Time Changes Everything

Eavesdropping

"I can't believe you almost got fingered by Troy Bolton!" Taylor exclaims while taking another spoonful of vanilla ice cream drenched in chocolate sauce and places it into her mouth.

"Me neither." Gabriella says and swirls the ice cream around in her bowl, making a design with her chocolate sauce and sprinkles. Both girls were sitting in Gabriella's kitchen that Saturday afternoon since the Lava Springs was closed today for maintenance or something. Gabriella thought that the real reason was because they had to clean up the mess that the party left last night. Gabriella was sitting up on her counter in black short athletic shorts and a bight green tank top and her hair was up in a messy ponytail. Gabriella called Taylor this morning and then called Sharpay, but she was hanging out with Zeke since they never got to see each other with him working all the time. Sharpay told her that Ryan was in his room still, and Gabriella figured he took Troy's advice. After Sharpay told her that, Gabriella told Sharpay about what happened with Troy, and she freaked out. She sighs and takes another bite. "Shar flipped a shit when she found out."

Taylor nods and looks up from the kitchen table which she was sitting at. "I know. She called me the second you hung up with her. She was going insane." She explains and Gabriella nods.

"What'd she say?" Gabriella asks, since she found out this morning that Sharpay and Zeke must have left only minutes before it started happening.

Taylor smirks up at her best friend and takes another bite of ice cream. "She said fuck Bradin, she's got a new favorite couple to be your biggest fan."

Gabriella feels a blush erupt on her cheeks. "It was in the heat of the moment Tay. He probably forgot it was me and thought he was doing it to one of his Barbie's. Or he was just so used to making a move on someone that he couldn't do it in one night. It didn't mean anything to Troy alright?" She says and places the empty bowl of ice cream in the sink next to her. She was happy her mom was at work today, since she didn't want her to over hear this conversation.

"Did it mean anything to you?" Taylor asks and Gabriella feels her eyes shoot up to where hers were. She holds her breath for a moment, not sure how to respond. Did it mean anything to her? It couldn't. She and Troy were just friend. But then Gabriella remembers the ecstasy she felt when Troy touched her. It was in a way that no one else made her feel.

"I'm not... I don't know." She says and groans. "I supposed to hate him Tay!"

Taylor stands up and places the bowl in Gabriella's sink also. "You don't though." She says and Gabriella sighs, knowing she was right. "Can I ask you something? And you have to promise not to get mad ok?"

Gabriella looks at Taylor for a second, then nods slowly. "I promise."

Taylor takes a deep breath, as if she was building up for this moment for the longest time. "Um... why... why do you..." She sighs and takes another deep breath. "Why did you two hate each other for so long?"

Gabriella feels her stomach drop. No one had ever asked her that question. It was almost as if it was banned a long time ago. She looks away for a moment and feels her eyes close. Letting a short scene from that memory play inside her head. Gabriella opens her eyes again, shutting down the memory before it revealed too much. It was too painful to think about, let alone talk about. She shakes her head and looks down. "It's not important." She mumbles and then suddenly feels tear well up in her eyes, but quickly blinks them away before Taylor could see them.

"Ok... fine." Taylor says and backs up. She looks out Gabriella's window and smiles. "So my boyfriend's shirtless five houses down." She states and Gabriella shrugs.

"So?" She says, not exactly interested.

"So..." Taylor says with a smirk on her face. "Troy is too."