A Beautiful Melody (4 page)

My brother is a total fucking jerk. He’s
asking her to join our band!?
Our Band!
Not his band.
Ours
. Fucking
ours
! I don’t want her there – not her. The last time I saw her, I found her in bed with my brother, totally off her face. I don’t want someone like her in our band. Especially not after the last girl we allowed to join.

When we originally formed Matiari, we had a girl on bass. I didn’t really know her that well, Marcus was the one who recruited her. It just ended up as a fucking disaster because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself and fucked her up so badly, that she lost her shit. Then I had to be the bad guy and kick her out. I just don’t need Marcus bringing another one of his conquests into our work space. He needs to keep that shit to himself.

I can tell you now, that if Naomi joins, it will be an absolute fucking disaster. Believe me when I say - Naomi Prendergast cannot be trusted. Especially not with my brother’s influence.

Jesus, look at him over there with that groupie draped all over him. It’s so fucking cliché. Sometimes I swear he’s only in this for the pussy, and if he wasn’t so damned talented, and if he wasn’t my blood – I don’t think I could stand being in a band with him.

Right now, I just want to go home. If it wasn’t for that fact that we have to be seen to make an effort socially at these things, I’d be gone already. I’m that pissed off with him and I can’t talk to him about it in front of everyone.

My eyes drift over to Naomi just in time to see her reaction when she sees Marcus and his current screw. Her features fall, and change in a way that is enough to give me hope
she won’t show up to rehearsal. Her face is saying she’s not interested in his shit.

I hope that
’s true, because I’m not interested in hers.

Surreptitiously, I w
atch her talk with her friends, Erica and Amy. Those two are always hanging around, they’ve already slept with every member of the band, so I don’t know why they’re still here – maybe they just like doing the rounds… I don’t get girls like that. I mean, how is that a life? Following bands around, hopping into bed with a bunch of guys, who aren’t even interested in you beyond the fact that you’re willing to spread your legs. Where is their self-respect? What the hell do they get out of it? I just don’t understand it.

I continue to observe them as Naomi seems to convince them that it’s time to leave. I can see that Amy would rather stay, but they follow Naomi out, causing relief to wash over me now that she’s gone.

I stare at the door for a while after she leaves. Bullshit she doesn’t remember me. She was a couple of years below me at school, but she knows who I am. I can see it in her eyes – she knows me. I’m sure she does.

“You were great tonight,” a female voice says from beside me, drawing my attention away from the vacant space where Naomi was.

It belongs to a bottle blonde with far too much makeup on. She slides her hand over my arm, like she’s making love to the curve of my muscle as she gives me that ‘fuck me now’ look that’s so easy to give in to. She mustn’t realise I’m the drummer, or she wouldn’t bother. No one ever bothers to go for the drummer – it’s exactly why I chose it.

“Not interested sweetheart,” I say
, as I gently push her aside and head towards the door. The main gig is over now, so I can shake their hands, thank them for letting us support and go the fuck home. I love the music. But I hate this party shit.

“Are you going?” Stephanie asks when I phone her the next day to tell her who I saw.

“No, I don’t think so. Erica and Amy think I’m crazy, but I don’t think I can have Marcus Bailey back in my life again.
He’s lethal to women.”

“It’s not like you were ever in
a relationship with him though,” she reasons.

“Yes, but I slept with him AND I don’t even remember sleeping with him. That’s what’s uncomfortable! It means that he’s seen me naked, but I have no recollection of seeing him.”

“Well, he obviously doesn’t mind.”

“Very funny. Who cares what he thinks.
I
mind.”

“So you’re going to turn down a chance to get in on the ground floor of a band that looks like it’s going places
, just because some guy saw you naked? Is bar tending really that fun?” she points out.

I huff out my breath. “I really thought at least you would understand Steph. You know how embarrassed I was back then.”

“Yeah I do, and I still think that you overreacted then too.”

“He
slept with me when I was intoxicated, and then tried to give me the ‘we’re just friends speech’. I don’t think I overreacted.”

“Fine. But you’re over reacting now. You can do this Nomes. It will be good for you.”

Sighing, I say good bye and disconnect the call, spinning his business card around in my fingers thoughtfully as I do.

S
itting on the bench in front of my old acoustic piano, that reminds me of the one I used to play at school, I slip the card into the music stand and lift the lid off the keys.

Closing my eyes, I position my fingers and begin to play. Immediately,
the notes of the first song Matiari played last night fill my apartment. It was a beautiful song, and Marcus is so right. It would sound wonderful with a string accompaniment.

Letting my fingers drop on the keys in a nonsense note, I glance over at my violin case. It’s so rare that I open it these days
, it actually has dust on it. I normally only play when I’m really sad or lonely, and I haven’t been feeling that way in a long time.

Today though, I miss it.

Taking it out of the case, I run my fingers over its body, loving the smoothness of the wood beneath my fingertips, plugging at the strings to check and fix its tuning. When the sound is corrected, I take a deep breath, positioning it on my shoulder, my bow ready. I want to see how Marcus’s songs sound on it.

As I’ve said before, I can play by ear. So it doesn’t take long before I’m going through their set and thinking about the best parts to bring the violin in, and when to leave it out.

Before I know it, my stomach rumbles loudly, demanding to be fed. I’ve been playing for hours. My neck is stiff and my fingers are sore, but I barely noticed the pain coming on – I was so caught up in the music.

Letting out a loud sigh,
I place my violin, lovingly, back in its case. As I stand up and stretch myself out, I glance over at the business card that’s still sticking out of my piano. It’s like it’s waving at me, beckoning me to come over and take it – to commit to playing with the band.

“I’ll think about it,” I tell it. Although, deep down, I know I’
m going to go. I’ve really missed performing, and this opportunity is too good to pass up. Even if it does come with a bit of baggage.

“What’s going on with you two?” Lachlan asks, while sitting on a stool in our rehearsal space and strumming at his unplugged bass. I can hear the light twang of the strings as his fingers fly over them and he looks between Theo and me, waiting for an answer.

“Nothing,” I reply, focusing on my own set up.

“Nothing? I don’t think inviting a girl to join the band without consulting anyone is nothing,” Theo growls out from his seat behind his drum kit. He taps his foot on the pedal of his hi-hats, letting it drop with a crash as he glares at me.

“What the fuck man!?” Jack yells. “Are you insane?!
Can’t you just fuck her and be done with it? The last chick nearly ruined everything for us.”

I hold my hands up in front of me, showing them my palms in the hopes that they’ll calm down and listen. “Just hear her play ok? And Jack – it’s Naomi
. Remember her?”

“The violin chick from school?”

“Yeah,” I nod, noting how his expression changes. I can see the thoughts written all over his face. He can already see how much better our sound will be with her in the band.

“Alright,” he says after a moment, nodding his head. “Let’s give her a run. See how we sound.”

“Who the fuck is Naomi?” Lachlan asks. He’s the only outsider whose been allowed in the band. We used to have a girl bassist, but hers and my relationship got reckless, and she kind of lost her shit and had to leave. Lachlan was the best of the bass players we interviewed after taking out an ad. So he got the gig.

“She was at The Metro last Saturday. The little blonde girl with Erica and Amy,” I tell him.

“They were there on Saturday?” he asks, scratching at his messy blond head thoughtfully, as he tries to remember what ended up being a very drunken party for him.

“Yeah, briefly. Before Marcus here
, chased them away. I don’t reckon she’ll show up,” Theo supposes.

“I didn’t chase them a
way, and she will come. I know her, she’ll come,” I say confidently. Although as the minutes tick by, I’m not feeling quite so sure.

Just as everyone is starting to get restless, the door opens and in walks Naomi
, with her violin case in hand. She’s wearing a tight pair of faded jeans, knee high boots, a fitted white t-shirt, and a black vest on top with this long silver locket hanging down between her breasts.

Suddenly, I’ve got these visions of taking a hold of that locket and pulling her toward me, so I can slowly peel off every layer she’s wearing. I’ve become so used to girls wearing clothes that leave nothing to the imagination – hell, half of them don’t even bother with underwear, that the idea of undressing Naomi to get to what I know is under there is causing quite a stir in my nether regions.

“Hi everyone,” she smiles, as she stands awkwardly in front of us. “Where do I set up?” she asks, looking at me.

I stand there with my mouth open slightly
, trying to force the visions out of my mind, as I watch her reach up and secure her hair into a high ponytail. She seems all business today.

“Oh, um. Just over here,” I stammer
, covering it up by clearing my throat as I indicate the extra microphone stand and amp for her to plug in. She walks over and places her things on the floor busying herself with her own setup. She’s a pro, and already has a tuner pick up attached to the bridge of her standard violin so it can be used as an electric without compromising her acoustic sound.

Jamming my hands into the back pockets of my jeans, I watch her and try to make some sort of conversation.
“So, this is the rest of the band. I don’t think you met everyone on Saturday. You left kind of suddenly.”

“Yeah, well. You seemed pretty busy and I’d had a big day,” she tells me evenly.

“Fair enough. Well, this is Jack, and that’s Lachlan, and I’m sure you remember Theo,” I inform her, pointing each one out to her as she continues to set up.

“Great
,” she nods. “I remember Jack too. Nice to see you again, and you too, Theo,” she nods. “And of course it’s nice to meet you Lachlan. You were all really great on Saturday.”

“Well, let’s see if you can make us even better,” Jack smiles at us. “Do you need the sheet music or can you still do that thing where you can play everything straight away?”

“I can still do that thing,” she smiles. “Although, I might be a little off on the words at times.”

“Great,” I say. “Well, we’ll play the same set we did on Saturday. Naomi, you come in where you think works and perhaps add some backing vocals? We’ll work through it as we go though.”

We all watch as she finishes getting ready. I can’t help but smile when I notice she has a purple violin. She was always doing something to make hers look different in school.

“Ready?” Theo asks.

“As I’ll ever be,” she replies.

He counts us in and we start to play
‘
Fragile
’. For the entire first verse, Naomi stands ready, swaying her body as she feels the music, causing me to wonder when she’s going to join in. The moment the chorus starts, she begins to play, causing all the hair on my body to stand on end as her music gives the words so much more emotion.

When you whisper to me,

I want your words to be true,

But you know we can't be,

Not like this. Not like this.

I expect her to keep going, but
I forget how good she is. She stops at the perfect time, allowing me to play just the few quiet notes on my guitar, as I sing the last two lines of the chorus in virtual silence.

Why did you sing your song to my heart?

When you knew we were fragile right from the start

The rest of the session g
oes on much like this. In some songs she adds some vocals, and in some she adds only violin, others she adds both. I thank god Theo has this session recording, because I need to hear it again. She’s so much better now than she was when I knew her – it makes me wonder why she quit ANU.