A Beautiful Melody

by Lilliana Anderson

  But when I think about what happens between us when we’re alone… Marcus keeps making advances toward me, and with Theo, well… there’s something there. Shit…perhaps it would have been better if Theo stayed mad at me.

  Chapter 16

  Naomi

  “You have to tell me everything,” Stephanie asks me as she sits down opposite me, breathless and running late to meet me for coffee the next afternoon.

  “Well hello to you too,” I laugh, indicating the coffee and cake I’ve already ordered for her as I slide my sunglasses on top of my head while she settles into her seat.

  “Hello? Whatever,” she says waving her hand dismissively. “What’s a hello? I haven’t seen my best friend – the godmother of my child for almost two months. You’ve been so busy with this band stuff that I hardly even get to talk to you and on top of that – do you know what I saw posted on Facebook today? A YouTube video of you, looking smoking hot on stage next to lover boy Bailey and do you know who posted that video Naomi? Fucking Radio Silence’s official fan page. They’re saying you’re touring with them when they come out here – is that true? Are you actually going to get to meet Dan Stolle? You have to introduce me. You know how much I love them. I mean, I already have tickets. I ordered them the moment they went on sale. Fuck Nomes – do you know what this means?”

  I laugh at her constant barrage of comments and questions as I take a sip of my coffee. “It means I’m going away for a while.”

  “It means you’re going to be famous,” she points out.

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself. We’re just supporting. We’re not the headlining act.”

  “Yes, but do you understand how many other bands would have been going for that?”

  “I don’t know Steph. Honestly, this is all happening so fast I’m struggling to wrap my head around it. Tell me something normal. Tell me about what you’ve been doing lately.”

  “Me? Are you fucking serious? I stay at home all day and watch a one year old walk around the house and throw tantrums. I don’t want to talk about me! Tell me about the boys in the band. Are you sleeping with any of them?”

  “No and you’re not going to believe this, but I haven’t slept with any of them – ever.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I recount for her the ridiculous sibling rivalry that Marcus and Theo had over me back in high school and how Marcus allowed Theo to think he’d slept with me just to make sure he stayed away.

  “That’s bloody ridiculous,” she says, cutting off the corner of her cake and popping it into her mouth. “Thanks for ordering for me by the way.”

  “No worries,” I tell her. “But, I know it’s ridiculous, and what’s even weirder is that we did know Theo in high school – he just went by a different name back then.”

  “What was it?”

  “Aramis.”

  Stephanie sat forward so quickly, that she actually sprayed cake out of her mouth in surprise.

  “That’s disgusting Steph,” I grimace, handing her a napkin.

  “I’m sorry, but oh my god. Theo is Aramis? The Goth you used to hang out with in the auditorium?”

  “Yep.”

  “What the hell? Why didn’t we know his real name?”

  “I always thought it really was Aramis,” I say. “Even the teachers called him that. How were we supposed to know?”

  “See, that’s the problem with performing arts schools. At a public school a teacher would never go for some teenage boy going all Goth and changing his name.”

  “Perhaps,” I say laughing.

  “So, you made out with Theo?”

  “Yeah. Years ago though. Supposedly I convinced him to take the makeup off and he told me his real name. Although, I’m glad I don’t remember it, because that’s why I was naked the next morning. I took all of my clothes off and tried to throw myself at him. So embarrassing,” I say, shaking my head at the thought.

  “You know, I’ve never understood why you were so wasted that night. We were drinking together, and I was fine. We got all of our drinks from the same place. Remember that guy who made us lucky dip to see if we got our favourite flavours.”

  “Steph, I don’t think that’s why it was a lucky dip.”

  “What do you mean? What else would we be lucky dipping for?”

  “Remember how one of mine was flat?”

  “Yeah,” she replies, looking at me innocently.

  “Oh Steph,” I laugh. “You have no idea do you?”

  “About what?”

  “I must have won the lucky dip.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “How do you not know what that means?”

  She looks at me blankly, shaking her head and raising her shoulders slightly as she waits for me to tell her.

  “One of the bottles was spiked – with drugs. That’s why it’s a lucky dip.”

  “Oh my god!” she gasps, her hand flying up to cover her mouth. “I gave you that bottle! I drugged you. I can’t believe I drugged you!”

  “It’s ok Steph, you didn’t know,” I console her. “I didn’t even realise until I was reading a book a few years later and the same thing happened in there – I felt like such an idiot.”

  “Oh god, you must hate me. I’m responsible for your most embarrassing moment!”

  “No. It wasn’t you. It was both of our naivety that did it.”

  “I’m so sorry Nomes, I feel so bad now.”

  “Forget it. It’s in the past.”

  “Alright. I won’t go on about it,” she agrees, returning to eating her piece of cake. “But you have to at least let me talk about the present – tell me all about those hot men you’re spending all your time with. Which one are you interested in? It can’t just be work all the time.”

  “Sorry Steph, I’m not interested in any of them,” I lie, covering my face by lifting the coffee cup to take a long drink before changing the subject. “So where’s Amanda today? I miss my goddaughter, I wish you’d brought her.”

  She launches into a diatribe about how Gary is working all the time and he needs to spend more time one on one with his daughter. As I watch her, I smile, nodding my head and commenting when it’s required. But if you look at me really closely, you can see that I’m not giving her my full attention. My mind is drifting as I think about the Bailey brothers… well – one Bailey brother in particular.

  Chapter 17

  Marcus

  “Give it back!” Naomi squeals, chasing Lachlan who’s successfully evading her by putting Theo’s drum kit between them.

  “No way, I want to see what girly crap you’re going to end up making us all play,” he teases as he holds what looks like a journal out of Naomi’s reach.

  “Don’t think that’s going to save you. I can still whip you with my bow from this distance,” she warns, flicking her arm out and getting him in the shoulder.

  “Ow!” he laughs, flinching away from her as she hits him repeatedly. “Ow! Stop it. Alright, alright, I’ll give it back. Just stop whipping me.”

  He moves around the drum kit and holds the book out to her, his other hand held up in surrender. She snatches the book back quickly and gives him one last whip for good measure.

  “Hey!” he winces. “I gave it back.”

  “Dude, you totally deserved that. You don’t mess with other people’s music journals – they’re like diaries,” Jack informs him, laughing at the whole scene that just unfolded in front of him.

  Admittedly, I’m having a good laugh too. Lachlan didn’t go to our school, and he doesn’t write music, so he doesn’t get how sacred those things are – you just don’t look inside.

  I move over to Naomi, who’s shoving the book deep into her oversized bag. “You’re writing lyrics?” I enquire as I move next to her.

  She looks up at me a little awkwardly and bounces a shoulder before she looks down at her hand and inspects one of the many callouses that have developed on her fingers from all the hours spent playing. Her dark las
hes hide her eyes from me. She seems so small and delicate and I have the urge to scoop her up in my arms and protect her from the world.

  “It’s nothing. I’m just playing around,” she tells me, seeming a little embarrassed now.

  “Well, you’ve got me interested. I’d love to know what you’re writing about.” I lean down a little so I can speak quietly. “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours,” I suggest, my mouth turned up in a grin. I know I’m teasing, but I can’t help it, I love making her blush.

  “You’re incorrigible,” she laughs, glancing back up at me. But it’s there – that blush I was after is blooming across her cheeks. I guess this is what I’ve always really liked about Naomi. She has this innocence about her that the other girls I spend my time with don’t have. They are all very bold and know exactly what it is they’re asking of me. But Naomi, she’s never thrown herself at me. Even though I can tell she’s attracted to me. It makes her… special.

  “I’m a lot more than that,” I grin before nodding toward her bag. “Seriously though, I’d like to hear your lyrics.”

  She leans up against the low shelving unit and tucks her hair behind ear. “Oh they’re really nothing special. I’ve just had the melody to the song Theo’s been working on in my head and I jotted a few things down. The rest of it is all old stuff that I’ve been playing around with since school and there’s some classical themed stuff from my uni days. Normal stuff… you know?”

  “Yeah, mines probably very similar, although minus the classical stuff, I’ve never written anything along those lines.” I lean back on the shelving next to her and fold my arms across my chest. “You’ve never said why you left ANU. Why didn’t you finish?”

  “I don’t know,” she sighs. “I guess I just lost heart. I went from being the best in our school to being just like everyone else. I wasn’t so special there – heaps of students could play even more instruments than I can, and they could pick up the music and play even better than I can, and I guess I just got lost, you know? Everyone there was vying for the same positions in the orchestra, and I realised that it wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want to be an instrument in an orchestra. I didn’t want to fight like everyone else was. The competition just took all the fun out of it, so the moment I started to dread opening my violin case, I decided that I’d had enough, and I left.”

  I sit and listen, nodding as she speaks. Lachlan and Jack have moved over to listen as well. It’s something we’ve all been interested in knowing, especially when the music school at the Australian National University is supposed to be the best in the country. Everyone who wanted a career in music applied there – hell, I even applied to go there, but I didn’t make it. I went to the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney instead and studied music and social sciences – I got my degree and all, but it was just another big party to me. I’m sure it wasn’t anything like what Naomi was doing in Canberra.

  “I know a lot of people think I wasted a great opportunity, but I just couldn’t keep doing something I wasn’t enjoying. I mean, what’s the point in getting a coveted position in one of Australia’s top orchestras if you’re not really into it? It’s pointless right?” she explains, looking at each of us as we all make some sort of agreeable noise.

  “Well, I’m glad you dropped out Nomes,” Lachlan adds.

  “Yep, me too. Because if you had’ve gone on, you’d be playing the philharmonic or something and we wouldn’t be going on tour with fucking Radio Silence!” Jack whoops, high-fiving Lachlan as he does.

  “Thanks guys,” she laughs.

  “Speaking of the tour. Where the hell is Theo? We need to get this rehearsal in,” I say, looking over my shoulder at the door that leads into his house.

  Theo

  As I open the door, I hear Marcus wondering where I am, and I’m not surprised he’s the one sitting right next to Naomi as they all huddle together gossiping about god only knows what – hair products or something, knowing this lot.

  “Alright ladies, let’s get this done,” I say, as I stride over to my drum kit and pick up my sticks.

  “All business today huh?” asks Jack as he immediately heads over to his keyboard.

  “Yes, and you should be too. We’ve got less than a month to get these set lists down and to get everything recorded so we can make the most of this tour. I just got off the phone with the tour manager and we’re going to be playing ten shows in three weeks. There’s not much time off in between. So if we aren’t capable of playing this stuff together in our sleep then we’re going to end up sounding shit by the end of it. So get your arses into gear, and stop your fuckin’ gas bagging.”

  “Yes sir!” Naomi smiles, saluting me before she picks up her violin. I can’t help but crack a smile. Despite all of my earlier reservations, she’s actually been really good for the band. She lightens the mood and has a way of making me realise that I don’t have to be serious all the time. Just like she always did I guess.

  I can’t really express how glad I now am that she came back into my life. I’d been carrying so much anger and resentment toward her around with me for years, and now, knowing that it was all a stupid misunderstanding due to my douchebag of a brother, it’s as if a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and I’m finding my friend again.

  I didn’t realise how much I had missed her friendship, she’s always been the only person who seemed to fully understand me. It’s like she’s always seen me for me – even when she didn’t really remember who I was, she still seemed to understand me, she still made an effort with me. I guess even if everything was true I still would have ended up forgiving her. I was already struggling to stay mad at her – how can you be mad with someone who gets you? It’s impossible.

  “What’s first?” asks Jack, “Can we do It’s a Crime? I need to loosen my fingers up a bit.”

  “Sure,” I say. “When we finish up, we’ll order pizza and work out our set lists for the tour. We’ll try and get something we can all agree on.” As I look around at each of them, they’re all in complete agreement. “Let’s do this,” I call out, as I set my Mac to record the session and sit down at my kit.

  Jack looks at me for confirmation to start and I nod, positioning myself for when I start to play while I listen to the solemn notes that begin the song. I have to say that right now, I’m actually feeling happy. Everything seems to be coming together. The band, my life. I can only see good things happening right now.

  Chapter 18

  Marcus

  After a month of preparations, we are all packed and ready to travel around the country supporting Radio Silence on their multi city tour of Australia. They’re playing every big venue there is. So it’s going to be almost a month of flying around the country, staying in hotels.

  If you don’t know who Radio Silence is, then you must have been living under a rock for the good part of ten years. Most days, you can’t make it through a day without hearing one of their songs. You’ll hear them on TV, in movie soundtracks, on the radio – hell, you’ll even hear them in the freaking supermarket or while you’re standing in a lift. They’re that popular.

  They started off as a little indie rock band in England, some place called Gloucester. I have no idea where that is because I’ve never been there, but the whole point is, that they’re kind of like us. They produced their own album, played as many shows and festivals as they could and finally got noticed when one of their songs, Vagabond, caught on.

  For a while, that’s all their fans wanted to hear and they’d refuse to play it. Dan Stolle, the band’s front man and song writer, said that he always hated the song and just couldn’t stand playing it anymore. Right now, they’re on their tenth world tour and all reports are saying that they’re playing the song again.

  Fans are going mad, tickets have been sold out for months. Extra shows were scheduled and they sold out too. It’s epic, to say the least.

  Do you understand what this means for us? Radio Silence has legions of fans and we �
� Matiari – are going to get to play for them. This is phenomenal!

  But, between you and me – when I think about standing on that stage, it frightens the hell out of me. I mean, what if they hate us? I remember going to a concert a few years ago. It was a pretty well-known band, but the supporting act was just horrible. They did this weird thing where they ran around the stage, fluttering their hands at their sides while ‘flight of the bumblebees’ played.

  We all sat in stunned silence, wondering what the hell was going on and when they stopped, a member of the audience yelled out ‘You Suck!’

  They gave him the finger and started playing a song that had little musicality to it while they wailed indecipherable lyrics.

  When they finished, it was like they were playing to a stadium full of fucking crickets. Not one person applauded. On top of that, the same audience member yelled out, “You still suck!”

  The band then started swearing at the audience, every one of us roared with laughter. Next thing we knew, the lead singer kicked over the microphone stand and the lot of them walked off the stage without finishing their set.

  At the time, I remember laughing. I remember re-telling the story and laughing with people again and again. Now though, I think about that band, knowing exactly how exciting it is to be the supporting act for a big name band and feel fear creep through me. What if we become that band? What if we get booed off the stage?

  “Oi Marcus. Get your arse in the van,” Lachlan calls out. We’re all driving to the airport together in Theo’s van so we can help to check in all of our equipment. Although I’m pretty sure that we’re all going together to make sure we all turn up on time. This tour won’t work if one of us goes missing – and there’s too much riding on it for one of us to fuck up.

  I jump in the back seat of the van, with Lachlan on one side and Naomi in the middle.

  “All good?” she asks as I slide in next to her and clip my seatbelt.