Tomorrow May Never Come

The door to Brian's room slammed open as he was sprawled on his back, trying to calm himself as his heart rate had spiked. The sound made him up into an upright position, eyes wide as he saw Zack standing there with a smile.

"I love you," Zack blurted out, lips spread wide in a grin.

"Uhm..." Brian stuttered, cocking a brow as he sat at the end of the bed, looking up at Zack. He didn't quite know what to make of that.

"I seriously, really love you, Brian." Taking a seat next to Brian, Zack still smiled.

"Thanks?"

"You're something else, you know that?" Zack laughed. "If it wasn't for you, there would be nothing."

Brian was still unsure of what exactly Zack was going on about (though he was sure it may have something to do with Kate), but that last statement, he couldn't deny.

"I know, I know..." he answered, smiling as well.

"You're a genius!" Zack announced.

"Since birth," Brian answered with a sly smirk. There was no doubt that what Zack was saying was inflating his ego a bit.

"You're intelligent...brilliant even! You should write a book or something, man. Five days, and the girl is yours!" Zack exclaimed. Brian's plan had worked; Zack could tell that things between he and Kate had definitely changed over the past week. And all because of Brian.

"I told you it would work, Zack. Anyway, whatever I did, it was all for you, buddy. But you're lucky, normally I--" Looking up, Brian saw Kate standing there in his doorway. Immediately cringing to himself at the hurt look upon her face, he told himself to remind his mother to warn him of company next time. "I...I didn't do anything! It was all you!" he said, quickly changing his tune. But he knew it was already too late. "It's because of you, because of your love for Kate. All you."

Chuckling, Zack put his arm around Brian. "You're amazing...not even wanting to take credit for your brilliant work."

"Seriously Zack, I didn't do anything...." Brian sighed, shaking his head in defeat. He knew he would be in trouble now. Looking up at Kate again, he could see her eyes beginning to glisten with tears. Seeing where Brian was so intently looking, Zack looked up as well, eyes going wide upon seeing her.

Kate slowly shook her head at two men who she thought were her friends. But apparently she was very mistaken. Quickly she turned on her heel and ran from Brian's uncle's house, turning down the street and heading toward the ferry station. There was only one place she really wanted to be now.

"Shit...what do I do?" Zack groaned, looking over at Brian for one final piece of advice.

"Follow her!"

Due to how busy the ferry station was during the afternoon, Brian and Zack were able to catch up to Kate before she was able to get on a boat.

"Kate, come on. Stop," Zack pleaded as he walked quickly after her. Getting in reach, he grabbed her arm, trying to pull her back. She whirled around, tears in her eyes and anger written on her face.

"Let go of me!"

"Listen..."

"What?!" Kate nearly screamed, all notion that they were in a public place melting away until it was just her, Zack, and Brian. "Must have been fun, right? Must have been loads of fucking fun breaking my heart like that! Five days and the girl is yours? Wow... The both of you should be given a damn award!" she growled, looking between her two friends, if she could even call them that anymore. "Fantastic, Zack... Just...amazing." And with that, she turned and began to walk away.

"Just listen to me, Kate, please!"

Kate turned again.

"No, you listen to me. I thought of you as a friend and poured my fucking heart out to you about Brian. And what did you do?! Told him everything! And he..." she spat, turning her gaze on Brian who looked nothing short of ashamed. "...he who wants to play fucking God to everyone...decided that since he couldn't love me, he'd find someone else to do it for him! And so he came to you and told you that your friendship wasn't just friendship, it was love. And you got convinced!? Really, Zack. What the hell kind of person are you, who doesn't know his own heart...understand his own feelings?" The tears were coming full force now, and all around them, the ferry station fell quiet.

"I really do love you, Kate, and that's the goddamned truth!" Zack insisted, trying to take a step toward her.

"No it's not! The truth is that you broke my heart! You hurt me with your little game..." Taking a breath, she turned to Brian, who almost couldn't bear to look at her. "I know that I didn't make the most of my life before, that I wasn't happy.... But at least I had a friend. You took that all away from me. Both of you." Turning away once more, Kate was intent on finally leaving, wanting nothing to do with either of them.

"Listen to me, Kate," Brian said quietly, grabbing her wrist before she walked too far.

"No."

"Kate..."

"NO!" she screamed, turning to him again, hand raised and ready to strike. Brian reluctantly let go. "No! I don't want to hear anything you have to say! I don't want to understand anything. Just leave me alone, please. Leave me alone," she said, reduced to almost a whisper, and finally, they let her go.

Sighing in defeat, Brian turned to Zack, glancing at the pocket of his jacket, where he knew Zack's black journal was. The guy took it with him everywhere. And so, reaching into Zack's pocket, he took it.

"What are you doing!?" Zack hissed.

"Just wait..." Brian said, quickly opening to a page and reading aloud. "Kate, I wish I could tell you how much I love you."

Grimacing, Zack tried to grab the book from his friend, but Brian held his arm out, keeping him away.

"Gimme a second! Just...wait..." And he read again. "I love you...I love you so very much, Kate."

Hearing the words spilling from Brian's mouth, Kate turned, hopeful that maybe he actually meant it, because she knew she still felt for him. But then she saw the little black book. She knew that book. Brian turned the page.

"It says I love you, and..." Glancing down at the pages, Brian saw they were blank, unfinished. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath before looking up at Kate again. "..and when I close my eyes I see you. When I open them, I long to see you. Even when you're not near me, I feel you in everything I do. In every second of every minute...all the time." From where he stood, Brian's eyes bore into Kate's, who still couldn't quite make heads or tails of what Brian was doing. The way he read was with such conviction, but...it was from Zack's book?

"My eyes search for you, everywhere. Call it love, or just madness...it's the same thing for me. A lot of people have loved before, but my love stands apart form all of them because they don't have you. I can never forget you, Kate. I don't want to forget you. You are mine and I will love you forever. I will love you until the day I day, and even after that." Clearing his throat, Brian had to blink back tears, because what he was telling her was truly from the heart. "All of this is written in this journal... Zack wrote it all; he loves you, Kate."

Turning to Zack, he handed the journal back; Zack was just as confused, because he never remembered writing those words. "And you....you have such bad handwriting," Brian said, feigning a chuckle before he walked away, needing to be out of sight for a moment.

Looking up at Kate, Zack wanted to go to her, but he knew he needed to speak with Brian first, and so he turned and followed him.

"Brian..." he called out, seeing his friend leaning against the wall along a row of payphones. "...Everything that you said...I didn't write that."

"You didn't write it, but I said it. If you had to write it, I know you would have written the same thing, so I just said what was in your heart. What's the big deal?" Brian asked, a tight smile forming on his lips. "You okay?"

Zack nodded, pocketing the journal again as Brian stood from the wall, going to the first payphone.

"I just need to...make a call..." he said, though rather unconvincingly, and Zack nodded once more before leaving him to be alone. Seeing that Zack had left, Brian sighed once more and leaned against the wall, putting his face in his hands.

After the scene they'd made at the ferry station, Kate had gotten a boat to the other side of the river, going to the park she always went to, right next to the Brooklyn Bridge. It had gotten late, past dinnertime even, and though it was starting to get cold, Kate didn't move. She had run over the situation a million times in her head, and still didn't know what to do.

"I knew I'd find you here," she heard a soft voice from behind her. Turning, Kate saw her mother and quickly wiped away all trace of tears on her face.

"Oh...sorry Mom. It's late, let's go."

"No, I can tell there's something on your mind... Brian told me what happened," Denise said, taking a seat next to Kate on the bench.

"Mom--"

"No, just...hear me out, okay?" Denise asked, putting her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "Kate...to make a relationship stand the test of time, it must have strength along with love. Your father loved us a lot, but he was a weak man. He left us all behind and went away, didn't even think for a moment what would happen to us once he was gone. But Zack.... Zack is anything but weak. He does love you very much," Denise said, looking into Kate's eyes. Kate smiled sardonically at the thought.

"How easy it is for you to say Dad was weak.... And Zack? Taking someone else's help to win someone's love...if he can't do it himself, isn't that a sign of his own weakness?"

"So he got a little help to try and make you his. What's wrong with that? Don't forget that Zack knows you love someone else, and yet he's still willing to accept you. That's strength right there, Kate. That's love." Denise sighed, thinking of how lucky Kate was to have Zack in her life. "If you reject his love today, it will be a girl's decision. And tomorrow, when you repent it, it will be a woman's regret. Now you just need to make that choice..."