Troy felt a surge of emotion circulate through him as he stared at his best friend. As his anxiety faded away, it was replaced by confusion. What should he do? Ignore her? No. He owed it to her to at least go inside and explain himself. Should he introduce himself? Yeah, that would be really smart going in and saying "Hey Gabriella, I know you hate me and all, but I am Baskethead14 and I think that we could be friends," Troy shook his head. He was backed into a corner that did not seem to have any way out.
"Troy... Stop looking at me with your mouth hanging open," Chad said in an uneasy joking tone. "You're starting to scare me."
Troy sighed heavily, letting out a breath that he didn't even know he held in. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"It's okay. Are you going to go in?" Chad stared back in the door, seeing Gabriella taking side glances at the clock as she cleaned the granite countertop. She was apparently waiting for him. She had certainly seemed to put more into her appearance that night than she had in the past.
"I sort of have to," Troy poked his head around the stairs to look in, feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach when he saw a familiar pink book sticking out of her waitress apron's bottom pocket.
"Would you like me to go with you?" Chad shot out ideas, looking at Troy shaking his head.
"No... I should probably do this myself." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll just take the bus back to the dorms. You shouldn't have to wait here. It probably won't take long."
"Okay," Chad gave an encouraging smile at his friend. "Good luck."
"Thanks," Troy replied with a weak smile back. Chad made his way back to the car, and Troy stood outside, desperately trying to gather his thoughts in the cool night air. His mind was still trying to register the fact that the girl that he had found one of the people that he had the most in common with was the girl that he had disliked for the past five years. He had always found Gabriella arrogant and self-absorbed, and never would have he ever suspected her to be in this position now.
Taking a look at his watch, Troy saw that he was nearly fifteen minutes late. He owed it to Gabriella to at least show up, even if he was the last person that she wanted to see.
With a final look down the street, Troy turned to head up the stairs. He sucked in a deep breath of Albuquerque springtime air, wishing that he had been given some warning to this.
Troy opened the door, hearing the small bell above the door give a little jingle, while he saw Gabriella look up with a bright smile. Upon seeing it was her study date, however, the smile on her face dropped to a level where it was obvious she did not want him there. Troy put on a smirk, trying to hide his inner turmoil of emotions.
Troy Bolton? What the heck is he doing here? Gabriella closed her eyes, hoping that he wasn't going to take a seat at the counter. Kelsi could deal with him while she waited for Baskethead... Who was fifteen minutes late.
Her heart sank when Troy approached the counter, still wearing a smirk that told Gabriella that he was challenging her to say something. Although tempted to fire off a rhetorical comment, she bit her tongue. She was at work, and Troy knew that. He had her under his thumb, and it was a feeling she didn't enjoy at all. Saying something snarky to him might get her in trouble with the boss.
Her earlier emotions quickly faded back to anger when Troy sat down, kicking back in the seat and still staring at Gabriella, looking to her as being very cocky. He tried desperately to think of something to say, until Gabriella was the first to speak.
"What would you like?" She asked, in a completely fake cheerful tone. It actually had more of an 'I hate you and am faking this' edge to her voice. Troy couldn't believe that she was just picking up right back to being her usual snobby ways. Had she just forgotton the afternoon before?
"Medium Dark Chocolate Cappuccino with whipped cream," Troy retorted, matching Gabriella's tone. He tried to avoid her bewitching eyes, not only because he knew they were probably burning with anger, but because he knew that he probably wouldn't be able to look away.
"Look, I have to clean the counter... Would you mind sitting at a table?" Gabriella pointed to an empty booth in the corner. She wanted the counter to be completely clear when Baskethead came. So far, she had occupied herself with cleaning it, using that as an excuse to most customers when they wanted to sit on the counter.
"No, thanks. It looks clean enough to me," Troy calmly said back, wondering why he was acting so pushy with her. Should he tell her now? "You're not waiting for a hot date, now are you?" He teased, raising an eyebrow with Gabriella blushed. "Going to make-out during break?"
"None of your business, Bolton," she hissed, trying to cover her face that she knew was turning a shade of crimson. Troy spotted the blush, creeping up on her already-rosy cheeks. At that glance, he noticed just how much Gabriella had prepared for the meeting. She looked stunning...
"It is plenty of my business, because I don't want to get to your dorm and find you indulging in... activities that the dorm advisor would not like to hear about. Nor do I want to find out about when I come to study tomorrow morning," Troy smirked again, regretting his words before they even reached Gabriella's ears, wondering where all of these comebacks were coming from. Gabriella got caught taken aback at Troy's absurd comment. She knew exactly what Troy was talking about.
"Just because you might indulge in such activities like that, I'd like you to know that I don't. Unlike you, I have values," Gabriella turned away, going to get Troy's order prepared. Kelsi happened to already be making it.
"So... You're guy hasn't arrived yet and Troy is making it worse?" Kelsi said, as if reading Gabriella's mind. From the grumble Gabriella gave, Kelsi knew she was right. "Want me to work the counter?"
"No... I'll do it. I just can't believe he hasn't shown yet," Gabriella looked at the clock... Eight-thirty! "But I'll handle Troy. It's just another thing I have to work around with this job."
"Okay, okay," Kelsi handed Gabriella the warm Styrofoam cup. "Dark Chocolate Cappuccino. Medium. He has quite a strange taste when it comes to coffee." Kelsi giggled.
"I was thinking that. But I couldn't get past his first comment to really care," Gabriella sighed, taking the cup. Kelsi went back to the other tables, taking and handing out orders. Gabriella shoved the drink into Troy's hands, noticing that Kelsi had given her a to-go cup.
"Medium Dark Chocolate Cappuccino. To-go," she dug into the side pocket of her apron, getting the appropriate length straw out.
"I didn't want a to-go," Troy glared at her, getting the hint and quite astonished that Gabriella was not going to warm up to him being there. He took a sip of the strong coffee, knowing that he wouldn't be able to sleep that night because of the caffeine. He had to act like he knew what he was doing, though. He was most definently not going to give Gabriella the satisfaction that he was clueless on what to do.
"Well, that's what I heard," Gabriella shrugged, feeling defeated. It was eight-thirty, Baskethead hadn't shown, and Troy refused to leave her alone. Was he really that insane to think that she would just randomly welcome him? Just because they had had an... awkward moment... didn't mean that they were instant friends. And she had been polite to begin with, but he had insisted of making her life misery the one time she wanted him to leave her alone.
She sighed, wondering exactly why this night had turned into a complete disaster. Had fate decided her and Baskethead just shouldn't meet? But why would fate bring Troy in his place? Maybe Troy was just part of the complexity of the maze that life had set out for her.
