Disclaimer; I own nothing, but the plot.

Rated; T

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Whisper I Love You
By: -j'adore la hannah.

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"Zac, you've been away too long." V complained, Zac sighing once again, "Babe… I know. But I saw you on New Years! That's gotta count for something."

"It doesn't. I don't wanna sound clingy, but I just want to be with you more often."

"You know I've been busy. I have a movie coming out and you know I can't miss that." Zac said, almost in a begging way for her to forgive him, and Vanessa rolled her eyes, "So you'd rather spend your time on set wearing a bad wig than being with me?"

Raising his voice slightly, but not meaning to, Zac spoke into the phone, "You're sounding so insensitive, V. You just need to understand."

"I do understand!" She shouted, "I understand that your work is way more important than I am. Is that the point you're trying to get across?"

"That's not true. You know it's not. I don't wanna fight with you. Please calm down." He pleaded, V sighing, "I can't calm down. I just want to scream at you through this phone at the top of my lungs! I can't take this anymore, Zac! I hate you being away. I hate your stupid schedule. I hate that I can't have a simple get-together with my boyfriend anymore!"

And with a click of the red button on her cell phone, he heard nothing but a dial tone.

Vanessa had thought about it, and it was kind of insensitive. She didn't want to admit it. It seemed like girls always HAD to be right in relationships? At least to her it was.

She didn't like being away from Zac too long. I mean, what girl would? He was charming, sweet, and amazingly hot. Maybe her little overreaction had lost him?

V cursed under her breath.

He had invited her to the 'Palm Springs International Film Awards' event, considering his Hairspray film was nominated for an ensemble award.

Was she supposed to refuse? No.

Vanessa was proud of him and was supposed to come to these type things just because she liked spending time with him.

She walked along the path, hearing her boyfriend being asked questions and such.

"So you're here with your girlfriend, I hear?"

Zac had laughed, nodding occasionally, "Yeah. I'm here with Vanessa. And… it's really cool so far. So…"

She walked up to him, giving the interviewer a fake smile, "Hun, I'm really cold." She mumbled and glanced at him.

Eyes met, blue on brown.

He grinned at her, eyes sparkling and undid the buttons on his jacket, draping it over her shoulder while lightly kissing her cheek as she gave a reassuring grin as well.

Zac led Vanessa to where photographers had shouted them to stand at, sliding his arm all the way around her slender waist.

Speaking through gritted teeth, Vanessa tried acting professional, "What are you doing?" She squeaked as he gave her a dazed look while pressing his forehead onto hers, "I need to talk to you."

"Not now. We're in PUBLIC, Zac. This isn't the time to make me fight with you." She struggled to push away, but he had pulled her body even closer to his, burying his face into her long, brown locks, "I missed you. Speak to me, please." In a mumbled speech, Zac continued saying his sappy statements into her hair, Vanessa quickly melting into his touch, "I… - stop… Zac, don't. We rode in the car together for about 30 minutes already."

"That's not enough for me, V." He shook her softly, making her whimper as she smiled awkwardly for another picture.

She had been in the spot light many times, but not like this.

Zac acted like he didn't care. Like all of his attention was on her.

But... he really didn't.

More magazines on this?
Youtube videos posted everywhere?
Rumors flying about?

Screw it.

He wanted to be with Vanessa, even with paparazzi in the way. "And plus…" Zac smirked, giving her a wink, "Why would I want to fight with you?"

She was finally strong enough to push away and she furrowed her eyebrows together, "Doing this won't make me change my mind about our relationship or anything. If you want to do this, fine. Maybe some other time. But right now, I seriously don't want anything spoken about us. I want to get this awards show over with, whether you like it or not. I don't want anything to do with you tonight."

Zac felt his heart ripped in half. Was she serious?

Honestly, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her and now he wasn't allowed to even associate with her.

Vanessa was his girlfriend. He liked that.

He could hold her hand. He could touch her. He could keep her in his arms. He could kiss her and try to make it all worth-while. He was allowed to!

"Come on, V. Why do you have to be like this?" Zac questioned, her angry expression fading away. She didn't say anything for a while.

"I'm not the only one that needs to get their priorities straightened out. You don't know how much trouble I had not being around you." Vanessa paused, "At some points, I just had times where I just wanted to cuddle up to someone and cry about it all."

He wrinkled his nose in confusion, "Nessa… I called you as much as I could have."

"And how many times was that, Zac? 2 or 3? Yeah, that makes a difference…" In sarcasm, that last statement crushed both of them.

"Babe…-"

"I'm gonna go inside now. I'll see you later." Zac had leaned toward her, making her pull away even farther.

The cameras continued to flash, Zac feeling the need to punch all of the paparazzi in the face. Couldn't they just leave people alone once in a while? It wasn't hard to get the fact that he wanted to just talk to her in private.

…Too bad she wouldn't give him the chance too.

The brunette let the lace of their fingers drift, making him just want to pull her back again, not caring if she was going to get annoyed of him. Even though she already was.

He saw as she took her individual pictures.

Was it normal for a guy to want to cry? Hopefully it was.

Feeling his tears sting his eyes, Zac stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking up as a method to not start crying and quickly posed for another photo.

Zac liked her a lot. He was supposed to tell her something tonight. He knew she would be here, which was his point in coming.

It wasn't for publicity.

Glancing at her from the corner of his eye, he admired how she looked. Amazing and utterly beautiful.

Her black dress hung down slightly, hugging her curves as she turned around to show it off.

Images flashed through his mind of him grabbing Vanessa and just kissing her, hands firmly on her hips, picking her up to spin her around, caressing her soft, bronzed cheeks.

He wanted to scream.

Vanessa sat at a table, legs crossed politely as she and her girlfriends giggled.

Zac, however, was one table away, poking the appetizer with his fork as guys around him laughed obnoxiously.

… He was bored, still thinking of ways to talk with his girlfriend.

"And I was like, 'NO WAY!', and she was like 'YES WAY! I HATE YOU!', and I was like, 'Err.'" Corbin sighed, "Chicks…"

Zac raised an eyebrow at him, "Wow. Well, you know it's not all that good when you're fighting with your girlfriends. They don't talk to you, just ignore you. And… it's just horrible."

The afro bobbed from side to side, "Zac, Zac, Zac… you're still upset about Vanessa. Be a man! She isn't your whole life."

"SAYS YOU!" He cried, Corbin backing away slightly.

Hearing her name being said, V leaned to the side in order to be able to listen to the distant conversation better.

"Calm down, Zac…-"

"I AM CALM." He sternly interrupted, Corbin furrowing his eyebrows "Are you sure? I don't even get it. You and Vanessa are tight."

'Not anymore…' She thought, listening in even more.

She heard Zac speaking of her hating him and yelling at him. And about her not even trying to let everything work out.

Vanessa shuddered at the words, guilt shooting through her entire body.

"Nessa just thought I was wasting my time NOT being with her. She didn't listen to anything I said. But I don't blame her. It is mostly my fault…"

"Don't beat yourself up, kiddo."

"But its true… she didn't even know that I missed her. She didn't know that I really cared for her. She doesn't know that I… ugh…"

The voices faded, Vanessa guessing that Zac had no more to say about it all. She saw from the corner of her eye, him getting out of his chair to walk to the refreshment table. She picked up the side of her dress and got up also, following him quietly.

It was in girl-code, saying: Don't go to him, let him come to you.

But she felt sympathy for this guy. And wanted to at least make an attempt nowadays.

And if she wouldn't, both of them would feel even worse.

Separated, Depressed, and departed.

"Hey!" Said enthusiastically, it made Zac jump and look at her. "Uh… you're talking to me?"

Vanessa opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by an interviewer from Extra.

"Hi Zac! Hi Vanessa! So let's just do this. Let's just talk about how sweet your boyfriend is to lend you his jacket. Come on."

She looked down at the object over her shoulders, smiling. 'You said it first." She giggled, causing a smile to spread on Zac's face.

He continued on, asking the Hairspray star about how it was like to be presented up on stage and then looked back at Vanessa, "How proud of you are your man here to win the ensemble award?"

"Very proud of him." Said right away, she began laughing.

"Thanks babe…" The sweethearts looked at each other, an apology written all over Vanessa's eyes.

The Extra interviewer had left and Zac looked at her. "You're really great. You know that?"

"Yes… yes I do." She answered, curtsying as he continued grinning. "By the way, … what didn't I know?"

His eyes widened and he wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face into her hair whispering, "That I love you."

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