A Beautiful Melody

by Lilliana Anderson

  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 move on. I’m sure I can do it as well.

  As I make my way to the dressing room, I mentally kick myself for feeling excited when Marcus kissed me. I should have known it was all just for show on stage. Fuck I’m an idiot. I am totally relationship retarded. No wonder I can never hold down a steady boyfriend. I’m forever reading the signals of men wrong. I need to stop looking for feelings that aren’t really there.

  I promise myself not to look too far into the attention that Dan is giving me. Knowing my luck, he’s just interested in me as a musician. He’s not interested in me sexually at all – not that I’d even know what to do. It’s been a good year since I had a boyfriend, and I don’t often do one night stands.

  “Having fun?” asks Theo when I enter the dressing room. The sudden sound of his voice causes me to jump.

  “I thought you must have left,” I breathe, clutching at my chest to calm my thumping heart.

  “No, it’s rude to leave the party early. Didn’t you know that?” he deadpans.

  “I don’t think anyone will care. Why are you hiding out in here?” I ask as I kick off my shoes and slip my feet into my black ballet flats.

  “Marcus thinks he should kiss you after every show,” he states, deflecting my question.

  “Does he?” I ask, taking a seat on one of the makeup chairs so that I’m sitting across from him.

  Theo nods, leaning back on the padded waiting room style chair in the corner and crossing his ankle over his knee.

  Suddenly, I feel a bit like an object – a gimmick – being used to give Marcus exactly what he’s always wanted. Fame.

  “I don’t want you to do it.” There’s a command in his voice, and a hint of a threat.

  “Why would it matter to you who I kiss Theo?” I ask calmly, although my heart is beating rapidly in my chest. How does Theo do this to me? I was just in the function room, thinking about how I don’t want either one of the Bailey brothers. Theo keeps giving me mixed signals and Marcus seems like he just wants me for a play thing.

  Now, I’m alone with Theo, and all of those thoughts just go out the window. I feel like I’d do anything he asked of me.

  A knock sounds at the door, giving me the strength to break the stare and regather myself. For a moment I wonder who’s there, but as soon as I remember, I stand up and pick up my things.

  “Expecting someone?” Theo asks.

  “Yeah. I’m going out to get something to eat. You know me and parties, we don’t mesh that well,” I grimace. “Will you be going back to the hotel soon?”

  He nods.

  “Ok… well… see you… I guess.”

  He watches me intently as I make my way to the door and open it, finding Dan on the other side.

  “Ready?” he asks, holding out his hand to me.

  “Absolutely,” I tell him before turning back to Theo. “Good bye,” I say as I close the door gently, feeling slightly guilty for leaving him on his own. But feeling glad to be doing something that doesn’t involve feelings for a certain pair of brothers.

  Chapter 25

  Theo

  I sit in the dressing room for maybe five minutes after Naomi leaves. Silently stewing. I can’t believe Marcus kissed her on stage tonight. I can’t believe she let him, and on top of that, I can’t believe that she didn’t loudly object when I told her he thinks he should do it again.

  What are we running here? A fucking carnival? What are they going to do when the crowd gets sick of seeing them kiss? Start screwing on stage? This is bullshit.

  Marcus just blatantly broke the rules, and once again swooped in on Naomi. This tight ball of emotion is sitting inside me, rolling about in my chest. I recognise it as regret. I wish I had kissed her last night. If I had, she might have slapped Marcus away, and she might not be going out with Dan fucking Stolle right now.

  How fucking cliché is that? Dan Stolle personally comes in to our rehearsal to introduce himself. It was so obvious that he was interested in Naomi. He’s probably had his eye on her since he saw her in the YouTube clip. We probably got invited on this tour just because he wants her.

  This is total fucking, cockballing, bullshit! When am I ever going to get a fucking break? I follow the rules. I do what I’m supposed to do. I work hard. And what do I get? A big fat nothing.

  “Fuck this,” I say to myself. Getting up and heading towards the sound of the party. It’s time for me to get drunk for a change.

  As soon as I get to the function room, I head straight over to the refreshment area. I walk straight past all of the food and grab a bottle of beer, wishing they had something a little stronger. I take a look around the room and notice a guy standing in the corner manning a makeshift bar that’s filled with bottles of spirits and mixers.

  Chugging the beer in my hand, I set the bottle on the table and head over the bar, ignoring the people who are attempting to speak to me as I push past them. My head is buzzing too much right now, I can’t handle small talk.

  “Rum,” I demand from the bar tender who gets out a plastic tumbler and fills it with ice.

  As
he lifts the bottle to pour he looks at me and asks, “Just straight?”

  “Just give me the fucking bottle,” I tell him, reaching over the bar and yanking it out of his hand.

  He protests a little, but when I pull out the metal pourer and drop it on the bar in front of him, he just rolls his eyes and watches me take two mouthfuls of the tea coloured spirit.

  “Thanks,” I say, tipping the bottle toward him.

  “Whatever dude.”

  I find Lachlan and Jack spending their time on a couch, entertaining a couple of girls, and wander over to them, plonking myself down between them. Holding the bottle by the neck, I take big gulps of the rum, appreciating the fact that the alcohol is fast to make its way through my veins. The numbness is coming. I can feel it on its way.

  “So what are we supposed to do for fun at these things?” I ask, interrupting the wannabe orgy that’s going on either side of me.

  Jack looks over at me as the girl keeps eating away at his neck and writhing on top of him. “In the mood to party for a change huh?” he asks, nodding toward the bottle of rum in my hand.

  “Yep,” I state, taking another mouthful.

  “Well, the best things to do at these things, is get drunk and fuck. You’ve got the drunk part covered, and that red head there looks like she might be ready to fulfil the fuck part of the evening. Go and get her mate,” he laughs.

  “Fuck that. She can come and get me.”

  ***

  Naomi

  “Tell me about what drew you to the violin.”

  This is just weird. Dan Stolle is sitting across from me in a booth in the back of a late night tavern that serves terrible pub food and plays 80s and 90s rock music a little too loud for the amount of people who are currently milling about. He looks relaxed as he leans forward and twists the ring in his eyebrow, looking at me as he waits for my answer.

  “I don’t know. I guess I just like the different sounds it can produce compared to the other instruments I was playing,” I explain, feeling a slight flush in my cheeks. I’m not a big bragger, but I don’t hide what I can do when asked. I suppose, I’m honest to a fault – if someone asks me something, I tell them.

  “Ok. So how many instruments can you play?” he asks, leaning back as he takes a swig from the bottle of Crown lager he’s been nursing.

  “Um… well, I specialise in violin, piano and guitar,” I tell him, evading the real answer to the question.

  “Specialise? So you can play more than just that.”

  This is where I get uncomfortable. I understand how hard it is to learn an instrument and become proficient in it, so I don’t really like talking about what I can do, but like I said – I’m honest, so I take a deep breath and try to explain.

  “Yeah… well, I can work instruments out. So, I can’t really count what I can play because I don’t really know yet. I haven’t found one that I can’t play yet if that helps…” I tell him, wincing a little. Some people really hate that I find music so easy. Although I hate how everyone else finds life so easy – I’m always feeling lost.

  “So you’re a bit of a prodigy then?” he states, and I nod.

  “Yeah. Kind of…”

  “That’s really awesome,” he grins, and I’m so surprised. I suppose it’s because most of the musicians I’ve come across have been during my schooling years, and they tend to display an unhealthy amount of jealousy or competition toward me. The ones who could do what I can, saw me as a threat, and the ones who couldn’t just thought I was showing off. I’m generally on guard about it, so I’m taken aback by Dan thinking it’s awesome straight off the bat.

  “Awesome huh?” I say, spinning my glass of wine around by the base.

  “Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?”

  “I don’t know. I just don’t always get a good reaction to it.”

  “Then you’re spending time with the wrong people,” he informs me, leaning forward like it’s some big secret. “How about a dance? I’ll bet you’re great at that too,” he suggest, tilting his head toward the dance floor as the U2 song With or Without You starts to play.

  “Yeah, I’m pretty rockin’ at that too,” I laugh, sliding out of the booth and taking the hand he offers.

  He raises our clasped hands and spins me onto the dance floor, taking the lead with great ease as we sway together to the music.

  “Ah, seems like someone else is a pretty good dancer too,” I smile up at him.

  “Yeah well, I have a big family. Lots of weddings…” he explains.

  “That makes a lot of sense.”

  We dance together quietly for a while, and I take the time to scan the other people in the tavern. No one seems to care that a guy as famous as Dan is in here. They’re all just happy playing pool, drinking or dancing themselves.

  “You made a good choice coming here,” I tell him. “Everyone is happy to leave you alone.”

  He gives me another spin and pulls me back up against his body as he sings along to the lyrics. “It’s actually what I love about Australia. I can pretty much go anywhere I want and no one gives a shit.”

  “Really? You don’t get fans harassing you for an autograph wherever you go?”

  “No, I do. It’s just… different I guess. I can do a lot more while I’m here. It’s hard to explain. But I’m pretty sure you’ll find out all about it. A girl as beautiful and talented as you, is going to end up with the world at her feet.”

  “You think so? I don’t know about that,” I blush, dropping my head slightly to hide it.

  “I do,” he murmurs, curling his finger under my chin to tilt my head up toward him. He stops dancing and dips his head toward me, his lips brushing lightly over mine before he gently sucks on my bottom lip. At first I find myself responding, but as his mouth begins to move against my own, and his tongue seeks entry, I drop my head again, effectively breaking the kiss.

  “I’m sorry. I just… I thought I wanted this but… I can’t – I’m sorry.”

  Chapter 26

  Naomi

  Returning to the hotel after spending a couple more hours talking to Dan, I’m really starting to feel the effects of such a busy afternoon. It’s almost 2am and I’m bone tired.

  Surprisingly, after I said no to him, Dan was really nice about it all. Once he knew where he stood, we simply sat and talked about the music industry, and what it’s like when your band first takes off. I quizzed him a lot about how the sudden fame affected him, and how the band has managed to stay together for over ten years, travelling the globe and touring together.

  He told me that they all make sure they give each other space in between work. They’re like family to each other, and sometimes have disagreements, but in the long run, they all have the band’s best interests at heart. They also have a pact that no one gets replaced. So if one leaves, the band is finished. It saves on any rash decisions.

  After a while we started to talk more about me and my band. Our conversation eventually turning to Marcus and Theo and the obvious affection they seem to have for me. He advised me to keep away from both of them. But that’s a little easier said than done.

  As I walk up the dimly lit hallway of our floor, my eyes are drawn to the light shining out of the ajar door of Theo and Marcus’s room.

  “Hello?” I call out, as I peek inside, slightly worried that something might have happened to one of them.

  I push on the door, letting it open slowly as I peer through the widening space.

  “Holy shit,” I gasp, clutching at my chest as I see something I never expected. Not in a million years.

  Theo is standing up against the wall, with a girl knelt at his feet. Her head bobs back and forth as he fists her hair, his head tilted back as he moans in between swigs of his beer.

  “I’m…I’m sorry. I… I…” I stammer, trying to shield my eyes with my hand while I grope for the handle of the door to close it and flee to the safety of my room.

  “Shit. Naomi.” I hear him slur, as I finally get hold of t
he door.

  I call out sorry again, and click the door shut, fumbling for my own door key in my bag. My hands are shaking and I struggle with the slot, but the light turns green, and I’m granted entry. Reefing down the handle I quickly push my way in, needing to be on my own and wishing I could unsee what I just saw.

  “Naomi, wait!” he calls again, emerging from his own room, still trying to do up the button on his jeans.

  I try to get inside and push the door shut before he can reach me, but he’s too fast.

  “Leave me alone,” I warn him.

  “No.”

  The smell of liquor rolls off him in waves as he pushes his way in. Slamming the door, he hones in on me, a predatory look in his eyes as he approaches. I try to side step him and get to the door, but he steps in front of me each time, completely blocking my way.

  Instead, I turn and run for the bathroom, hoping to at least put a door and a lock between the two of us. I reach out for the door handle, just as a strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me against his hard chest.

  I kick my legs, beating my fists behind me, hitting at him wherever I can. “Let me go!” I screech. “Let me go!”

  Suddenly he obliges, dropping me on my feet. A rage builds inside of me and I turn on him, pointing my finger at his face as I wish I was capable of spiting venom in his eyes.

  “What the fuck Theo!?” I shriek, my teeth clenched as I growl at him.

  His eyes move between mine and then drop to my mouth. I don’t get a moment to think before he crashes his mouth into mine. I stumble back, hitting up against the bathroom door as his fingers work their way into my hair and his mouth moves demandingly against mine.

  My hands push against his chest, giving me just enough distance between us to lift my hand and slap his face.

  He snatches his head back, his brow furrowing slightly as we glare at each other, gasping for breath.