There was an annoying bell ringing as someone else entered the coffee shop. How on earth was I supposed to get this next chapter written if people kept coming in and out? Couldn't they just hold the damn door open? Enough people were coming in as it was to have it steadily open without altering anything.

I kept my gaze on my spiral as the pen scratched out words freely, none of them having time to settle on my mind, just flowing to my right hand as I actively pursued ending to this.

Someone cleared their throat and I obligingly looked up, breaking out into an all out smile when I saw Isaac gazing down at me.

"Is this seat taken?" He gestured at the booth bench across from me with a mere flick of his wrist.

"Not at all. Please do sit down." The smile still had not yet faltered as he took a seat across from me.

"Didn't imagine seeing you here." He laughed, setting down his styrofoam cup of steaming coffee down in front of hisself and leaning forward.

"Likewise." I returned, taking in all the new aspects. My, my, it had been a while. His hair had been trimmed of an inch or so, leaving it boyishly cut and slightly frizzed. His brown eyes still danced to music only he could hear and crinkled around the edges when he lit up the room with his smile.

"So what brings you back to Chicago?" I asked, closing my spiral as I figured that I wouldn't be getting any work done any time soon. Especially as I was determined to give him my undivided attention.

He looked at me rather oddly before giving a slight shrug and answering, "We have a performance in town coming up. Two more days. I thought you would have known. Aren't you the editor nowadays?"

I blushed, the pink spreading across my cheeks ina heated wave. "Have you been keeping up with me, Isaac Hanson?"

"Word gets around..." He laughed.

"Not when you're touring the U.S. too fast to get wind of your own hometown, much less a windy city in Illinois." I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I had fun with your last article. I kept a bit of a track on you."

"Ah-ha. The truth is revealed!" We shared a laugh, only to be interrupted by Zac coming over to the table.

"Ike, I thought you were just coming in to grab some coffee." He spread his hands flat across the edge of the table, leaning against them. I noticed a ring on his taken finger but kept my mouth shut as it was none of my business.

"Well I was, but I saw Tasha here and decided to chat for a few. Where is Taylor?"

"Over there." Zac hiked his thumb over at his slightly older brother, flirting with a waitress and ordering a cup of coffee.

"Mmm... go tell 'Mattress Max' that he has all the time in the world."

Zac frowned impermeably and opened his mouth to say something but took notice of me and decided against it. "I'll talk to you later, Ike." He spoke meaningfully.

"I'll bet." Ike murmered as his younger brother stalked off.

"Family troubles?"

Ike wearily rubbed his temples, shutting his eyes for a bit before leaning forward with his forehead against his hands. "Only when touring. It always gets like this. I think we're just stressed out."

"Well, not to be crude, but you look the part."

"Gee, thanks. So nice of you to remind me."

"That's okay, I'm looking kind of butch right now too. Lindsay just rubbed me the wrong way this morning."

"How so?" His eyes opened and he appeared to become interested, though I wasn't sure if he was acting or if he genuinely cared. Nevertheless, he did ask.

"I was decorating the apartment.."

"You decorate?" He interrupted.

"Yeah, i minored in it. Anyway, Lindsay had a coniption over the living room."

"Well what did you do?"

"You'd have to see it to understand."

"Well I can do that. i've got time. you wanna go look at it now?"

"Hmm..well. Alrighty. But if Lindsay throws something at you, we don't have insurance. Don't press charges."

He laughed and followed me out the door after signaling tohis brothers that he was evacuating the primices.

We sat side by side in my car and I put the keys in the ignition, pulling out of the parking lot slowly and beginning the 2 mile drive home.

Along the way, Isaac took it upon his self to make chit chat.

"So how is the newspaper coming?"

"As well as can be expected I guess. Lindsay used to work there too but.. She quit as of recent. Her and her flights of fancy arent' something I can quite understand."

"I know where you're coming from. Just the other day, Zac suggested we drop the entire touring thing because he 'didn't feel like doing it'." Isaac rolled his eyes in remembrance of his little brother's comment and I had to smile.

I tapped out a rhythm on the steering wheel that syncronised with the radio's beat, listening attentively as he dished out his problems to me.

"And so I think we're like two peas in a pod..." He concluded. I realised I had been entirely tuning him out the whole time. I blusehd and hoped heh adn't noticed, deciding to turn and smile at him so that it appeared I had been listening after all.

"You didn't hear a word of it, did you?" He turned to face me. (yes, I have good peripheral vision)

"Um...sorry. Got lost in the music."

"S'okay. I was really rambling for the most part anyway..." He faded off, watching as the scenery wizzed past us.

"Well, here's the house. Remember, be blunt and straight forward. Tell me what you think of the living room." I turned the door knob and gave the door a push before nearly passing out on the porch. Lindsay was standing there in her overalls with a can of black paint, sloshing away at the walls. The furniture wasn't sheilded by sheets from the horrible coloring, and Lindsay was listening to Christina Aguilera.

"Oh God! I'm in hell!!"