Remembering Sundays

They’ve already been in the UK for two days and were just getting ready to play their first show of the tour. Zack was currently sitting on one of the couches in the dressing room replying back to a tweet Ben had sent him minutes before and trying to keep himself busy while they waited for the show to start later on that day. They had about six hours yet before the first band started to play and he was getting a little more nervous as the time grew closer.

It was always like this for the four of them whenever the first show of a tour came. They all got nervous and worried that something would happen. But once they played the show, they always realized that they had nothing to worry about. And this was what was currently happening with all of them at the moment. But in all honesty, Alex was the worst.

His throat decided to get scratchy and sore that day threatening to turn into a cold so he was doing everything possible to stop it from happening. He had drank so much tea and hot water mixed with honey already and Zack was wondering how the singer wasn’t rushing to the bathroom every five minutes because he was literally refilling the cup as soon as it was empty. He knew that he was secretly worrying about everything possible that could happen now that his throat was sore.

But Jack had taken him to explore the venue to try and get his mind off of it leaving Rian and Zack in the dressing room alone. The rest of the crew was running around trying to get everything ready for that night and the other bands either had yet to arrive or were unpacking their stuff and setting up for sound check. Rian suddenly laughed at something that was going on on his phone, making the first noise in what seemed like ages.

Zack sighed as he locked his phone and then looked around the room for something to do. Rian must have picked up on his boredom since he quickly pressed a few buttons on his phone and then put it in his pocket before turning to Zack with a smile.

“Let’s go get coffee!”

“You know you’re going to die of caffeine poisoning some day if you keep drinking that crap like it’s going to magically disappear.” Zack replied with a teasing smile as the other just rolled his eyes.

“That’s not possible, now get your butt up and come with me. If I get lost at least I’ll have someone with me.”

Zack rolled his eyes as he stood up after Rian did and grabbed his coat as he followed him out of the room. “And then Flyzik will have even more a panic attack because two of us are missing and God knows Alex and Jack wouldn’t be able to function without us. They’ll probably just end up coming up with as many dick jokes as they can think of instead of playing.”

“Oh God, I don’t even want to think of that. They’d be horrible comedians.”

Zack just laughed as they walked out of the venue and down the road. Since Rian was such a coffee freak, one of the first things he did when they had first gotten to the venue was Google the closest Starbucks so he would know when his craving got too much. They walked silently down the walk, enjoying the sight of the familiar town. They had been in the UK many times before but it seemed every time they came back, there was something new to discover and that’s something that Zack loved most about traveling. So far he wasn’t able to explore yet, but couldn’t wait until they got an off day and grabbed his camera and went to find new places he hadn’t seen yet.

When they got to the Starbucks they stood in line waiting, getting a few looks and whispers about them but they ignored it until someone actually came up to talk to them. But no one approached them as they made it through line, paid for their drinks, and then found a spot to sit to wait for them to be ready. They didn’t really say anything but Zack knew that something was on Rian’s mind. He could always tell that he wanted to say something, he had known him for a long time by now, it would be sad if he wasn’t able to pick up on these things.

But they really didn’t say anything as they waited for their drinks since they knew that whatever conversation was going to be started was going to be interrupted when their names were called. So they just waited until they both had a steaming cup of coffee in front of them and were sitting back at the table they had found before.

“So I have a question,” Rian finally said after they were both seated and taking their first sips of their drinks.

“If this is about you thinking about finally proposing to Cass then it’s about damn time.” Zack replied making Rian blush.

But Rian just shook his head, “No this isn’t about Cass and I. It’s about you and you’re strange behavior.”

“Ri, I already told you I’m-”

“Fine yes I know,” he replied, interrupting him and obviously ignoring the eye roll Zack gave him. “But seriously dude, it’s been over a week and you’re still acting weird. What the hell is up? You’re really quiet and weird.”

“I’m always quiet and weird,” Zack mumbled making Rian sigh and glare at him, silently telling him to shut up and let him speak. So Zack just took another sip of his drink knowing that Rian was going to continue whether he wanted him to or not.

“Does this have anything to do with the random necklace you’re suddenly wearing?” Zack blushed slightly making Rian laugh. “Didn’t think I noticed did you?”

Zack shook his head, “honestly no. But shows how much you actually stare at me when I’m not looking and it’s beginning to freak me out.”

“What’s with the necklace dude?” He answered in favor of ignoring his other comment.

It seemed that Rian really wanted to know and was really worried with whatever was going on with Zack and he knew that Rian wasn’t going to let it go until he finally told him. But he was surprised that he had let it go for this long. It had only taken him a few hours to know that he was acting strange when he had first gotten back to Baltimore, but he hadn’t said anything until now. It was actually a new record for him. Rian was always the mother figure for their strange little group and was the first to notice and mention these things. It was just in his nature to not let it go until he knew what was going on.

Zack silently debated with himself about actually telling him. There was really two options here. One, he could just tell him and get it over with. Basically admitting he was falling for a girl he had never actually talked to and didn’t even know if he would ever talk to her. Or two, continue to tell him everything was fine.

But there was a huge downfall if he went with the second option. As mentioned before, he knew that Rian wouldn’t let it go until he got the truth. He could be as persistent and annoying as Jack and Ben put together and that wasn’t something that he wanted to deal with all tour so he just decided for the other option, and explained everything to him.

He could feel Rian’s gaze on him the whole time as he played with the rim of his cup as he debated on whether or not to tell him. But when he finally decided that he was going to, he looked up for the first time and rolled his eyes as Rian smirked at him knowing he had just won the argument.

So Zack told him. It sort of ended up like it did when he had told Ben. Rian just sat there and listened, nodding his head occasionally and smiling when he told him about how he couldn’t take his mind off of her. But Rian was in sort of the same predicament. He loved Cass and always was talking or texting her and didn’t seem to be able to get her off his mind. He figured that he must be acting the same way Rian first did when he had first met. The lovesick puppy unable to stop thinking or talking about the girl of his dreams.

“So anyway, now that you know about my obsession with Em, it’s my turn for interrogation.” Zack said, wanting to get the attention off of him once again. “Are you ever going to propose to Cassadee?”

Rian blushed, much like he usually did whenever said girl was brought up, and tried to hide it by taking a sip of his almost empty cup of coffee but Zack still caught it. “I don’t know man, it’s been like three years, isn’t that too soon?”

Zack rolled his eyes and shook his head, “Dude, you two are perfect together.”

“Like you and Em?” Rian asked as Zack began blushing that time. Ok so maybe that was payback for bring up Cass before. But it was worth it. Zack loved to tease Rian about his girlfriend.

They made their way back to the venue a while later after Rian managed to finally get out of the marriage subject and ended up getting refills and changing the subject. When they were back in the dressing room, Jack and Alex were nowhere to be seen and a few of the crew members were there since they must have gotten their part of set up done already. They all sat around and talked until the show started and a few of them had gone out to lunch since they were too restless to sit there and wait for the show.

When the time for the show came, Zack took a deep breath as he took his bass and let the strap rest on his shoulders and followed the rest of his bandmates out onto stage. The beginning notes of the first song played and instantly Zack felt a little better, all his worries from before melting away as he saw the crowd singing along and dancing to their first song.

By the time the show was over, he was sweating horrible and grinning from ear to ear. That had to be by far one of the best shows they had ever played. Everything had worked out perfectly and even Alex’s voice had held out after somehow managing to stay quiet all day so he wouldn’t lose it.

“Yo Zack!” Jack called behind him as he was wiping his face with a towel. He turned around to see Jack trying to get the other two over by him also as he held out his phone to take a picture.

He sighed as he walked over, knowing that Jack wasn’t going to let him get out of this as the younger boy handed his phone to Danny to take a picture of the four of them. They all posed and their tech took the picture, handing it back to Jack and he instantly started to press a few buttons, probably about to tweet it.

Zack made his way down the hallway back to the dressing room so that he could change out of his sweaty clothes and possibly shower. Rian seemed to have the same idea since he also walked back and they grabbed their stuff and then went to find where the showers were that Flyzik had told them about before.

Once they found them, Zack quickly showered, not bothering to take a long one like he really had wanted since he was tired and all he wanted to do was go back to the bus and sleep. Planning on doing just that, he changed and then went back to the dressing room to go and grab his bag so he could get to the bus and then go relax.

By the time he was leaving the dressing room, Alex and Jack were only just making their way back from whatever they had been doing before and Rian was in the shower. So he just made his way back to the bus alone finding it empty when he got there since the rest of the crew must have been packing everything back up.

Putting his bag down in the back by the bunks, he went back to the main room at the front of the bus and grabbed a bottle of water before sitting down on the couch. He pulled out his phone from his pocket, sending a quick tweet about the first show of tour and then started to go through his feed. He found the picture that Jack had taken right after the show and retweeted it quick and then went back to scrolling through the random feed.

Just as he was about to exit out of the app a few minutes later, his phone beeped alerting him that he had just gotten a mention. He didn’t put much thought into it, thinking it was either a fan commenting on the picture or his latest tweet or possibly Ben. It was super early back in LA, way too early for a normal person to be up, but Ben wasn’t a normal person and had weird sleeping habits.

But when he opened it, he realized that it wasn’t Ben like he had thought, but someone he had never had expected and didn’t even know if it was real…

@Of_Clumsy_Words: @ZackAllTimeLow I believe you’re wearing my necklace….