THEY WERE ALL gathered in the kitchen, each of them taking up separate corners of their own space and staring at each other. It was an obvious test to see who would speak first.
Lindy had not thought that Charlie's news for her and Kurt could have been particularly bad. But telling by the way he stood, leaning over the island counter with a troubled expression on his face, had her thinking otherwise.
Kurt was sitting at the bar, looking back and forth between his son and wife so as not to miss the first words uttered in their conversation. As far as he was concerned, he would not be the first to speak, not while the spotlight was on his son.
As soon as Charlie had arrived, he'd led them both into the kitchen, standing in silence and waiting for them to get settled. But now, Lindy felt distinctly unsettled, trying to make poor guesses of what could have possibly been bothering him.
"So . . . it's pretty bad, huh?" Lindy finally said, carefully evaluating Charlie's response.
"Depends on how you look at it," he replied, rubbing his pointer finger against the granite countertop absentmindedly.
Lindy turned to Kurt, seeking input from someone other than herself. Whatever worry regarding Danny that had been beating Kurt up earlier was masked; around his kids, he tried his very hardest not to show his fears. He never wanted put them in distress.
"Char, you might as well just say it," Kurt said quietly. If he could reveal his own secret to Lindy about the tribute concert, then surely Charlie could do the same with his own secrets. Especially when he seemed so desperate to let his parents in on this one, if only he could find the proper way to start.
"I quit The Finks," Charlie said, the words sputtering from his mouth so quickly that he might have been misunderstood if it weren't for Lindy and Kurt listening closely.
"You quit your band?" Lindy asked. There was no way — Charlie cherished his band, even if it meant putting up with Liam's constant negativity.
"Yeah," Charlie nodded. "I did."
"When?" Kurt said, his voice calm as if the revelation did not shock him.
"Two days ago. It was when I was at Liam's house."
"Charlie," Lindy said, moving closer to him from around the counter she stood behind. "What happened? Are you guys in the middle of an argument?"
Charlie side-eyed his mother with a look of reproach and Lindy automatically knew the question he was thinking inside of his head — are you referencing the eight month long argument I've been having with Liam or Liam just always having been a shitty human being?
"It started out as one. But I made my final decision. I've been waiting to do this for longer than I even knew. It felt right," Charlie amended, glancing between Kurt and Lindy.
There was a firm glint in his eyes, an unshakeable determination to move past The Finks once and for all. Lindy saw it plain as day, but she could not actually believe it in full truth. It seemed so odd to watch Charlie break away from the piece of his life that had fulfilled a top spot of priority.
"I understand," Kurt murmured. He stared into Charlie's resolute gaze, a passage of empathy flowing between them.
"Hold on," Lindy argued. "I'm not trying to be the bad guy here . . ."
"Mom, if you're honestly about to try and say that I'm making a mistake, then I don't know who you are right now. I know you've disliked Liam from the start."
"It doesn't have to do with my dislike of Liam," Lindy said impatiently. She was waiting for Kurt to back her up, to see the obvious, gaping problem within Charlie's decision, but he was too compliant. He and Charlie had too much of a mutual understanding to ever disagree on anything.
"Then what is it?" Charlie shot back. "Don't you think I can do this without Liam's help?"
"Of course I do," Lindy groaned, agitated that Charlie had even dared to suggest otherwise. "But you're forgetting that you are legally obligated to finish all that you signed up for. What about the tour? All those shows?"
Lindy looked to Kurt, waiting for him to nod in agreement, but he was quiet. Of course he would be. He himself had bailed out of shows on tours in the past and knew what repercussions came with it. To that very day, Kurt was wholly embarrassed to admit where he had gone wrong, but he'd never openly say so.
"I can do all of it without Liam," Charlie insisted.
"What are you talking about 'without Liam?' You're going to get up there and do a nationwide tour alone?"
"That's part two of what I'm about to say. I have a new band."
Lindy's eyes widened considerably and she blinked, feeling as if maybe time had played tricks on her and they were all actually a few weeks into the future.
"I'm sorry, did I miss something? Have I been asleep for a whole month?" she demanded.
Oppositely, Kurt was fully absorbed, clinging to every word of Charlie's explanation like he was telling a tale of a grand odyssey. He leaned forward in his chair, waiting for Charlie to elaborate.
"It's me, Emerson and Grant," Charlie explained. "They quit too. Same day that I did, actually. They didn't want to be in the band without me and they said we should start our own."
"So you kicked Liam out of his own band, basically?"
"That's great," Kurt said through an abrupt bark of laughter, tilting his head back with amusement.
Charlie grinned at his dad, but Lindy waved her hand in the air, signaling that she was not done trying to make sense of what was going to happen next.
"Okay, so now what? You all have started a band without Liam?"
"What's it called?" Kurt interrupted.
Lindy narrowed her eyes into slits and flashed Kurt her meanest death stare. Of course he'd be asking what the name of the new band was instead of addressing how they were going to logistically survive their previous breakup.
"Residual Riot," Charlie answered straightaway. "I came up with it."
"I like that," Kurt mused. Charlie beamed, Kurt's approval washing over him like warm, golden light.
"Can you two please focus on what I'm trying to say?" Lindy begged.
As much as she would have loved to side with Kurt's way of viewing things, she couldn't, not when Charlie may or may not have been standing in the way of big legal trouble. She was happy for him, there was no doubt about it — he looked happy, which was enough to make her feel the same.
But the first thing on her mind would always be protecting him.
"Say whatever you have to say and I'll listen," Charlie said solemnly, reaching out to place his hand over Lindy's. He appeared so sure of himself that Lindy nearly doubted her fears for the briefest moment.
"Have you even talked to Ellen about all of this?" she asked, lightening her voice to a placid calm.
Ellen was The Finks's manager. As a young thirty-seven year old with an astute taste in punk and alt-rock music, she'd taken excellent care of them for a very long time. Lindy had really grown to like Ellen, trusting her to take care of Charlie in an industry that was known for being bitingly vicious.
"Of course I have. That's been a huge part of what I've spent the last forty-eight hours doing."
"And she approved?" Lindy ogled. "She didn't warn you of how much debt you'll be in if you cancel all these upcoming agreements?"
"Mom, you're not listening. No one is cancelling anything. Everything that The Finks were slated to do is still happening, except it's going to be Residual Riot doing them."
Lindy gawked, wishing that Charlie's reasoning was easier for her to understand. But it sounded all like make believe, as if he were trying to convince himself that it would work when in reality, it was nothing but a far-fetched dream.
"There's no way Liam is okay with that," Lindy opposed. "It was his band. His . . . rights, I guess."
"Not when every single song on our setlist belonged to me," Charlie shot back.
No one said anything for several seconds, each of those seconds ticking by slower than the previous one. Kurt was the first to finally speak, forming each word with curiosity.
"Are you saying . . . you've written every Finks song?"
"Yes," Charlie confirmed. He swallowed and nodded his head, looking down at the countertop. "Every single one."
Lindy was not sure how she was supposed to react. Should she be prideful that her son had written all of the works that had made his band famous? Or angry that he'd been expected to shell out his talent with no recognition in return?
"Liam never credited you," Lindy said, her voice rising. "That album had 'Liam Harvey' written under almost every songwriting credit."
"I know," Charlie said bitterly. "I let it happen because I felt bad for him. I felt bad that he didn't have any material to contribute. And I thought he was my friend."
"Friends don't do that," Lindy hissed, clenching her fingernails into the palms of her hands.
"I'm sorry Charlie," Kurt mumbled, appearing to be genuinely upset that his son had lost out on the acclaim that came with having created such beautiful songs.
"It's fine," Charlie said. "It worked out, really. I legally own those songs and they're mine to perform. I get to say who does what with them, and Liam's never going to get the chance to sing them again. Those songs are for my band now."
"So . . . you're doing both, then?" Kurt said. "Singing and lead guitar?"
"Yep."
Kurt's smile grew into something that could only be defined as infinitely proud. The way he looked at Charlie then was an expression of such love that it was almost heartbreaking to watch.
"Holy shit," Lindy said, closing her eyes. Charlie had enough loopholes up his sleeve to make her head spin.
"Liam agreed to walk away from it all without causing a shit storm. I told him that I'd come out and admit what a manipulative piece of shit he's been if he didn't let it go. So he did. And now it's just us. Ellen made sure of it."
"But your fans," Lindy muttered. "They think they're getting four of you, not three."
Charlie smiled pleasantly. "That's the only risk we're actually taking. But Ellen made a valid point, and that was that in every publication released in the last year featuring The Finks, Liam was favored least of all by our fans."
"Don't tell me you're fucking surprised," Kurt guffawed, shaking his head in disbelief.
He did make an ass out of himself in every interview, Lindy recalled. Liam was not exactly one for discretion, especially when it came to his obnoxious personality.
She analyzed Charlie, noting the flush in his face and the size of his smile. There were still rings of purple under his eyes, but looking past that, he radiated the aura of a truly content person.
He had his own band, something she knew that he'd always wanted even if he'd never admit to it. He was still going to tour the States, and he was going to be doing it with a girlfriend whom he adored. There was nothing in Charlie's life that seemed wrong in that sliver of time. It only made sense that he was happy.
And of course that was all that Lindy wanted. When Charlie was happy, it went past the physical barriers of her being. She could feel it in her heart.
And then she was happy too.
"You know I support you no matter what," she said softly.
"I know. And that's why I wasn't scared to tell you," Charlie smiled.
"We both support you," Kurt said. "We always will."
He was about to envelop Charlie in a hug when his phone rang, vibrating once again from its place in his pocket. Kurt sighed in frustration, reaching into his jeans.
"Kurt, just answer it already," Lindy insisted. There was no use in delaying his conversation with Danny any further. He couldn't ignore his once-manager forever.
Kurt checked the phone screen and nodded, answering the call and disappearing down the hallway.
"Hey," he said cordially. "Sorry it took me so long to get back to you."
His voice faded as he moved through the house and both Lindy and Charlie could hear the front door open and close.
Apparently it was a conversation meant to be held in privacy.
"Who is it?" Charlie said, his eyes lingering where Kurt had disappeared.
"Just business stuff he's been ignoring," Lindy lied.
It wasn't her place to tell Charlie about Danny's suggestion to Kurt. As much as she enjoyed keeping their little, tight-knit family in the know, she didn't feel the need to expose Kurt's dilemma when Kurt himself had no idea what to do.
Charlie told her that he had a meeting with Emerson, Grant and Ellen, something having to do with composing a public statement about The Finks and their 'evolvement.' It wasn't going to be announced as a breakup — Residual Riot was going to be projected as something bigger and better than The Finks had ever been.
Lindy let him leave longingly, wishing she could have squeezed him tighter in her hug before he left. He was so capable of navigating even the biggest of decisions and it left her feeling lonely that he didn't need her guidance as much as he'd once had. She still remembered a time when he'd needed her to tie his shoelaces and sing him to sleep.
Lindy was jarred from her thoughts when she heard Kurt re-enter the house, slamming the front door shut and meeting her back in the kitchen. His phone was still in his hand, though the call was clearly over.
"What did Danny say?" she inquired casually.
"It wasn't Danny," Kurt said. "It was Krist."
He pressed his mouth into a straight line, appearing to bite his tongue in contemplation before he continued forth in his explanation, lowering his phone to his side.
"I'm going to a meeting at Danny's office tomorrow. Me, Krist and Dave. We're going to have a talk."