Okay, I know this skips a LOT of events, Tweets and sightings, but maybe it'll get the story up to date, kind of. Thanks for your patience. And thank you JerrysGirl for the suggestion!
KTZLF, enough said! -adc
"I love you."
The phrase was simple, pointed and came through the phone line loud and clear. Problem was, Zac was still practically asleep and completely at a loss for why she was saying it now.
He had sat straight up in bed and opened his eyes to the darkness. Even before he could get his bearings he looked around at the clock. 11:30PM. He had gone to sleep ninety minutes ago, why was he awake now? Then the buzzing and musical tone sounded again. Vanessa's ring tone on his cell phone. But she was on a plane back to Vancouver from L.A..
Before he could think to reach out and answer it, the sound ended. If she missed the flight I'm gonna kill Evan. The whole reason he is with her is to keep her on schedule. Then the sound began again. This time he turned toward the bedside table and accepted the call.
He didn't even have a chance to say 'hello' before she spoke to him. "I love you."
"I love you too." Zac answered back. "Please tell me you didn't miss your flight."
"No." she answered quietly as though she were secretly placing the call. With just that one word Zac heard something in her voice. The sound was enough to jar him further into consciousness.
"Ness, what's wrong?" He asked calmly.
"There's…there's smoke at the back of the plane. I'm not sure what's happening." His girlfriend's fearful voice sounded in his ear.
"Baby, it's ok. Where's Evan?" Zac now threw his legs over the side of the bed and turned on the lamp.
"He's right here beside me. But Zac…I don't…I need you." She ended the sentence quietly and Zac knew she was trying not to cry.
"Vanessa." He pushed to make sure she heard him. "It's gonna be ok Baby. The pilot, he'll take care of things and get you home safe and sound, you'll see. You just have to hang in there ok? For me."
She nodded her head as she leaned forward in the first-class seat. The image of the gray smoke rolling from the back of the plane was fresh in her mind. The smell of it was lingering throughout the plane. All she wanted was to be back in her boyfriend's arms. Vanessa caught herself shaking and leaned against her assistant.
"I'm trying Zac. I just want to be back home with you." She lifted her head away from Evan's shoulder again but fidgeted, not knowing exactly what to do. "I'm scared." She finally admitted out loud.
Zac leaned forward on the side of their bed and rested his forehead in his left hand while he held the phone in his right. "I know Baby, I know you are. And that's ok. You can be scared. But you've just gotta believe that everything is going to be fine. Has there been anything besides the smoke? Has the pilot said anything?"
"No." Vanessa answered calmly. "Other than a little turbulence, then the smoke, that's it. I just…I'm sorry I woke you up. I know you've gotta be on set early in the morning…I just wanted to say…you know, just in case…that I love you."
Zac could still hear the fear in her voice and he felt the tiny beads of sweat that were forming on his forehead. He heard another female voice in the background mumbling something to Vanessa and began to fear the worst.
"Nessa? Who is that talking? What's going on?" Zac asked with a note of tension in his own voice.
"It's a stewardess. She says I can't be on the phone right now since we're in the air." Vanessa paused for a minute. "I've gotta go Zac. I love you."
"I love you too Baby. I love you too. I'll see you in a few hours Vanessa." She heard his voice attempt to strengthen as she ended the call.
Vanessa took a deep breath and looked out the window into the dark night sky. "I hope so Zac. I really hope so." She felt Evan pat her hand on the armrest but didn't look at him. She simply wanted to be back on the ground, and with Zac.
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Zac fumbled with the phone as he heard the call end. He continued to hold his head in his hand as he stared at the device and hit a single button just to make it light up and reveal Vanessa's smiling face to him again. What if… the thoughts began to pound in his head.
He stood up from the bed and walked to the window of the condo to look into the sky. He felt a tingle run down his spine and a cold chill spread through his body making him shiver. The sound of Vanessa's voice ran through his head. The high-pitched melodic sound was timid, fearful. She was obviously scared. And this time, there was nothing he could do.
"Dear God, if there is a God in heaven, please bring her home safely." He muttered through the window. The pacing around the room that followed was so unlike Zac. He was normally calm under pressure with rational thoughts to help fix tense situations. This time the rational thoughts escaped him. This time the tension was only building. This time, he realized, he needed someone else to fix it, because he couldn't.
The only thoughts going through his head were ones that envisioned a downed plane and his raven-haired girlfriend gone completely from his life. That, he quickly decided through tense jaw and gritted teeth, was not acceptable.
He wandered out of the bedroom to the living area and kitchen. There was Vanessa's keychain and script on the counter. She needed those for Monday afternoon's scenes. He picked up the keys and looked at the picture of the two of them together.
He looked into the living room. The "Brainstorm" dvd was sitting on top of the player with the Natalie Wood biography lying on top of it. Vanessa had been pulling some of her old stunts lately, reading about some of her own favorite actresses to keep her chin up about the movie she was currently filming.
This time when he looked back down at the phone that remained in his hands he was visibly shaking. He refused to let tears come from his eyes. He forced the lump in his throat back down through its passage and held his breath for a moment simply trying to calm his nerves.
Midnight. He had spoken to her just fifteen minutes ago. Two hours ago he had made himself go to bed for two reasons. First because he had to be on his own movie set at six in the morning. Second and most importantly was because Vanessa was supposed to be back home by 1:00AM. He had hoped to get just a few hours sleep so that he could enjoy her company as soon as she got home and then fall back asleep with her.
Now he didn't know if she would get back home.
"NO!" he finally shouted at himself and threw the phone against the couch. "No! Efron you are NOT going to think like that. You just told her that it would all be fine. And it will be. You are not going there." He pushed the words through his lips as he grasped the keychain and looked at the picture again.
His mind raced in circles desperately searching for someone to talk to. Someone who would tell him that it would all be alright. He glanced at the clock again and decided on a person who had proven to be quite simply a brother to him.
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"Dude, what gives? It's like midnight on a school night." The 17 year old complained as he answered the phone call.
"Dyl, man, I need some help." Zac's voice almost pleaded with his little brother over the airwaves.
The younger Efron dragged his hand across his eyes as his tried to concentrate on his brother's voice. "What kind of help do you need from me at this time of the night. I should be the one calling you for sex advice." He laughed a sleepy croak.
"Yeah." Zac chuckled. "I wish that's what this was for." He mumbled solemnly.
"Z-man? What's up?" Dylan tried to focus a little closer. His brother's voice certainly didn't sound jovial, and he didn't sound drunk.
"Vanessa's on a plane on the way back up here." He stopped to take a short breath.
"Yeah, what, did you guys have a fight or something?" Dylan still couldn't imagine what had him on the phone with his big brother at this hour. He heard Zac let out a nearly tortured sigh.
"There's apparently a problem with the plane. Ness just called me and there was smoke coming from the back of the plane. She's really scared Dyl. And then they made her hang up and I have no idea what's happening. I just know she's scared." Again Zac stopped abruptly.
"Shit." Now he was definitely awake. "Zac, man, what can I do? There's nothing either of us can do, is there? Have you called Gina and Greg…do Mom and Dad know? What do you need me to do?"
Zac pressed his thumb and index finger to his eyelids as he sat down on the couch willing the teardrops to stay put at the corners of his eyes. "I don't know man. I don't know. I just…I needed somebody to talk to. I can't call Mom and Dad or her parents. I can't get them worked up over this. I know everything will be fine. But she just sounded so scared when she called." He cleared his throat.
The line was silent for a minute as both young men thought about the situation.
"Dude, you remember going to the Kings of Leon concert when you guys first moved over to Vancouver?" Dylan knew why Zac needed him. Even if just for a little while, he needed a pleasant distraction, with a Vanessa twist.
Zac knew exactly what Dylan was doing. And, it was the very reason he had called his little brother instead of anyone else. All pranking was set aside as their brotherly love proved itself in a different form.
"Yeah, I couldn't believe we scored tickets two nights in a row." Zac answered quietly.
"We didn't score anything dude…Vanessa used her Sucker Punch connections…" Dylan retorted.
"Hey, that was only for the first night. I talked to the drummer when we went back stage and got the passes for the second night." Zac answered back a little stronger.
"Excuse me, I was right beside you backstage man. Drummer dude told you he'd give you tickets for the next night IF you brought the 'hot chick' with you again."
"And I did, didn't I?" Zac jumped in. "Ness would've killed me if we didn't go to the concert the second night too."
"Oh, and hey, having the Twilight people there took some of the heat off of you guys." Dylan added. "Although there is that video of you guys dancing on YouTube from the second night." He chuckled quietly.
"Hey, what are you laughing about? You're lucky you aren't the one in the video, the way she was dancing with you there too." Zac caught himself smiling at the memory.
"Dude, I'm not the one sleeping with her." He stopped and held his breath realizing what he had said to his older brother.
"Touché." Came from Zac's lips across the phone line, still with a slight smirk on his face. "I will admit she was having fun with both of us that night though. I was a little surprised that she got you dancing too."
Dylan let the conversation flow. "I guess the jello shots loosened us all up before that last set."
"Hey…" Zac spoke up. "We swore we'd never mention that with parents around. Ness only had two. How many did you have?"
"I had a couple too. But I'm bigger than she is and I didn't have any beer after that either." He laughed.
"She only had a drink or two of mine." Zac admitted. He remembered the glazed look on Vanessa's face at the concert when he pulled the drink away from her. He had to remind her that she didn't like beer. And at that instant she shimmied her way over to Dylan to dance with him for a few minutes.
It didn't take long for her to return to Zac's side, dancing against him and enjoying the music from the stage. Zac shook his head at the memory and let his mind carry further into that July night after dropping Dylan back at the hotel with their father.
"Hey Dyl…what did you think happened after we left you at the hotel?" Zac smiled again. His brother had completely attempted to embarrass him and Vanessa in front of David Efron the next day. Zac had let Dylan's little sexual innuendoes slide off his shoulders without even a blush that morning.
"Do you really want me to answer that? Did we not cover some of that the morning after the concert?" Dylan smirked.
"Let me clear up the picture for you then." Zac clarified. "You slammed the door of the car, Vanessa slumped down into the seat, and she was asleep before we got back to the condo."
"You're not serious." Dylan deadpanned.
"As a heart attack." Zac stalled for just a moment. "Ness doesn't handle hard liquor real well. The vodka in those jello shots loosened her up enough to dance and get all chatty for a little while. But she was so relaxed in the car that she pretty much just passed out."
Zac remembered unlatching Vanessa's seatbelt and pulling her limp body out of the car and carrying her into their condo. He laughed at the memory of undressing her and sliding one of his t-shirts over her head before tucking her under the covers of their bed.
"I sure could 'use somebody' Baby…you can be my 'somebody' you know." She had somewhat slurred when he crawled into bed beside her. Besides the headache she endured the next morning, she didn't even remember palming his crotch. That was as close to making love that they had gotten thanks to the alcohol-filled treats that the band had provided for them in the hospitality room at the concert hall.
"Sorry bro." Dylan reacted to Zac's silence.
"Yeah, sure you are little brother. I know better than that." Zac smiled again at his brother's innocent, yet wishful thinking. He knew Dylan had a crush on Vanessa. But he also knew that his little brother respected their relationship and had come to value and trust Vanessa as a member of their family already.
"Hey Zac, you remember when you guys came home for those Teen Choice Awards?"
"Oh, dude, don't remind me. If Vanessa never sees Dane Cook again it'll be too soon." Zac groaned at the memory and at his own choice of words considering the current situation.
"Hey, man, but just think about that. That was a crappy week for you guys, I know. But have you ever seen V so riled up at somebody? That was, like, totally Sucker Punch quality anger on her face." Dylan chuckled again.
Zac thought a minute. "I still cannot believe that s.o.b. had the nerve to get up on stage and do that to her. If I had been in that audience and heard him I don't know if I could've kept my composure or not. I was so proud of Vanessa for not putting her hands on him. Did you know he had the nerve to come up to us and try to apologize backstage?"
"Seriously?" Dylan was a little surprised. The topic was taboo for several reasons. But he had wanted to know more about the post-events. "After all the crap she went through…you should've seen Mom's reaction when she heard him. It was a real good thing she wasn't there. She wanted him stomped, diced and stir-fried. I mean, I've never heard our mother talk about murdering someone like that. If he had turned up dead the next day I would've put Mom's name at the top of the list."
"Really?" Zac questioned a bit more softly. "I know Mom loves her. But do you think she would go that far for Ness? Really?"
Dylan nodded his head thoughtfully. "Of course she would Zac. We all would. You know we love her as much as you do. Not in the same way, of course, but we do."
"Yeah." Zac sighed. "Dyl?"
"Yeah?" his brother questioned.
"What if…what if her plane…" Zac couldn't even bring himself to finish the thought.
"Zac. Man. Don't. Don't play the 'what if' game. I don't want to think about it…I don't want you to think about it. She's gonna be fine. The plane's gonna be fine and she'll be right back there with you."
"I want to believe you Dyl. I just can't help thinking about how scared she is. I've only heard her that way a couple of times before. And I had answers then. You know? I was able to fix it for her and take the fears away and make it better. I can't fix this. I've got no control over this one, none." Zac sucked in a breath.
"Is that the big thing here Z? That you don't have control?" Dylan asked sincerely.
"Yeah…well, the big thing? Well, no. I guess the big thing is that I can't stand the thought of her not being here. I can't make her feel better. I can't hold her in my arms. I can't hear her laugh or listen to her talk or sing." He breathed through his mouth to try and suck in lost oxygen while his foot began tapping aimlessly against the carpet.
"It's been me and Ness for four years Dylan. Four years. Even when we've been on opposite sides of the world, we've still been together. Just a phone call away. I don't know if I can…If she's not here…I just don't know."
Dylan heard his brother swallow hard and the knock on his own bedroom door at the same time. "Shit, Dad's up."
"Dyl, please don't tell him it's me. I can't… I don't want to talk to him or Mom right now, I'll totally lose it. Please."
"Who are you talking to Dylan?" David's voice sounded through the door.
"It's…it's uh, Taz, Dad. He just got back from this weekend at the beach and he's telling me about the amazing girls he saw. I swear I'll be done in a few minutes." Dylan lied.
"Well tell Taz to show you pictures at school tomorrow. What possessed him to think he could call this late at night anyway?" David grumbled.
"Sorry Dad, that's why he called my cell." Dylan turned his attention back to Zac. "Okay Bro. I think we're ok. Hey, you know you've been reduced to Twitter material, right?"
Zac wiped his forehead where the sweat had formed again at the thought of losing Vanessa. "What?"
"With the Twilight dweebs in Vancouver. You and V are Twitter material. Instead of the paps following you around now, everybody's watching Twitter to find out where you go out to eat and stuff. It's pretty funny on the chatroom drama." Dylan added.
"You go on chat rooms…about me and Ness? What are you a Zanessa fan?" Zac questioned humorously.
"Are you nuts? No way. I just hear girls at school talking about it. They're all wondering when you're coming home and stuff. Hell I've got the inside track, why would I need a chat room? I can call Stella anytime." Dylan laughed as Zac choked.
"Stella Hudgens is your inside track? Am I not your brother?" Zac feigned hurt.
Dylan hiccupped with his laugh. "Her stories are a lot more, um, colorful than yours."
"Oh God, please tell me you don't share stories from Stella with girls at school…with ANYBODY at school. I still have teachers there Dylan. I don't need stories getting back to Mom and Dad. I thought the paps were bad. You and Stella know just enough to really be dangerous. Crap."
Dylan nearly snorted at Zac's realization. "There's the big brother I know and love." He continued laughing.
"Dylan, swear to me you are not telling people at school stories about my sex life. You don't know anything about my sex life so whatever you've told them is a big fat lie." Zac's frustrated voice was the one that Dylan was more accustomed to. And with the stress of the current situation, he was very glad to hear that voice on the line.
"Chill Big Brother. There's enough about you in the teen magazines and on the web. I don't have to say anything to make their imaginations run wild. Don't forget, it's your 'crazed fans' that you have to really look out for."
"Ah, yeah…the moms. We've had a nice reprieve from all of that up here. You know, even when you and Dad were up here with us, we didn't get attacked by photographers or anything. That was pretty sweet, just being able to go out and enjoy ourselves." Zac turned the conversation back around.
Dylan's thoughts drifted away from the joking and back to Vanessa. "Hey Z?"
"What?" Zac noticed the change in his voice.
"You know she really loves you, right? I mean really loves you." Dylan's words came from his heart.
"Yeah man, I know."
"'Member when me and Dad were with you watching you tape that one scene where they had to use the defibrillator on you?"
Zac thought back to the week that his dad and brother had spent with him and Vanessa in Vancouver. "Yeah, what about it?"
"Nessa was there too, remember?" Dylan continued.
"Of course. She took off to run around with you guys while I was at work." Zac answered back.
"Well, when they did that scene and you were laying on the ground and they brought the paddle things out there…she grabbed Dad's hand and started biting on her thumbnail and ended up having to turn around." Dylan figured Vanessa had told Zac about her reaction to the scene.
"Huh?" Zac seemed shocked. "It was just a scene in the movie."
"Yeah, I know. And she knew that too. But it must've hit her in a weird way or something. Dad held her hand and rubbed her on the back a little. She told him she just didn't even want to think about losing you. She kept her back turned till Dad told her it was over and you were back on your feet."
The line went quiet while Zac thought about what Dylan was telling him. He remembered that day, remembered that scene. And, he remembered that night. Vanessa had insisted that he sleep bare-chested that night. He assumed the quietness in her voice meant that she had something in mind for bedtime. Apparently she did, but not what he expected.
When they went to bed that night she had sat up beside him for just a few minutes and softly moved her hand all over his chest. It wasn't a teasing movement, but more of a discovery path. She watched her hands wander over his smooth skin and then gently placed her fingers over his sternum. After that she snuggled down beside him and placed several kisses on his ribs. Then her warm cheek found its way onto his breast. That's where she silently fell asleep.
As curious as her actions had been Zac never asked her about them. He had wrapped his arm around her and nuzzled his chin into her hair and let himself fall asleep.
"Dyl, I'd better let you go before Dad gets up again. I don't want you in trouble with Mom and Dad." Zac spoke slowly.
"Are you gonna be ok? I'm here Zac. I don't know if I've helped you at all, but I'm here. I can stay up as long as you need me to. I'm not sure that I can get to sleep anyway."
"Yeah man, I know. I'm not gonna sleep till she walks through the door up here. But I'm gonna go. Hey, I'll text you when she gets home ok?" Zac had no idea what he would do if she didn't…get home.
"Zac…she will get home. I know what you're thinking. But she will. It's gonna be fine. Pilots deal with this shit all the time. It's probably one of those damn Canadian geese. Probably flew into the back of the plane and caused the whole mess. Nessa's gonna be fine. You guys have gotta get married and have like a dozen kids or something before anything happens to either one of you." Dylan tried to smile hoping he was helping his brother.
"Yeah." Zac answered simply. "Hey Dyl, you have helped me. Really man, I knew you would. But I'm gonna go. Love you little bro."
"Love you too. Text me man, please. I want to know that she's ok."
With that the conversation ended and Zac looked around the empty apartment again. Everywhere he looked there were signs of Vanessa. And with every sign his heart hoped more and more that she would get back to him.
Nearly 1AM. Vanessa should be getting home anytime now but this time he knew that wouldn't happen.
Instead of a door opening it was the sound of a familiar ringtone in his hand that made him hopeful.
"Vanessa? Baby are you ok?" Zac nearly cried into the phone.
Her tearful voice on the other end was a start. "Yeah. We're ok…but we're back in L.A.. They turned the plane around and came back here to get another plane. So we're boarding again." Vanessa explained.
"Are you ok with that? If you're too scared I'll drive down there and get you. I need to know you're ok. I love you." Zac encouraged her.
Vanessa answered him with a few tears running down her face. She giggled just a little knowing that things were going to be okay somehow. "You have to be on set in five hours Zac. If you don't get your beauty sleep the makeup artists will be very upset with you." She attempted to joke.
"Don't care. You're all that matters." He came back seriously. "Vanessa, I'm not joking here. Do you want me to come get you?"
She shook her head and smiled. "No, Baby. No. I'm not real sure why, but I know it's gonna be ok now. We'll get on this other plane and I should still be home before you have to leave for work. I promise you, it'll be ok."
"It'll be okay…but will you? I want you back here and with me right now Nessa. Will you be ok?" Zac's heart pounded harder as he waited for her reassurance.
"Yeah, Zac, I'm gonna be ok." The smile wiped from her face with the seriousness in her tone. "I'll be home soon. Wait for me in bed, please? I do want you to hold me and help me fall asleep."
"I'll be waiting just inside the door. You put your bag down and I'll carry you to bed. Just come home to me please." Zac pleaded.
"I'm on my way Baby. I love you." Her soft voice sounded as loud as thunder through the phone.
"I love you too."
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Zac took a deep breath and sat on the couch. He sent his brother a simple text. 'They turned the plane around, went back to LA and swapped planes. She's gonna be ok.'
Dylan returned the message with two words. 'Thank God.'
After that Zac sat on the couch and stared at the front door. When Vanessa opened that door four hours later she put her bag down and looked at his sleeping body sitting in nearly the same position.
"Zac?" she whispered to him as she knelt down in front of him. "Baby, I'm home."
He gently opened his eyes to the sound of her voice and let just a few tears escape. Without saying a word he got up from the couch and helped his love back to her feet. Then he proceeded to cradle her in his arms and carry her to their bed.
With a gentle kiss he helped her undress and slip into an oversized t-shirt. They crawled under the covers together. Vanessa's hands gripped at his body as his held onto her tightly.
Neither spoke a word as they drifted off to sleep although both knew what the other was thinking. The night had reinforced something that they never wanted to take for granted.
"I love you."
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