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As promised, Monday afternoon rolled around and Gabriella and Troy were sitting in her room, books in front of them. Gabriella had three finals earlier on in the day and was pretty exhausted from that while Troy had only one. Troy noticed the wiped out look on Gabriella's face and got up from the couch he was sitting on to join her on her bed where she was sitting. He wrapped his arms around her and allowed Gabriella to lean onto his shoulder, just resting there for a few moments.
"God, if high school finals kick my behind now, what's going to happen in college?" wondered Gabriella out loud.
"Well, you did have three in one day. Look at it this way though, you have tomorrow off from finals and then one a day for the rest of the week."
Gabriella smiled at the thought. "Now if only I could sleep instead of study for the rest of the week, I'd be one happy senior."
"How's your valedictorian speech coming?" asked Troy. "You haven't talked about it for a while now."
"Because it's still a work in progress. I have like five different editions running around in my notebook but none seems right. I still have a week or so before I have to turn in the rough to get approval."
"I'm sure whatever it is, you'll be fine and do just great."
Gabriella smiled over at him and sighed remembering the other thing they needed to do today besides study. "Speaking of fine, when are we going to talk about what happened on Friday night?"
"Guess now?" returned Troy. "I'm sorry that I lost my cool twice in one night, the first for getting so jealous with you being with Rob and then again when I hit that bastard, err Mike."
"Troy, my main concern here is that if you can't trust me now, when we are in the same place together, the same city, how are we going to get through a long distance relationship like we've sort of danced around these past few weeks?"
Suddenly, Troy understood what she actually meant by how upset she was the other night. "Because a long distance relationship is based on trust?"
"Because a long distance relationship is cemented on trust! Rob is my friend and he's going to MIT. If you cannot trust him or me enough to hang out together now, I don't even want to think of the images you are going to conjure up in your head later down the line when I'm not here to reassure you that nothing is going on," stated Gabriella. "I need you to trust me just as I need to trust you. We've both been shaken up at one point or another during this relationship but we need to pull together if we are going to be able to make this work."
"So you do still want us to work out?" asked Troy, a little bit more hopeful than a minute ago. "I thought you were so angry on Friday, you were considering something else."
"I was but I was rather emotional at the time. I've thought it over this weekend especially and I know that jealousy from you comes from your heart, the irrational part, but your heart nonetheless. I'm not saying it is excusable, but I can manage to understand it a little. My point here though is as much as I love you, I can't see us succeeding in a long distance commitment if we have trust issues right now."
Troy took Gabriella's hand in his and softly rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "You always have to be the rational one between the two of us, huh?"
Gabriella smiled a little at him. "Well someone has to and it seems that when your heart is involved, you aren't the most sane person in the world, but I still love you for it. So I think the question now is, can we make this work or do we want to try to make this work after graduation?"
Without hesitation he said, "I have lived without you one too many times already, Gabriella. I'm not about to let you go just because of time and distance now. However, if you don't want to, I'm not going to force this on you. We both need to want this and I am just saying that I more than just want this, I need us to be together, I desire it with all my heart."
She lifted her right hand up and gently cupped Troy's face, stretching up to kiss his lips softly, lovingly staring into those blue orbs she had come to associate with love and life itself. "I'd be crazy not to try to keep trying with you, Troy. I know the distance is going to be tough, but if we both want this, as much as you claim you do and as much as I know I do, I know we can make this work. You really just need to learn to trust me, sweetie, and remember that I'm not here in this relationship because I want to be with some other guy. I'm in this relationship because of you, because I want to spend every moment I can with you."
"I do trust you, you've never given me a real reason not to. To me, you are the angel in my life. When I get jealous like I did on Friday night, it's more of me not trusting him, who you are with."
"And I understand that, but when that other person is my friend, you have to also trust in my judgment of who I choose to become friends with. Rob isn't the type of guy to push himself on a girl nor does he have any romantic interest in me. I know all about his love life and the guy is still pining for his ex, trust me."
Troy let out a sigh. "He indicated as much that night. Look, I know he is just a friend and I know you are going to collect a group of guy friends at MIT along with friends that are girls. You are just that type of person everyone is drawn to, so friendly and oh so very sweet."
Gabriella giggled as Troy nibbled a little on her earlobe. "Not that type of sweet! Stop biting me!"
His low chuckle made her grin more before Troy captured Gabriella's lips with his for a few moments before he pulled away. "Back to my original thought. I agree, I need to trust in your choices in friends like I know you have to do the same with me. But tell me, Gabriella, would you not be the slightest bit jealous if I befriended the entire Duke cheerleading squad?"
"Of all those girls in short skirts? Never, it's too cold," teased Gabriella. "Of them being able to see you everyday if they wanted to? Yes, a bit, but I know that you would never hurt me that way, or hurt us. Troy, a part of me in truth is screaming that I shouldn't trust you after all that has happened, but the majority of me wants to, knows that you won't intentionally hurt me again. I think we can make this work, time and distance, until we can see each other every day for the rest of our lives."
Troy smiled at these words. "Aww, you think of us long term, like past four years of college. That's so sweet!"
"Shut up!" responded Gabriella with a laugh. "Of course I do, otherwise, what am I doing here with you now?"
He brushed back some of her hair and kissed Gabriella's forehead. "Good, because I do too. I can see us in the not too distance future with college degrees, dream jobs, 2.5 kids and a white picket fence, right?"
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Ah, the all American dream. Who knows what the future holds, Troy. For me, as long as I'm happy then as I am now, that's what matters in the end."
"Good point. Although, I know for certain one thing is definitely going to happen."
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"This," he replied as he got up and pulled out a New Mexico driver's license study guide from his backpack. Troy walked back to Gabriella and sat down next to her again on the bed. "You have been eighteen for a while now but you haven't made any attempt to get your driver's license. Now that you don't have to do all the provisional requirements, I think you should use your free day today to study this and then we'll practice you driving."
Gabriella looked at the book in his hands and then back at Troy. "Are you serious? I don't even have a car to practice in!"
"You can use my truck. Problem solved!" answered Troy.
"But Troy, what if I'm horrible at it and I crash your nice truck? You'll be so devastated! I'd never be able to face you after that."
"No worries, I know you won't do anything to harm my babies, yourself or the truck. Come on, just because you moved around so much when you should have been taking driver's education and then getting your license at sixteen isn't a reason to never have your license. You know you want to, Gabriella," stated Troy.
"Well yeah but I'm scared, Troy. What if I do cause an accident or something?" pushed Gabriella.
Troy shook his head. "You have me as a teacher, do you really think I'd let you do that? Now come on, I made an appointment for us to go in next week. We'll practice you driving everyday and I know you'll read that manual backwards and forwards between now and then between studying for your other finals."
"You already made an appointment? You haven't even taken me in a car to test out how I drive on the road! I could be really, really bad!"
"Or you could be really, really good! You'll never know though until you try!"
Gabriella eyed Troy for a few moments. "You just want me to get my license so you don't have to drive me around everywhere!"
"Not true! Although, I was thinking, if you ever do want to visit me at Duke and don't have the resources to fly, driving is an option, but you can't do that if you don't have a license now can you? But, more than that, I think you've been thinking about this in the few months at least. Your mom even said she'd help you practice in a regular car instead of the truck if you wanted."
"You talked to my mom?"
"Of course! Had to get her permission before I proceeded with this plan. Now come on, take this and start reading it. I have a bunch of reading I have to do and then in a couple of hours, maybe after dinner, we'll go out for a spin. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."
She looked down at the manual again in his hands and then back up into Troy's blue eyes. "Okay, but you better be with me every step of the way."
"That's my girl," returned Troy with a smile as he handed her the manual. "If you can pass your Calculus final in flying colors, you should be able to handle this driver's test and written exam with a blindfold!"
Gabriella laughed. "Yeah, if I wanted to definitely fail and get in an accident! All right, I'll read this, but you better get back to your own reading, Troy. I vow I'll take this as seriously as I do my classes if you do the same."
"Agreed, but you have to do something for me first," replied Troy with a twinkle in his eyes. He gave Gabriella that certain look and she knew instantly what he wanted.
She shook her head with a smile on her face and then leaned in, placing a soft kiss on Troy's lips before pulling away with a giggle as he felt Troy's arms snake around her waist. Before she knew it, Gabriella was sitting on Troy's lap as she closed her eyes to the feel of his hands running up and down her back as he kissed her this time, deepening it as the seconds went by. Gabriella slipped her hands around his neck to pull him closer to her before she started to run her fingers through his dark brown hair, breathing him in as Troy started to kiss her neck. "Mmm, as much as I like this, we both now have studying to do, Mr. Bolton. We'll have more time for this later."
With a groan, Troy pulled back and looked at her. "You are now making me wish I didn't come up with this driver's license idea."
"It'll be well worth it when I can drive from MIT to Duke in some rented car to give you a kiss, right?" suggested Gabriella.
At that idea, Troy's eyes lit up. "More than worth it. Better get cracking then, Gabriella!"
Gabriella laughed as Troy immediately let her go and went to grab his bag from the couch. He sat back down on the bed and scooted himself up so that he was leaning against Gabriella's headboard and opened his textbook. Troy looked over to see Gabriella sitting about two feet away at the center of the bed, already reading the second page of the manual. "Come here," said Troy, extending his right arm out so that Gabriella could scoot back into his arm's embrace. Once she was leaning against his arm, her head resting against his shoulder, Troy's right hand unconsciously started to run up and down her upper arm, loving the feeling of Gabriella being right there next to him. Both Gabriella and Troy said nothing more for the next few hours, both just enjoying each other's company while they each studied their own subject.
When Gabriella had finished reading the manual for the second time, marking the sections she wanted to go over a few more times, she let the manual rest on her lap as she stared at her boyfriend's profile. 'I never noticed how adorably cute he is when Troy concentrates like that,' she thought as she saw the little furrow in his forehead and saw the focus in his eyes. Unable to resist, Gabriella leaned over and kissed Troy on the cheek, causing him to change his gaze from the book to her as a smile graced his lips.
"And now who is distracting who?" teased Troy.
Gabriella blushed a little and replied, "Sorry, I guess the tutor learned a bad habit or two from her student."
"Hey, if the bad habit involves me getting kissed by my gorgeous girlfriend, I'd say I did a good job influencing you," said Troy with a wink.
She looked at the progress he was making and smiled as she realized Troy had gotten pretty far. "Well I'm glad my study tips have helped you too. For that, Troy, I'm going to go bake some yummy chocolate chip cookies for you."
"You? Bake? Aren't you taking this learning new things bit a bit too far?" joked Troy, earning himself a slap on the arm from Gabriella. "Ouch! I'm just kidding!"
"Hmph, well for that you aren't going to get any, you'll just get to smell them. Now how do you like that?" returned Gabriella.
Immediately, Troy pulled a puppy dog face and started to whimper, trying to get Gabriella's sympathy. "We'll see, mister. I'll check up on you when they are done, and if you are done with all your terms and your chapters, maybe I'll think of giving you some. I know they aren't going to be Zeke quality but I don't think you can go that wrong with chocolate chip cookies. I'll even put M&Ms in them for you."
Troy's pout was instantly replaced with a grin. "Sounds like a promise I intend to collect on. You best hurry, Gabriella, I can taste that chocolate already."
Gabriella smiled back at him and kissed him lightly on the lips before she scooted out of his embrace and off the bed. She went downstairs to the kitchen where she started preparing everything for the cookies. Ms. Montez arrived home just as Gabriella had finished mixing the ingredients and started spooning the mixture on a baking sheet.
Her mom smiled as she entered the kitchen, having a memory of her own from when she had a little Gabriella helping her make their first batch of brownies together. "Baking for the boyfriend?" kidded Ms. Montez.
"And for you and me. I just used these as a bit of an incentive to help him study that much more. He doesn't get any unless he's past a certain point I designated with quality notes."
Ms. Montez chuckled and shook her head. "I guess you know the age old secret too. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
"Well let's just hope I don't burn these then," replied Gabriella with a smile.
"I guess I'll order Chinese. Do you want our usual plus some extra since Troy is probably joining us?"
"Sure," replied Gabriella.
Forty minutes later, while her mom was gone to pick up dinner, Gabriella felt a pair of buff arms circle her waist as she moved some more cookies onto the cooling racks. "Yes?"
"Cookie?" asked a sweet sounding Troy, kissing her neck for extra persuasion.
Gabriella turned around in his arms and laughed as she saw the pleading look on his face. "Did you hold up your end of the bargain?"
"Quality notes on everything I need to know and go over again and focus on are all done, right here," said Troy, waving his notebook in front of her. "You can even check them."
She shook her head. "Nope, I trust you. It'll only hurt you if you are lying anyway."
"So, cookie?"
Gabriella let out a small giggle as she saw that little boy look Troy pulled off so well and reached over to grab a fresh cookie from the oven. "Here," she said, smiling as she watched Troy take a bite and then close his eyes, enjoying the taste of the warm cookie in his mouth. "Good?"
"Better, it's delicious! Who knew you could bake!" joked Troy before he kissed Gabriella soundly. "You are so baking more often, Gabriella. Guess your mom's baking skills passed down to you, huh?"
Gabriella laughed. "Something like that. I have been baking those brownies for a while now."
"Then why haven't you shared with me?" demanded Troy.
"You never asked!" teased Gabriella. "Besides, I'm always a bit self conscious."
"Try modest, you're always modest about your talents. Can I have another bite and more cookies now?"
"Yes," agreed Gabriella before Troy bent his head and took another big bite of the cookie Gabriella still had in her hand. She finished the rest and then wrapped her own arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat, something that had always soothed her since the accident.
Troy tightened his embrace around her and kissed the top of her head. After a few moments, he reached for another cookie and started eating it, Gabriella very aware that he was chomping away. She felt something hit her head and quickly looked up to see a guilty look on Troy's face. "You did not just drop cookie crumbs in my hair, did you?"
"Well technically, it was a piece of a cookie but there are some crumbs in your hair. I'm sorry!"
"TROY!"
Troy let out a laugh before he picked a few of the bigger pieces out of her hair and then brushed the rest out. "There, all out."
"Yeah, but that's warm chocolate so I probably have melted chocolate in my hair!" complained Gabriella.
"But that only makes you sweeter," stated Troy with a silly grin. He made sounds like he was trying to eat her hair, which made Gabriella laugh until his fingers found her side and then started to tickle her, making her laugh harder and squirm.
Gabriella was literally saved by the buzzer as it went off to indicate the last batch of cookies were done. She gently pushed him aside and pulled out the last batch, seeing Troy eye them. Before she could scold him, Troy reached over her shoulder to try to snag a cookie, recoiling quickly to put his now burned fingers in his mouth. Gabriella looked at him and tried to hold in her laughter at the expression on his face. "Well, I guess that teaches you to not have patience. Do you want some ice?"
Troy shook his head and pulled his fingers out, looking at the damage and was relieved there were no signs of blisters. "Just stings, it'll be fine."
Gabriella gently took his hand in hers and kissed the injured fingers lightly on their tips. Troy watched and felt his heart fill with those wonderful feelings he got when Gabriella was with him, especially during these moments. He gazed into her eyes and knew, deep down in his being, that this was where he was meant to be, despite their history and their upcoming futures. This is what felt like home.