The call back

Who: Harper & Isaac
Where: Between phones
When: After six

It'd been a slow day so Harper managed to get the place closed and locked up quickly. As she pulled on her jacket and shoulder bag she pulled out her phone. She dug Issac's number from her phone list and hit send before she could chicken out. She'd been thinking of calling him all day, and after what she'd seen yesterday she'd realized she -needed- something to keep her mind off it, and off the images she saw when she closed her eyes. So she'd decided to call Isaac, step up to the plate. Her aunt would be so proud.

She walked down the street as the phone started to ring. Please go to voice mail, please go to voice mail. Harper hoped as she walked.

Isaac was currently wrestling his amp into the back of Tyler's mom's van. His phone started to go off in his pocket and he grumbled, giving the thing a good shove before he pulled the phone out. Too distracted to check the caller ID, he flipped it open and tucked it between his ear and his shoulder. It could've been any number of people. Needing party confirmations or to assure him they'd be there, or make their excuses. Whatever. "'Lo?" he answered, reaching out to make sure the amp was in a good spot.

"Hi, Issac, it's Harper." She said softly, trying to keep the nerves from her voice. "From the bookstore..." God she felt like an idiot. Why was she doing this? Why had she decided to be brave today? "Um, how's your car?" Yea she didn't even have a real -reason- to call.

He stopped and blinked. Then blinked again. Oh ... shit, he hadn't seen that one coming. "Harper, hi," he said, just barely reigning it in from being a blurt. He glanced over at the guys hauling stuff up from Thom's basement and walked a few paces away. He mentally flailed for a second. "It's fixed now. Dad bitched a lot, but ... it's okay. Um ... how are you?" And thusly he was nervous all over again.

Shaky, had a horrible vision, dreadfully afraid it wasn't the last one. Nervous as hell. "I'm ok. Just got off work, was on my way home and decided to call. Maybe..." To chicken out, or not to chicken out, to chicken out or not- Harper took a deep breath, she'd made a resolution to stick with this, change your life or be lonely forever. Even though lonely felt nice sometimes. "We could re-schedule our date."

Isaac felt like he'd just been blindsided. Not by a train, exactly, but something ... kind of squishier. But still, hello left field. Which made him feel horribly guilty, because he hadn't thought about rescheduling their date. She really shouldn't have had to be the one to call first. See? You're a dickhead. "Yeah!" he said quickly, looking around himself like Thom's yard might help him out. "Um, yeah, for sure. ... when?"

"Well, um, I only have wednesday's off at night. Except tonight because we close early, which is why I'm calling you- because I'm not at work. But if you want to try for a wednesday again. Or something during the day maybe before work... if you're not busy or... something." Ramble much? God she hoped for the sooner the better, after all sooner would give her less of a chance to do what her cowardice wanted her to do- chicken out. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just called out of the blue, I probably interrupted something."

The obvious thing was, well ... pretty obvious. If she was off, she could come to the show and they could hang. But ... yeah, Isaac wasn't sure if Harper was the show kind of girl. "No no, you didn't, well ... not much. Um. I'd definitely say yes to tonight, but ... well, my band is playing at this party, so I kind of have to be there. Do you ... would you maybe want to come?" He braced himself for the 'not on your life' he half-expected to hear.

Party? Party equals people! Are you kidding? Harper at a party? That's a laugh. "I've never really been a 'party' person. I mean especially here, I don't know many people." Well it wasn't a no, but it wasn't a yes. It was an attempt at a cop-out. Wait, he was in a band? That was... kinda hot.

She hadn't said no! That was something, right? Maybe the night was salvagable after all. He seemed to keep recruiting people -- female people -- to show up. Which was cool, he didn't mind being the guy that brought all the chicks. ... yeah right. "C'mon, might be fun," he said, a grin stealing his face. "You could meet some people. ... there'll be food, and you can make fun of me when I suck on stage. Everybody wins." He was finding his equilibrium again, thank God.

"What do you play?" She asked, really wondering. "And what time, and where. I'm not sure I can get there." Harper made a decent amount of money and could probably afford a car, but just didn't find the need for one. Except in the very -very- rare cases like this. Was she actually thinking about this? Not thinking- she'd decided... if she could get there.

Isaac did a brief little victory dance. "It's at seven," he said, checking his watch. Shit. "But it'll be going on forever, we might not even play 'til eight or so. Our lead's got family stuff to do. But the dude's name who's throwing it is David Blair ..." He rattled off the address and flipped Tyler off as he motioned impatiently. "Oh, I play bass guitar. We're awesome, you should come."

So she had a bit of time to get there... and he played bass, which was kinda hot. Ah hell, he could play the tambourine and she'd probably be impressed. "Um, well I'll see if I can make it." You can afford a cab! Why couldn't she just give him a solid yes, or no? Why did she have to dance around it. Be nice to the guy. "I would like to see you play." At least that was something.

That pleased him, 'cause ... yeah. She'd been nice to him and all, but he really hadn't caught any interest from her. Pointed in his direction, that was. She still wasn't quite saying yes for sure, but it was closer than it had been, he thought. "Awesome," he said with genuine warmth. "I'll be looking for you, then. Really, everybody's great, it could be fun." He hoped.

"Ok well, I've gotta catch my bus." She said, having been standing at the bus stop waiting through most of the phone call. "But I'll probably see you there then." Harper felt a little shaky, but it would pass. She couldn't risk backing out before she'd even gotten home. "Bye." She hung up quickly before she could tell him she'd changed her mind. She did hate ending the call so quickly though- but she really did hate trying to end phone calls anyhow. God, she didn't have anything to wear!