GTFO of My Head

Chapter 5

The sound of his phone vibrating across the bedside table woke him but fortunately not her. He reached across Maddie's prone body, thankful for his extended reach, and managed to get his fingertips onto the screen to answer the call. Gently, slowly, he rolled off the bed and padded quietly down the stairs.

"CJ, man, it's good to hear from you," he whispered into the phone as he crossed the great room where shadows still clung to the corners of early morning.

"I got your message and I talked to Will and I wanted to get back to you, let you know that I support you dude, I'm here for you," his bandmate responded brightly and Brady felt himself let out long heavy sigh. It felt so good to have CJ respond positively.

"I need you to know that this is not me leaving the band. That's definitely not something I want," he felt the need to say it again despite the fact that he'd said that in the message he'd left each member of the band individually.

"I hear you. I mean I'm not going to say it wasn't a shock to hear you were doing a solo album, but it was good to have Will confirm it was something the Label was asking for," CJ added and Brady felt the tension in his shoulders finally begin to ease. "But you have talked about doing one so it could be good for you to see where that leads you."

"Yeah I mean...yeah but I just wanna get it done and then get in the studio with you guys," Brady sighed.

"Don't sweat it dude. Honestly, we've been going balls to the wall for a while man...well you and Ajax have," CJ snorted. "But yeah, we've all been working hard for a while now so it's kind of nice to get some down time at home with the missus," CJ sighed and Brady could imagine his friend and bandmate stretching and settling back on the sofa, sliding his arm around his wife Angie and smiling.

"Angie might be happy to have you home now but how long before she wants you out from under her feet?" Brady chuckled.

"Probably right around the time you're ready to get back into the studio to fight it out with me over song order and instrumental bridges," CJ replied and Brady could hear the smile in his bandmate's voice. "Speaking of which, Will tells me that you're working with a songwriter right now. How's that working out?" Brady glanced up to see Maddie walking slowly down the stairs, her hand sliding down the railing. She paused and he knew that she was asking if he needed privacy. He shook his head.

"She's pretty amazing actually. I'm going to have to introduce you two so that you can see how easy it can be," Brady replied with a wink towards Maddie who was heading for the kitchen. She rolled her eyes and reached to open one of the cupboards.

"Look man, I'll let you get back to it but I just wanted you to know that I'm proud of you for making it through treatment. How are you doing with that? You doing good?" CJ asked and Brady had to stop and think about it. He knew what he was currently doing would be frowned upon by the therapists. There was a rule about not getting into a relationship for at least a year. But this wasn't that.

"Yeah so far so good man," he replied honestly.

"That's good dude. That's good to hear," CJ sighed and Brady could hear the relief in his friend's voice. "Well dude I can't wait to see what you do with this and when you're ready to get into the studio, let me know, maybe I can throw down some licks on your album."

"That would be cool, yeah. I'll do that," Brady grinned, feeling like an elephant had been lifted off of his chest.

"Okay man well...send me updates. Let me know how it's going and...if you swing by this way come and have some home cooking with Angie and me okay?" Brady smiled.

"Tell Ange I'll look forward to some of those tamales of hers," he replied, making his bandmate laugh. "Thanks for calling man, it means a lot."

"Forever and ever," CJ replied with the promise the band made to one another every night before they hit the stage.