Remodelling the Wreckage of My Past

“Mum, it’s me. Well, I just wanted to ask you when you’ll be back. Please call me back. I miss you.” I hung up and slide the phone back in my pocket before walking back in the building and went to sit on the orange plastic chair in the waiting room.

I was waiting for Aiden to walk out of the therapist office but at the end of his appointment, the guy asked to talk to Dad. So now I was sitting there, on my own, waiting for them to walk out. They had been in there for about thirty minutes when the door opened and Aiden walked out, followed by Dad who shook hand with the therapist and we all walked out of the building and back to Dad’s car.

“How did it go?” I asked Aiden as we reached the car.

“I’ll tell you once we get back home.” He whispered and I nodded, opening the door and sliding on the backseat as Aiden went to sit on the passenger seat.

“I’m going to drop you off at Cha’s, I need to talk to Nathalie.” Said Dad. Aiden didn’t react.

“Okay.” I replied, feeling the need to talk. They both seemed to have a lot on their mind and it was weird. Thankfully, the drive wasn’t long and soon Dad parked the car in Cha’s driveway. We got out of the car and Brian told Zacky that he had to talk to Nathalie and that he would be back in about an hour or so.

“Come on kids, Cha is in the kitchen, taking the cookies out of the oven. You better be quick, Ash and Jess are here too.” Zacky said with a smile. I gasped and made a run for to the kitchen but Aiden beat me and nearly launched himself at the plate of cookies.

I shook my head at him and laughed as Ash playfully glared at him as he was taking a bit of cookie.

“Nice to see you too Aiden.” Said Cha with a smile before Aiden swallowed the cookie and walked over to her, giving her a hug. “I love your cookies!” he said and grabbed an other one.

“What’s the deal with the cookies?” asked Zacky, taking a sit on the stool. “Muffins are better.”

“Huh no, cookies are the best.” Said Aiden.

“You know, you remind me a lot of your mother… She loves cookies too.” Said Jess.

“Maybe Mum ate a lot of cookies when she was pregnant, hence our cookies’ love.” I explained, taking one from the plate.

“I need to go see Matt.” Said Zacky, getting up. “We have things to plan for the tour, since it’s being postponed and shit.” He added before kissing Cha’s cheek, waving at us before leaving the house.

“The tour is postponed?” asked Aiden, sitting on Zacky’s sit and taking an other cookie.

“Yeah, we aren’t done recording yet.” Explained Jess, as Ash rolled her eyes, sighing.

“How come?” I asked.

“Your future step-mother thinks she is the best guitarist ever but she has trouble laying down the riffs for the cover of the Avenged Sevenfold song…” muttered Ash, rolling her eyes once again.

“Just ask Dad.” Said Aiden. Cha shook her head.

“No, we always say that we’d never ask any of the guys’ help for a record.” Explained Cha.

I nodded.

“And why can’t you ask someone else to do the guitar parts?” asked Aiden.

“Because she absolutely wants to play guitar.” Replied Ash, rolling her eyes once again.

“How did she become the singer and guitarist of Perfect Nightmare?” I asked, curiosity taking the best of me.

“Nathalie was singing on one of the tracks in the guys self titled album, and we stopped by and hear her voice. She was a good singer and we terribly wanted to go back on the road and Brian suggested us to take her in the band, so we did because we thought she would learn guitar pretty easily. Turns out it’s been a little over 7 years she’s been in the band and she still can’t play guitar correctly.” Explained Jess, shaking her head. “If it wasn’t for her great voice and the fact that she was now Brian’s fiancée, Ash would have already kicked her ass.”

“It was way easier when your mum was in the band…” sighed Cha. “The guitar part was always the first thing done, and if it wasn’t for us messing around with her while she was recording the lyrics, it would be recorded faster.” Remembered Cha with a sad smile.

“Do you have any CDs that we could borrow?” asked Aiden, taking me by surprise. He was the one who thought our mother couldn’t play guitar and sing.

“Sure, we only recorded two albums with your mother, and two others with Nat.” explained Cha as she disappeared in the living room only to come back seconds later with five CD cases. “The last one is just a demo for our last record, only the single is out.”

“Thanks!” said Aiden as he took the CDs from Cha’s hand and looked at them, turning them around to look at the track lists and stuff.

“There’s a song call ‘Turn Around’ on the first record and on the last one. How come?” I asked, looking at the CDs from over Aiden’s shoulder.

Ash clenched her fists and unclenched them before slamming both hands on the table and getting up. “I need a drink.” She muttered as she walked up to the fridge and grabbed a beer.

“That song was written by your mother but Nat liked the song and she decided to record it again, changing some of the lyrics. We didn’t think it would do much harm since your mother wasn’t here and Nat had Brian’s approval.”

“Dad’s approval?” asked Aiden, his expression reflecting mine.

“Yeap, Nat asks for Brian’s approval every time we are deciding of something new.”

“That song is Mum’s! Not Brian’s, Mum wrote the lyrics, I hope she never hears it because she might throw a fit…” he muttered, glaring at the demo.

Then, realization hit me.

“Mum heard it! Remember when she stayed in the car when we went to McDonalds! I’m sure she heard it!” I exclaimed.

“It’s copyright! It’s Mum’s song!” argued Aiden, clenching his fists. “Why didn’t you stop her?”

“We thought she was just going to record it with her own voice, not changing the lyrics. We didn’t even check before sending it to the radio stations, it was only when we heard it that we realized our mistakes.” Explained Ash, taking a swig from her beer.

“That girl is worst than a spoilt brat, everything she wants, Brian gets it for her.” Mumbled Jess.

“It wasn’t like that with Lyn, Brian could say whatever he wanted, if she had an idea, she would stick with it until the end, no matter his opinion. But with Nat, we have to change things every two minutes…” mumbled Ash.

“Then why don’t you kick her out of the band?” I asked.

“Because we are supposed to go on tour in 5 weeks now, it was supposed to be in a couple weeks.”

“Kick her out and ask Mum to join the band again!” said Aiden.

Jess, Ash and Cha looked at each others.

“She won’t accept it.” Said Cha.

“Oh yes she will!” said Aiden, with that evil glint in his eyes and I shook my head.

What was he going to do…