ignoring his question.
"I haven't agreed to help yet."
"Fair enough. Night, Chad. See you in a few hours!"
Chad grunted in response and hung up his phone without a proper goodbye. He had a feeling that in just a few hours, he was going to be privy to some information that would forever change his best friend's life... for the better.
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The next morning, a very exhausted Chad met an all too cheerful Gabriella as planned. They sat in a corner booth and after a round of excited jibber-jabber nonsense on her part and about half a cup of caffeinated coffee in his system, he was ready to hear her plan.
"Alright, spill it," he commanded between yawns.
"Spill what?"
"Don't play coy with me, Montez. I know you too well. You say you have a plan and you need my help. Let's hear it."
"Well, it's simple really," she began and proceeded to tell him everything that was on her mind, her eyes twinkling as bright as the Christmas lights that hung around the outside perimeter of the restaurant. When she finished, the grin on his face was a wide as the Mississippi, the twinkle in his own eyes matching hers, despite his efforts to hide it. Taking a deep breath, she posed a question to him that she was almost afraid to ask. "What do you think?"
Chad toyed with the idea of dragging her along and making her think it was a bad idea and that she should just wait on Troy to do it himself he knew the plan and timing Hoops had in mind and was wondering if he should let anything interfere with it; given all the stress Troy had gone through to make it perfect for her. The look in her eyes, however, won and Chad couldn't contain his own excitement and envisioning the look on his best friend's face when Gabriella carried out her plan.
"I think it's great!" He spoke with excitement, but much more softly than normal.
"Really?" she asked, fighting to keep the trepidation out of her voice.
"Really! It's simple and to the point, yet eloquent at the same time. He'll love it!"
"Eloquent, Chad?" Gabriella asked, wrinkling her eyebrows in confusion.
"Yeah. You know fancy... tasteful... Eloquent."
"Um, hon, I think you mean ele-gant," she provided, enunciating the correct pronunciation of the second syllable.
"Maybe?" he questioned with his own confusion but waved his hand to try to bypass the simple vocabulary snafu.
Gabriella released a small chuckle at her friend's naïvety. Chad watched Gabriella closely as she released the breath that she had been holding and it was at that moment that it dawned on him how much his approval of her plan meant to her. If he liked it, surely Troy would, too. He reached across the table and gently took Gabriella's hand in his, giving it a small squeeze.
"Hey? he said, trying to get her attention. When she looked up from the table to his face, he continued. "I think you're doing a good thing. This plan... it's perfect for Troy. And yes, I'll help you in getting him there and away from the party at the right time in any way I can."
The smile that broke across her face was enough to make Chad grin back at her in response. "I just need him to know, you know? No doubts, no regrets. Just me and Troy, the way it's supposed to be. Thank you, Chad!"
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Chad knew he and Gabriella would need at least one other person involved for Gabriella's plan to come off without a hitch. And it was for that reason that he enlisted the help of the only other person he could think of who had just as much emotional interest in this relationship as he did- the one and only Taylor McKessie.
Knowing he was potentially treading on dangerous territory- given the events of the previous Spring- Chad took a deep breath and found the all too familiar number in his phone and hit the green button, waiting anxiously for her to answer.
"Hello?"
"We need your help,he told her over the phone later that afternoon as he released the breath he had been holding.
"What?" she asked.
"We need your help, he repeated.
"Who?"
"What is it with you and the twenty questions, woman?!" he snapped at her, getting exasperated. "Me and Gabriella need your help!"
"First of all, I've only asked two questions, not twenty. Secondly, the wording you're looking for is 'Gabriella and I'," she corrected, in true Taylor fashion.
"Now is not that time for a grammar lesson!" he practically yelled. Taking a deep breath, he ran his hands through his no-longer bushy hair and tapped the phone against his forehead a few times as he calmed himself down before continuing. "Look, Gabriella and I need your help with something. No questions right now. Just meet me at Starbucks near the Bio Park in a couple of hours and I'll fill you in on everything."
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"Ok, so like I said, Hoops wants simple. Chad and Taylor were currently sitting across from each other at an outside table at the local Starbucks. For late December, it was an uncharacteristically warm early afternoon in Albuquerque, so the two were taking advantage of the sunshine. "He has mentioned that he wants just the two of them alone for a few minutes up there- leading up to midnight, so they can spend some time together, away from the party and everyone- and then as the countdown begins in the house, he'll just flat out ask. No pomp and circumstance, no fanfare, just a simple 'I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?' type of moment."
"Okay," Taylor nodded, "Simple and romantic. Just like Troy. And oh so fitting for it to be at midnight, too!"
"Exactly," Chad agreed, pointing at her. They both knew what midnight on New Year's Eve meant for their best friends. "Now, if Gabster needs help getting set up for whatever her plan is in the few minutes leading up to that... That's where you come in."
"Why am I in charge of set up?" Taylor questioned.
"Because I'm in charge of making sure Troy is where he's supposed to be at 11:55. Now, knowing her, her side of it is going to be a little bit more complicated."
"She's probably going to want champagne or something," Taylor added, watching Chad shake his head in response. "What? Why are you shaking your head?"
"No. No champagne. She wants the two of them to remember the moment, not be tipsy and guess on the details after the fact. But music. Definitely music."
Taylor chuckled as she allowed herself to have a momentary out-of-body experience and actually took time to listen to their conversation. "This is so odd," she said, with a small smile gracing her features.
"What is?" Chad asked as he took a sip of his drink.
"Gabriella has always been so traditional," she pointed out. "Why is she wanting to propose? I mean, what you said about her wanting to make it up to him makes sense, but it's just not like her."
"All the more reason that he'll be surprised."
"I like it," she pointed out. "I never thought I would like sneaking around like you and Troy used to do, but I do. This is so fun!"
"Now you know why we always did- it's the adrenaline." The two shared a smile at the memories of high school and all the pranks the two basketball players would play on everyone. Chad took a sip of his drink and spewed it all over Taylor when a thought suddenly occurred to him as his eyes grew wide with excitement.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, reaching for a napkin to wipe off her face. "What was that for?"
"You'll be my Bond girl!" Chad told her with a smirk, causing Taylor to roll her eyes.
"Whatever, Chad. You'll never be as suave as Pierce Brosnan," Taylor told him, taking a sip of her own drink.
"You're right, I won't. I'm more of a Roger Moore type," he stated, puffing out his chest in a manly fashion and flexing the biceps that he had worked hard the past four years to develop more than they were in high school to.
Taylor rolled her eyes again. "Yes, because you're just that cool. Besides, I'm more like one of Charlie's Angels- more brains and beauty than the Bond bimbos," she stated coyly, as she took a sip of her drink and caught Chad's incredulous stare over the lid of her cup. Taylor gave Chad a wink and a smile before continuing with their current conversation. "Now, let's talk tactics here. What exactly is Troy planning?"
"Simple," he told her with a nod of his head. "Very simple. He wants some candles in the tree house, a blanket-"
"That doesn't sound safe," Taylor said, immediately going into her typical play-it-safe mode.
Chad, however, held his hands up defense. "Hey, I'm trusting Hoops on this. I'd say that we can assume and be correct in the fact that he and Gabster have had candles up there before without burning the place down."
"Wow. Well, that's true." Taylor shook her head slightly to rid herself of the thoughts of their friends and things that had probably already happened in Troy's tree house. "Okay, okay... so candles, a blanket... What else?"
"Nothing except for Gabriella at the stroke of midnight!" Chad told her while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. He chuckled when Taylor threw her napkin at him.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Danforth!" she ordered in good nature.
Chad laughed again and gave a mock pout. "You're no fun!" he complained, playfully.
Taylor took a pensive sip, and her tone changed to one of remorse with her next statement. "I just know this has to be perfect, for both of them. I want this to be perfect for both of them- no matter which one of them proposes."
Chad took in the look in her eyes- the faraway, regretful look that he had become familiar with in the past few years- and reached across the table to take her hand in his, giving it a small, reassuring squeeze. "I know you do. Which is why I want you to help me... help us. We are invested in their future, too, Tay. I know this means a lot to you- other than the fact of how special it is for Troy and Gabster, it's also going to be special for you."
"Yeah. I just want the best for her, Chad," Taylor told him softly, looking at the lid of her cup. "For them."
"I know," he said, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. "And you know that Hoops is the best for her, right?"
"I didn't want to admit it, but yeah, he is." Taylor looked up and allowed her eyes to meet Chad's, giving him a small smile. "He loves her and she loves him. Now if only I can find the man that truly loves me and isn't just laying the groundwork for his career and future as a sportscaster..."
"Now don't you go and get all mushy on me!" he warned.
"Hey let a girl dream, will you!"
"Sorry," held his hands up in front of him in surrender.
"No, I'm done." She lowered her eyes back to the cup in front of her, lost in her own thoughts of the romantic relationship gone bad with the person sitting in front of her.
"Hey, look at me," he told her. When she lifted her eyes to meet his, he continued. "It'll happen for you one day. And when it does, he'll be a very lucky man."
"Chad, do you ever wonder- what if our 'one day' passed us by and we were both too stubborn to see it?"
Chad took a moment to allow himself to get lost in her eyes. To his surprise, it felt just like two years ago, before he messed everything up and she finally broke up with him.
"Sometimes," he admitted quietly.
After a moment of silence, Taylor gave a thoughtful sigh. "Can we come back to that conversation later?" she asked, not surprised at all by the look on Chad's face when the words hit his ears; she was just as surprised to hear them come from her mouth herself. "It just wasn't our time back then, I suppose." The two shared a meaningful, reminiscent look. "Wel... , we um... we better get back to the scheming plans. What do you need from me?" she asked, stumbling to change the subject back to their original topic.
"We uh, yeah" Chad sat back for a second to collect his thoughts and tried to read Taylor's own shocked expression. "Well," he started with a gentle swallow, "I need you to be a girl and try to find out the mushy details that Gabriella has planned. If you can at least do that much, I'll take it from there."
"So wait, if you want me to find out the details from Gabriella, will you find them out from Troy?"
"I already know all that," he told her. "He wants it to be simple. Like I said, just them, in the tree house."
"How's he planning on getting her up there in the middle of the party? You know that she's not going to want to miss it. The New Year's party has always been so important to her."
"That's the part that's up to us. The party is a big deal, yeah, but them being together is what it's all about, really. We can work out the timing and all that other stuff once we have Gabriella's info," Chad told her with a smirk in his voice. "So what do you say? Will you help me?"
"If you're playing the role of 007, then just call me 008!" Taylor told him, her face brightening up at the thought of playing the proverbial matchmaker to two of her best friends.
Chad released a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Tay, there was no 008."
"Do you want my help or not?"
"Yes," Chad said as he rubbed his eyes.
"Then shut up and let me call myself whatever I want!" she commanded, the smugness in her voice not lost on him as she gulped down the rest of her drink.
"Ay, ay, ay. What have I gotten myself into plotting and scheming with her again?" he asked, directing the question to no one in particular, causing Taylor to break out into a fit of giggles.
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Later that evening after dinner, Chad stepped out into the backyard of his parents' house for some fresh air so he could process his coffee date with Taylor. He took that opportunity to call Gabriella and give her the good news. As he sat out on the back porch looking out over the landscaping and the pool, he thought back to his conversation and the squeal of delight that left him temporarily deaf.
"I'm so excited! I can't wait for the New Year's Eve party!" she told him.
"Oh, and while I'm thinking about it... I uh... I've enlisted some help," he told her hesitantly. He knew she and Taylor had made amends, but still wasn't sure to what point. He prayed that Gabriella would be okay with Taylor helping.
"Who?"
"Taylor."
"She's in, too?"
"Yeah. Yeah, she's in."
The 'thank God' that he heard reassured him that he had made a good decision by recruiting Taylor to join the romantic scheme and he released a deep breath in thanksgiving.
"So now you can help me without Troy knowing."
"But wait... Gabs, I'm already helping you by helping Troy and making him think that he's the one-" He immideately stopped talking when he realized he was on the verge of giving away an important piece of the puzzle. "I'm sorry, but I'm confused," he quickly covered. How am I going to help both of you at the same time? he thought to himself.
The ringing of his phone in his pocket brought him from his memory and back to present time. He glanced at the screen and the picture of his own ex-girlfriend that was staring back at him. Suddenly, an idea occurred to him, causing him to smile. He swiped his finger across the screen and brought the device to his ear.
"Hey," he answered. "I'm glad you called."
"Really? It's been a long time since you said that to me."
"That's not true, Tay, and you know it," he told her.
"No, it is true, Chad and you know that," she reminded him.
"Well, yeah. I've been meaning to talk to you lately, but um, I'll come back to that in a few minutes. Let's go back to this afternoon's discussion."
"What about it?" she asked.
"I think I need help," he blurted.
"Already, Chad? What did you do?" she demanded. "This is so like you! We don't have a plan yet and you're already screwing it up!"
"Taylor!" he shouted to get her attention.
"What?"
"Will you stop talking and let me do some of it, please?"
Taylor sighed, admitting her defeat... this round. "Fine."
"Thank you," he breathed. "Now, have you talked to your recently renewed b-f-f today?"
"The one who is still leery of me but is trying...and the one whose boyfriend can just barely say my actual name instead of calling me something vulgar?" she asked in clarification.
"Yeah, that's the one." Chad nodded, knowing she wasn't able to see him. "Have you talked to her today?"
"No. Why?" Taylor asked.
Chad proceeded to tell her about his conversation with Gabriella just an hour before. "Now how am I supposed to help her and Hoops both?" he asked, his voice laced with panic. "In order for me to play both sides and not accidentally let something slip to the other, I need your help."
"Just tell Gabriella you can't help her."
"Are you nuts?!" Chad exclaimed. He leaned forward on the edge of his seat as he continued. "I can't back out now! If I change my mind then she's gonna get more suspicious. She's already found the engagement ring she knows it's here in Albuquerque as it is!"
"Wait, what?!" Taylor exclaimed in response. "How did she...wait, nevermind. One thing at a time here."
Chad released a sigh as he started working through all the details out loud. "Look, Gabriella knows Troy is planning on proposing; she just doesn't know when or how. She is planning on proposing on New Year's Eve, not knowing that's when Troy is planning on doing it, too. Both of them want my help in setting up. That's where the trouble comes in."
They're both quiet for a couple of minutes as they both wrack their brains. Chad listened as Taylor began alternating between mumbling and humming to herself... a sure fire sign that she was deep in thought. Finally, she stopped and released a deep breath.
"Actually, Chad," she said, "this is the perfect time for you to use all of that Super Hero Detective- Secret Agent stuff that you used to play! Sounds like you get to be a Double Agent after all!"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Taylor!"
"You're welcome!" she said with a giggle. "Besides, I'll be your partner in crime this time, remember? What could go wrong with the McKessie-Danforth team in charge?!" Taylor added.
"I believe you mean Danforth-McKessie," Chad attempted to put his name first in the mix.
"Ah-ah-ahh," Taylor scolded. "You asked for my help, so my name goes first!" She laughed again, imagining Chad rolling his eyes, before hanging up, leaving Chad to groan in frustration.
"We can do this," he said to himself. "It's for Hoops and Gabster. My friends need help and I'm going to do what I can to help them. I've got a history of scheming... I can do this... We can do this." He sighed and made a mental note to call Taylor tomorrow for lunch to discuss ideas on helping their friends. He stood up from the glider chair and went back inside the house, making sure to turn off the light and lock the French doors behind him.