Chapter 8: Shattered Dreams
"If I smile and don't believe
Soon I know I'll awake from this dream"
December 31st, 2013-9 a.m.
"This is the start of something new and it feels so right to be here with you. Ooh oh! And now looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart. The start of something new" Troy sang and he looked over at his singing partner. She was beautiful. She started singing shyly at first, but then she got into it, with his help of course, and their voices mixed perfectly, merging into one sweet harmony.
After they sang they talked and they all went outside of the teen karaoke bar to watch the fireworks dance over the ski lodge. Troy talked to her, his blue eyes twinkling, and her chocolate brown eyes darting from him to the ground. Her cheeks reddened as they exchanged phone numbers and took a picture of each other for contact IDs. Then, they watched the fireworks until they ended and he watched her walk away. Before she disappeared into the crowd, she turned over her shoulder a smiled a dazzling smile at him. At that moment he knew that she was the one.
Troy blinked his eyes open slowly. He felt something on his cheek and pressed a trembling hand to his face and felt wetness on his fingertips. He was crying.
Almost four years…. It had been almost four years since she died and she still haunted his dreams.
With a sigh, Troy glanced around his room in the ski lodge. Sighing again, he rolled over with the intent of going back to sleep when suddenly his door flew open.
"RISE AND SHINE!" A loud voice commanded. Before he could roll over, something landed on him with a thud.
Troy rolled over, grabbed the thing in his arms, and gave it a harsh look.
"Did you just jump on me? Being jumped on makes me angry!" He said, poking at the thing's sides, and the thing giggled.
The thing was actually an adorable toddler with blonde curly hair, tan skin, and big brown eyes. The person who had ordered him to rise and shine chuckled in the doorway. Troy looked over at is best friend. Even though many years had passed, he still noticed the burns from the explosions at East High School on his friend's arms.
"You know what happens when Uncle Troy gets angry." Chad warned from the door, leaning against its frame.
"THE TICKLE MONSTER APPEARS!" Troy screamed and he began tickling the small child that was sitting on his defined stomach.
Chad laughed and ran forward and picked up his son.
"You know what's worse than Uncle Troy tickling you?" Troy asked and the small toddler giggled a "no!"
"Daddy tickling you!" Troy exclaimed and Chad began tickling his son's feet, holding the squirming child tightly so he wouldn't fall from his father's arms.
"What's going on here?!" A shrill and angry voice questioned from the doorway. "I was trying to get my beauty sleep!"
"You'd have to sleep forever." Chad retorted.
Troy laughed from the bed, and the toddler giggled as well.
"Oh you think you're so funny! At least the top of my head doesn't look like a dirty poodle!" The woman in the doorway shot back.
"OOOHHH!" Troy said, cupping his hands over his mouth. "Burn man!" He continued with a smirk on his face.
"Mommy gowt yew." The child said and the blonde woman snapped her fingers "Yes mommy did!"
"At least Sharpay never changes" Troy stated and everyone laughed.
"I'm going to take Blaze and get him ready for all our fun activities for the day." Sharpay explained as she moved forward and took her child from her husband's arms.
Troy chuckled and Chad shot him daggers and was silent until Sharpay and Blaze left the room.
"Why did you let her name that child Blaze?" Troy asked, a smile on his face.
"Sharpay told me," Chad paused and coughed, and adjusted his voice to a higher (and shriller) pitch. "It's coming out of my vagina, I'll name it what I want!"
Troy burst into laughter and his best friend followed. However, after the laughter died down, Chad got serious.
"Hey man, I'm not trying to say the wrong thing or make you feel bad but… are you sure coming here and spending every New Year's here is a good idea?" Chad said. He saw Troy look away from him, traces of his laughter gone now.
After a moment of silence, Chad decided he needed to continue speaking.
"You haven't moved on. Every New Year's since-." Troy gave him a sharp look and Chad exhaled but continued talking.
"Since Gabriella died… you haven't moved on, Troy. Every year we come here, and you light a candle by where you and her first met. Then you cry, and you're always depressed. Every double date Sharpay and I try to set you up on you ruin it. You talk about Gabriella, you treat those girls how you treat me and then Sharpay and I look like assholes. My own son asked me this morning if we could come cheer you up, because even he can tell that you're miserable. Troy, man, you're pathetic without her."
Troy jumped up from his bed and charged towards his friend. "I'm pathetic for falling in love with a woman and then losing her not once, but twice. The last time I lost her for good! I'm pathetic for not being to cope in a couple of years? We should have been together forever! We should have our own family, we should be happy, and she should be my date when I go out with you and Sharpay! You guys don't have to come on these trips with me, I don't ask to be set up, and I'm always trying to be happy in front of Blaze!" Troy yelled.
"Because you try to pretend he's you and Gabriella's son! Hate to break it to you, man; your son with Gabby wouldn't have had that blonde hair. You need to get out there, you need to get over her, and you need to stop coming here!" Chad replied, taking a step closer to Troy.
Troy shoved him back. "I know Blaze isn't mine. We wouldn't have named our son something stupid like Blaze, we'd name him something like Romeo or Julian, because Gabriella loved those baby names the most." Troy said with anger still in his tone.
"Yeah, because naming your son Romeo or Julian isn't as stupid as naming your son Blaze." Chad said, but then he chuckled.
Troy felt his anger dissipating and he began to laugh as well.
"One day, I know I'll be able to move on. But Chad, it has to be on my terms, not when you want it to be. Sorry if I've hurt or embarrassed you, Sharpay, or little Blaze of glory. I'll try to be happier and not revolve my life around her memory but just know that, Chad, I will never get over her. I will never forgive myself for what happened to her." Troy said, tears welling in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, man." Chad said, walking forward and clasping his best friend's hands and then pulling him into a hug.
Troy knew a hug among bros wasn't manly but they stayed that way for a while, and as they hugged, Troy let his silent tears fall.
December 31st, 2013- 7 p.m.
Troy walked to the place where he first met Gabriella and he stood outside of the little karaoke bar. Inside there were teenagers singing and having fun, but outside it was just him, his heart shattering all over again. In his hands he held red roses, a picture, and a candle.
He cleared his throat and began to sing the song that brought her to him in the first place.
"This is the start of something new and it feels so right to be here with you. Ooohhh oh. And now looking in your eyes. I feel in my heart. The start of something new." He sang.
He had no more tears to cry. He extended the plastic flap behind the picture so it would stand up by itself. The picture was of him and Gabriella at prom. She looked gorgeous and happy and she was wearing a long yellow dress, his favorite color on her. He laid the roses in front of the picture and placed the candle beside the picture, on her side. He illuminated the candle with a small lighter in his pocket. The glow from the flame seemed to cast a halo onto Gabriella.
He smiled, places two fingers to his lips, and moved them in the direction of Gabriella's face on the picture.
Suddenly he heard voices from inside the inn and he turned and walked inside. He had to see the scene one more time.
On the stage there was a girl with glasses, obviously shy, and she was holding the mic down and in front of her, her green eyes focused on the floor. Her singing partner, a young man, was handsome, masculine, and confident complete with blonde hair and gray eyes. He was all into the song.
"I'm sorry I don't understand where all of this is coming from. I thought that we were fine." He sang, his voice low and raspy.
"Oh we had everything." The girl practically whisper-sang into the microphone.
The man continued to sing and finally it reached the chorus. By that time, the girl was smiling and blushing. She cast a wry look over at the boy, who smiled a wide and cheesy smile at her. To everyone's surprise she smiled back and lifted the mic to her lips.
"Just give me a reason, just a little bit's enough." She sang, with a strong and opera like voice. It was beautiful.
The boy mouthed a surprised "Wow!" and then began to sing in harmony with her.
"Just a second, we're not broken, just bent. And we can learn to love again!" They sang, their odd voices somehow fitting the others. Forming a perfect harmony.
Troy watched, and he smiled a genuine smile.
He turned and walked out and knelt in front of Gabriella's memoir he made for her.
"I will honor your memory every day. I will love you forever. And I will move on, I know that's what you want. I will make you proud, and I will always remember you. Those kids in there… they're just like us. They will grow old together and be happy, just like we were supposed to…Goodbye Gabriella." He said, he bit his tongue to bite back screaming from the pain.
Of course the pain wasn't physical. It was from his soul.
Even through the pain, he smiled, and he walked away, whistling the song he just heard the two soon to be lovers sing.