Dabbles with Daddy

"If I poke you right…here, will you laugh?" She giggled. "I guess you will. What about here?" She giggled again. "Here?" Giggle. "Here?" Giggle. "Here?" Giggle. "He-"

"Oh, for the love of all that is pink and sparkly, she is not the Pillsbury Dough Boy, and yes, she will giggle no matter where you poke her!" Sharpay glared across the lawn at the juvenile couple leaning against the tree, her fists clenched. "I promise you that she will giggle. Watch." Stalking over to them, she rammed her finger into Gabriella's upper arm. "Giggle."

"Te…he…?"

"See? I told you." Troy looked nervously at the blonde girl towering above his sitting form and smiled weakly. "Now shut up. I am so sick of your hypocriticalness today. Oh, poor me. Gabriella's got a daddy. Oh-em-gee, will you giggle? Just. Shut. Up." Looking down, Gabriella bit her lip and stifled a giggle as Sharpay stalked away. Troy sighed, leaning back against the tree.

"She's had it in for me ever since I told her that I didn't want a ride in her pink convertible," he whispered. Gabriella giggled, wrapping his arm in a hug.

Resting her cheek against it, she said, "No. She totally loves you. Probably wants to have your babies." He glared at her teasingly before pulling his arm away. "Oh, come on, I was just kidding." Rolling her eyes, she let out an exasperated sigh. Chewing on her bottom lip thoughtfully, she scooted closer to him. "This ground is a little hard, don't you think?" He glanced questioningly at her. "Well, I think it's too hard. I," she said, kissing his cheek briefly, "Am going to go sit on the hammock."

"Oh?" he questioned, watching as she moved to stand beside him. "You're going to abandon me here? I don't even get a goodbye?" Crouching beside him quickly, Gabriella smirked and bit her bottom lip again.

"I don't know," she mused, making as if she were hesitant. "My dad might be able to see us over here. And aren't we pretending not to date?" She leaned forward so that their noses were brushing and their foreheads were touching. Licking her lips, she batted her eyelashes. "This could be dangerous for you." His eyes widened, and he took a strangled breath as her tongue darted out from between her lips to flash across his.

"Where did this come from? What happened to my innocent-as-frick girlfriend? And why did this very seductive one decide to appear today? And right now? Why not tomorrow on our date, say, seven o'clock just as we turn off the road and into an abandoned parking lot?" Giggling, Gabriella dusted one side of his jaw with light kisses.

Ignoring him, she continued, "I'm going to keep kissing you until you get up and come sit on the hammock with me, and who knows what might happen if you don't stop me." Entwining their fingers, he nodded, chuckling as his girlfriend's lips carried his thoughts away from Joseph.

"So you're going to threaten me with kisses until I come and sit with you on the hammock? I see. I may have to resist. Hammocks really aren't my thing." Her lips pressed against the corner of his mouth in a long, lingering kiss, and her hands moved to cradle his neck. Jack let out a loud burst of laughter, and Troy's eyes snapped open. "Alright!" he yelped, his bright orbs darting unconsciously over to Joseph, "Alright, I'll come over to the hammock. Just cut it out." Giggling as she stood, Gabriella took his hands and pulled him to his feet.

"Okay, good, because I was about to drag you out into the middle of the lawn and start French kissing you if you didn't get up."

"Hush. Don't use words like French kiss when your dad is so close." As Gabriella laughed, walking backwards and towing Troy along, Chad swooped in behind her, grabbing her waist and hoisting her into the air. Tossing her over his shoulder and ignoring her complaints, he sat down on the hammock.

"Hey, Hoops," he called, splaying Gabriella across his lap. "I think your girl has a thing for me. Look at this body language. Everything is crystal clear. Care to come join us and try to win her back before we elope in Vegas?" Troy rolled his eyes and crossed the distance to his friends. He sat down gently, leaning back as Gabriella's head came to rest on his thighs.

"He's watching you two."

"Don't care. Too comfortable. Subtract ground, add hammock, yield happy butt." Gabriella laughed and his hand dropped from behind his head to gently run through her loose curls. She sighed contently and leaned into his hand. Chad fake-gagged, shoving a finger into the back of his mouth.

"You voluntarily sat down here," Gabriella reminded him. "I was the one that was brought here against my will, regardless of whether or not I was headed in this direction anyway." Shifting into a more comfortable position, Gabriella held out both of her hands with her index fingers point at Chad. "Let's play." Glancing down at his girlfriend, Troy chuckled lightly as he watched her begin a game of Chopsticks with Chad. Continuing to stroke his fingers through her hair, his other hand slid almost unconsciously to rest on her side, cupping around her hip.

"Dude, I'd watch out," Chad advised, his eyes flickering away from the hand game. "I don't know about you, but I know that my hands have a tendency to drift and you're not exactly in a situation where you could remedy any problem you come up with." Gabriella kicked the heel of her foot into Chad's thigh as Troy sent him a dirty look.

"Leave him alone," she demanded, slapping angrily at his hand with three fingers. Chad moved it behind his back. "Keep your eyes on your own hands." He touched her fist with his index finger, and she slapped him back with four fingers, leaving him to sigh in defeat. "See? Maybe, if you had been paying attention to your hands instead of Troy's, you would have won." Chad stuck out his tongue, grabbing for her legs as his hands attacked the backside of her knees. She squealed, writhing under his touch.

"Shouldn't have told Bolton where you're most ticklish. You know he can't keep a secret!" As she flailed around on the hammock, Gabriella reached up to slap at Troy's arms. The disciplining words were choked down by her laughter, and Troy couldn't help reaching down to lightly brush her neck with his fingertips. Her head slammed to the side, trapping his hand between her cheek and shoulder as she continued to thrash about.

"I hate you," she managed between her teeth, her abdomen shaking with silent laughter. "Traitor." Finally, Chad relinquished control of her legs and Gabriella sat up, slapping at his arms before turning on Troy and shoving him off of the hammock. It rocked violently and she nearly toppled off herself, but Chad caught her arm, steadying her.

"You just pushed me off the hammock," Troy gaped at her. "You literally shoved me onto the ground."

She pouted at him, "You told Chad about my tickly spot." Getting up onto his knees, Troy smiled at her, taking her hands in his. Chad rolled his eyes, but couldn't help smirking at the couple. Glancing across the yard, he caught Taylor's eyes as she spoke animatedly with Ryan and winked, throwing her a small nod. She smiled back, pausing her over-exaggerated gesticulation to wave her fingers in his direction.

"Forgive me, Gabriella, for I have been a naughty boy. A very naughty boy." The brunette's eyes widened and she tugged her hands away from him, crossing them over her chest. Troy frowned in confusion and scooted towards her. "Hey, what's–"

She glared at him, "Here you've been all day, not kissing me because you're afraid of my dad, and I've been defending you and yelling at everyone."

"You also knowingly threatened me with kisses."

"Yeah, well, now you're flirting with me. So I think that you should march yourself right over there and talk to my dad, Mr. Confidence." His eyes bulged and he jumped up onto the hammock beside her. She gave him a hard stare, and he gulped, glancing at Chad for support. His best friend, however, merely shrugged.

"Brie, I can't just go over there and talk to him. Everyone is gonna stare at me. It has to be done privately, anyway, and it'll be weird if I'm like 'Hey, Mr. Montez, can I speak to you in private?' Don't make me, baby, please." Gabriella's gaze softened, but only slightly. Suddenly, a timer went off inside the house and Gabriella saw her mother standing up. She smiled to herself.

"Should I?" she asked, looking over at Chad and ignoring Troy's sudden frantic hand gestures. "Is it a bad idea to even mention anything?" Her friend shrugged helplessly, and she sighed. "Okay, I'll just ask my mom if I can help her with anything, and then I'll ask her, casually of course, what they're talking about over there. That's not suspicious, right?" She bit her lip. "You know what? I'm just going to ask. The more nervous that I am the more suspicious it will seem. Okay, here I go." Troy grabbed for her and she got off the hammock, his hands swiping through the air.

"No!" he whisper-screamed. "Don't do it!" Following behind her mother, Gabriella slipped through the doors to her kitchen, throwing a smirk over her shoulder at Troy. Pretending to be searching through the pantry for something, she peered around the corner as Christina busied herself, taking several pans out of the oven. Gabriella took a series of deep breaths, mimicking the yoga training that she had done with Ryan.

"Mami?" she squeaked timidly, stepping out of the pantry. Christina looked up from her trays, concern shining in her eyes.

"What's wrong, mija?"

Gabriella shook her head, "Nothing, mami, nothing's wrong. I was just wondering what you guys are talking about with daddy." Christina raised an eyebrow at her daughter, and Gabriella felt her cheeks flush slightly. "It's just that Troy hasn't really gotten a chance to talk to daddy yet, and he's afraid that his parents are going to be making him sound really bad because, you know… Jack kind of does that." Christina laughed and waved her hand, brushing off Gabriella's comment.

"Honey, do you really think that your father is going to form an opinion on the boy based on what his father is saying about him?" Gabriella shrugged.

"Parents have judged based on a lot less. And anyway, daddy was already kind of weird to him, so Troy's on edge. He's not being himself, and it's scaring me, because if daddy doesn't get to know the real Troy then he won't know him like I do, and then everything will get messed up." Exasperated, she gestured out the window. "You know how he is, mom. He's sweet and he's funny and he's…," she hesitated, searching for a way to describe her boyfriend, "…outstandingly present. You always know when Troy is in a funky mood, because he's quiet and he's all off his game and he's kinda weird." She looked down at her hands and sighed. "I want daddy to love him. I need daddy to love him." Collapsing into a kitchen chair, she slumped her shoulders and pouted, rubbing her forehead slowly.

Christina wiped her hands on a towel and stepped around the counter, gently taking hold of Gabriella's shoulders. Brushing a chocolate curl behind her daughter's ear, Christina smiled comfortingly.

"You are a smart girl, Gabi. I know that, and your father knows that. We raised you to think, we raised you to be responsible, and you have never disappointed us. Deep down, your father knows that you're bright enough to pick a boy that's good for you. But you've got to understand that his first reaction right now is going to be 'get away from my daughter, you scum,' regardless of what kind of person Troy is. He's a dad. It's his right. Give him time." Gabriella looked down, breaking eye contact with her mother. "Mija, I've been around. I know Troy and I know what kind of a boy he is. Your father doesn't know Troy yet. All he knows is what he's seen today. Don't you think that it's reasonable that he might be a bit…wary?"

"But I told him all about Troy," Gabriella argued, looking back up. "I told him stories every time we talked on the phone, and I was always talking about everyone in emails." Christina shook her head.

"Gabi, be reasonable. Your father knew about things that Troy had done that you found amusing or worth mentioning. He didn't know him. And even if he felt like he did, he didn't know him as your boyfriend. That changes everything." Gabriella's shoulders fell and Christina sighed softly. "He does trust you, Gabi, you have to know that."

Gabriella shrugged. "It doesn't seem like it."

"He trusts you." Christina's voice was somewhat forceful. "Don't you understand, Gabi? Don't you understand how scared your father is right now?" Gabriella glanced up and shrugged again. "You're his baby girl, Gabriella," she smiled. "You're his princess."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "It's not like he's going to lose me, or anything. I just want him to meet my boyfriend and not scare him to death." Christina glanced up at the ceiling and muttered under her breath. "Was Papi like this when you were little? I mean, I cannot imagine Papi scaring daddy like he's scaring Troy right now." Gabriella stood up, walking over to the sliding glass doors leading to the backyard, and crossed her arms over her chest.

Pulling her daughter close again, Christina smiled. "I'll let you in on a little secret," she whispered. "Yes. Papi was the most overprotective father in the world. He had worked quite a few of my boyfriends over pretty well before your father came along, and I can say that your father is going to do the same exact thing for you." Gabriella swallowed, attempting to rid her throat of the lump that had lodged itself there. She did not particularly want to say it out loud to her mother in the kitchen on the day of her father's first meeting with her boyfriend, but some small part of her heart was suddenly begging for a second opinion.

"What if…? What if there aren't going to be any other boyfriends?" Her mother laughed.

"Oh, honey, you're going to have more than one boyfriend. Who wouldn't want to date you? You're intelligent, and beautiful, and–"

"No," Gabriella cut her off softly. "I'm not talking about that. What if there aren't going to be any other boyfriends because it's just going to be Troy?" She gulped softly before letting out a shaky breath. "It's not impossible." Christina's stare was hard, but Gabriella didn't take it to be menacing. More, it was concentrated. She blinked several time, and seemed to be struggling to find words. Finally running a hand through her hair, Christina plopped herself down onto one of the stools at the kitchen counter.

"What are you saying, mija?" she questioned gently, trying to keep an understanding smile on her face. Gabriella smiled sadly and looked down at her hands, playing with her fingernails.

"You think I'm stupid." She nodded, chuckling to herself as she sat down on the stool beside her mother. "Maybe I am. Hardly anybody gets what I want, and I know that. Everything is going to make it hard; school, college, life. Everything is going to be hard," she paused, and Christina noticed a glisten to her daughter's chocolate eyes. "But I want him, mami. And I think I want him forever."

Placing a hand over her daughter's knee, Christina sighed softly. "Honey… I don't doubt that you feel very strongly for Troy. I don't doubt that you love him, even. Right now must feel new and strange and wonderful, but I don't…" She hesitated. "I don't want you to start this right now. You have plenty of time to worry about your 'forever' later on. Worry about being with Troy right now." She smiled suddenly. "Worry about getting that Nervous Nelly of a boy to talk to your father." Gabriella giggled, quieting herself as the sliding door opened and Joseph stepped inside.

"What?" he asked, holding several empty beer bottles in his hands. "Why do you need to talk to me?" Gabriella smiled, scooting over to him and taking some of the bottles out of his hands. Following him over to the sink, she glanced at Christina before exhaling slowly.

"Dad, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, Gabi," he said distractedly, working on rinsing out the bottles. "What can I do?"

"Talk to Troy." Her father dropped one of the bottles into the sink and the neck cracked off. "Dad!"

"It was an accident," he insisted as Christina came up behind him to help pick up the shattered pieces. "Now what were you saying, Gabriella?" he asked. Gabriella lifted herself to sit on the edge of the counter, watching her parents.

"Please dad, just talk to him. He's really nervous, so be nice, but talk to him. Please. He's a good guy, daddy. And he really wants your approval." She spoke quietly, focusing on the sink instead of her father's face.

"Gabi, I–" The sliding door flew open and Troy stepped inside.

"Hey," he breathed. "I heard a crash…" He trailed off after he spotted Joseph standing behind Gabriella. "You okay?" She smiled at him and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Dad had a little too much to drink and dropped a bottle." He chuckled, and she glanced at Joseph. "I'll be out in a second, 'kay?" Troy nodded, giving her a weak smile before retreating back out to the yard. Christina clasped her hands together and touched Joseph's arm.

"Oh, did you see that?" she asked her husband as he moved towards the garbage can. "He was worried about her. He ran in here to make sure that he was okay. Joseph, wasn't that adorable?" Joseph shrugged.

"I suppose." Gabriella winced at the harsh words.

"Daddy…"

"I will, Gabriella," he said forcefully. "Just give me a little time." He closed his eyes briefly before softening his tone. "I'll talk to him. I will." Hopping off of the counter, she stepped towards her father and wrapped her arms around his abdomen in a tight hug.

"Thank you," she murmured into his shirt. "This is really important to me." She nodded up at him. "Thank you."

Once she left the kitchen, Joseph leaned back against the counter and covered his face with his hands. Christina stepped towards him, taking his hands into hers. He looked down at his wife sadly and sighed, sweeping her into his arms. Breathing in the scent of her shampoo, he squeezed his eyes shut. Christina pressed a soft, comforting kiss to the side of his neck.

"How did I miss so much?" His voice quivered as he spoke. "She's so…," he struggled, "mature now. She's so different. She didn't tell me about all of this on the phone. I didn't think I would miss so much. My daughter was in a play. My Gabi sang in front of an audience, and I wasn't there to watch her. I couldn't bring her flowers and tell her how great she did." Christina's hand soothed over the tense muscles of her husband's shoulders as he buried his face in her hair. "She has a boyfriend. My baby girl has a boyfriend."

-

-

"Yo, yo, dude. Let's shoot hoops and look at girls in a derogatory manner."

"Oh, I got this! You're Chad!"

"Very nice," Taylor nodded her approval.

"Hey!"

"Hey, shut up. It's my turn."

"Actually," Kelsi piped up, "it should be Troy's turn. But he's in the bathroom." Gabriella's eyebrows shot up and she looked around the circle of her friends.

"He's been in the bathroom for almost fifteen minutes." Chad snorted. "Keep your thoughts clean," Gabriella warned, moving to stand up. "I'll go find him. He's probably hiding from my dad." Her friends laughed, and she moved quickly into the house.

Checking behind her carefully as she headed into the foyer, Gabriella ducked into the stairwell and scurried up the steps. If her dad spotted her sneaking upstairs and then coming back down with Troy, her boyfriend might just die of embarrassment. Silently, she pushed open the door to the guest bedroom and moved towards the bed. Sliding up onto the mattress beside Troy, she smiled and rubbed a finger over his forearm.

"I was wondering where you disappeared to. What are you doing up here? Or, should I ask, who are you hiding from?" she joked softly, pulling her legs up onto the bed as she faced him. He chuckled softly, allowing his large hand to curl around her slender fingers. Leaning into her, he sighed and brushed his lips over her ear.

"We can just stay up here all day. We can stay up here all day and it'll just be you and me," he murmured to her, moving to wrap his arm around her shoulders, keeping their hands connected. Gabriella giggled as his lips worked around her earlobe, tugging it into his mouth.

"As much as I would like to spend a little time alone with you, I don't think that it's a good idea. Eventually, someone is going to notice that we're gone. That bathroom story only covers you for, like, five minutes." Troy grinned, trailing light kisses down her cheek as he whispered.

"I'll do that thing that you like that I can't do in front of your dad." Pulling back, she raised an eyebrow and shot him an incredulous look.

"Oh, do you mean holding my hand?"

He smirked, leaning back to gently nip at her ear. "I was thinking about kissing, but if you only want to hold my hand… fine." She flattened a hand against his chest and pushed him back. "What's wrong?" She looked down at her lap and then glanced up at him.

"Nothing, it's just…" She hesitated. Releasing his hand, she tucked her hair behind her ear and wrapped her arms around her torso. "You promised that you were going to be yourself today. But you're not being yourself. You're being all weird. And I think that that might be why my dad…"

"Hates me?" he offered quietly, pulling his arm from around her shoulders.

"No," she said hastily, "He doesn't hate you. I think he's just a little confused by you, at the moment." She scooted closer to him. "I told him all these stories about my best friend ever, who is the coolest guy I've met in my life. 'Cause he's funny and sweet, and he's hot…," she giggled, "Which I conveniently forgot to mention. And he's a bunch of other stuff." She hesitated, "A bunch of other stuff that you're not being today." Troy groaned and fell backwards onto the bed, covering his face with his hands.

"I screwed everything up, didn't I?" he moaned, slamming his head back against the firm mattress. Smiling sympathetically, she lowered herself down next to him, looking up at the ceiling. Turning her head, she giggled at him and took his hands in hers.

"Not yet," she murmured calmly. "But if you leave today and you haven't talked to him, I may have to consider breaking up with you."

His eyes snapped to hers and she couldn't hold back the soft snort that escaped her. He grunted, "Witch."

"Oh, thanks. It was only a joke."

"At least I didn't call you a bitch."

"I would have been offended either way."

He shrugged. "Payback is a bitch."

"I bet payback is offended," she pointed out.

"I don't care about payback. I care about you, jerkface!"

"Then talk to my dad. And stop calling me names!"

"I don't know how! And I thought you liked that. I thought it was a running joke thingy."

"It's not a running joke thingy." She huffed. "Okay, we're off topic. How would you feel about me talking to my dad and giving him the idea of having a talk with you?" Troy propped himself up on his elbow and chewed on his bottom lip thoughtfully.

"I guess that might work."

"Okay, good. I already did it." He narrowed his eyes at her and fell back onto the bed again.

"Great. By the way, I hate you."

"I'm only trying to help," she whispered gently, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

He groaned, "I know…"

His eyes met hers and he exhaled shakily. The sudden intensity of their closeness and the isolation of the dim room rushed over Gabriella, and she felt the nerve endings in her fingertips tingling. Keeping her head close to his, she lightly trailed kisses over his jaw, ending at the corner of his mouth. Turning her body over, she stopped when half of her weight was resting atop Troy, the other half still on the bed. One of her hands tenderly molded to the curves of his neck and she smiled as she brushed her lips over his.

"We really should get back to the party," she whispered, hooking her leg around his calve. "They'll just come looking for us soon." His hand cupped her elbow and held her there.

"I think we can afford two more minutes, don't you? Nobody is going to miss us for two minutes. It's only a measly one hundred and twenty seconds." He craned his neck upward, stretching to kiss her lips again. "No, see, this isn't going to work. If we stay like this my neck will be killing me by tonight. Get off of me." Slightly put off, Gabriella sat up, timidly tucking stray strands of hair behind her ear.

"Sorry," she mumbled, fumbling with her hands as he reached out to push her back onto the bed. He smirked.

"I totally have to be on top anyway, or we'll never get anywhere."

-

-

"Okay, okay, we have to stop now. If we don't go back downstairs in the next few minutes, someone is going to come looking for us, and then you'll be very sorry that you didn't listen to me." Troy pulled away from her neck, trailing his lips along her jaw slowly before placing opened-mouth kisses on the edge of her lips. "Seriously, Troy, we have to go back to the backyard." Slowly, Troy rolled off of her, remaining close to her side and nuzzling his nose against her ear.

"Are you sure?" he whispered. "Are you positive?" Sitting up slowly, she reached over and grabbed onto his knee.

"Affirmative. Now get up." He followed her into the bathroom, and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind as she smoothed out her hair. She giggled and worked around him as he dusted her neck and shoulders with light kisses, his hair tickling her skin. "Cut it out," she laughed, holding onto his arms. He rested his chin on her shoulder and watched her face in the mirror.

"You're even more beautiful after we make out." He watched her cheeks flush. "Mm, so beautiful," he mumbled into her neck. She giggled again and finally pulled away from him.

"You look beautiful, too. That lip gloss really compliments you." Glancing at himself in the mirror, Troy grimaced.

"Get it off, get it off!" Taking a tissue and wiping it over his lips, Gabriella cleaned the remaining lip gloss off of his neck. "You didn't actually have to get it off. I could've done it. Now I feel bad." Running a hand through his hair, she leaned forward to peck his lips before smiling and wiping them again.

"Let's go downstairs. You have a conversation waiting for you."

-

-

"Ew… Do you seriously expect me to eat this? Don't think I didn't see Mrs. Montez manhandling this meat in the kitchen earlier. And then they cooked it on that disgusting grill. Look at what they did. They got lines all over it from the greasy nastiness." Zeke leaned over to examine the top of Sharpay's burger before holding out the ketchup.

"It's supposed to look like that. And you have to use your hands. They taste way better homemade." She shot him a skeptical look.

"I doubt it."

"Just try it," he said, exasperation seeping into his voice as he squirted the red condiment onto her hamburger. She squealed.

"Not so much!"

"Sharpay, please…"

Troy glanced up from his plate, watching the exchange between the two. "God, will you two just date already?" He spooned a bit of macaroni salad onto his plate. "Zeke is practically in love with you, and either you like him too or you like to eat way more than you let on because your plate is basically as full as Chad's and it's all stuff that Zeke recommended that you fake-argued about so that you would still be playing hard-to-get. So put the poor kid out of his misery and kiss him already." Sharpay stared at him, her mouth hanging open in shock as Zeke's face flushed.

"I… I do not eat too much," the blonde snapped indignantly.

"Well then, that means you like Zeke. Problem solved. Date him." He walked away, heading towards Gabriella and leaving Zeke to stare uncomfortably at the platter of pickles and olives in an attempt to avoid making eye contact with the girl beside him.

"He's wrong," he finally sputtered. "He's just stupid."

"Maybe he's right. Maybe I'm lonely and I'm substituting the human companionship that I could be getting from you with the food that you keep suggesting to me." He gulped, not quite sure whether or not she was being sarcastic or not.

"Or maybe you just like food."

"Maybe. Would you suggest the potato salad?"

Gabriella looked up as Troy sat down beside her on the hammock, and she smiled at him. "Good effort over there with Zeke and Sharpay. But I doubt that she'll ever really consider going out with him. She needs a challenge. You were a challenge," she pointed out, nibbling at the bun from her hotdog. "You didn't really like her. He likes her too much. By accepting that, she's not proving herself. She'll feel like she's settling." Troy blinked, his fork frozen inches from his mouth.

"You've given this quite a bit of thought," he said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at her. "Why?"

She shrugged, "I feel bad for him. I look at what we have, and then I look at him and I feel bad. He likes her a lot, and I just wanted to figure out a way… It's sad." Troy nodded sadly, chewing thoughtfully on a forkful of coleslaw.

"Oh my God!" Taylor's sudden shriek caused Troy's neck to snap up, and he found his eyes drawn to the blonde girl gazing sadly across the table at the taller boy stacking tomato slices on top of his cheeseburger. As it turned out, Taylor's scream was in response to a worm. Elbowing his girlfriend lightly, he jerked his head in the direction of the table.

"Maybe all hope isn't lost." Gabriella nodded slowly, biting off a piece of her hotdog.

Swallowing, she asked, "You're going to talk to my dad, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then maybe not."

-

-

"Are we playing Manhunt tonight? No way it's dark enough yet, but are we going to play later?" Chad glanced around the circle of teenagers, his eyebrows raised. "Oh, come on. You can't have a party that lasts until dark and then not play Manhunt." Kelsi shifted uncomfortably and turned to Gabriella.

"Hey, what's Manhunt?" she questioned softly.

"It's kind of like tag in the dark," she explained. "I don't know how you guys play, but I played on a team, and we had a base. So one team guards the base, and the other team tries to get back to it." Jason's face lit up.

"Alright, a girl who plays Manhunt willingly. Up top!" He held out his hand, and Gabriella laughed, reaching over to slap it.

"My dad used to hate when I played with my cousins. He always thought that I was going to get abducted, so he made me be hiding buddies with David. It was terrible." Troy's gaze shifted over to the adults as they began carrying dishes inside.

"Uh…" He stood up. "Gabriella and I are gonna…go over there." He pointed to the currently unoccupied picnic table. "We'll just be a minute." Gabriella clambered to her feet, following behind him curiously as he crossed the short distance between their circle and the table.

"If this isn't what a teenaged boy having a freak-out looks like, I don't know what does," Gabriella joked. Troy chuckled nervously, and she reached out to grab his arm. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Sitting down on one of the benches, he put his elbows on the table and cradled his head in his hands. Climbing over the bench to sit on his other side, Gabriella rubbed a hand up and down his back. Rubbing his forehead hard with his palms, Troy exhaled slowly.

"Your dad… He's going to talk to me, right? I don't have to suggest it, or anything?" Sighing with relief, Gabriella gently ran her fingertips over the contours of his back. He shivered slightly, and she giggled.

"He will come to you…eventually. You know," she said, leaning forward to rest her cheek against his arm, "If you had been like this all week because I told you about my dad in advance, I probably would have killed you by now. But since it's only for one day, and it's kind of erratic, random bursts of nerves, I'll tolerate you." For a moment, they sat in silence, her hand soothing the tightened muscles of his back.

"I just want him to like me," he admitted quietly. "I just want him to think that I'm good for you."

-

-

"Troy, do you think I could have a word?" Troy felt his body go rigid and he glanced at Gabriella nervously, but she only nodded enthusiastically, gesturing for him to go over to her father. "That is, if I'm not interrupting anything." Joseph looked between the two teens.

"No, that's fine, daddy. He's all yours." Standing up, she brushed past Troy with a quick squeeze on his bicep and left him standing awkwardly beside her father. Joseph took his daughter's abandoned seat, watching Troy carefully as he shifted uncomfortably before seating himself across the table.

For a moment, both men were silent.

"It's a nice night," Joseph said to the younger male, taking a small sip of the beer he held in his hand. Troy nodded, knowing that weather wasn't going to remain the primary topic of this conversation for long. "Is it always this hot in Albuquerque?" Troy nodded again, wishing that it wasn't. His palms were sweating enough on their own. "Well, that's alright. It's too late to go back now. Besides, I've missed too much already."

"Hmm?"

"The last time I saw my daughter, she wasn't like this." Troy glanced over at Gabriella, watching her attempt to salsa dance with Ryan to the music humming out of the speakers. Sharpay was yelling at Chad in the background, demanding that he learn how to properly dance before he stepped onto the dance floor at the risk of breaking everyone else's toes.

"Uh…like what, sir?"

"Happy. She spent all of her time doing school work in her room. She didn't have friends over and she didn't go out with them. And she certainly didn't have a boyfriend." He shook his head slowly. "She certainly did not have a boyfriend, especially not one that was willing to scale a tree just to apologize for something that wasn't completely his fault in the first place." Troy felt the heat rush to his cheeks and he looked down at his hands. "Which, by the way, we will have to talk about in greater detail," Joseph assured him. Troy gulped silently. "But let's not go into that right now. I'm more interested in you at the moment."

Troy gulped and felt his legs beginning to shake under the table and dug his fingernails into his thighs. "Oh?" Joseph leaned forward, across the table, and focused his eyes onto Troy.

"I'm going to be very honest with you for a few moments, Troy, alright?" Troy nodded wordlessly. "And I would appreciate if you would be honest with me." He nodded again. "Honestly, the notion of you is quite frightening."

Troy blinked. "Why?" he stammered, shifting awkwardly in his seat.

Joseph sighed, "I can't seem to find anything genuinely wrong with you. You're not a drinker or a smoker, I haven't seen any tattoos poking out, and I highly doubt that my daughter would be stupid enough to stay with you if you were an abusive incompetent moron. Or a drug user." There was a bit of a light tone in his voice still, and Troy raised an eyebrow.

"Thank you…?" Joseph shook his head.

"It's not as much a compliment as it is a grievance. You would probably be a lot easier to tolerate if I thought you didn't stand a chance with my baby girl." Troy attempted to swallow the lump in his throat, but instead felt it bobbing up and down as though it were determined to choke him at one point or another. "But she seems to like you a lot, and that makes me very nervous. She was practically begging me to find some sort of a middle ground with you. Clearly, she doesn't plan on letting you go anytime soon. But what about you? How strong, exactly, are your feelings for my daughter?"

Troy stammered, "E-exactly?" Joseph nodded. Millions of answers rushed into his head, swirling around his mind, and each was more perfect than the next. Biting down on his tongue gently, Troy took a deep breath. "I… I don't know. I know that I've never felt anything like this before, and I know that I never want to stop feeling the way a feel around her, but I don't really know what that means. I've never been in a relationship where the feelings went this deep before. In all honesty, Mr. Montez, I…" He hesitated. "When you look at Mrs. Montez, does your stomach drop out sometimes? And you feel kind of sick…but in a good way?" The finger that was tracing the lip of Joseph's beer bottle stopped as he nodded.

"That's how I feel when I see Gabriella at school in the morning." He muttered it somewhat to himself. "I guess I know how I feel about her, then. It's funny," he chuckled awkwardly, "My dad said the same thing about my mom. He said his whole body sort of tingles."

"What are you saying, Troy?"

He took a deep breath. He hadn't imagined Joseph being the first person that he openly and directly admitted it to. "I love her. And it's not puppy love or whatever you're thinking. It's real." Joseph fixed a cold gaze on his face, and Troy felt his palms growing sweaty. His gaze shifted slightly, just to the left of Troy's head, and he knew that Joseph was watching his daughter dance. His eyes refocused.

"Don't hurt my daughter."

"No, sir."

"I missed the night that she came home and asked her mother if you two could go out on a date. I missed the night that you dropped her off and kissed her for the first time. I missed the night that she sang in front of an audience for the first time." Joseph leaned forward in his seat. "I missed a lot of the good stuff. Don't make me go through the bad." Troy took several shaky breaths.

"No, sir."

"She trusts you," he said, pointed towards his daughter. "And so I'm going to trust you." He took another sip from his beer. "Don't disappoint me." Troy shook his head, smiling slightly.

"No, sir."

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Author's Note: Alright! My writing groove is back. Well, it's back aside from a few minor setbacks like being banned from the computer for all of Christmas break in order to spend time with family, resulting in a lack of writing. But I'll get to that in a second. Here is the penultimate (I believe) chapter of Dabble with Daddy. I think there is going to be one final chapter after this to sum everything up, and maybe I'll throw in a few embarrassing moments for our lovely couple. After that, I'll probably take a little break to focus most of my energy on My Guys and possibly work on the drabble-continuation of Dabbles with Daddy on the side -- Firsts with Father is the title in progress. (A poll is available in my profile; feel free to voice your opinion.)

Regrettably, the lack of quality time on the computer in the past few weeks has hindered my ability to properly work on My Guys. The next chapter is in progress -- and I really mean it this time; my friend won't even let me forget if I try -- and the plot lines for the next few chapters are planned out. Yay directionality! So the wait for that shouldn't be too long. And hopefully this chapter will hold you over until I'm able to get you the next chapter of MG.

I also want to mention that I'm UBER grateful to all my readers -- something that I really don't say enough. You guys have been totally supportive and patient with me, and I won't forget that.

Feedback for this chapter would be greatly appreciated! Constructive criticism is always welcomed!