"Hello?"
"Hey Al, it's Ike."
"Hi Ike." Alanna sounded a little nervous.
"Whatcha been doing?"
"Oh, nothing much. How's the album?"
"Pretty good. It's just about done. Just some mixing and another song or two."
Isaac was beginning to sense that this was becoming one of those conversations that are just plain uncomfortable. He was wondering whether calling her had been such a good idea.
"Great."
There was a pause.
"So, uhh, are you doing anything this afternoon?"
"Umm, yeah. I'm going to the movies."
"Oh, ok. Is there any room for another person?"
Alanna was silent for a moment.
"No, umm, I'm going with... my boyfriend."
Now it was Isaac's turn to be silent.
"Ike?"
"Yeah, I heard. Umm, well, I hope you have a good time. Bye." And on that he hung up.
Isaac stalked to his room, trying to stop the tears that were pricking at his eyes. 'The only girl I ever loved and she's dumped me for another guy' he thought bitterly. 'Why can't anyone ever fall in love with me? Why is my heart always the one that's broken?'.
"Hey Ike - is something wrong?" Jess asked as she passed him.
"No." He said shaking his head. "Noth - hey, how come you're limping?"
"Oh I tripped up the stairs before. Nothing to worry about."
Isaac chose not to pursue the matter - already walled up in his own misery. He opened to door to his room, closed the door and slumped on the bed.
After a few minutes of silence, he spotted his acoustic guitar... Alanna. Grabbing her, it, whatever, he started strumming a few chords. Not particular song or anything, just nonsense.
While he played, words seemed to form in his mind, and naturally, being a musician and a song writer, he stared singing them.
Half an hour later, he was still going. Taylor was going up to ask him if he wanted a to play a video game (Zac was tending to one of his Tulsa girlfriends), when he heard the music. He listened for a minute or two, then opened the door quietly and walked in. Isaac barely looked up.
"I like it." Taylor said at last.
Isaac half-smiled at him.
"Can I hear whatcha got so far?"
He nodded and started playing. Taylor leaned back and just listened. When Isaac finished they looked at each other for a moment.
"I have a feeling about this one." Taylor said. "What do ya wanna call it?"
Isaac shrugged.
"It's just a song to sing."