Again

Chapter 39

The next week had come and gone in a whirlwind.  The baby shower passed with no incident and the Monday after, everyone was as close as they could be to their regular routine.  It was now Friday afternoon and the guys had been in the studio all week.  Their yearly member's only EP release date was quickly approaching.  And while the brother's hadn't disclosed the actual release date, they knew it and the pressure was escalating to get it done on schedule.

"Something's off," Zac said as he abruptly stopped drumming in the middle of a recording session.  He took off his headphones.

"What did you say?" Taylor asked.

"Something's off.  I don't know if the timing in my headset is off, but something feels off.  I just don't know what it is," Zac answered.  He put down the headphones and removed himself from behind his drum set, "Can you play it back to me without the drums?"

Taylor hit a few buttons on the boards in front of him as the melody of the song they were currently trying to record rang through the speakers.  They listened quietly for a couple more minutes before Taylor hit another button and the sound stopped.

"Maybe it's just me," Zac answered, somewhat frustrated.  "It sounds fine here but when I'm going through it, it feels like it doesn't sound right."

"Maybe you just had enough for today?" Isaac asked.  Zac rolled his eyes as he looked at the clock on the wall.  It was only 4:30 in the afternoon; nowhere near the time they were done recording most days. 

"It's still early," Zac replied.

"Yeah but we've recorded a lot today.  We have 3 out of 5 done, two of those songs we finished today; we can be done for today, is all I'm saying." Isaac countered.  

"He's not wrong," Taylor added.  

Zac took a deep breath before he nodded his head in agreement.  He went back to his drum set and grabbed his phone.  He hit the power button on the side and illuminated his screen, revealing a missed call from Kate.  He walked out of the recording studio and down the hall into the lobby as the call connected and he waited for Kate to pick up.

"Hello?" 

"Hey, sorry I missed your call, we've been recording all day.  What's up?" 

"I figured.  It's fine.  I just wanted to let you know I probably won't be home tonight for dinner.  Or whenever you get home.  We finished one of our projects today so we're gonna take the team out to dinner and probably have some drinks.  My car is here at home, I just got here, but I'm gonna take a cab to the restaurant so that I'm not driving home after."

"Oh... okay.  Well... we're leaving here in a few minutes, we're done for the day.  What time are you going to do that?"

"I'm getting in the shower now, so I'll probably leave here in about an hour or so.  You want me to make you something really quick before I leave?"

"No, no, thanks but I can grab something.  I was just saying, since we're done, I can drop you off if you want?  That way you don't have to take a cab, you know how I feel about you doing that alone."

"I know.  I'll be fine though.  I think I'll enjoy the quiet ride over.  This one was a beast."

"Oh... alright.  Well in case I don't get home before you leave, be careful.  Call me if you want me to pick you up afterwards."

"Okay.  I will."

"Alright."

"Okay... see you later I guess."