Shift (22 page)

‘No,’ I said, pulling my arm free. ‘I’m not going to hang around the door like some loser groupie.’

Miranda gave me a disdainful look. ‘Who said anything about hanging around the door? He’ll come out and find us.’

I snorted. ‘Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to happen.’

‘Let’s just wait and see,’ said Miranda. She marched over to the battered couch near the back of the venue and plonked herself down. Feeling silly – and dangerously
exposed – standing there on my own, I went and sat beside her. Miranda nodded approvingly. ‘For a minute there I thought you might be gutless.’

It was only a couple of minutes later that the door beside the stage opened and Dallas sauntered out, followed by Pearl and Vincent. All the girls in the room – the same ones who’d
been busily pretending they weren’t waiting for this moment – simultaneously tousled their hair and it looked like a breeze blowing through a field of wheat. Dallas didn’t seem to
notice. His eyes were sweeping the room.

‘He’s looking for you,’ whispered Miranda. ‘Quick. Start talking to me. He’ll come over in a minute.’

But five minutes later, when Dallas hadn’t appeared, Miranda glanced around and saw something that made her face screw up. ‘Why would Dallas want to waste time talking to him?’
she muttered.

I turned to see Dallas across the other side of the room, deep in conversation. With
Lachlan.
They were laughing.

Miranda stood up, smoothed her clothes. ‘Let’s walk past them. Dallas will blow him off once he sees us. It’s you he wants to talk to, not that moron.’

‘I’m not going over there,’ I said, feeling a little leap of panic. ‘It’d look so … pathetic.’

Miranda gave me a pitying look. ‘No,’ she said. ‘It’s only pathetic when
ugly
people do it. Come on.’

I suppose I could have told her about my revelation – that I no longer felt about Dallas the way I had before the gig. But I didn’t. Maybe because I knew how stupid it would sound.
How fickle and girly. But that wasn’t the only reason. I’d decided – without even realising I’d decided – that I should keep my feelings for Lachlan to myself. And if
I wasn’t prepared to tell Miranda about it, then I had no choice but to do what she said.

So when Miranda strode off confidently towards Dallas, I followed along behind.

I was expecting Miranda to slow down as we came close to Dallas. But she didn’t. Instead she just said
great gig
– barely even looking at him – and
continued walking. Dallas was mid-sentence but he stopped when he heard her voice and looked around. Lachlan glanced around too and caught my eye. He didn’t seem surprised to see me. But he
didn’t look exactly pleased either. It was a guarded kind of expression.

There was nothing guarded about Dallas though. His face broke into a huge grin and it was clear Miranda had been right. Dallas
had
been waiting for us. Well, for Miranda.

His finger tickled the air. ‘Hey. Don’t walk away. Come and talk to us.’

Miranda paused. ‘Do we have time?’ she asked me, like there was something way more important we should be doing.

‘I guess,’ I mumbled, feeling stupid. As we joined them, I could feel hate beams emanating from every other female in the room.

‘I saw you in the audience,’ said Dallas to Miranda. ‘You liked the gig?’

‘It was lush,’ she replied, playing with an escaped frond of hair.

Pearl was standing nearby with Vincent. She snorted. ‘It’s the same after every show,’ she said loudly. ‘Some hair-twirling girl comes scampering over to flutter her fake
eyelashes at Dallas.’ She looked us up and down. ‘How old are you two anyway?’

Humiliation dripped from every pore of my body.

‘We’re old enough to know when someone can’t hold a rhythm,’ Miranda flung back.

Vincent snickered, very quietly. Pearl seemed to grow – her annoyance making her both taller and broader. ‘What would
you
know about rhythm? What would you know about
anything?’

‘I know one of your shirt buttons just fell off,’ said Miranda. ‘And that your eyeliner is crooked.’

This time Dallas laughed, and even I choked down a snicker.

Pearl’s jaw clenched. ‘These girls are under-age,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘I want them chucked out.’

‘Calm down, Pearl,’ said Dallas. ‘If you do that Vincent might also get turfed. And my brother.’ He reached out and put a hand on Lachlan’s shoulder. I stared at
the hand and then at Lachlan’s face. His eyes darted away, looking uncomfortable.

Pearl slammed down her glass and stalked off. ‘I’m packing up my kit,’ she called over her shoulder. ‘The rest of you can keep playing at the crèche if you want.
But if you want a lift, I’m leaving in twenty, sharp.’

Dallas didn’t even glance at her. I got the feeling that a meteorite could’ve crashed through the ceiling right then and he still would’ve kept gazing at Miranda.

‘Who
are
you?’ he said. ‘I’m sure I know you from somewhere.’

She laughed. ‘I’m just Miranda.’ Her arm slipped around my waist. ‘And this is my friend Olive.’

I tensed up.
Friend?
Since when?

‘Well, I’m Dallas,’ said Dallas. As if we wouldn’t know that. ‘And I’m really pleased to meet you.’ His voice was so soft and intimate as he gazed at
Miranda that I felt wrong standing near them.

Next Dallas gave Vincent a slap on the back that almost sent him sprawling. ‘This is Vinnie. Our
wunderkind
and band mascot.’ Then he swung his other arm around
Lachlan’s neck and mussed his hair. ‘And this good-looking guy is my baby brother, Lachie,’ he said. ‘He’s the reason we’re here tonight. The clever little
monkey set it all up. Even did the posters.’ He chuckled. ‘I thought there must be some little indie girl he was trying to impress. But then he turns up on his own.’

‘Dal,’ muttered Lachlan, unpeeling Dallas’s arm. ‘We know each other. We’re at the same school.’

Dallas looked delighted. ‘Is that right?’ he said, shaking his head and looking at us. ‘Have you noticed how hard it is to get information out of this guy? I bet you
didn’t know he wrote some of our songs.’

‘No,’ I said slowly. ‘I didn’t know that.’

Dallas whisked Miranda away to one side, leaving me and Lachlan standing together. Uncomfortable? Yeah, just a bit. Vincent stood nearby, looking like he might die from the awkwardness of this
situation – and he didn’t even know what was going on. Lachlan wedged his hands into his back pockets and shifted his weight from one leg to the other. I suddenly couldn’t stand
it any longer.

‘Why didn’t you
tell
me?’

‘Tell you what?’ said Lachlan.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ I said. I think my voice might have jumped up an octave. ‘Maybe just a little bit about who you
really
are.’

The bar girl came past, stacking glasses.

‘You already seemed pretty sure of that,’ Lachlan said. ‘I’m the sporty lifesaver guy.’

‘You could’ve corrected me!’ I exploded.

The bar girl stopped, gathering up the empties on the table near us. The glasses clinked as they joined the stack.

‘Would you have listened?’ asked Lachlan quietly.

‘Of course!’

Vincent coughed nervously. ‘OK, it’s time for me to go.’

‘Tell you what,’ said Lachlan, as Vincent disappeared. ‘Ask me something now. Whatever you like.’

I examined his face. Was he teasing me? ‘All right then,’ I said, folding my arms. ‘If Dallas is your brother, why do you have different last names?’

‘He’s my half-brother,’ said Lachlan. ‘Same dad, different mums. He uses his mum’s last name.’

‘You seem pretty close. For half-brothers.’

Lachlan nodded. ‘Our dad did a lot of stuff with both of us when we were growing up. Took us on camping trips, hikes, that sort of thing. I thought Dal was just the best thing ever when I
was a kid. We catch up when we can. It’s been tricky since Mum and I moved out here.’ He looked at me, smiling just a little. ‘How am I going so far?’

‘Not bad,’ I said, trying not to let on how much I was enjoying just
talking
to him. I’d missed it. ‘Next question. Do you really write songs for Luxe?’

‘Dallas was exaggerating,’ Lachlan said, embarrassed. ‘There’s only one thing I’ve written for them that they actually perform.’

‘What’s that?’ I think I was holding my breath, waiting to hear what he’d say.

‘“Steeple Chaser”.’

I found myself watching the bar girl working her way around the room. Her glass stack was so tall now that it swayed like a reed over her shoulder.

‘Did you arrange this gig?’ I asked.

‘If by “arranged” you mean “went in and asked” then yeah, I guess so. Maybe I should ask for a cut of the takings.’ He grinned and took a swig of his drink.
‘Anything else?’

Yeah
, I thought.
Did you organise the gig to impress some girl, like Dallas said?
And if so,
which
girl? But I couldn’t quite convince the words to come out.

Miranda’s laughter – bright and high – made us both turn. She was leaning against the wall, her head tilted back and her long, white throat exposed. Dallas’s hand was
resting just beside her on the wall.

‘That must be … bothering you,’ said Lachlan uncomfortably.

‘It’s not,’ I said quickly. ‘Not one bit.’

‘Really?’ said Lachlan, and for a moment his face had this look – all shiny and hopeful. And for a moment it seemed possible that I could reach out and take his hand. Say to
him, ‘I’ve been so dumb.’ And that he might nod and smile and say, ‘Yeah, but I still like you.’ And that everything might be OK. Better than OK. Everything might be
little-twinkling-stars
sublime.

But instead I blurted something stupid. ‘Why didn’t you tell me Dallas was your brother?’

Lachlan’s face crunched in. ‘So I could introduce you to him? Sorry, Olive. I guess I’m just not that self-sacrificing.’

‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ I said.
You wonk, Olive. Wonk, wonk, wonk.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Lachlan, his voice all dry and horrible. ‘Believe me, I’m used to it – Dallas has always been the big hot star. It’s never been an
issue because generally the girls who fall for him aren’t –’ He stopped.

‘What?’ I said.

Lachlan rubbed his hand slowly down his face. When he’d finished the anger was wiped away. Now he just looked sad. ‘They’ve never been
you
before.’

I was suddenly only capable of starting sentences, not finishing them. ‘But I – what I really –’

‘It’s OK,’ said Lachlan grimly. ‘I haven’t forgotten what you said at the formal. You were right, we
don’t
match. So don’t worry. I’m not
going to hassle you.’

Someone had opened a window and a waft of sea air blew through the room, heavy with salt. Lachlan breathed in deeply and his unhappy look faded a little. ‘Feel like going for a
swim?’ he said suddenly.

‘Who? Me?’ I said, dizzy with how quickly the conversation had changed direction. ‘Now?’

‘Yeah,’ said Lachlan. ‘Why not?’

‘Because it’s night-time,’ I said quickly. ‘And freezing. And we don’t have towels or bathers.’

Lachlan tilted his head, looking at me intently. ‘When did you start hating the ocean so much?’

‘Let’s just say the sea and I had a falling out,’ I said eventually, trying to sound jokey while fighting to keep my breathing under control. It was still so hard to believe
that Lachlan didn’t know what I’d done. What I’d
attempted
to do. But if he really didn’t, there was no way I was about to fill him in here, standing in the
Rainbow.

Lachlan kept watching me with those steady brown eyes. ‘You don’t have to tell me,’ he said. He didn’t sound angry. Maybe just a little disappointed.

Vincent reappeared, eyeing us warily. ‘Lachlan, if you want a lift back with Pearl you have to come now,’ he said. ‘She’s parked in a loading zone and she’s not
paying for another …’ he coughed, ‘…
effing
ticket.’

Lachlan put down his glass. Zipped up his jacket. Even from where I was standing I could still smell him – a salty, warm-bread smell. ‘Want a lift somewhere?’

‘Um, no,’ I said, when really I meant yes. ‘I’m fine.’

Lachlan nodded. Like he was expecting that response. ‘See you around then,’ he said.

‘Sure.’

Stop,
I found myself willing him.
Turn around.
And just near the door, he did stop and turn. ‘Hey,’ he said. ‘If you ever want to start over again, let me
know.’

I gulped.

‘With the ocean, I mean,’ he said. ‘Maybe I can help you patch things up.’

‘Oh,’ I squeaked. ‘Yeah. I’ll let you know.’

I waited, a goofy smile frozen on my face until he had disappeared, and then I fled outside and cooled my face against the flaky wall of the Rainbow. Maybe if I pressed hard enough I could sink
into the bricks and disappear completely.

The door swung open and Miranda came out, her cheeks flushed. ‘Hey, I’m sorry,’ she said, coming over to me.

‘Huh?’

‘That you got stuck with Dallas’s brother,’ she said, shaking her head sympathetically. ‘But I’ve been raving to Dallas about you. He’s really interested, I
can tell.’