Time Goes On
by Chelle

~ CHAPTER 33 ~

"Melissa! Have you seen that blue duffel bag?!" Tori called from the back of the bus. I threw my hair brush back into my purse and turned around, spotting the bag on the floor next to the door. "Yep, here it is," I said. I picked up the bag and held it out to her as she walked through the sliding door that separated the front of the bus from the bedrooms in the back. "Oh good. Thanks," she said, taking the bag and placing it on the couch. She began pulling her hair back into a ponytail. "I just wanted to make sure we didn't leave it out here," she said with a smile. I smiled and nodded as we continued to gather things to take inside. We had learned that the fewer trips we had to make back out to the bus, the better.
The tour had been going on for a month and a week. Although, I'll be the first to admit that the traveling had been great, it was also hard. Hotels and being in a different city everyday was not all that everyone makes it out to be. There's a lot of rush and confusion to it. The fans had started taking an interest in me, which was alright but sometimes I wished that I could be back home. It was tiring and sometimes even boring. Being on a bus for hours at a time or hanging out in a room backstage while Zac did sound check and the meet and greet, or had meetings about last minute changes or talked to this person or that person or took a nap... there was always some reason why we could never have any time to spend with each other. Even when we were on the bus going to the next stop, something besides me always occupied his time. It was hard to sleep on the bus and so we rarely tried. I found myself spending more time with Ike than I ever thought I would. We'd talk or watch TV or play cards. Recently, our favorite past time had become books. Late at night, there wasn't always something interesting on TV and we'd gotten our fill of card games for a while. So once we were all settled on the bus and had started the ride to the next city, Ike and I would sit on the couch in the back room with a snack and take turns reading to each other from his collection of mystery novels. That was among the many things we had in common, a love of mystery stories.
"Alright, I think that's about it. You got your pass?" Tori pulled me away from my thoughts. I watched as she picked up our purses and then grabbed the keys from the booth table. "Yeah, right here," I replied, taking my pass out of the back pocket of my jeans and slinging the now packed duffel bag over my shoulder. We walked toward the door and when Tori slowly opened it, we heard the girls waiting outside begin to scream. Tori turned around and smiled. "They have seen the guys get off and go inside, they know it's us," I said. "Yeah, well, just remember, wave and smile and get inside as quickly as possible," she replied. I nodded and we each took a deep breath. We stepped off the bus and Tori locked the door. We quickly walked passed the crowd, smiling and waving, and into the venue. There were people going in every direction yelling at each other about the show time and the equipment. We walked down the long hallway, and into the room that had been set up for the guys. I closed the door and tossed the bag on the floor. Tori slid our purses off of her shoulder and set them on the couch. "Well," she said looking around and placing her hands on her hips, "I wonder where they are." She glanced at her watch. "The meet and greet don't start for another hour." she looked over at me "Did you see them anywhere when we were coming in?" I slipped my pass around my neck and shook my head at her. "Nope. Maybe they went to eat," I shrugged. "Tori nodded, "Yeah maybe so. Hey eating is not a bad idea. Let's go see what the selections are." She and I walked out of the room and down the long hallway into the lounge where the food was set up.
As we walked in, we saw road and venue crew members. The room was somewhat noisy. We slowly made our way through the people standing around and saw Taylor in the corner talking to the bus driver. "Hey!" he called to us with a wave, "Did either of you happen to see Isaac or Zac anywhere?" As we got closer we both shook our heads. "Nope," Tori answered, "We were coming in here to look for you guys." Taylor's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "I can't find Ike. We lost him as soon as we came in and now Zac has completely disappeared." That caught my attention. "You don't know where he is?" I asked, a little surprised. It wasn't like Zac to take off and not tell Taylor or Ike where he would be. "Uh-uh. Not for about an hour. I know he got a call on his cell before he left though. He seemed upset, almost in shock, but he just got up and walked out without saying anything to anyone." Taylor answered. I sighed, "Alright. I'll go see if I can find them. Be back in a while."
I turned and grabbed a candy bar and a coke off the table and walked out. I walked up and down the hallways, looking in the dressing room and meet and greet room. I looked in the road crew rooms and asked most everyone I passed if they had seen either of them at any time. They all had the same answer... No one knew where Ike was and no one had seen or heard from Zac in about an hour. I tried calling his cell phone, which was turned off, that didn't alarm me on other occasions but since no one knew where he was it did cause me to worry a little, and even went back outside and asked the fans if they'd seen them since they'd gotten off of the bus earlier. No one had. I walked around to the stage and then asked a venue security guard to please check in the restrooms. They were no where to be found. I sighed again and slowly made my way back to the lounge wondering where they could possibly be.
When I got back, I found that the room had basically cleared out. Taylor, Tori, Shelly, one of the assistants, and to some relief, Isaac were the only ones in there. "Hey Ike! I see one long lost brother has made a return." I said as I shut the door and joined them by the table. "Yep, I found him." Shelly said as she started toward the door. "I'll catch you guys later," she said as she walked out. "Yeah, I just needed some air so I walked out outside for a little while." Ike said. "Hey Mel, did you see Karen anywhere?" I was stunned at his question. For the first time in what seemed like years, Ike actually mentioned Karen. "Karen?! Your Karen?! No, why?" Taylor rolled his eyes. "Ike man, it wasn't her. C'mon, think, why would she be here? I'm sure more than one person drives that kind of car." Ike looked at Taylor and then looked down and nodded. "Yeah, I know, I just thought..." He sighed and then said "Be right back." He walked out rather quickly. I turned back to Taylor and Tori and asked "What was that all about?" I was still stunned. Taylor sighed and shook his head as he flopped down in a chair. "Oh, he saw a car in the parking lot and he came in swearing it was Karen's and asking everyone if they'd seen her." Tori said as she sat on the couch. I suddenly got the feeling that Ike must have been thinking randomly about Karen for some reason. He hadn't mentioned her since their divorce and he'd seen the same kind of car that she'd drove before and never gave it a second look.
"Hey Ike! Wait up." I said as I jogged down the hall to catch up with him. He turned and smiled a tired smile and then we began to walk together. "Are you alright?" I asked softly. He just nodded in response and said "Yeah. I guess you never found Zac." I shook my head and replied "No, I looked everywhere." Ike said, "Well, let's look around again. The meet and greet will be starting in a few minutes." So we looked again in the dressing room and around the stage, Ike looked in the restrooms and we stopped at the meet and greet room. Taylor was walking toward us. "Did you guys find Zac yet?" he asked with a very worried and slightly angry expression. "No. We looked all over. We couldn't find him and no one's seen him." Ike answered. "Melissa, Tori's in our room back here. Would you go stay with her and make sure she stays off her feet as much as possible." I nodded and walked back down the hall to the "Hanson Room". (as it was called) I turned back once to see Taylor and Ike talking quietly and standing very close to each other. I immediately got a sick feeling in my stomach. Yeah, there is obviously something going on. I thought to myself as I walked into the room. Tori had gotten lost in a movie on the television but I couldn't concentrate on anything except Zac and the terrible feeling I was getting.
"Hey you two, time to pack up." Shelly said when she walked through the door. "The guys are signing autographs and the buses has been pulled around back." she continued as Tori and I got up and began helping her gather stuff so that we could leave. About fifteen minutes later, we were on the bus and as Zac walked on with a last wave to the fans, the door shut and then (followed by the other bus that carried the rest of the band and other road crew members, and the truck carrying the interments, stage equipment and merchandise) Dave pulled out onto the road. We were in for an overnight trip to South Carolina. Tori and Taylor retreated to their small room and Zac got lost in e-mails and an online chat about something that was obviously very important. I walked to the back of the bus and into the room that was used as an entertainment room. I settled on the couch and waited for Ike. He had said that he needed to talk to the bus driver, Dave, for a minute and then he'd be back there to finish the book we'd started reading a week before that. I was relaxed and content when I was with Isaac. Zac had begun making me feel really uneasy. I sat back on the couch and thought about how preoccupied Zac had been. It was past the worry stage and had become more frustrating than anything. "Hey." Ike said as he walked in carrying 2 Dr.Peppers and a bag of chips. "Hey." I said with a smile watching him sit down next to me. "Here ya go." he said handing me a Dr.Pepper and placing the bag of chips between us. "Thanks. I got the book right here." I replied. "Ok, let's see now..." Ike began flipping to our mark of the last page we'd read and settled back. I curled up and sipped my drink as he began to read. This book had been one of our favorites so far and I got lost in the story and started to forget about Zac, and how worried I'd been that day, and how neglected I'd been feeling. I knew something was going on, but no one else seemed to notice that much. One way or another Zac's behavior had been dismissed and no one really talked about it. Somehow, though, I couldn't shake that feeling... that sick feeling that things were about to take a bad turn.

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