Lost, p.19
Lost, page 19
“Are they always like this?”
“Always,” she said with a grimace. “It’s like being the third wheel on a date.”
He knew the feeling.
“Sometimes it’s not so bad,” she went on. “They do their best to make you feel like a part of the gang, and it tends to work. I wouldn’t keep hanging out with them if it didn’t.”
She wasn’t wrong, he soon found out. When one of the guys started up a game of beach volleyball, the pair of them joined in willingly and Lysander found himself as one with his new team. It was as easy as hanging out with Jack, as simple as being with Eliza Beth, as comfortable as spending time with Kieran. He felt his competitive nature come back minute by minute, and it blended beautifully with those of the others.
Come Monday, he decided, he was going to look into his new school’s track team.
It was time to start getting his life back together.
That was all he had now — a life ahead of him that needed to be lived. And he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to live it. For Dakota’s sake.
“Hey, aren’t you Marina Harmon?”
The game stopped then, with everybody’s attention being drawn to the group of newcomers. Four girls in their mid-teens had been passing by when one of them had taken notice of the game and its players. Lysander’s attention went straight to Marina, determined to see how she dealt with the encounter. He was unsurprised to find her smiling politely at the intrusion, still holding the ball she had been about to serve.
“I am,” she confirmed. “And you must be fans of my brother’s band.”
They were, but apparently that made them fans of her as well. They knew all about her, about her band, and they wasted no time in gushing about how amazingly talented they found the group. Loralie shot a look Lysander’s way and rolled her eyes pointedly, earning a grin from him.
It was a look that faded when he realised one of the newcomers was staring at him.
She had just finished speaking with Stacey and had turned to him right afterwards. She was looking at him now like she knew him from somewhere. He could almost see it in her eyes that she was searching for the right name.
“Lysander,” she said at long last. “Bennett, right? Zack’s son?”
“Maverick,” he corrected her. “Otherwise, yes.” And then, thinking about how Marina was dealing with the situation with nothing but politeness, he added as sincerely as he could, “It’s nice to meet you.”
The reaction he got was not one that he expected.
The girl snorted, gave him the dirtiest look she could muster, and said, “Why don’t you just go back to where you came from? We all know you’re a fraud.”
He stared at the girl. He didn’t know what else he was supposed to do. He wanted to say that he wasn’t a fraud, that he would never sink to such levels, that Zack wasn’t stupid and would never have allowed such a thing to happen — but what did she care? The look on her face said she’d already made up her mind about him, and there would be no changing it.
He decided that the best response would be to walk away.
But he had taken all of two steps before she was in his face, her expression one of anger now.
She growled at him. “Those guys are like family to me — I can’t stand by and watch you hurt them just because you’re looking for money or fame. And I’m not the only one who feels that way. So you can either pack your things and get out of here, or you can stick around and us fans will make you leave.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I might be.”
This angered him more than he expected. How dare she come into his life, accuse him of being a liar, and then threaten to do something about it? How dare she claim that his family was like family to her, when she had probably never even met them?
“Lysander is not a liar.”
This came from Marina, who had come to stand by Lysander’s side without him having noticed. She settled a hand on his shoulder, squeezing the way that Zack might have done, letting him know that she was there — and that he should not lash out at this girl, no matter how tempting it might be.
“Do you really think Zack would have let a fraud into his house so easily?” she went on, raising an eyebrow at the girl. “Trust me, honey, he wouldn’t. Lysander is the real deal, whether you want to believe it or not, and you can tell that to the rest of the fans too. Anybody who wants to say differently can deal with the lawyers, because they’ll be sued for slander. Now get out of here before I change my mind and call the cops on you.”
The girl looked like she would very much have loved to argue, but she knew better than to try. She was joined by her friends once more — all of them looking embarrassed to be seen with her — and then she was on her merry way, continuing down the beach as if she hadn’t just stopped to give him a piece of her mind.
“Sorry about that,” Marina said once they were finally out of earshot. “You don’t usually get a lot of nasty fans, so you won’t have to get used to it. Sucks when it does happen, though.”
Lysander’s mood had been thoroughly killed by the girl. He decided to sit out for the next game, surprised but not ungrateful when Loralie joined him. There was no need to let on about how much the incident bothered him — he didn’t need word of it getting back to Zack.
“You okay?” Loralie asked after he’d let out a long, slow breath. “That can’t have been easy.”
“I’m fine,” he assured her. “I just…don’t deal with the fans too well.”
Loralie nodded as if she understood. Maybe she did. She hung out with Marina on occasion; she must have seen similar things happen over time.
“Does it ever get better?”
The words slipped out before he had realised they were coming; the pitiful look that Loralie gave him made him want to take them back, and gave him all the answer that he needed.
“Not really,” she said anyway. “But you learn to handle it better. You’ll see.”
Lysander wasn’t so sure.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Zack couldn’t wait until this album was finally done. He always grew edgy as they got closer to the end of the recording process, knowing that accomplishment was right around the corner. He looked forward to release day, and he looked forward to going back on tour, but there was something more that lingered in the back of his mind this time: the knowledge that the album release did indeed mean a tour, and a tour meant leaving Lysander for the first time since they had met.
It was a thought that didn’t sit right with Zack. He had been intending to talk to his son about it for quite some time, but he never seemed to get around to it. And as he had glanced in the rear-view mirror on the drive to the studio and glimpsed the brilliant smiles on the faces of the two teenagers in the back seat, he had known that today was not the right time to bring it up. Today was all about keeping that smile on Lysander’s face and showing Eliza Beth a good time. News of the tour could come later. For now, they still had time.
Allowing Eliza Beth to come to the studio had been meant as a peace offering to his son, but she gave the reaction that Zack had been hoping to see all along.
She took in the studio as if it were her own personal Heaven. She looked on at the things that Zack had come to see as everyday objects and made them something special again, made them something to be excited about. It made Zack look at his day with new eyes. He forgot that he had been a recording musician for over a decade and looked about the room with wonder. When had all of this — the row of guitars along the far wall, the soundboard in the next room — become so everyday for him? He missed being able to walk into the room and get excited about the newness of it all.
He told her about all of the things that Lysander had shown no interest in — how the hardware in the recording studio was set up to work; how long it usually took them to get through a single song, an entire album. All the while Lysander trailed along behind them with a smile on his face, no doubt thrilled to see the pair of them so animated. If getting along with his girlfriend was all it was going to take to make Lysander happy, then that was exactly what Zack would do. But he couldn’t stop that one little thought in the back of his mind: the one that said the only way this could have been better would have been if it were Dakota in place of Eliza Beth.
He shook the thought from his mind quickly. There was no point in dwelling on it now.
To say that Axwell was stunned to find that he wasn’t the first one to arrive would have been an understatement. So surprised was he to see Zack already in the studio and excited for the day that he almost dropped the gear he had been carrying in from his car. He recovered quickly, and not five minutes later he had taken over from Zack and was patiently explaining to Eliza Beth what all of the knobs and switches on the soundboard were for.
Zack sunk down onto a couch where he could watch from a safe distance. Axwell seemed happy enough to have the attention of the two teenagers, even if one of them wasn’t taking in anything that he was saying, and he was such a good teacher that Zack had to wonder whether the man had ever considered it as a career path. If being a producer fell through, at least he would have a suitable back-up.
Unlike Zack himself, but he was long past having to worry about that.
It was just after nine-thirty when the rest of the band began to show. Pat and Chris were the first to roll up, the latter looking like he’d had a rough night, and Brendan and Aaron arrived not five minutes after them. All four were stunned to learn that Zack had been the first in the studio that morning, but they let the subject drop when they realised what the cause for it had been. After that it was best behaviour from them all.
Zack let Lysander make the introductions, and it warmed his heart to hear his son refer to the rest of the band as his uncles. It was like hearing the word “Dad” come out of his mouth for the first time all over again — and that was something Zack knew he would never grow tired of hearing. He had always thought that it would be something strange, being called Dad when he had spent his entire life giving the title to somebody else, but it made him happy. It was something that he loved.
Axwell had to call his name three times to snap him out of the daydream he had fallen into.
It had been a long while since Zack had felt nervous in the studio, but under the watchful eyes of Lysander and Eliza Beth he could feel it rising up within him. He had to force himself to look down at his guitar, to focus on what he was supposed to be playing and not who was watching him. Even without glancing up he knew that the rest of the guys were laughing at him. They would know he was nervous — it showed in the way his hands shook as he positioned them.
He shouldn’t have been nervous. He played in front of thousands on a regular basis. But there was something about the thought of screwing up in front of his son that made him feel a lack of self-confidence. He wanted to be the best for his boy in every aspect of his life, especially the one where he was supposed to be a professional. To royally screw up in front of him, and with his girlfriend around no less, would have been a disaster.
So it was a very good thing that Zack was good at what he did.
When he was finally permitted to step back out of the recording booth, he found that Aaron had taken up the job of entertaining the two teens. He was telling the pair about what it had been like for him to step into a band as an outsider when the rest of them had known each other almost their entire lives — a story that Lysander had already heard and taken comfort in, and one that Eliza Beth seemed to find interesting.
Pat was off in the far corner, head bowed over a notebook and a pen in his hand. Refining the day’s lyrics, no doubt. The look on his face said that he didn’t want to be interrupted, so Zack took a right and sat with Brendan instead.
Brendan had his guitar in his lap, but it looked as though he had long since given up playing it. His eyes were across the room, on Lysander and Eliza Beth.
“What do you think?”
Brown eyes glanced Zack’s way and then were gone again. And instead of an answer he received a question: “What do you think?”
“I like her. She makes him happy.”
Brendan didn’t say anything.
“All right.” Axwell clapped his hands together and gave them a quick rub. “A little fine-tuning with the vocals, and then we’ll have a final product to listen through.”
That was Pat’s cue. He got up without a word and headed for the booth, that look of concentration still on his face. And that could mean only one thing: he had a list of things in mind that he wanted to achieve. This was most definitely not a bad thing — Zack loved that his band mates paid so much attention to detail and were all about getting things right — but the closer they got to the end of the recording process, the more that he found himself wanting it to be done. It was getting to that stage where he needed to remind himself to slow down, to enjoy the process, to make sure they were getting things right. Nothing that they rushed would ever be as good as what they could do when they took their time.
“Fifty bucks says he’ll be in there all afternoon and still not be happy,” Brendan said, shooting Zack a knowing look. Zack could only shake his head and grin in response.
Eliza Beth was in for a treat, because Pat had been performing better than ever on this album. By the way that her eyes glimmered as she listened to him, he knew that he was right. Lysander had previously made a comment on how great the vocals were sounding, but he could never judge them the way that a fan would. Eliza Beth could — and her reaction was all the convincing that Zack needed to know that this album was going to be a hit with the fans.
“She’s loving it.”
Brendan nodded. His eyes were back on the girl too, but he didn’t look quite as thrilled as Zack felt.
Pat wasn’t happy with his first lot of recording, so he and Axwell set off again as the rest of the band fell into a routine of keeping themselves distracted. Chris was working on the bass lines for their final song; Aaron was lying on the couch, texting. When Brendan announced that he was going outside to get some sun, Zack decided to go with him. It was almost one by then and he hadn’t stepped outside once since arriving at the studio that morning. Being locked indoors for so long was starting to make him feel boxed in. He needed air.
The Californian sunshine was more than welcome on their backs, and Zack sat himself under it eagerly. A part of him longed for the old days where he might have sat there relaxing with a beer in his hand, but another, newer part of him knew his drinking days were slowly coming to an end. The same had been true for Brendan when Melody came along, and looking at the guitarist now, Zack thought that it showed. Brendan had never looked unhealthy, but now he was always glowing.
“I miss the beach,” Brendan said, catching Zack off guard. “We should take off next weekend and spend some time on the beach instead.”
“Been meaning to say the same thing for weeks. Do you think Pat would go for it?”
“We’ve been working hard. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a day or two to relax himself.”
A day on the beach was exactly what they would all need after the work they had been doing, and Pat would have to be mad to deny it. One weekend off would definitely not hurt — especially since they were maybe two weeks off finishing. And their wives would no doubt appreciate the day more than they would. The poor women were always so neglected during these times of work. The thought of a day on the beach with Georgia was exactly what Zack needed to get him through the next week.
The back door of the studio opened, and out stepped Lysander.
Zack’s first instinct was to wonder what was wrong, but the smile on his son’s face assured him that nothing was amiss. He grinned at Brendan as the guitarist nodded in greeting, then made his way over to the two men in silence.
“Hey, kid. Something up?”
“Everything’s fine, Dad,” Lysander assured him. “I just wanted to come out here and say thanks.”
“Thanks?” Zack repeated. He raised an eyebrow. “What are you thanking me for?”
“For letting Eliza Beth come along today. Especially after I was so annoyed about coming last time.” Lysander rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. “She’s having a really great time.”
“Well, we aim to please.”
“She seems nice,” Brendan said. “Your girlfriend. How long has she been a fan?”
“I don’t know,” Lysander admitted. “She doesn’t really talk about it. I only knew she was a fan because she mentioned it to me once in passing, but even then I forgot until I introduced her to Dad and everything sort of came out.”
Brendan wore a look that Zack didn’t like. It was thoughtful and suspicious and it filled his stomach with dread. But he also knew that it was probably nothing. It was in their nature to be weary of newcomers. It was their way of keeping safe, of making sure their lives were kept private. Zack would have been the same had their positions been reversed.
“Well, good for you.” Brendan smiled at the boy. “I gotta make a quick call to Nat, check on Melody and all, but I’ll be back with you guys soon. Better get back in there before that girl falls in love with the studio instead.”
The studio was once again quiet when Zack and Lysander made their way back inside, though a quick sweep of the room showed nothing out of the ordinary. Axwell was still sitting by his computers, configuring one thing or another, and Aaron hadn’t left the couch. Pat, Chris and Eliza Beth were nowhere to be seen.
“Kitchen,” Aaron said before Lysander even had to ask. He didn’t stop texting as he added, “Something about needing water.”
“Thanks, bud.”
Knowing that he would get no conversation out of the drummer or their producer, Zack followed his son. He had some suspicions of his own — that he would find Chris breaking into the beer, and Pat going over lyrics again — so the kitchen seemed like the safest bet for him, too.
