Guys…. The Iron Claw has been getting crazy reviews and lots of Oscar buzz! And Zac's receiving his Walk of Fame on the 11th AHH. Did we manifest this? I'm going to say we did haha. Zanessa reunion next? xD Happy reading xo

Chapter 7

Vanessa's persistent pressing of the emergency button had proven fortuitous as a crackling voice finally emerged from the intercom, breaking the silence within the elevator.

"This is Rodney from maintenance. What seems to be the problem?" he inquired.

"Hi! We're stuck in the elevator!"

"Sorry about that, ma'am. How many people are on board, and what floor are you on?"

"Two people and floor 8, I think."

"Yeah. Hold on one sec. Alright, I see the problem. Unfortunately, our in-house maintenance team isn't available right now so we have to call in our guys from outside. Since it's a busy night with the Oscars and all that jazz happening right next door the traffic is gonna be crazy. But, don't worry we'll figure something out soon. Hang tight."

"Thank you!" Vanessa replied gratefully.

She looked down at her phone to see zero bars. Great, no signal, she thought.

"Well, that didn't sound too promising. And there's no signal so I guess we're really stuck here." Vanessa sighed and turned around, anticipating Zac to react to the update but he seemed preoccupied. He was sweating a bit more than he was a few minutes ago.

"Is it hot in here?" Zac asked, suddenly dropping the pizza boxes in his hands. He felt trapped in his own suit, as if the fabric was suffocating him. His heart pounded, his breath quickened, and sweat dropped down his face. He tried to loosen his tie, but it only made him more aware of the tightness around his neck. He looked around the elevator, hoping to find some relief, but all he felt was the walls closing in on him. The pressure on his chest, limbs, and head intensified, and fear gripped his mind, paralyzing him.

Sensing the shift in his entire demeanor, she voiced her concern, as she asked, "Hey, are you alright?" Perhaps, he was just tired of holding the stack of hot pizza boxes and needed a second, she thought.

As Zac closed his eyes and took a few shallow breaths, she knew something was wrong. A few moments later he confessed.

"Umm… this is actually not so great for me. I actually get pretty…claustrophobic in small spaces."

"Oh crap," Vanessa murmured as she took a second to process, then immediately tried to help. "Okay, just take a deep breath," she said slowly. "Inhale - 1, 2, 3."

Zac seemed to be calming down after following her instructions, but once he opened his eyes and saw the situation again his brows creased in discomfort. The claustrophobia-induced panic attack hadn't happened to him in years but it seemed that the culmination of the stress of the evening had prompted it.

Realizing he still wasn't feeling better, Vanessa quickly remembered something and launched towards him, tightly hugging him around his arms and waist - essentially trapping him in her hold.

He opened his eyes, shocked, but hugged her back as best as he could with his limited range of motion.

She felt his quick heartbeat, but suddenly, after a few seconds, his breath started to normalize.

Once she sensed his heartbeat becoming slightly less erratic, she pulled back and caged her hands on either side of his body, laying them flat against the elevator.

While they had been in close proximity earlier that evening, this was different. She felt the heat radiating off his body, and as they made eye contact, it felt electric. Snapping out of the moment, she felt compelled to explain their sudden position.

"Umm… so I actually.. saw this hack on Tik Tok," she explained in a soft and slow voice. "If you're claustrophobic, you make the space around you smaller, so that when you step out of it, the actual space feels bigger to you." Zac stared down at her with his piercing blue eyes.

She stepped away from him further and motioned to the space around them. "See - you thought you were trapped in a small space but look it's even bigger once you've been in an even smaller space."

Zac looked around and miraculously he felt calmer. He didn't know if it was the hug or the hack, but he was grateful for her. "Thank you," he said in an equally soft voice, afraid it might break the spell they were under. "That … definitely helped."

"Good," she smiled a small smile and breathed her own sigh of relief.

He took some deep breaths and took his tie off. After a few moments of regaining his composure, he finally spoke up.

"So - what was the update?" asked Zac.

"Well – they said their regular maintenance team isn't there because of the Oscars, and all the events going on tonight, yada yada, so it might take some time. But the good news is… we have food!" she gestured to the pizza boxes, " and I may also have a chocolate bar stuffed somewhere in my purse."

"In that thing?" Zac scrutinized her clutch. "I'll never understand how women can manage to fit an entire world in something as tiny as that."

"Magic. Haha, we're all witches."

"Definitely something magical about it."

"So, you feeling better now?"

"Oh yeah - thank you. You should really add that as a special skill to your résumé. That trick really worked. Maybe it's a placebo but I think that exercise kind of helped. If I get overwhelmed, I remind myself it could be worse and I can breathe easily."

"Well, thank you, Tik Tok! Good, I'm so glad," she smiled.

"Well, since we're probably in here for a while, you want to sit? I can place the boxes at the back of the elevator to give us more room."

"Good idea." Vanessa helped him move the boxes to the back of the elevator, but as she attempted to sit on the floor, she realized she couldn't. "Oops - nevermind. Sitting isn't really a possibility in this dress. It's fine. I'll just stand."

Zac noticed her predicament with the short dress and provided a solution.

"Here, how 'bout this?" He shrugged off his jacket and offered it to her.

She slid down to sit and laid it across her legs, "Thank you!"

"You're very welcome," he flashed his usual charming grin, the stress and fear from before long forgotten.

They sat in a comfortable silence as Zac scrolled through his phone to check for reception. No such luck. A few moments later he heard something in the corner. Looking over to see Vanessa, she was silently giggling to herself. He stared at her in amusement as she started laughing harder and harder.

"Care to share what's so funny?" Zac smiled.

She looked up at him and continued laughing even harder.

"I-" she tried to get a word out but couldn't force herself to compose. "It's just hilarious," she managed to get out during fits of laughter. "I can't believe I haven't seen you in like 10 years….and yet…" she shook uncontrollably.

"And yet… you can't get rid of me tonight," he finished for her.

She nodded through the laughter.

He joined her too.

"You're right…the universe has a funny sense of humor. Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine…" Zac said in his best Humphrey Bogart impression. "Or should I say, of all the elevators?" he mused.

"Classic Casablanca," Vanessa smiled.

"The one and only. Well… of all the people to be stuck in an elevator with, I might not be your first choice, but I can't say I'm mad at my choice for company," said Zac.

"Hmm, trying to get me on your good side so I feel obliged to share my chocolate bar, huh?" she teased.

"Nope, just stating the obvious," he replied with a boyish grin. "So…" he tapped the boxes behind them, "what toppings did you get on your pizza?"

"Haha, no toppings. Classic marg."

"Okay respect. Not a pepperoni fiend anymore?"

"Haha sadly no. I kind of got really off the meat industry. I'm more pescetarian these days."

"That's super cool. I tried to go vegetarian and vegan for some time, but it didn't work out so well for me. I got a lot of brain fog and then realized my body had become reliant on specific types of protein, so I had to start incorporating meat back into my diet. But I really respect anyone who goes vegan or vegetarian, even pescetarian, for themselves or the planet."

"I totally get that. In general I'm just not a fan of the entire meat industry especially in the states. It's just a really cruel business but the change has been really great for my health as well. And I know how important it is for the planet, which makes me grateful people are trying. But no, it's definitely hard. I'm lucky my body did well but I know a lot of friends who literally went anemic because they didn't have enough of the right protein. But as long as we're all trying. Baby steps you know?"

"Absolutely."

"That being said… I mean I recently indulged in some pretty epic chicken adobo."

"Nice! One of your faves if I recall!"

"Yeah! But in my defense… I was in the Philippines and I justified it because when am I gonna get a chance to have authentic adobo like that you know?

"Omg no way - you visited? Or wait - have you been before?"

"Yes! No, it was my first time there. Finally, right? I know it took forever but I was SO excited. I felt so at home. It truly nourished a part of my soul that I didn't even know needed it."

"That's amazing. I remember you always wanted to go. Who did you go with?"

"I went with my mum and stella. It was so much fun. There's still so much to do there. I wish I could go back soon."

"That's incredible. I'm so glad you guys had that time together. Yeah - I really wanna go back too at some point. You remember Will and Hayley?"

"Your friends from SLO?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah! I do. How are they?"

"They're good. They're really into travel vlogging so they're trying to convince me to take a trip down there with them sometime."

"That's awesome. You should do it. You went sometime in 2011 or something right?"

"Yeah, 2012. It was pretty incredible."

"Any more trips planned in the foreseeable future?"

"While I'd love to go back to the Philippines and be somewhere on a beach right now haha, I'm actually headed up to Mammoth. The film fest my buddy Tanner runs actually got postponed but they've pushed it to next week so I'm gonna head out there."

"The Mammoth film fest?"

"Yeah!"

"That's where I'm headed to next…"

"Yeah? No way."

"Yes! My film French Girl is actually premiering there."

"So it's not you that can't get rid of me, it's me that can't seem to get rid of you now, huh, Hudgens?"

"Oh, shut it," she laughed and playfully whacked his arm.

They smiled at widely at each other as Vanessa looked down to the floor.

"But seriously," she said, "I can't believe it's been like 10 years since we've seen each other…"

"13… but who's counting," he corrected. As she looked up at him, his gaze intensified on her, and his blue eyes smoldered -an electric connection, once again. He broke the tension as he cleared his throat.

"So… should we start eating our supplies?" she jumped in.

"Oh no, we should definitely ration them out. Who knows how long we're going to be in here for?"

"That's true. In that case, we should make a clear divide."

"Since you want the cheese … I can take all the pepperoni off your hands."

"Absolutely not! Haha. I'll only get 2 pies, you'll get 8."

"Well…sucks to be you."

"Uh!" she playfully pushed him. "I'll take the pepperoni off if I have to, thank you very much haha."

"All yours. No need for violence," he grinned and held his hands up.

The elevator mishap was long forgotten as they spent the next hour just joking, talking, and catching up on anecdotes. Whether intentionally or not, they ended up skirting around any deeper topics about their former relationship or the years lost between them.

As they fell into a comfortable silence, however, Vanessa couldn't help but wonder aloud.

"Can I be honest?"

"Of course," Zac sat up straight.

"I'm surprised it's so easy… just talking to you."

'I'm not," he said.

He said it with so much certainty that it floored her. "Really?"

"Yeah. You're one of the most interesting people I've ever known. There's never a dull moment with you. You're funny, nice and your perspective is always fascinating. Why? Are you saying I'm boring?" he teased.

"No, I mean to say "us"... I never thought I could just "hang out" with an ex. I always felt it'd be super awkward or wrong? I mean I know we wanted to be friends but…"

"Yeah, that didn't exactly work out, huh?" he said as he rubbed his eyebrow.

"Not really."

"Well, Hudgens, even if we haven't been connected for the past decade you're still one of my oldest friends. It's not awkward because, honestly, you're right … it's "us." We've been through so much together and I will always have love, respect and gratitude for you. And I'm hoping you feel the same way about me too. So once that's there between two people, no matter what they've been through or how much time it's been, there's really nothing to be awkward about."

"That actually makes a lot of sense… I think the fear of it being awkward kept us away from one another for a long time but now that we're -"

"Forced to be in the same space together? Haha."

"Yeah, something like that, haha. I think we're just two old friends…"

"Who grew up together and are catching up. It's not that scary if we don't make it scary. Deal?"

"Deal." They shared a smile.

Vanessa felt good about their honesty. She never really knew how to navigate the space between exes, coworkers, and old friends, but he had put it so simply. Additionally, he wasn't JUST an ex. They had been best friends for a long time and he had been a grounding force in her life when fame and success had the potential to turn her whole life upside down. He was the only person on the planet who knew exactly what that felt like since they'd gone through it all together at such a young age. She would always be grateful for him. Perhaps they had been brought together tonight to catch up and talk some things through that had been left unsaid over the years. Since he'd made her feel so secure, she felt safe to share more of her thoughts.

"Hey, I don't know if you ever got my message, but I wanted to thank you for the flowers. Thank you, Zac. They meant a lot."

"Flowers?" He looked perplexed.

"Yeah, you sent me flowers after my dad's…."

"Yes. Of course. Your dad. Van, I'm so sorry. I was so devastated to hear about Papa G. How's everyone? How are you? I didn't know the details. I just heard from Ry, I think he mentioned your dad had passed away a few weeks after it had happened. I'm sorry it was late. I don't read the news or anything often enough, but when I heard - I wanted to send flowers. I thought about reaching out but didn't want to overwhelm you…"

"Thank you. I did appreciate it. It's definitely been tough. I say that like it happened yesterday, but you know, it's true when they say you don't ever get over grief. You just grow around it. Stella and I miss him so much. So does my mom. We've all been coping in our own ways, though. I threw myself into work and made sure mom was with me as much as possible. Stella isolated herself for a while, but she's doing much better now, and Mama G - I hope I've made her happy and taken care of her."

"I'm sure you have. You're great at taking care of everyone. They're so lucky to have you. Papa G was a legend. Now that I think about it, how many dad's would be cool letting their teen daughter run around Hawaii with a teenage boy haha? He probably thought I was a scoundrel."

"Hah. Nah, of course you weren't. Pops always liked you - even if he was a bit hard on you. I mean he had to be - he was a dad! But he always said you were a gentleman. He liked you. He knew you were a good guy."

Zac smiled as he looked at the ground.

"I messaged you, to thank you for the flowers… but I never heard back. I assumed you didn't want to talk or…" her voice trailed off.

Guilt wracked his heart, and he wanted to clarify immediately why he hadn't written back, but their safe space of nostalgia and vulnerability had been suddenly and rudely interrupted by the real world.

"I didn't -"

A loud screech of metal doors stopped Zac and broke them out of their reverie. The elevator doors opened as they were pulled apart by a large contraption. Two maintenance crew members stood outside, waving flashlights at them.

"Ayyy, Rodney, you never told me you had an Oscar winner stuck in here! I would've hauled my ass here sooner!"

"Jeez, Harry let 'em get out first before you start fan-boying. "

Zac helped Vanessa up as the men helped take out the pizza boxes.

Harry, the older East Asian gentleman with glasses peered at Zac and Vanessa carefully. "You're Zac Efron, aren't you?"

Zac smiled at the man, "Yes, I'm Zac. Thanks for the rescue."

"Ahh, don't mention it. My wife was so thrilled when you won tonight. Huge fan."

"Thanks man, I appreciate it," Zac patted him on his back.

"And you're Vanessa, right? My wife always talks about your outfits. Wants me to find similar ones for her - I tell her she can never pull them off!"

"Oh no, haha. That's so sweet. I'm sure she could. I bet she's gorgeous."

"Eh, she's alright. I'm kidding. I love her, she's beautiful. The apple of my eye. Now, could I get a picture with you guys?"

"Harry, leave them alone. Sorry kids," said Rodney.

"Nah, that's alright. We'd love to. After all, you saved us!" said Zac. "Group selfie?"

The four huddled up together, Vanessa now with Zac's jacket draped on her shoulders, to take the photograph.

"That's a beaut!" exclaimed Harry as he looked at the photo. "The wife's gonna love this."

"Psst," said Harry, "don't tell the others but after seeing all the rich and famous tonight, you and your pretty lady make the best couple of the night. Hands down. No competition!"

Zac and Vanessa didn't have the heart to correct the older man and graciously thanked him.

Finally, the two maintenance men offered them a safer way to reach the penthouse suite with the service elevator. After escorting them they bid their goodbyes.

Loud voices could be heard on the other side of the penthouse suite.

"Well damn, they seem to be having fun. I wonder if they've even noticed we're gone," joked Vanessa as she swiped her key.

Ryan swung the door open with one hand while balancing two phones - one cradled in his elbow and the other attached to his ear. "OH MY GOD. Thank God. Where the hell have you guys been? Did you even check your phone? I left you like a hundred messages."

Nina rushed to the door. "We thought you'd been abducted. Ry was literally on the phone with hotel security. I had to stop him from calling 911."

"We-" Zac started as Dylan launched at him. "DUDE! You scare the shit outta me. Where've you been?? I was like how far could they even go with 10 boxes of pizza."

"We got stuck in the elevator! They JUST rescued us," explained Vanessa.

"WHAT?" Laura popped up and gave Vanessa a hug. "I was about to cry."

"Aww, Laur!"

"At least you're safe now!" expressed Laura gratefully.

"Alright," said Ryan. "Drinks, anyone? I could use something strong."

"Lead the way, bud," said Zac.

Zac briefly glanced at Vanessa, feeling a tinge of sadness that their party of two had been infiltrated. It dawned on him that this was the last time they'd be alone for the rest of the evening and possibly before they went their separate ways. Little did he know how the rest of the night would unfold.