I don't own anything.
A/N: Hey, it's time for another update…first off I want to thank my reviewers from last week; glasvegas, chaylorXtraylorlover101, lilmissmonique, Aud11 , LadiiBabiiCottonCandii990 , Phelycia, PhantomGroupie91, LunaSolTierra, mzwendy85, cornique chaylor girl, and Tina. I hope you all enjoy this new update and please remember to review.
Chapter Six
Troy pulled up into the parking garage that led to the penthouse that Darius had set up for him when he first signed with the label. As soon as he turned off the car, his cell phone rang and he quickly answered thinking it might be Taylor. "Hello?"
"Troy, how did it go?" he paused as Sharpay's voice came crashing through the line, her voice was so loud in fact that he had to hold the phone away from his ear for a moment in order to protect his ear from damage.
"It went fine…you guys really know her, she gave me a second chance. We are going to be friends and get to know one another." He replied softly as he walked into the elevator. "Thank you guys for helping me."
"We weren't helping you…we were helping Taylor." She replied back coldly, Troy rolled his eyes for a moment and just sighed before shaking his head.
"Right how could I forget." He replied with a shake of his head.
"Well, you're friend is doing fine. Now look there are some things I have to tell you both…well actually one thing." He replied as he thought about Taylor's warning from earlier that month when he had met her again. He knew that if her parents or anyone else found out about her and actually tried to pursue her that she would push him away and right now he was closest anyone had been to her in years and he wasn't going to let anyone ruin that.
"What is it?"
"She doesn't want anyone to know…heck I wasn't even suppose to call you or Gabrielle but I was at my wits end, but seriously don't tell anyone cause that will just drive her away even more and no one wants that."
"I don't know about that Troy."
"She's angry with everyone right now…the last thing she needs is for you guys to tell everyone and her parents and others show up here expecting her to be happy to see them. Let's just try to avoid that scene for now. In fact let me be the one that tells you guys when to come…I'll wait till I think she's ready to handle it."
"That might not be for a while," Sharpay replied softly. "But I guess I understand your reasoning. I just hope this secret doesn't explode from my chest like Alien." Troy chuckled and shook his head at the image and sighed.
"God, you are so dramatic…I don't know how Zeke handles it."
"He loves me." She replied with a smug tone, Troy just nodded his head and pulled out his key for his door.
"Thanks again…I know you had reason to help me, but I'm glad you did." He replied with a soft sigh. "I think I better get going. I have a long day ahead of me."
"Alright…um if you need anything just call me or Gabrielle and we'll help you out and stay out of trouble with her. Gabrielle and I can only work so many miracles." Troy just chuckled as he said bye and hung up the cell phone. Entering the penthouse he closed the door and looked over at the instruments lining the wall. The whole evening, several words had been tumbling through his mind all words to a song. Snapping his fingers, he smiled as the title came to mind.
"Can't Hide Love…by the elements." He shook his head and chuckle for a moment as he started to sing the song, giving the old song a new flavor. He picked up walked over to the wall and starting beating on it. Happy that he was now leaving alone, this was one of the habits he had acquired that use to drive Gabrielle simply crazy. As he started the beat he began singing the song.
"Uuuuuhhhh, Yeah Uuuuuh, You want my love and you can't deny, You know it's good, but you try to hide." He bopped his head for a few seconds before chuckling, as he thought about the look she gave him after he kissed her forehead. "You turn down love like it's really bad, You can't give what you never had, Well bless your soul, you can fool a few (hey ai), But, I know the truth and so do you." He backed from the wall and then headed towards his room slowly stripping off his clothing. "You can't hide love,But I betcha (uuuhh) betcha (betcha), You can't hide longer, Well I betcha (well I betcha), You can't hide feeling inside."Taking off his shirt he tossed it aside and paused for a moment before sitting down on the bed. "Do I love her…," he lifted a hand and rubbed it on the bottom of his chin for a moment before sighing. "Well damn." He trailed off softly as he looked down at his hands. "That came completely out of nowhere."
~*~*~*~~*~*~*~
The next day, Troy pulled up outside of Taylor's home. Turning off the car he barely made it to the front door before it opened and Taylor stepped out. "Good morning…I'm surprised to see you up bright and early." He replied with a chuckle as he paused on the stairs leading into her home. "I was sincerely hoping for the chance to wake you up as a friend today."
"Please regardless of if you're my friend…I don't like people waking me up in the morning." She replied smartly. "Come on…I was up because I was going to call you and come over to your place this morning so we can talk."
"You aren't taking back your thoughts on us becoming friends are you?" he questioned with an amused grin that just made Taylor glare back at him as if he had completely lost his mind. "Cause I would be deeply hurt if you did decide that."
"I'm not…I just think that I have to establish some ground rules."
"You've already done that." He deadpanned as he remembered the lunch where she told him what she wanted him to do in regards to her. Stepping back he tried his best to keep the smile off his face because he was pretty sure that she would get angry with him and calm that he wasn't taking her seriously.
"Well since we're starting over again…I believe I should reestablish the ground rules again." Troy watched her for a moment before nodding his head. If she was going give him some more rules well than he was going to provide some conditions for her as well.
"Sounds exciting let's get started." He replied as he allowed her to lead him inside. After his personal revelation the night before Troy found himself relishing the light touches that passed between them. Especially the way she laid her hand on his arm as she walked through her home. They walked upstairs and then entered a study. Troy looked around for a moment as Taylor closed the door behind them. Looking at the titles of the books that lined the wall, he almost sighed aloud. So this is where the real Taylor McKessie is. Glancing over his shoulder he looked at Taylor who stood by the door watching him silently. "Didn't know you still read these science journals considering that you're a singer and stuff now, I would have thought you would have been reading something like Entertainment Weekly…or People…" he trailed off as Taylor walked over and picked up a magazine.
"This stuff still interests me…I just didn't pursue the career." She replied her voice taking on a reflective tone as she flipped through the pages of the medical journal in her hands. "I wanted to do something else." She replied tossing it onto the table. "Now let's talk." Troy turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, let's do that…now what are these so-called ground rules." He asked as he crossed his arms over his chest and studied her silently.
"Nothing much other than ones that I told you the first time. I want you to call me Tay-Ann…you slip up to much with that and you call me Taylor, stop messing with me and Darius and…"
"I didn't come here to get lectured. In fact friends don't lecture one another. Now as for your rules…don't worry I'll call you Tay-Ann in public, but I'm going to call you Taylor when we're alone."
"No you won't."
"Yes…I will. If this is going to be a true friendship," he paused as he let the word settled between them. Truth was he didn't want just a friendship between but instead wanted something more but knew in his heart that friendship was the only way to get things between them to where he wanted…no desired for things to be. "If this is going to be a true friendship…then I will call you Taylor in private. Me walking around and calling you Tay-Ann just rings false with me on several levels and I will only maintain that in the public because I am your friend and I wouldn't want you to get upset, but when we are in private I will call you Taylor…cause I want to get to know her…not this character Tay-Ann that you've created for the past five years."
"I'm not a character."
"Look I'm not looking to start a fight with you…just know that when we're alone like now…I'm going to call you Taylor, Taylor." He replied with a cool smile, "And as for messing with you and Darius…I do that because I'm me, and if you can't handle it well that's not my problem now is it. I don't do anything out of ill will…I'm just witty."
"Witty my ass." She mumbled as she looked at him from her position across the room. "Look as a friend I'm telling you point blank to stop messing with Darius he doesn't like it and he's your boss. You wanna keep this job then do it."
"Fine…I'll try, but don't expect to much, cause this is entirely to much fun, Taylor." He replied taking that moment to reinsert her real name into the conversation. He watched as she flinched as if hit and sighed.
"Taylor…I just don't understand it sometimes why you're like this…why you hate your real name."
"I was weak as Taylor," she replied softly as she looked back around the room at the books lining the wall. "I was weak and constantly having my nose in those books didn't help me. Tay-Ann is someone who is stronger and doesn't allow a man to make a fool out of her."
"Why do you consider yourself a fool." He replied softly. "Is that something Darius told you?"
"I'm not going to allow you to bad mouth Darius." She replied on reflex as she looked at him, Troy nodded his head and raised his hands in an attempt to show that he understood.
"No one considers you a fool…what Chad did was awful to you, and I can certainly tell that he hurt you deeper than anyone could have imagined but you weren't the fool in the situation. He was…he had someone like you and he foolishly pushed you. He's the fool for losing out on someone that was a true and loving woman and any man that willingly passes up an opportunity to have a woman like that in his corner is the fool not the woman." Troy whispered as he stepped closer to her with a sigh. "He's the fool…not you. It was never you."
"Whatever." She mumbled as she looked at him for a moment. "Whatever Troy…I don't have time for this." Troy just watched as she physically put distance between them. He wanted to get through to her but knew that would be a bad decision especially since she was still clinging to Darius and besides that was what Gabrielle and Sharpay told him to do.
"Look I don't want to start a fight with you, Taylor." He replied softly. "I just want you to know that I don't consider you a fool. You loved Chad…and he abused it but that doesn't make you a fool, it never will."
"We should probably get going…I know Darius wants us to meet with him at the studio…we have songs to record." Troy's shoulders slumped as he looked at her for a moment before shaking his head.
"Well alright…let's go." He replied as he followed Taylor out of her study. As they made their way back downstairs, he looked down at his watch and sighed for a moment. "Are we pressed for time?"
"Not really." He raised an eyebrow as he opened up the front door and stepped back so she could exit first.
"I think we should take my car."
"You mean your mini jet." Taylor replied as she slipped around Troy to lock the front door. He looked down at her and shook his head.
"It's not a mini jet."
"Yeah, it's not when normal people drive it…but you speed demon…no you drive it like a mini jet bent on breaking the sound barrier." Troy chuckled at the statement and walked over to his car unlocking the doors with the keypad on his keychain. Looking over his shoulder at Taylor he spoke quickly but with authority.
"Get in the mini jet, Taylor," he stated firmly while offsetting the tone with a soft smirk. "We'll make it there in time."
~*~*~*~~*~*~*~
Three weeks later…
Maria was busy cooking breakfast when she heard a familiar knock on the front door. Without even looking at the video feed she spoke her voice cheerful and carefree. "Good morning, Mr. Bolton." She called out as she continued mixing the batter in the bowl she held in her arms. Almost immediately Troy's voice sounded.
"Good morning, Maria…can I come in." Dropping the spoon, Maria reached out for the entrance button and pressed it. "Thanks." He replied a few moments later, Maria heard the sound of Troy in the hallway. He always seemed to walk around with a bounce in his step. One she was almost certain was there because of his relationship with Tay-Ann. They were good for one another, but Troy was mostly good for her Tay-Ann. He kept her on her toes, and she didn't appear to be so sad anymore especially when he was around. Coming into the kitchen, Troy leaned against the doorframe with a bright smile on his face. "Hello Maria…and what delicious foods are you cooking this morning." He asked as he rubbed his stomach and walked over to her.
"It's a surprise…now how about you go and wake up Tay-Ann so you both can enjoy this breakfast together before you have to head out to the studio." She replied making sure to keep her back to him. Troy chuckled lightly and just smiled as he looked at Maria.
"Oh come on…I'm hungry now…besides I'm a growing boy," he paused and shook his head. "A growing man and I need to eat go."
"You know you're young enough to be my son if I had any children…so to me you are still a growing boy but that doesn't mean I don't want you to take your skinny self up there and wake up Tay-Ann." Troy smiled at Maria as she finished her statement and stepped back.
"Alright…fine I'll go and see about Tay-Ann, but you know how mean she is in the morning are you sure you want to put me through that." He asked in amusement, Maria turned to him at that time and just chuckled.
"Yes, I do…cause I certainly don't want to go and wake her up." She replied with a smile as Troy exited the kitchen with a shake of his head. Bounding up the stairs two at a time, he quickly made his way to Taylor's room. Opening the door, he saw her sprawled out on the bed looking just as peaceful as she wanted to be. She looked beautiful, and he could admit that to himself. Even though with him no matter what time he saw her…she was beautiful to him. Moving over to the bed, he sat down and leaned back so that his mouth was by her ear.
"Taylor." He whispered. "Taylor." He called again as he looked down at her wondering why he had never really noticed just how beautiful she was back in high school. For the past few weeks he had been asking himself that over and over again. Why the hell had he been so blind back in high school, to the point that he didn't see Taylor Ann McKessie? Shaking off the question, his mind seemed to constantly want answered; he focused back on Taylor and decided to do something he knew would piss her off, and get her up at the same time.
Taylor was having a rather pleasant dream about her and Troy, not that she would ever tell him about it. He already had to big of an ego, and she didn't want him to know that she liked him. That just wasn't an choice. It went against everything that Darius had told her and she just didn't want to do it. She didn't want to take a chance on getting hurt, which Darius told her time and time again would happen if she ever opened her hurt to love another man. The dream was getting rather heated and that's when she felt a weight settled down on her back. Groaning she opened her eyes only to realize that the weight on her back was heavier than she initially thought. "Good morning, Taylor." She screamed out loud, which caused Troy to roll off her back his voice booming with laughter. Lifting her head, she grabbed a nearby pillow and starting beating him with it.
"That so wasn't funny, Troy…ugh, why does Maria keep on letting you wake me up like this." She cried looking up towards the ceiling as she rolled onto her back. Troy just chuckled and watched as she looked up towards the ceiling.
"She let's me do it, because she knows that I will get you up and take your cursing with a smile."
"You know damn well I don't curse in the morning." Taylor mumbled as she pulled her pillow closing to her. Troy snorted at her and just shook his head.
"I guess that was just an example then huh." Taylor lifted her head and glared at him for a moment. "Now come on…Maria is probably downstairs cooking something wonderful and we both know that I will eat your share if you take to long now get up and get dress. Don't make me have to stand you up in the shower."
"Oh you are the rudest, evilest…man I know."
"And yet I'm still your friend." Troy replied his face taking on a puzzled look. "I guess I must not be that bad, now," his word was met by a resounding slap as his hand landed on the right side of Taylor's behind. "Get up…and get dressed." He replied as he watched her jump out of bed rubbing her backside. She was now openly glaring at him and without saying a word she pointed towards the door. "Look, I know you hate that…but really that's the only way to get you to get up."
"Out."
"I'll see you downstairs." He replied with a smirk as he waltzed out of the room only to hear the door slam behind him. A moment later, Maria stood at the bottom of the stairs her hands on her hips as she looked up at him.
"Don't tell me you made her mad." Troy moved down the stairs with a smile on his face, only pausing by her side for a moment.
"Well okay…I didn't make her mad." And with that said, he headed into the kitchen with Maria following behind him while giving him a piece of her mind.
It was nearly an hour before Taylor came into the kitchen feeling slightly refreshed, she spied Troy over by the table with a plate full of food before him. Looking over at Maria, she spoke up. "I don't know why you feed him…he's just a pain in the ass."
"I take it you meant for the pun to be intended." Troy replied looking up from his food, as Taylor looked back down at him. She reached out for one of his bacons only to have her hand slapped away. "Oh no you don't…Maria is currently making your plate…this right here is mine."
"You don't want to share." She asked giving him one of her best innocence looks. Troy watched her for a moment before looking over at Maria.
"You know she should really try to be an actress…that look right there was perfect for a dramatic role," he stated before looking back at Taylor. "But it certainly won't work on me who lives in the real world."
"Ugh, you're no fun."
"Of course I am." He countered softly as he held up one strip of bacon towards her. Taylor took it from him and bite into it delicately before sitting down across from Troy just as Maria set her plate and water down. After that Maria excused herself leaving them all alone, leaning back in his chair Troy watched her for a moment before speaking. "So what's on the agenda for today?"
"We're suppose to meet Darius for a recording session." She replied back softly as she cut off a piece of pancake and bite into it. Troy watched her as she lipped her lips and immediately felt a stirring within his body that he hadn't felt in over a year.
"Really…which one of us will be doing the recording?"
"Probably you…I have the majority of my album completed." She replied with a shrug, "He probably wants me there to just talk over some things about the upcoming release party."
"Right…and your album comes out when?"
"November 13." Troy nodded his head as he took his eyes away from the display she was currently creating by taking yet another bite of her pancakes. They sat there in silence for a few more moments before Taylor spoke up again. "Troy?"
"Yeah." He asked looking up from his plate.
"I was wondering…you know the album release party that Darius will be throwing, well I just wanted to know if…well if you wanted to come with me. I mean we can go as frien-."
"I would love to go." Troy replied softly as he looked at her, while gracing her with one of his gentle smiles.
"Okay…cause just to let you know…I've released about three albums and I've never had someone come with me to these parties. I always went alone." Troy pushed his plate to the side and eyed her for a minute before nodding his head.
"I guess that changes on November 13." He replied softly as he looked across the table at her meeting her stare head on.
~*~*~*~~*~*~*~
"I want you to answer my question, Julius. Do you think that Tay-Ann and…and Troy are together." Darius sneered as he sat behind his desk clearly furious over the idea of his most prized artist getting entangled with the only person on his label that he couldn't control. Over the past few weeks, he had been noticing how Taylor had been spending more and more time with Troy. She was always smiling in the other man's presence and she seemed to be completely at ease with him even more at ease with him then she ever had been with him. Looking up at Julius he slammed his fists on the table and yelled. "Yes me, damnit."
"I think they'll friends…I haven't seen any romantic moments between them." He replied softly wondering why the idea was pissing Darius off so badly. True, Troy got on Darius' nerves but he didn't think that his friend and boss would be that upset if Tay-Ann decided to pursue a relationship with the man. Besides it wasn't like she hadn't had relationship with other artists on the label before, so he couldn't understand why Troy was different. In fact, Darius didn't have that great of a relationship with Jamal Westland come to think of it and he had been involved with Tay-Ann. "Besides who cares if they are. We both know that Tay-Ann will…"
"Can't you tell that this time things are different?" Darius replied. "I don't want her," he paused and thought of how to frame his words correctly. "I don't want her to fall in love, and then get her heart broken again. It took me to long to fix that the first time and I don't want to see her in pain like that again."
"Well maybe this time…maybe Troy is just the man for her."
"Yeah, right." Darius replied vehemently, as he shook his head in disbelief. "That boy is still torn up by his ex-girlfriend, and I'm not going to let some guy whose heart still belongs to another openly pursue Tay-Ann. She doesn't deserve that and as her friend I'm going to try my best to protect her." Julius just looked at him for a moment before shaking his head.
"I get where you're coming from…but to me he doesn't look torn up about his ex-girlfriend…in fact when we met him he didn't care either. He didn't write that song "Uno" recently. He wrote that after the fact and when we mentioned it to him; he told us quite plainly that he was over everything."
"Like he'd tell us the truth…but believe me I'm not gonna go off his word where Tay-Ann is concern. As her friend…no as practically the only family she has left I am going to watch out for her as best as I can because I know I would want her to do the same for me." Darius replied furiously, angry that Julius was following along behind him. Walking over to his door, he held it open and looked pointedly at Julius. "Good day." He stated coldly leaving as he looked at the man who he considered one of his only friends. Julius watched him for a brief moment before nodding his head and walking out. Once he was he gone, Darius slammed the door shut and turned around rapidly tapping his finger along his chin as he strolled back towards his desk. "No one around here is any help…damn, if want to get this done I guess I'm gonna have to do this myself." Walking around to his chair he flopped down and released a loud sigh. He knew with anyone having to tell him that Taylor and Troy were falling in love. He wasn't a fool and he could see it happening right before his eyes constantly. The way she looked at him, and the way he looked at her. It was all sickening and in the way of making him lose money. If Taylor lost her edge on the general public and turned into a soft singer about love and romance. His entire empire would crumple right around him and he wasn't having that. He made her who she was, he made her famous, and he made her a star. And now all of that was in danger just because her heart beat a bit to rapidly, whenever Bolton entered the room. He knew in order to drive a wedge between them that he would have to act like the innocent party only bringing to light new information because he cared for her. "Yes, that's the way to get things done." He mumbled as he picked up a pen and thought things over. "There would be a recording session coming up soon." In fact later on that day…if he was going to get things done he would have to act fast. Cause he wasn't about to lose Taylor for nothing, and certainly not to some little upstart punk he had signed to his own label. Lifting his head up, he smiled and reached out for his phone and dialed one of the extensions. Sitting back, he waited…by the end of the day he was certain there would a divide so big between Taylor and Troy that he all would have to do is sit back and watch Taylor run away from Troy and back into his steady hold.
Song Credit: Can't Hide Love- Earth, Wind and Fire