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"Troy, hello. It's been a while since I last saw you here," stated Gabriella's mother as she opened the door for the brown haired boy. "Come on in, Gabriella and Taylor are already busy studying in the living room."
Troy laughed at this. "How did I know they'd be ahead of me and Chad even before we got here? Chad should be here shortly."
"Don't worry. Go on ahead, I'm actually in the middle of baking brownies as a snack food for you four," stated Mary, giving Troy an encouraging smile. "I had to especially when I found out you'd be over."
"Aww, thanks Ms. Montez," replied Troy, feeling a blush on his cheeks that she must have seen as she laughed a little at this. Troy went into the living room and dropped his bag on the floor next to Gabriella's peeking over under the textbook that Gabriella was staring at to see what she was studying. "Advanced Anatomy? Why am I not surprised?"
Gabriella glanced up and smiled at him. "Hey Wildcat, I didn't even hear the doorbell ring. We can change subjects so that we can all study together."
Troy shook his head. "I'm good until Chad comes, don't worry."
"That's guy talk for he doesn't really want to study, he just wants to look at you," decoded Taylor, laughing a little as Troy shot her a playful glare. "Well it's true Bolton, I bet whenever Gabriella looks up, she'll find you staring at her."
"Maybe," conceded Troy, a smile on his lips. "I can't help it though when there's such a beautiful vision sitting right next to me."
"Flirt," teased Gabriella as she leaned over and kissed him gently before going back to her textbook.
Troy just grinned as he settled into the couch next to Gabriella and found himself watching Gabriella as she studied, unashamed for doing so, even when Taylor caught him and smirked. He glanced at his watch and was surprised that Chad wasn't around yet. Troy picked up his cell and texted him, getting a text shortly after from Chad who said that he would be there shortly. When Troy glanced back at Gabriella, he smiled again as he watched her absentmindedly nibble on her pencil that was currently in between her teeth. He took advantage of both girls being occupied with their studying to notice his watching again until he couldn't help but get her attention again.
"You do know you can get lead poisoning if you bite all the way through right?" teased Troy with a smile that grew as brown eyes met his. "I wouldn't want you to die and be a national news story that went something like 'Beautiful teenage girl dies while studying for school'. Now that would be sad."
"Well now I know you lie or at least don't know your facts," returned Gabriella with a smile of her own. "You do know that it isn't lead in these pencils right?"
"Of course that's lead in there. I'm not a complete moron," returned Troy with a smirk.
"Actually there isn't any," replied Gabriella. "That's just a misconception. It's actually graphite, which would make sense considering all the exposure school children have to these writing instruments."
Troy watched as Gabriella waved the now chewed on pencil in the air before he shook his head. "And where is the proof Miss Montez?"
A twinkle appeared in Gabriella's eyes as she gently took Troy's hand in hers and turned it so it was palm up. "Now, if this was truly lead, which can be poisonous, would I stab you with this pencil?"
Instead of jerking away as Gabriella raised the pencil over his palm, Troy calmly said, "Point proven but if you find that hurting me turns you on, go right on ahead."
"TROY!" exclaimed Gabriella, immediately shoving his hand off her lap, ignoring the laughter that came from Taylor down on the floor. "You pig!"
Troy snickered as he brought Gabriella close to him. "Oh come on Brie, that was pretty funny. And I meant it, if it turns you on then go right on ahead."
"Oh, it turns me on all right, enough to want to stab you in the tongue to stop you from talking that way!" expressed Gabriella, waving the pencil in front of Troy's face, brandishing it like it was a switchblade instead of a writing instrument.
Without thinking, Troy quickly snatched the pencil out of her hand and tossed it back onto her forgotten notebook, taking her face in between his hands and kissing her softly, smiling as she returned it after a few moments. Taylor discreetly went back to studying after shaking her head at their clear happiness of being back together, if even as two dating people. The two didn't pull apart until they heard a deep cough and looked up to see Chad rolling his eyes at them.
"Honestly, I leave my girlfriend in your care for just half an hour and you subject her to that mush? Poor Taylor!" teased Chad as he took a seat next to his girlfriend and wrapped an arm around her shoulders before kissing her quickly. "Were these two almost having sex in front of you for long?"
"Whatever, they were just kissing," returned Taylor as she looked back at her boyfriend before she gave Gabriella a wink.
Gabriella smiled back before pulling her notebook back onto her lap, content to stay in Troy's embrace. After writing a few notes, she looked back up and realized that neither Chad nor Troy were doing any studying. "Hey, wasn't the point of even having you two here was so you would study?"
Taylor looked up at this and saw Chad staring at her. She blushed before she pushed that aside and agreed. "That's right, you two are supposed to be studying the books, not us and don't even use that line again Troy!"
"What line?" asked Chad, intrigued as to what line Troy could have used earlier.
"Nothing," mumbled Troy as he reluctantly pulled out his Mass Media textbook and notebook and let them sit on his lap as he tried to will himself to open them.
"I don't see either of you studying, but at least Troy has his book on his lap," commented Gabriella after a few more moments pass.
"Do we have to?" complained Chad, batting his eyes at Taylor.
Taylor very sweetly smiled at him before she replied. "Of course not but if you don't, you have to leave before Gabriella's mom is done with the brownies."
"Brownies? Ms. Montez's brownies? Really?" asked Chad with a grin.
Troy nodded his head with an excited smile of his own. "Can't you smell them dude?"
Chad took a sniff in the air and gave a thumb up sign. "I'm totally in then! But don't you two have to stop studying your smart stuff to study with us?"
"Are you really going to study?" asked Taylor, quirking an eyebrow at Chad. "Like really study?"
"If you give me something else to entice me I'll behave for the rest of the night," promised Chad. "Troy too."
Gabriella let out a little laugh at this. "All right then. Taylor, why don't we ask him a True or False question and if he gets it right, he gets a brownie and a kiss with our blessing to watch ESPN. He gets it wrong, he is without one of the two and has to study."
Taylor eyed Gabriella before she grinned, instantly realizing what Gabriella had in mind. "I concur. What do you say Chad?"
"True or False? Easy enough, I'm in!" exclaimed Chad, dropping the book back in his bag.
"Wait, if he gets it right or wrong, what does that have to do with me?" asked Troy. "I want in!"
"You want to be part of this with Chad?" questioned Taylor. "You sure?"
Troy hesitated, looking at his best friend and then the two girls. "Well when you put it that way…"
"Of course he does, he knows I'll pull through for him. Brothers right Troy?" interjected Chad, giving Troy a look that compelled Troy to nod his agreement, against his better judgment.
"All right then. Chad, true or false? The black part of a pencil that actually makes contact with the paper you write on is lead," stated Gabriella, grabbing Troy's hands that were now starting to wave towards Chad as he looked at Taylor and scoffed.
"True, duh!" answered Chad.
Troy smacked his head, hard, with the flat of his palm at this answer. "Dude, you just doomed us!"
"What?" asked Chad. "Of course it is lead. It's been called lead all our school lives!"
Taylor let out a laugh at Chad's now puzzled look and Troy's frustrated one as he glared at his best friend. "I'm sorry sweetie but Troy's right. He just learned this too tonight so don't feel bad."
"But if not lead, then what?" asked Chad, not sure if he wanted to know now.
"Graphite," answered Gabriella with a small smile. "Guess you two are now sentenced to a night of using said graphite in its wooden casing to study with us and are allowed either a brownie or a kiss but not both for the rest of the night."
"But that was just Chad blowing the question, not me," argued Troy, trying to give Gabriella his best puppy look, the exaggerated lip and all.
"Sorry, you stood by your boy and that's what it got you this time," replied Gabriella. "A deal is a deal now open that book mister."
"Man, this sucks," grumbled Chad as he opened his own book, not even bothering trying to negotiate with Taylor.
"Aww, it's not so bad. At least you aren't alone in thinking that. Troy didn't know either and I guess only us nerds did. You'd beat us anytime though in an ESPN question, you know that," comforted Taylor, kissing Chad's cheek, backing away quickly though before he could kiss her. "Nope, no kissing until you make your final decision."
"But Tay!" protested Chad, now feeling the weight of the bet besides having to study.
"Deal is a deal Chad," returned Taylor before she put away her Advanced Anatomy book and replaced it with her Mass Media book. She looked up and smiled as she realized that Gabriella and Troy had both already started going over a section in the book that would be on tomorrow's test. "Why can't you be like Troy and actually study now that you lost?"
"Because, well, I don't know," admitted Chad before he officially gave up. "Fine, where do we start?"
"Page 117," called out Troy with a grin, smirking at Chad before he turned his attention back to his book, his right hand absently playing with Gabriella's hair that hung over her left shoulder.
By the end of two hours, Taylor and Gabriella both were impressed with the level of focus Chad and Troy were able to muster together to truly study for their test the next day. Sure there had been a five minute break in between where the two had regressed and talked about the latest baseball game but that was the extent of it. It was so unusual that Mary popped into the room to make sure everything was all right and that the boys weren't tied up for she had never before heard them as quiet as they currently were.
"Hard at studying huh?" asked Mary, a gentle smile on her face. "What did you two girls do to get these guys to buckle down like this?"
"Simple true or false question," answered Taylor, giving Ms. Montez a smile, daring to ruffle Chad's hair with her right hand. "They answered wrong so they had to live up to their end of the deal and study without complaint."
"Ah, I see. I guess that would explain why no one jumped up as soon as the oven went off for the final batch of brownies. I guess I'll just bring them in with some milk and water," said Mary before leaving the living room.
Both Taylor and Gabriella let out a discreet cough while trying to cover their laughter as both Troy and Chad sat up straighter at the mention of brownies and laughed as they saw both of their excitement zap away at the realization that they couldn't go for the brownies Gabriella's mom was bringing in without sacrificing something else that night. When Mary came back in with a tray with a plate of the brownies and two glasses of milk and two of water, she placed it in the middle of the floor, amazed when she stood back when both teenaged boys stared at the plate longingly.
"Go ahead boys, dig in. I baked them just for you," offered Mary, still a bit concerned with why neither Chad nor Troy was making a move for the plate. In fact, both had a bit of a torn look on their faces as they both looked at the plate and then at the girl sitting next to them. "Is there something I'm missing here?"
Not wanting her mother to get in the middle of the agreement, Gabriella shook her head and smiled at her mom. "Don't worry Mom, everything is fine."
"Are you sure?" asked Mary with a suspicious tone in her voice.
"Very," agreed Taylor before Chad or Troy could say anything else.
Mary just shrugged her shoulders and left the room, leaving Chad and Troy with a big decision on their hands. Gabriella reached out and grabbed a glass of water while Taylor took a brownie and popped it in her mouth, smiling at Chad as she took the first bite and savored it. He whimpered, loudly, but Taylor continued to eat it, closing her eyes to emphasize how much she was really enjoying it.
"That's it! I can't take it!" exclaimed Chad before he dove for the plate and picked up a brownie, biting into half of it and then finishing it off shortly after. "Mmm, amazing!"
Taylor and Gabriella both laughed at his antics and shook their heads. "Guess that was worth no more kisses for the night huh?" teased Taylor, brushing some of her bangs off her face.
"Technically, this is your fault," got out Chad in between bites of his second brownie. "If you hadn't teased me, I wouldn't have been so tempted! It's okay, I can wait until 12:01 AM to kiss you. You'll miss it as much as me by then."
Troy let out a chuckle at this. "Cocky much?"
"Dude, when can Taylor ever resist the Chad Charm?" asked Chad, smirking at his best friend.
"Umm, whenever I want!" tossed back Taylor, who was now narrowing her eyes on her boyfriend. "Just for that mister, you aren't getting kisses for at least another day or two! And it's a school night, no way are we going to be together at 12:01 AM either."
"But Tay!" argued Chad.
"No Chad," responded Taylor, giving him a look that told him her decision was final.
Gabriella just laughed at her best friend and her boyfriend, thinking that they were so perfectly matched. She rolled her eyes though as Chad tried to steal a kiss, which Taylor stealthily avoided. 'Good girl,' thought Gabriella before going back to her textbook.
Troy took his cue from her and went back to studying after watching Chad continue to bicker with Taylor over giving him a small kiss after he realized that Chad really had no charm over Taylor at the moment. He paused every now and then to ask Gabriella a question about the section and smiled softly at her as she patiently explained something to him. At some point, their hands ended up joined together, both realizing this at different points of their studying, neither Troy or Gabriella being in a hurry to separate. After another hour, Troy found that he couldn't continue without a break. He eyed Gabriella as he watched her eyes dart back and forth across the pages in the textbook, writing notes without even looking on her notebook. 'I really could watch her for hours…'
Just then, Gabriella looked up and caught his crystal blue eyes staring back into her own. "There you go again, studying the wrong thing," teased Gabriella with a soft smile on her face, a light blush on her cheeks.
"No, I am definitely studying the right thing," replied Troy, knowing in his head he had made the right decision this past weekend and even tonight. He got a goofy grin on his face that Gabriella recognized just before he plopped his head onto her lap and grinned up at her, shifting so the corner of the textbook wasn't digging into the back of his head. "Kiss me?"
Gabriella couldn't help but giggle at this. "Really? You're giving up my mom's brownies that you love, that you adore, just for a kiss?"
"Ah, but that's where you are wrong brainiac. It isn't just any kiss. It is your kiss!" exclaimed Troy, knowing he had said the right thing as the blush already on Gabriella's cheeks deepened. "Now are you going to live up to your end of the deal or no?"
Unable to resist his charms any further, Gabriella leaned over and gently placed her lips over Troy's, tentatively kissing him back as he kissed her, allowing him to deepen it for a moment as he reached a hand up and placed his hand behind her head to keep her there as he started feeling her pulling away. It wasn't until a cell phone went off, one that Troy recognized as Chad's, that he let her go, smiling back up at Gabriella as she smiled back down at him, slowly running her left hand through his brown hair, pushing some of it off his forehead.
"Well kids, I hate to break this up but those were my parents and I have to get going back home," announced Chad, interrupting Troy and Gabriella's little moment.
Taylor looked at her watch and then started gathering her own stuff up. "Me too. I didn't realize it had gotten this late. Gab, do you think your mom would mind if we took some brownies home?"
Gabriella shook her head from where she sat on the couch as Troy's head was still in her lap although now it was turned so he could look at Taylor and Chad both as they packed up their school things. "Definitely not. I think she made extra today for some reason as I heard the oven go off twice."
"Cool!" exclaimed Chad as he zipped up his bag. "Since I obviously won't get a good-bye kiss, those brownies are a nice second pick."
Gabriella nudged Troy a little so he sat up in order to let her get up to help Taylor bag some of the brownies for both her and Chad in the kitchen. Chad on the other hand stayed in the living room and just shook his head in disbelief at his best friend.
"You seriously are whipped by her, you know that? I haven't seen that goofy grin on your face in ages man and it's all because of Gab," commented Chad with a smirk.
"You're right, it is all because of her and it's not that I'm whipped, I'm enchanted by her," returned Troy with his own smirk. "What can I say, I'm just smart enough to realize a good thing before I completely lose it."
Chad chuckled. "And that's a very good thing because I'd hate to beat your ass for hurting her or missing your chance. Going to make her your girl any time soon?"
Troy shrugged his shoulders. "If I had my way, she would be already but Gabriella is still sorting out her feelings for Tristan and I have to respect that. I'd rather her be with me and be really with me than this doubt she has lingering."
"I give you props man. I didn't think you'd be able to make the smart decision and give her space at the same time. Gab really must mean something to you," said Chad as Taylor and Gabriella both walked back in.
"She absolutely does," agreed Troy as he watched Gabriella hug both Taylor and Chad. "See you guys at school tomorrow?"
"But of course. Like I would miss a day of oh so exciting school," Chad smartly returned, waving as he and Taylor left with Gabriella walking them out.
After Gabriella came back, Troy immediately wrapped his arms around Gabriella's waist and pulled her down onto his lap. Their lips quickly found each other before they both began to explore each other's faces with their fingers and lips, leaving various trails that also began to lead down the neck. Troy groaned though as he heard his own cell go off and knew from the ringtone it was home. "I think that's my signal to go home," murmured Troy before he kissed Gabriella lightly on the nose, answering his cell in the next second.
While Troy talked to his father briefly on the phone, Gabriella looked to the entrance of the living room and spotted her mother just standing there, smiling at the two, before shaking her head and leaving the room. When Gabriella heard Troy hang up, she turned her attention back to him. "Time to go?"
"Yup, I have to get going, Coach and Father's orders," grumbled Troy as he reluctantly allowed Gabriella to slide off his lap so he could gather his things. "Do you have that CD you talked about me borrowing?"
"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Gabriella, her brown eyes lighting up at the mention of it. "It's upstairs. Let me get it."
Troy just chuckled at her energy as he finished gathering his stuff and shoving it in his bag. When he looked up, he was surprised it was the older Montez woman standing in front of him. "Whoa, I didn't even hear you come in Ms. Montez."
Mary just laughed at Troy before she held out a Ziploc bag with a good amount of brownies within. "I know whatever deal you two boys had with the girls tonight was for a good cause but I wanted to make sure you got to have these."
He grinned at Gabriella's mother before taking them and slipping them into his bag before Gabriella came back into the room. "Thank you Ms Montez, that was amazingly thoughtful and I promise I won't eat them until tomorrow to stick to my deal with your daughter."
"Good guy," said Mary with a smile on her face.
When Gabriella came back into the living room, she saw a nice moment going on between Troy and her mother, intrigued by it but not wanting to ruin its specialness either. "Here you are Troy."
Troy looked up and smiled more as he took the CD from Gabriella, slipping that too into his bag. "Thanks. Walk me to do the door?"
"Sure," agreed Gabriella as she grabbed his hand for the short walk, stopping with Troy once they reached her porch. "Thanks for coming over."
"You kidding? More time to spend with you while also using the time to be useful? That's a great way to spend my afternoon," replied Troy, squeezing her hand in his. "Want me to pick you up in the morning?"
Gabriella nodded her head. "I'd like that."
"Then it's a plan. Good night Brie," replied Troy before he leaned down and kissed Gabriella one last time for the night.
"Good night Troy," returned Gabriella, kissing his cheek before backing up towards the front door again. "See you in the morning."
Troy just winked at her in response before chuckling at her blush again, turning to head to his truck that was parked in the street. 'She may not be my girlfriend and may not be any time soon but these moments, they are worthy any amount of waiting,' thought Troy as he started the truck and drove home, thoughts of his Mass Media test the next day taking a back seat to his current thoughts that were filled with a certain dark brown haired girl who was getting a firmer hold on his heart as every day passed.