Hey ppl.
Opaloutcast you did make me laugh with your review.
And thank you Emily Jane I am glad I managed to cheer you up!
And thank you to my regulars telling me how much you loved it. I am slowly getting my mojo back and writing new stuff .
CHAPTER 19
"Okay deep breath Gabriella" she said to herself as she knocked on her father's door that evening.
She had booked them to have dinner at the hotel in the hope that if they were in public then he might not react so badly. He already knew there was something between her and Troy but it wasn't until last night that things had become that little more complicated. And neither of them had put it into words, but they were kind of dating now and she couldn't deny Troy any longer.
"Good evening Gabi" Gabriel smiled as he escorted her down to the restaurant and seated her before he too sat down.
She picked up the menu and studied it intensely, her heart pounding and her hand a little shaky. She'd already called her mom to tell her that she had spent the night with Troy without giving her any more info and she had been pleased for her, excited in fact because she was convinced Gabi would bring him home to meet her but she tried to calm her down on that point thinking that Troy really didn't need all this pressure. He hardly spoke of his own parents let alone her meeting them but she knew they were important to him.
"So when are you going to come out and say it?" Gabe asked drily.
"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.
"You're going to tell me that you're not leaving because you want to spend time with that jumped up idiot" he guessed.
"Okay, well you might like to start calling him Troy, dad" she hedged and he looked mad at her before she even got any further.
"Oh my god, are you sleeping with him?!" he roared and Gabi flushed bright red.
"Good grief!" she flustered "Do you want to shout any louder?" she hissed.
"I can't believe you would be that STUPID!" he yelled and got up, throwing down his napkin.
"Stupid, huh?" she lifted a brow as her eyes stang from his remark and she got up too.
Gabriel looked like he regretted his words as he reached out to her but she ignored him.
"Thank you for being so understanding" she said quietly and moved away from the table, rushing up to her room where Troy was pacing up and down the corridor outside her door, checking his watch.
She wiped her eyes as she came down the corridor and saw him.
"Hey…oh my god…I was so worried about you. I got your message saying…" he paused as she came closer and he saw her tears and her hurt and he wrapped his arms around her tiny body as she walked into them wordlessly, encircling his waist with her shaky hands and he just held her against him as she sobbed.
"It went well, then" he guessed, twisting his lips as he wished he hadn't said that.
"It went really well." She sobbed amid a laugh as she pulled away and let them into her room, unknown to both of them that Gabriel was watching the scene from his hiding place down the corridor.
---
"So what happened?" Troy asked Gabi as he guided her into her room and sat her on the bed where he sat next to her, encircling her shoulders with his arm.
"Well he knows we slept together" she announced "And he called me stupid" she summarized.
Troy pulled her closer as his gut twisted "I didn't think he hated me that much" he frowned.
"What's not to hate?" she joked, then stroked his fringe back and kissed his lips to make sure he didn't think she were serious.
He kissed her bottom lip, like he loved to do, then pulled her against his chest again and Gabi wondered where the Troy Bolton of old had gone because she could have sworn he would never have been this sensitive and understanding.
"Did you get to eat?" he asked and she shook her head so he got up and found her menu, handing it to her. "Let's get room service" he suggested.
"Okay I'll have the biggest, fattest chocolate cake" she said and he laughed.
"Anything for starter?" he checked and she smiled.
"I'll have potato skins, please and pepperoni pizza"
"That's my girl" he grinned, his teeth flashing against his lips.
"I'm going to take a shower" she said quietly and picked up some clothes before heading into the bathroom.
Gabi felt refreshed as she came out of the bathroom in her soft grey jersey trousers and pink vest, looking over to the bed to see Troy sitting up against the headboard, feet crossed at the ankles as he read the sports section of the paper and the TV talked in the background.
"Make yourself at home" she quipped and he dropped the paper, his eyes making a leisurely appraisal of her figure, making her tingly and warm in its wake.
"Transformers is on Sky movies at eight" he smiled like a little boy.
"Really? You think you're staying that long?" she queried lightly and a knock sounded on the door before he could retaliate.
"Do you think he might ever get used to me?" Troy wondered through his mouthful of potatoes.
"My dad?" she frowned "Not likely, he's more stubborn than I am" she mused.
"Great" he lifted his brows.
"How has he been with you?" she asked.
"Oh, ignores me mostly. Unless we have to talk for work" he added.
Her eyes peeked at him as he chewed causally. "You do know we don't have to…you know….do this" she said awkwardly.
"Hey,I'm not even halfway near annoying you enough already" his eyes shone with his hidden smile
"What is it about you that you like to make me mad?" she grumbled, pleased he was assuring her again.
"You look so damn sexy doing it" he answered flatly, like this was a given.
"You do know I'm kicking you out as soon as the film finishes?" she checked and he nodded "Okay then, I accept your compliment" she smiled.
"Wait, where's mine?" he asked forlornly.
"Where's your what?" she feigned confusion.
"My compliment. Something about me you like?" he fished with a little lift of his brow that was so tiny she only just caught it.
"Like about you? Wow, that's tough…" she pretended to think and he reached over to tickle her briefly "Alright! I thought of something!" she giggled and he leaned back against the head rest as he finished eating, Gabi sitting next to him and wrapping her arms around her knees so she was in a tight ball.
"I like your real smile" she shared "Not the fake one you hand out to everyone, but the one you give me without knowing you are" she shared.
He looked to his side to smile at her "Like this?"
She pursed her lips in pretend annoyance "Ugh!" she complained.
"Okay, I'll take it" he said, then "Put your legs in my lap" he cocked his head to gesture her to move.
She stretched her legs out and curled to one side, ducking under his arm that he cast across her shoulders as she laid her thighs across his, her legs curled up against his knee and he laid his other hand on her calf as she got comfy in his arms.
"Wow, great film" Gabi said as it ended and looked up to see Troy fast asleep, mouth agape as he slept soundly against her headboard and she suppressed a giggle at him.
Gosh but he worked a long day and he was tired for a lot of his free time. Maybe her weekend away would allow him a rest. She smiled as she gently woke him by kissing his mouth and then his neck.
"Mmm, my god I'm being seduced in my sleep" he murmured with his husky, sleep-ridden voice.
"That is wishful thinking. It's time for you to go back to your room" she added.
"What?" he whined, slouching down onto the bed and curling so that he folded his arms around her knee.
"Troy…" she said tiredly.
"I'm not going" he said petulantly.
"Troy, I mean it!" she couldn't help the giggle that bubbled through her as he laid his face against her thigh.
"But it's so comfy here" he protested and she thought she might know what it would be like to babysit a five year old.
She sighed. God but she wished they could go back to the days when she faced him frostily every morning and he didn't tug on her heart in his adorable, irresistible way. She was getting in way too deep and she had hoped they could try and keep their space.
Obviously, Troy had other plans and he was forcing his way into her heart. He might actually know her better than she gave him credit for.
"Troy let go of my leg" she repeated patiently as she laid an affectionate hand on his hair and stroked it.
"Mmm, that's nice, more" he said as he continued to sleep on her thigh.
"You are so annoying!" she laughed, but stroked his hair more as he became relaxed, clamped around her leg. "Okay, now let go" she reasoned and he did but he ran his palm up her thigh as he lay on the bed properly.
"Can I stay?" he begged gently.
Gabi sighed "Gosh that two nights in a row, there'll be CCTV to show you didn't leave my room all night" she warned.
"Please?"
"Troy, this is really new, I don't want to ruin anything by moving too fast" she hedged.
"I want to sleep next to you. I like it" he argued and she couldn't say no to him. She liked this new tentative relationship they had as much as he did. But they only had tonight and then it was date night and then she was leaving so she felt the same impending loss and threw her caution to the wind.
"Ok. But if you try anything –and I mean ANYTHING- Then I'm kicking you out. I don't care what hour it is" she warned.
"Oh, The Bolton still has it!" he grinned as he rolled onto his back and Gabi poked him in the ribs before she got up change into her pyjama's, making sure Troy was in the bed and under the covers as she approached and slipped under the duvet with him.
She liked this sharing her bed with someone else. It was like having a giant teddy to cuddle up with but one that hugged back. One that hugged back and cuddled her and made her feel like she was special and valued. Why couldn't her dad value her? Why couldn't he listen to her and let her explain about Troy?
She felt Troy rub her back gently like he could sense she was tensing up and she turned from him so she could sleep on the edge of the bed without disturbing him while she worried about how she would handle her father.
---
When she woke, Gabi was alone and she looked at her clock with a groan as she realized she had overslept and that a certain someone had turned off her alarm so that she had slept right through and it was now gone ten o'clock.
She rolled over on the bed, her phone silently buzzing from under the pillow which she pulled out with a frown wondering if Troy had put it there and realising he had when she found a note folded up and tucked into the slide case.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Where are you?" Gabriel asked.
"I'm sorry, I overslept" she apologized.
"Are you sick?" he asked with concern.
"No, I'm just about to get ready" she replied.
"I have someone I want you to meet" he said mysteriously and Gabi hoped this wasn't his idea of match making or something horrible like that.
"Okay I'll be there as soon as I can" she sighed as she closed her phone, then smiled as she picked up Troy's note and unfolded it.
'Hope to see you later puke girl'
Puke girl! He hadn't called her that in weeks! She would have to get him back for that she mused as she headed for the shower.
---
Troy blocked through the scene with Gabe and felt the tension between them as though it were visible. He'd barely greeted him and he'd seen a lady with Gabe and been intrigued as to who she was but when he'd asked, he'd just looked at him and Troy had given up hope of having an answer.
"You do know you're never going to get my daughter don't you?" Gabe hissed at him as they rested between takes.
"I don't want to 'get her' Mr. Montez" he answered calmly.
"You know what I mean!" he gruffed.
"I know how you feel about me if that's what you mean" he lifted his chin.
"Don't think just because Gabi likes you that means I will" he warned.
"Something tells me you won't like any guy that dates Gabi" he commented.
"That's because she's worth ten of any man. Especially the likes of you" he accused.
Troy twisted his lips. What he had with Gabi was new but he felt like he wanted to hang in there for a while and see where it went.
"That's a shame. I'd like to think we could date with the blessing of both of her parents" he said quietly, indicating that it wouldn't stop him if he didn't have his approval.
"I gotta say one thing for you kid, you got balls." He muttered as he got up and Troy hid his smile behind his fingers where he rested his chin in his hand.