A/N: This story comes from the X-Box rumor coupled with 3 movie outings and one grocery run in which V wears an AMAZING outfit that I would only imagine led to other activities if she, in fact, did go to Z's place after putting that one paper bag into her car. -Whew!- Once again, this idea started as a one-shot and grew out of proportion...therefore it's now another Scenario. Please don't hate me...just try to enjoy the humor in the situation!

Many, many apologies to readers who are waiting for the half-chapters (you know what I'm talking about!) or those waiting for Future Boltons or Parental Consent. Those stories aren't over by a long shot, but I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around them at the moment.

With that said...I own nothing of Vanessa or Zac or their families. They are amazing together. I adore them and hope and pray that their love will continue for as long as they live and beyond! I'm grateful for the magazines, CD's, DVD's and trinkets that give me just a little peek inside their relationship. I also own nothing of Avatar, the movie, or even Kleenex as I've mentioned it in this first chapter.

KTZLF! And without further adieu...I give you V vs X.


"Damn video game."

Stella Hudgens loved her sister. And she loved her sister's boyfriend as well. But when the couple had an argument that brought Stella's sister back to their childhood home…well it was enough to make the 14-year-old girl want to smack both of them.

The arguments didn't happen often. And none of them, especially not the current one, was enough to break apart the four-year relationship. Vanessa just wanted a place to pout and a couple of people to tell her she was 'right' in the situation. She could usually count on her sister and her father to stick up for her.

When Vanessa and Zac started dating, and had a tiff, it scared Stella. At age 10 she would crawl into bed with Vanessa when the older girl was crying and just hug her and tell her it would be ok. It always was ok. And after about a year and a half Stella realized it would continue to be ok, because Vanessa and Zac really were in love.

That was the point when the younger Hudgens daughter began weaning herself away from always hugging her sister and taking her side in the matters. Sure she still offered her shoulder. Sure she still told Vanessa that she was on her side. Sure she still handed her the Kleenex when the tears began to roll. But now those rare instances when Vanessa said 'I'm just not sure about us…' no longer terrified Stella.

So the current situation, in which Vanessa felt that Zac was ignoring her for a video game, Stella was simply trying her best to offer a bit of sympathy to her big sister.

"But, like, he can play it online…so he's playing against Dylan right now, and Dylan's in San Luis?" Stella wondered out loud.

Vanessa looked at her little sister with dark eyes. "Who's side are you on here?" she huffed.

"You gotta admit it V, that's pretty cool. Has Zac had the software to do this all along or what?" Stella continued thinking about Zac's take on this situation.

"Stellz that isn't the point. The point is that since Christmas he barely even notices when I'm in his house. I've spent the night there at least four or five times and barely gotten a kiss goodnight – let alone anything more - because he runs back to that damn game. I swear even when I was there he slept on the couch." Vanessa griped as she flipped aimlessly through a magazine.

"As it should be…" a voice mumbled from the reclined chair across the living room from the two girls.

Stella grinned in the direction of her father who was trying not to comment on the conversation he was eavesdropping into. Vanessa's dark eyes became near black when she realized her father's comment.

"Dad come on…" Vanessa tried not to sound angry at her father. "You know what I'm talking about here. I'm not complaining that we haven't…" she glanced toward her sister's curious eyes and moved her head in thought as she tried to piece some sort of non-sexual sentence completion together. "We've spent plenty of time apart. I don't mind not being together when there's a good reason for it." She finally sent the words toward her father's ears.

"And a video game isn't a good excuse." Stella added as she rubbed a hand across Vanessa's back.

"Not for two weeks it's not!" Vanessa snapped at the open air.

Greg Hudgens rattled the newspaper in front of his face. He held it there as his disguise. He honestly hadn't read one word of the paper since his daughters came into the room and flopped themselves onto the couch.

He too knew this would pass. Although he wondered if he needed to have a little father-in-law-eventually/son chat with his oldest's boyfriend. He had done that before, just a few times as the relationship had progressed. He certainly wasn't out to scare Zac, unless that's what it took for the young man to know that he was heading down a rocky path. Greg, just like Zac's parents, just wanted to make sure that both of their children were thinking straight, about each other.

Greg glanced over the newspaper at the two beautiful young ladies sitting on the couch. He lowered his chin enough to lift his eyes and peer at them above the reading glasses that were stationed securely on his nose. His daughters. He loved them both so much and hated to see either of them hurting.

"And who gave him this video game?" Greg simply asked.

Vanessa's pouty "Ugh!" made Greg grin behind the paper. He knew the answer to his question. He just wanted to hear her say it.

"I gave it to him." She barked at her father. "You know that Dad, we were all sitting in the living room at my house on Christmas day when he opened it."

"Oh, that one." Greg commented calmly. "You told him you got it for him because you knew he'd enjoy playing it…" his voice drifted. "Right?"

He could hear Vanessa's breath quickening through her nose as her anger built. Stella sat back a bit on the couch knowing her sister was fuming. Problem was, their father hadn't said anything wrong. Nothing at all Stella realized.

After rolling her tongue around in her mouth for a minute and not wanting to give her father a simple, one-word answer like he deserved, she spoke. "I could've given him a lot more that I thought he liked better than the game. I just didn't think that would be appropriate with our families present." She pushed.

Greg lowered the paper and removed his glasses as his dark eyes met the furious ones of his 21-year-old daughter. "I'm not the one you need to be discussing this with Young Lady." He instructed.

None of them moved to leave the room. Stella looked back and forth between the two silently. Vanessa and Greg stared at each other for just another moment until Greg put his glasses back on and lifted the paper in front of his eyes. He smiled to himself knowing he was right. She had chosen the perfect Christmas gift for Zac. But because it was one that he could enjoy without her, she was regretting it.

Greg decided then that he wouldn't talk to Zac about this. Vanessa had to face this one head on…herself.

----------

Stella let the heat in the air cool just a few minutes before she mentioned another idea to help ease Vanessa's mind. Initially the thought was meant to help Vanessa. At second thought, maybe it could help Vanessa…and Zac. Stella thought to herself, 'Poor boy. He probably doesn't even know that he needs help right now.'

"Hey V, why don't we go see a movie? Didn't you want to see Avatar?" Stella suggested.

Vanessa eyes softened a bit as she took in Stella's thoughtfulness. She ran the idea through her head a few times before answering. "Yeah. That sounds good Stellz. Go grab your bag." She smiled at her younger sister.

"Um, Daddy?" Vanessa looked again at her father.

Greg turned toward her and looked without a smile on his face. He fully expected to hear some bit of apology for her stubborn, uncalled-for, reaction to his earlier question.

"Yes Baby V?" he answered sincerely.

"Can I see the Weekend section of the paper? I need to find out what time the movie's playing." She answered with a sweet but pointed tone in her voice.

Greg grumbled as he looked through the various parts of the newspaper in his lap. "Maybe I'll just go to Zac's and play the game too."

Vanessa shot him a look and he met her gaze as he handed her the paper. "You did always want a son, didn't you?" she asked sarcastically.

Greg rolled his eyes. "Well, I thought I might be on the verge of getting one. But you've been over here more in the past three days complaining about him. If you didn't have your own house I'd swear you were moving back in with us."

"Daddy are you taking his side in this whole thing? He's playing this stupid game with people all over the country and not getting to sleep till two or three in the morning and half the time he's falling asleep on the couch and not even coming to bed." Vanessa's pout had some genuine heart and hurt to it this time and Greg recognized it.

"Have you talked to him about it?" Vanessa's father finally asked a serious, valid question that she wanted to answer.

"Yeah." She attempted to start.

"Now wait." Greg interrupted. "Before you go any farther…have the two of you talked about this or have you just growled back and forth at each other? I know you both, remember? You yell at him, he clams up, you come home. He yells back, you cry and you come home. What stage are we on right now?" Greg watched Vanessa's eyes move from his to wandering around the room. He had summed up her arguments with Zac just like that.

Vanessa finally looked back at her father, but not in his eyes. "He's still clammed up I guess." She admitted.

"So you've yelled but he hasn't?" Greg asked.

Vanessa shook her head. "I yelled New Year's Eve. We were going to Ash's house and he was playing and making us late so I yelled at him. And when we got back to his place he just kissed me good night and went back to the game while I fell asleep alone."

"Did you yell again?" Greg knew this still wasn't a breakup sort of fight, but maybe it was a bit more serious.

"Yeah, a couple of times. But I don't know if he heard me over the game."

"Ah, so instead of clamming up this time he's gaming up." Greg watched his daughter.

Vanessa nodded. "Yeah, and he's not yelling at me. He's just taking it out on the game."

Greg wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulder and pulled her toward him. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the head as Stella came back into the room. "He'll come to his senses sooner or later, believe me he will. You guys will be fine Sweetheart. Just…try not to yell at him over this again, ok? It just upsets you. You've got a lot of other ways that you can get his attention without yelling at him while he's playing a video game." Greg raised his eyebrows as a surprised look crossed Vanessa's face.

"You know what I mean. Don't give me that innocent, surprised face Vanessa Anne." Greg did his best to smile at her.

Vanessa kissed her father on the cheek and turned back toward her sister. Stella looked at them and smiled then glanced back at her cell phone where she was typing out a text message.

"Hey Stellz? Don't invite a friend this time please? I just want it to be me and you." Vanessa requested.

Stella nodded as she hit 'send' on her phone. "Just checking movie times, that's all." She lied to her sister and father. "Looks like we could make the 8pm showing at the mall V. Does that work for you?"

Vanessa looked at the clock on the wall and nodded. "That works for me. Let's head out Little Sis." She grabbed her keys and the two of them climbed into the Audi convertible that Vanessa had parked in the driveway.

----------

The iPhone rang on the table beside Zac as he waited for his cross-state opponent to make his move in the game. He shifted the controller to his left hand and stretched to reach the phone. One message…from Stella?

His heart dropped a touch when his mind suddenly wondered if something had happened to Vanessa. His face felt a bit flush as he sat the game control down completely and grasped the phone.

"Going to see a movie at the mall with V. 8pm show. I'd advise you to meet us there."

Zac debated texting back, then opted to call.

Stella was a little surprised when her phone buzzed in her purse. She glanced toward her sister in the drivers' seat and began to dig through the stuff in her bag. She had expected Zac to text back, if he actually got the message. She certainly didn't expect a call.

"Hello?" Stella answered cautiously. She knew her message to her near-big brother had been rather forward. She simply hoped it would get her thoughts across to him.

"Stella Bella? Why do I need to come to the movie? Who's going?" Zac's voice asked with a bit of fear and frustration.

"Oh, hey. It's me and my sister. We're going to see Avatar." Stella emphasized. Before Zac could say anything Stella added, "No, her boyfriend's not coming. He's too busy playing some video game."

"Stella!" Zac heard Vanessa's voice chastising her little sister and Stella made sure to loosen the phone against her face so that would happen.

"Nobody else needs to know that I'm p.o.'d at him. I don't even want to think about him while we're out. Got it?" Vanessa continued when she knew she had her sister's attention.

"Sorry." Stella spoke to Vanessa and turned her attention back to the phone. "So yeah, me and Ness are going to see Avatar at the mall. I'll chat with you later, ok?"

Zac swallowed his frustration knowing it was time for him to begin dealing with the mess he had dug himself into. "She's really ticked isn't she." He commented.

"Yeah." Stella answered. "Show time's at 8 and it's a couple of hours I think."

"Don't go in without me, ok? I'll meet you there." Zac informed his would-be little sister.

Stella turned her head toward the passenger window and smiled. That part of her plan had worked. "Later. Bye." She finished.

"Who was that?" Vanessa pushed as they turned onto one of the main streets near their parents' home.

"Oh, just Blake. She's dyin' to go to the mall. I sent her a text earlier saying we were going…but when you said it would just be me and you I told her she couldn't tag along." Stella kept her eyes straight forward as she again fibbed to her sister.

"Sorry Stellz. I just don't feel like happy chatting with one of your girlfriends about how gorgeous Zac is and how lucky I am to be dating him. I know both of those things are true," Vanessa's voice softened as she thought about her relationship with the handsome, blue-eyed man, "but I'm not ready to let go of the reality that he's really irked me."

"What's it gonna take for him to get back in your good graces?" Stella hoped her sister might give just a little information that could help her straighten out the disagreement.

"Well for starters he's gonna have to give up the game for a little while. I know I gave it to him and I'm glad he's enjoying it. But while we have a little time to relax I'd like to be able to talk to him without battle-bot noises or gunfire coming from the tv."

"Oh." Stella answered. "What about going to a movie with him?" she asked shyly. "You wouldn't get to talk, but at least you'd get to spend time. Ya know?" she tested the waters.

"A movie would be nice." Vanessa answered. "But Zac likes to go at 10 in the morning on a Tuesday. Heaven forbid being seen together at a movie after dark." She grunted.

Stella noticed her sister's grip tightening on the steering wheel. She thought about Zac jumping into his car and heading to the theater. His night time movie jaunt had to be worth something…didn't it?

"You know he does it just to avoid the paps. He knows how you hate them." The teen tried to stand up for the blue-eyed man. She knew Vanessa loved him. And the sooner they could get past this disagreement, the better, for all of them.

Vanessa nearly growled. "I know. I know. Everything he does has my best interest at heart." Her last line was more than sarcastic as she rolled her eyes.

"V?" Stella turned in her seat to truly look at her sister.

"Yeah?" Vanessa huffed and continued staring out the windshield.

"You do still love him though, right?" Stella sure hoped the answer would be 'yes'.

As they stopped for the red light Vanessa let out a deep sigh and looked at her sister's somewhat worried face. She turned the corners of her closed lips up into a soft smile and reached a hand across to grab hold of Stella's. "Of course I do. And if I could beat him at the damn game none of this would be an issue…probably. Cause then he would've played, I would've won, and he would've said that the game 'sucked'."

Stella grinned. "So you really are on the losing end of this then. I mean…you lost at the game, he's spending time playing it so you're losing time with him, and that means that you're also losing out on bed time…right?"

Vanessa shook her head at her little sister. "Stella!!" she snapped at her sister with a smile before her mouth dropped open in surprise. Before she said anything too incriminating, Vanessa took a second to realize that her little sister was correct. The lack of sexual contact between her and Zac might just be playing more of a part in this than she'd thought.

She looked back out the windshield with Stella still waiting for a better explanation. "That's all I'm gonna say on the matter Stellz. Damn game."

----------

The conversation continued to play in Vanessa's head as the sisters got out of the car and headed into the theater. Stella looked around quickly knowing that Zac hadn't had a chance to get there yet. She hadn't thought about a way to stall Vanessa, but there had to be something.

"Can I get popcorn Nessa?" Stella requested.

Vanessa looked at the line for tickets and the line for snacks. Both seemed unbelievably long. Another reason Zac likes the early time slots. Less waiting. She thought. Once more she knew he had her best interests in his heart, even when she didn't know it.

The older sister glanced at her watch. "Sure. I'll get in line for the tickets and you go get in line for snacks. I'll meet you over there in a few." She handed Stella a $20 and watched her go across the lobby.

Stella kept her eyes craned on the doors knowing there would probably be a flurry of activity when Zac got there. A few flashes had gone off as she and Vanessa got out of their car. He would likely gather more recognition.

Just as Vanessa wandered over to her with tickets in hand they both noticed the group of photographers coming into the door.

"Oh good grief. Who are they terrorizing now?" V wondered out loud.

Both of them watched as the person in question finally got into the building. He made a few more steps inside just to get away from the electronic eyes and slid his sunglasses off his face.

"Stella?" Vanessa put her hand on her sister's forearm and pulled the younger girl around to face her. "You called him didn't you?" she attempted to wait patiently for an answer as Zac spotted them in line.

"Stella, answer me." Vanessa pouted as Zac walked toward them without smiling.

"I know he wanted to see the movie too." Stella was able to say with Vanessa rolling her eyes. "See V? He can get away from playing long enough to see a movie with you." She tried to joke.

Zac walked up to them and gave Stella a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. She smiled at him and they both looked toward Vanessa. Neither was surprised that the pouting young woman appeared to have nothing more to say to either of them.

"Tell ya what…" Stella broke the ice. "I'll just go get another ticket to the movie while you guys wait for popcorn." She stepped away from the couple but Zac quickly caught her arm and reached into his pocket.

"You'll need this." He handed her money but continued to watch Vanessa closely. "Unless you really don't want me to see it with you." He noticed her eyes wouldn't look directly at his.

Vanessa looked at Stella who was waiting for her approval to get a third ticket for the show. Stella was doing her best to channel loving thoughts between the boyfriend and girlfriend. Apparently it worked as Vanessa pointed in the direction of the ticket counter. "Just go already."

When Stella moved, Zac inched closer to Vanessa. "Where've you been all day? I was kinda expecting you to call or come over." He put his hands on her shoulders while standing behind her and leaned down to kiss her cheek.

Vanessa didn't pull away from him and turned her cheek upwards to accept the warm touch of his lips. She felt her face flush at the recognizing smiles of several people around them.

She wanted to lean back and let him wrap his arms around her. But that little, irked, portion of her found its front spot in her mind again.

"I didn't figure you'd notice if I called today or not. Yesterday you were a little too occupied when I came by, and you didn't answer when I called last night so today I…I just didn't." she admitted.

"I'm sorry, I guess." Zac rubbed her shoulders knowing he was in the wrong. But the irked portion of him knew this wasn't the place to get into the argument. She had yelled at him twice, or maybe it was three times, and he hadn't yelled back yet.

He felt her shoulders tense under his fingers and let go. He still needed his time to yell, but this wasn't the place. As he reached for Vanessa's hand that was buried in the sleeve of the hoodie, he knew his little game obsession had to end. But before it did he had to get the raised voice out of his system.

"You guess?" she finally looked up at him as their fingers loosely joined together.

Vanessa noticed Zac's jaw was tense and she could almost see the pulse beating in his neck.

"Not here Nessa. Not now." Was all he said as they stepped toward the counter.

Stella waited for them at the register, not wanting to disturb whatever might be happening between Zac and her sister. She noticed that they were holding hands. It wasn't a firm grasp from either of them, but at least they were touching and their fingers were linked. And, at least a few words had been spoken between them. That had to be worth something.

Vanessa turned toward Stella and handed the younger girl a drink and popcorn to carry into the theater. Vanessa felt Zac let go of her hand and assumed he was grabbing the other food. When she looked around he was getting a separate snack from what they'd just purchased.

When they finally got into the theater Vanessa purposefully walked down five or six rows before finding three seats together. Zac stood at the back row which was practically empty and simply threw her a 'why not here?' kind of look.

Vanessa just shook her head and pointed at the row she had chosen. If he wanted to sit with her and Stella, he'd have to forgo his back row mentality tonight. Not to mention she was trying her best not to be in the mood to cuddle with him during the movie.

Zac moved to the row where Vanessa was beginning to make her way toward the empty seats. Stella followed her sister into the row and attempted to move past Vanessa so that her sister could claim the middle position between Stella and Zac. Vanessa quickly grabbed Stella's arm and held her in the mid-seat spot.

"You called him, you get to sit by him." Vanessa informed Stella loud enough for Zac to hear as well.

"Vanessa." Zac whined with frustration in his voice. "I came to see this movie with you. If you don't sit in the middle I'm going to." She was really doing her best to push his buttons tonight.

"Don't push me on this Zachary." She said behind her own strained jaw.

Stella quickly noticed the use of their full first names and took a deep breath. This could make for a long night. Thank God there was a movie during this flight.

The previews began on the screen in front of them causing Stella to quickly take her seat. "Guys? The movie's gonna start soon. Why don't you just settle in. I'll sit in the middle if that's ok with you."

Vanessa and Zac both did as Stella requested and took seats on either side of her. They knew she was doing her best to play peacemaker and for a couple of hours they would enjoy her efforts.

Zac's yelling would wait. The time would come and he would let it out. Vanessa knew she wasn't completely out of the woods in this argument, not yet. But until they made the time alone with each other the ill-feelings still hung in their hearts.

Zac took a deep breath and reached into his pocket. As the lights dimmed he tapped Stella on the shoulder and pointed the bag of candy toward Vanessa. Stella took the bag and passed it down to her big sis.

Vanessa looked down at the wrapper and leaned forward just enough to catch Zac's eye. Sour Patch Kids. He knew she loved the candy, especially at the movies. And he'd noticed that she hadn't gotten them for herself during their tension in the snack line. "Thank you." She mouthed toward him as the darkness moved in.

When they sat back Zac put his arm around the back of Stella's seat. He stretched his fingers out until they reached Vanessa's shoulder. He rubbed his fingertips against her sweatshirt and could tell she had let go of some of the tension.

He was pleasantly surprised when he felt Vanessa's fingers reach up to hold his, and her lips leaned down and placed a soft kiss against the back of his hand. And when she leaned her face over to meet his warm knuckles he skimmed his thumb across her cheek. Yeah, somehow they'd be just fine.

Zac leaned down toward Stella. "Thanks for texting me. I love her you know."

Stella smiled at him. "She loves you too."

In the middle of the movie Zac felt Stella poke his leg. This wasn't a particularly mushy movie. All things considered the love story in it was the underlying theme. Yet that was the one Vanessa had grasped onto.

Stella pointed him toward her sister who was quietly wiping a couple of tears from her eyes. To add to her mix of emotions, Zac made Stella switch seats with him and he raised the armrest in order to fully put his arm around his girlfriend.

"You are not getting away from me that easily. I don't care how many times you yell at me. I love you. And when I'm ready, pretty soon now, I'm going to yell back and we'll get this argument over with. Got it?" he whispered against Vanessa's hair.

She nodded but pushed herself away from his body choosing to just simply hold his hand through the rest of the movie.

When the flick was finished the threesome made their way out of the theater and into the waiting arms of the paparazzi. All three of them smiled or smirked and pretended to enjoy the cameras' presence.

Zac walked with them to Vanessa's car before heading over to his own. He peered through Stella's window across the seats to his girlfriend's darkened eyes.

"Why don't you take Stella home and then come back to my place?" he invited.

Vanessa shook her head. "I can't Zac. Not yet. You know I'm ticked at you. One night's not gonna make up for the past two weeks."

Stella watched as Zac's jaw tensed again. She knew there was no danger of a shouting match here. But she hoped something would be decided.

"Fine." Zac conceded. "But we're coming back to this movie tomorrow night. So you'd best be ready. I'll pick you up at 7:15 at your house." He looked at Stella who was obviously trying not to grin. "Sorry Stella Bella. I promise I'll take you to another movie sometime soon."

Stella just nodded and looked at Vanessa. "She's yours." She said to Zac. "You gotta figure out how to fix this. My part's done."

The three of them shared a smile and Vanessa popped the last sour candy into her mouth. "I don't think I agreed to the date but you're both apparently working against me."

Stella rolled her eyes at her sister. "You'll be ready. You'll go on the date. And you'll go wherever Zac wants to when the movie's done. Cause if you two don't straighten this out soon, then Dad will be chaperoning you."

With that Stella rolled up her window, Zac headed back to his car, and Vanessa pulled out of the parking lot.

"Hey Stellz?" Vanessa looked at her little sister when they stopped at a red light.

"Yeah V?" Stella leaned her head back against the seat.

"Thanks."

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