May 28, 2012. Memorial Day.
The unofficial beginning of summer. Beaches open up and the untouched sand that was left last August soon start to get trampled by little boys and girls with their parents or teenagers with their friends coming in, to enjoy a day at the beach. Ashley Tisdale was in no way going to spend such a beautiful day inside in her house. She got out of bed, sent a text message to her friends for an invite to a Memorial Day barbecue in Malibu in her beach house. She walked to her bathroom and turned on the shower to get ready for the day. After half an hour, she walked out of the bathroom and looked at her phone to find her iPhone screen filled with Yes's. She tapped in a number on her phone and hoped her best friend picks up and helps to get ready before everyone gets at the house. The phone rang twice before a groggy voice came on line.
"Hello?" the voice asked still filled with sleep.
"Hey Nessa!" Ashley greeted with the usual peppiness of her voice. Vanessa Hudgens turned on her side in her queen size bed to look at the alarm. 9:01. She sighed. How could Ashley be awake this early? She had just gotten back from filming Spring Breakers in Florida and she's just catching up on the sleep she lost due to many late nights filming.
"Hey Ash, um…I'm just really tired so I kinda—"Vanessa started explaining, however she was cut off by her best friend's voice.
"Oh my god! I'm sorry!" Ashley apologized loudly. Vanessa cringed. Her ears could not handle such volume this early. "You see, I was just wondering if you could help me for the party in Malibu today…and I'm guessing you haven't checked your phone yet…"
"Party?" Vanessa's ears perked up. Now, as tired as she was, she never turns down a party. Not that she was a huge party girl, heck she dances on top of tables sober! "What party?"
"A Memorial Day barbecue over at the Malibu house" Ashley explained. "And I really need to set up before everyone gets there; it's kinda last minute so…"
"Oh…right…" Vanessa trailed on. She debated in her head: to sleep or not to sleep…
"You could bring Austin with you!" Ashley suggested trying to bribe her.
"Oh, he's actually visiting his family right now. So you're just stuck with me." Vanessa decided. She can catch up on sleep later!
"YES!" Ashley cheered loudly.
"ASH! Please….cheer quietly. I'm still not fully awake yet…" Vanessa whined. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Vanessa got out of bed and got into the shower. She closed her eyes as the warm drops of water landed on her body. After her shower, she went inside her closet and picked out her outfit of the day. She got dressed, walked downstairs and picked up a granola bar. She got in her Audi and drove away to the Pacific Coast Highway. Along the route, she slowed down and found Ashley's beach house. She entered the house and found it empty. Typical…Ashley wakes me up from my sleep and she's not here yet. Vanessa sighed and dropped her keys in the nearby coffee table. She took in her view. She loved this house. Last time she was here, was Memorial Day of 2010. She walked towards the balcony overlooking the beach. Like most of the beach houses around the area, the house was big and luxurious. With walls of glass overlooking the white pure sand and cerulean blue Pacific Ocean. She's only ever seen that beautiful blue once. Her thoughts were interrupted by her ringtone.
"Hello?" she asked.
"Hey!" The voice on the other side greeted. She smiled. It was her boyfriend of one year's voice. Austin was sweet and very nice. They had met each other in the premiere of Ashley's movie Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure and hit it off. She wasn't planning on getting into a relationship so quickly after ending a five year relationship, but she couldn't help it. He was charming and adorable and he made her feel like a princess.
"Hey sweetie" she greeted.
"What are you doing today?" Austin asked.
"I'm hanging out with Ashley and couple of friends in Malibu" she said.
"Cool, cool…who are you hanging out with?"
"Well…Ashley…and…" Vanessa trailed on. She completely forgot to ask Ashley who she invited! She was going to have to call her later "…I…I actually don't know…it's a Memorial Day barbecue thing so it's probably just our group of friends." She said.
"Oh…well behave yourself" he said jokingly. She giggled. She knew there was a sense of insecurity in his voice deep down.
"Don't worry I will" she assured him.
"Well, I'll be back tomorrow and I'll come by your house" he said.
"Sounds good!"
"I gotta go, Mom and Dad's taking us out for breakfast" He said. "I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Bye sweetie!" They hung up. Vanessa then called Ashley to verify who would be coming to the shindig.
"Hey, Ness. I'm running late I know, but I just needed to stop by the market to pick up food and I'm on my way right now!" Ashley quickly said explaining.
"No worries, don't get into an accident!" Vanessa said jokingly. "I was just wondering who's coming over here?"
Ashley's eyes widened. Shit. She was hoping Vanessa would just let it slide by. She had planned a little surprise for her but she didn't know if Vanessa was going to like it.
"Well…you know…Shell…Kim…Sam…you know" she explained weakly hoping she'd take the excuse.
"Oh….that's it? All girls...I thought this was going to be-" her sentence was interrupted by the front door opening and she turned her head away from the view of the ocean and into the inside of the house. A man dressed in a blue shirt and plaid shorts with sunglasses covering his eyes walked into the house. Vanessa's brown eyes widened and her mouth was opened in surprise. She knew that figure anywhere. Shit.
"Hello!" the low baritone voice yelled out. He dropped his keys in the nearby coffee table and noticed another pair of keys. "ASH? You there" he yelled out.
Vanessa was still standing in front of the balcony paralyzed. "Ash, I gotta go." She muttered trying not to be heard.
"Nessa! I'm sorry… I should've told you!" Ashley apologized. Vanessa closed her eyes and sighed.
"It's ok…I just need to go out there." She said.
"Alright, I'll try and get there as soon as possible! Promise!" Ashley said. They hung up. Vanessa took a step forward into the house.
"Ash?" the voice said. He took off his sunglasses and turned his head to the shoes walking closer toward him.
It wasn't Ashley.
It was the face of his ex-girlfriend.
Vanessa walked toward him shyly. She gave him a soft smile and he returned and they looked at each other. Brown and blue. Together again. They haven't seen each other since the night of Ashley's premiere. They've sent each other occasional text messages for the past year often congratulatory greetings with each other's upcoming projects. And he even had the balls to send her a bouquet of her favorite flowers during the night of her premiere for Journey 2. However, they haven't been alone in a room since one January afternoon of 2011. He visited her house to return some of the stuff she had left at his house as part of "the break up process". And also part of that process was good old fashion break up sex.
"Hey Zac" she greeted. She played with her fingers, not really knowing what to do.
"Hey" he greeted softly. He took the initiative and walked towards her and pulled her small body for a hug. His chest was warm and Vanessa smiled and relaxed in his arms. They stayed in this position for a while until Zac pulled away and took a good look at her. Her hair was much shorter than he was used to and was styled in a kind of curly afro, but strangely enough he liked it. It fitted her crazy personality and he smiled at the thought. Vanessa's eyebrows went up in question.
"What are you smiling about?" she asked as she jokingly nudged his arm.
"Your hair" he simply said and brought his hand to touch it. He saw Vanessa made a face as she brought his hand to slap his away from her head. He chuckled. They smiled at each other. No words were needed for them to know what each other was thinking. There was surprisingly a comforting silence that covered the two for a few minutes until the front door opened. Zac and Vanessa spotted two tanned skinny legs walking towards them with bags of food covering the person's top body.
"Guys…little help here please?" a muffled voice came out. Zac and Vanessa looked at each other, shook their hands and smiled. They grabbed the bags and their best friend's face soon became visible.
"Finally" Vanessa said. The three walked to the kitchen and set the bags of food on the counter.
"So…" Ashley spoke up. She looked at her two best friends. "How long were you guys here for?" she asked. She bit her lip and hoped it wasn't too long. She had a plan and leaving these two alone for a long time was not part of it. Not yet at least. Zac and Vanessa looked at each other.
"Few minutes" they said in unison and then looked at each other again and laughed quietly. Ashley smiled. Now this was part of her plan.
"Oh-kaay. So let's get the food out, Selena just texted me and said she's on her way with Justin" Ashley said. They took out several bags of chips, packs of Corona and sodas, and beef patties. "Hey Zac, can you start the grill?" she asked. Zac nodded and went outside where the grill was. Vanessa and Ashley followed him carrying the beef patties and buns that needed to be cooked
An hour or so passed and their friends started coming in. There was a lot of hugging, kissing on the cheeks and laughter. Soon enough, the sun went down and everyone stood up from their place on the beach and went inside the house.
"Ness, how's the boy toy?" their friend Shelley asked. Vanessa slightly squirmed from her seat next to Zac. Zac rolled his eyes and took a big gulp from his beer.
"He's fine." She said simply. Everyone else let her response slide by, however a blonde girl heard her from the kitchen where she was talking to one of their friends. Her eyebrows raised and a she started smirking.
Ashley loves Vanessa and she was a good friend of Austin's. But she knew they wouldn't last. She was and always will be the #1 Zanessa fan.
Midnight soon came and the Malibu house was almost abandoned with the exception of three giggling best friends. Zac and Vanessa were sitting in their place at the loveseat. Zac had his arm around her and Ashley was sitting at the recliner opposite them. And quite honestly, they were all a little tipsy.
"OH!" Ashley yelped. Zac and Vanessa cringed. Ashley's voice was always a little out of their comfort zone. "And remember the time when Corbin missed his cue! You guys were kissing forever!" she laughed drunkenly and putting a little emphasis in the word forever.
Zac and Vanessa laughed and looked at each other smiling. Ashley got up, sure she's tipsy but she was slightly sober enough to know not to interrupt this moment…and she really needed to pee.
Zac raised his hand to stroke Vanessa's cheek and smiled softly. Vanessa touched his hand. She looked at his eyes and then his lips. She leaned in. Their lips touched and they were entangled in a passionate kiss. Zac's tongue brushed against her lips for permission to enter. She opened her mouth and their tongues were softly battling each other. Her left hand moved to his earlobe and pulled on it gently. He gave a quiet moan. She smiled against his lips. She pulled away and started kissing up and down his jaw. Zac was panting silently. Vanessa kissed him once again and they continued to be engrossed on a passionate make out session. Vanessa's hands soon went to down to Zac's shorts. Zac realized what she was trying to do and took her hands.
"Let's take this upstairs" he said murmured against her shaking lips. Vanessa smiled shyly and nodded. She wrapped her toned legs around him and together they went climbed up the stairs forgetting about the outside world and never taking their lips off one another.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi all! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and stick with it through the end. I've been having these scenarios in my head for quite sometime now and since it's been a hard month for me dealing with the Z/V breakup, writing has been a great distraction!
Now, I've published some stories before, but I always stopped updating it so this is just a trial run. If I have enough reviews to continue this story I will and I hope I do because I have great ideas for this one! :)