Faith
Faith's hand shook as she held it over the phone. More than anything, she wanted to call Zac, to hear his voice, even if he was just going to tell her to go away, she needed to hear him. It was alright when she was sleeping around, she wasn't having to think, wasn't having to remember, but as soon as she was left alone... she crumbled and she needed him again.
No matter what she said.
She still loved him.
Dialling in Zac's number, she felt her heart beat a little faster. She was nervous, there was no doubt about it.
"Hello?"
Isaac
Isaac glanced over at Zac, now asleep in his bed. He picked up Zac's ringing phone and answered it.
"Hello?"
Faith
"Uh... hi, it's Faith. This isn't Zac, so I'm gonna assume it's Ike?"
Faith fiddled nervously with her hair.
That would be her luck, Ike answers the phone, and makes it all seem more suspicious.
Isaac
"Yes it is," Isaac replied. "I'm sorry that Zac can't come to the phone. He's sick in bed at the moment, having an early night."
Faith
Faith's heart sank.
"Oh... is he ok? I... is there anything I can do? Not that he'd want to see me of course, but... I hope he's ok."
Isaac
"I wish I could say there was," Isaac replied. "A healer's seen him, but he has no idea, and he can't do anything about it."
Isaac sighed.
"Zac seems to think he can make it through the last two concerts. Which is good, of course, but I sure hope he's not overestimating his abilities here."
Faith
Faith let out a long breath.
"Oh."
She tip-toed around her next words.
"How... is he? With you, I mean. Look, Ike..."
She took a deep breath.
"I'm so sorry that I put you in that situation, man, I never... I'm sorry that I hurt your relationship with Zac."
Isaac
"Hey, it wasn't your fault. If Zac wants to jump to the wrong conclusion, be untrusting and refuse to believe us, it's his decision," Isaac sighed. "Things were pretty rough at first. But I think maybe he's starting to calm down. Now it's more a case of, 'oh wait, I'm mad at you, better give you a death stare or something'."
Faith
"Well, I suppose that's better than nothing."
Faith shook her head tiredly.
"It's been... I guess it's one of those things, like, to coin a popular phrase... you don't know what you've got till it's gone."
Isaac
"Yeah, seems that way," Isaac agreed. "How have things been for you? I heard about... about what happened."
Faith
Faith shivered involuntarily.
"It's... it's better than it was."
She sighed.
"It still, still hurts. I still wake up thinking that it was a dream that I got out, and that I'm still there, just waiting to die... but it's getting easier, I guess is the only word for it. How did you know?"
Isaac
"Madison told me," Isaac replied.
He paused.
"I told Zac. He got mad at me for not being more sensitive to what happened. He still cares about you, y'know. Wouldn't have gotten so angry with me if he didn't."
Faith
"You told Zac."
It was more a statement than a question, a statement that Faith needed to say out loud, to hear herself say, just so she'd know it was true.
Faith sat down on her bed, a hand over her heart, as if it could stop the pain she was in.
"He... I thought he was dead at first..."
She paused.
"I miss him, but I guess he made his choice, so I guess I'll have to live with it."
Isaac
Isaac sighed.
"Faith... You and Zac have been on and off for so long. Maybe it's good for you two to be apart like this for awhile. Give you both some time to breathe and figure out how you really feel."
Faith
"Yeah... yeah, you're probably right. You usually are."
Faith took a deep breath.
"Look, tell him... tell him I hope he's ok, and I miss him. And... and I love him. Thanks for everything, Ike, and I'm really sorry for this mess I caused. Bye."
Faith hung up and flopped face down onto the bed.
Isaac and Zac
Isaac slowly hung up the phone and put it down.
"Who was it?" Zac asked sleepily.
"Oh, you're awake?"
"No, I'm not."
"Ahh. It was Faith."
"Oh."
"I told her you were sick. She hopes you get better."
Zac didn't answer.
"She misses you. And she loves you."
There was a long silence.
"No, she doesn't."
And Zac rolled over and drifted back into dreamland.