Do Overs and Second Chances

For the next couple of days Izy put up the front of being fine. She pretended that everything wasn’t getting to her. When she didn’t have to play a set she made sure she was as far away from Cameron as possible. She hadn’t left Warped Tour but in her own way she was still running away from the problem. Jess didn’t know what to do with out pushing Izy away. There was only one person who decided they had to do something to help Izy whether it would work or not.

“Izy, wake up,” Stephen said while shoving a t-shirt and shorts into the bunk where she was sleeping.

“Go away Stephen,” she said turning away from the boy without opening her eyes.

“That’s not going to happen. I’m not moving from this spot until you are up and following me.” Izy just chose to ignore him hoping that he would just give up. It was The Downtown Fictions day off and the last thing she wanted to do was wake up. When she didn’t respond Stephen resulted to shaking the girl.

“Fine, fine, fine, I’m up,” she said while sitting up. Before Stephen could react she had shoved him back and slammed the curtain closed.

“How am I supposed to know that you’re not just going to go back to sleep?” he questioned.

“I guess you’ll just have to trust me.”

“Not good enough you’re just going to need to keep talking to me until you step out of that bunk,” he said with authority causing Izy to roll her eyes even though Stephen couldn’t even see her.

“Geez when did you become such a pain in the ass?” she asked.

“I’m not sure it must have been sometime between now and when you ran away from everyone who cared about you,” he said raising his voice slightly.

“Will you at least tell me where you’re rushing me off to?”

“Nope. You will just have to wait and see.”

Izy was silent again and just before Stephen was reaching out to check if she had fallen asleep again the curtain shot open. “Alright let’s go.”

“About time,” Stephen commented earning a playful punch from Izy. “Hey,” he joked holding the part of his arm were Izy had touched him feigning pain. She let out a laugh but it wasn’t completely sincere there was just too much that had happened since she had been on tour. The two of them fell into a silence as Stephen led Izy to where a cab was waiting.

When they approached it Stephen opened the door and motioned for Izy to get in. She slid into the backseat of the cab while her curiosity increased. When Stephen joined her he gave the driver an address. Izy hoped maybe she would at least have an idea of where Stephen was taking her by now but she was in an unfamiliar state and the address meant nothing to her.
While the cab made it’s journey Izy just watched the scenery rushing by her. It made her realize that while she had been touring all summer and had been to many different places she hadn’t really even seen anything. Every day she had only been trapped in the venues never seeing past the parking lots and stages.

Izy had fallen into her own world when she noticed the cab had stopped. She was caught off guard by where Stephen had brought her. The sound of music and children laughing filled her ears as she stepped out of the cab. “A carousel? Really?”

“You always loved them when you were little. When you were ten you always begged me and Justin to take you to the carousel.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot awkwardly waiting for her reaction.

“I know that, I just didn’t expect you to remember that or to take me to one now. You’re about eight years too late.”

“I remember everything about you,” he told her wishing he could reach out and hold her. “I also thought nobody would recognize us her. We won’t be the guitar player from The Downtown Fiction and the bass player of The Summer Set. We are just Izy and Stephen two friends hanging out since one of us is a little down.”

“That’s really sweet but you didn’t have to do this,” she said quietly.

“I wanted to you haven’t been yourself. I know you’ve been pretending to be fine but you’re not fooling me. I just want my Izy back,” he spoke honestly knowing this could go one of both ways. Either Izy will get freaked out and pull away from him again or the opposite, but he had to do something.

“Well in that case I’ll race you to the carousel,” she said before taking off with Stephen right behind her. He caught up to her and paced his arms around her waist lifting her up before she reached the ticket booth. He paid for tickets for both of them and the two of them went to get on the carousel. Izy did one lap with Stephen following behind her before picking a horse. The one she chose was black with a white star on its forehead and swirly silver details on the saddle. After she was sitting on her own horse Stephen took a seat on a brown horse to her left.

As the hours went by Izy lost herself in the music and the ride. She hadn’t even known it herself but this had been exactly what she had needed. As the ride went around and around Izy found herself smiling also causing Stephen to smile to know his plan had worked. Izy was her old self again, at least for right now.

Around lunchtime the two of them moved from the horses to a carriage seat where they could sit next to each other. “Thanks for today,” she said snuggling closer to Stephen. His arm was wrapped around her shoulders pulling her in close.

“You deserved it. You deserve to be happy Izy,” he said honestly.

“I’m so sure about that.” Stephen tried to argue but she placed her finger over his mouth to stop him.

“I’ve hurt people, I’ve hurt you.”

“Don’t believe that because I don’t. That’s all in the past. Right now though you have the chance to change all that. You can do whatever you want and what would make you happy.”

“What if I’m not sure what that is?” she questioned.

“We’ll all be her by your side until you figure it out.”

“Thanks again Stephen,” she said with a soft smile.

“Anytime,” he replied. The two of them fell into silence, as Stephen looked right into Izy’s eyes. He moved into kiss her and for a second she was going to let him. Then her brain caught up with what she was feeling and she shifted away from him causing him to also pull away.

“I’m sorry Stephen,” she said awkwardly.

“Don’t worry about it.” He tried to brush it off but all the guilt she had avoided earlier came back.

“You know me I can’t just not worry about it. It’s just I don’t think I could go there with you again. When we were together I was just caught up in the moment. I had had a crush on you for so long it felt unreal that you would feel the same. That added with the excitement of sneaking around. I just can’t tell you that everything I felt had been real. I’m sorry it’s just that I’ve had a lot of time to think about this. It just wouldn’t be fair to get you caught up in the soap opera that is my life again.” She was starting to ramble but she couldn’t stop herself. Luckily Stephen did that for her.

“Izy it’s ok I’d rather have you in my life as only a friend then not at all.” Izy let out a sigh as relief and let Stephen put his arm around her again.