Finally. The day of our party.

Seriously, we look forward to this day all year. Halloween is just so much fun. Dressing up, the decorations, the vibe. Ahh, love it.

And every year, we go all out dressing up. Last year, I was poison ivy. But this year, we went with a group theme. Disney Princesses. And yeah, it might be played out, but whatever, we did it and we love how it turned out.

Charlotte is Jasmine from Aladdin because of her long black hair, just like Cassie who dressed up as Snow White. Our blondes of the group, Savannah and Morgan are dressed up as Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. And me, well, I should probably be Belle because of my long brown hair...

But I'm Ariel. I'm wearing a red wig that actually looks like I dyed my hair so I'm SO happy with it.

Who even knew Burberry made skirts that look like a mermaid tale, sort of? I snatched that thing up, even though it wasn't all the way to my feet, I didn't care. It was cute and it went perfect.

"Like, you're seriously the only person who could pull off being Ariel like this," Morgan comes up to me and looks me up and down for like the tenth time today, "The purple bedazzled bra, the short pencil skirt, but my God, you look hot!"

"So do you!" I shoot the compliment right back.

She's wearing a light blue princess dress by Vera Wang and her blonde hair is up in a tight bun and she seriously looks so much like Cinderella.

Cassie and Savannah come strolling into the VIP sections and I can't help but smile at how great our party came together this year and how amazing ALL of our costumes look. Seriously, we look like the princesses.

Savannah hands me a water bottle that I asked for when she said she was gonna go get a drink, "Troy's here."

Troy? Ahhhh. Troy.

I took a drink of my water, put it down on the table, asked the girls how I looked and then strolled out of there and went to go find him. I haven't seen him all day, I've been crazy busy making sure everything was put together and getting this costume put together that I've barely talked to him so I'm super excited to see him even though I just saw him yesterday. I can't get enough.

"You look nice," I heard a voice come at me from the side.

And I knew that voice anywhere.

I turned to face him, an annoyed look emerging on my face, "What do you want, Ryan?"

He chuckled a bit as he took a sip of his beer, "What do you mean what do I want? You invited me."

Ryan Fitzgerald. My ex boyfriend, my sort of friend, the one person who knows how to push my buttons like no other. We dated on and off for 2 years, but if you were to put together all the days we were on, it would equate to maybe a total of 11 months. It was such a dysfunctional relationship and when he broke up with me at the beginning of summer, I told him that was it. No more going back. But I've said that so many times before. But I think I meant it this time.

"Look, I don't have time for small talk, I'm..."

"I broke up with Chloe."

Oh, right. Char told me. But hearing it come from him and the fact that he's telling me, well, I don't know what to make of it. "I heard."

He gave me a small smile and then looked away for a few seconds before looking back at me, right into my eyes. "I miss you. It's been a while and I know you said you want nothing to do with me anymore, but is that really true?"

Ryan and I took our friendship to a whole new level when we kissed one night the summer before sophomore year. And ever since then, it's been the same shit every single day. We make up and break up. We're not good for each other, we know this, yet we can't seem to quit each other. We had a really good one from March to July this year only breaking up once, but when he broke up to me for some girl that I know isn't even worth it, I was done. There was no way I was going to sit around and wait for him when he could have had me, I was willing to just put all the bullshit aside and work on myself so I could be with him and we could be happy once and for all, but nope. That went out the window and so did any chance of rekindling anything with him. Ever.

"I know you miss me, too. I can tell."

He's a year older. He goes to NYU and lives in the dorms, so I haven't seen him in a while, but he has to know I'm dating Troy. He has to.

And I'm pretty sure that's exactly why he's doing this. "Ryan, now's not a good time."

"You're not denying it," he tells me, giving me a smile, "look, I'm sorry for everything. Chloe was a mistake and I just miss you. I know it hasn't always been rainbows and butterflies with us, but that's the fun of it. You know we have a good time together."

"We do," I agree.

This is what happens. We break up, we date other people, but we always, always find our way back to each other. Always.

I was dating this guy after we broke up and things were going well. He got to meet my grandmother and things went okay so that was a little promising and just as I was beginning to feel happy, Ryan swoops in, hits on me, tells me things and I'm back in his arms again causing me to break up with this guy.

Okay, it may have happened a couple of times.

Yep, a couple of times, I have stopped seeing a guy because of Ryan Fitzgerald.

And then it ended up not working out with Ryan so I felt like it was a waste, but at the same time, I feel like no one gets me like Ryan either. His parents are important business people. They're never home. I'm his security blanket. I know the ins and outs of Ryan. He knows exactly what to say to get me going, to make me want to be with him. It's our thing. The people around us are sick of it, but this is actually the longest we've gone without each other.

So, that's promising, right?

"Let's get together after the party. We can go back to my place and watch Breakfast at Tiffany's and eat a box of donuts and catch up."

Tiffany's and donuts. My two favorite things in the whole world.

And for a minute, I think I was going to say yes because that's what my mind's used to, but my eyes fell on the one person I was looking for a few minutes ago. Troy Bolton.

"I'm sorry, I, I have to go," I tell Ryan before walking past him and going over to Troy.

Troy. This is who I was going to and who I should be going to, right?

He smiled at me as soon as he saw me and looked at me up and down. And I did, too. I looked at him up and down. And I loved what I saw. Absolutely loved it. And I was so happy he decided to go with it for me.

He was Prince Eric.

And I was Ariel. Princess Ariel. "You look just like him, oh my gosh," I exclaim, a little too loudly, "you look good."

He laughed and looked down at his shoes. I know he's not too comfortable with it and would much rather be in jeans and a shirt, but the fact that he dressed up as Prince Eric for me after I jokingly suggested it means a whole lot. Seriously. It was a complete joke, but here he is... my prince.

"Well, I knew you were going to look good so I had to keep up.

"Oh please," I laugh, "it's not hard to look like him when you're already really good looking."

He shook his head and chuckled a bit, looking around a bit embarrassed, but then his eyes landed on mine and just took me in for a second. He smiled a bit and then leaned down and kissed me. Princess Ariel and Prince Eric were kissing and I didn't care who saw. Troy was mine.

And I was so happy right now.

"Holy fuck, Shane Morgan looks so hot right now, have you seen him?"

I looked over to the area where Cassie was pointing at, but I couldn't make him out. It was dark and he was looking away. "Can't see."

She sighed and took a seat next to me. "I'm, like, so down to hook up with him but he broke up with Natasha like two weeks ago so I don't know. Do you think he's even ready for that? Should I make a move or what?"

"I'm sure he doesn't care about that, what guys in this city do?" I remind her, "go for it if you want. He is hot."

"What are you doing over here by yourself?"

I was by myself in the VIP section just sipping on my water. I was tired and I was just taking a little break from it all. "No, I'm fine, I'm just taking a little breather. Why are you over here?"

She shrugs as she sways to the music blaring, "was just checking on you. One minute you're out on the dance floor with Troy and the next, you're here. Wanted to make sure nothing happened between you guys."

"We're fine," I assure her. We are.

I was seriously just taking a breather. It's crazy hectic out there and I'm so tired. This party has been going on for hours now and I just needed a little break. Troy is having a beer with the guys, everyone else is dancing so I thought it was the perfect way to just get away for a minute. Or five. Maybe ten.

Cassie grabs my cup of water and takes a small drink before getting up, "Good. Wish me luck."

"Good luck," I chuckled, but I'm pretty sure she didn't need it. Cassidy Brown is one of the most gorgeous girls I've ever laid my eyes on.

She bops out of here, leaving me to be and before I know it, Troy's walking past her and right to me.

He smiles at me while holding on to his beer, "hey, what're you doing in here?"

"Just taking a little breather."

He comes and sits by me and I'm happy he's here but if I'm being honest, I'm not only taking a breather, I'm also thinking. Thinking about Ryan. Not really in a, I want to hang out with him and be with him sort of way, but just about everything. Is he my soul mate? Is that why we keep going back to each other? Should I be hanging out with Troy? Or should I give another chance to Ryan? I know we don't ever work out, but things change. Maybe he's changed. I know I've calmed down a lot. He's in college now. And I also know that my feelings for him are so intense, which is why I'm always in this stupid situation.

Troy put his beer down on the table and then turned to me a bit, "are you sure? You seem a little... off."

Fuck. "I'm fine, I've just had a long day."

It's 12 am. I am tired. But I don't want to be lying to him. He's been nothing but good to me. Except maybe making me wait a month until he made a move, but I can't pin that on him. He didn't have feelings for me until later.

"You know you can talk to me about anything," he lets me know, "I might not have the best advice since this is still all new territory, but I can try."

"No," I laugh, "it's nothing like that. I've just had a long day, but thank you."

Seriously. That's so sweet of him.

I should probably head back out there, though. It is my party after all. So yeah, that's what I'm going to do. I get up and tell him to lets go back out there and he follows suit. He asks if I want something to drink and I tell him yeah, if he could get it because I'm gonna go use the bathroom and I'll find him when I'm done. He says yes and then heads over to the bar while I head over to the bathrooms.

And once I was done, I came out and bumped into none other than Ryan Fitzgerald. Of course. Of course I bump into him.

"Ryan."

"Gabriella," he smiles.

"Excuse me," I try to move past him.

He doesn't let m, though, "Offer stills stands if you're interested because I really, really miss you Gabs."

I take one look into his eyes and I'm suck in for a minute. For a minute, I think about everything. How he makes me feel, how good we are sometimes, how he's the only one that knows how to put up with me and I'm sucked back in. I'm sucked in and I'm literally about to tell him that it sounds like a good idea.

But then I take one look at the bar and see Troy standing there holding two drinks looking around the room for me.

And I snap right out of it. What am I even doing? Seriously, what am I doing? "Sorry, Ryan, um, I have to go. And... yeah, no, sorry, I'm not going with you."

I leave him there, stunned. It's the first time I've actually said no. I've never said no. We always end up together. But it's different now. I now have a guy that's worth it. That's different. That I really want to get to know.

I'm not giving that up for another chance with Ryan.

"Hey," I walk up to Troy and grab my drink from his hand, "thank you."

"Yeah, no problem," he smiles at me.

I carefully wrap my arms around his neck, making sure my drink is not spilling behind his back and give him a kiss. A long hard kiss. And it's not for Ryan to see, it's not to assure Troy I'm okay, no, it's for me. It's for me. And it's for Troy. It's to show him that I'm in. And that he's the only guy I want right now.

We pulled apart and I took a sip of my drink right away. Mmm. It was so good.

"What was that for?"

"Just because," I smile at him, "because I really like you."

He smiled down at me and I got butterflies in my stomach like crazy. He gives me such crazy butterflies. So that's a good sign right?