A/N: Hello my readers! First off, I want to tell you guys that this is a cast story, so if you don't like cast stories... sorry, but this is a cast story. My readers know about this, and I hope you guys like it! It's a cute little story about Lucas and Ashley during the filming of High School Musical 2. This is my first time writing a point-of-view story, my first one-shot, my first cast story and my first time writing in present tense. A lot of firsts! So it may sound a little weird at some parts and I apologize.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Disney, High School Musical, or anybody mentioned in this story. I am a mere fan and I don't know what the casts' lives are like. I don't know them and I just made everything up.

Well, here it is... it's kinda long, but I hope you like it!


Hawaiian Love

Lucas's POV

It's two thirty in the afternoon, the cast of HSM is in Hawaii to film High School Musical 2, and I'm here in the kitchen of my hotel room mixing cake icing in a bowl. I could be enjoying the waves right now but stupid me forgot to pack sun block. I went swimming out in the ocean for four straight hours yesterday, and now, I'm red as a tomato. That's why I'm baking a cake for tonight's party instead. No, nobody has their birthday today, but I like cakes, so cake it is. It's our day off from filming and we're not about to let it go to waste by sleeping. Oh no. We're letting it go to waste by partying.

So here I am, mixing the icing away with my wooden spoon. Most people don't know that I can actually bake. I'm like Zeke from the movie! Except unlike him, I wouldn't tell anybody that I like to bake.

I'm mixing, mixing, mixing, still mixing, mixing. Sigh. This is getting boring. All of a sudden a pair of small, soft hands come up to me and cover up my eyes. I stop mixing. Then, the 'mystery person' comes up to my ear and whispers, "Guess who?" The person's breath is tickling my ear. So I do as I was told and guessed. Since I already know who it is, I'm pretending I don't so I could be a tease for a while.

"Hm… I don't know. Nessa?" Knowing fully well that it wasn't. She took her hands off of my eyes, spun me around and looked me right in the eye.

"No silly, it's me!" She started giggling. Her laugh was so infectious. Sigh. If she only knew. I look into her big brown eyes and see a sense of hurt. Probably because I guessed it was Vanessa first. Now I wish I could take it back.

"I know, I was just messing with you," I explain. The next thing I knew, I'm in a tight hug with her. My sunburn is hurting so badly, but I could care less if it meant hugging her. I can smell the perfume that she put on that morning and the shampoo in her hair. I inhale deeply and take in the different scents that make up the beautiful Ashley Tisdale.

Finally, the pain overwhelms me and I decide to let go. "Ash! Ow! Sunburn!" I started shouting. She takes her hands off of me and quickly apologizes. "Ooh, sorry Lukie! I totally forgot!" She says. Lukie. That was what my parents and my sister used to call me and I used to HATE that name. Now I'm beginning to like it.

"What'cha doing?" I hear her say in a singsong voice as I take the cake out of the oven.

"Making a cake," I reply, mocking her tone.

"For the party?" She asks, again in the singsong voice. I simply nod and finally, the icing is ready and so is the cake.

"Smells good," she comments.

"Thank you very much!" I exclaim. I didn't want her to leave, so I ask if she could help me. "Hey Ash, do you want to help me put the icing on the cake?" I know for a fact Ashley is a sucker for good sweets. Thank goodness I can bake.

"Sure! Sure! What can I do?" She asks perkily. I go through some of the drawers and finally find an extra spatula. I hand it to her and she happily takes some icing with it and starts icing the cake.

"I didn't know you bake," she says.

"Yeah, I try to keep it on the DL."

"How come?" She asks. Good point.

"Well, I don't know. I guess I'm just scared that people will think differently about me if they find out. So I try not to talk about it," I explain to her.

"You act like you haven't seen High School Musical. I for one think that boys who can cook are awesome."

My eyes light up and look at her. I see her take some icing off of the spatula with her finger and starts licking it. If it was any other person, I would go ballistic, but considering it was Ashley, I thought, 'what harm could it do?" I ask her, "Why do you think so?"

"Because it proves that boys can do other things. Things that people expect only girls can do. Just like girls can do other things too," she says. "And if I ever get a husband, and I'm in the mood for some homemade cookies, it could be really handy. I can't do it on my own because God knows that I can't work an oven even if my life depended on it," she explains. I bet I'm blushing beet red right now. My cheeks feel like they're in the oven.

A few minutes pass and we finish icing the cake. I still have to decorate it. But before I do, I turn to Ashley.

"Ashley. Why'd you come here in the first place?"

"I don't know. I guess I was just bored. Nessa's at the beach tanning, Zac's surfing, Mo's shopping, and Corb's playing beach volley with Olesya, Chris, and Ryne, leaving you and I with nothing to do. So I came over here to see what you wanted to do and I saw you baking a cake," she finishes explaining and I finish decorating the cake.

"Well, now that the cake's done, I'm going to be bored in about a few seconds. What do you want to do?" I ask Ash. She shrugs.

"I guess I'll go back to my room and take a nap," she says. I want to shout, "No! Don't go!" but I couldn't. "Can you please wake me up two hours before the party?" She asks.

"Why two hours?"

"'Cause a girl's gotta look good for the party," she replies and starts giggling. I smile. "Right, two hours, got it," I say.

"Bye Lukie! See you later!" She says before closing my hotel room door behind her. Lukie. It grows on you.

I decide to take a little nap of my own. It's only about three o'clock and the party isn't until seven. I have plenty of time until I have to be Ashley's alarm clock. So, now I drift off to dream world.


I wake up and it's about four in the afternoon. I slept for about an hour. Ashley's probably still sleeping. I don't want to wake her earlier than she told me to. I know how she gets when she's cranky.

I decide to go downstairs and check out the hotel restaurant and bar, making sure that I put my cap and my sunglasses on, incase any fans out there would recognize me.

A few minutes later, I get there and I order a drink from the bar. Just some pineapple juice, nothing alcoholic.

As I start sipping my juice from the coconut cup, I start looking at the other tourists around me. Some look like they're having the time of their lives, some look bored as ever. Now I'm rating the girls from a scale of one to ten based on their prettiness. I see a five, a seven, an eight, a three and another eight. Ashley is a 9.9. She would be a ten if she were with me. Sigh. Me and my fantasies again.

After finishing my supposedly fifth or sixth cup of juice (I lost count), I check my watch and see that it's half past five. I start rubbing my eyes in disbelief. I look at my watch again to see that I wasn't hallucinating. I'm late in waking up Ashley! She'll be so ticked. So, I reach in to my pocket and pull out two twenty-dollar bills. I give it to the bartender, telling him to keep the change. I start sprinting for the elevator and I start pushing the up button with so much force.

As I begin to run down the hotel corridor to Ashley's room, I frantically pick up her room key, swiped it and rushed inside to see Ashley in her bath towel, blow-drying her hair. I quickly cover my eyes and turn around just incase anything shows.

"Ash, I'm so sorry I'm late! And I'm so sorry I barged in on you!" I try to apologize while covering my eyes.

"Luc, it's all right, you can turn around, I'm decent. And don't sweat it. I knew you were gonna forget somehow so I set my alarm. Don't worry. At least you didn't barge in at the wrong moment."

"So, it's okay with you? You're not mad?" I ask as I turn back around to face her.

"Not one bit. Now go while I get ready for the party. You might wanna get ready too," she tells me. I nod and I exit her room and go back to my own room, my heart beating a mile a second, and my face hotter than the surface of the sun.


It's seven o'clock and I'm just finishing gelling up my hair. I finish, and I grab the cake and rush out of the room and into Corbin's, where the party is being held. As I enter, I see Corbin sitting on his bed, Mo on the couch and Zac flipping the channels on the TV. I guess only the four of us are here at the moment. I set the cake down on the refreshment table and walk over to the rest of the guys.

"Hey people," I greet. The trio snapped their heads toward my direction and greets, "Hi Luc!" simultaneously.

"I brought cake," I inform them. Mo went, "Yum!" Corbin went, "Cool!" and Zac went, "Cake!" I'm guessing they like cake too.

A few minutes pass and Vanessa and Ashley finally arrive. They greet us with their usual "Heys," and "What's ups?"

"Sorry we're late guys," Vanessa apologizes.

"We were busy," Ashley adds.

"Yeah, doing makeup," Zac finishes for them with a smirk on his face.

"I don't get why you guys always have to have makeup on. It's not like other people are gonna see you tonight," Corbin says.

"Well, that's just how we are! You can't change our habits!" Vanessa exclaims. I decide to cut this nonsense by saying, "Who wants the first piece of cake?"


About an hour has passed and now, the party was in full swing. Almost everybody from the cast and crew was packed in Corbin's room and everybody has already had their piece of cake. The music is blaring and everybody is up and dancing. Everybody that is, except for me. I love to dance but I have no one to dance with. I look at the crowd and see that each person is paired with someone. Mo is with Corb, Nessa is with Chris, Olesya is with Ryne, Brittany is with Chucky, and Ashley is with Zac. Sigh. Ashley's with Zac again. Zac's cool, he's an awesome dude, but seeing Ashley with him… it's just… I get jealous easy.

The blaring music finally stops and switches to a slow song. I see Ashley put her hand on Zac's shoulder and take one of his hands in hers while he puts his other hand on her waist. They begin dancing to the song and Zac dips her playfully. We lock eyes for what seemed like eternity, but then he picks her up and they both start giggling. I can't take it anymore. I walk up to Corbin, and I then tell him that I'm going to step out for a while. He nods and I walk out of the room.


Ashley's POV

This party is off the hook! I'm having so much fun! Lucas's cake was awesome, as usual. It made me a little hyper, so now I'm really jumpy. I'm up and dancing in the middle of the room with Zac, the music blaring in my ears. I see Lucas by the corner of the room looking out at all the other people. He looks handsome tonight. I see his face and he looks really depressed. I wonder why. I see his eyes scan the room and finally land on me. Our eyes connected, and for a moment, I feel a jolt of electricity running through my body. We look away from each other and I feel the electricity going away.

I turn my attention to Zac, who now has my hand in his and his other hand on my waist. I notice that it was a slow song now, so I put my other hand on his shoulder. We dance for a while and then he dips me. I look at the whole room upside-down and I see Lucas looking even more depressed than before. Zac picks me up again and we start giggling for no reason. I turn back around to look for Lucas and see that he was talking to Corbin about something. He has a smile on his face so I'm guessing he's fine now, so I turn my attention back to Zac.

Only a couple of minutes passed and I'm already feeling tired from dancing. Probably because I ate too much cake and sugary sweets. Why, oh why must I like sweets so much? I think it's a family curse. I tell Zac that I wanted to stop dancing. He nods and we both stop and sit down on Corbin's couch and rest for a while. I wonder what Lucas is doing. I look around the room but see no signs of him. I perk up and turn to Zac.

"Dude, have you seen Luc?" I ask him. He shakes his head. "I saw him earlier, but I don't know where he is right now," he replies. I get off of the couch and start asking Nessa and Mo if they knew where he was. They both give me negative answers. I come over to Corbin and ask if he knows where Lucas is.

"Oh, yeah. He told me that he was gonna step out for a while. He just left a few minutes ago. He said he'll come back later." Corbin answers. I thank him and start thinking. If I was Lucas Grabeel and I wanted to step out of a party for a while, where would I go?

I rush out of Corbin's room and into Lucas's hoping he's in it. I get to his room to see it empty. So, I run for the gym/health center. I arrive and I still see no Lucas. Sigh. I start taking the elevator to the ground floor, forgetting about my hat and sunglasses. I check the bar and restaurant. Still no sign of Lucas. A little girl approaches me and asks, "Are you Sharpay?"

"No! I just look like her! I'm a fan, so I try to copy her look! Isn't it cool what a little bit of make up can do?" I say, trying to cover up the rest of my face and rushing out of the restaurant leaving the little girl confused.

I stop walking in the middle of the lobby. Where could Lucas be? Does he not care that his best friend is worried sick about him? He didn't even at least tell me, or anyone, where he was going! What if fans bombard him? When I find him, I'm going to kill him.

I step out of the lobby, into the outdoor pool, and sit on one of the poolside chairs. Good thing nobody's taking a swim right now.

I start inhaling deeply, trying to clear my head of all thought. After having done so, I attempt to rethink about where Lucas would go. We're in a resort in Hawaii, and he's not in his room, nor in the restaurant, nor the gym. Where could he be? I close my eyes and think. I reopen them, still having no clue to where he might be. I look out at the horizon. I can't really see much since it's already dark and the moonlight is dim. As I look out, a figure catches my eye. I see it moving to the right, stops, and then lowers itself. I don't know what it is, but I want to know. After a few minutes or so I stand up and start walking toward the shore.


Lucas's POV

Now this is more like it. Just me, myself, and I, walking on the beach, taking in the cool ocean breeze, while the moonlight shines. No Ashley to infatuate me, no Zac to make me jealous, no friends to talk to, nobody but me. I sit down on the soft Hawaiian sand. Soon enough, I become bored. I start drawing on the sand. I'm drawing a heart. Now I'm writing my name in the heart along with Ashley's with a plus sign in between. Sigh (for the millionth time). I look at it and then I look at the sea. What was I thinking? Thinking Ashley could like me in that way. I bet she hasn't even thought about it. She only thinks of me as her long lost brother slash best friend. I don't even like her anymore. Because I love her.

I feel tears forming in my eyes. On a normal basis, I would wipe them away. I don't like people seeing me cry. But right now, I could care less. Let them fall. Let them show the whole world that Lucas Grabeel is crying because of Ashley Tisdale. Let them do whatever the heck they want. See if I care. Nobody's watching anyway. Or so I thought.


Ashley's POV

As I draw closer, I recognize that the figure is a person. The person is drawing something on the sand. I wonder what it could be. He or she looks at it first and then looks out at the sea. As I took the last few strides, I look down on the person's drawing and see a heart around 'Lucas + Ashley'. I then realize who the person is. He's wearing a fedora hat. How could I have missed that? I hear a sob from him.

"Are you crying?" I ask Lucas, as I sit down next to him, pretending I didn't see his drawing.

"Ashley?" He looks at me with red puffy eyes, sniffing, while attempting to wipe away his tears and his little sand drawing.

"What are you doing here?" He asks.

"I was looking for you. I was worried sick you know. But more importantly, what are youdoing here all alone?" I ask him. I hear him sighing and he answers, "I just wanted some fresh air to clear my head. It was getting stuffy in that room."

"Mmhmm, so why were you crying?" I ask. Silence. I look at him and he looks at me. There's that electricity again. I put my arms around him, suffocating him with a hug. I put my head on his shoulder as he put his arms around me. We both sigh at the same time.

"Ashley?" He speaks up, "We're best friends right?" He asks. What a stupid question.

"Of course we are," I answer.

"No matter what?"

"Mmhmm."

"Not even if I have a few words to say that may change our lives?"

"Is this going anywhere?" I ask. He sighs again. This boy likes sighing.

"Ash, what if I tell you a deep secret of mine? Would you be able to keep it?" He asks.

"Maybe. Depends on what the secret is," I say. I hope he's thinking what I think he's thinking. "Actually, you know what, I have a deep secret too and I want to tell you. But I'm afraid that you'll be weirded out," I say.

"Ash, please tell me. You know you can trust me with anything," he says while kissing the top of my head.

"Okay. I'll tell you," I say, releasing from the hug. I put a serious look on my face and look him right in the eye.

"Lucas, we've known each other for like about two years now and I love working with you and everybody. You will forever be one of the best friends I will ever have in my life. Not only that, but you're cute, handsome, sexy, hot, funny, sweet, charming, smart, mucho talented, and a whole lot more."

I see him smile. "You think I'm cute, sexy, and hot?" He asks.

"Oh, I said that out loud?" I ask and he smiles and nods. "Oh well, it doesn't matter now. At least you now know what I think about you. Besides, it's true. I can only hope that there'll be an HSM3 so we can work with each other again. I guess what I'm trying to say is… that… Lucas… I want you to know… that um… I… A-Ashley… Tisdale… am madly in l-love with-" But before I can finish my sentence, I feel a pair of soft luscious lips on top of mine. I don't react for a while but then I realize what's going on and kiss back. The kiss is soft, sweet, and innocent. I love every moment, every second, every stroke of his hands, and every breath that we take. I never want to break away, but sadly, we have to, so we break apart and take a breath. Wow.


Lucas's POV

"Now you know my secret," I say. "But you still haven't finished yours. 'You're madly in love with…'" I continue, urging her to finish her sentence. She takes a big breath and continues.

"I'm madly in love with… Zac Efron," I hear her say. My smile disappears and is replaced by a frown. I look at her with tears in my eyes. All of a sudden, she starts giggling. What's so funny? I can't believe my misery makes her laugh.

"I'm kidding!" she says. "I'm in love with YOU! Since the day I first heard your voice in the recording studio, and the day saw you shake your hips, scooting around the corner. I never thought a person could feel something this… incredible. You are my everything."

My face lifts and soon, the smile is back. "You had me going there," I say, while smiling.

"I was hoping to get another expression from you. You know, with a shocked face. But it didn't work." she explains.

"You're mean, you know that?" I tell her.

"I've been told," she says. I decide to play a trick on her too.

"Hmm… maybe I don't like you after all. You're too mean for me. Maybe I just like MoMo and Nessa better but I'm just taking it out on you," I say, with a grin on my face.

"Then why don't you go after them?" She says.

"Maybe I will," I say. I get up and start running for the hotel.

"Oh, no you don't. You get back here right now!" I hear her scream behind me. I reach the hotel and I rush to the elevator, quickly pressing the up button. As the elevator opens, I step inside and press the floor number and the door close button. But before the door completely closes, Ashley manages to slip inside without a problem, tackling me in the process.

Now we're both on the elevator floor, with Ashley on top of me. We gaze into each other's eyes for a moment, forgetting where we are. She closes her eyes and lowers her head and lets her lips linger on top of mine. Before they could touch, however, I say, "You know, there are cameras in here." Ashley scrambles off of me and stands up and helps me up. We both start laughing again.


We reach Corbin's room and find everybody gone except for Corbin, Monique, Vanessa, and Zac, who were all cleaning up the few messes that were made during the party.

"Oh my, gosh! Where have you guys been?" Vanessa squeals.

"Oh, you know… we've been… around," I say as I nudge Ashley on her side with my elbow. She hits me back.

"You guys missed something big!" Corbin exclaims.

"Yeah, we were playing spin the bottle, and guess who were the first couple to kiss," Mo informs us.

"Mo! You didn't have to tell them!" Zac shouts.

"Nessa and Zaccy, sitting on at tree… K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Corbin teases.

"You kissed?!" Ashley squeals and runs to Vanessa. I walk up to Zac, patting him on the back. "Way to go dude," I say. "So tell me, was it soft and sweet, or was it wet and wild?" I ask, making the pair blush.

"We don't kiss and tell!" Vanessa says.

"It was a mix of both," Zac tells us.

"Zac!" I hear Vanessa yell at him and smacking him on his arm. I walk over to Ashley, putting my arm around her as she hugs my waist.

"I wouldn't tease them so much if I were you," Mo warns us. "Because if you two were here, we would've made you two kiss," I smile and turn to Ashley and wink at her. She smiles.

"Why us?" I ask them.

"Are you kidding me? You guys spend like, almost every waking hour with each other," Zac tells us.

"Besides, you two look so cute together. Standing like that with your arms around each other, looking like you never want to let go, afraid you'll lose one another," Mo says. I bet I'm blushing right now. I turn to Ashley and I see her blushing. But nonetheless, we didn't let go.

"Hold that pose for a second," Nessa says while she and Mo take out their digital cameras and snap pictures of us like this.

"What were you two doing anyway?" Corbin asks us after the photo op.

"Oh, we just did something…" Ashley says.

"What?" Vanessa asks eagerly.

"Sorry, but we don't kiss and tell either," I tell them.

"You kissed too?" Zac asks. Everybody has shocked expressions on their faces.

"Hey, when you're in Hawaii, one of the most beautiful places ever, with the most beautiful person on earth, you just can't avoid falling in love," I say. I turn to Ashley and see her smiling with tears forming in her eyes, threatening to fall at any moment.

As they fall, I wipe them away with my thumbs while I pull our faces closer together. Our noses touch, we close our eyes, we feel the electricity in our bodies, and we let the magic happen.


Sigh... I had fun writing this... unfortunately, cast stories are against the rules, so this may be the first and last cast story I'm going to write. :(

I'm criticizing myself! I don't know, I don't think it's well-written (maybe because I'm not used to writing in the present tense and in POVs)... I think some parts are corny... I think it's a little rushed... and personally, I think I can do better. I'm kinda harsh when it comes to criticizing myself. Hey! Maybe I'll do a oneshot about something else and use POVs and write in the present tense next time! I'll have to think about it first.

Anyway, enough about what I think... tell me what you think!