Author's Note: Zanessa oneshot. Kinda AU… set as if Zac never appeared with the HSM cast while he was filming Hairspray. So basically, he was gone for months and oh Vanessa is still in the process of recording her album when he returns. And the song lyrics used belong to Vanessa Hudgens. Hope you enjoy!
Title: Whatever It Takes
Pairing:Zanessa
Summary: Before he left, they were best friends. All of a sudden, he stopped calling. Now after months of no contact, he's back and suddenly, her life doesn't make sense anymore.
The wind was blowing lightly as the small brunette slammed the door to her car shut and walked down onto the beach. The wind picked up as she walked along the sand, blowing her long hair out of her face. She plopped down on the sand and stared out at the ocean, tears streaming down her face. "We used to come here all the time," she thought to herself, wrapping her arms around herself as her tank top and jeans did little to protect her from the harsh wind. "What happened to us? I thought we were best friends."
Everything had begun to go downhill once he left to go to Toronto. Before he had left, they were the best of friends, hanging out everyday and telling each other everything. Then suddenly, he was gone. At the beginning, he called everyday to talk, make sure everything was going well with her album. Then, it was a call every other day. Then once a week. Then every other week...until they just stopped. She sighed to herself, she knew he was busy, but hell, so was she. Here she was, recording her debut album, doing guest appearances on the Suite Life and she still managed to call him just to say hi. Yes, she tried calling him. But once she had called numerous times and he never picked up or returned her calls, she stopped trying. Instead, she focused everything on her album, throwing herself completely into making something great. Her friends had tried to talk to her about him, but she completely shut down whenever he was brought up. She had tried to convince herself that she didn't care about him, that he didn't matter anymore. Until she heard he was coming home...
She sighed as she tiredly walked up the stairs to her apartment after a long day of recording. She opened the door to her apartment and was surprised to see all her friends sitting in the living room, talking amongst themselves.
"Guys...what's up? " she asked as she dropped her things by the door.
"Nessa!", Lucas exclaimed, "Uh, you're home early...what are you doing here?"
"Uh Lucas," she said slowly, "I live here. What are you guys doing here?"
Her friends nervously exchanged glances before Ashley finally spoke up, "Um...we have something we have to tell you."
"Okay," Vanessa said as she plopped down on the couch next to Corbin, "What's up guys? Is something wrong?"
"It's about Zac..." Ashley started.
"Ash," Vanessa exclaimed, "I don't want to talk about him. Okay? You guys all know this."
"V", Corbin said, "He's coming home."
Her friends all watched her nervously as she sat silently, no expression on her face, finally she spoke up, "When?"
"3 days," Lucas said, "He wants us all to come to the airport."
"No", Vanessa said, shaking her head violently, "I'm not going. He can't bother to call me, then I won't bother to go see him."
"Nesquick..." Ashley said with a sigh, "Please, it means a lot to him."
"No," Vanessa said as she stood up, "If I really meant that much to him, he would have called me, I don't know, maybe once over the past four months, but has he? No. I'm not going guys, I'm sorry."
Her friends traded glances as she walked out of the room, the sound of her bedroom door slamming rang in all of their ears as one thought went through all their minds. What are we going to do?
Over the next few days, her friends tried to convince her to come to the airport with them but they were unsuccessful. She told them that she has recording that she could not get out of, that her record company had a strict schedule for her because they wanted her album out as soon as possible and there was no possible way she could get out of it. She did agree however, to go to Ashley's condo after she was done recording to hang out with the whole group. The whole group.
She pulled her legs to her chest and fingered the thin leather bracelet that he had given her before he left as the tears continued to fall down her cheeks.
"Here," he had said as he fastened the bracelet around her wrist, "Wear this whenever you miss me and I'll do the same. That way whenever we see a picture of each other wearing it, we'll know we're thinking of each other. Okay?"
She nodded and watched as he tied the bracelet on his own wrist.
He smiled and pulled her into a hug. The pair stood embracing for a minute and Zac whispered to her, "No matter what Van, you're always going to be my best friend."
She hugged him tightly as tears sprang to her eyes and she whispered, "I'm going to miss you Zac, I'll wear it all the time."
He pulled back and looked her in the eyes and slowly leaned and kissed her on the forehead. "Me too Van, but we'll still talk all the time, you know that and you better come to see me, "he said as he pulled her close once again and she nodded against his chest. They pulled apart once again and he interlocked their hands as she smiled at him up at him. She slowly looked down at their hands and smiled at their inscription on the bracelets. Live in Love.
"So much for that," she thought as she stared off down the beach. She thought about seeing him today for the first time in months.
Vanessa stood outside the door to Ashley's condo and mentally prepared herself for what was about to happen. She looked down at her outfit. A plain tight purple tank top and jeans with ankle boots, a long pearl necklace around her neck, her dark hair falling down her back in loose curls.
"You can do this Vanessa," she thought to herself, "You can do this."
She knocked on the door and waited as she heard the padding of feet approaching the door.
The door finally opened and Ashley appeared, "Nesquick!" she exclaimed as she pulled her into a hug, "Finally! We were beginning to think you weren't going to show!"
Vanessa smiled slightly as the pair approached the living room, where Vanessa could hear laughter coming from. Vanessa stopped in the doorway as Ashley walked fully into the room and said, "Hey guys, look who's finally here."
The room fell silent as Vanessa stood in the doorway before Corbin stood up and exclaimed "V!" as he walked quickly across the room and picked her up in a hug.
"Stay strong" he whispered into her ear as he set her down. She nodded as she smiled up at him before she was pulled into a hug by Lucas. She giggled as she was then pulled into a hug by Monique. But then over her shoulder, she saw him. Zac.
His hair was still dark, but it just set off his blue eyes even more. He was wearing jeans and an aqua t-shirt. He just stood there, staring at her as she pulled away from Monique and looked at him.
"Van..." he said quietly as he stared at her. She felt tears spring to her eyes at his voice and she had the strong urge to run to him but she forced herself not to. She shook her head violently and turned to Ashley.
"Ash," she whispered as the tears pooled in her eyes, "I thought I could do this, but I can't. It hurts too much." Her friends watched as she quickly fled the room, the tears being to spill over onto her cheeks. Zac was frozen in place, unable to move, staring at the space she had just standing in.
Vanessa sighed as she continued to stare down at the bracelet. Suddenly, anger filled her for the first time since he had left. She was angry that he had left. Angry that he had suddenly stopped calling. Angry that he was suddenly back and now her life didn't make any sense. She angrily pulled the bracelet off and threw it down at the sand. The tears began to stream down her face once again as she pulled her legs against her chest. She saw lights reflecting against the cool water of the ocean and heard a car pull up next to hers. She began to sing softly to herself as the wind continued to blow her hair around.
"Baby...come back to me...in my heart...I still believe..." she sang as the person slowly walked up behind Vanessa on the beach.
"What do you want?" she asked without turning around, already knowing who it was.
"Van..." Zac started softly, "I'm sorry."
"Are you serious?" Vanessa exclaimed, turning towards him, and for the first time, he saw the tears streaming down her face. He cringed knowing that he had caused them,
"All you have to say is I'm sorry? Four months with no contact because of YOU and all you have to say is I'm sorry?! Zac, I thought we were best friends, no matter what! I didn't realize that suddenly because you would be gone for months that our friendship would just be over. Do you know how embarrassing it was for me when you suddenly stopped answering my phone calls?! Everyone kept asking me how you were, figuring I would know because everyone was under the impression that we were best friends and I had to lie Zac! Everyone kept asking me why I was acting so weird and I finally broke down and told everyone. Do you know what it is like to realize that the person that means so much to you, that you thought you meant a lot to, that you thought was your best friend, feels absolutely nothing towards you? Do you Zac?!" Vanessa exclaimed as she stood up and faced him.
"Vanessa," Zac sighed as he looked into her eyes, "I didn't stop calling you because you didn't mean anything to me. I stopped because you meant too much to me."
"Zac, what are you talking about?" Vanessa asked, confusion across her face as she stared at him.
"When I first left, I thought everything was going to be great. I was so excited to start rehearsing and work with all these amazing actors. But for some reason, I could not get you out of my head. I couldn't stop thinking about you all the time, so I figured it was just because I missed you. But after talking to you everyday, it wasn't getting any better. I could barely concentrate during rehearsals and I just couldn't put my finger on what exactly was wrong with me. And then it hit me one night and I didn't know what to do. Somehow, sometime, I had ended up falling in love with my best friend. And I didn't know what to do, because I know you don't feel the same so I figured maybe, if I didn't talk to you all the time, it would go away and we would be okay once I came home. It was so hard for me not to talk to you, not to hear your voice or your laugh." Zac paused for a minute as he swallowed back his tears and continued, "It worked for awhile, until one day at work, I was on break with Amanda and Nicole watching TV and this interview came on with you. It had been weeks since I had seen you and you were such a sight for sore eyes. You looked so beautiful I could barely stand it. And you were wearing your bracelet. I knew at this point that no matter how long I didn't talk to you, I would still have these feelings for you. But I also realized that I had screwed up big time by not talking to you for that period of time. I didn't know what to do, but by that time, we only had a week before shooting was over. So I decided that I would just try to talk to you once I got home. Obviously, that didn't work."
Vanessa stood, frozen in shock as the wind blew her hair in her face and blocking her stare at Zac. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and sighed.
"Well," he said softly, "I guess I've made a big enough of fool of myself for one day. But Van, just know, that I am truly sorry and that one day, I hope you will be able to call yourself my best friend."
He turned and began to walk up the sand towards his car.
Vanessa pushed the hair out of her eyes and yelled, "Zac! Wait!" as she began to run after him.
He stopped as his heart began to beat rapidly in his chest but kept his back towards her, "What Vanessa?"
She caught up to him and paused for a moment to catch her breath, "Stop, stop, please wait."
Zac turned as he heard the despair in her voice and looked at her in the eye. He could barely hear anything but the sound of his heart beating loudly in his ears as he just looked at the gorgeous brunette in front of him. Standing there in only a jeans and a tank top, hair unruly because of the wind, she was absolutely breathtaking.
"You didn't give me a chance to talk Zac," Vanessa said, "I've always felt it. I've always know it was there, but I thought it was just me. But I knew that if I couldn't be in your life as anything more, I would happy just to be in it as your best friend. When you told me you were leaving for Toronto, my heart literally broke in two. I didn't know what to do. But I thought we would okay. And then you stopped calling and it destroyed me. I literally threw myself into my album and I shut out all my friends and my family. Zac, I only have one thing to say" she paused and then smiled at him, "Next time, you better call me no matter what."
Zac smiled slightly but his brow crumpled slightly until Vanessa opened her mouth again and said, "I love you Zac, I always have, always will."
Zac grinned as the brunette walked closer to him and he pulled her close to him, before lightly pressing his lips against hers.
After a moment, he pulled away and said, "I love you too" with a grin.
He pulled away slightly from her and said, "I believe you dropped something back there," and held up the thin, leather bracelet. She gasped and he grinned as he slowly tied it around her wrist, taking her hand, she looked down to see that he was wearing it.
He smiled at her and kissed her softly before pulling back, he leaned his forehead against hers and softly sang to her, "We were meant to be...together...so whatever it takes."
Vanessa grinned at him before reaching up and pressing her lips against his once again.
She knew that they would have many obstacles up against them in the future, with both of their careers about to take off, but she knew now they were stronger than ever and they would face whatever came the way they did it best, together. Live. Love. Live in Love.