Title: Everyday

Author: Jade-Max

Summary: Troy & Gabriella talk after the talent show.

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Everyday

As the applause continued, the Wildcats and their school mates filed off stage, jumping and hugging as they exclaimed over the award that had been given to Ryan - and by proxy the staff at the club.

Troy kept Gabriella's hand snugly in his as they left the stage, drawing her between the knots of people wanting to exclaim over the performance. She made no move to reclaim her hand, something he was silently thankful for and hadn't really expected with the way they'd last parted company.

They needed to talk - now - before anything else could happen; before anyone else could try and come between them. She needed to know just how sorry he was for his actions.

"Troy?"

"Trust me."

Stopping only once to meet Chad and Taylor's delighted gaze, he flashed them a smile before pulling Gabriella into the kitchen area. Moving swiftly, he led her through and into the deserted lounge, barring the door by lacing his jacket between the handles and tying it together. The sound of the other kitchen staff filing back in beyond the doors was muffled and indestinct enough it would give them a degree of privacy they wouldn't otherwise have.

"They can still come in the front door."

"Chad and Taylor won't let them." Troy turned from blocking the door to look at her - really look at her - since the last time he'd seen her.

Gabriella stood with her hands folded in front of her, watching him with an amused - but tolerant - smile on her lips. Backlit by the light from the party outside, she looked like the angel he secretly thought her to be; his own personal angel dressed in white. Her dark hair framed elegant features that he'd long ago memorized and would never tire to seeing.

The necklace he'd given her at the end of the school year caught and reflected the faint lights from outside, drawing his attention; but that wasn't the first issue he needed to bring up as his eyes lifted to hers. Regardless of how she regained it, the necklace was hers by rights and it gave him courage that she now wore it - and had worn it - to sing with him.

There was a hint of hesitation in her gaze as their eyes met that gave him pause, an uncertainty that hadn't been there since they'd first sang together at New Years. In the eight months they'd been together since, he'd hoped he'd banished that entirely.

It was his own fault she doubted him now.

"I owe you an apology."

"You do."

He almost laughed at her assertive response. Gabriella had grown a lot since he'd first met her - they both had - and this self assured young woman before him didn't doubt what she viewed to be her due. It warmed his heart to know that he had played a part in bringing her out, yet saddened him at the same time. Gabriella had first used that self assurance in dealing with Sharpay - and with him. He'd seen glimpses of her ability to do so before, but this summer had brought out those qualities like never before.

Striding closer, he didn't reach for her yet. If he touched her, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to say what he needed to. Standing before her, he struggled to find the words to the apology that was due while staring down into the brown eyes that had held him captive since January.

"Gabriella... I told Chad before the show that I've been a jerk - and I know I have been. You were right. I was saying and doing things that weren't really me and I was starting to turn into something I wasn't before we started working here." He took a deep breath. "I lost sight of what this Summer was supposed to be when I got caught up in all the 'good' things that kept happening to me and you paid the price. What I did to Chad and the others was bad enough, but what I did to you was unforgiveable. I shouldn't have expected you to put up with that kind of behavior and I'm sorry. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize what a jerk I've been to everyone; especially to you."

"Troy-"

He held up his hand to forestall whatever she had to say. "Please - let me get this out."

Gabriella fell silent, waiting expectantly.

"You know the kind of pressure my dad's been putting on me about college and working on that scholarship became so all consuming, that - not only did I get so focused on the things I thought were important - I lost sight of what really was. What good would it do me to get into a school on a scholarship if I lost all my friends in the process? When you walked away from me..." he swallowed, forging past the lump in his throat, "you forced me to reexamine what I was doing and why. It took you leaving for me to realize that I was trying to impress people by being someone I wasn't at the expense of the friends who mean more to me than anything."

His fingers flexed with the need to touch her, but he didn't yet dare. "Losing you... I never want to go through that again. I don't expect you to forgive me, Gabriella, not right away, and I know I'll have to work to regain your trust... but I'm miserable without you somewhere in my life. I know Kelsey wrote Everyday - it has her trademark feel - but I meant every word it said."

"Likewise."

"I know I - what?" He blinked, startled by her soft agreement.

"I meant it too, Troy." Gabriella's smile was unhindered and a faint teasing slant appeared as he watched. "You didn't sound like you meant it at first though."

"I thought I had to sing it with Sharpay."

She laughed softly at the pained tone in his voice. "That explains everything." Reaching for him, she clasped his hand tightly and interlinked their fingers together, stepping into his body as she tilted her head to look at him. Softly, she sang the lines that meant the most to her from the show. "Everyday, of our lives. Wanna find you there; wanna hold on tight."

"Everyday." Troy lifted his free hand to cup her face. "You are the music in me, Gabriella; Kelsey had it right. Without you, I don't feel like me - it just took me longer than it should have to find the melody again."

Her smile was worth everything he'd endured. "The melody never left."

"No, but I lost it there for a minute." He brushed his thumb over her cheek. "And I didn't know if I'd ever find it again."

"All you had to do was ask."

"I don't deserve you."

"Probably not." Her tease was gentle. "But this works both ways, Troy. For a minute there, I'd lost you too."

"That didn't stop you from walking away."

"I didn't walk away - you did." Gabriella searched his gaze. "You took a path we couldn't walk together; you just couldn't see it."

"I'm glad I didn't stay on it."

"Me too... Taylor told me what happened between you and Sharpay."

"Is that when you got this back?" Troy's fingers traced lightly over the "T" of the necklace he'd given her on the first day of vacation; and she'd given back to him when she'd quit working at the country club - and broken up with him. He'd buried it in his locker, unable to deal with the reminders it brought and the emptiness it only seemed to emphasize.

Nodding, she covered his fingers with hers and enfolded them over the "T" within her own. "You made me a promise when you gave this to me; I intend to hold you to it."

"I hope you do." They shared a smile and Troy ran his thumb over the backs of her fingers. "I'm sorry, Gabriella; I never meant to ruin your summer like this."

"It's salvageable." Her lips tilted into a grin. "I forgive you, Troy; just... don't make a habit of this, okay?"

Easing the necklace from his hand he placed it back on her collar bone and gently traced his fingers over the chain towards her neck. Their eyes locked once more and he hid nothing from her, his expression solemn.

"I broke that promise without meaning to and it took you giving me a swift kick in the pants to see it. This is a promise I won't break; never again. Never again will you doubt who I am or what you mean to me, Gabriella."

Her answering smile was all he'd hoped for as she drew him into a tight hug and clung. He returned her embrace, the rightness of it sweeping through him once more. This was where Gabriella belonged - in his arms - and this time he wouldn't let her go.

Never again.

fin