There was silence for a moment, then the engineer in the studio flipped a switch.
"Great job Taylor."
"Are you sure?" Taylor questioned. "It didn't seem to sound right, can you play it back?"
"Tay, it was fine." Isaac said.
Taylor gave him a look.
"Ok, it's wasn't fine. It was fantastic. There's no way it could have possibly been better."
"He's not going to listen to us Ike." Zac cut in, exasperated. "No matter how many times we try to tell him, he refuses to listen."
"Yeah, well, I seem to remember something similar happening when we were recording Lost Without You." Taylor retorted.
"Guys? Please? Just play it back Joe." Isaac interjected.
Joe - the engineer - nodded. Zac and Isaac headed to the back of the room, and Zac rubbed his forehead in irritation.
"You know the song is about Meredith. He's really frustrated that he doesn't know what's happened to her."
"Yeah, well, people die everyday."
"Zac... You know, I hope you're not planning on saying that to him. We don't know that's she's dead. Maybe she got amnesia."
"Yeah, right."
"I seem to remember that happening to someone else I know."
Zac didn't reply.
"Look, I won't deny the possibility that's she's dead is the most likely. She was suicidal, and on drugs. But Tay thought he was really getting through to her. He thought he was really beginning to make a difference. But now he may never know, and damn it Zac, people need some closure."
"Yeah, I suppose." Zac answered reluctantly. "But he doesn't need to obsess over the song like that."
"I know. Hopefully we can stop humouring him soon."
"Yeah, the sooner the better. Why doesn't he believe us when we say he doesn't need to do it again?"
Isaac shrugged.
"Well, look at it this way, he has to stop sooner or later."
"Hmph, the sooner the better."
"I most certainly agree."