"So you're going to be gone for most of today?" Lucille asked as she sipped at her morning coffee when actually it was only morning for her and midday for others.
Troy was busy emptying the dishwasher and putting away the plates. "Probably. If everything goes alright." He mumbled the last part.
"And that everything is what exactly?" She smiled at her only son as his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
"Mom!" Troy groaned in distaste. "Can you not start on this now?"
She rolled her eyes as she didn't see what the big problem was about her son telling her what kind of date he had planned. "Sorry Troy." She used sarcasm. "But I'm living my dating life through you and I'm just interested in where you're taking Gabriella. Is that so hard to let your little old mom know?"
Troy matched his mom's eye roll. "I would hardly call you old mom, and if you wanted to date, then do it. I'm not stopping you." Troy sighed as he just finished and he caught onto his mom's dark blue eyes. He felt a little guilty for just blowing her off. "BUT, if you must know, we're just going to the mall. Maybe a movie and something to eat afterwards."
Lucille smiled appreciatively at Troy. "Thank you honey. That's all I wanted to know."
Troy had rung the doorbell two times. He rang it a first time and expected Gabriella to be ready and answer the door right away, but after at least thirty seconds he found that he had to ring it again before he detected any movement on the other side.
The door opened with a very out of breath Gabriella. He couldn't keep the amusing smile off of his face as he took her picture in. Her hair was wavy and perfect as ever as she was currently in tight fitting light blue jeans that fit her well, and a black strap tank top.
"Sorry. I'm running late." She apologized right away. She had woken up later than expected and her parents didn't wake her up. That was one of the reasons why she hated alarm clocks--ever since her parents got her one at the beginning of high school, they stopped waking her up and just left that to her.
Troy nodded his head as he hoped Gabriella didn't catch him 'accidentally' staring at the swell of her breast that perked up nicely in the tank top. He cleared his throat as his dark orbs met her light ones.
"No problem. I'm running a little early." He kept his tone cool as it was slowly sinking in that this was their second date. "Are you going to invite me in then?" He asked cutely.
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "I didn't know that I had to be so formal, but yes, you may come in Troy." Gabriella held the door open for him and smiled sweetly as he stepped in. She shut the door, but nearly jumped out of her skin when she turned around and came face to face with Troy's neck. She had to tilt her head up a little to see his face. His two arms stretched out and his hands flattened against the door to trap her against it.
He smiled down coyly at her as she matched his grin. "Hello Brie. I don't believe we properly greeted each other."
She giggled as she tried to remain as serious as him. "Hello Troy." She breathed out as he leaned down ever so slowly and connected their lips. Her hands reached up to tangle themselves around his warm neck. Her fingers got lost in the little hairs on his neck, making Troy shiver with delight. But before the kiss could be taken to the next level they both heard a loud cough come from the kitchen.
They both broke apart from each other as they were slightly out of breath. "That's my dad." Gabriella whispered as she knew that was her dad's way of telling her that he was on the bottom level of the house and that he could at anytime decide to spontaneously walk into the living room to disturb them.
Troy nodded in understanding. "Okay then, maybe we should go?"
"Give me five minutes? I promise I'll be ready then." Gabriella requested with an innocent smile on her face.
Looking into her big brown eyes was enough to get any man to agree with her. "Of course. I'll just wait down--"
"Upstairs." She cut in before he could even finish. "You can see my room for the first time ever."
"Lead the way Miss. Montez."
"Aww. They're so cute together. Did you hear them just then?" Anna gushed over her steaming cup of hot chocolate.
Carlos rolled his eyes while he sat stiffly at the kitchen counter reading the newspaper. "I don't hear talking right now." He coughed a little too loudly to be taken as a normal cough.
Anna smacked her husband on the arm as he just smirked even more. "I personally love Troy. Have you seen how happy your daughter has been lately?"
"Love is a little bit too much, don't you think Anna?" Carlos asked putting down the newspaper finally and listening to the footsteps on the stairs.
"Not if he's the one for our daughter. And believe me, he is." She said all too seriously. "I just know it. He's her prince charming and it's only going to get better for them. I mean, did you see how they greeted each other?"
"No. But I did hear, and what I heard wasn't good considering there was no talking going on which only means they were doing 'other' things."
"Hush now honey. You like Troy, remember? He's on your starting line up." Anna scolded.
"True. I've always liked Troy, but he has never been with our daughter before. And you're only on his side because your romantic side is taking over again. I do believe that when you met Lyle for the first time, you thought he was supposedly the one for Ella too?"
Anna glared at her husband as a playful glint was in her eye. "Well my 'romantic' side is kicking in again, and my gut is telling me that Troy and Gabriella are good for each other."
Carlos leaned up from sitting on the bar stool and connected his lips with his standing wife who was behind him.
"I'll try not to take the gun out around him."
"You better try hard then." Anna joked before she pecked her husband on the mouth again and nearly bounced around the kitchen with joy while doing the dishes.
He had seen her room various times. Of course he had never been physically in her room, but he had seen through his balcony. On silent nights he would sit out on his own balcony and just stare straight ahead. On different occasions she had left her shades up and her curtains pulled back so that he had a perfect view into her room through the big clear windows, and double French doors.
He already knew that her room was a light baby blue and that her curtains were a bright white. Her bed was pushed up and into the corner of her room facing him so that if she left her lamp on that was sitting on her bedside table then he could see her frame sleeping. She had various bulletin boards hanging up above her; all covered with pictures of her mom and dad, friends, and other people who Troy assumed were her family. He wouldn't admit it, but looking at the green bulletin board hanging exactly right above her bed, he was jealous. Jealous of the fact that Jason Cross had his own space in her room. That green bulletin board was covered with pictures of Gabriella and him together. But he would never admit that out loud or else Gabriella might get upset. He would just have to keep it to himself.
"Nice room." He commented as he had made up his mind a long time ago that she had a nice room, but he wasn't about to tell her that either.
"Thanks." Gabriella blushed a little. "Sorry for the mess. I was just going through my closet." Gabriella indicated to the clothes that were strewn across her room.
"No problem. My room's not exactly spotless either." He walked around her room a little; making a complete three sixty in his spot. He finally walked over to the desk chair and then looked back at Gabriella who was wearing an amused face. "May I?"
"Of course."
Troy sat down at the desk she had on her opposite wall to her bed. "So this is where the Great Gabriella Montez studies?" Troy asked dramatically; emitting a giggle from the brunette.
"I wouldn't call me great, but--"
"Nonsense. I wouldn't call you anything less than great." Troy murmured as Gabriella's cheeks heated up again. Troy smiled charmingly at Gabriella. "Well go on then. You said that you were running late. Finish what you have to and then we can get going."
"Okay. Thanks." Gabriella quickly went to her closet that was bigger than most closets and fished around in it for a moment. "We're not going anywhere else, are we?"
"Maybe dinner, if you want."
"Fancy, or not?" Gabriella called out.
"Well with what I'm wearing, not too fancy. Wherever you want to go is fine also."
"Not fancy at all then." Gabriella declared as she came back into view wearing a cotton t-shirt that clung to her body, showing off just how small she was.
"I am insulted Brie." Troy said playfully.
"Why?" Gabriella didn't sense the tone he used.
"You support Ford trucks, but yet you're not going to be riding in one." Troy looked at her dark blue shirt again that read, 'Built Ford Tough.'
Gabriella shrugged her shoulders meekly. "This shirt was a gift, and plus, I like the color. It matches your--" Gabriella stopped instantly, her cheeks flaming up once again with just thinking about what she was going to let slip.
"Matches my what?" Troy bit back the smirk that wanted to spread it's way across his face.
"Nothing." Gabriella peeped up. "Just nothing. Forget I said anything." She walked over to her little wallet that was on top of her dresser and pulled out the money she kept in there.
"I take it you don't like purses?" Troy asked as he watched her transfer her driver's license into her back pocket of her jeans, along with her cell phone and money.
"Not very big on coordinating the purses with my outfit choices. Shar has enough purses to cover my distaste for them. It all works out." Gabriella grabbed her black pea coat along with her thin white simple gloves. "Ready?"
"Planning for a snowfall?" Troy teased as he held her bedroom door open for her.
Gabriella stuck her tongue out at him as she paused in the middle of the archway to turn and look at him. "You know how easily I get cold. I'm just preparing is all."
"What if I said that I could warm you up?" He offered flirtatiously.
Gabriella's eyes went wide before she lightly smacked him on the arm. "Troy, my dad's downstairs. Along with my mom!" She added as an afterthought.
"Hey, I only said it. You're the one thinking about it." He winked at her before passing her through the archway and making his way down the hall.
Gabriella watched him turn the corner as she was dumbstruck standing there. She had known of Troy since he came back to town during the first grade. Back then she didn't want to get to know him. She didn't care about him. She was perfectly happy being seven years old without a care in the world. The biggest problem she had was who had the most barbies out of Taylor, Sharpay, and herself.
By the age of fourteen things got to be a little complicated as they were starting their first year of high school. Jason was preparing for basketball try outs with his dad, so Gabriella and him couldn't really hang out as much as they used too until that dreadful week was over. Taylor was busy doing her decathlon thing while Sharpay and Zeke were busy together. Doing God only knows what as Gabriella couldn't care; much less she didn't want to know what they were up too. So she was by herself for that week of school.
Gabriella didn't mind though as she could've done things with the girls on the cheer squad as she was easily accepted by the other girls who were sophomores, juniors, and seniors, but she wanted a week to herself to just slow things down. Her eighth grade teachers weren't kidding when they said that there would be a lot of homework, and it would just keep coming throughout the years.
But by the third or fourth day being by herself after school, she was starting to get bored. Her mother was always at work or some special foundation type thing; helping people get ready for charity banquets. And her dad was with Jason at basketball try-outs. So she ventured down to her kitchen and looked outside as she thought she heard noises coming from the backyard.
She was right as she saw Troy Bolton shooting hoops by himself. She remembered dropping her jaw at the sight of him shirtless just running circles around himself as he shot basket after basket. Not once did he miss until his head swiveled and looked right up at her back doors.
She leapt to the side and hid behind the curtains--hoping that he didn't see her staring at his greatness--and she never did find out if he did see her because he went back to shooting three pointers after three pointers. And there Gabriella Montez was again; staring at the boy who she didn't want anything to do with in first grade.
"Are you coming Montez?!" Troy called cheekily while poking his head out from around the hallways corner.
Things had sure changed.
Gabriella smiled at Troy as she moved one foot in front of the other. "Yeah. Sorry, I kind of spaced."
"Thinking of me?"
"Don't flatter yourself." She joked as they continued their way downstairs.
"Hey Cross." Taylor greeted as she walked into the sports shop. "Now I know I haven't seen you around school lately, but what the hell happened to your face?"
Jason rolled his eyes as Taylor wasn't the most sensitive person. "A fight with West. Nothing new, and my face is getting better. The bruises are healing just fine thank you."
Taylor rolled her eyes and stepped behind the counter to put her own purse on one of the lower shelves. "Whatever you say Cross. Is Gabi coming in today?"
"No." Jason's voice was deadpanned as he would rather work with Gabriella than Taylor. It wasn't that he didn't like Taylor, he just could talk to Gabriella about more things. "She's on a date."
"With Troy?" One look at Jason and that was all it took for Taylor to know that she was right. She let out a squeal of delight. "This is so exciting! Has she called at all?"
Jason sent her a 'duh' look. "Tay, she's on a date. She's not gonna call in the middle of it. Don't you think Bolton might get suspicious if she's on her phone in front of him?"
"The bathroom! Why do you think girls go when they're on dates?"
"To piss."
Taylor rolled her pointed dark eyes again at Jason. "You're such a guy."
Jason smirked as there was one good thing that happened when working with Taylor; he never had time to let his mind wander.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
They had seen countless amount of students down at the mall. Troy nor Gabriella ever thought that just because it was a boring weekend that at least half of east high would be down there. The kids that they mostly ran into going window shopping would be the jocks and cheerleaders from their school. Jocks including GIRLS and boys of every size, shape, and color.
The plan had been that they'd window shop by walking past every store window, and then they would come back to their favorite stores. But it seemed like at every other store they would look in, they would spot someone that Gabriella knew and someone Troy was starting to get to know from just being on the basketball team. The people--whoever they saw--would all smile and wave for them to come in and chat for a while.
"I didn't know that many people knew me." Troy breathed out as this was a rare time in that afternoon where it would be just the two of them.
Gabriella sat down next to Troy on the bench as groups of people walked past them. "Does it bother you? Because when the next group of people that know us come along, we can just pretend not to see them." Gabriella offered as she was surprised herself that so many people were downtown on a Saturday. There usually were some sport things going on to keep students occupied.
"It doesn't bother me, but it would be nice to know their name if they knew mine."
"Well then," Gabriella declared dramatically; causing a smile to appear on Troy's face, "let me recap for you." Gabriella pointed in the general direction of each store she talked about. "Over in American Eagle, we ran into Stacy and Becca. Stacy was the red head that has the cute dimples and was carrying the Coach purse. And Becca was--"
"I know Becca. She's Dane's girlfriend, and I guess the other one is Stacy with the cute dimples and the Coach purse. Not that I would know what a Coach purse is or notice that she had 'cute' dimples'. I only notice that you have small ones."
Gabriella didn't comment on his small compliment and continued on with her explanation of what guys they ran into. She was surprised herself at how much she knew of the three football players, two girl soccer players, and four volleyball players they saw.
"So where to next?" Gabriella asked after explaining who the four guy volleyball players were.
"You pick. I picked the last store." Troy stood up and offered Gabriella his hand.
She took it without thinking about it. Right when they entered the mall her white gloves had come off so now Gabriella could feel the warmth of his skin against her own. They started walking aimlessly around; both hoping that no one they knew would come and talk to them.
After a couple of minutes where no talking happened between the two, Gabriella let her mind wander. She was slowly working her mind into a frenzy as an inevitable question that was soon to come up into their conversation was forming.
"Troy?"
"Hmm?"
They stepped closer together as they had to squeeze past the advertising people who tried to get people to try their product.
"Back at Hot Topic we ran into the three football guys? You remember, right?" Her voice held uncertainty in it.
"Yeah. They were Tom, Patrick, and Steve. What about it?"
"Well you remember the pause I took midway through introducing you? And it was longer than necessary?"
Troy remembered it. For a moment in the store he thought that she genuinely forgot his name, but was relieved when she had said, my friend Troy. He had already known Tom, but he didn't know the other two. But he didn't want to tell Gabriella that he noticed her pause and offend her somehow.
"No. You didn't pause."
"Has anyone ever tell you how bad of a liar you are?" Gabriella teased lightheartedly and Troy was thankful that she was still smiling.
"I'm sure people can tell, but you're the only one who has called me out on it." Troy sighed, "So yeah, you paused. So what? It's all good."
Gabriella wanted to comment on how laid back he was. On how carefree he seemed at the time, and that when he was only with her he was only carefree, and when he was around others he always had a serious face on. But she didn't as her mind was still caught on one question, and one question only.
"Are we boyfriend and girlfriend? Because I'm gonna be honest. I had no idea how to introduce you. And I played it safe by saying 'friend', and I just want to know in the long run so I don't make any mistakes." Gabriella paused before she could continue her rambles and took a much needed breath to clear her mind. "So are we? You know…boyfriend and girlfriend?"
Troy had a girlfriend named Lilly. He had girls who were friends outside of the jock realm. He just didn't get to see them as much since basketball and Gabriella were taking up most of his free time, and he was okay with that. But throughout his short life, he had only one serious girlfriend. And she broke his heart.
"Troy?" Gabriella asked as she took in his faraway gaze. He blinked once as he came out of his train of thought revolving around Lilly. "You're kind of making me nervous with the whole silent thing."
"Sorry, I was just thinking about someone."
"Oh?" Gabriella tried to sound as normal as possible, but a million different people who Troy could be thinking about floated through her mind. Instead, her voice came out in a higher pitch than normal. "Are they a good somebody?"
"Not really." Troy mumbled as he kept his face forward to avoid Gabriella's questioning gaze. He squeezed her hand lightly; intending for it to be a comforting gesture. "But at some point in my life she used to be."
"Lilly?" Gabriella asked quietly. She didn't know that she guessed right. She just had this gut feeling that was who Troy was talking about. She couldn't explain it, even if she wanted too, but a reason why she might've been right was because she used to know Lilly a little bit. They had some classes together, and Gabriella used to hang out with the same crowd as Doug Wenzel--the guy who Lilly cheated with.
Troy froze in his spot; causing Gabriella to stop with him. "How'd you know?"
"I might've been caught up with other stuff last year, but I still listened to others. I happen to blend in better when not surrounded by basketball jocks. It comes in handy when people who gossip aren't cheerleaders and you need to overhear things to get the 411 on people." Gabriella stated quietly.
If it was about anyone else then Troy would take the time to tease her about what she said. Her statement could have possible insinuations that she was trying to get information on him the previous year.
"So you know that I have only had one serious girlfriend then?"
"No. I only know that your last girlfriend was an idiot." Gabriella couldn't stop her mouth even if she wanted too. She bit her tongue as she looked at him apologetically. If he still was in contact with Lilly or they were trying to work past their hard feelings and become friends again, it probably wasn't a good idea for her to be insulting her. "Sorry."
"No. Don't worry about it. It's refreshing to hear someone say that about her." Troy cracked a tiny smile on his face. "I just feel like you should probably know this stuff before we start dating officially."
"I understand. And I want you to know that you can talk to me anytime about it. I don't mind."
Troy smiled genuinely at her this time. "Well there's not much to say now. We dated for six months, and she cheated half the time. I'm guessing you probably hung out with the guy she was with."
Gabriella scoffed distastefully. "That guy was an ass."
"My thoughts exactly." Troy said light heartedly before he turned serious again. "But there you have it. I was screwed over, and I just wanted you to know just in case that ever came up and it got awkward."
Gabriella smiled up at him. She took his other hand in her cold one while maintaining eye contact. "No awkwardness here. This is an awkward free zone."
She reached up on her tip toes and pressed a slow tantalizing kiss to his plump lips. It was a short sweet kiss that left them smiling like idiots despite the conversation they just had.
"I believe you wanted me to answer a question Brie?" Gabriella's face lit up as her smile reached her twinkling eyes. "I would love to be your boyfriend. Officially."
They both sealed it off with a kiss.
Author's Note--Right now I am saying in this author's note--THANK YOU--to anyone who has reviewed. I wasn't sure what the response would be for last chapter because I wasn't in the mood for writing. But I fixed my problems, and I just couldn't wait to write this chapter. At first it was all Troyella stuff, but then I realized that I want to keep this chapter and the chapters to come as normal as possible. Or at least as normal as possible up to the point that I need it to be. Because I'm actually writing ahead of time and the hardest chapter that I have probably ever wrote is coming up and right now would be an espeically good time to review. And even though some of you might not know what I'm writing, I have a feeling that it'll be good. Thanks a million.--hsm07
