❛ SUPERMARKET FLOWERS ♪ ❜ - z. herron

sixty-two: a badly frosted cake.

(Zach's POV)

"SURPRISE!" I hear everyone yell as Ira takes her hands off my eyes. A messy cake littered with candles and the words "Happy Birthday Zach!" disproportionately sprawled sits in front of me. The birthday looks like it was crossed out and rewritten while the rest of the letters look like different handwriting. I look up and around from it to see my best friends gaping a smile, waiting for some sort of reaction out of me. I smile back, soaking in this moment of their pure joy out of my simple smile.

The boys and I leave for tour in 4 days, so we had been cramming in everything these past few days. So much so that my birthday went by in a flurry of setlists and packing. Em and Ira were very angry that we all couldn't spend it together on the day of my birthday, so they forced all 5 of us out for dinner 2 days later so that we had to celebrate it before we left.

"Did you guys make this?" I say, swiping my finger against the badly piped yellow frosting. I bring my finger up to my mouth, tasting it. To my surprise, it tastes incredible, but it's the most familiar buttercream I've ever tasted.

"We tried, but Kira kept micromanaging." Jack replies, grabbing a knife from one of the servers. He thanks him and then slices into the cake. He puts a piece onto a plate, passing it to Daniel, who continues the story.

"Yeah, she barely let us touch the cake." He says, grabbing a fork to bite into the cake

She gasps, "Liars, all y'all are liars. I just baked the cake and made the frosting, you did all the designing."

"Since I was late to the whole baking a cake party, I made the fondant flowers." Emerson says quietly while Ira and the rest of the boys argue. She points to the small white flowers that are placed strategically around the cake so that candle wax doesn't ruin them. I mouth a thank you as I watch the bickering unfold.

Both Emerson and Kira had been in a fight for about two weeks with no form of communication until Ira finally caved 2 days ago. She apologized for how she had been acting while with Nate their whole relationship. Ira told her about what had happened between Isa and Nate. It had resulted in a sob fest between the two, who were FINALLY on good terms again. Unluckily for us, two crying girls result in me and the guys being forced to watch all 3 legally blondes.

"It's not my fault you don't know how to spell." Kira states.

"Who spells birthday right on their first try-" Corbyn says, confused.

"Thank you for the cake, I love it." I interrupt before the argument can go any further.

Ira's face drops, "Even the yellow?"

"Even the yellow." I grin back.

"Good, I tried." Jack replies

Jonah smacks him on the back of the head, "Shut up, you hated the yellow."

"Doesn't mean I didn't use it." Jack says, rubbing where his best friend hit him.

"When did you guys even plan this?" I ask, taking a bite of Kira's slice, unwilling to get my own.

"We planned it like last week before Tuesday but we only made the cake yesterday so Em could come." Jonah answers.

I blink, "Wait when did you make the cake? I was with you literally all of yesterday."

"When I told you I left my journal at your house and I was going to cry if you didn't go grab it." Kira says, pushing the hair out of her face.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah and then it ended up being in Ry's room."