Oklahoma (Isaac Hanson)

Chapter Twenty Eight

it kind of leaves hanging, again. I apologize, but I have this much and have had it sitting here. Figured I'd get it posted at least, since the next few weeks are insane for me.

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"It's weird, ya know? It's like I have a whole other life and I never knew about it." Perrie sighed. "I'm sorry." she apologized almost automatically.

"For what?" Tanner asked from the other side of the phone call.

"For unloading all of this on you. You didn't sign up for the crazy train." Perrie answered.

Tanner laughed a little. "Are you kidding? My life was boring until you showed up."

"Oh oh, is that good or bad?"

"Its good. Definitely good!" he confidently assured her.

When Isaac had dropped her off at the hotel, Perrie did the first thing she always did when she was upset about something – she called Ben. When Ben didn't answer, she tried her luck with Grady only to be told he was in a meeting with a very important client and couldn't talk. It wasn't personal, but it still hurt to be brushed off. What if this was a sign? A sign that her former family were moving on and not taking her with them? Whatever the universe was trying to tell her, Perrie would have to figure it out later.

Being put off by Ben and Grady, she had decided to call Tanner. When she had left, Perrie promised to call him when and if she got a chance. Poor guy, Perrie felt bad for unloading her problems on him, but when Tanner had asked how things were going everything had just tumbled out. Perrie told him about being at the hospital and about Oliver, and how Isaac was probably at the hospital asking all kinds of insane questions.

On the other end of the line Tanner just listened. More than anything, Perrie needed someone to listen to her right now. Besides, Tanner didn't know much about this type of thing. His family was your standard family of four, who led average lives, and nothing exciting or gossip worthy happened to them.

"I wish I could say something that would at least sound useful." Tanner added. "If it helps, which I doubt it will, I'm sure everything will straighten it self out."

"Wow, you really were grasping for straws." Perrie teased. "Maybe we should have just stayed home." she sighed feeling a little more than defeated. "At least if I were home, I'd have more to do and keep my mind off of these silly things."

"But at least you're there, even showing up is doing more than you would have by staying home." Tanner tried to offer up some thing.

"Not really, I'm in the hotel room watching Property Brothers and eating pretzels. I could have totally hung out with the Scott twins at home." Perrie explained with a snort.

"Had you stayed home, you might not have ever found out about this Oliver guy. Plus, I'm sure in some way, this is helping you. How often do you and your dad spend time together? Car trips are great for bonding, or so my mom says."

On the ride to Columbia, Perrie and Isaac hardly spoke. Perrie was almost leery of being around Isaac alone, it seemed that when they tried the whole bonding thing all they did was argue.

"I'll remember that for the drive home." Perrie replied.

"Good." Tanner quickly replied. "You can let me know how it goes, when you get back."

"Oh, I'll tell you all about it. I can't wait to tell you how awesome our silent, six hour ride home was!" Perrie faked enthusiasm. "How sad is it, I have been with my dad for this long and I still know nothing outside of the basics?"

"Ask him. You said it yourself, you have a six, maybe seven hour drive home. Talk to him. For a guy who thinks I need to drop dead, he's pretty cool." Tanner mused. "Be honest, Perrie, how much does he know about you?"