Page 37 of Lost
“Jack Avery,” Lysander replied, shooting his friend a quick look. “Jack, these are…my uncles.”
Jack picked his jaw up off the floor. “I thought garage bands were something only teenagers did.”
The guys laughed.
Jack looked nervous, but not in the fan sort of way. Zack couldn’t help feeling sorry for the kid. If what Lysander had said was true (and Zack didn’t doubt him for a second) then Jack had been dealing with bullies for a long time. Probably even longer than he was willing to admit. And here he was now, standing in a garage filled with a group of strange, intimidating men. Zack wanted to kick himself for not realising that this would make the kid uncomfortable. Maybe he should have driven them back to his own house instead.
“They won’t bite,” he said. When Jack turned to him he added, “They’re good guys. You have my word. This isNeedless Desires.”
Jack furrowed his brow. “Who?”
Chris snorted. “Did he seriously just say that?”
Being the closest, Brendan was the first to offer his hand to the teenager. There was only a brief moment of hesitation before Jack shook it.
“Brendan Harmon,” the guitarist introduced himself. “That’s Aaron, Pat and Shorty.”
“Chris,” the bassist amended automatically. He gave Brendan the finger.
“You boys make yourselves at home,” Pat said from his place by the computer. “The kitchen’s right through there. Fridge is fully stocked, so help yourselves.”
“Thanks.” Lysander hitched his bag up higher onto his shoulder. “We’ll let you guys get back to work.”
“Sorry for any trouble we’ve caused,” Jack added, the apology mostly directed Zack’s way. “We didn’t mean to interrupt your…work?”
“No trouble,” he said. “But no more fights, all right?” To Lysander he added, “Even if itisfor a good cause.”
“No promises, Dad.”
And with those parting words Lysander and Jack made their way into the kitchen, leaving Zack with his four chuckling friends.
“No promises,” Brendan repeated with a grin. “You’re gonna have your hands full with that one, man.”
“You just wait until Melody’s a teenager.”
“Girl’s an angel. There won’t be any fighting from her.”
Pat shook his head, but there was a knowing smile on his lips as he turned his attention back to the computer. Zack returned to his seat and reclaimed his guitar, knowing that Pat would be eager to catch him up on what he’d missed. He himself was eager to get on with the rest of their session.
“We were going to try recording the demo,” the older man told him. “We’ve practised it enough, and the others agreed that it sounds ready. Whatcha think?”
They didn’t need to ask him twice. “Let’s get this baby recorded.”
They played well into the afternoon, tracking for hours until each of them was satisfied with how the composition was sounding. Hearing the completed demo played back, Zack felt a familiar spark of excitement. The album was coming along great. The fans were going to love this song. He knew it; they all knew it. He could see his own excitement reflected in his band mates’ eyes.
They packed away their gear with smiles on their faces.
Leaving Pat to finish up on the computer, Zack followed the rest of his band into the kitchen. He found Chris and Aaron exactly where he knew he would — at the fridge and pantry respectively, one looking for alcohol and the other looking for some sort of sugary treat. Brendan had sat himself down at the table, across from Lysander and Jack who were poured over what could only be…
“Homework?” Zack asked, raising an eyebrow. His son glanced up at him. “You know you’re suspended, right? You have all week to do that!”
“But if we do it now,” Lysander said, “we don’t have to spend the rest of the week worrying about it.”
He looked over the boys’ shoulders. Spread out in front of them were their individual notebooks and a textbook they were sharing, filled with some form of mathematics. Geometry? Trigonometry? Zack couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe they were the same thing. He looked down on it with distaste.
Jack looked as confused as he felt, but Lysander breezed through the problems as if he’d done them a million times before. Zack watched his son work in amazement.
“Dude.” Brendan grinned. “Your kid’s a nerd.”
