Okay, so this just popped into my head, and originally it was going to be a one-shot, but now after only writing like a third of it, I realize that it has to be a three-shot or two-shot. Now, I don't know if anyone's done this idea yet, but I think this little story swirling around my head is original. I guess it's like a belated holiday gift as I just find it fun writing and I've been writing many high school stories, but in this story Troy and Gabriella are both out of college. I guess it's something different. Alls I really know is that when I was listening to Uncle Kracker's song Follow Me, this story just popped into my head.

Another thing, Kyle Bar in this story is my made up character, but when I wrote about him, I pictured Milo Ventimiglia playing his role. If you don't know who he is he was on Gilmore Girls as Jess. Or he is on Heros, but I don't know what his character's name is called.

I hope you guys enjoy. I've never really written a three-shot before, so wish me luck and let me know what you think in a review.

Friends surrounded her as the dark lights of the club tried to shine through the thick atmosphere that was choking her. The blue neon lights lit up the bar that she was currently standing at with a pink tiara on her head. The heavy ring on her finger weighing her down as if she were cemented to a thousand pound cement block. She sighed even though no one could hear her.

Sharpay was on her right with Taylor on her left. Both were tipsy as they were trying to get Gabriella to go along with the plan of getting so drunk during her bachelorette party that she wouldn't remember it the next day. But Gabriella was planning something different.

"Come on Gabs. Cheer up." Sharpay slurred a little as the bartender handed them their drinks and the blonde started to lead the two brunettes to the table that could seat about twenty.

"She's right you know." Taylor advised as she had always been the more sensible of the three. "You're getting married in eight days. You should be bouncing off the walls more than us." Taylor referred to the ten other girls that attended Gabriella's wedding party who were now filtering out throughout the dance floor, the table, and bar.

Gabriella was marrying Kyle Bar of B and B industries. He was taking over his father's, Kyle Senior's, business when he retired within five years or so. It was a highly respected industry that Gabriella wanted nothing to do with, but of course she couldn't tell Kyle that because that was his future. He right now was working as his father's right hand man and was away on a three day business trip right before their wedding.

Gabriella shut her eyes in boring pain. She could still taste the mint toothpaste he used that morning to kiss her goodbye. His dark, almost black, hair on his head; not a strand out of place. His business suit pressed down to the very last wrinkle. His black shoes sending a gleam in her eye. He was handsome, there was no doubt about it as Gabriella had heard many of her friends comparing him to famous actors. But Gabriella wasn't in the two year relationship for his looks; although it didn't hurt that he was hot.

No, she wasn't just in the relationship for looks, but for the stability he offered her.

She was in it because she had a steady job working for one of the top newspapers, she had just moved into their new extravagant apartment that they probably didn't need, and now she wanted to start a family. Or at least that is what she told herself because that's what people do normally after finding a man who loves you and you get married. Now it was time for kids, even though she was only twenty six and she could wait a couple of years.

And then of course she was also in the relationship because she loved him. He just had this warming personality that spoke silently to her. He made sure that she was taken care of, and that she had anything she could possibly need. He loved her and was willing to spend every dime on her. She should be happy that her life was ready to go into motion and that she was going to have a new family instead of it just being her mom and her. It was a new chapter in her life, and she was excited.

Then why did she feel trapped?

"Gabs, you haven't touched your drink." Sharpay slurred out again as Kelsi had now joined them at the table.

Gabriella ripped the tiara off of her head. She stared down at it as she remembered cursing Sharpay earlier for making her wear it, but it seemed to just draw in more guys as they offered to do very unmentionable things with her; saying this was her last chance as a free women.

But she still had eight nights to be whoever she dreamed of being. She didn't need to be Gabriella Montez the writer for the LA Times. She didn't need to be the soon-to-be Mrs. Kyle Bar. She didn't need to be the woman who stands behinds her man who is voted to be the next top billionaire.

She could be whoever she wanted.

"I mean, if I had a guy like you, I would be set for life." Sharpay went on. "You have money. You both are fucking hot. And you guys probably have very, VERY hot sex." Sharpay wriggled her eye brows twice as Kelsi and Taylor choked on their drinks. Gabriella knew it was the truth, but it was all the same to her. It seemed as if it was the same routine over and over again.

Kyle would go away on business. He would return and they would go out to dinner, he would present to her an expensive piece of jewelry that he picked up for her--sometimes though it would be shoes or a purse--, and then they would go back to his place and fuck each other.

"Why not just kick off your heels and sit back and enjoy the ride? You're basically done after marriage. You pop a few kids out, make him happy, and then you're done. Go buy yourself a new purse for a celebratory gift." Sharpay made it seem to easy as Gabriella was just stuck on one sentence and one sentence only.

You're basically done after marriage.

"What if I don't want to be done Shar? What if I want to explore the world? See things that I've only dreamed about?" Gabriella got a dreamy look in her eye.

Kelsi laid a gentle hand on top of Gabriella's. "Honey, we all want that. But other things just get in the way."

"Not if you just DO IT." Gabriella pointed out. "If you just hopped on a plane and took off to the first place that comes to your mind." Gabriella sighed happily as she got a giddy expression on her face. Her happiness was covering the slight terror on her face of being tied down to Kyle.

"Forget it Gabi. You have Kyle. He's like a ball and chain starting next week. Besides the fact that you won't be able to screw other guys, what more could you possible need? Sure you have money, power, a nice paying job, and a gorgeous apartment any girl would kill to have, but…what's the point in fighting it Gabi? You're happy right now, right?" Sharpay was drunk. There was no other way of explaining her ramblings.

"Yeah." Gabriella said softly; indicating just how much she was lying. Tears came to the brinks of her eyes at knowing deep down that she was basically selling her life away.

"That sounded depressing." Sharpay commented dryly as Taylor finally cut in.

"Okay, who's up for dancing?"

"Me!" Sharpay exclaimed with Kelsi who shocked them all since she was the one out of the group of four who hated dancing.

"Gabs?" Taylor asked pointedly. She knew that her best friend was on the edge of having a nervous break down. Anyone with eyes a mile away could tell that all hell was ready to break loose, but dancing was the only thing that came to Taylor's mind to distract Gabriella for a little while.

"I have to use the bathroom. I'll be right out." Gabriella was about to walk away before breaking into a quick run, but was stopped by her name being called out over the thunderous music pumping through the nighttime club. "Yeah Tay?"

"Don't forget your crown." She handed Gabriella the sparkling tiara as Gabriella forced a smile onto her face.

"No. I wouldn't want to forget this, would I?"

"I would hope not. I paid enough for it." Sharpay snorted ungraciously before going off with Kelsi and Taylor to the middle of the dance floor.

Gabriella's friends were great. They were helpful when planning the wedding when her mother couldn't come to LA for a weekend. They always kept her company whenever Kyle wasn't around. They went shopping with her when she was feeling the need to spend a paycheck. And they even supported her relationship with Kyle out of all the other failed relationships Gabriella had tried after her first real love had agreed with her that rainy night that their long distance relationship wasn't working out the way they had planned.

Her legs took her off in a fast sprint as she was a runner during high school. A soft perspiration broke out on her forehead. Her red dress that was tight on her chest, pushing up her cleavage just that little bit more, and flowed outward towards the bottom kicked upwards with every step she ran. She felt like she was a little kid again as she didn't need a taxi to get to her house.

Why need one when she felt free with just running?

Troy Bolton was many things. He was twenty-six. He was single as of two weeks prior. He lived in a house that was too big for one person due to his job as an up and coming favorite basketball player who was just starting out. He was ambitious. He ALWAYS got what he wanted; just not who he wanted as one person who changed his life would never come back to him. He was careless at times. He was confident. But most importantly, he was free. Free to do whatever he liked.

He didn't have many regrets in his short life. The main regret that haunted him everyday though was agreeing to break off his relationship with his girlfriend of four years. They had met Junior year when she transferred to East High and had hit if off ever since. That is until their college distances got the better of them and they had met up their third year of college over Christmas break and had decided that things weren't working out.

They had both loved each other. They both wanted each other. They both needed each other. Troy could still remember the break up sex that entailed their earth shattering departures. It was almost better than their first time together because that night they took things as slow as possible, and he memorized every freckle on her body. He memorized every sound she made. He memorized every look of passion that passed through Gabriella Montez's eye.

And it haunted him to no end.

Troy Bolton wasn't stupid. He had read the newspapers. Every morning consisted of him reading the latest big article Gabriella was assigned to write. He would always read it drinking his morning coffee. None of his other past girlfriends ever understood why the LA Times was so important to him when the Washington Post was just as good, if not better, but Troy would refuse their newspaper choices and skip to Gabriella's article first thing.

Six months earlier was one of the worst days as he nearly spit out his coffee in surprise. Staring right back at him was a guy named Kyle Bar and Gabriella who were holding each other blissfully; announcing their engagement. Troy remembered being in a bad mood that whole week until Chad talked some sense into him. At the time Troy was dating a gorgeous red head named Kate, and Troy was convinced that their relationship was going somewhere, but once he finally admitted to himself that he was indeed upset still about losing Gabriella, he knew it was time to cut Kate loose. It wasn't fair on her.

So when a nearly broken Gabriella Montez showed up at his house eight days before her wedding was supposed to happen; tears glistening in the moonlight at two a.m. in the morning, Troy was confused.

He hadn't seen her in person since their break up--five years earlier. He knew that they were living in the same city now. She had moved to LA two years previous, but they had both convinced themselves that they moved on. They didn't need to contact each other because they had nothing else to give one another.

They had given their hearts to each other at the end of Junior year of high school. They had lost their virginities with one another the last week of summer vacation before senior year. They had talked about marriage and what their wedding might be like light-years into the future at the end of graduation. But obviously their small wedding never happened as it was just teenage gibberish being thrown around back then.

Gabriella was throwing rocks at his window; something she would do in high school. The lights he had surrounding his house turned on when movement came into their sensors range.

"Brie!?" He whispered down to her as he propped open the window. He didn't know why he was whispering. He was a twenty-six year old who had neighbors that were only around during the summer seasons, and it most certainly was not summer time as the temperatures were dropping a little.

Gabriella sighed in relief as she wiped viciously at her eyes to clear them. She had one suitcase, and once suitcase only with her. It was sitting behind her standing self as if mocking Troy that it got to be touched by Gabriella's hands and he wasn't even allowed to speak to her after their stupid decision of breaking up.

"Thank God. Do you know how many windows your mansion has?!" She called up to him as if making small talk was appropriate for two ex-lovers who haven't seen each other for a very long time.

"God damn it Brie, what are YOU doing here?" He sounded angry to Gabriella as she cringed away in fright. Neither one noticing how Troy still used her nickname as if it were his second name.

"I had nowhere else to go!" She looked up at him wearing her red dress from the club that her friends were still at; not knowing that the soon-to-be bride was back at her ex-boyfriends home.

"How about your fiancés place? Or Taylor's place? Or Sharpay's place? Take a pick, because you have more places than most!"

"Troy please, I need to speak to you. You can't turn away from me. Not again." She whimpered as the tears finally leaked down her cheeks silently. The moon highlighting her figure perfectly as her almost black hair shined in streaks.

Troy shut his eyes painfully as he was never able to hurt Gabriella intentionally. Even if she was marrying another man and moving on. He ripped his eyes open and the intensity in them sent Gabriella almost stumbling backwards. "Just give me a second and I'll be down."

"Thank you." Gabriella whispered, but Troy didn't hear as he was already scrambling around his room to slide on a pair of light wash jeans and the first clean t-shirt he could find.

When he came down the stairs and started to walk through the living room to get to the front door, he stopped as a brown leather suit case was sitting next to his couch, and Gabriella's back was facing him as she was busy looking at the pictures his mom helped put up years before.

"Brie, how did you get in?" He asked in a raspy voice of surprise.

She turned around with a watery smile on her face. Her hands were fidgeting as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "You still keep the spare key in the blue flower pot."

Troy sighed tiredly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Gabriella saw that he was still upset and continued rambling nervously. "I'm sorry, but I didn't know where else to go. I can't…I just…it's good to see you." She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his strong torso.

It took Troy a few seconds to realize that she was actually touching him. It took him even longer to wrap his own arms around her petite body to pull her closer. He rubbed his nose against her scalp, just taking in her scent as she made no move to get out of his arms.

"I need to ask you something Troy." Gabriella mumbled into his chest before she hiccupped from her tears that were clouding up in her eyes again. He pulled away from her, but still kept both of his hands on her waist.

"Did something happen Brie? Are you hurt?" His concern was still stronger than ever for her. Troy Bolton was many things. He may be tough and hard on others at times, but there were always exceptions to that. And Gabriella Montez was his exception as he had never been as gentle with a girl than he had with her.

She bit her lip as the color brown flashed before her eyes. Kyle's eyes lighting up her brain as she could swear she could smell his cologne haunting her. "Yes. There's something definitely wrong." She whispered. "But before you speak, I need to know if you remember Senior prom."

"What?! You come to my house at two in the morning asking about Senior Prom that happened SO long ago?! Fuck Brie, is everything okay?" Her persisted as she pulled her head back away from his assaulting hands that wanted to keep touching her to make sure that she was really indeed standing in front of him.

"Do you Troy? Do you?!" She frantically asked as she looked at the clock hanging on the wall behind Troy. "We're running out of time. I NEED to know!"

"Yes!" He roared. "I remember all of it. I remember you wore a dark purple dress. I remember I actually had to wear a purple tie to match you. I remember dancing with you. I remember the hotel room you insisted we rent with the others just to make it seem as if we did all the right things for Prom." Troy admitted as his grip on her forearms tightened once he felt her trying to pull away. He was too greedy to let her go this easily after she barged right back into his life again. "I remember the way that you made me feel while we made love."

"Do you remember the morning?" Gabriella demanded. The old memories that could fill the whole universe were put into a cabinet in her brain, and it was in that place that they would stay until she left the country.

Troy's eye brows narrowed curiously as he thought back to his eighteen year old self. "Yes." He said slowly. "I remember everything."

"Good. Because I know it might seem crazy, and you probably weren't expecting this, but then again you are Troy Bolton and you could do whatever the hell you wanted, but are you in?" Gabriella asked suddenly as she was now gripping onto his forearms, her sharp nails cutting into his skin, but he could hardly feel the pain as her eyes were numbing him.

"In? Brie, you have to just slow down and tell me what's up. I promise I'll try to help." What he meant to say was that he would try to help as long as it had nothing to do with Kyle Bar and her wedding.

"Just say yes. You've never broken a promise to me before, and this is the last one that we have to follow through with and then you'll be done with me. I promise you won't ever hear from me again."

"What?" Troy hissed as he tried to keep his anger in check. "You're talking foreign here Brie. I have no idea what you're talking about."

She looked at him wildly. She shook his arms in desperation as more tears pooled in her eyes. "Troy!" She shrieked. "You said you remembered! You said!" She was panting as she continued. "You promised me that morning that sometime later in our lives we would just take off and go anyplace that we could think of. You said that we would've taken off that week, but your dad would have killed you for missing the championship game. This is the last promise that we have yet to complete, and Troy Bolton, I'm telling you now that the time is right. I'm taking off, and it's your choice to come with."

Troy stared at her as if she was crazy. He had done multiple things that could be considered bad ideas. Like riding a motorcycle without a helmet. Drinking away his problems with Chad when Gabriella and him first broke up. Dating random girls who reminded him of Gabriella. It was like he set himself up time and time again until the real deal came. And right now, the real deal was standing in front of him, and he never thought in a million years that he would actually have to think about going with her.

"Brie, you're wedding…" He trailed off painfully as she held her hand up to his mouth to stop him from going any further.

"It's in eight days. I have eight days to live how I want. ME! Not anyone else, and I want to be free. I want that feeling to return one last time before I suffocate myself with my so called 'perfect' life." Gabriella exclaimed. "You either come with me to Panama, or stay here. But by God Troy, I really hope that you come. You've never broken a promise yet, and I would hate to see you start now."

She didn't care about his promises. She only cared about one thing and one thing only, and he was going to help her. He was going to bring her back into her old life again. A life where they would drink cheap beer, talk obnoxiously as if they owned the place at wherever they were staying at, and spend time together.

That was all she needed.

"Please?" She whispered.

"Did you say Panama?" He croaked out as slight excitement entered his veins. "As in Mexico?"

"Is there any other place called Panama?" Gabriella asked. She saw the smug look starting to cross over Troy's face, but before he could rebut, she beat him to it. "Don't answer that. Instead you can tell me your answer because I have two tickets and the flight is in two hours. We don't have much time to get to the airport."

"Okay."

"What?" Gabriella asked with wide eyes.

"Okay. Let's do it." Troy rushed out of the room with Gabriella hot on his trail.

"You really mean it? This isn't you trying to be funny and pranking me?" Gabriella asked as she followed him up to his room.

"Brie, I promised you this years ago. And like you said, the time is now." Troy opened his bedroom door and it was like a blast to the past for Gabriella as his bedroom was almost exactly like the one back in Albuquerque. "What will I need?"

"Money, your passport, drivers license, and a set of clothes."

"One pair of clothes?" Troy asked.

"Come on Bolton, don't wimp out on me now. We can buy clothes when we get down there. Along with the fifty cent beers, and twenty five cent beers during Happy Hour." Gabriella said with a smile that reached her eyes.

Troy chuckled, "You got that from Prison Break Brie."

"Who the fuck cares? Let's just go Troy before people realize we're gone."

"It's two thirty in the morning! Who's gonna realize we're gone?" Troy started throwing random clothes into a duffel bag. He stopped though once Gabriella fell silent, and he knew instantly that something was wrong. "Brie, answer me! Where were you before you started throwing rocks at my window?"

"My bachelorette party." She mumbled as Troy could see guilt pass through her eyes.

"You're bachelorette party." Troy repeated in a daze. Just saying those words and talking about the wedding was making it even more real that in eight days she will never be his again. "Fuck Brie. This is fucked up even more now!"

"Troy, we can still do this. Shar and Tay and Kelsi, they're all wasted. By the time they sober up tomorrow afternoon we'll be on a beach drinking that cheap beer that we used to live off of." Gabriella ran up to him and gripped his arm.

This was her escape route to live on the wild side one last time before marriage.

"Just think about it Troy." Gabriella pleaded. "I can't do this by myself now."

"So…how's life?" Gabriella asked for short conversation. They were now flying flawlessly through the air in first class. Sometimes it helped having a credit card with hardly any limit.

Troy glanced at her as he was now convinced that she was genuinely crazy. Part of him just wanted to be the Troy that she knew him to be. The Troy who didn't think twice about his actions. The Troy who took the more dominant role and reassured her everything would be okay. But the other part of him was just plain ole' confused, and a little mad that she just showed up at his doorstep, but was still able to convince him to drop everything to go. And the later part of him Gabriella was unfamiliar with. Before in high school he had to worry about basketball season and nothing else, but now he actually had to worry about his job, his house, the bills, the mail, and everything else a single person who lives by themselves has to worry about.

"What the fuck Brie?" He breathed out quietly so no one else could hear. "What are YOU doing on this plane? And don't give me that 'promise' bull crap. I know when you're lying." His voice was hard as his chin that held slight stubble on it was locked. His blue eyes were even more magnificent as the light blue shirt that he was wearing really brought out he tan in his skin.

A small smile tried to tug it's way onto Gabriella's face, but she couldn't for the life of her force it to stay. She blinked away tears as she let out a shaky breath. "Because he puts the cap back on the toothpaste."

"What?"

"He eats the same thing for breakfast every morning: toast. He drinks his coffee with all this cream and sugar and crap that takes away the coffee's natural flavor. Kyle just…he always turns the air conditioning down." Gabriella exclaimed as she cleared her face and put on a brave watery smile once again. "I'm here because I'm getting married in a week and I'm not nervous."

Troy gripped her hand that was resting on the tan arm rest.

Gabriella looked down at their conjoined hands and whispered fearfully, "I'm supposed to be nervous. All brides are supposed to be nervous."

He laced their fingers together as he squeezed her hand in reassurance. The first part of Troy was winning now as he had to think to himself, when was the last time he worried about someone else other than himself and Gabriella? Never. So why should he start to worry about Kyle Bar's feelings?

"You never used to put the cap back on the toothpaste. We used to go to that café back in high school and you'd order nearly one of everything off of the menu that we knew by heart. You'd drink your coffee black and when you'd think that I wasn't looking you'd take my coffee when yours was getting low. As for the air conditioning thing, everyone should know that you like to be cold--that is if you aren't busy in the bedroom. And as for you getting nervous, you never used to get nervous when we were kids." Troy rasped out.

Gabriella ripped her hand away from him. "Listen to yourself Troy! And I quote, when we were kids, I mean, what is that?! You're acting as if we're old folks who have been through so much."

"Well what do you want me to say? That you're throwing away your whole life before you even turn thirty. You're young Brie. You're still hot and always will be. You could have any guy in the world and you settle for Kyle Bar." Troy said with distaste. "We used to laugh at people who would marry with these huge wash out weddings. But I CAN'T be the guy to tell you that you're not making a mistake, because you are."

"You make it seem like it's my death wish."

"No. YOU make it seem like that. I'm just being realistic."

Troy glanced at Gabriella as she had her hand on the arm rest again. He sighed as her eyes were glossy once again, and it was then and there that he vowed silently that he wouldn't make her cry anymore than he had already.

He picked up her hand to lace their fingers together. "So…my life's going pretty good. I play for the Lakers in their starting line up. I'm missing a practice this week, but the Coach will live. And then I have a game next week. How's life for you?"

"I'm a contained person marrying Kyle because of the reassurance and stability he offers me. How great does that sound?" Her bitterness was seeping through.

He was amazed. Troy had been down to Mexico at least once a year ever since he turned seven years old. His family and him had either gone over Christmas break or Spring Break for a week. He always found it intriguing when he heard locals communicating with one another as their language just seemed to flow a lot easier and faster than plain boring English. When he was in high school then, he ended up taking all the Spanish classes that he could.

He never really liked to work that hard in school, but Spanish class was an exception. He had exceptions for almost everything he did, and he didn't know why, but he worked his ass off to make his way up to Spanish 5--the advance level that barely any kids made it too. In order for him to take it though, he had to double up in Junior year with his foreign language class so that he was one year ahead of everyone else. He didn't mind it, even though he complained about it with everyone else who took it because he just found it interesting to hear different words coming out of peoples' mouths.

So he and Gabriella went to the first hotel they could find whether it was beautiful or not, and they booked the cheapest room that held one king size bed. Troy told Gabriella that he remembered everything, and that included their conversation the morning after senior prom. He didn't need to ask her what kind of room they wanted, or if they were sharing beds because they had this trip planned for eight years now.

Back in high school they were two teenagers who had big plans ahead of themselves. They were carefree and selfish as they always seemed to stick together though. They had planned to go anywhere in the world to explore together. The plan was to find the first hotel they spotted and share a room with one bed in it. They would drink, they would party, they would celebrate their love together by fucking each other until the sun rose--Troy just didn't know if Gabriella remembered the last part.

The hotel that they first came to happened to be beautiful and right on a beach. The sun was shining like there was no tomorrow as various other tourists and locals were walking around the large hotel lobby. Gabriella stood up from her spot on the beige colored couch, still clad in her sexy looking red dress that made men of all ages turn their heads to stare at her. Troy even saw that out of the corner of his eye there was a married couple walking past, and the husband turned his head with his eyes bugging out in shock at how radiant Gabriella looked. His wife hit him in the chest with the magazine she was holding as a dark blush overtook his tan face.

Troy chuckled as he handed Gabriella the second room key. "We're on the fourth floor. Room 414."

"Did you request that number?" Gabriella asked as before she could bend down to capture her leather suit case Troy beat her to it.

It took him a moment before realizing that the last two digits in their room number was his basketball number from high school and the number he wore for the Lakers. "Nah. I may still remember Spanish, but you have to give me time to get in the zone to refresh my memory."

"Get in the zone?" Gabriella snorted ungraciously.

Troy had his duffel bag slung over his shoulder with Gabriella's suit case in the same hand. His other free hand landed on the small of Gabriella's back to guide her towards the expensive looking elevator. She flinched only momentarily before turning to give Troy a shaky smile.

He wasn't oblivious. He knew that when she was quiet she was thinking of Kyle because whenever he left her alone and she thought he wasn't looking, she would get this guilty look in her eye. He knew that Gabriella loved Kyle. Whether it was a strong lust filled love, or a love that she shares with someone who influences her life. Love was love, and Troy could only hope that this week that they were going to spend together would change that.

Troy Bolton was a selfish man. The one exception was if Gabriella Montez asked for something, then her wish would be granted.

Gabriella stared blankly out the window. It was getting to be around dinner time and it was just setting in that she wasn't in the U.S anymore. She was literally in Mexico with only one pair of clothes, all her credit cards, no cell phone, and a bathing suit. She had no toothbrushes, no hair brushes, but most importantly she didn't even think to leave a note saying that she wasn't taken by some creep so that Kyle wouldn't freak out when he returned home.

Kyle, with the dark brown eyes that turned black at times. Kyle, with the naturally charming personality. Kyle, with the temper that wasn't to be messed with. Kyle, with a soft side for kids as he was ready to settle. And at the time when he first proposed, Gabriella was ready for that. She was ready for the little girl who would have her curls, and the little boy who would take after his father's company. But somewhere along the line of their sixth month engagement Gabriella realized she wasn't cut out to be a mother yet.

Before Kyle she partied with her friends every weekend. She had a tattoo on her lower back. She WAS thinking of getting another one before Kyle had talked her out of it. She liked smoking every once in a while when things got too stressful. But everything changed when Kyle and her started to get serious. He changed her, and now Gabriella was convincing herself that she wasn't ready for kids or the married life.

But yet a part of her had to think of her future. She did love Kyle, and she knew that if she did stay with him her future was safe. She would have at least some control over most situations as they would go through the same routines over and over again. Plus, every one of her friends liked Kyle and her mother valued him like her own son. She never was a big fan of her other boyfriends--including Troy.

"I've never seen you this quiet before." Troy whispered sexily as he wrapped his bare arms from around Gabriella; pulling her back into his bare chest. He had just gotten done with his shower. "The shower's free Brie." Troy's nose nuzzled into her soft curls.

"Okay. How about I shower and you go find some beer? I'm sick of the stuff in the mini fridge." Gabriella turned around in Troy's warm embrace. He nodded his head as their bodies were flushed against one another.

Troy glanced over Gabriella's head and onto the bed where a pack of cigarettes were and two empty bottles of mini beer that were originally from the fridge. "I see you still smoke?"

"Only occasionally. Like when I need a release and I'm all alone." Gabriella spoke quietly before deciding that the room was getting too warm for her liking. "I'm gonna go shower."

Gabriella sidestepped Troy and grabbed one of the many white towels that were folded neatly on the metal rack hanging on the wall opposite of the bathroom door. "And if you happen to find a store when you get the liquor, maybe you can pick up some extra clothes, or at least some until we can go shopping tomorrow."

Troy smirked at Gabriella. "Absolutely."

After all, Troy hadn't been lingerie shopping for a women since they were in college.

Gabriella smiled genuinely. "Thanks."

"I haven't had tacos in forever." Gabriella plopped down on the bed as the creamy yellow walls surrounded her in the hotel room. "I forgot how good minute made tacos tasted."

Troy chuckled as he had already stripped down to just his boxers and plopped down on the bed next to Gabriella. "When was the last time? You used to live off of them."

Gabriella thought about it as she brought her hands up behind her head to cradle her brown curls while laying down. The black lacy singlet Troy picked out for her cradling her curves in all the right places. "I don't know. It must have been back in college."

Troy pounded his pillow briefly before laying his head down on it. He was laying on his side facing Gabriella who was also laying on her small side. Her thin black singlet showed off her cleavage while she was laying down. He had longed the day that they would be close again, and now he would have her all to himself for a whole week.

"You haven't changed at all." He whispered as his warm fingers reached out and touched a lone freckly on her left shoulder. "How is it that we lived in the same city and never contacted each other?"

Gabriella sighed as she pulled one thin sheet over her body. "I don't know. After I moved from New York to LA I think we were just both busy with our lives. We grew apart from each other."

They both stared at each other. Both with their own looks of pleasure floating through their eyes.

"So tomorrow I thought we could go scuba diving. It's something that I think you'd enjoy." Troy said.

Gabriella's eyes sparkled with enjoyment. "Really? Let's do it. I've never gone before. Oh!" she squealed, "Then the next day there's these hiking trails that we can go through. The shortest one around here is like five miles or we can do the longer one and do like fifteen. What do you say?"

"How can I refuse you when you sound so excited?" Troy joked. "Of course I want to go. Who knows what trouble we can get into?"

"Troy, we're not in high school. We can't blame us breaking the rules on our age and how teenagers are supposed to get in trouble."

"Brie," Troy cooed as his hand ran up her bare arm, grazing the spaghetti strap of her singlet, before cupping her cheek softly. "You wanted to get away and be like we were in the past. I know that I haven't changed at all, but you have, and this trip is all about you going back in time and remembering how to have fun. So don't worry about following the rules." Troy pressed a kiss to Gabriella's forehead. "We never did before." Troy let his lips linger near Gabriella's plump ones before their eyes connected once more.

"You're right. I don't know why I'm thinking way too much into this." Gabriella resigned.

"It's okay." He looked down at her inviting lips before closing his eyes slowly and pressing his mouth onto hers. Gabriella didn't respond at first as it took a couple of seconds of his mouth massaging hers to make her move, but when she did they both felt the sparks that they would get throughout half their college and high school life.

"Goodnight Brie." Troy whispered once he pulled back.

"Night Troy."

It was an innocent kiss shared between two ex-lovers who were passed small kisses on the cheek.