Unrequited

by Emma Grey

  ‘This is Kat and Joel,’ the first guy says to the second, who nods like he’s expecting them. Joel stifles a snort. Who do they think they are? FBI?

  They’re directed to the door of the suite and left alone.

  ‘So, we just knock?’ she asks, unsure.

  ‘Guess so.’

  There are footsteps on the other side. The door clicks and opens.

  Time. Slows. Down.

  Joel can’t believe what’s unfolding. Nor can Kat, by the look of her.

  Because, standing there, in boots, jeans and a black T-shirt — looking every bit the idol — isn’t ‘Bryce Donovan’ at all. It’s Angus Marsden!

  Kat is anchored to the floor. Stunned.

  ‘Elle?’ Angus says in disbelief.

  ‘Sorry?’

  He’s confused but clearly delighted, and goes from über cool pop star to smitten admirer in a nanosecond. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I can’t believe you’ve just turned up!’ Angus is gobsmacked.

  Joel wonders when playing it cool went out of fashion.

  ‘I haven’t just turned up. You told me to come! Well, not you. Bryce?’

  Kat looks at Joel like she’s hoping he can unscramble this situation. He tries to muster an encouraging facial expression, but can’t. Kat says to Angus, ‘I’m here about the song.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Um . . . the song? I’ve been writing it with Bryce?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Bryce and I have been writing a song together? I spoke to him last night.’

  Angus stares at her, taking in what she is saying. ‘Hang on. You’re Kat? The songwriter? And Elle?’

  ‘I’m just Kat,’ she says confidently, and Joel gently pushes them both into the suite. This could go on all night in the foyer.

  ‘We haven’t met,’ Angus says, extending his hand to Joel, who shakes it firmly and says, ‘I’m Kat’s, ah . . . her, ah . . .’

  ‘Friend,’ she completes helpfully.

  Yes, that’s about it.

  Joel and Kat sit on a very expensive couch. Angus sits on the armrest of the seat across from them, staring at Kat the way art collectors pore over every detail of a painting. Joel wishes she was still wearing the jacket.

  ‘You’re the girl from the concert . . .’ Angus says.

  She shakes her head, confused.

  ‘You went to one of our concerts.’

  ‘Yeah . . .’

  ‘You hated it. Listened to something else on your phone. Paloma Faith?’

  She looks ambushed. ‘How did you know that?’ she asks.

  Joel squirms, knowing what’s coming.

  ‘You told me in a tweet,’ Angus goes on.

  ‘What tweet?’

  ‘The tweets between me and Elle . . .’

  ‘Elle?’

  ‘But that’s you! You’re the girl from seat L26. You tweeted to save the date on the eighth. Didn’t you?’

  ‘No! Why would I tell you to save the date on the eighth? That’s the night of my formal . . .’

  This is torture. ‘It wasn’t you, Kat,’ Joel finally breaks in. ‘I think someone is tweeting on your behalf. They had your seat number — L26. My guess is your Unrequited-obsessed sisters!’

  Kat looks dumbfounded. And newly anxious, like she’s wondering how Joel knows this. And why he didn’t say something earlier. Is this what he was implying yesterday? Also — what’s going on?

  ‘Where’s Bryce?’ she asks Angus.

  ‘The fans can be a bit persistent. We don’t give out our real names . . .’

  She stares at him and both boys watch as the reality dawns on her at last. Joel imagines what must be going through her mind right now: Angus is Bryce? Angus Marsden. From Unrequited? I have secretly co-written a song with Angus Marsden from Unrequited?

  Angus is looking at Kat with the very same smouldering green eyes that Sarah keeps raving about. It’s that practised look that says, ‘You’re the only girl in the world.’ Annoying git! Surely he doesn’t think she’d fall for that. She’s jittery on the couch beside Joel. He just wants to take her hand . . .

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Angus says. ‘I’m just trying to get my head around the fact that you’re the girl I’ve been looking for since that concert. And you’re the girl who’s written this song! The same girl! How is that even possible?’

  Kat doesn’t seem to know and Joel sure as hell has no idea.

  ‘All this time I’ve been searching for you, we’ve been working together anyway!’

  Joel wonders how long Angus can string out his astonishment. Yes, Kat is his dream girl. Yes, she’s also the dream musician he’s clicked with so effortlessly. This isn’t looking good.

  ‘So, the helicopters?’ she asks.

  ‘We were shooting a video. On the Harbour Bridge. The whole CBD foreshore was shut down. You’re lucky you caught me.’

  ‘Am I? Because I feel like I’ve been lied to.’

  Whoa!

  ‘And I don’t like it.’

  If Joel could fist-pump the air without looking like an idiot, he would.

  ‘And, Joel, why didn’t you tell me about the Twitter thing?’

  Uh-oh.

  She stands up and walks across the room, stopping beside the grand piano, leaning into its curve. The boys exchange glances. Neither of them speaks.

  Joel knows that coming to see ‘Bryce’ was intimidating enough for her when it was just about the song. She’d been so anxious in the car. To learn she’s composed a song with Angus Marsden and that this very public crush has been about her . . . it really couldn’t be more full-on as far as revelations go.

  Kat’s upset, but how many girls would overlook the pop star factor and stand up to him? Should Joel go to her now? Say something? Apologise for not explaining the L26 thing?

  Oh. Too late. Angus is up. Crossing the room. Standing behind her. She’s too cranky to turn around and face him.

  ‘Kat, I couldn’t tell you who I was. I thought I’d scare you off.’

  She shrugs. ‘I’m not that easily scared.’

  Is she for real? Joel wonders. She’s terrified. He can almost see her shaking from here.

  Angus goes to place his hand on her shoulder, but seems to think better of it. Instead he walks around to the opposite side of the piano, folds his arms and leans on the closed lid, facing her, trying to work her out, even more intrigued than before.

  Then he calls her bluff. ‘Come here, then. I want to play this with you.’

  She doesn’t move. Joel bets she’s freaking out right now.

  Angus pushes the pages of their composition across the lid of the piano and they flutter and settle next to her hand. She doesn’t touch them.

  ‘Come on. I know you’re nervous. So am I. It’ll add something to the performance,’ he says. ‘I’m sorry I lied to you, Kat.’

  Her body shifts, almost imperceptibly.

  He’s standing beside the piano now, one knee resting on the stool as he opens the lid. He strikes a few keys. The opening bars of her song.

  ‘I want to hear you sing,’ he says.

  Joel can barely watch. It’s like observing a master lothario at work, gradually melting the ice. He looks at the piano stool. It’s small. Made for one. How will two of them fit on it?

  Angus is still tinkering away with her song. Still not getting far with Kat. And then, in a stroke that even Joel has to admit is genius, he starts mashing Kat’s song together with ‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’ by Paloma Faith. Trying to get a bite . . .

  It does the trick.

  Without looking at him, Kat walks to the piano stool, swipes his knee away, sits down, unfolds her long legs underneath the piano, feet touching the pedals, and adjusts the skirt of her dress. She tries not to frown when Angus slides in beside her, and she attempts to shuffle along but there’s not enough room. Is it Joel’s imagination or does she visibly shiver?

  There are expansive view
s of Sydney Harbour in the twilight behind them. It would make the perfect setting for a music video, not that Joel wants to think about the hours and hours and hours they’d have to sit like that during recording.

  ‘It’s going to be okay,’ Angus says, quietly. ‘Trust the song.’

  ‘It’s you I want to trust. If we’re doing this together.’

  ‘You can, Kat. I won’t let you down.’

  If she’s totally not ready for this, you wouldn’t know. She shakes off whatever nerves she’s feeling and, without looking at Angus, puts her fingers on the keys.

  He follows her lead, and this is the first time Joel has heard the full song. It’s beautiful. She’s beautiful. And talented.

  Joel isn’t the only one who can’t take his eyes off her.

  When they reach the chorus, Angus adds something to the music so now it’s not just Kat playing the piano. It’s both of them, making the music up as they go along, as if they’re reading each other’s minds and have been playing together for years.

  And then you come along

  I see things as they really are

  Technicolour brightness

  Psychedelic stars

  Third fourth fifth dimension

  All perspectives on a par

  We dance to the pulsations

  Of the brightest shining star!

  You brought me into the next dimension

  We got it right

  We found our shadow and light

  In you I finally found perfection

  No more black and white

  It’s all colour and light.

  The song ends. The three of them sit there in silence, shell-shocked. Angus and Kat are flushed. Slightly breathless. Looking entirely pleased with themselves, as they should be. Joel can’t deny they sound unbelievably good together.

  It’s Angus who eventually speaks. ‘Kat Hartland, this may sound like it’s moving fast. But would you do me the honour of recording your song with me?’

  Lame! Joel thinks. Kat’s not going to fall for that. She’s still mad at him!

  Then, as if to prove him wrong, she blushes and smiles and eventually stammers out a ‘yes’ and looks like she’s going to throw her arms around Angus’s neck, like a groupie. Thankfully she doesn’t, but Joel still feels benched.

  What just happened? How can he possibly compete with this?

  Isn’t this every teenage girl’s dream, coming true right in front of him?

  Chapter 28

  ‘I don’t believe you!’ Sarah practically screams down the phone. It’s Joel, and he’s lobbed a second bombshell between them in two consecutive evenings. ‘Angus Marsden wrote the other half of Kat’s song? The Angus Marsden?’

  ‘The very same.’

  ‘But that stuff only happens in movies!’

  ‘That’s exactly what Kat said. Apparently it only happens in movies, and to seventeen-year-old Kat Hartland. Ordinary schoolgirl from Sydney,’ says Joel, a little too tersely.

  ‘Well, I guess that’s one less guy that you need to worry about. Now that Angus and the mystery composer turn out to be the same person!’

  ‘Sarah, is that meant to be comforting? You should have heard her voice in the car afterwards. She’s ecstatic! And she was furious with him when we got there. I thought you said he was resistible?’

  Sarah laughs. ‘Calm down, Joel! Think about it. She’s accidentally written a song with one of the world’s top pop stars! And he loves it! No wonder she’s excited! Think of the opportunities this is going to open up for her. It’s a dream career move. The media are going to love it. Gosh, I’d be shouting it from the rooftops if I was her!’

  Joel sounds dejected. ‘It is good for her, I see that. But you’re forgetting something major here. Kat is the girl from Angus’s concert. The one he’s infatuated with. You should have seen the way he acted with her tonight. Once he started singing, it was effortless. She’s amazed that he’s as musical as he is. Apparently she mistakenly gave him no credit in that regard and now she’s revised her opinion. In five seconds flat.’

  ‘And now you’re giving her no credit,’ Sarah counters. ‘You only just met the girl properly yesterday. She gets invited to meet this mystery musician and who is the first person she calls? At midnight?’

  Joel takes this in for a second. An agonised Sarah listens to his silence, while he appears to process the feelings she wishes he was processing about her. ‘Unrequited’ couldn’t be a more perfect word right now. Sarah loves Joel. Joel is falling for Kat. Kat has noticed Angus . . .

  ‘You’ve actually met Angus Marsden!’ Sarah gushes. ‘I won’t pretend I’m not a tiny bit envious!’

  ‘You’re joking! Look at you, Ms Fickle!’

  ‘You know I’m not a fan of the band, either, but there’s something about the guy . . .’

  ‘The eyes?’

  She laughs. ‘And the rest!’

  It’s good to be mucking around with Joel again, even after her big ‘reveal’ last night. Maybe their friendship can survive this, after all. She hopes so.

  ‘So, now that this unlikely triangle has met, what’s next?’ she asks.

  ‘I don’t know. But whatever we do has to fit around Angus’s complex requirements. Apparently he can’t go anywhere without being mobbed. Sarah, I’m not making this up. When did my life turn into a soap opera?’

  ‘Oh, I’d say it was right about the time you chose to pick up Kat’s concert ticket from the train floor.’

  Chapter 29

  Cassidy bounces out of a dinner meeting with her manager. She’s on cloud nine. She’s cooked up the most delectable surprise for Angus! Better yet, Unrequited’s manager, Michael, is fully into the concept. Other than letting Zach, Alex and Xavier know at the last minute so they don’t wreck it, he’s sworn to secrecy. They’re not telling Reuben. Not with the impenetrable Angus – Reuben bromance. He’d only wreck it.

  Next stop, a hot spa bath in her suite, then bed, safe in the knowledge that she’s soon going to hand Angus Marsden a golden ticket to his future solo career.

  Not that he knows he wants one. Yet.

  The thing about boy bands is that they have a shelf life. It’s all fun and games while they’re young and cute. And while the fans are young and cute. Sooner or later, they’re in their mid-twenties, and too old for this stuff.

  Angus might be a few years away from that, but it’s never too early to plan your future! Far better to jump ship before it capsizes on its own, as boy bands always do. Cassidy’s certain of it. And what better way to ingratiate herself with Angus than to assist him in pre-empting this inevitable implosion, so that he’s the only survivor. Musically, that is. She doesn’t wish the rest of them anything monstrous. Gosh, she’s not that sort of girl! She just thinks they’re nothing much without Angus. They’re capitalising on his strength, as will become obvious, sooner than any of them realise.

  Cassidy admires herself in the mirror. Invents a hairstyle. Pouts. Takes a selfie.

  She tells herself that wanting to break up the band has nothing to do with competition for her own music sales and everything to do with her natural capacity for strategic vision. She’d be a music exec right now, if only she didn’t love performing so much. And she’d make a fine exec. People just don’t seem to get their own career paths. It’s like they can’t see beyond the next iTunes release. Honestly, they have no power. They just do what they’re told, like puppets.

  In any case, this surprise is just one part of her overall vision for Angus Marsden’s future. After the whole thing unfolds he’s going to finally realise just how much she means to him. Just how good she is for him. And any thoughts he had about pursuing this stranger from his concert will be quashed! Really, what could an ordinary Sydney girl possibly offer someone like Angus? How on earth could she fit into his jet-setting, A-list-partying, rockstar lifestyle? She wouldn’t have a clue. She’d only drag him down!

  Oh yes, Cassidy’s plan is without a doubt in his very, very best intere
sts. And in the best interests of Elle. Once she moves on, of course.

  She posts the selfie on Instagram and hashtags it practically on autopilot. No, there’s nothing to worry about here. Cassidy’s conscience is perfectly clear.

  Chapter 30

  When Kat sneaks in through the front door at home, her mum and the girls are asleep. Her mum’s gym gear is in the hallway for another 5 am start. That’s a good thing. Feeling the way she is right now, if she starts talking about what happened tonight, she’ll never stop.

  She gently opens her mum’s bedroom door and whispers that she’s home. Her mum opens her eyes, smiles, says she loves her and rolls over. It’s a pretty tame response for a Monday night!

  On the bedside table is her mum’s ancient iPhone 4 with an alarm set for twenty minutes from now. She always does this when Kat’s out, in case she falls asleep waiting up for her. Paranoid! Kat turns it off. Part of her is dying to wake her mum and tell her what happened tonight, even though it would end in one of their trademark arguments. But the way it felt, sitting beside ANGUS MARSDEN, playing their song. She could cry, she’s so elated. Nothing has felt that good since, well . . . ever! And to think he likes the song so much he wants to record it with her! Kat Hartland. A ‘nobody’ from the suburbs!

  These things never happen in real life, yet, here it is! Happening! She honestly cannot believe the way this opportunity has fallen into her lap. She also cannot believe how normal he seems. It’s messing with her head! She was absolutely prepared to loathe him — for lying to her, in particular! And he just . . . untangled that. How did that happen? If only he hadn’t sworn her to secrecy, she and Lucy would be on their phones right now — picking through the evening’s evidence with the tenacity of forensic investigators, analysing every subtle nuance, working it all out. Concluding nothing, probably. Reconvening at school tomorrow . . .

  She turns the hall light off and shuts her bedroom door behind her. Maybe it’s convenient that her mum has been urgently called to the New Zealand office. She’s leaving the twins with their grandparents just down the road, and Kat will stay home alone so as not to ‘disrupt her studies’ (eek!). She so needs to tell someone. It’s killing her that she can’t tell Lucy. She certainly can’t tell the twins, even though she wants to frogmarch them out of their slumber right now and get them to fess up about their Twitter shenanigans. But Angus was very clear in his instructions. He said they have to pretend they know nothing about someone else writing those tweets.