What the heck, where am I?

I opened my eyes some more and then realized exactly where I was. I'm in my living room and my head is on someone's chest. Oh my gosh.

And yep, it's Troy. I'm sleeping on top of Troy and I assume I did so all night.

I slowly get up but it doesn't wake him up at all. He turns a bit on the couch, but his eyes are still closed and he's pulling the blanket up to cover him so yes, it's safe to assume that he is still sound asleep. And I'm here, wondering what the hell happened. I don't remember falling asleep at all.

Fuck.

Where are my parents? Did they see us? Oh God, I really hope not.

I quickly grab my phone and check the time. It's 9 AM. Shit. Yep, they definitely saw us.

My parents are always, always, always up by 8 on Sundays. We go to church at 9, well most of the time, and since they're in town and they didn't have a big party the night before, I can also assume that that's where they are and they did indeed go. But who knows.

I tiptoe around the living room and once it's safe, I walk normally to head upstairs. I'm about to go to my room when I see a note on the table.

Gabriella,

We didn't want to wake you. You looked way too comfortable wrapped in the arms of Troy.

Your father, Josh, and I went to church and then we're getting some breakfast and going shopping with grandma.

We'll be home no later than 2. We have dinner with the Jeffersons planned, please don't make any plans.

And also, we'll talk about this later.

Love you,

Mom.

Okay, the note wasn't too bad, right? She did sign it off with a "love you" and if she was really mad about the whole thing, she would have woke me up and kicked Troy out of the house. Immediately. Trust me. She's done that with Ryan and his parents are good friends with mine so that didn't play a factor. My mom's tough and headstrong. She'll do what she wants and when she wants.

I bring the note with me upstairs and place it on my dresser while I go to the bathroom and wash my face and brush my teeth.

And I just couldn't stop myself from smiling.

Now that I think about it, I had a good night's sleep. And it was all because of Troy, I guess. I don't remember waking up once. I didn't move much because we were in the same position as we were when we were watching TV basically. But I literally just don't remember falling asleep. Oh well...

I went into my closet and slipped out of my dress and into some yoga pants and a cream sweater.

And then I put my hair up in a pony tail and looked at myself in the mirror. Eh, I'm in my house. I can't put on a cute outfit at nine in the morning if I'm not going anywhere. So this will do.

He's still sleeping on the couch by the time I get back downstairs and I really don't want to wake him. He looks so comfortable and cute sleeping.

So I don't.

I go to the kitchen and get out some eggs, some pancake mix, some bacon and sausage and prepare to make some breakfast for when he wakes up. Or just for me if he decides to go. I'm pretty hungry. My last meal was at like 8 pm last night so it's way past my time to eat.

And as the bacon was sizzling on the pan and I was getting the pancake mix to perfection, I heard a yawn and someone walking.

"Good morning," I look up at Troy who still looks sleepy as hell.

"Morning," he rubs his eyes and comes towards me, "we um, we fell asleep?"

I nod as I mix the pancake mix a little more, "I guess so. I mean, I don't remember but obviously if you're still here." I couldn't help, but laugh a little at it. The first night we hook up and here he is, spending the night. Obviously it wasn't planned, but still, a little funny.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes, "I don't know how that happened. I didn't even realize I was that tired."

"No, it's fine, I think I rather have you spent the night than hailing a taxi at 2 in the morning or whatever time it was. Seriously, it's okay."

"Well, okay," he smiles at me.

It's more than okay, really. "Do you want some breakfast? My parents and brother went without me so I thought I'd make me some. Well, us."

He looks around at all that I was making and nodded, "sure, after I brush my teeth. Well, rinse it out with some toothpaste. Mine if I borrow some, I didn't really bring any."

I laughed and shook my head. If he knew I was sort of in trouble with my mom, I don't know if he'd be making those jokes, but whatever, they were funny to me. I went to my parents room which was down the hall as opposed to upstairs and grabbed their bottle of toothpaste and an extra toothbrush that they always have for unexpected guests. I also grabbed him some face wash if he wanted to wash his face, which I'm sure he did.

He went to take care of all of that and I went back to my cooking.

I poured the pancake mix into a pan and began making my signature pancakes. Seriously, they're so fluffy and good. I really don't know where I got the cooking gene from. Definitely not my mother.

The bacon was done and so were the sausages so I laid them out on a plate and then poured the scrambled eggs into a small bowl alongside of it.

I flipped my pancakes and while they other side was cooking, I went to the fridge and grabbed the orange juice.

And when the pancakes were golden brown to perfection, Troy emerged into the kitchen looking as hot as ever. Seriously, does this guy ever look bad? The answer is no. I'm sure of it.

"This all smells amazing," he tells me grabbing the bowl of eggs and the bacon and sausages and taking them over to the table, "if you do this every morning, I might have to spend the night ever night of the week."

Oh, how I wish. I looked over at him and smirked and of course he told me he was kidding.

Grabbing the pancakes and putting them on the plate, I balanced that with the orange juice and also a bowl of freshly cut strawberries and bananas.

"I hope you like everything," I tell him, a little bit worried. Yeah, I cook, but not often. So I honestly don't know if everything will be good. Haa. Well, actually I do know that my pancakes for sure will be good. Like, I'm the queen of making pancakes. Lupe cannot ever make me pancakes. Ever.

"I'm sure I will," he tells me looking down at everything, "I mean, it smells amazing."

"Thank you," I finally sit down next to him.

My table in my kitchen is a little weird. It's half booth, half table. I love it. And I love how I can sit next to him but it not be weird or awkward. Like, you know when you go to a restaurant and the couple is sitting on the same side of the booth? That is fucking awkward. And yeah, it's the same here, but it's slightly different because it's not straight across. It's sort of looping around. I don't know how to explain it. All I know is that it's not awkward.

I grab some egg and put it on my plate along with some bacon and sausage and then squeeze some ketchup on the side.

Troy does the same thing as me and before we start digging in, he turns and looks at me.

"What?"

"Nothing," he tells me with a small smile, "I just forgot to do this."

He leans down and gives me a kiss on the lips. It's short and sweet but it's the most perfect kiss. "Good morning."

Oh my gosh. He's so cute. He's so adorable. And I seriously just want him to stay here all day so we can cuddle and kiss and reminisce about last night. It wasn't a dream. It seriously happened and I'm the luckiest girl in the world, I think. He seems too good to be true. And I know it's easy, but I have a good feeling about this one.

"Good morning," I smile at him.

It was a good morning, indeed. And I hope we have more of these in our future.

"Mom, it just happened, okay?" I turn around so I can roll my eyes at her and go over to the couch to get my phone, "but nothing happened."

"I know nothing happened, but still, Gabriella," she crosses her arms across her chest, "you barely know the guy."

"So?"

She furrows her eyebrows, "So? He could have very well pretended to fall asleep and I don't know, take everything from our house."

Oh my gosh. She actually thinks he'll steal from us? Troy Bolton? Well, I mean, I guess she doesn't know him like I do. And yeah, I guess I don't know him that well, but I feel like I know him well enough to know he would never do that to me. Or to us.

"Mom, he's not like that," I defend him, "I thought you liked him!"

"I do, Gabriella, I think he's a very nice, sweet boy, but you never know, okay?"

She's right about never knowing, but I just felt like he would never do that. He doesn't care about the money. He doesn't care about our status in New York. He likes me for me and I'm sure of it. But I know where she's coming from. And I know she's being protective and that's fine, I love her for that, but I really don't want her putting those ideas in my head because sooner or later, I don't want that image or to begin thinking that it might be true, you know? I like this guy and I want it to stay that way.

So I'm not going to argue with her. "Okay, mom, I'm sorry. We were both just really tired, I guess. It won't happen again."

"Thank you," she gives me a small smile before sitting down on the couch and motioning for me to take a seat next to her, "so, tell me what happened."

"It was romantic, but not really," I chuckle a bit, "I don't care, though, because it was the best first kiss of my life."

I sat down next to her and threw my phone down next to me. Troy was texting me, but I could wait to text him back. I didn't want to be that girl who texts back right away. I got comfortable next to my mom and turned my body towards her, while bringing my legs up and sitting on them.

My mom was already smiling, and I know she wants to know every single little detail.

"I honestly didn't know if he was into me or not and it was driving me absolutely crazy," I start out.

"Who wouldn't be into you?"

"Mom," I roll my eyes a bit, "please just let me tell you everything and keep your commentary to yourself until the end."

She gave me a small smile and nodded. Okay where was I?

Oh right. "Yeah, I mean, one minute, he'll do something that will make me think he's interested and then the next, I'll think, oh yeah, no he's not into me. Like he ditched his friends and stayed behind with me and Savannah and hung out when we ran into them at Slate. And he brought me home. But then a few days after that, I see him talking to Kimberly Jackson and he was laughing and she was laughing and I felt like there was something going on there."

"Kimberly Jackson?" my mom asks while making a small sour face, "oh, sorry, sorry, my commentary, I'll stop."

I couldn't help, but laugh. See! Kimberly Jackson is annoying and I honestly don't know how he doesn't see it. Most of us see it. Oh well.

Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah... "and then just grabbing sushi during our project and hanging out and talking, but at the same time, he didn't make a move. He had been here long enough I think to get to know me and he wasn't doing anything about it so I just thought he wasn't interested. Again, I'd see him with Kimberly and think, yeah, he's not into me. She's gorgeous."

She is gorgeous. And that's why I was hating on them so much. Sure, she's annoying, but her looks probably trump that, for sure.

"Anyway, the night before the party, he came by to drop off a jacket. A jacket he could have gave to me and school and he told me I looked nice and it just made me think that maybe he is into me."

"Well, yeah, he came to drop off your jacket on a Friday night," she chuckles, "who does that?"

Exactly. That's what I said.

But then again, here we go with Kimberly Jackson. "Okay, so we're at the party and before I even see him, I see someone with a very similar dress so I'm already annoyed about that. And then right after that, my phone died. And 20 minutes later, I see him and Kimberly and she's laughing and throwing her head back and they just seemed like they were having a good time so that's when I kind of just checked out and went on the garden rooftop by myself."

I thought back to that night, even though it was a few nights ago, and smiled. God, it was so perfect to me.

Yet, I hate how it began. I was such a bitch.

"Basically, he came up and asked what I was doing there and I was just being a bitch because of what I saw and have been seeing and all the mixed signals so I was just over it and on top of that, all the shitty things that were happening to me were just making for a not so great night."

I mean, it could have been worse now that I think about it.

Was I being too dramatic or was I fine? Eh, whatever.

"Anyway," I continued, "he asked what I was doing up there, blah, blah, blah. I was being super short with him. Super bitchy. And then he told me if I could maybe lighten up so he could make a move."

My mom's mouth hung wide open and that was my exact same reaction, yet I kept my mouth closed, but I swear, it was happening on the inside.

I laughed and nodded, "Yeah, I couldn't believe he said that, but it broke the tension for sure and next thing, I knew, we were kissing and it was magical. We were on the rooftop garden of one of he nicest buildings in New York. I couldn't have planned it better myself. And I mean, I guess I'm glad it happened then because it really was perfect. And realistic. I don't know why I expected him to just kiss me after 2 weeks of knowing me, you know?"

"Maybe because most boys want to," my mom points out, "you know that's true."

"But probably because of who my parents are," I point out back, "and what I have, you know?"

"Yeah, that's a possibility."

It probably is. "I don't know. I feel like this is different. And it feels different," it really does. "And when we got back here, I called him out on Kimberly and he said he wasn't interested in her so that's good. I was just being paranoid."

My mom smiled at me and she looked genuinely happy for me. "You need a nice boy and that's exactly what Troy is. Well, from what I've seen of him."

He was a nice boy. And I know he's different than all of the other guys I've ever hung out with. I just hope I really cling to that and not do what everyone thinks I do- toss them off to the side when I get bored. Because I really don't want that to happen anymore. With anyone.

"I like him," I shrug, "and I'm excited to see where things go."

"Just take it nice and slow," my mom reminds me. She always tells me this, "you'll be fine."

Yeah, I hope so.