Tattoo

This goes out to TiCkLeD-pInK-TiNk who left the idea in a review on Graduation Trip

Gabriella Montez sat alongside her best friend as they sat side by side in Gabriella's living room trying to work out the details of Prom.

"This is frustrating," Taylor exclaimed. "Time to take a break."

Gabriella giggled, dropping the pencil and sitting back in her chair, folding her legs into the couch.

"So what are you and Troy doing for Prom?"

Gabriella looked at her best friend like she was crazy. "Um, going to Prom? Is that weird? Are you and Chad doing something different?"

Taylor rolled her eyes as Gabriella laughed. "You know what I mean. Are you guys doing anything special after Prom?"

Gabriella shrugged and took a sip of water out of her bottle on the table. "Not that I know of, but Troy probably has something planned."

"Doesn't he always," Taylor giggled. "Gosh, I wish Troy would give Chad lessons on how to be romantic."

"After he sleeps with your best friend?" Gabriella asked.

Taylor shook her head. "Chad would never sleep with you."

They broke out into giggles and when Gabriella calmed down, she stared out at the TV, which was playing MTV, but they were barely watching. "I think Troy and I might have sex on Prom night."

Taylor looked at Gabriella confused. "Um, haven't you too already had sex for the first time…like a long time ago?"

Gabi smiled. "I mean for the first time since getting back together. We haven't exactly gotten back to that, we've been going slow."

Taylor's eyes widened. "Well, here I was thinking you two were still at it like rabbits all the time. Why are you guys being abstinent all of a sudden? That shocks me you know."

Gabriella bit her lip, which gave away that there was more to the story than she was telling.

"Spill!" Taylor exclaimed, moving closer to her friend.

"Well, I kind of…got a tattoo."

Her best friends' eye went way too wide. "A TATTOO?!"

"Tay, shh!" Gabi covered her mouth, glancing towards the stairs. "My dad's upstairs and he'd kill me if he knew."

Taylor composed herself. "A tattoo? When and where and why?"

"I got it for Troy. It's his basketball number. I got it the same day I found out about him and Sharpay and I was so mad at myself after I found out because I thought I'd marked up my body for nothing. When I was crying the next day in the bathroom, it wasn't entirely because of me finding out, it was more me going through the pain and permanently inking my body with the memory of him the same day we broke up. I was trying to save up money to maybe get it surgically removed until we got back together after the trip."

Taylor looked at her shocked. "Where is it? I mean you wore a bikini during the trip and I didn't...Oh God! Please don't tell me it's on your butt?"

Gabriella laughed. "No! It's not there chill out." She stood up, grabbing the waistband of her sweatpants and pulling them down slightly, showing off the number 14 on her pelvic area.

"Oh My God! That's so cute. Why haven't you shown him?"

Gabriella shrugged, sitting back down. "I'm not exactly sure how he'll react. I mean that's why I got it there because I figured that was an easy way to hide it if he didn't but I forgot about the sex thing."

"So you don't wanna have sex with him because you don't want him to find the tat?" Taylor asked, making sure she had this all right.

Gabriella nodded shyly. "Does that sound bad?"

"Not exactly. Just show him though, I'm sure he'll love it. It's sweet."

"Show me what?"

Gabriella and Taylor turned to see Troy walking in with his car keys in hand. He bent down and kissed Gabriella's cheek lightly as she sat there frozen.

"What?" He asked, seeing both of their faces.

"How do you know we're talking about you?" Taylor asked.

"Um, I don't. I assumed. Are you talking about me?"

"No!" Gabriella responded quickly.

Troy looked at her confused. "Okay then, so what's up?"

"Nothing really, how'd you get in?"

"Your mom was coming home as I pulled up, she let me in."

"Right…"

"You sure you two okay? If I was interrupting girl talk, I'm sorry."

"No, no. It's fine, we were just talking Prom committee stuff," Gabriella said, hoping the subject was dropped.

"Yea and actually I was just leaving," Taylor said, grabbing her stuff and stuffing it into her bag as Gabriella looked at her pleadingly. She followed her friend to the door. "We can just finish it some other time. Bye Troy." She waved to the boy. "Show him okay? Good luck," she whispered to Gabriella before closing the door behind herself.

Gabriella silently went back to the couch, cleaning the stuff off to make room. As she sat down, Troy smiled at her. "So how are you?"

"Good, fine. You?"

"I didn't get a proper hello yet so I can't answer that."

Gabriella smiled, moving over to Troy , sitting on his lap and resting her hands on his chest. "Is this better?"

"Mhmm." Troy's mouth immediately moved to her neck. "Much better."

She kissed his passionately before pulling away and letting him suck at the skin on her neck. "You're never happy unless you're trying to make me moan are you?"

She felt him smirk at her neck. "What do you think?"

Hands went roaming and a little bit later, Gabriella's shirt was off and Troy's hands were down her pants, but her pants were still on. Troy's shirt was also off and Gabriella's hands were toying with the belt holding his pants up.

As Troy's hands made the move to take off her sweatpants, she tensed up before grabbing his wrists and pushing his hands away.

"What? I.."

"I'm sorry. I just can't right now." Gabriella slowly put her shirt back on and avoiding his gaze.

"Gabi..What's going on? You won't even let me touch you. Every time I get ready to take your pants off, you stop me and I'm so confused," Troy confessed.

"I..I just can't. Not now."

"Is there a reason why?" Troy asked, looking at her, trying to find out what was so wrong here.

"I'm sorry Troy, I just don't want to."

Troy nodded, grabbing his shirt and Gabriella looked guilty. "Troy, I.."

"I understand, don't stress yourself."

"You sure?"

He nodded. "I love you."

Gabriella smiled that he was taking this so well. "I love you too."

"Look, I gotta go, but I'll let you maybe finish working on that Prom stuff. I'll see you later." They kissed lightly and Gabriella watched him leave, sighing and heading up to her room.

--

Taylor came up to Gabriella's locker the next day at school, leaning against the locker next to hers and giving her friend a knowing smile. "So what did you and blue-eye God do last night?"

Gabriella closed her locker and rolled her eyes. "Absolutely nothing at all."

"Seriously? You didn't show him? What did I tell you?"

Gabriella shrugged and sighed. "I don't know. I just couldn't do it."

"So when are you going to show him?"

They started walking down the hallway. "I have no idea."

"Well you can't hide it forever. He's bound to see it eventually and I think it's best you show him instead of him finding it."

Gabriella looked at her questioning. "He's going to accidently find a tattoo that's right above my private area?"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. What if you slip up and you two go too far and he sees it?"

"Yea, well. I'll find a way to tell him."

Troy walked up with Chad, grabbing Gabriella by her waist. "Hey sexy."

Gabriella's head turned and their lips automatically came in contact. "Hey," she said softly after they had pulled away.

Chad kissed Taylor and draped his arm over her shoulder. "Please spare us the details of your sex life."

"What sex life?" Taylor snorted and Gabriella looked at her wide eyed.

Troy shook his head. "Stay out of our sex life please?"

"Sure, as long as you don't have sex in front of us."

"We'll try not to," Gabriella said, pulling Troy's arm. She led his up to the rooftop garden, dropping her stuff on the bench and walking around the roof as Troy watched her. "Come on. Why are you just standing there?"

Troy walked to her. "I was watching you."

"Hmm," she grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer. "I like it when you watch me."

"Do you?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

She nodded, biting her lip as she gently leaned in, kissing his jaw softly. Her hands went down his chest, making its way to his belt and Troy groaned at the good feelings before pulling away.

"Wait a minute."

Gabriella looked at him. "What's wrong with you? Last night you didn't even want to be touched and now you're practically jumping me on the roof."

Gabriella stepped back from him, looking away. "I'm sorry, I just thought that last night and.."

He looked at her. "Don't feel bad, baby. If you're not ready then you're not ready. You don't have to just to make me happy or because you feel bad."

"But, there's more to it.."

"What is it?"

Gabriella started playing with her hands. "I'm afraid of what you'll say."

"Well you won't know till you tell me huh?"

She shook her head. "I can't Troy, I'm so sorry." She grabbed her stuff and despite Troy's voice calling behind her, she ran down the stairs and back into school, feeling she needed to be alone.

--

When Troy walked into practice later that afternoon, Chad was the first one to greet him. "Hey captain, what's up? I haven't seen you since this morning."

Troy dropped his gym bag, slipping off his warm up jacket to reveal his jersey. "I don't know. Gabi's been avoiding me since this morning."

"Really? Why? You guys looked fine this morning."

He shrugged and Chad passed him the ball. "I thought we were too. I don't know what I did though because she barely lets me touch her since we go back together and she says there's more to the story than her just not being ready."

Chad caught his rebound after he shot. "Maybe she's still a little bothered at the fact that she's not the only girl that been with you."

"But she said she forgave me a long time ago."

"And you believe that?" Chad asked with a laugh. "That's the one thing a woman can't forgive; when you sleep with someone besides her."

Troy stared at the hoop and shot, missing. "Well I don't know. We're usually fine, but then anytime I try to touch her or see her below the waist, she stops me."

"Self conscious maybe?"

Troy shook his head. "She's perfect."

Chad raised his eyebrows. "And how many times have you told her that?"

"Probably too many but not enough for me."

"Talk to her about it, I mean she could be hiding something, but Gab's not the type to hide stuff, especially not from you."

"I don't know. Maybe it's my fault, I never expected for things to be like this. But that's what I get for making the biggest mistake of my life."

Chad patted his shoulder. "It'll be fine. Want me to get Tay to talk to her."

Troy smiled. "Thanks, but Tay probably already knows."

Chad shrugged. "Good luck man."

--

Gabriella sat in her room staring at the ceiling, her headphones blocking out the world surrounding her. She let the music play as she thought about her tattoo and the reaction her boyfriend could have to it. She let her finger trail over the spot that held the permanent ink number 14 and felt the coldness of his championship ring against her hip.

As she was lying there, she saw a shadow moving outside her window. When she got up to investigate, Troy's face popped up as he stood on the balcony.

"Troy?" She opened the door. "What are you doing here? I told you to stop with the balcony my dad's getting suspicious.

Troy grabbed Gabriella left hand, fingering the ring on her hand. "Listen to me: I love you."

"Um, I love you too, but what's this about?"

"Gab, I know I've made some mistakes in my lifetime and I know that my sleeping with Sharpay was the biggest one, but I need you to fully forgive me.

Gabriella stared at him dumb struck. "Troy.. what?"

"I love you more than anything."

"Whoa, wait Troy. What are you talking about?"

Troy looked at her confused. "I was trying to apologize so you could be comfortable with me again."

Gabriella looked at him before she burst out laughing.

Troy stared at her. "How is this funny?"

Gabriella kept laughing and Troy felt his anger flaring up just a bit. "Gabriella.."

"I'm sorry baby. Troy listen to me, I never said I was uncomfortable around you. I love you okay and I don't have the slightest idea what you're apologizing for."

Troy sighed, looking deep into her eyes. "You never let me touch you and every time things go beyond your waist you stop me."

"Oh, Troy," Gabriella moved to rest her hands on his chest and kiss his jaw. "If I'd known you felt this way, I would have told you earlier."

"Well what is it? Tell me."

Gabriella bit her lip, slowly unbuttoning her jeans. She pulled her pants down a little, her underwear with it, revealing the tattoo. "I got a tattoo and I wasn't sure how you'd react to it."

"That's…that's my number," Troy stuttered, staring at that part of her body.

"Yea," she smiled. "I got it that day I found out about you and…"

Troy looked at her. "You marked your body with permanent ink? With my number?"

"You're not mad are you?" Gabriella asked as she pulled her shirt down and buttoned up her jeans.

"Mad? No, but surprised yes. Gabi, you know that's permanent right?"

Gabriella giggled. "Yes, Troy. That's why I got it."

"But ink is forever."

"Aren't we?"

"We are, but I mean after breaking up last time, were you still so sure?"

Gabriella shrugged. "For a while, I wanted to save up to get it surgically removed."

"I..I honestly have no idea what to say. I love the fact that you got my number, but I never expected you too. I mean…damn Gabriella that's permanent."

Gabriella laughed. "I know, the guy said that when I went to get it. I understood that pretty much from the beginning so even when I'm old and wrinkling, I'll still have that tattoo in that most private spot."

"Am I the only one who gets to see it?" Troy asked.

Gabriella smiled. "Besides Tay, yes. Who else would be looking down there?"

He pulled her closer, squeezing the spot where her tattoo is. "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied, kissing him.

When they pulled away he smirked. "Now, if I ask, will you come with me to get Brie right on my chest?"

She rubbed her arm across his left peck. "Right here?"

He looked deep into her eyes. "Right there. Over my heart, because my heart always has and always will belong to you."

She smiled, a few stray tears falling. "I'll think about," she joked. "I'm not sure if I want you to mark up your body with stuff in memory of me yet."

He shook his head. "You're funny."

"I know I am."

He kissed her again, his hand skimming lower. "Now can we have sex. That tattoo is just beginning to be kissed."

She giggled, allowing him to lead her to her bed. "Do with me as you please."

"Yes!" He cheered, laying her back and crawling onto of her as she giggled again, leading them into making sweet love for the rest of the night.

A/N: REVIEW plz!