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Like the constellations inspired those to explore the galaxies, Troy and Gabriella are the North star to Kelsi’s heart, the muses to her creations.
When she first saw them up on that stage together, perfect like two pieces lost and separated by the fates but brought together again, she knew that she was forever changed.
And as they got to know each other in their intimate little rehearsals, just the three of them and a piano, Kelsi watches in silent awe, heart lurching as their voices blend, longing to be part of their harmony forever.
Every song she writes, she finds an imprint of Troy and Gabriella in the notes, the rhythms, the way the pitches intertwine together. Her music is intrinsically tied to them, now and forever on. Their influence on her songwriting, in the way she views creation, has changed her irreversibly and she doesn’t want to ever go back to the composer she had once been before them.
Or maybe she does. Because she can’t imagine her songs being performed by anyone but them anymore. Can’t imagine any other voices singing these lyrics. Can’t imagine not sitting at the piano, fingers dancing across the keys, and the two of them, gazing so lovingly into each other’s eyes with Kelsi’s melodies passing their lips.
She had never let herself dream that there could be anything more than this. That it would be Troy and Gabriella and there would be Kelsi, watching them with a faraway admiration.
But things start to shift one day. Gabriella sitting on the bench beside her, turning the pages of her sheet music, their shoulders brushing as he leans forward. Troy trying to learn the piano, their fingers brushing on the keys as he ghosts over her movements. Troy asking her to sing Gabriella’s parts with him when she’s busy with her other STEM clubs and Gabriella asking the same when Troy is busy with basketball. Together, them seeking her out in the lunchroom or in the classes they share.
They seem to be drawn to her gravity just as she is drawn to theirs, but she doesn’t let herself hope.
It’s not until after a rehearsal, one where the two were distracted, stumbling through songs they had done together countlessly, that things change in a way Kelsi never expected.
“Kelsi,” Troy says, uncharacteristically bashful, looking down at his hands that twist anxiously. “Me and Gabriella, we’ve uhm. We’ve been talking.”
Kelsi’s mind goes to the worst first. “Are you dropping out of the show?”
Troy’s head snaps up, eyes wide. “No! No, no, no. Definitely not.”
She lets out a breath of relief. “Oh. Okay. Then what is it?”
“This… I know this isn’t… that this isn’t very conventional,” Gabriella starts. She meets Troy’s eyes nervously and he nods encouragingly. “Kelsi, Troy and I like you a lot.”
“Like, a lot a lot,” Troy adds eagerly.
“And… uhm. We like you in a way that… that’s…”
“We like like you,” Troy says. He immediately cringes at his words. "We... we like you more than just a friend."
Kelsi gapes at them. “What?”
“And we understand if this is too strange,” Gabriella says. “We know it’s strange and it took us a long time to figure out how we felt so we completely understand if you need time to—”
“I really like you two too,” Kelsi cuts her off. “Like, I don’t even have the words to… but I do. The songs I write for you. That’s how I feel about you.”
The two meet each other’s eyes with shock. She can see as they dissect her lyrics in their minds with the new context and hope blossoms on their faces.
“Oh,” Troy whispers. “Oh, Kelsi. I—”
“They’re beautiful,” Gabriella says, holding back tears. “Your songs. And you. You’re beautiful. Your mind, your heart, your…” She flushes. “And if that’s how you feel about us—”
“It is,” Kelsi says. “How I feel about you, I mean.”
“Would you be with us?” Troy asks. “Would you be ours?”
Kelsi beams, heart racing in her chest. “Yes. I would love to be yours.”
Troy and Gabriella may be Kelsi’s muses but she is the artist that shapes them in ways beyond what they thought possible.