Remembering Sundays

"This is useless," Zack sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time. He glanced to the other two sitting at the table with him in the coffee shop and noticed that they were thinking the same thing.

The whole point of Zack asking Charlie and Erica to go out with him was to help find the perfect birthday gift for Emma. Her birthday was coming up really soon and that day was really the only time he would have off seeing as they were scheduled to leave for tour the next day. And he felt horrible for taking the girls away from their boyfriends, especially on the last day they really had with them. It had been about a week and a half since Charlie had come to Baltimore and her and Alex had been inseparable, Erica and Jack being the same. And here he was taking them away from them on the last day. To say he felt bad about that was an understatement, no matter how many times the girls told him that they were ok with it. But after nearly four hours of looking around downtown Baltimore for something, anything really, they were still trying to look. He was seriously ready to give up right now. Everything that he had suggested was shot down by the girls and everything that they mentioned seemed a little too soon to give. They were only just starting out their relationship and he didn't want to overstep the boundaries that came with such a young relationship. Which was why he was so nervous about this. But he was really grateful to Erica and Charlie for agreeing and dealing with his neurotic behavior and being so patient with him.

"Do you think that maybe we should look around once more before we call it quits?" Charlie asked, glancing from Zack to Erica to see what they thought.

Erica shrugged as she took another sip of her coffee, "maybe but once more wouldn't hurt. If we still come up with nothing then we can just go back to Alex and Ri's place and then think about it for a few days. Once you're gone Zack, we can still try to come up with something and if we do we can just call you and ask your opinion."

"Sure," Zack muttered, still feeling bad for dragging them along with them along with the fact that he still couldn't think of anything. Did that make him a bad boyfriend?

Charlie gave him a small encouraging smile as she set her cup down on the table and reached for her necklace. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks as he watched the younger girl continue to play with the silver chain around her neck. That was the perfect idea and he was kicking himself for not thinking of it earlier. He stood suddenly making both girls give him a confused look as he grabbed his empty coffee cup and then rushed to the door, faintly hearing Charlie and Erica calling his name as he threw his cup out and pushed the door open. His name was called a few more times followed by running and then both girls were trying to keep up with him as he rushed down the walk towards the exactly place he needed to be.

"Zack, whats going on? Where are we going?" Erica asked.

Zack smiled for the first time that day as he turned to her. "I finally thought of it. I know what I'm getting Em for her birthday."

"Care to share it with us?" Charlie teased as he turned right down another street towards the place he needed.

He began to explain as he continued to walk, both girls struggling to keep up with him. Both girls thought it was a perfect idea and helped him find the place he was looking for on his phone. When they got there, he took a deep breath and then pulled the door open to go and finally get the perfect birthday gift for his girlfriend.



When they got back to Jack's place after they had gotten it, Zack let them inside and found Alex and Jack sitting in the living room talking. As they walked in, both guys turned to greet them and Zack just gave a half hearted hi as he rushed back down the hall to his room so that he could finish the gift. Closing the door behind him, he knew that the girls would fill Jack and Alex in on what had happened while they were gone. And he knew that he would get teased because of the sappy idea and wasn't in the mood for that right now. All he cared about was focusing on the gift and sending it off that night so that it would be in LA on time for Emma's birthday.

Sitting at the desk in his room, Zack pulled the envelope out of his pocket and opened it, setting the object down on the desk. He sat there looking at it for a second, smiling at the two faces in the photo looking back at him with huge smiles and not a care in the world. He had gotten his favorite photo of Emma and he together that Ben had taken back when they had first gotten together and had printed it out. It was small but that was because he intended on it being that way so if Emma wanted she could put it in her locket that she never took off now that he had given it back to her.

Picking up a pen that he had there, he flipped the photo over and gave a moment to think about what he wanted to write. He wanted to make it special so that he knew how much he cared for her and needed to think to make sure it was perfect before he sent it out. Finally he got it and gripped the pen and slowly began to write in his best handwriting praying that this was a good idea for her. Once he was finished, he set the pen down and stared at the words making sure it looked ok. He had written just a simple note wishing her a happy birthday and saying that he missed her. It was enough but he was silently debating with himself whether or not to write something else that had been on his mind since he had first left LA. Sure maybe it was a little soon but he knew that it was true, knew that he meant it with all his heart.

So with a deep breath, he picked up the pen and wrote three little words under the note he had previously wrote, hoping that it was too soon to say them.