Brendan sat with Cooper in the master control room while the band was playing through one of their songs, in preparation for their third studio album to be released. Summer vacation had started only three days earlier, and the band had performed for Amigos Middle School at the promotion ceremony, where they all earned awards for high grades throughout their middle school years.
Midway through the song the band was recording, a voice spoke in the earpiece Brendan was wearing. As the head of security for the band, he wanted to make sure he had direct contact with other security personnel at all times, hence the ear pieces he and everyone else in security wore.
"Hey Brendan," hissed the voice of Tuffy, the band's driver.
"What's up?" Brendan asked.
"You've got a phone call on line one. It's your dad. Want me to patch him through?"
"Yeah, sure, go ahead," Brendan replied. A few seconds later, the phone in the booth rang and Brendan answered it.
"Hey, Dad," he said.
Meanwhile, Nat and the rest of the band were playing the bridge of the song they were recording. As they continued playing, Nat noticed Brendan standing up on the phone, with an angry expression on his face; he seemed to be yelling into the phone. When the song was over, they all sat down their instruments, having all noticed Brendan's phone antics, and followed Nat into the booth.
"Look, Dad, I realize you want me to be there, but I just can't right now," Brendan said in annoyed voice. After a few seconds he angrily said, "Well fine, if that's how you feel about it, then forget me coming to the party! If you don't want me to enjoy time with my friends, Dad, that's fine, but you're not gonna drag me along to some stupid office function just so you can show me off to all of your co-workers. Now, goodbye!"
With that, Brendan slammed the phone down on the receiver and looked up at the rest of the band. His expression softened when he saw them.
"Hey guys, nice take in there. I'll have to listen to the second half later, since I got this call."
"Everything okay, Brendan?" Nat asked.
Brendan sighed. "Yeah, it's fine. Just my Dad and I had an argument over the phone. He wants me to come to some stupid family event his work is doing that I've never at a good time at before. But it's okay. I won't go."
"Well, Brendan," Rosalina said. "Don't you think you should spend some time with your family? I mean, we'll be okay here at rehearsal, you know."
"I know, it's just that he knows I don't like these things, but he still tries to get me to go to them," said Brendan earnestly. "Guys don't worry about it. You've got enough on your minds without worrying about me and my family stuff. Listen, I'm gonna go out for lunch, if my parents call, tell them I'll give them a call back, okay?"
"Sure thing," Nat said, nodding. "Have a good lunch."
For the next hour, the band continued work on their new song; recording and re-recording different sections of it for the perfect take. During the middle of a take, they stopped abruptly when they saw Cooper standing up and tapping on the window.
"Cooper, what is it?" Nat asked.
"You'd better come in here. I've got Brendan's Mom on the line, and she's got some bad news. She says she wants to talk to you, Nat," Cooper replied.
"Take ten, guys," Nat said to the rest of the band.
"Milk break!" called out Alex, making everyone else laugh.
Nat put down his guitar he was playing and walked into the master control room. He saw Cooper on the phone, with a grim expression on his face.
"He's here right now, Mrs. Hopkins. Just one moment," Cooper said, before handing the phone to Nat. "It's pretty bad," he added in a whisper.
Nat gave him a look of confusion before bringing the receiver up to his ear.
"Hi, Mrs. Hopkins," he said.
"Hi there, Nat," Brendan's Mom said in a teary voice. "Is Brendan around?"
"No, he's not here. He's out at lunch right now. Do you need me to pass along a message?"
"Yes, I do, Nat. Umm, I'm not exactly sure how to say this, but Brendan's father passed away half an hour ago."
"What?" Nat said in a shocked voice as the rest of the band came into the booth to see what was going on. "Oh my god, that's horrible, Mrs. Hopkins."
"Nat, what's up?" Alex asked. Nat shook his arm at him.
"How did it happen?" Nat asked.
The band watched as Nat's facial expression darkened further as the conversation dragged on.
"Oh, this is horrible news, Mrs. Hopkins," Nat said, rubbing his forehead. "How are you doing?"
"Nat, what is it?" Alex asked. Nat shook his hand again.
"Oh, I just feel awful about this. What can I do? What can the band do?" After a few seconds, Nat said, "Well, yeah, go ahead and call all of them. And Brendan will call you as soon as he gets back. We'll take care of everything. Okay, sure. Bye."
Nat put the phone back on the receiver and seemed lost for words.
"Nat, what happened?" Alex asked.
Nat looked up at his brother. "Brendan's Dad died," he replied shortly.
The rest of the band let out a simultaneous gasp.
"Oh, my god," Rosalina whispered.
"What happened? Was he sick?" asked Thomas.
"No, it was a heart attack, sudden."
"Oh, that's awful, poor Brendan," Rosalina said.
"Listen guys, they are flying the body and Mrs. Hopkins back to Brendan's hometown tomorrow, and I told her we'll go with."
"Of course," said David.
"Yeah, anything for Brendan," added Qaasim.
"Cooper, I'll need you to get Brendan on the first flight out of here tomorrow morning, and then find one sometime in the afternoon for the rest of us."
"I'm on it," said Cooper, whipping out his cell phone and dialing a number.
"You guys take the rest of the day off. We'll take a few days off so we can be with Brendan during this. He's always been there for us, it's high time we're there for him when he needs it. Go on, home and I'll have Cooper call you all with details on a flight for tomorrow."
The rest of the band nodded and left the booth. Alex, however, remained behind.
"You okay, Alex?" Nat asked.
"Yeah, I just want to be with Brendan when he finds out," Alex replied in a small voice. "And I think Dad and Jesse should come with us. Brendan always says he likes them."
"I agree," Nat said.
About twenty minutes later, Brendan returned from his lunch and entered the booth, where Nat and Alex sat waiting for him.
"Hey guys!" he exclaimed. "Where did everyone else go?"
"I sent them home for the rest of the day," Nat replied in a heavy voice.
"Why? Did you guys screw up that badly?" Brendan asked, laughing.
"No, it's not that it's…."
"What? What is it?"
"Your Mom called a little while ago."
Brendan's facial expression changed for glee to annoyance. "Oh. Let me guess, she's mad because I don't want to go to that picnic thing, right?"
"Brendan…" Nat said, seeming at a loss for words.
"What? Is something wrong?"
"It's about your Dad," Nat said, standing up.
"My Dad what?"
"He," Nat hesitated, looking at Alex, desperate for help. Alex just nodded at him silently. "He had a heart attack shortly after you left Brendan." Brendan opened his mouth in shock. "He-he didn't make it, Brendan."
"Oh my god," Brendan whispered with a look of shock etched onto his face.
"He fell asleep on his recliner in his office and he never woke up. He didn't suffer at all."
"A heart attack?" Brendan said. "I can't believe it. I just talked to him and he sounded fine."
"I know," Nat whispered.
"What about Mom?" Brendan asked as his voice started to break. "I should call - " He made to turn to the phone before Nat grabbed his arm.
"She's holding up real well, she's holding up real well," he said as Brendan burst into tears. Nat pulled him into a hug.
"Cooper booked you onto a flight first thing in the morning since they're flying him back to your hometown," Nat said quietly while Brendan sobbed into his shoulder. Alex stood up next to them and patted Brendan's back.
"And as soon as we tie up the loose ends here, we'll get a flight and me and the rest of the band will be down as soon as we can."
"Okay, okay," Brendan said in a tone barely louder than a whisper. Suddenly, he withdrew from Nat's hug. "Oh! Oh no!"
"It's okay, you don't have to pack or anything, we'll get it - "
"No, you don't understand! Dad called this morning and wanted me to go to that picnic and we had that fight! I could've seen him one more time. I could've told him that I love him. And now the last memory I have of my father is a stupid argument."
"Hey, hey," Nat said quietly while Brendan burst into tears again and fell into another hug. Alex awkwardly pushed himself in and joined the hug. When he did, Brendan wrapped his arms around both his friends while tears streamed down his face.
