Slowly but surely Zac and Vanessa began venturing outside their bubble. They realized they had been working out at the same gym over the past few years but had never crossed paths. After discussing their different training regimes, Vanessa was excited to train with Joe, Zac's personal trainer, for the first time.

Arriving at Dog Pound one afternoon, Vanessa caught sight of a familiar face and started to walk over to greet him. Just as she was about to reach him, she felt a hand wrap around her waist and gently pull her back. Zac frowned slightly but saw Vanessa's smile light up when she turned to see F1 driver Lewis Hamilton.

Zac, not wanting to seem possessive but still wanting to emphasize their relationship, placed his hand on Vanessa's waist.

"Lewis!" Exclaimed Vanessa.

"Hey! Long time no see, girl. How are you?" Lewis took out his earphones as he gave her a quick hug.

"Good! How about you?" Vanessa returned the hug with a big grin.

"Not too bad!"

"Lewis, this is Zac." Vanessa gestured to the man behind her with a pointed look at Zac as if to say 'be nice.'

"Hey, man." Zac extended his arm to shake Lewis' hand.

Lewis's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh damn, Zac. Shit. Sorry, I've just heard such great things about you! Joe says you're the only one who can kick my butt. He makes us do your workouts when we piss him off, and they're killer!"

Zac chuckled, "Aw, man, I mean you're the GOAT." He instinctively tightened his grip on Vanessa as she placed her hand over his and smiled up at him.

Lewis immediately noticed their closeness. "Hope you can keep up with his stuff. It's brutal. Although Hudgens has a few things up her sleeve too! So I'm sure she'll give you a run for your money."

"Yeah, she's definitely full of surprises," Zac said amusedly.

"Come on love birds," Joe bellowed from the sidelines, jolting the three others.

"Love birds, eh? So… are you guys back together?" Lewis asked with a big grin.

"BACK together?" Vanessa said mischievously as if questioning Lewis' knowledge of their previous relationship.

"I mean…" Lewis smiled shyly in response.

Before Zac could answer, Vanessa chimed in, "We're taking things slowly." It was the safest answer for anyone outside their immediate circle. They hadn't been publicly seen together since their Oscar encounter, and while there were fan rumors and online speculations, there was no concrete evidence.

"Well, shit, that's awesome. Not gonna lie, as a grown man, it feels weird saying this, but I was a big High School Musical fan. This is pretty epic for me," Lewis admitted with a laugh.

"Haha, thanks, man," Zac replied. It always amused him to see men his age admit to being fans of his Disney movies. "My brother and I were talking about hitting up a race this season. Any recommendations?"

"Oh, wow, yeah, that'd be sick. I can hook you guys up with tickets if you like," Lewis offered.

"Thanks, man, that'd be great," Zac said, wrapping up their conversation.

As Lewis walked away, Zac turned to Vanessa, "So, is he seeing anyone?"

"Why? Are you interested? I guess I can hook it up… although I did JUST tell him we were a thing so he might think it's a little weird, don't you?" she tried to hold back her laughter.

Zac huffed.

"Calm down," Vanessa laughed. She rubbed his arm lovingly. "Look, to be honest we flirted a bit during lockdown because we ran into each other at the gym a few times."

She noticed the up turn of Zac's eyebrow the moment she said she had flirted with Lewis.

"His brother was there too," she continued. "Honestly, it was the only human interaction I had for a while after being in the COVID bubble for so long. And it was fresh after a breakup. It was just fun to meet some new, cool people."

Zac eased his stance as she explained the dynamic with Lewis. He wasn't a jealous person but he did feel better knowing that the popular and good looking F1 driver was just her friend.

"We never trained together or anything but we usually had sessions at the same time. Nothing happened. He's just a gym friend who I see every once in a while. Besides, I'm only interested in training and flirting with one super handsome guy right now..."

She trailed her hand down Zac's arm, then used it to point in the direction of their trainer. "Joe!"

"You're such a tease!" Zac exclaimed, rolling his eyes back.

"Hehe," Vanessa giggled. "Come on," she said, giving him a playful smack on the butt and stealing a quick kiss. "We're burning daylight. Let's go!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him forward.