Chapter 10
Two weeks later, I was still just as miserable as I had always been, but I didn’t show it. Jake had talked to me, giving me several reasons -- bad reasons -- why I had to break up with Isaac. He told me musicians were fickle and he would only hurt me in the end. He told me that any affair I had with a client would interfere with my work and hurt the business. He even told me that if I didn’t stop this here it would happen with every musician I met. Jake was deliriously happy during this time because of all the money rolling in and he had four other prospective clients that were apparently pretty big.
Even with everything happening, I didn’t want Isaac to know that I had been such a terrible person. Who was I kidding? He was on the receiving end of a lousy excuse to break up; he already knew I was a terrible person. I had managed to avoid him enough to not ever be alone in the same room with him since I knew that it was already too hard just to be around him without speaking to him.
One day, about 7:00 p.m. I went to go grab a Frappuccino from the mini-fridge when I heard the door to the back room close suddenly. I looked up to see Isaac come in, alone.
“Melody, if I can’t have you as a girlfriend, please, just be my friend. I can’t stand you not talking to me. Whatever I said or didn’t say, did or didn’t do, I’m so sorry. I know this is what you want, but--”
That was it. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I couldn’t let Isaac go on thinking I hated him. Almost immediately, I burst into tears.
“Isaac, it wasn’t what I wanted! I loved you with all my heart, but I couldn’t have you becuase Jake felt it would hurt the business!” I sobbed. Wearily, I slumped into a folding chair and continued. “He didn’t want me to become involved and leave him behind to be with you. He told me I had to choose, Isaac. I had to choose between love and music and I chose my job. I betrayed you in the worst way,” I looked up into his eyes, “but I can’t take this anymore. I can’t take all the work without being with you, being able to look you in the eye. Without seeing your face and knowing that you love me.” I cried. “There were so many things I wanted to do with you this summer but I didn’t know it. I wanted to go on a road trip. I wanted to spend two months together just playing the Left or Right game. I wanted to be spontaneous and feel free, but I gave it all up to work here. I feel like I’ve missed so much.”
“Let’s go.”
“What?”
“Let’s go on the road trip. Now.” Isaac looked at me seriously. “Go home, pack up seven days worth of clothes and we’ll go anywhere you want. We’ll fly or drive or take a train. Whatever you want, Melody. All I know is that I want to be with you, too, and if proving to Jake that we won’t stand for his ‘music and love don’t mix’ crap takes us running away, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“Isaac, this is crazy! What about your CD?”
“Forget about it. We can finish recording later. This is more important. You’re more important. Now, I want you to wait for Jake to get into his office and then we’ll sneak out the front door. After you’re packed, come to my apartment over on 75 and put your stuff in my Firebird. We’ll go to the airport or wherever you want. Let’s just escape and act our age for once.”
“You know what? You’re right. Let’s go,” I smiled for the first time in two weeks. It felt so good to be happy again. quickly I looked out the door and saw that Jake was in his office with the door closed. He was talking, so apparently he was on the phone. “Coast is clear. Go on. I’m going to tell Jake I’m going out for something so he won’t expect me back and it will give us enough time to get out of Tulsa.”
“What about us? I mean, me and Tay and Zac? Won’t he say something?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell him something,” I smiled. Isaac quickly stole a kiss and then snuck out the front door.
I stuck my head in Jake’s office and said, “Jake, I’m going to run to get a bite to eat.”
“What about the band?” he asked as he typed something into his computer and then looked at a paper on his desk.
“Oh, they wanted something too, so I’m just going on a food run. Want anything?”
“Nah,” he shook his head and I waved quickly. I left hastily, ran to my car and headed towards my house.
The five-minute drive seemed like hours. I thought that a lot of doubts would be running through my head trying to be my better judgment, but the only thing I could think was that what I was doing was what I needed, whether it was right or not. Once I got to my house, I prayed that my parents wouldn’t be home. I went straight in and up to my room, not looking for my parents or making enough noise for them to know I was home. I pulled out a large duffel bag and began putting a week’s worth of underwear, shirts, pants, shorts, and bathroom duds into it. Once I was pretty sure I had enough, I put in a few extra things like CDs, tapes, my Discman, about a hundred dollars from my stash and my favorite stuffed animal. When I was done, I zipped up the bag and grabbed my sunglasses and an extra pair of shoes before running out of the room. I glanced out the back and saw my mother planting something in the garden and blew her a kiss even though she didn’t see it. I supposed that I would call her that night and explain. I wasn’t going to let her talk me out of it when it felt so right.
Once I was back in my car, I flipped on the radio to a hard rock station with the great driving music and sped over to Isaac’s apartment thankful that I didn’t see any policemen because I would have gotten a ticket. I pulled my little Honda into the parking lot beside his Firebird and saw that the driver’s side window was open, so I popped the trunk and threw my bag into the back and then raced up to Isaac’s little apartment where the front door was open. I knocked a little and Isaac came out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth. He put a finger signaling me to wait a minute and then retreated back into the bathroom. He emerged a moment later, the toothbrush in a plastic case and a few toiletries in his hands.
“I know how you like fresh breath, so I did you a favor,” he smiled as he put the stuff into another bag and then picked it up. “I’m ready. Let’s get out of here and floor it.”
“You got it,” I laughed and ran back out of the front door and down the stairs to the Firebird, unbelieving of how it was all coming together. It sounds as though we weren’t thinking straight or something, but it just felt so good to be doing it, so I knew it couldn’t have been completely wrong.
Once we were both in the Firebird, Isaac revved the engine and roared out of the parking lot. “So, where to, Miss Daisy?” he asked in an old Southern drawl.
“To the sunset,” I said.
“Anything you want,” he looked over and smiled warmly at me and put his right hand on my leg, patting me slightly. I reached down and put my hand in his and he turned his over to hold mine. I sighed a little, so glad we hadn’t let Jake get between us and break us up forever due to his stupid “rules.”
“I’m a little tired. Now that the whole ordeal is over I can stop being worried that you’d find out about why I broke up with you,” I yawned.
“There’s a pillow in the back seat. If you want to, you can take it and go to sleep,” Isaac offered.
“I think I’ll take you up on that,” I grabbed the dark green pillow and put it between the window and the seat and closed my eyes, inhaling the sweet scent of him that was lost inside the folds of the material.
What seemed like only a few minutes later, the movement of the car that had rocked me to sleep stopped and I awoke, looking over at Isaac who was smiling at me.
“What?” I laughed, smoothing my hair down a little.
“You’re just really beautiful when you sleep. Like an angel from God. You look so perfect,” he put a hand on my face and ran the pad of his thumb over my cheek.
“So, why’d we stop?” I changed the subject, a little bit embarrassed, but totally flattered.
“Well, you asked me to take you to the sunset. Get out.”
I did as he said and unbuckled before I opened the door and stepped out onto the grass. We had stopped in a little area just beside the deserted road we were on. I looked behind the car and my breath was taken away when I saw the red, orange, yellow and purple that splashed across the sky.
“You know, when I was little, my dad always said that the reason the sunsets were so beautiful was because God loves to paint, and every time he has a good day and more and more people come to know him, he takes time out to cover the sky with his watercolors,” Isaac came up behind me and put his arms around my waist.
I smiled at the thought of little Isaac on his father’s knee hearing the story of God painting the sky. “Watercolors, huh? That explains why all the color drips away before morning; the dew gets to it before the sun does.”
“Yeah, I guess it does,” Isaac chuckled. We sat there a moment more, just staring at the wonderful colors before I felt Isaac move my hair aside and pepper my neck with soft kisses. I turned slowly and he continued to kiss me on my neck, my jaw and finally, my lips. I buried one of my hands in his curly hair, and the other rested on his shoulder. His hands moved slowly around on my lower back, giving me chills. Soon, our kissing slowed and he pecked me a few more times before pulling away to hug me and whisper, “I’ve missed you.”
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“Really, Mom, I’m fine. Remember how I was talking about taking a road trip this summer?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I just decided to take it now,” I explained. I had been on the phone with her for five minutes, trying to explain where I was and how I got there. “There” was actually just a semi-deserted gas station with two lonely pumps and a store that carried three things: cigarettes, condoms and gum. As I talked to my mother, I decided that the truth was the best thing to tell or I would end up getting myself in a lot of trouble when she and my father did find out. “Mom, I’ll be home in a month, tops. I just needed to be 17 for once instead of 25, okay? I love you, Mom. Tell Dad I’m fine.”
“I love you, too, Sweetie, but I’m just worried about you, and so is your father. Please come home soon. I’m just so worried about you being all around the country with a boy.”
“Mom, I have no intention of doing anything you’re thinking that girls my age do with guys. I made a promise to myself, to you, and to God that I would keep pure. Have some trust in me and my judgment, please?”
“Okay, dear. See you soon,” I could tell she was crying a little.
“Bye, Mom.” I hung up the phone and looked at Isaac.
“Everything okay?” he asked, putting an arm around me.
“Yeah, I guess. It’s just that this is the first time I’ve really gone away from home and Mom is just worried what kind of trouble I’m going to get myself into,” I assessed the situation. “You going to call your parents?”
“Yeah, but my call is much easier,” he shrugged as he put some change into the phone.
“Hey, Tay, is Mom there?” Pause. “Yeah, I’m really sorry I flaked out on you guys, but me and, uh, Melody had to get away.” Pause. “Yeah, it turns out that Jake was the one making her break up. He thought it would hurt the business or something like that. Now go get Mom.” Long pause. “Hey, Mom. I’m taking that road trip you wanted me to take.” Pause. “No, I’m not alone. Melody is with me. We’re fine, but we’re going to need some money.” Pause. “Yeah, that’ll work. We’ll probably be back anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks....Love you, too, Mom. See ya later.”
And that was it.
My jaw must have been somewhere near China because Isaac laughed when he saw the look on my face.
“What can I say? My mom has been begging me to get away for a little bit because I’ve been so high-strung lately and stressed. She suggested a road trip, and she trusts that you and I won’t do anything, so…Oh! And she’s going to send us money wherever we stay tonight. She said she’ll wire us some.”
“How cool,” I shook my head. “What is the next town?”
“I don’t know, let’s look on the map,” Isaac smiled, pulling out an old faded map of Oklahoma and Kansas. “We just crossed the border into Kansas about fifteen minutes ago, so I’m guessing we’ll stop in Chautauqua.”
I glanced around the area on the map and laughed a little. “Hey, look! We could go to Peru or Havana without even leaving Kansas!”
“You’re right,” Isaac chuckled, shaking his head a little.
“Hey, I have some music with me. You want to listen while we drive to hicktown?”
“Sounds good to me.”
I nodded and went to the back of the car while Isaac popped the trunk. Quickly, I rifled through my bag and pulled out my CD holders and my mix tapes and then closed the trunk again. When I got in the car, Isaac was picking up trash and stuffing it into a bag from some fast food joint so he could make the car look a little more decent.
“So, whatcha got?” he asked as he balled up the “trash bag” and tossed it into a trash can a few feet away from the door.
“I have...” I opened the CD case and began looking at the faces of the CDs. “Green Day, Eve 6, Third Eye Blind, Paula Cole, Backstreet Boys, Aladdin soundtrack, Celine Dion, Hanson, Aaron Carter, Matchbox 20, Lion King, Les Miserables, Hanson again, Fiona Apple, Aerosmith, Usher, and the Beatles. Anything sound interesting besides yourself?”
“What two CDs do you have of ours?”
“Oh, I have the first album and Snowed In. I never have heard your concert album,” I shrugged. “Anyway, did you hear anything that sounded good?”
“What Aerosmith CD is it?”
“Greatest Hits,” I replied.
“Pop it in and let’s get out of here.”
I did as he said and threw my head back and laughed as we peeled out and tore onto the highway with a full tank of gas, “Dream On” blasting through the speakers and our hopes flying on the wings of eagles.
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give me your best shot. come on....I can take it
Chapter 11
Chapter Index