The Only Difference Between Brent Wilson and Jon Walker Is the Name

“Pete wants to visit.” Ryan said one morning as he walked into the kitchen. “And he wants to come this week.”

“We only have a couple of songs though.” Brendon said.

Ryan shrugged. “He still wants to come here.”

“I have a feeling why.” Jon said, looking over the top of his mug to look at them all. He took a long sip of his coffee.

“But we’ve told him already that it’s all alright with us.” Spencer said.

“Probably wants to see it for himself.” Ryan said. “You know what Pete’s like with happy families.”

“Didn’t really work with us before though, did it?” Jon said. “I mean, he didn’t make that much of an effort…”

His three band mates all looked down guiltily. “None of us made much of an effort, Jon.” Spencer said in a small voice.

Jon noticed how his three friends all looked. “Oh! No guys, no!” He quickly said. “That wasn’t a dig at you or anything.” He explained.

“We know, Jon.” Ryan said.

“To be honest, I’m glad that Brent’s gone. This band is working so much better now I’m Jon, better than when we were working on Fever.” Jon told them. “I can play bass better, I can play other instruments, I can sing and I seem to get on with you guys a lot better now.”

“You’re totally singing backing on this album.” Brendon said. “All of us, we’ll be like the fucking Beatles dude!”

Ryan snorted. “As much as that would be completely awesome, I doubt we’ll ever be like the Beatles.” He took a sip of coffee.

“Dreams, Ryan Ross, we can have dreams.” Brendon threw his arm around Ryan’s shoulder, only to have it thrown off again.

“That’s the only place we will be like the Beatles, Brendon, in your dreams.” Ryan told him. “Just in our dreams.”

“I think we should aim for higher than the fucking Beatles. We can make ourselves amazing like them if we try.” Jon said. Brendon beamed at the bassist.

“Hell yeah Jon Walker!” Brendon high fived him. “And we all need to sing. You’ve done backing before, Ry, you should sing. And Spencer and Jon, you can both do backing or something.”

“Hang on, who said I’m singing?” Ryan frowned. “I’m not as good as you B. I’m fine doing backing, I just don’t want to sing next to you and seem shit.”

“You are no shit singer, Ry.” Jon told him. “Ok, so Brendon can sing like a motherfucker, but your voice is still amazing. I mean, you were the original singer, you can still sing. And sounding shit next to Brendon, I don’t think so. Your voices together, they sound amazing. They’re so different, it works well.”

Ryan stared at Jon. “Really?”

“Really.” Jon nodded. “I wouldn’t lie. I think it would be a good change for the new album.”
“I agree with Jon, Ry.” Spencer said.

Ryan looked at all of them in turn. They had smiles of encouragement on their faces, Brendon was nodding too, as if to say that yes, yes he should do it. “Maybe.” He eventually said, but Jon could see the ghost of a smile on his face.

Later that day, Ryan rang Pete again and told him to come see them. Pete announced he’d be there in two days. And that Patrick was going to come with him. Pete had tried to convince him otherwise, but he was adamant about going.

Jon told the others that he still wanted his secret to stay that way, so he told them not to tell Patrick. He’d told Pete the same thing and he promised not to.

When Pete and Patrick knocked on the cabin door, Brendon opened it and pounced on Pete. Pete laughed and hugged him back before dropping him on the floor. Then he hugged Patrick and pulled the two of them into the cabin.

“How have you been guys?” Patrick asked.

“We’ve been pretty good, got a few songs, been having some fun.” Spencer said.

“And how’ve you been coping, Jon?” Patrick asked, turning to the bassist. “You know, since everything happened?”

“It’s been fun. We’ve all been getting on well.”

“That makes a change from before.” Patrick sat on the couch next to Jon. “I mean, it was all fighting before.”

Jon looked shocked. He looked over at the others and they all looked as shocked as he did. He turned back to Patrick, who kept staring at him, waiting for an answer. “Uh, what do you mean, Patrick?” He was reminded heavily of when he decided to tell Ryan his secret, but this time, he didn’t want it told.

“Well, before. You guys always seemed to argue.” Patrick said simply, looking over at Jon’s band members, focussing on Spencer in particular.

“We’ve never had an argument though.” Brendon said, eyeing Pete carefully, but he looked as confused as Brendon felt right now.

“Yeah.” Spencer continued. “We’ve only known him a few months.” Patrick stayed silent, still looking around at them.

“There’s not been time for arguments.” Jon said.

“Don’t pull that bullshit with me.” Patrick said before any one else could get a say. “I don’t know how it happened, but I know that you’re somehow Brent.”