A Beautiful Melody (15 page)

My face still feels flushed from the excitement of playing tonight, and the fact that Marcus just kissed me. After all these years, he kissed me, and he did it on stage in front of thousands of people. If that isn’t some kind of declaration, then I don’t know what is.

Holy shit. I think Marcus likes me. I mean, I think he
likes me
likes me. Maybe when he told me to say the word and he’d stop, he really did mean it. Maybe he can shift his focus to me? Maybe he can be with just one woman?

Despite my own happiness over it all, it doesn’t seem to
be sitting too well with Theo. After all, Marcus did just publicly break the one rule that Theo refused to break in private last night. But you know what? That’s his loss. His choice. And Marcus is right – the crowd loved it.

I glance over at Theo, who’s sitting up against the wall, looking anywhere in the room but at one of us, and my bravado dies down. I’m kidding myself. I’d have gladly had him be the one to kiss me tonight – in public or private.
What does that say about me though? That I want the attentions of both brothers. I mean, what kind of girl does that make me? I look between both brothers and my mind becomes a jumble of emotions and feelings that I really can’t deal with right now.

It’s at that moment that Marcus reaches out to take my hand,
a look of concern on his face as he studies mine. But with my inner turmoil going on, I flinch away. “Just… not right now. Ok?” I say, taking a step away from him. I need to get my own thoughts straight.

I see the
concern fall from his face as his brow creases into a frown. Suddenly, the elation from tonight’s performance seems to be sucked out of the room and poor Lachlan and Jack are just huddled up together in the corner, pretending none of this is going on.

Theo f
inishes his beer and stands up, pointing an accusing finger at Marcus. “God help us if we get in trouble for this Marcus. I cannot believe how reckless you were out there. I mean, what would have happened if the rest of us didn’t know the song?” he shouts. Continuing on, to list all the reasons he can see why Marcus fucked up tonight.

As I watch them both arguing, I wish that I could so
mehow melt them into one person. They each have different qualities about them that I like. Theo with his quiet words, his determination and his protectiveness, and Marcus, with his fearlessness and fun loving spirit. They are both special in their own way.

Although
, perhaps I’m just a silly girl whose head is stuck in the clouds, still looking for love in all the wrong places.

“How about you both cool it. You’re going to fuck this up for the lot of us!” Jack yells over
the top of them.

“Yeah, we just had this awesome show, the crowd loved us and you’re
in here fighting over a girl,” adds Lachlan.

Guilt washes over me, and
I take that as my cue to slip out of the room. I need to get away from the Bailey brothers for a while. They’re starting to mess with my head, and that’s starting to cause problems for the band. If I don’t take a step away, this is all going to blow up in our faces, and everything could be ruined.

As I close the door, I turn to see Radio Silence
leaving their dressing room as they head toward the stage. I wait where I am, watching them ahead of me with the plan to go to the side of the stage and listen to them with some other crew members and hang abouts.

Dan Stolle is the last one out the door, and he looks back down the hall and spots me. “Hey,” he calls out, smiling. He inclines his head, gestur
ing for me to come to him. Not seeing any reason not to, I oblige. “We heard you playing. The crowd loved you tonight,” he says, walking beside me to where he’s about to walk onto the stage.

“Thanks,” I say, giving him a small smile.

He frowns slightly, the ring in his eyebrow bobbing with the movement. “Didn’t you have fun?”

“Yeah, I did,” I tell him quickly. “Just some band issues. Th
e boys are kind of having at each other’s throats right now.”

“Wow, a bit of a downer,” he says, glancing over his shoulder as the crowd starts to chant his name. “Listen,
why don’t you wait here and enjoy the show. Take your mind off things – I hope you’re a fan.”

“Of course I a
m,” I laugh, giving him a small wave as I watch him run out onto the stage.

He picks up his guitar and slings it over his shoulder, leaning into the microphone. “How’d we like that
Matiari huh?! I can’t believe how talented some of you Australians are,” he yells out, turning his head for a moment to wink at me.

I smile and lean up against a pillar, and watch as Radio Silence starts to do their thing. If someone had have told me that I’d be standing this close to such a huge band a few months ago while I was still tending bar – I would have laughed my arse off at them and called them a liar.

But here I am, an intrinsic member of a band on the cusp of success. All I have to do is keep my relationships with the Bailey brothers as platonic as possible, and what better way to do that than to spend some time with a rock star?

Laughing at myself, I can’t believe that thought just crossed my mind. Actually, what’s bigger, is that I can’t believe that even seems like a possibility.
I cross my arms over my chest and surreptitiously gave myself a little pinch – just to be sure I’m not dreaming. My grin broadens. I’m still here. This is my reality.

I shake my head, still finding it hard to believe it’s true.

***

When the show is over, the band comes off the stage to the roar of the crowd. Being the main act, I know they’re planning on going out for an encore, so I try to move out of their way as helpers move towards them, hand them towels to wipe off their sweaty faces and bottles of water to cool down.

“Having fun?” Dan Stolle asks me. I can’t stop thinking of him as ‘Dan Stolle’, just saying ‘Dan’ sounds so wrong. I’m having trouble seeing him as an actual person at the moment, even though I know he is.

Unable to find anything witty to say, I simply nod my response.

“Great. One more song, then we can go have some fun. Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I agree, completely forgetting about the Bailey brothers and th
eir mixed signals for the moment, preferring to focus on the fact that Dan Stolle seems to want to spend time with me.

I watch
as Radio Silence runs back on stage, the crowd is so loud that I can hardly hear the intro to their song. They’re playing the first song that got them noticed. It’s called
Vagabond
and is about the singer feeling he isn’t good enough for the company of the woman he’s interested in. I have to admit that it’s my absolute favourite of theirs, and I’ve found myself playing it for fun on more than one occasion.

When they’re done, the crowd screams again. Never feeling fully satisfied, always wanting more. But the show is over, and the men all leave stage and hand their instruments over to their stage hands.
Immediately, Dan Stolle pulls off his white, sweat soaked, t-shirt and replaces it with another one exactly like it.

I’ll admit that my eyes might have somehow strayed from the very interesting rigging I was trying to stare at and found their way to his abs.
Not too bad
, I think, pulling my lip in between my teeth then looking away quickly when he catches me looking.

“Come on,” he says, holding out his hand to me. “It’s time for the second act.”

For a moment I wonder what he’s talking about, then I realise as we’re stopped constantly by those wanting autographs, photos, and to congratulate them on playing so well. I try to stand off to the side when they are getting their photos taken, feeling like I’m intruding. But he holds fast to my hand, keeping me at his side.

“This is good exposure for you. Don’t pass it up,” he says in my ear. Photos are being snapped left right and centre, so I just stay where I am and smile, hoping I don’t look too freaked out by all of this attention.

Radio Silence has five band members. Two guitarists, one bass player and a drummer. The members haven’t changed since they became famous over ten years ago now, so they’re professional and courteous, taking all of the attention, that’s making my own head spin, in their stride as we’re led by who I’m assuming is their manager, to a big room that has been set up with food and drinks, and a whole bunch of people who are all waiting on them to arrive.

The moment we step inside, a flock of admirers gather, asking each member for their autograph. I take the opportunity to look around the room and notice that Jack an
d Lachlan are sitting and entertaining a couple of busty blondes on a set of couches. Figuring that Marcus and Theo are in here too, I look for them, hoping to find them together and at least looking like they’re going to come over and say hi to the band that’s responsible for us being here.

I find Marcus on his
way towards us, although my heart sinks slightly when I notice that he’s accompanied by two model-like women, one on either side of him. My eyes roll all by themselves and I’m catapulted right back to that morning when I thought I had slept with him and he started to give me the ‘friends speech’. I guess he was talking about something else when he told me to give him the word and he’d stop. I thought he meant that he’d stop screwing around.

Feeling my stomach turn sour, I reach up and wipe at my mouth, wishing I’d never let him kiss me. God, I’m such a fucking loser. Just look at me right now. I’m running from man to man, hoping that one of them will want me. Who does that? The realisation of my behaviour hits me hard and I realise that for the sake of the band, I really need to get control of my feelings and learn to keep my distance from these men.

When Dan reaches back and takes my hand again, I happily take hold of his in return, preferring to focus my energies on him tonight instead of the disappointment I’m feeling toward Marcus right now. I tell myself that there’s nothing wrong with that. Spending time with Dan Stolle won’t break up my band. Letting myself get too involved with either Marcus or Theo would. If that makes me a slut, then so be it. I’ve been branded one since that stupid party all those years ago. What difference does it make now?

Waiting his turn, Marcus
shakes hands with each band member, glancing at my hand as it stays clasped within Dan Stolle’s and giving me a questioning look. “Made a new friend?” he asks.

“
And you’ve made two,” I point out coldly. “You’ve met Dan Stolle.”

“
It’s Dan guys, just call me Dan,” he laughs, releasing my hand for a moment to shake Marcus’s while he gives him a friendly pat on the shoulder. “You sounded great tonight. I was telling Naomi that we could hear the crowd cheering from our dressing room. Great work.”

“
Thanks Dan. It was amazing. Thanks for having us along for the ride.”

“Unessessary,” he says, taking my hand in his again. “You were the best band for the job. Excuse us.”

With the ease of someone as famous as he is, he dismisses Marcus completely and leads me over to the refreshments table. Grabbing a beer from the tub of ice, he hands it to me, raising his eyebrows in question. Gratefully, I accept it, taking a thirsty drink as I continue to scan the room for Theo, wondering where he is.

Instead, my eyes find Marcus again, now canoodling with those too women. It makes me sick to watch them, and by the way Dan is looking at me, I guess my
distaste must be evident on my face.

“It won’t always be like this. He’ll get bored with them eventually,” he assures me.

I turn my head to face him, trying not to let my eyes look for either of the Bailey brothers.

“
I doubt that,” I smile, taking another sip of my drink.

“You
’re not actually with any of them are you?” he asks.

“No, I’ve never
… We’ve got a rule about not doing that kind of thing,” I tell him.

“That’s good. It can get pretty messy. I’ve seen a lot of co-ed bands bust up over relationship stuff. It’s not worth it.”

“Obviously,” I say, giving the room one last scan for Theo. I still can’t find him, and wonder where he is.

“Listen. I’m not that big a fan of these things. How about we go and grab something to eat? Get out of here? This doesn’t seem like your scene either.”

“I’m that obvious am I?”

“Yeah, I don’t get much of a party girl vibe off you,” he laughs.

“Ok, then. Let’s go eat. Just let me go back to the dressing room, grab my stuff and get out of these heels, my feet are killing me.”

“I’ll
be there in about ten minutes. I just have to let people know I’m leaving so they don’t freak out and send out a search party.”

I laugh in response.

“Don’t laugh. It’s actually happened before,” he admits.

Pushing through various bodies to get to the door, I do my best to ignore Marcus and his two new whores. He seems fairly intoxicated. I don’t know if it’s from alcohol or the show, but he’s obviously planning on having a good night tonight. Well, perhaps I’m going to have a good night too. He’s not the only one who can kiss and m
ove on. I’m sure I can do it as well.