EPISODE THREE – When You’re Gone ("When You’re Gone", Bryan Adams, Mel C.)

Isaac was sitting by the phone, just waiting, hoping and praying the girl he was longing for would call him. He’d grown weary, and wondered if she ever would. She hadn’t said she would, but he wanted her to badly, and he was sticking by that phone just in case such an event ever occurred. He doubted it would though, knowing his luck. Madly infatuated, the boy was, and ironically, the minutes seemed like hours, and the hours seemed like days, and Isaac couldn’t live a minute without wondering what could be. He supposed there was a lot of hope, she’d only turned him down once and blew him off twice on the phone. Still, he had to look on the positive side, he realised.

On the other hand, Zac was hoping for a phone call too, from Nicole. Not that he even knew her that well, but he missed her shy innocent personality, so different from anyone he’d ever known, and besides, she’d been the only real friend he’d had for a very long time. He missed having someone to talk to besides his family or agents, or fans. He missed her, secretly.

It was raining outside, Isaac was home alone – well not entirely, he’d been asked to baby-sit Zoe while the rest of his family went to visit an aunt, since Zoe had a little cold, they didn’t want to chance taking her out in this kind of weather. So poor Isaac was left home alone, which actually suited him fine, he was miserable and didn’t want anyone’s company.

He had the TV on for a distraction, although, every now and then the window with the rain beating on the glass distracted him more. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the back of the couch, he almost felt like he was about to drift into sleep, when the ringing of the nearby phone startled him, he jumped, and gasped. He looked at the phone, on the coffee table. He picked it up and put it to his ear. "Hello?" he asked.

"Hi…Ike, that you?"
"Yeah, its me!" He recognised the accent, "Ashley…hi, wassup?" He asked in an excited tone, far too excited, he felt his mood shift from depressed to overly happy in seconds.

"Not much is up, I’m actually looking for Lauren, I tried calling her house, no answer, I thought maybe she’d be there being tutored by your brother…so is she?" Ashley questioned.

"No, sorry. No one is home but me," he said, "I was getting pretty bored, no one to talk to or anything," he hinted quietly, hoping she’d feel sorry for him and stay on the phone a little longer.

"Oh…well, I guess I’ll try her place again, maybe she’s home now," Ashley said in a hopeful tone.

"Ashley," Isaac almost whined, "I…I mean…um, when are you coming back?"

"I…I still don’t know…"

"What do you mean you don’t know?" He asked in an upset tone, "I mean you must have an idea of how much longer you’re gonna be…"
"It’ll take as long as it takes, Ike," her voice was stern.

"You can’t be here for my birthday?" he questioned, knowing the answer.

"I don’t know, Ike…I think this might take longer than possibly ten days," she sighed.

"What are you doing there anyway?" he asked, worriedly, "Is like…everything okay over there?" he asked.

"Ike, I—"

"I don’t know why you just won’t tell anyone…" Isaac admitted.

She gave a sigh and a long pause, "Fine, Nicole’s mum died in January, my mum is trying to get guardianship of her, because she doesn’t think her dad should handle it. Until we can get this seen to, we can’t come back," Ashley explained, her voice was cold.

"Oh…I-I hope that everything turns out okay," Isaac felt incredibly guilty for bringing that up, he could tell it hurt just having to explain it. Still, he felt honoured, Ashley apparently hadn’t even told Lauren about this.

"So do I," Her voice changed its tone to suddenly unhappy.

"Ashley…call me when you get back to Tulsa," Isaac pleaded in a soft voice, "I…I really wanna see you…I miss you so much," he felt an ache in his heart. All the times he’d spoken with her while practising down in the garage, all the time they’d played music together, it just suddenly dawned on him how much he did care.

There was a long,, long pause on the other end, her breathing was soft, and sweet, "I gotta go. Bye," she mumbled, and hung up.

Isaac closed his eyes and swore under his breath. Why did she insist on doing this to him, he didn’t understand, she had to know how he felt, there was no way she couldn’t, he made it so obvious, he admitted it time and time again and she seemed to be ignoring that.

Sighing, he turned the TV off, picked up the baby monitor, and carried it with him to the garage. He got to the garage and he turned on all his recording panels, he rewound a demo tape he’d been making a while back, different things were on it, he scanned through it, small sections of Taylor singing, and playing, one of Zac’s drumming, and then, a song that made him immediately let it go on playing. It was Ashley and himself singing, he remembered that moment, just as if it were five minutes ago…

* * * * * * * * * * * *

(Distinct memory flash back)

"What are you doing?" Ashley asked, watching Isaac messing around with the recording panels on the counter of the garage.

"I’m setting this to record," Isaac smiled.

"Why?"

"Because I wanna record that song…"

"What song…"

"When You’re Gone," Isaac answered.

"Oh…" Ashley nodded.

"You’re singing it with me," Isaac stated.

"Oh, am I?" she gave a soft laugh, as if she didn’t think so.

"Yeah, here…" set the panels to record and he handed her his guitar, he set up a microphone, and put it in front of her.

"Ike…um…I dunno about recording this…" she said unsurely.

"It’ll be fine," he smirked, "trust me."
She smiled at him, and he pulled on his electric guitar, and he reached over to the recording panel, and turned it on, "Okay…1, 2, 3, go," he stated and Ashley began strumming.

"I’ve been wandering around the house all night wondering what the hell to do

Yeah, I’m trying to concentrate but all I can think of is you

Well the phone don’t ring ‘cos my friends ain’t home, I’m tired of being all alone

Got the TV on ‘cos the radios playing songs that remind me of you

Baby when you’re gone, I realise I’m in love

Days go on and on and the nights just seem so long

Even food don’t taste that good, drink ain’t doing what it should

Things just feel so wrong, baby when you’re gone

I’ve been driving up and down these streets trying to find somewhere to go

Yeah, I’m looking for a familiar face but there’s no one I know

Oh this is torture, this is pain, it feels like I’m gonna go insane

I hope you’re coming back real soon ‘cos I don’t know what to do

Baby when you’re gone, I realise I’m in love

Days go on and on and the nights just seem so long

Even food don’t taste that good, drink ain’t doing what it should

Things just feel so wrong, baby when you’re gone…"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Isaac realised how ironic that song was now, listening to it now, and knowing he was falling madly with every day of her absence. God it had been over a month, and he was going crazy. He needed to see her, needed to be near her, hear her voice, see her eyes. This was different from all those other times he’d been infatuated, it felt different, he’d never had such a longing to hold one person before, just to take care of a person.

But somehow it seemed hopeless, he doubted she’d ever feel the same.