CHAPTER 4: Meeting Up
"Morning sleepy head!" Alicia's voice called from Troy's right side.
"Mmm, mornin'" he said quietly, barely moving his lips, "What time is it?"
Alicia reached for her blackberry on the bed side cabinet to check the time, "Half past eleven"
Troy nodded and gave a five minute sign and snuggled deeper into his warm, welcoming bed.
Alicia rolled her eyes and got up, grabbing a change of clothes for the day whilst walking to his en-suite bathroom to shower.
Ten minutes passed and Alicia emerged from the shower, her hair blow dried and she had curled it to perfect precision. Her slim body covered by a purple blouse and a pair of black chinos, which she had teamed with a pair of strappy high heels.
"Troy, Babe, wake up. I've got to go; I'm having lunch with Chelsea" she said, leaning forward and shaking his shoulder to awaken him for unconsciousness.
Troy mumbled a response and sat up, rubbing his eyes, "When'll you be back?" He asked, running a hand through his messed up hair.
"Three, fourish" she responded before leaning in more and placing a kiss on his stubble covered jaw, before she turned away and within a minute he heard the sound of the front door shut and the sound of her car starting and driving away.
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"New York?" Chad Danforth asked in shock, "As in the New York Knicks?"
Jerry Buss nodded, "Yeah Danforth, the Knicks, whaddaya say?"
"I say no, I'm a Lakers boy" Chad replied, shaking his head before looking down, "I love my teammates like brothers and my life is here, on the West Coast, sorry" he added sheepishly
Jerry nodded, "It's fine Danforth, I wasn't exactly expecting you to say yes, especially with your personal problems" he said in a sympathetic voice.
"Yeah..." Chad replied sadly, "Personal problems. Speaking of, I need to go, I'm meeting up with a Bolton and a few friends later" he said standing up and offering his hand out, which Jerry shook out of mannerism.
"I'll be seeing you around Danforth"
"Bye Buss!" he said, taking off out of the door and towards the elevator that would take him to the ground floor.
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Jason Cross smiled at his coffee cup as he sat outside Starbucks, waiting patiently for his long time best friends. His almost jet black hair messed up and blowing in the wind slightly, his brownish green eyes scanning the surrounding area for his mates. Suddenly he spotted a guy walking towards him wearing a huge grin. The man was light skinned, had blonde hair and wore guy's beach hat in the lightest shade of grey. His grey and blue striped t-shirt matching his blue jeans and grey tennis shoes. It probably was the only guy who cared so much about his looks who wasn't gay or bisexual, Ryan Evans.
"Jason Cross!" he cried running over in a dramatic way. Jason laughed aloud and stood to give him a friendly, and completely manly, hug.
"Ryan, I saw you a week ago, why so dramatic?" This time it was Ryan's turn to laugh,
"I hang around too much with Sharpay" he explained, before they both burst out laughing again.
The two men heard a chuckle from behind them, "I'm married to Sharpay, but I don't act dramatic." The two guys turned around to be greeted by a tall, African-American man. His hair in an army buzz cut style and his wife beater showing off his toned arms.
"Baylor" they both said and rolled their eyes, before grinning in a similar way to Zeke.
"Wassup guys?" he asked pulling a chair out and sitting down, the other two following in his lead,
Ryan smiled, "I'm having a good time choreographing the local theatre, young people have so much talent" he said, sighing dreamily.
Jason stifled a laugh and turned to Zeke, "He's kinda right there though, I'm the coach of a high school basketball team, for crying out loud" he said laughing heartily, "What about you Chef?" he asked nudging Zeke.
"I just got back from the hospital, Shar is freaking out, she's so stressed. But I love my job and my life as a whole" he concluded smiling.
"Why did you just get back from the hospital and why's Shar stressed?" Jason asked curiously
Zeke sighed, "Sam fell down the stairs and lost conscious, he's currently in the hospital, he's better now but Gabs is stressed beyond words, which is stressing Shar" he explained to a shocked Jason.
"Oh my god" he finally said.
"Oh my god what?" a familiar said from behind them.
The trio turned around to see a grinning Troy and Chad looking down at them.
Ryan gulped, "Oh my god, my dog ate my new shoes" he said pathetically
"Uh-huh" Chad mused before chuckling and grabbing two chairs for him and Troy to join them, "What are you guys really talking about?" he asked
"Our lives, how's yours Chad, Troy?" Zeke asked
"Mine's good. Me and the missus are trying for a baby" Chad said smiling bashfully as all the guys congratulated him.
"Yeah, my life's fine" Troy said simply, shrugging his shoulders.
Ryan nodded, "Still with Alicia?" he asked, generally curious
"Yeah, we're doing good" he said nodding
"Plan on popping the question soon?" he asked, and thankfully Troy didn't notice the glares he received from the other three guys.
"Maybe" he said with a shrug of his shoulders, "Just maybe"
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"Alicia" the high pitched voice cried. The owner being a woman named Chelsea, five foot one and a half, twenty two, artificial brunette, naturally a red-head and brown eyes. Her freckles covered by tons of concealer and foundation, and her tan obviously sprayed and fake.
Alicia looked towards the sound of the voice and saw her high school best friend smiling at her and beckoning her over.
"Chelsea" she squealed back and made her way over. The two women air kissed eachother on both cheeks before making their way to the place where they had planned their lunch.
"So how's your husband?" Chelsea asked as they took their seats at one of the booths.
"He's not my husband. Yet" Alicia corrected
"Whatever, how is he?"
"He's been acting distracted lately, y'know ever since his accident"
Chelsea nodded, "Give him time" she said nodding, "He's a guy, and guys need time. He'll be fine soon" Alicia's best friend comforted before taking a forkful of salad into her mouth before chewing slowly.
"I hope so, I really do hope so," she said sadly looking down at her own uneaten green salad.
Chelsea nodded and continued eating her food.
"Maybe he's nervous?" Chelsea offered a few minutes later. Alicia looked confused for a moment.
"About what?"
"Y'know, about taking the next step." Chelsea said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Alicia asked picking her fork up to start eating.
"Maybe he's planning a proposal or something" Chelsea answered simply, watching as Alicia's eyes grew two times its normal size, before the returned to its usual condition.
"Again, I hope that's why" she sighed.
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"Hey Ali Baby, I'm home" Troy called as he entered his Los Angeles pad, dropping his keys in the bowl on the table nearby as he followed the voice that called back out to him.
"Babe, I'm in the kitchen" Alicia called back.
Troy entered the kitchen to be greeted by the mouth-watering aroma of his girlfriends Italian cooking, being of Italian descent, her Italian food was delectable.
"Mmm, smells good Ali." He said before laughing and starting to sing, "Hey good lookin', watcha got cookin'? How about cookin' somethin' up for meeee" he sang, walking up behind his girlfriend, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling his nose into the crook between her neck and shoulder.
"Spinach and mushroom ravioli with a nice glass of white wine. Sound good?" she asked, stirring the pot of pasta.
"Sound's fantastic Baby" he said pressing a kiss to her right cheek before unwrapping her from his embrace and walking over to her side before nudging her shoulder with his own, "It looks and smells fantastic too" he said smiling at his partner.
Ten minutes later Alicia and Troy were sitting outside on the patio table, eating their evening meal with satisfying smiles on their faces.
"So it sounded, smelt and looked fantastic, I can now add feeling and tasting fantastic to that list too" Troy said, taking another forkful. Alicia smiled,
"It was my Aunt Lillian's recipe, she e-mailed it to me yesterday, and I thought I'd try it" she said shrugging her shoulders, "I'm glad you like it Troy."
Troy smiled, "Hey Ali? Do you wanna go for a picnic tomorrow? At the park?" he asked taking another forkful as his girlfriend did the same, nodding at the same time.
"I'd enjoy that, lunch?" Alicia asked
"Yeah, I'm cooking the food, or buying it, or whatever" he said shaking his head, an action which caused his girlfriend to laugh.
"I love you Troy"
"Love you too Ali" he said back, grinning widely, "I really do."
AN: Okay, LOOONG TIME! Thanks to all of y'all who reviewed! Please keep on reviewing, I love waking up every morning to see new reviews, even if you read it a few weeks after its been updated, please review and recommend. Oh yeah! Please go check out "Girl Of Hope"'s profile page and PM her about her new HSM fic, plus shout out to BabyV120 for correcting my grammatical error! xxx
-Amy