Well, I should be doing my history paper, but procrastinator is my middle name.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, don't sue.

This was just a stupid little plot bunny. I really am not all the proud of it, but my day sucked and I needed something to cheer me up. So I wrote some fluff. Fluff always makes me feel better :) I hope you all like it at least…

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"So you never did tell me..." Troy started, looking at his girlfriend.

"What's that?" Gabriella asked him. They were lying on the grass, in Troy's backyard, on top of a blanket, with another blanket over them.

"Do you play basketball?" Troy asked, as he propped himself up on his elbows.

Gabriella stared at Troy for a minute. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, I was thinking; that day that I missed practice, you kind of looked like you knew what you were doing… Except, you know, when you were traveling…"

Gabriella grinned. "What made you think of that?"

"I don't know, really. I always think about the stuff we've done together."

Gabriella smiled. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"So?" Troy asked, fully sitting up this time, and pulling Gabriella up with him.

"Well, my dad…" Gabriella trailed off a bit. Gabriella had never talked about her dad. Ever. Well, grant it, it had only been a month, but she still had never brought it up. "My dad loved the game. He taught me when I was little. I was never really all that good at it. When he… when he died… it was something that just really reminded me of him. He wasn't ever all that good at it himself, but he loved it. I remember once, he took me to go see a game. I don't even remember what city we were living in at the time… just that we had so much fun. He taught me the rules of the game. Then, when we got home, I made him promise that the next day he would teach me. And he did."

Troy smiled sadly at his girlfriend. He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "How did he…"

"He had cancer."

"I'm sorry Gabi…" Troy trailed off. What do you say to the person who you love more than anyone else in the world, when she is reminiscing about what may have been her most difficult memory?

Gabriella didn't even seem to hear him. "It had gone away for a while… but it came back worse than ever."

Troy scooted closer to his girlfriend, and put his arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

"Do you miss him a lot?" Well, that was a stupid question. Troy reprehended himself mentally. Of course she misses him you idiot.

"Yeah…" Gabriella said. "I do. I think about him a lot… He would have loved you. I know he would have." Troy got the feeling that Gabriella couldn't really talk about it anymore. He knew one day she would open up about her father completely, and when that day came, he would be there to listen. So he said the first thing that came to mind.

"I love you." And he knew he meant it. He loved this girl more than he had ever loved anyone.

Gabriella looked up at her boyfriend. It was the first time he they had said it. "I love you too." She said quietly.

Troy leaned down and kissed his girlfriend. The two laid back down, and continued to point out constellations, like they had been, before their conversation.

"We should play sometime, you know." Troy said, breaking the silence.

"What? Basketball?"

"Yeah," Troy said.

"I'd like that."

Troy smiled at his girlfriend. "Good."

And at that moment, he could have sworn he felt someone give him a fatherly pat on the shoulder.

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That is the shortest story I've ever written! I'm working on a short little HSM humor story, because there aren't many of them on here. Most of the HSM stories are romance, fluff, and drama.

I hope you liked this… It was just something that popped into my head…

Love,

Monica