"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump," Isaac's gentle voice said.
"It's quite all right," I said, still a little shocked. "What can I do for you?"
I hoped it wouldn't be yet another Hanson brother coming up to me, telling me I was a good listener and telling me his life story. Don't get me wrong, I love listening to them, it makes me feel like someone cares and trusts me, and I can trust all three Hanson brothers with anything, I know, but when you know too many secrets about several people that are very close, it can get risky knowing too much.
Isaac's face fell. He sat on the swing next to me, and we started rocking gently, slowly. I wondered what was wrong, I didn't want anything to hurt him, he didn't deserve anything bad to happen. I would risk my life for him, and I couldn't stand to see hurt on his face any more than I could on Taylor's.
"Isaac? Tell me what's wrong," I said soothingly.
"I think-" he took a breath. "I think I love Rose, but I know it's not going to work. She won't call here, she says it's too expensive, and when I call her, she usually can't talk for more than 5 minutes. She won't even think about coming to visit here, and I seem to be at the bottom of her list of priorities. I know she doesn't love me, but I can't stop thinking about the week we spent together. It was so romantic and perfect and like-like a dream."
He closed his eyes and just thought. I thought about Dreamland, and how nothing could ever go wrong there. I had a feeling that this Rose girl was probably putting on a show for her friends or something. I mean, he WAS Isaac Hanson, and to be the lucky girl to date him? The media would eat that up and spit it out right back in Isaac's face, and the popularity that Rose would get? I mean, who ever heard of Monica Lewinsky until AFTER she had "the time of her life" with the President? I could see this girl doing the same thing to Isaac, and I had suddenly had an irresistable urge to find this girl and slap her.
"Isaac, promise me you won't take this the wrong way," I began. I didn't want him to get mad at me for telling him what could quite possibly be the truth, knowing he wouldn't want to believe it.
"What?"
"You have to promise," I insisted.
"Ok, ok, what?"
"Isaac, I know this is going to be something you won't want to believe, and I don't even know Rose, so I can't begin to judge her character, but I get the feeling that she has a bad case of the I'm-a-celebrity's-girlfriend syndrome."
"Huh?"
"Isaac, you KNOW that there's not one person in America that hasn't heard at least MMMBop, and you KNOW that there's die-hard fans out there who always wonder whether or not you guys have girlfriends, and every single one of them wants to BE Taylor's girlfriend, or your's, or Zac's, or even all three of you-they kiss your posters goodnight every night, and have dreams about seeing you naked-"
"Sari-" he began, exasperated at my statement of the truth.
"You KNOW it's true," I stated.
"Yeah, but what does it have to do with Rose?" he asked.
"It has to do with her wanting to be well-known and having her picture in newspapers and magazines and getting to the top of the media. It's happened thousands of times, girls using guys and making them fall in love with them and pretending to love them, but they're really scheming to get something out of it. I hate to be a traitor to my specimen, but girls are vicious, bloodthirsty, scheming snakes who use the good ones for whatever they want." He sat there, thinking, comprehending. I had been leaving all the Hansons speechless in the past few days, hadn't I?
"Sari, how could you say that? You don't even know Rose," he began angrily, standing up.
"You promised you wouldn't get mad, and I never said I did. In fact, I said the opposite," I replied. Oh, I just KNEW this was going to happen!
"She's not like that! She'd never use me!"
"How do you know?" I asked under his hysterics.
"Because-" he stopped.
"Isaac, I'm not trying to do this to hurt you, just the opposite, in fact. How long have you known her?"
"2 and a half weeks," he muttered, sitting back down.
"How can you honestly say you love her, then? What do you honestly know about this girl?"
"Sari, how long has it been since I've had a girlfriend, someone to hold, someone to-stroke my hair and tell me it's going to be ok, someone besides Taylor to tell me my nose is running but I still look good," he said, smiling ironically. "Someone to kiss, someone to share everything with, someone who will be there through thick and thin, someone who will never judge me, someone who can be my friend as well as my girlfriend, someone who-who-" he choked off. He really just wanted a girlfriend-any girlfriend, but preferably one that he could write wedding invitations for and actually end up sending them.
"Isaac, she's there, but I don't think her name is Rose," I said quietly. If only I had the guts to tell him the way I feel! Why is it that I can be straightforward with everyone but Isaac?
"I know it's not, and you're probably right, but-"
"But what?"
He didn't answer. Tears were cascading silently down his cheeks. He closed his eyes and turned his face up to the what was now a beautiful, starry sky. The beautiful brown eyes opened once more.
"The stars over Tulsa are the same stars that are over Canada. That's what's kept me going in the past few days," he said, and then closed his eyes again.
How meaningful was that? It really made me think, about all the times that Zac, Taylor, and Isaac were in some other country and I was still here in Tulsa. I wondered if they looked at the stars at the same time as me and thought the same thoughts. It was what people mean when they say that even though a loved one is far away, he or she was always nearby. Maybe they knew through the stars. It was something to think about.
I got up off the swing and walked over to Isaac. He stopped swaying and just sat there, letting the tears flow. I began to stroke his hair. I began to let the tears flow down my cheeks, as well. It wasn't fair for Isaac. He really needed someone to truly care for him rather than use him. Call me crazy, but sometimes I wish that Hanson never made it big. It wouldn't be as impossible for him to find a girl that was true. I hate girls that, when speaking about Hanson, they just say how "hot" and "cute" and "sexy" Isaac, Zac, and Taylor are. Why won't they think of them as human beings? It makes it so hard for them, because they never know the fakes (Rose) from the true, loving girls (me) who really love them for them and not for who they are and what their careers are and how many times their faces have been on the cover of magazines. No matter. I had to tell Isaac something, anything, to make him feel better. I wiped my tears aside with my free hand, the one that wasn't stroking Isaac's hair.
"It's going to be ok," I said.
"Is it?"
"Yes, I know it will be. Isaac, you'll find her, I know you will."
"I hope so."
"I know so," I said. And then I thought about something I knew had to be said, even though he might get mad again. "I have faith in you, Isaac, but one thing that will make your life a whole lot easier-Isaac, get real. Not every girl is perfect, in fact, very few of us are, and you have to understand that, because every time you see another glimpse of wannabe perfection, another Rose, you're going to get hurt again. Because she won't love you like she should. And you have to get real before you fall in love again." I took a breath, hoping he wouldn't get mad.
"I know that, Sari."
"I-I have to-I have to go, Isaac. I know you'll make the right decision."
"Yeah..."
I kissed the top of his head and began to walk home. Zac and Isaac together had given me more than enough things to think about. I had a thought. I turned around.
"Ike!"
He looked up, still sitting on the swing.
"Your nose is running, but you still look good," I said.