Tomorrow May Never Come

Zack paced through his apartment, trying to block out what Brian was telling him. He tried kicking him out earlier, but Brian was still there, and he was still trying to convince Zack that Kate had feelings for him.

"Dude, just listen to me, okay?" Brian pleaded, and Zack sighed, heading toward the door to the balcony of his apartment.

"I said no. Stop."

"I thought you loved Kate? I'm trying to help you out here," Brian said, following Zack out into the sunshine of the balcony. Zack finally turned to face him, resting back against the railing.

"There's no point, because Kate already loves you. You're insane to think that anything you do will sway her."

"I think you're the one that's gone crazy, Zack. Kate doesn't love me. She just thinks she has," Brian pointed out, sitting down on a patio chair and leaning back, getting comfortable.

"She thinks, huh?" Zack asked, cocking a brow with a disbelieving look on his face. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Seriously, listen." Patting the arm of the patio chair next to him, Brian waited until Zack had taken a seat there. "I'm new in her life. All I've done is shown her friendship, laughed with her, made her smile...and she thought she was in love of me because of that. You, on the other hand, have known her for longer, correct?" Zack nodded, and Brian continued. "She takes you for granted, man! You need to forget all this friendship nonsense between you and her, and show her some love. Whether she says yes or no is up to her, but at least give her a choice, you know what I'm saying?" Turning toward Zack, Brian watched as he thought it over.

"I guess, but--"

"No. I know you still love her. No matter how much you deny it or say you're trying to forget her, I know you do. Just...think about all the things you love about her." Standing up, Brian shoved his hands in his pockets, looking out over the city with a sigh. "Like her beautiful eyes..."

Standing next to him, Zack smiled. "Her beautiful face." Brian nodded with a similar reminiscent smile.

"Her fury," he stated with a wider smile, slowly walking toward the edge of the balcony.

"Her love..."

"Her smile..."

"Well...whenever she does smile," Zack countered, following Brian's actions toward where he'd been standing only moments before.

"Her hair. I really like it when she wears it up," Brian said, crossing his arms and leaning forward onto the bar separating him from a long fall toward the pavement many stories below him.

"No, I like it better down," Zack said, a smile crossing his lips as he thought of Kate, and how much he really did still have feelings for her. Brian was right, there was no denying it.

"Yeah," Brian sighed, a smile crossing his lips as well. "Kate..."

"Kate..." Zack whispered, nodding his head. Looking over at Brian, he noticed the somewhat dreamy look on his face, and it confused him. "Dude...why are you thinking of Kate with such a....dreamy look on your face."

Raising his eyebrows, Brian looked over to his companion. "I'm just doing it for inspiration for you. I'm married, remember? Dumbass..." He joked with a smile. Zack smiled for a bit, before something crossed his mind and the smile slowly disappeared. Brian had gone back to looking out at the city.

"...And what if you weren't married?"

"Then I wouldn't let her go," Brian answered without taking his eyes off the view, without wasting a moment. "I'm not an idiot like you. I'm talking about Kate here....Come on, man, why would you give that up?" he asked, looking over at Zack again.

"Yeah... So, what do I do?"

"You don't do anything." Brian stood, taking his hands from his pockets and slowly walking backwards. "Whatever has to be done, I will do. You just do as I say, it's simple as that."

"How do you know it'll be that simple?" Zack asked, turning to face him.

"Because I've got a plan. Five days, my friend, and the girl is yours," Brian answered, flashing a wide grin. Zack started to follow him, wanting to hear of this plan, because frankly there was nothing he wouldn't do to get Kate.

"Why only five days?"

"Because, I don't work weekends."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

DAY ONE

The plan had been formulated between Zack and Brian, and they decided the sooner the better to put it into action. So on the Monday following their weekend of determination, they were sat at an outdoors table of a small café just meters from where Zack would always meet Kate before going to their classes together. From where they were, they could see her through the branches of a small tree, standing there with an upset look on her face; Zack knew it was because he was late, and he wanted to get over there as soon as possible to keep her from getting angry with him about it.

"Kate's waiting for me... We always go to class together from here. I'm supposed to be meeting her right now," Zack said uneasily as he tried to watch Kate without being seen.

"Ohhh, so sweet," Brian mocked in a childish voice, before getting serious. "But you're not going with her today." Zack looked at him incredulously.

"Why not?"

"Because I said so. Do you want this plan to work?" Brian countered, giving Zack a pointed look.

"Well, is your plan to bring Kate and I together, or tear us apart? Because right now it seems like the latter..." Zack grumbled, and Brian smiled before cuffing him lightly on the shoulder.

"I have a theory about girls. Do you want to hear it?" he asked, and Zack nodded before he continued. "The more you run after them, the more they will run away from you. But...if you run away from them, they'll get all confused and run after you to find out what's going on. They don't want to be confused, so they want to know why. So, we will then take advantage of the confusion of a confused girl."

"...Now I'm confused," Zack said as he looked down to the table, trying to run that all over through his mind and process it into making any sense. He didn't see the grin on Brian's lips.

"That you are... It's a childhood problem. It can't be helped," he chuckled. "Just trust me, Zack -- do as I say, and it'll all work out as planned. Now, put this in your ear," he said, handing over a Bluetooth handset to Zack, who took it and put it into his ear as directed. "Now, this is attached to your phone so I can call you, and help you through all the things you need to do. Kate will never know. You just do whatever I tell you to. Understand?"

"Got it."

Zack was then sent on his way to campus; he was dreading to have Kate see him show up so late. He didn't want to upset her. But once he got into their lecture hall, there was no mistaking the scowl on her face when she noticed he had entered.

"Brian....Brian?" Zack whispered after calling Brian, hoping the call had gone through.

"Alpha Bravo Charlie, I read you. What's up?"

"I'm there...and Kate is staring me down like a hawk. What do I do?"

"Alright, go sit next to her, but don't say a word, okay?" Brian instructed from the couch inside Zack's apartment. Zack nodded to himself in answer before making his way to sit next to Kate.

"Where the hell were you?" she practically growled. "I waited for you for over an hour! You're always late!"

"Okay, don't look at her...we'll see how this goes," Brian instructed once more, and Zack lowered his gaze, looking away from Kate, who lightly hit his arm.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. What has gotten into you? ...Are you sick or something?" she asked, starting to get a little worried.

"Now, look at her angrily...that'll get her attention," Zack heard Brian order, and without wasting another moment he turned back to Kate with the angriest glare he could muster. She jumped back a little in her seat, startled.

"...Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"Alright, you're doing good man. Now put your finger in your nose..."

Without thinking about his instructions, Zack faced forward and had his finger halfway up to his face before he realized what he was about to do, and quickly put his hand back down.

"What the fuck? Asshole..." he growled, hoping no one but Brian had heard him.

"Just kidding, I'll catch you later dude," Brian replied with a chuckle, and then hung up.

Zack spent the rest of the class off in his own mind, trying to figure out how not talking to the girl he was trying to woo was going to help him out in any way. Maybe there was a method to Brian's madness...

DAY TWO

The following day, Zack strolled into class again, having ditched Kate upon Brian's instructions again. She didn't even bother to look up at him when he entered.

"Alright, I'm there.... Man, she looks really upset, Brian," he sighed into the Bluetooth headset.

"Well, don't sit next to her."

"What?!" he whispered harshly.

"Sit near some sexy girl, or something..."

Sighing, Zack looked around and his eyes focused on Natalie, who was sitting right in front of Kate. "Oh my God...it's Natalie."

"Good, sit next to her," Brian said, and Zack did as was told, sitting in the seat that was directly in front of Kate's. He felt nothing but nerves fill his gut. "Now, you're going to try and do whatever it takes to get Kate jealous, okay? Tell Natalie...that it's your birthday."

"But it's not--" Zack started to say.

"Just go with it!" Brian hissed. Clearing his throat, Zack turned to face Natalie.

"Hey...did you know today is my birthday?" he asked, smiling a little. Natalie grinned in return.

"Well, happy birthday," she said, and Zack was surprised that she was being civil with him after what had happened between them the night he spent with Kate and Brian at the club. He was even more surprised when she leaned in and kissed his cheek, his eyes wide.

"Did she just kiss your cheek, man?" Brian chuckled. "And better yet, did Kate happen to see that?"

"Considering she's sitting right behind me, I'm very sure she did," Zack whispered.

"Good. Things are going to slowly fall into place. You'll see. Over and out," Brian replied, hanging up once more to leave Zack to sit through his entire class, questioning not only Brian's sanity, but his own. He had a bad feeling about this plan....