Disclaimer: I do not own ANY of the High School Musical characters. I only own Kristen and Scott.

Now…On with the story!!!

Chapter 8 – The Day Ends How It Started

It was morning and Zac woke up to find he was just how he remembered falling asleep the night before. Vanessa had buried her head in his chest as his chin rested on the top of her head. Looking down at her, he sighed with happiness. He just wanted to hold her like this for the rest of the day but he knew he couldn't. Zac shook her lightly to wake her up and she did, slowly fluttering her eyes open.

"Morning," he said letting go of her.

"Morning," she yawned and looked around. Zac had propped himself on his side resting on his shoulder as she lied almost underneath him.

"What?" she giggled and his hand reached down to move a curl from her face.

"You have no idea how happy you make me Vanessa…" his voice came as a whisper as he leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips.

"Mm…you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that."

"Really?"

"Yeah…"

She pulled him down to meet her lips again, and this time he lowered himself beside her and slipped his arms around her waist. She was giggling into the kiss which made him smile and begin to tickle her lightly.

"Zaaaac…" she giggled.

"Hmm?"

"Stopppp…"

"Nope."

"Zaaaaac stopppppp…"

His lips moved down to her neck and he trailed kisses lightly along it, sending her into a laughing fit.

"Zaccccccccc!!!"

He laughed at her and got up and out of the bed.

"Okay, okay I'll stop, I should go get ready anyway."

"Come back when you're done?"

He smiled at her and murmured a soft "mmhmm" as he leaned over and kissed her.

"I'll be here."

He left through the connecting door to get changed and Vanessa lied on the bed smiling until she heard a knock on the door.

"Vanessaaaa!" she heard a voice call

"Oh come on Nessa, wake up!!"

Vanessa recognized that voice, it was Stella.

"Stella?"

"VANESSA!!!!"

She woke up to find her sister shaking her, and jumping on her bed. Looking around, she realized she was in her bedroom in LA and that everything had been a dream. Plopping back down on her pillow, Vanessa groaned.

"You woke me up from a nice dream Stell…" she said.

"Sorry, but it's getting late and mom told me to wake you."

Filming had wrapped days ago and everyone had headed home for a couple of days before press events for the movie. Vanessa could remember leaving Zac, he had kissed her on the cheek and told her they would see each other soon.

"I'm going downstairs, you better be up in 5 minutes!" Stella ordered her and left the room skipping down the stairs.

Vanessa let out a sigh. The dream had felt so real and so right, it was too bad that it was only a dream.

Vanessa looked over to her clock, which read 10:30am. Beside the clock was her phone, its lights were blinking to signify a message.

"You have 2 new messages" the automated voice said.

Hudgenssssss!! It's Ashley, I just wanted to say hey and I'm missing you, it's weird not being on set with everyone anymore. My birthday party is extremely soon and you better be there!! Anywayssss, call me and we can get together or something to go shopping for party dresses! LOVE YA!

Vanessa smiled at her friend's message, it really was weird not being on set anymore.

Hey Ness!

It was him, calling as if he knew she was thinking about him.

I just got into LA so give me a call if you want to do something and I'll clear my oh so busy schedule for you. I think we're going to be in need of a night with lots of candy really soon, all this press stuff might kill us. Call me when you get the chance!

Vanessa smiled as she got ready and headed downstairs, cell phone in hand. After fixing herself a bowl of cheerios she sat down cross legged on a chair and picked up her phone to dial Zac's number. He was number 4 on her speed dial, after both her parents' cell phones.

"NESSAAAAAA!!!"

Before the phone had started to dial, Vanessa could see her sister running at her in a jog. Stella hugged her so tight that it made Vanessa laugh, she had really missed her sister.

"Hey Stel."

Stella's face looked annoyed.

"Just because you're home doesn't mean you have to sleep all day!"

Vanessa talked to her sister for hours, laughing and getting caught up on what she had missed while she had been off filming. Stella eventually had to go to get to her friend's birthday party. After saying by to her sister, Vanessa picked up her phone again and held down 4.

The phone seemed to ring forever until she heard his voice pick up.

"Welcome to McDonalds how can I take your order?" he said to her amusement.

"Hi I'd like a Zac Efron please."

"Oh I'm sorry miss we seem to have run out of those."

"I have one on order, it's for Vanessa Hudgens."

"Well in that case, I'll get you one right away."

Vanessa giggled as she heard him rustle the phone and then come back on in a slightly deeper voice.

"Hey you."

"Hi yourself."

Zac was smiling so big it would have hurt anyone that was looking at him. The fact that she played along with his joke was great.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Absolutely nothing, which I'm happy about. You called earlier?"

"And you got my message I'm guessing."

"That I did."

"Well since everyone else replied to come to the Hairspray premiere in LA next month I thought I would call because I haven't heard from you yet."

"Oh I totally forgot to tell you Zac, of course I'll be there!!"

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow morning right?"

"At Good Morning America, yes you will."

"See you then."

Hanging up, Vanessa felt hopeful for the next day. It had never been like Zac to confirm press plans with her.

Zac sat in his apartment alone, glaring at his phone that had just hung up with Vanessa. He looked around at the many boxes surrounding him. What he really wanted to ask her was if she would come over and help him unpack but it hadn't come out the way he planned. He immediately thought about calling her back, knowing it would make him look extremely stupid but not really caring. Why couldn't things ever be easy?

Ringgggg…ringgggggg…..ringggggg

"Zac?"

"Hey…"

He was officially embarrassed.

"Something wrong?" she had a worried tone to her voice.

"No, no I just forgot to mention that I moved into my new apartment."

She had a smile on her face because she knew where the conversation was going but she still managed to get the words out.

"That's great Zac, congrats!"

"Thanks…I was wondering if you maybe wanted to come over and help me unpack a bit?"

"Well I'm really busy today…"

"Oh, sorry, I understand, I…"

She was giggling.

"Zac, I'm kidding, give me details and I'll be there in 10 minutes."

After hanging up with him Vanessa went upstairs to get changed. Thinking about it, she hadn't realized Zac's message meant they needed to hang out TODAY.

She went to her closet and picked out a pair of casual skinny jeans and a loose navy blue tank top. Grabbing her purse and the sunglasses she stole from Zac's room while they were filming, she slipped on a pair of flats and quickly told her parents she was leaving.

Having got her license not too long ago, Vanessa got in her car and programmed her GPS to the address Zac had given her. It took her to a nice looking building where she was stopped by a security guard at the door.

"Hi umm, I'm here to see Zac Efron?" she said meekly.

"Name?" He was big and mean looking.

"Umm…Vanessa Hudgens?"

"One second."

The security guard, who's name tag read BERNIE in big letters, picked up the walkie talkie he had attached to his belt and dialed a number. Vanessa heard Zac's voice answer.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Efron there is a Miss. Vanessa Hudgens here to see you."

"Thanks, send her up!"

He put down the walkie-talkie and opened the door for her.

"Go ahead." He said, his tone softening.

"Thanks," she smiled.

Walking to the elevator, she pulled out the crumpled piece of paper that read 5D on it. She must have looked at it a million times to make sure she remembered the number right.

The elevator took her to the floor and she walked down the wide hallway until she was faced with the door. She took a deep breath before knocking lightly and heard, "It's open!" from inside. She pushed the door open to reveal the apartment full with boxes. She was surprised to find that even though he had just moved in, it already looked and felt like he lived there. The walls were all painted a faint beige colour and all his stuff was neatly set up on tables and shelves.

"Hey!" she called out.

"Hey, in here!"

Following the sound of his voice, she proceeded into the apartment where she found him on a step ladder putting up curtains in the living room.

"Looking good Efron." She said looking up at him. Immediately he stopped his task and met her gaze, coming down the two steps of the ladder to be at her level.

"Gotta fend off the stalkers huh?" she teased and he shrugged with a smile on his face.

"What can I say, I like my privacy."

"I don't blame you there."

He smiled at her, "thanks for coming," he said.

"Anytime, what can I do to help?"

"Well, my mom and dad and Dylan have been here the last couple of days to set up the furniture so all these boxes are basically full of kitchen stuff and clothes to put in them. Nice sunglasses by the way." He said looking up and the glasses that were now on her head.

"Aw thanks, they're stolen."

"I would never have guessed."

His hand reached out to snatch back his property but she quickly moved out of the way.

"Officially going to unpack the kitchen boxes!" she said and bolted out of the room, stuffing the glasses in her purse before he had a chance to say otherwise. She watched him hang curtains from the breakfast nook window while unwrapping each glass and putting it in the cupboard that she could see his mother had neatly marked "dinner glasses" with tape. The kitchen was big enough to fit a round table with 4 chairs as well as all his other appliances. Vanessa wondered if Zac was happy living by himself. Sure, it was nice to be your own boss but she was sure he missed having people home to wake up to.

After finishing the last box of kitchen stuff, Vanessa made her way over to the bedroom where she saw Zac enter a couple of minutes before. He was just finishing hanging the last curtain when he felt her presence in the doorway and turned around to look. She was leaning against the doorframe looking around.

"Nice room," she said.

The walls were grey as was the desk at the far right and the headboard against the back wall. The queen size bed had a blue, grey and white striped comforter with pillows to match and his teddy bear was sitting in the middle of them. She glanced at the flat screen TV across from his bed and his laptop resting on the desk beside some speakers where she could hear Soul Meets Body by Death Cab For Cutie faintly playing.

"Yeah my mom has good taste," he admitted. "Finished in the kitchen?"

"All done!"

"Thanks again for coming, Ness."

"Anytime."

Folding up the step ladder, he smoothly fit it in the hallway closet and looked back at her.

"Now for the clothes."

She sat on the bed as he brought the boxes of clothes into his room. He examined every piece, making sure he absolutely wanted to keep it before handing it to her to fold and put in the drawers that his mother had labeled like the kitchen cupboards. A shiver ran down her spine and goose bumps formed on her arms.

"Cold?" he asked her.

"A little."

Zac knew he had a sweater in one of the boxes but he wasn't going to search for it now. Instead he grabbed his favourite Diesel sweater hanging from the chair at his desk and gave it to her.

"Here, warm up."

"Thanks…" she blushed and put it on, zipping it up all the way. He looked at her and smiled at how big it looked on her and he brought himself closer to her, reaching back to put the hood on her head. She giggled because it covered all of her face when she tried to look up at him. His hands gently moved the hood to look at her.

"Thanks again for helping me," he said.

"No problem."

His stare was too intense for her but she couldn't look away. She could feel him starting to lean into her and she didn't stop him, their bodies fitting together as if they were always meant to be that way. He smoothly took her face in his hands and brushed her lips with his. The feeling was almost unreal to her, there they were lips touched but barely together. She let him move in closer to her as he captured her lips more fully.

It was impossible for Zac to think of anything else, even what his next move would be. Right now he was just going with what was happening, taking it as slow as possible to enjoy every possible taste. Even after kissing Vanessa on set, nothing could have prepared Zac for this. It felt so new, yet so right, like they could do it everyday for the rest of their lives.

His hands were now comfortably resting on her waist and her hands on his chest as they continued to exchange tiny kisses between them, amazed at how natural it was.

As if on cue, they pulled their lips away and touched their foreheads together. Vanessa could feel her heartbeat mixed with his jumping out of his chest.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have done that."

She smiled at him affectionately and lightly kissed his nose.

"It was perfect," she breathed and a smiled of relief crept across his face.

"It really was."

And I do believe it's true

That there are roads left in both of our shoes

But if the silence takes you

Then I hope it takes me too

So brown eyes I hold you near

Cause you're the only song I want to hear

A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Where soul meets body

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R&R!!