Chapter Text
It’s been twenty-four hours.
Twenty-four hours since he was sitting, hunched over in one of those ugly, uncomfortable hospital chairs. Twenty-four hours since he was running through the hallways of Lovelace Medical Center, only to find she was already gone once he had reached her room. Twenty-four hours since his world turned upside down.
Twenty-four hours since Heather Darbus died of a heart attack.
Troy’s mentor, his friend, his family… just gone.
Only eight hours since he had to break the news to their kids. The kids working their butts off to have a stunning production of Mamma Mia ready in three weeks. Yes, they were waist-deep in preparation for this year’s spring musical. He canceled rehearsal for today and tomorrow. No way he could survive it and the students no doubt need time to process everything that has transpired in the last twenty-four hours.
The first person he called was his dad.
Sitting in that ugly, uncomfortable hospital chair, tear-stained cheeks, his phone to his ear, he says, “It’s Heather.” Swallowing hard, he explains, “She had a heart attack. Dad, she didn’t make it. I got here as soon as I could but it was too late.” Even Jack Bolton, Heather’s former, self-proclaimed, arch-enemy, wept for her.
Coach Bolton and Ms. Darbus hated each other, for years. Until one day, they found they could agree on only one thing and that one thing was all that mattered. There was enough of a foundation to build mutual respect upon and eventually, to everyone else’s surprise, a friendship.
That one thing they could agree on? Troy.
Troy knows he has to tell the others. They would want to know. He knew all of them would want to come back to celebrate her, to remember the good old days. They would come, no matter how far their lives had taken them away from East High or each other, they would come.
Luckily, he drafted the email before he started drinking. It’s formal, informative, melancholy. Troy plans to send it to all of his old buddies but has yet to press send. He would have already if he could, but he couldn’t. Attached to the short message was her obituary and information about the services honoring her life in the coming week.
Troy looks down at his list, vision a little blurry from (what?) his fifth glass of something old that warmed its way all the way down to his belly. Not that he had one. What he does have? Rock hard abs. A feature, he is very proud of and works incredibly hard to maintain. And, with a few drinks in him, he no longer fears any accusations of narcissism. He always liked that, how alcohol could make his self-consciousness disappear.
On his desk is the list of people Troy knew he needed to include in the email chain. The list is as follows:
Sharpay Evans
Ryan Evans
Kelsi Nielson
Martha Cox
Chad Danforth
Zeke Baylor
Jason Cross
Taylor McKessie
And… Gabriella Montez.
Gabby. God, Troy had not spoken to her in years. If he was honest, it feels like a lifetime since he has even heard her voice. A lifetime of torture.
He would have gladly spent the rest of his life with her, content to hear Gabriella’s voice every day for as long as she would have him. Troy would have chosen that life over this… silence, a hundred times over. But, it is not up to him.
Over the years, Troy did everything he could to leave the life he could have had behind him. But, he could never quite let go. It would never matter how many women had come and gone in the years following their breakup because none of them were her. It would never matter who was in his bed if it wasn’t Gabriella beside him. He is convinced, and will never not be convinced, Gabriella Montez was it for him.
They may have been young when they met, young when they fell in love, but he knew she was “the one”. She is “the one”. Troy was simply cursed to live a life where “the one” lived miles and miles away, never spoke to him, and whose life would be complete without him. When his life would never be complete without her.
He had already crossed off his friend, Chad Danforth, Troy shot him a text earlier in the day. Chad and Heather were never that close. Only in the later years, were they able to call each other friends, through Troy. Just as his father and Ms. Darbus had.
Chad sends his condolences and promises to be at the wake and the funeral. When Troy brought up Taylor, his former teammate had shrugged it off. It wouldn’t be a problem, Taylor and him had cleared the air between the two of them a few years ago and even texted every once and a while to check in on one another. They were friends now.
Friends. Troy and Gabriella had never attempted that. The pair had just quit cold turkey. They knew they could never be just friends.
Troy sits in his home office. A glass in his hands. Completely and utterly broken. The day’s events had beaten him to a pulp and yet he was forced to hold it together in front of his students. This must have been the best acting he had ever done in his life. He was able to play the role of Mr. Bolton, while Troy was slowly collapsing in on himself on the inside.
He could recall two other times in his life, that he had ever felt this empty.
One. The day Love died.
The two of them had ended their relationship several times over the years and had ultimately resolved things time and time again, but he knew this was different. Things were never the same and they knew it. It took less than a month for the world they'd built to fall apart. They hadn't fought like that in all the time they were together and they had some immpressive roes even when they weren't together, this one was different. He lost Gabby and Love all at once, so he did the only thing he could do: run to New Mexico, run to his parents, run to Chad. The two of them watched Love slip through their fingers and it broke him. But eventually Troy bouced back, mostly.
Two. The day love died all over again. A year or two after dropping out of Berkley and moving back to Albuquerque, his parents sat him down. They had fallen out of love. It had slowly been happening for years without either one of them realizing it. Troy, now a grown man, cried like a baby. Troy’s parents got a divorce, it broke him. But eventually Troy bounced back, mostly.
Then, twenty-four hours ago, love died again, Heather Darbus went with it. And Troy hoped, begged, and pleaded with the universe that it would be the last time. Why does everyone and everything he loves always have a suprise experation date?
He did not know if he could bouce back from this.
Troy gathers all the strength he has left, preparing to send the email he had written to his friends.
He finally sends it.
Troy then gathers all the liquid courage he has gained, picking up his phone. He needed her now, more than he had ever needed her in his entire life.
I know we haven’t spoken in years.
But something’s happened.
Please come home.
I need you.
For the first time in god knows how long, Troy Bolton texts Gabby Montez. He throws his phone to the corner of his desk before fully breaking down, sobbing. He needs her. Love died again today and Troy needed the universe to give him some back.
__________
Gabriella Montez stays up late. Too busy to go home for the night, this case, too huge, and these clients, too persistent. She sits in her swanky corner office, chopsticks in her hands, finally taking a break long enough to get some food in her stomach.
Her phone all of a sudden begins buzzing rapidly. Four times in a row. She’s quick to reach for it and quick to drop it when she sees who the texts are from.
(4 missed messages)
Troy Bolton
Pushing through the fear that wells up in her chest, she decides to look. What could Troy possibly have to say to her after all these years? She had not even heard his voice in - well, she did not know how long. It felt like a lifetime had passed between then and now. A lifetime without him. They were just kids then, trying to grow up, face the future, make it through college.
She knew where he was now. Gabriella had found clues on social media, clues through Taylor from Chad, and on the East High faculty web page. After they had split up, he returned to Albuquerque, went to school, got a job at East High. He worked with Ms. Darbus, directing productions, helping out with the basketball team, even had his own homeroom class. He was living his life, just as Gabriella was living hers.
I know we haven’t spoken in years.
But something’s happened.
Please come home.
I need you.
Maybe it was instinct. There was no thinking involved. No weighing the pros and cons. He needed her. So, she picked up the phone.
“Troy?” She says. “It’s me.” Gabriella is worried and desperate to know if he’s alright. A lifetime of silence between them be damned! “What happened?”
“Gabby?” She can hear his heavy breathing, the silent sobs that enveloped his body, that Gabriella could tell he was trying to hide. He was trying to be strong. He was trying to hide his pain. Or maybe, Troy was just gathering enough breath so that he could tell her what was going on. “I just had one of the worst days in my entire life.”