Just A Click Away

What A Coincidence

How could he try something like this when he knew how important today was to me?

A solemn, and not to mention incredibly confused, Gabriella returned to her room to find Taylor waiting uncertainly at the door, with a look that resembled a spring ready to uncoil. The second Gabriella had the door open, she found her best friend with her arms flung around her own neck.

"I'm so sorry," were the words that rushed into her ear, while Gabriella's body stiffened. "I never meant for any of this to escalate this far... I've missed you so much! You have to tell me everything! I can't believe I'm so stubborn... Can you ever forgive me?" The words were a jumble, but Gabriella got the point.

"It's... fine..." she replied carefully, blinking in astonishment. "I mean, we're both really stubborn sometimes."

"I'll say," Taylor shook her head grimly, pulling Gabriella back inside their dorm room. "So, how was your day out?" It seemed she was dying for some sort of subject change. Strange as it was, how they had made up so quickly, it seemed to Gabriella that it the way best friends fight. Nothing seriously confrontational, just silence. It was the worst kind of silence. Maybe Troy had been right after all.

"It was good until the end," she tried to calm herself in front of Taylor's questioning gaze. "He... asked me what we could've been if we had never gotten off to such a rough start." The words came out so fast, they were more of a flood of syllables, but somehow, Taylor managed to catch all of them.

"So?" She raised her eyebrows. It was strange how awkward it had been in front of Taylor that morning, and now she was being herself once more. Well, to say the least, it was still a little bit awkward. Apparently, though, Gabriella was the only one feeling it.

"It's just... Both of us know what the initial goal was," Gabriella fell back onto the couch with her head in her hands. "It's so difficult... Why did he want to complicate things now?"

"It's only complicating if you look at it that way," Taylor smiled weakly, hoping to cheer her friend up. "Let's not think that way now. You have a big meeting to get ready for."

Gabriella glanced at the time. There was still plenty of time for her to get ready.

"I have tons of time, Taylor."

"Not on my watch," Taylor put her hands on her hips. "Now, go get dressed. I'll meet you in the bathroom. We can play catch-up talk later."

"But - " Gabriella began, shocked. Now, it seemed as if the entire silence issue had never taken place. To unknowing eyes, they could've been giggling over boys that morning, instead of strategically ignoring each other.

"Now," her best friend warned. That was all it took for Gabriella to walk into her bedroom and start filing through her closet.

There wasn't much to choose from, since she had two extreme forms of dressing: her normal every-day clothes and her dresses. She did own some longer skirts, but it was a nice day and discomfort was out of the question. So, since she decided that high heels were completely out of the question, she picked out a darker, yet newer, pair of Capri pants and one of her tank tops. Nothing extreme, as she had promised herself. It was just a meeting of two friends.

She realized this was a grave mistake the second she walked into the bathroom. It looked like Taylor's old bathroom had looked the afternoon before prom. The second clue she got was Taylor's highly disapproving stare she received once her best friend turned around.

"Do I really need to act like your mother again?" She asked as Gabriella, wide-eyed, wordlessly shook her head. "Well, I think I do, because you are not going in that."