The Lone Ranger and Tonto

Who: Jamie and Isaac
When: 9ish on
Where: on the phone!

It was a little after nine. She'd managed to get her grandfather to take his medication, and now he was tucked into bed with a book to read. Jamie was curled up on her bed, hugging her knees and trying to ignore the chill of cold coming in through her broken window. She hadn't even managed to get herself to clean the mess yet, let alone try to seal the window. She'd probably have to sleep on the couch tonight, or risk getting herself sick from the cold air seeping into her room. Tears were still tracking silently down her cheeks and her body was rigid and stiff from stress, her shoulders locked up. It was painful, but it was just too much to try to block, or to try to relax from. Even she couldn't be strong all the time. Just a few more minutes, and she'd get up to clean... just a few more minutes.

Isaac had made his phone call to Harper. He'd had a few false-starts on them before he'd managed. He hoped the sounds of men talking and a tow-truck rumbling in the background helped to back up his story. He'd forgotten his phone at home, gotten stranded when the serpentine belt on the car blew, and had to walk to a payphone. He'd cut through a couple of backlots and gotten himself filthy from the mud leftover from yesterday's rain. There was some trouble with the parents, some trouble with getting a truck out to where he was, and by the time the entire ordeal was over? He was trudging back into the house with his dad and it was nine o'clock. Too disheartened to suggest they try some more that night, Isaac just apologized over and over and asked if he could call her some other time. She'd been nice about it, but he still felt like shit. He walked up to his room and started stripping. He wanted to talk to somebody, but didn't want to bug Thom again. So on a random whim, Isaac turned on some soft music, picked up the phone, and set it to dial Jamie's number.

Her phone ringing had her jumping again, causing all the muscles in her back to spasm painfully. Jamie let out a little groan of pain, but rolled over to where she'd dropped her phone. She eyed the unknown number warily, hoping it wasn't Chrissy again. She might have to get her cell number changed... But it might not be Chrissy. Isaac's date had been tonight, and she'd given her number to Caleb (and she seriously hoped it wasn't him calling, because she'd have to be a bitch and shoot him down just to keep him out of psycho bitch's way now)... so she answered. "Hello?" she asked warily, her voice a little too soft and raw from the crying she'd done earlier. She half expected to get a witchy cackle or creepy heavy breathing as a response.

Instead, she got Isaac. "Hey. It's Isaac," he said, just so she would know. He sounded pretty down and tired himself. He tucked the phone between his head and his shoulder as he tugged the dress pants off. He'd have to wash Thom's shirt before he gave it back. In his boxers now, he stopped to wonder just why he was calling her. She probably didn't want to talk to him, really, so ... "How're you doin'?" he asked. 'Cause talking about her was better than talking about him.

She curled back up, tucking the phone under her ear and feeling just a little warmer. Isaac. Just Isaac. And he gave off some sort of warm, comforting vibe, even over the phone. "I'm fine," she said quietly, knowing it was a complete and total lie. "It's a little early for you to be back from your date," Jamie said warily. "Is something wrong?"

She didn't sound fine. "Yeah, it kind of ... didn't happen. Car trouble on my end, I just got in and I'm muddy as shit ... are you sure you're okay? 'Cause you don't sound like it." She sounded much more subdued than she'd been the day before, and from what he knew of people like Jamie, that was a bad sign. 'Cause it always was for him.

She winced. Do I sound that bad? "I'm okay..." Jamie murmured vaguely, wishing her shoulders would unlock and her muscles would relax so she could move. "I'm sorry about your date," she said sincerely. "Did you reschedule?"

That subdued thing and also trying to keep the subject off of her. Yeah, she was upset. He plopped down on the floor and flopped back on his back with a soft grunt. It felt good. "It's okay," he said, though his disappointment was obvious. "Not yet, but I'm gonna try. I really felt like ass about it, the serpentine belt on my dad's car just blew. So he's pissed. Not that I did it. ... she was pretty nice about it."

"That's good," Jamie said, trying to sound a little more cheerful than she felt. "I'm sure you can get another date, and if you can't? Screw her, she's not worth the trouble. It's not your fault you had car trouble." She reached around hesitantly and rubbed at the back of her neck, noting the muscles were corded and still very tense. Crap. "It'll be okay, Isaac."

Isaac made an acknowledging sort of sound. It didn't feel like it'd be okay. It actually felt like pretty much everything sucked. But he knew that would pass in a while; it always did. "So you gonna tell me what's wrong? Or am I gonna have to pester you until you hang up on me?" he asked.

She laughed softly, but she wasn't in the slightest bit amused. Just... tired. And hurting. At least she'd stopped crying... "It's just been a long day, that's all," Jamie murmured dismissively. "I'll be okay tomorrow, no big deal."

He was quiet for a moment, debating the pros and cons of really trying to get her to talk to him. He was caught between not being able to make her and really wanting to try, because she was obviously upset and ... he'd ruined the night with one girl already. "You sure?" he murmured. "I listen well."

Sigh. Why did he have to be so damned sweet? And he wasn't even being pushy about it, so she almost felt like she was kicking a puppy by not taking him up on his offer. She shifted to gaze at the floor, and the shards laying there surrounding the rather innocent looking paper weight. "It's just... ...my window's broken," Jamie murmured hesitantly, not really sure what to tell him, or how much. But considering that was the biggest thing on her mind right now, she'd just start there.

Isaac frowned. That was crappy, but he didn't think it was really ruined-day worthy. There had to be more to it, and from their conversation yesterday and what Thom had told him, he could only assume it had something to do with Chrissy. Bitch. "Your window's broken?" he repeated. "How'd that happen?"

"Um," Jamie said, rather intelligently. Go her. Her brows furrowed, trying to think of something that would throw him off and preferably make her look even more intelligent so he'd just write her off as a stupid bitch. People being friendly to her would just cause them grief this coming school year. Fuck that; she'd just push everyone away. She was good at that. "...something fell through it?" she offered lightly.

Cue more frowning. "Something like ... ? A meteorite? A cow? What kind of something?" He wasn't at all sure why she was being avoidy. "Are you okay? Like, it didn't hurt you when it came through, did it?" He sounded genuinely concerned. Because he was.

"Um, a paper weight," she said vaguely. "I'm okay, it didn't hit me." Though, honestly, if she'd been sitting an inch closer to the window? Shattered glass would have made skin contact. "I'm okay, Isaac," she repeated, sounding a touch guilty. Crap, why was she involving him in this? It was her problem.

There was a beat of silence. "Somebody threw a paperweight through your window." It wasn't a question. Now that? Pissed him off. He sat up and glowered at the inside of his door. How fucked up was that? "Do you know who it was? Was it her?" The way he felt, he honest to God was tempted to go pound on Chrissy Whateverthefuckhernamewas's door and tell her to back the fuck off. He knew girls that could beat her stupid bitch ass.

Jamie cringed. Okay, there went the warm comforting feeling. Now she was just panicking and trying to think of a way to back this conversation up to neutral to keep him out of Chrissy's psycho bitch claw range. "Isaac, it's not a big deal, okay? I can deal. I'm fine. I just have to clean up the mess and get a new window, and I'll be fine." She waited a moment before adding, softly, because he was a sweetheart and she didn't feel very inclined to yell at him to mind his own business, "I don't want you to get involved in this mess, okay? You probably shouldn't call me anymore."

Ow. Though it probably shouldn't have, that stung. He only let it for a second, though, before his jaw set stubbornly. "This is the first time I've ever called you," he pointed out. "She's a small person, Jamie. A small, jealous person. I know she used to be your friend and all, but she's kind of proven herself to not be that anymore. She doesn't scare me, though, if that's what you're worried about. She can't touch anybody who's really your friend, either. I'm not one to abandon people just because some small-minded little bitch doesn't like it. Fuck that noise. Not that ... y'know, we're terribly close or anything. But still. Fuck that noise. Again." He was rambling now. Idiot.

Well, that hadn't worked. Maybe she should have just yelled at him, but she was already scraped raw and still trembling from earlier. She didn't think her nerves could handle yelling at an innocent, and very sweet boy. Even for his own sake. "Isaac, she's going to make my life hell. And anyone in my near vicinity. I'm just trying to keep you away from that. You're a sweet guy, and I don't want you to get damaged by proxy. And like you said, we're not terribly close yet, so it won't do you any harm to bail now. No hard feelings," she offered quietly. And then realized she'd slapped a 'yet' where a 'yet' probably shouldn't have gone, rendering her entire little speech utterly ineffective if he'd caught it. Shit. I am a complete and utter failure today! Go me.

He caught it, and tilted his head to one side. Yet? Now what did that mean? That you two could become good friends, stupid, that's what it means and nothing more. "I think it would do me harm to bail now," he disagreed, just sounding matter-of-fact about it. "Seeing as how that would make me a total pussy and not a good friend at all. I think you'll need allies. And not to sound full of myself or anything, but I'm a senior. I've got clout, I know everybody. If she wants to wage war, we can give it to her. I'm a big boy, I can take what she dishes. It's not like reputation's important really anyway, and ... if people are stupid enough to believe her? Fuck them too."

Jamie sighed, plopping her head back down on the bed. She was just too tired to argue with him, or work up a good anti-damsel rant. "Fine, but I'm going to feel horribly guilty about it if your forced to deal with shit because of me." She made a face, realizing something very unpleasant. "And keep Thom out of this, too! The last thing he wants is to deal with this sort of stuff. You shouldn't even be involved!" God, she'd kill for a back rub right about now. She wriggled uncomfortably on the bed, trying to ease the achey pain in her shoulders and back.

The sweet taste of victory. "Eh, wouldn't be the first time I've had to deal with shit," he said, sounding satisfied. "One time there was a rumor going around that I had syphilis, 'cause I beat up the junior varsity quarterback for talking shit about my sister. His girlfriend didn't like it, so. I just had something to laugh at for a week or so." No, he was confident that this would blow over eventually, if Jamie didn't rise to Chrissy's shit. He leaned back against the bed. "But okay, he'll stay out of it. He's a ghost in school anyway."

"Good," Jamie relented. She'd take a small victory where she could get it. "I have a one person maximum rule to drag down with me, and it looks like you just signed up." Damnit. She continued to wriggle uncomfortably on her bed, absolutely miserable. God, it felt like every muscle in her body was a solid knot. She was going to be so sore tomorrow... "No more," she said, ignoring the fact that she almost sounded petulant.

Isaac listened to her made cloth-rustle-y sounds and raised an eyebrow. If they were talking about something completely different, that would probably be hot. "No more what?" he asked, pretty sure that wasn't a comment for him in particular, but he was going to ask anyway.

She sighed, giving up on the whole getting comfortable thing. It just wasn't going to happen. "No more people involved in my messes," Jamie clarified. "I still wish you'd just bail. I really wouldn't be hurt or anything, you know. Run away while you can," she added darkly. What was with her today? Caleb knew about her grandpa; Isaac knew about her window and upcoming social demise (not that she cared, but Chrissy knew enough about her to cause some harm in other areas of her life if she managed to put enough brain cells together to do so).

God, she was acting like her mother.

"Yeah, but I'd feel like a total asshole, and I don't like feeling like a total asshole, so. I'll just be a stubborn bastard instead and not care," he said decisively. "You're way cooler than she is, she's totally in the wrong, so the side with the white hats is pretty obvious to me. Just call me Tonto. Or the Sundance Kid or something. I think they were on the white hat side." He frowned a bit, mulling that bit of ridiculous trivia over. Then blinked and dragged his brain back to the conversation.

There was a moment of silence where Jamie blinked up at her ceiling. And then she laughed; a real, genuine laugh this time. "That's completely awesome, Isaac," she said with a giggle, feeling a little more tension seep from her shoulders. God, if he couldn't cheer her up.

Isaac grinned on the other side of the phone. Now that was victory. "So I guess that makes you Butch Cassidy," he concluded. "Since we're totally in a Western and everything." He pulled his pillow down off of the bed and laid down again, tucking it under his head. "And I'll have to ride behind you, 'cause horses scare the shit out of me."

"Oh, that's manly, Tonto," Jamie laughed again. Definitely feeling much better. Isaac had just gone up several points of awesome for getting her out of her very dark mood. It was still there, just... much farther in the background. "So what good would you be, if you can't even steer the horse?" she teased.

"No no, I'm the Sundance Kid, if you're Butch Cassidy," he corrected her, the smile evident in his voice. "Tonto was ... whatsisname ... The Lone Ranger! Yeah, the Lone Ranger had Tonto. So pick one, before I have an identity crisis." He laughed a bit himself. "I can make the grub. Y'know, beans and cactus juice and stuff."

Jamie giggled. "I think I like Tonto better for you, so I guess I'm the Lone Ranger." Which sort of fit her most of the time, anyways. "Cactus juice? Mmm, tasty," she laughed. "I think I could do better than that for us, so what else can you do, besides juice a cactus and sit on the back of a horse?"

"Lessee," he murmured, faking consideration for a moment. "I could play the guitar? Or the banjo. And sit on the back of the horse making up songs about your awesomeness. And like ... make dramatic music when the bad guys show up and everything." Isaac grinned, pleased with this plan. And the way she was laughing.

"Oh God, yes, the banjo." Jamie's laugh took on an edge of wicked humor. God, wouldn't that be just dorky-cute? "That would be absolutely awesome," she said, sounding just a little wistful. Sure, it was a laughable little fantasy they had going, but it was worlds better than the stress she had going on now...

She stamped down viciously on that thought. What she was wanting sounded suspiciously like an escape. Which was near enough to damseldom that she was just going to stop it right there. They were just playing around, not plotting running away to become cowboys and drink cactus juice and play the banjo together.

Oblivious to her aversion to actually becoming range-roving cowboys, Isaac just lay around on the floor and daydreamed. He could see her laugh in his head, the way her dark eyes danced and he bet a dollar to himself that she was in bed right now and he was in a much better mood and ... wait. He squeezed his eyes closed on those kinds of thoughts. "You'd have to put up with my singing, though," he murmured softly. "I have an awful country twang, I bet you haven't noticed. Or you're at least nice and not saying anything about it."

Her eyes opened a little more wide at the soft edge to his voice. Oh. Shit. Of course this would happen; Isaac was a sweetie and she was a pretty girl and he'd had a horrible dating experience today and... She bit her lip, trying to think of what to do. She wasn't going to blow him off, because he was a sweetheart and she really did like him, but not Like That. She laughed softly, keeping up with the conversation while her mind ticked down a list of things to do to let him down and not hurt him. It was a very short list. Damnit. "I can be a nice girl," she agreed. "I think I can manage enough country twang for the both of us. I was raised in Georgia, after all," Jamie drawled, amping up her little used Southern accent. "It just ain't the same as Southwest, but I think it'll do."

"Oh good," he said with a little laugh. "You can sing then, and I'll play. Since, y'know ... you can sing far better than I can anyway." He cleared his throat and rolled back over onto his back. The floor wasn't terribly comfortable, but he always seemed to crash out on it when he was on the phone. It was a balance between laying prone and not comfy enough to fall asleep on whomever he was talking to. It occurred to him to mention that he'd talked to Thom, and they agreed she should be in their band, but he kind of didn't want to bring up another dude right at the moment. It could wait.

"Flattery can occasionally get you places," Jamie said, her tone dryly amused. And flattered. Oh yes, that was still there, the happy little thought that she'd pleased someone else with her voice. Isaac was special because he'd been the first, and he knew music. Caleb was special because he'd been her first request, and he was horribly cute when he wanted to be.

Experimentally she sat up and began to move her limbs, checking to see if she was okay now, or at least what passed for okay in her world. They were sore (especially her shoulders, and even more than usual do the the whole grocery episode today), and her calves and thighs were protesting from being drawn against her so tightly for so long... but she was okay. Note to self: fetal position hurts after awhile, even if it seems comforting at the time.

"I'll bear that in mind," he said, lightly teasing. Did that count as flirting? Wait, no, she'd given him the green light on that in moderation. Maybe that was okay. He lay still and listened to her move, quiet music going on in his background. Staind, the perfect music to sulk to. Were they maybe having a Moment in this phone conversation? No ... he probably shouldn't think in terms like those. Not a Moment. Just helping out a friend by being distracting and stupid. It seemed to be about all he was good for, after all. A fun temporary distraction. Oh god, he was a Slinky. Jesus Christ.

"I'm thinking about feeding Thom tomorrow," Jamie mentioned as she continued with the attempt to work the kinks out of her shoulders. "If you wanna be there, I wouldn't mind feeding you, too," she offered. "Leftover lasagna sound good to you? Made it myself." There! Best way to focus a boy on things Not Romance? Mention another boy. Problem solved (or a much bigger problem created, if said boys were very friendly, but she didn't think... uh, no, not going there). Yes, she did have moments of genius. And it'd shoot down any possible romantic inclinations on Thom's end, too, not that he'd given that vibe at all. Hurray for her!

That didn't help his train of thought any. He was less than a Slinky. Not even something to play with for a while. He was like ... one of those Chinese handcuff-things. Entirely useless and not even really all that fun, if one had to bring other toys along to play with too. And why he was thinking in those sorts of metaphors, he hadn't the faintest idea. "Yeah?" he said, because that required some sort of answer. "That's cool. I dunno what I'm doing, but ... sure, maybe. Where at?" Because that was a casual question, and not at all him wondering if Thom got to go to her house. Nope, not in the slightest.

"His tree in the park," Jamie answered, sounding a little bit more happy. Her shoulders could move again! Hurray! God, Isaac was officially twelve different kinds of awesome... even if she was afraid he might be crushing on her. "I said I'd swing by with food. Hopefully he'll be there around noon, or I'm eating the leftovers by myself, and you guys are totally out of luck." She was smiling now, and she knew it could easily be heard over the phone. "It's really awesome lasagna, if I say so myself. I'll even bring beverages," she tempted, her voice lighthearted.

Well ... that was neutral territory at least. His stomach cried yes. He loved lasagna. Mrs. St. James was generally too busy to make it, unfortunately. Of course, Isaac loved almost every kind of food you put in front of him. "Well okay, break my arm about it why don'cha," he said amiably, keeping his voice light too. Today? Utter miserable failure, except for the part a few minutes ago when she was laughing. "I'm sure I'll be there, I'm a total sucker for free food."

Jamie smiled, genuinely happy. Oh yes, this totally made the past few hours awesome. "Please come," she said with a little laugh. "Think of the food as payment for how awesome you are. I really feel better," she admitted, her voice quieting. Which was probably bad and sent mixed signals, and God she was a bitch! But she was honest, and damnit, he had helped her out a great deal just now. "I was a wreck before you called. Thanks, Isaac."

All that just confused the shit out of him. But there were good things in there somewhere, so he tried not to think about it too hard. He might hurt himself, after all. Idiot. "Anytime," he said, his own voice quiet and rather thoughtful despite himself. "Glad you feel better." And really, what else was there to say? He was dumb, and she'd been upfront with him, and now he'd gone and started to like her, like an idiot. Dumb. Ass.

She smiled faintly, hugging one knee to her chest. Yep, twelve ways to awesome. Even if he didn't seem to realize it... well, she'd drill it into his head later. She seemed pretty well stuck with him, anyways. Stubborn was a quality she liked. "So, to recap... you're going to get another date, and it's going to go completely great because all of the car badness is going to be taken care of, and nothing else can possibly go wrong with this girl... and I'm going to clean up the mess in my bedroom floor, get my window fixed and all will be wonderful in our respective worlds over lasagna tomorrow with Thom?" Jamie asked lightly. "Hey, how come he isn't having any crises today?" she complained.

It was probably because Thom didn't have crises. Thom had issues that were calmly and digilantly worked out. Isaac couldn't remember the last time his best friend had freaked out about anything. He was stolid and had his feet on the ground and was really a far better person than Isaac could ever hope to be. He wasn't a mopey little bitch, and he didn't fall in love with every girl he saw. If anybody should be trying to break Jamie's No Dating rule, it should be Thom, not him. He should go out with Harper too, he was sure they'd have tons to talk about and she'd warm up to him right quick. God. "He might be, you never know. His crises are quiet, well handled affairs." Even breaking up with Em had been taken care of smoothly and calmly. But. He was moping, he should stop. Isaac sat up and got his feet under him. "It'll be cool, though," he said, not sure what he was referring to. "Any deal that involves lasagna is a good one."

Jamie laughed, uncertain now. All the warm, feel good vibes from his end were totally gone now, and it was disappointing to her. But it was much needed reality bitch slap, so there you go. She wasn't allowed to have warm fuzzies for long, apparently. The higher powers deemed it so, or something. Sigh. "Glad I made it tonight, then," she said lightly. "Is something wrong, Isaac?" Because I'm a lot colder now than I was a few minutes ago. What did I do?

... dammit. Isaac, it was known far and wide, had no guile whatsoever. So making something up completely just wasn't an option. But being entirely truthful would just reveal him as dumb and petulant. Which, y'know, he was. "Just tired, is all," he settled on. It was what he was tired of that was the thing. Which, namely, was not ever having had something real. "It's been a long night, y'know? Well ... yeah you do, your's has been bad too." He chuckled faintly. "Glad I got to talk to you, though," he said, and it was genuine. He sat down and picked up his bass, cradling the phone with his shoulder.

She smiled faintly, feeling a little wistful. Not that she could figure out why... "Yeah, it has..." Jamie hesitated, not sure whether to continue with her line of thought. But you were happy a few minutes ago. What did I do? "And I'm really glad you called," she admitted. "Are you really sure nothing's wrong? You sound a little off, that's all..." Not as happy?

He smiled faintly. It would change when he woke up in the morning, he knew. He'd feel better. This would feel far away and kind of silly. He'd call himself an idiot over breakfast and then bide his time just dicking around until it came time to go to the park. Then he'd have a good time eating lasagna with the two of them and life would be happy and normal. He'd go on, not minding that he rarely ever talked to girls he dated. Until another lonely, crappy night came around. He'd just make sure to keep the next one to himself. "Nah, it's cool. It'd be weird, I don't wanna whine at you." He started picking out the bass line to the song that was on.

"I'm a good listener," she offered gently. "It's one of my things. That and worrying," Jamie murmured jokingly. And she was still very cold, so she reluctantly began to wrap herself in her comforter. It was only slightly better than nothing. Sometimes she wished she didn't have the dating rule, just so she could date a good, snuggly guy.

...not going there right now. Nope. She focused back on Isaac, and making sure he was really okay.

For a moment there was nothing but faint music. He considered unloading on her. She seemed like she could handle it. But part of him balked at that idea. He was everybody's buddy. He didn't mind it so much. That just meant ... he was a lot of girls' buddy too. Nothing much more than that. Hell, he hadn't even mustered up the courage to sleep with anybody yet, even though he knew he had a few possibilities on tap. It just hadn't ever felt right. It was all too jumbled in his head to explain, he thought. "I just don't feel real sometimes," he said finally, quietly. "I know that doesn't make any sense. And it's not you, it just doesn't ... surface around other people a lot."

She grew quiet for a moment. She thought she understood... "Isaac, I've been "popular" for a few years now," she said slowly. "And I've... been fake, really, to most people for most of that time... I'm not sure if that's what you're talking about," she admitted. "But if it is... well, you don't have to do that around me, okay? I haven't around you so far. I'm a big girl," she said lightly. "You can talk to me. My ears are always open if you ever need to get something off your chest." God knew everybody needed someone to talk to sometimes. Even she had needed to rant on occasion. Of course, her listener had just thrown a paperweight through her window a few hours ago...

"It's not ... fake, per se," he said, squinting one eye at his computer monitor. "I am who I am, and I like who I am. It's just ... people kinda assume that's all there is, if you get my meaning." He paused and took a steadying breath. "I'm the guy that everybody likes, 'cause I tend to like most everybody. And that's cool, there's usually some good to everyone. But ... it gets uncomfortable for people when there's more to me. When it's not happy-go-lucky Isaac all the time." Like now. "When somebody's pissed me off about Kaysen or ... I try to really have a conversation with a girl I've taken out ... or something like that. I'm tired sometimes of just being amusing and fun to be around." There was a beat in which he felt suddenly horrible for talking about this at all. "But it's okay. I'll get over it," he murmured, going back to his guitar.

Jamie snorted. "Okay, don't even attempt to change the subject now 'cause I'm not letting you stop there. Fuck those people, Isaac. I'm not one of them. I don't mind if you need to be serious, okay? I'm not all sunshine and rainbows 24/7 either, as proven tonight," she admitted. God, wait 'til he sees me stress out. He'll run away screaming. "Don't think you have to put on happy-go-lucky mask on around me when you aren't really feeling it, okay?" she ended on a soft, reassuring note.

Isaac couldn't help but smile a little bit. Yes, it was official. Another hopeless crush. Go him. He was truly awesome. There was so much awesome, he couldn't stand himself. "Okay," he said, sounding somewhat placated by that. Now stop being so goddamn cool and unavailable. He played for another moment or two, fingers automatically dancing over the strings without his needing to pay much attention to them. He wasn't sure what else to say about anything. "Still feel better?" he asked.

"Why, you think your being a little upset ruined my good mood?" Jamie asked lightly. "Because it didn't." If anything, she was a little more worried about him now, but that was no big deal. It didn't have her entire body vibrating with tension; it just put a little knot of worry between her shoulder blades. That was something she could most definitel deal with. "I'm still fine, and you're still completely awesome for making me feel better," she assured him, faint smile playing on her lips. "Twelve kinds of awesome, actually."

"I didn't know there were so many kinds," he said with a soft chuckle. There, he should focus on that. She was trying to make him feel better, and doing a good job of it, so he should quit his whiney bitching and listen to her. Her terms had been laid out, he was retarded and a 12-year-old girl, and that was that. He could deal. He'd dealt before. "I bet you can't name them all."

"Name them? Oh God," Jamie laughed, plopping back down on her bed and ignoring her protesting muscles. "Okay, no one's ever asked me to do that before," she admitted, grinning up at her ceiling. "I am completely unprepared for this. You caught me, I don't know the types of awesome."

Isaac tsk-tsked. "There's super-awesome, uber-awesome, badass-awesome," he started listing, ticking them out on his fingers. "Awesome-awesome, cute-awesome, talented-awesome, sexy-awesome, hilarious-awesome, super-villian-awesome, super-hero-awesome ... how many was that?" He was grinning again. Stupid girls. "Studly-awesome, and ... snappy-dresser-awesome. There. Twelve. Unless I can't count, which is entirely possible."

Jamie laughed, very happy all over again. "Oh, you are so not super-villain-awesome, and bad-ass awesome is pushing it," she teased. "And aren't sexy-awesome and studly-awesome overkill? They're like the same thing, don't you think?"

"How do you know?" he cried softly, sounding indignant. "Maybe this is just my clever alter-ego. And I think being a super-villian automatically implies bad-ass. Though no, sexy and studly aren't the same thing. Studly means I can bend steel with my bare hands. Sexy is the smooth." Yeah right, like he had any. At least she was laughing again.

She snickered. "Okay, so how can you be super-hero-awesome and super-villain-awesome at the same time?" Jamie asked, smirking. "You'll have to demonstrate this amazing feat for me, because I'm most curious to see how it works. I'll buy studly and sexy, though," she relented. Though she still thought he was much more adorable than sexy...

He was about to make a crack when that last bit filtered through. Wha--? Were his cheeks suddenly hot? "You think I'm sexy?" he asked before he could stop himself. Goddammit. Isaac winced and shook his head, even though she couldn't see him. "Wait ... don't answer that. Stricken from the record."

Dead silence. Oh, shit, had she just indirectly said that? Err... "Well, um." Mental flailing, that was awesome. Way to go, girl. "You're attractive," she began carefully, because that was true. He was definitely twelve kinds of cute, as well, so yeah. "And you're pretty sexy on stage, actually," she admitted. Which was also true. But so was Thom! ...yeah, not saying that out loud, either. "Um, I think I should just stop talking now. Yep. Going to do that right now," Jamie said with a nervous laugh. Oh yeah, was her face red or what.

I am a total fucking hobag.

Yeah, that whole thing was torture? He squirmed through the entire little ... speech, and finally got up to pace. He'd totally been trying to let her off the hook, she could've gone on to talk about dolphins or The Dolphins or just ... something else. "Augh, you're killing me," he muttered, rubbing a hand over his face and letting out his own little nervous laugh. I like you. Please shut up. "So ... yes, thank you. My bass is far sexier than I am, really, I promise that's just ... an illusion. Swear." Oh God, strike him down with a sneezing fit or something. "So. How about that local sports team?"

"They have had the best season this insert time frame here," Jamie said with a nervous little laugh. Oh yes, hobag. She was a total hobag. And she couldn't even apologize for it, because that would just be going back to the uncomfortable 'wtf!?' zone that they were both trying so hard to avoid right now.

"Yeah their ... lead frontback is really having an excellent year after his nasal-passage injury," Isaac said with forced lightness. He took the phone away from his face to take a deep, steadying breath. She wasn't a total hobag, she was just ... cute and hot and complimenting and so out of his reach.

"Yeah, but his face is totally ugly now," she lamented, holding back a snort of laughter. "He looks like a pug or something."

Okay, she sounded amused. Perhaps the crisis had passed. ... except for
him still thinking about it. Stupid hormones. Jesus, he was hopeless. "Which is totally a disadvantage at foosball, you know," he said mildly to her.

She laughed. "Okay, so maybe he's still awesome at the sport, but it's really bad for his social life, you know," Jamie said teasingly. "Unless he finds a girl who just loves puppies." She wondered if this made her sound shallow, even if she was just playing around. Ugh. This sucked.

Isaac chuckled, regardless. It just sounded joking to him, but he tended to think the best of people. "You never know with people, y'know," he said amiably. He sat down on the bed and popped up again to pace some more. "Some women will do anything for athletes, regardless of uglification."

"Oh, don't I know it!" Jamie made a face. "Chrissy went through a jock phase last year, and it was horrible!" She twirled a strand of hair upon her finger, frowning at the ceiling. "That's when I officially started the no dating thing. Jocks are completely gross. And they have very grabby hands." Ugh. Football players were the worst on that count, most definitely.

He, being pretty damn good on the wrestling team, wasn't sure if he should be offended or not. "I don't," he pointed out. Not that he thought of himself as a jock, per se ... but he was an athlete. Wait, was that weirdness territory again? ... maybe. He wasn't sure.

Sigh, okay, gross generalizations coming back to bite her in the ass. "That's true," she admitted. "I guess I just ran into every bad athlete at school," Jamie explained apologetically. "And besides, I think musician sort of trumps all athletic stuff, so you default to awesome just for playing such a mean bass."

"It's cool, there's a lot of them," he said, reassuringly. He knew that firsthand. Hell, for a while there he was getting ribbed almost daily for still being a virgin. Then they got bored with it and moved on. Isaac chuckled. "Thanks. I'm better at music than I am at wrestling anyhow," he said. Though they were actually about even.

She smiled faintly. "Don't suppose you have a show lined up yet? Yes, I know, we just talked about this yesterday but I just have to pester you about it." Because I totally fangirl for your band. Hah, not saying that out loud, she'd embarrassed herself enough during this conversation, thank you very much.

"Not yet, no," Isaac said mildly. He sat down again. For real this time. "I was kinda busy with the freaking out for no reason and sleeping and car explosions and stuff." Though he didn't sound annoyed or anything that she'd asked. "Have you decided that it's your lifelong ambition to come sing for us yet?"

Jamie laughed, though this time it wasn't as happy. More towards melancholy. "I would if I had time," she admitted quietly. "And if I was sure Thom wouldn't spaz. I don't want to take his space or anything... or cause any crazy arguments between you guys." And if she had time. God, what she wouldn't give for a legal guardian who wasn't going senile right now.

"I mentioned it to him already," Isaac said with his own kind of quiet. Funny how late-night conversations like these lended themselves to quiet voices. Especially when, y'know ... you were talking to someone you liked and wished there wasn't a phone between you. But he wasn't thinking about that right now. "He seemed down with it. Not spazzy. And we don't really argue about anything, ever, so." He shrugged. "Just say yes and save yourself some trouble." He smirked.

"I really can't, Isaac," Jamie sighed. "I mean, it sounds like twelve kinds of awesome, but there's just not enough hours in the day for me to practice with you guys and do everything else I've got going on." She snuggled under her covers, listening for a moment to the quiet of her house. And the music playing softly from her PC. It was really cold in her room now; she wouldn't be able to sleep in here tonight, most definitely. Stupid Chrissy. Stupid paperweight.

"We practice twice a week, tops," he informed her, though he wasn't going to whine at her tonight. He'd try that tactic later on, maybe. "Couple hours, maybe more if we book a show ... it could even be temporary. One or two songs with us, just as like ... a guest singer. We'd totally cut you in." Not that they'd really made any money off of the gigs yet. But he didn't need to say that. "Don't say no for sure right now. Just think about it."

She hesitated. "...we'll see how it goes when school starts back." God, what if Chrissy trashed her rep and the band went down in flames because of her? The thought was completely horrifying. And not entirely out of the realm of possibility, either.

It didn't seem to have even occurred to Isaac. He pumped a fist triumphantly and flopped back onto the bed. Okay. That was made of awesome. He let out a little laugh as he squirmed into comfort and tugged some blankets up over him. Nice and cozy. Only thing that would make it better was a girl in there with him. But that was all dreaming. "Word," he said emphatically, grinning.

Jamie laughed softly. Well, at least that made one of them happy. "You're easy to please," she said teasingly. God, when was the last time she'd gotten all comfortable and sleepy on the phone with someone? Poor Isaac. Twelve kinds of awesome and still in the friend zone. God, she was a bitch.

"Most of the time, yeah," he agreed, still grinning. He reached out to click his lamp off and got even more comfortable, pillow under his head, phone balanced nicely on his face so she could still hear him. He tucked his arms under the blanket. So what are you wearing? He almost laughed. "If I fall asleep on you, just yell at me."

She laughed softly. "Are you all tucked in?" Jamie teased. "Or am I just that boring?" Well, at least he hadn't asked what she was wearing. After she'd laughed herself into a coma, she would have had to have hunted him down and smacked him really hard. And then laughed herself into another coma, just for good measure.

"All tucked in. But you're not boring," he was quick to say. Decidedly not. "Just ... I dunno. Soothing. And I'm totally wrecked." That was friendly, right? Not flirting? Because flirting very much wasn't allowed. Even though she'd called him sexy. Sorta. His thoughts were getting all floaty.

Jamie smiled at the ceiling. "Well, I'm glad I'm soothing," she said agreeably. That was a good thing to be. And she was glad she'd made his almost-shitty night better. He'd definitely improved her evening, so it was only fair of her to return the favor, right? She just wished she could flip the light out and talk herself to sleep, as well, but she was going to have to get up sooner or later and clean up the glass in her floor, and cover up her window. But it could wait until he'd drifted off.

"There are way worse things to be," he murmured. He hesitated for a minute or two, then added almost shyly, "Would it be totally stupid to ask for a song? For payment for being twelve kinds of awesome?" He honestly didn't expect her to say yes, but he was all snuggled down and comfortable, and hadn't at all been sung to in ages.

She smiled again, and this time it took on a soft note. "Never stupid to ask for music. If I know the song, I'll sing it." And inside she was all warm and gushy. Two requests from two boys in one day? And one was a total sweetie and the other was sort of... snarky-broody... Hm, not thinking about Caleb right now. That wasn't really fair to Isaac, was it?

"Doesn't matter what it is," he said in that dreamy way. Just her talking was nice. "Anything you want to sing." He curled up a bit on himself, tucking his hands between his knees. He just wanted to listen again, really.

"Hmm..." she mused, glancing over at her PC. Hopefully it would be cooperative and pick something soothing to lull him to sleep, and not something horribly awkward that would just wake him up and have him all flustered again. Ah, thank God for Lifehouse. Her playlist totally loved her. "I'm alive but tell me am I free? I got eyes but tell me can I see? The sky is falling, and no one knows. It shouldn't be hard to believe, shouldn't be this difficult to breathe, the sky is falling, and no one knows," she sang softly, picking up the song from the chorus.

God, it was beautiful. She was beautiful. In that moment, if she'd asked anything out of him, he would've given it over gladly. Isaac closed his eyes completely and drifted in the sound of her voice as she sang, not quite asleep but not quite all there either.
"You leave me hanging on only to catch my breath, I got you and I got nothin' left. Don't leave me all alone out here, with myself and all of my fear," she continued softly, crooning really, going for soothing with the song despite the words. He was almost asleep, she could feel it...

He was sort of breathing into the phone, since he wasn't holding it anymore, and the steady rush of air got longer and deeper the longer she sang, and before too long, he was stone-cold asleep. He told her goodnight in his head at some point, but it sure didn't make it out of his mouth.

Jamie smiled up at her ceiling. "G'night, Isaac," she murmured quietly, closing her phone with a quiet snap. And sincerely hoping he wasn't on a prepaid cell or something, because that would suck. She felt oddly at peace with herself, however. Maybe she couldn't be that for Isaac, but she could be other things. If he'd let her.