Hey guys here's chapter 7 that's filled w drama ;)
please review!
Chapter 7
I remember the day you told me you were leaving
I remember the make-up running down your face
And the dreams you left behind you didn't need them
Like every single wish we ever made
I wish that I could wake up with amnesia
And forget about the stupid little things
Like the way it felt to fall asleep next to you
And the memories I never can escape
June 3, 2014
I slowly open my eyes and wince at the throbbing ache in my head. I blink as I look around my bedroom, and a sense of confusion runs through my mind. I don't remember coming to bed last night. I stand up from my bed and see that I am still in the clothes I wore yesterday. I furrow my eyebrows. Why didn't I change? I walk out to the hall and tiptoe down the stairs, trying to avoid making a noise. I scan the foyer and the kitchen before moving towards the living room. I frown as I find nothing wrong there, either. I walk over to the door leading to the basement and open it, heading down the stairs. I open the door to my music room, and a tremor runs throughout my body as I look around. It is completely trashed. A guitar (not the one I threw before Tay's wedding) lay in pieces on the ground, the drums are tipped over with holes in the canvases, and sheets of music are strewn across the floor. A hand raises to my mouth in shock at the disaster.
What the hell happened?
I groan as my phone starts to ring, and I open my eyes and grab it from the nightstand. I glare at my screen as Gabriella's name flashes across it. I press decline and set it back on the stand. I look down at Violet before sighing and closing my eyes once more.
I frown as I look down at my phone. He declined me. Why would he decline me? I thought we had gotten somewhere the last few days. I shake my head and force myself to clean up my music room, making myself forget the memories from last night that had come rushing back to me.
Twenty minutes later, everything's picked up, and I run a hand through my hair. I walk over to the connected bathroom and go pee. I wash my hands before looking in the mirror. "Oh my God," I gasp as I turn my head to reveal a large, ugly purple and green bruise on my cheekbone. I roll in my lips as tears start to blur my vision. I grab my spare foundation and bronzer I keep in here and begin to apply it to my cheek. I wince as I touch the bruise but force myself to blend everything in until it looks almost normal. I bite my lip as I look at myself in the mirror one last time before quickly walking out of the bathroom. I walk over to the piano before I collapse on the piano bench, releasing a deep breath. I turn to face the piano, and I open it. My fingers press down on the keys for a moment, re-familiarizing myself with them. I play the lullaby I used to sing for Marisol as a warm-up. Once I finish the song, I thumb through my sheet music until I find my debut song. I smile softly as I set it up. My fingers start to play the melody, and I can feel the music entering my body. I had written this song a few months after I had left Troy, and it still brought back so many memories. "To make you feel my love," I sing the ending, and I play the last few notes. My hands slide off the keys and into my lap. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths as my mind travels back to last night.
The smile drops from my face as I take in the sight of Blake. "What are you doing here?" I hiss. I scrunch my nose as I smell the rank smell of alcohol. "And drunk?"
"I-I came to… apol-apologize," he slurs, stumbling into my house. I scowl at my door before shutting it, and I turn around, crossing my arms over my chest.
"You can't just come to my house like this, Blake. I have a daughter if you've forgotten."
"Oh, but Troy Bolton can, can't he?" My eyes widen. What? How does he know about that? He rolls his eyes. "You didn't think I noticed? You weren't all that subtle the other night with your swollen lips, and he had some lipstick on his neck," he spat angrily. I bite my lip as he continues, "Then I came to your house yesterday, and guess whose car was parked at your back entrance? None other than Troy Bolton's Rolls Royce." He shakes his head. "I bet you let him fuck you because that's the kind of girl you are. You open your legs for some 'friend', but not your boyfriend. I didn't think you were a slut, but you did have a kid at nineteen." I gasp, and my hand flies up to slap his cheek. His eyes flash with fury, and I take a step backwards, feeling slightly intimidated. "You're just pissed because you can't handle the truth. Well, here it is, Gabriella. You're a slut. You're a whore."
"Mommy?" Marisol's sweet voice interrupts my thoughts, and I blink before looking over at her, a forced smile gracing my lips.
"Hi, baby girl," I say as she walks over, clutching her stuffed elephant. She climbs up on the piano bench, and I open my arms before she cuddles into my chest. "How are you this morning?" She shrugs as she sucks her thumb. I frown as I pull her hand out of her mouth. "Marisol, you're a big girl. You don't suck your thumb."
She tucked her hand away as she looked up at me with her big blue eyes. "I wanna play with Troy today, Mama."
I shake my head. "You can't, Mari. I have to go back to work today, so I can be ready for my show next weekend," I explain, standing up from the bench. She frowns. "But-". "No buts, Marisol Alexandra. Besides, Uncle Chad and Aunt Tay will be at rehearsal! You haven't seen them since their wedding."
"I haven't seen Troy in forever," she exaggerates. I roll my eyes and don't reply. With Troy and I as her parents, it's really not a shock that she's this stubborn.
Two hours later, I walk into the rehearsal studio with Marisol holding my hand. "Uncle Chad!" she squeals as she catches sight of her favorite uncle, and she releases my hand and clamors over to him. He picks her up and twirls her around, and I walk over to them, a smile on my face.
"Hey, Gabs!" Taylor says, pulling me in for a hug.
I hug her tightly before letting go, and I take a look at her glow. "Oh, Tay, you look gorgeous! How was the honeymoon?"
She grins. "G, it was freaking amazing. Aruba was beautiful! The ocean was so blue, the sand so soft! The weather was-"
"She acts like we went outside of our hotel room," Chad interjects, and I snort as Taylor hits him.
"Chaddyus Elias!"
"Tay, do you have to use my real name?" he whined, setting Marisol on the ground.
She nods her head. "When you're acting childish, then yes, I must use it." He rolls his eyes, and I laugh, shaking my head at my two foolish friends.
"Gabriella, it's time to start!" The director of my tour, Alan Broderick, calls. I shoot him a thumbs up, and I unzip my jacket, leaving me in a black crop top, before throwing it on a chair with my duffel bag.
I crouch down and look at Marisol. "Be good for Uncle Chad and Aunt Tay, okay?" She nods, and I kiss her forehead. "I love you."
"Love you, too!" she says, and I smile and stand up. As I'm walking away, I hear her ask, "Can we go play with Troy?" I tense up for a moment before relaxing and continuing over to where the dancers and choreographer are located.
After an intense four hour rehearsal, we are finally done for the day, and I walk over to the chair with my things on it. I pull out a white towel and wipe off my sweaty face. I go to put the towel back in the bag, but I stop when I see all my makeup has come off. "Shit," I curse, and my hand shoots to cover my cheek. I rustle through my bag for my phone, and I unlock it before I go back to Troy's name. I click it and replace my hand with my phone as I stand up with my things. I walk out of the studio as the phone rings. "Answer Troy, come on," I whisper to myself as I'm assaulted by the paparazzi. I push my way through them, and I frown when his voicemail picks. "Hey, it's Gabi. I need to talk to you, so please give me a call back, alright?" The phone beeps, indicating the message is over, but I don't move it from my face. The paparazzi would have a heyday if they saw the bruise.
"Do you want more tea, Troy?" Marisol asks me, holding up her play teapot.
"Why, of course I would. This is the greatest tea I've ever had!" I exclaim, holding out the purple teacup to her, and she fills it with the water Chad had put in it.
"Thanks, but," her voice lowers to a whisper, "Uncle Chad made it. You can't tell anyone, not even Spike the Whale. Pwomise?" Her blue eyes that match mine are wide, and she holds out her small pinkie. My heart swells with pride as I look at this adorable creature that I had created.
I lock my pinkie with hers. "Promise," I say. She grins before she looks up at my head and frowns. "What's wrong?"
"I'll be right back. Wait right here," she orders before running out of the room.
I look over from my spot at the small kid's table at Taylor and Chad, whom are both sitting on the couch. "Thanks for letting me be with her," I say with an immense feeling of gratitude.
"Of course, but why didn't you just ask Gabriella if you could've just watched her today? I thought you two had cleared things up?" Taylor asks, confusion in her tone. My body tenses up as my mind goes back to what I saw last night, and the anger starts to course through my body again.
Chad furrows his eyebrows. "Hey, Tay, why don't you go see what Marisol's up to? She's most likely in her toys that she keeps here." She raises an eyebrow, but she nods and leaves. He waits until she's gone before turning back to me. "What happened?"
I clench my jaw as the picture of her lips on that bastard's mouth burns into my mind. "After I got bored sitting at home yesterday, I thought of what I wanted to do, and it was to be with her and Marisol. My plan was to order in and have a nice, quiet night with her and Marisol, so I went out and bought her flowers before heading to her house. I pulled up, and there was another car in the drive so I assumed it was her mom's. I walked up to the house, and," I pause, my jaw pulsing, and continue in a low voice, "she was kissing her precious boyfriend."
Chad's eyes widened. "Dude, are you sure? Gabs wouldn't do something like that," he reasoned.
I let out a bitter chuckle. "That's what I thought, too, but apparently, she would," I state darkly.
The crease on his forehead deepens. "Something isn't right about this, man. I know Gabriella. She would never do that. She loves you, and she's been looking for an out from that dick for a while now."
Our conversation is interrupted by Marisol sprinting back in the room, and I instantly feel the tenseness in my body wash away. "I found it!" she squeals, stopping in front of me with her hands behind her back.
"What'd you find, peanut?"
"A princess-fairy crown!" she cried excitedly, showing me the plastic tiara with purple diamonds and pink feathers. My eyes widen, and she frowns. "Do you not like it, Troy?" she asks sadly. Her frown changes into a pout, and I'm instantly pulled in. She has her mother's pout.
"I love it," I answer, and her face immediately brightens, causing me to smile as well. She places the crown on my head before throwing her arms around my neck. I squeeze her to me tightly before she moves away from my embrace. "Now, back to tea time! Uncle Chad, do you wan-"
"Oh my God, what happened to your face?!" We hear Taylor shout from the front door. Chad and I look at each other in confusion before I hear a voice that makes my stomach turn and blood boil at the same time.
"Nothing, Tay, I just ran into the door this morning," her soft voice replies, and I ball my hands into fists and squeeze hard.
"Mommy!" Marisol says ecstatically and rushes to where her mother and Taylor are.
"The hell you did. Chad, look at her face!" Taylor hollers as she pulls Gabriella into the room, whose hand is covering her right cheek.
He stands up and walks over to the women. "Let me see, Gabs," he says softly. She sighs softly and removes her hand. My eyes widen as I take in the large bruise on her cheek. My anger begins to rise again, but it's directed to whomever did this to her. "What the hell?! Who did this to you, Gabriella? Who?!" Chad bellows.
She bites her lips and averts her gaze, which happens to fall on me. Her eyes burn into me. "What the hell is he doing here?!" she exclaims, and I glare back at her. "You can't just have whomever you want over when my daughter's with you!"
I roll my eyes. "Oh, like I'm going to hurt her? You don't know me at all if you think I'd do that," I remark.
"I thought I knew you, but I'm not so sure anymore," she spits.
I laugh coldly, standing up from the table. "That's golden coming from you!" I snarl.
"Ookay, I'll take Marisol upstairs," Taylor says, but both of us ignore her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asks. "I'm not the one who didn't answer any calls." She crosses her arms as she scowls at me. "I didn't think you were the hump and dump kind of guy."
"Do you hear yourself right now?! You should maybe open your eyes and realize what you are saying is exactly who you are!" I begin to pace the room, unable to look at her.
She scrunches her eyebrows. "What does that even mean?!"
I spin around to glower at her. "Oh, bullshit! You know exactly what I'm talking about, Gabriella!"
"No, I don't! All I know is that you," she jabs me hard in the chest, "decided that you were going to waltz back into my life, and then leave me hanging in the end! You're finally getting the payback you've wanted for the past four years. You want me to hurt as bad as you did when I left you. But you leaving right now not only hurts me, but our daughter, too."
I stare down at her in disbelief. Who does she think I am? I'm not some immature dick who wants to mess around with her and our daughter's feelings whenever I feel like. "You know what hurts our daughter, Gabriella? Sleeping with one man, then kissing and most likely screwing another man like some whore," I snarl.
"Woah, man, too far," Chad inputs, pushing me away from her as her face turns blank.
I shake my head. "Of course you take her side, man."
"Y-you were there last night?" she asks quietly.
"Yeah, I saw you kiss him, and you looked pretty into it," I muttered bitterly.
"Did you see me push him away? Did you see him smack me? Did you see me kick him? Did you see him knock me to the ground and drag me to the basement? Did you see me destroy my music room in an attempt to keep him away from me? Did you see him punch me in the stomach and legs? Did you see him get so pissed after I kneed him in the balls that he didn't care if people saw the bruise, and he punched across the face? Did you see," she swallows hard, tears welling in her eyes, "did you see him r-rape me?" her voice cracks.
I'm going to kill this fucking guy. "Gabs, wha-why didn't you call me? Or the police?" She doesn't answer as she continues to keep her gaze locked with mine.
"I called Troy, but he decided to leave too quickly to realize what was actually happening," she answers icily before spinning on her heel and walking out of the room. I'm frozen in my spot. Gabriella was raped. She was raped, and I could've stopped it if I had actually thought with my heart, not my head. I know she would never have done that to me. I blink as I hear the front door open, and I immediately run for her. I'm not letting her down this time. "Gabriella!" I call as she places Marisol in her car seat. She ignores me as she wipes at her eyes, and I meet her at the driver's door. She refuses to look at me. "Ella," I whisper.
Her head whips up, and I feel my heart break as I look into her broken, hallow eyes that were filled with tears. "Why didn't you save me?" she asks helplessly.
I lick my dry lips, feeling my own tear ducts start to moisten. "I wasn't thinking. I was hurt, and I thought you were done with me." She sniffles. "Please, El, forgive me. I'm sorry."
She shakes her head fervently. "I called you. I needed you, and you ignored me. I don't need you anymore. So please, just stay out of my life. I'll-I'll figure something out about Marisol, but I don't want to see you again. Goodbye, Troy," she mumbles before getting into her car.
If my heart wasn't already broken, then it surely is now.