Zac & Nikki: Who Better To Love ch. 2 She Feels Like Home


Theme:  A fictionalized account of the relationship between Zac Efron and Nikki Blonsky, based on a reasonable number of real facts and an abundance of my wishful thinking.


Disclaimer:  I do not own any of the characters in this story, as they are real people, and that would be a Human Rights violation.  But wishing I owned them: totally okay, and really quite natural!


This chapter includes a scene in Zac And Nikki’s “double banger” (jokes are welcome) trailer.  See Nikki's blog on my space, when she shows her costume for the day, if you’d like a visual of the inside connecting door.


Chapter 2: She Feels Like Home


“Tap-tap-tap.”



“Tap-tap.  Tap-tap.”  Nikki answered, in the familiar code, unlocking the door.  It had been just over a month since they started filming Hairspray.  A month since they had shared this trailor, with its thin partition wall and connecting door.  A month of tapping code to gain or deny entry.



Zac opened the narrow door and stepped through.  “Morning!”  He quickly looked around.  “Where’s Rocky?”



“Mom’s walking him around Base-Camp,” she said, pulling the sleeves of her pink terrycloth robe down over her hands, beginning to feel the October cold.



Zac knew that Karen had just left, as he had seen her pass his door a moment earlier.  He wanted to talk to Nikki alone.   He had something important to ask her.



When Zac returned from his weekend in L.A. in late August for the Teen Choice Awards, he felt like he had come home.  Toronto had quickly become his home, and the cast had already become like family.  He couldn’t wait to tell Elijah, Brittany, and Amanda about the awards show and the craziness of the “High
School Musical” fans in the audience.  He hoped they would react like that for “Hairspray” next year.  But he most wanted to see Nikki.  He was surprised by how much he had missed her in just three days.



She had asked him about his trip, and the show, and the cast, but he felt uncomfortable talking to her about it.  He couldn’t put his finger on the reason, but it just didn’t feel right.  Instead, he joked with her about the stupid questions that the Red Carpet interviewers asked, and how he had forgotten to pack any socks, and they quickly fell back into their comfortable easiness.



When Zac returned from a few days in London to promote “HSM” in early September, he felt like he had come home.  He couldn’t wait to tell Elijah, Brittany, and Amanda about the premiere, and the craziness of the English fans.  He hoped they would all be there next year to promote “Hairspray.”  But he most wanted to see Nikki.  Again, he was surprised by how much he had missed her in just four days.



She had asked him about his trip, and the premiere, and the cast, but he felt uncomfortable talking to her about it.  He couldn’t put his finger on the reason, but it just didn’t feel right.  Instead, he joked with her about riding around London on a double-decker bus with his picture on it, and how he had left his ipod in his apartment in Toronto and had felt lost without his music.



Right after returning from London, filming for “Hairspray” began.  Everyone was so pumped up and ready to get their scenes on film.  They had been waiting and working for this for more than two months!  They knew every dance number, every line of dialogue, every stage direction.  They knew their characters inside and
out.  And they knew that they were part of something magical.



The day before filming began, the cast was given their trailor assignments. The older stars were given their own trailors, the dancers shared trailors in large groups, and the younger cast had to share in pairs: James and Elijah, Amanda and Brittany, Nikki and Zac.  Nikki looked confused when Adam, walking by them at lunch the next day, asked how they were settling into their trailer, with a smirk and a twinkle in his eyes.  Zac said nothing, but he blushed.  He became fiercely aware that his arm was wrapped around Nikki’s shoulders, and he had been whispering something softly in her ear.



When Zac returned from a short trip to L.A. in early October, he felt like he had come home.  He couldn’t wait to tell Elijah, Brittany, and Amanda about going to see Chris Warren (Zeke in “HSM”) play football for his high school, and the surprise early-birthday party his friends had thrown for him.  He hoped that they could meet some of his friends when they were all in L.A., maybe for the “Hairspray” press next year.  But he most wanted to see Nikki.  This time, he wasn’t surprised by how much he had missed her in just five days, because he had missed her as the plane flew out of Toronto, and he missed her more and more each day that he was gone.



She asked him about his trip, how he spent this luxury of time-off, and his friends, but he felt uncomfortable talking to her about it.  This time, he was beginning to understand why.  He joked with her about nearly falling off a boat going to Catalina Island with his buddies, and forgetting his cell phone in his pants pocket in his room, being incommunicado for a whole day!



Nikki laughed with him, as she always did, and let him tell her what he wanted.  She felt relieved that he didn’t talk about Vanessa very much.  She knew she had no claim on him, that he didn’t think of her as anything more than a friend.  But that didn’t mean that she really wanted to think of Zac with Vanessa, having fun with Vanessa, being intimate with Vanessa.  She tried to keep her emerging feelings for Zac inside of her, down deep where the hurts of the world couldn’t find them and grind them into dust.



Nikki had liked her share of boys in high school.  Friends from the Drama Club, boys from her classes, a cute guy that lived on her street.  Sometimes they seemed to be interested in her.  Sometimes they would hang out together with other friends.  And, sometimes, things would start to get close.  But she had never felt about any other boy, what she was beginning to feel for Zac.  She didn’t know if it was just an illusion, from spending so much time together in such an exceptional atmosphere, but she often got the sense that Zac was feeling something for her, too.  Every time he put his arm around her, put his hand on her leg, or rested his elbow on her shoulder, she thought there was something more than friendship in his actions.  When he complimented her, confided something about himself that he hadn’t told anyone else, or simply
seemed happy just spending a quiet evening with her playing cards or watching movies, she wondered.  And, when she would catch him watching her in the corner of her eyes, she wondered even harder.



Zac sat down on the sofa in her trailer, one leg crossed widely on the other. He leaned in towards the empty sofa seat and looked up at her with a crooked grin, which Nikki took as an invitation to sit beside him.  He opened his mouth, as if to speak, but closed it again.  He looked down, and licked his bottom lip, like he was nervous.  Nikki felt the rumble of a laugh building in her chest, but managed to keep it in check.



“Nik, you know that my parents and Dylan are flying in today, right?”



“Yes, because you’ve been talking about it ever since you got back!”



“Oh, yeah!” he laughed.  “Well, I wanted to ask you something about that.  See, I guess I talk a lot about you or something, ‘cause my mom asked if you wanted to join us for dinner.”



Nikki was startled by this.  She had never thought that Zac would be talking about her with his family.  And enough that they would want her to join them in the little time they got to spend with him.



“Well, I’d love to.  But, don’t you think they’d really rather just see you?”



“No, my mom and dad really want you to come.  They insisted I ask you, not that I didn’t want to anyways,” he quickly added, a flush of pink appearing on his cheeks.  “And they said to bring your mom, too.  They really want to get to know you both.  And,” he looked in her eyes, sheepishly adding, “to thank you for taking care of me.”



Nikki’s mind raced in a thousand incoherent directions.  But the single line of clarity was that Zac talked enough about her that his parents wanted to spend an evening getting to know her and her mom.  She then realized that Zac had gently taken her hands in his, and was looking directly into her eyes.



“Zac, we’d love to join you!  I can speak for my mom; she was looking forward to meeting your family.” she managed to say, as Zac’s thumbs ran softly back and forth across her knuckles.



Her eyes dropped from his eyes, to his lips.  Those soft lips she had been so ready to kiss a few weeks earlier.  Those lips she had kissed so many times over the four day shoot for “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” but always with a hundred pairs of eyes watching them.  Those lips she thought about kissing everyday since then, but never thought she would feel again.  She watched them moving slowly closer to her face and her breath caught in her throat.



“Rocky didn’t have to do his business, so we came right back!” Karen’s booming voice broke into the silence of the trailer, followed by a quick bark from Nikki’s dog.  Thankfully, Zac had heard the trailer door begin to open before Karen spoke, and jumped back in his seat, letting go of Nikki’s hands.  Nikki felt like her heart had been ripped from her chest, and that the disappointments of her life had been nothing compared to the loss of this kiss.