Long author's note at the end of chapter. Please read! =) And thank you so much to everyone who's subscribed, put me on favorites, sent me reviews, all that good stuff! You guys keep this going! =)
Chapter 10
Gabriella lay in bed, shivering. Her eyes were wide open, paralyzed in shock and fear. Her hands were balled up into fists, she hadn't moved them since. She opened her mouth, desperate to make a noise, but nothing came out.
"Hey, you alright?" a voice made Gabriella twitch, as she felt a hand rub her back soothingly. She couldn't respond, couldn't answer, she merely shook her head no. "Yeah, I wouldn't think so. Drink this," Gabriella recognized the voice as Sharpay's and she sighed loudly, grateful her best friend was here. She took the glass of water from Sharpay's hands and sipped it, sitting up and leaning against the headboard. She pulled her knees up to her chest and continued sipping the water, letting the cool liquid fill her.
"Thanks…thanks, Sharpay," Gabriella managed to choke out. Her voice sounded foreign to her, sounded cracked, nothing like her usual, bubbly manner.
"I can't believe Chase. He was so…Gabi, did he hurt you? I mean, we got there pretty fast, but did he…did he do anything to you?" Sharpay asked, her brow furrowed in worry and concern. Gabriella rubbed her temples with her free hand and shrugged.
"I don't…I don't remember, Shar," Gabriella whispered. "Oh, god, what if…what if he did? And I just passed out or something…oh my god," Gabriella wondered out loud at the severity of the situation. Her head was pounding and her vision was blurring, but she realized soon, that it was tears. She took another sip of water to calm herself. "Sharpay, what happened?"
"Sweetie, it's too early…I mean, you're still in shock,"
"Tell me," Gabriella said, stronger this time. Sharpay sighed.
"Alright. Well, I was dancing with Zeke, y'know. I mean, the party was pretty much in full swing, so we all kind of just split up. I feel so bad, I mean, I always end up ditching you, which is totally unfair," Sharpay swallowed and ran a hand through her blonde hair. Gabriella knew her friend felt guilty, but she waved her hand, dismissing the feeling, gesturing Sharpay to continue her story. "Okay. Anyway, Troy comes up to me and he's all panicked because he doesn't know where you are. Like, Gabi, he was full-on worried. So me, Zeke, and Troy go find Chad and Taylor, because we think you might be with them, but they hadn't seen you anywhere either," Sharpay stopped for a minute, letting the information sink into Gabriella.
"Go on," she urged.
"Anyway, we went to find Kelsi, but she and Jason were arguing, so we knew you weren't there, either. Gabs, we were really worried. I mean, it's just not like you to run off like that, you know?"
"I…I needed space. It was so crowded out there. I just needed a place to sit and think," Gabriella murmured, the memories flooding back to her, one by one.
"That's what we thought, so we checked all the rooms, until we came to the study,"
"Right on the dot,"
"It was locked,"
"He…he knew what he was doing, didn't he?"
"Maybe. I don't know. All of a sudden, Troy just – "
"He burst in. Knocked the door down," Gabriella's hand flew up to her mouth. She remembered. "He pulled Chase off of me and Troy punched him in the face. Chase got up, punched Troy in the stomach and he doubled over," Gabriella closed her eyes and winced, a sharp pain coursing through the corner of her eye up to her forehead.
"Chase made another move at Troy, but you jumped in the way. That's when he hit you on the side of your head. Gabi, we were all really worried," Sharpay said, placing a comforting hand on Gabriella's knee. Abruptly, the door to the bedroom opened and Taylor, Kelsi, and Martha walked in, taking a seat on Gabriella's bed.
"Where's Troy? What…what happened to him?" Gabriella said, louder this time. She got up and faced the girls. "What happened to Chase?"
"Calm down, sweetie. Troy basically pummeled Chase to a pulp. Jason, Zeke, and Chad came in to break up the fight, Chase was lying on the ground by then," Sharpay continued. Gabriella blinked once, taking it all in. She knew there was a gash on the side of her face and she touched it gingerly, wincing at the pain that came to her. She remembered getting ushered out of the study in a hurry by the girls, during which she had fainted and had to be carried by one of the boys. It was a blur to her, almost as if it hadn't actually happened. Three years of partying and not once, did she ever come close to a situation like this.
"I need…I need Troy," Gabriella whispered. She craved his touch, his comforting arms, and his soothing words. She needed to be where he was, needed to know he was okay.
"He's downstairs, in the kitchen, but Gabi, he's pretty riled up from the fight. I wouldn't – " Taylor started, but before she could finish, Gabriella had sprinted out of her bedroom, making her way downstairs. She could hear the girls following her and she pushed her way through the crowds of people, amazed that party-goers were still present. She heard a commotion in the living room and decided it was probably Chase and his entourage, but her mind was focused on one person and one person only: Troy.
"Troy!" she cried, running into the kitchen. The boys backs were turned to her, but she could make out Zeke, Jason, and Chad, huddled around her boyfriend, who was slumped over, clutching his stomach with one hand and holding a bag of frozen peas to his right eye. He turned around at the sound of her voice and immediately made his way over to her.
"Gabi, what are you doing up? I thought Sharpay brought you upstairs, you should be resting, sleeping, forgetting all this…" he trailed off, wincing slightly, as Gabriella's fingers reached up to caress his jaw-line. His entire body was pulsing with pain, every muscle in him hurt. Troy had been in a total of two fights, save for those scrap-ups with Chad and the boys. Not one of those two fights had ever been about a girl he cared deeply about. He bit his lip as he recalled the shock of seeing Chase on top of Gabriella, her body underneath him, struggling and trying to fight him off. Anger surged through Troy and he closed his eyes, trying to keep it under control. The last thing he wanted to do was to upset Gabriella.
"Shut up, you. I can't believe…are you okay?" she asked, taking his hand and leading him back to the kitchen stool he was sitting on. The rest of the group looked at each other tentatively and left the room, leaving the couple on their own.
"I'm fine," he grumbled, looking down at his feet. Gabriella tilted his head up and removed the frozen peas.
"Here, we've got an actual ice pack for that," she said and produced one quickly from the freezer, placing it slowly, but with pressure, on Troy's bruised eye. "Why did you do that?" she whispered in a small voice.
"He was…he was all over you, Gabi. I couldn't…live with myself if something had happened to you. Especially with him," he spat out the last word accusingly. Gabriella almost laughed at his childlike behavior.
"Well, thank you. But don't go getting into fights on my account. I'm…I'm sorry this happened, Troy," she said quietly. Gabriella couldn't help but feel like it was her fault that he had a black eye, in addition to the other injuries he was suffering from.
"Baby, don't. It was worth it. Just as long as you're okay…it was worth it," he looked up at her and Gabriella forced herself to gaze into his bright blue eyes, getting lost in them for a minute. There was no doubt things were getting serious between them, but Gabriella hadn't really known what she meant to him until now. Mustering up all of her courage and all of her energy, she bent down and gave him a sweet, long, kiss on his lips.
The next day, Gabriella awoke to the sunlight streaming in through her windows. She grumbled quietly and checked the time. 7.17 AM. She hesitantly got out of bed and took a quick glance in the mirror. Chase's hit to her face was only now starting to bruise and she sighed, it would take huge amounts of makeup to cover it. She jumped a little, as the bedroom door opened and Troy stuck his head in.
"Decent?"
"As if that'd matter to you," she giggled. They had stayed up late the night before, talking about everything on their minds and had since returned to their easy banter again.
"True. Anyway, Sharpay wanted me to tell you that she's out for today, so we have the house to ourselves,"
"How generous," she said sarcastically. Gabriella knew Sharpay wanted to be out for today, so she wouldn't have to sit around and watch the cleaning service she had hired do their job.
"So what do you feel like doing today?" Troy asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. His hair was still wet and he shook it out of his eyes, running a lazy hand through it. Gabriella took a good look at him, admiring how far they had come the past few weeks.
"Nothing too difficult. I can barely smile," Gabriella said, grabbing a hairbrush and running it through her locks. She sensed Troy's fists clench up at the mention of her bruise; Gabriella knew it annoyed him to no end that Chase had hit her. "Let's just drive. Get away from AU for a while," she suggested.
"Alright. We can do that, we'll take my car," Troy clapped his hands together and got up. He crossed the room to give Gabriella a long, languid kiss on the lips. "Mmm. Good morning," he said happily. Gabriella laughed, kissing him back.
"Morning. Now go, so I can shower," she said, kissing his cheek and getting into the bathroom.
Several hours later, Troy pulled his car into an empty parking bay. He quickly got out and grabbed a picnic basket with him. Troy and Gabriella did picnics often, it was a chance for them to be out without really having to talk to anybody.
"This is perfect," Gabriella said, minutes later, after they had set up their area. She lay down on the blanket, letting the sun coast over her body, feeling its warmth reach over her exposed shoulders.
"Gabriella," Troy suddenly said. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He was puzzled in thought, grappling with something, but she wasn't sure what. They had only been dating for a few weeks, but those weeks had gone so far. Gabriella felt like she had waited for him all her life, that everything in the before-Troy era was insignificant.
"Yeah?"
"There's something…there's something I have to tell you. It's not pretty, it's not noble, it's not…well, it's not me," he stammered, wringing his hands. Gabriella sat up and faced him.
"What is it?" she asked carefully, gazing into his eyes, willing him to look up. This was the moment Sharpay had talked about, the moment she had dreamed about, albeit in the back of her mind. Troy was ready to tell her everything, everything about New York, the real reason why he had moved to New Mexico. He was ready.
A/N: So what do you think?! Alright, to be honest, this story is taking so many twists and turns. I really hate the fact that I don't outline my stories before I write them, I just write as I go along and stick in whatever feels right, which makes for some pretty disjointed and sometimes completely nonsensical stuff! If I've missed something or forgotten some detail, please tell me in the reviews! That'd be great and very much welcomed. =)
Also, don't get too excited for the next chapter. Troy's secret isn't that huge (at least, I don't think so), but hopefully it'll just bring Troy and Gabriella closer. The story's coming to a close soon anyway, partially because I can't stick with one plot for too long without having it become overdone and all drawn out. So enjoy! =)
