Kameron
Chapter thirty-two
After a long, tense phone call with Mel telling her about the situation, and then a longer, awkward phone call with Noah wanting to know when I’d tell him I’d started dating Nalini — I finally understood where her anxiety came from.
Sure, it didn’t help that Noah was hanging out with Mel, because, of course, his best friend was our publicist. Even if that was weird.
But things were already spreading faster than I’d anticipated, and we weren’t even official yet.
However, Mel was good at her job, and I knew she was a master at killing stories before they ever got traction.
Nalini seemed to believe it too, because despite her earlier panic, she’d fully settled down by the time Cassidy had gone to bed.
And for someone who claimed she didn’t celebrate Christmas, she had bit of an obsession with cheesy Christmas movies.
She’d pulled them up for almost every night for an impromptu marathon that seemed like it’d last until the holiday, and while they were predictable and some of them were terrible, it was clear she loved them.
We’d talk during the commercials; she’d cuddle into me like it was the most natural thing in the world. The acting was bad, the sets were terrible, and I was pretty sure we’d watched the same movie three nights in a row, but I wasn’t going to tell her to stop. Not when I got to see her this happy.
Until a new one started — and a sense of weirdness washed over me when I realized it was clearly based on me and my brothers.
“Do people really think we act like that?” I asked after what felt like the millionth time the trio had dramatically flipped their hair.
“I’m pretty sure I saw you practicing that exact move in the mirror once,” Nalini giggled, “Right after you'd finished frying your hair within an inch of its life.”
“Don’t remind me; I looked so stupid,” I grimaced.
“And nobody even had the guts to tell me how bad it was. I don’t know why I stuck with it for so long.
” She burst out laughing, and I attempted to pay attention to the movie.
The one based on Jack was the main character, which wasn’t surprising; most of the thinly veiled RaineFall fanfic was focused on him.
Noah and I’d always been cast as the brothers who only existed for Jack to shine.
“What’s with the look?” Nalini asked, “Is the movie too weird?”
“No… well yes, but not in the way you’re thinking,” I answered.
“I’ve never watched this sort of thing before.
I guess… I didn’t realize how many people thought of me as a joke because I was in Jack’s shadow.
I always told myself I was okay with it; I knew I wasn’t popular — at least not in the way Jack and Noah were.
I figured it was because I was married, and the fans didn’t have the fantasy of trying to get with me.
Especially because they loved Julia and me together, they were weirdly respectful about any potential crushes.
But it also turned me into…” I paused, motioning at the caricature of myself, “It makes me wish I’d done things differently back when we first started. ”
“How?” Nalini asked, and for a moment I worried the topic would make her bolt back to the guest room. But for once, she didn’t seem terrified, though I could still sense a little tension — it was enough for me to recognize she was trying.
“I would’ve made sure people knew I was the main songwriter,” I said.
“We were advised not to do it, that we needed to be a united front who did everything together. But with Jack being the frontman, almost all my best work ended up attributed to him, and people acted like I was just there to play bass and do backup vocals.”
“It’s their loss,” Nalini said after a few moments, “I’m sure your older songs were incredible.
Your new ones certainly are; the little I’ve heard echoing through the house is already better than when we were teenagers.
” She hesitated for a moment before continuing, “Is that part of the reason you’re debating bringing back the band?
So you can get the credit you’ve deserved the whole time? ”
“I hadn’t thought about it that way,” I admitted, “but I think so. I don’t really care about fame… I want the credit. I want people to see how much work I’ve done, and admit I was the one who did it. I hate that everyone thinks I was there as filler.”
Nalini rested her head back on my shoulder, and thankfully switched the channel away from the movie.
Only to end up on a different channel, with another cheesy, terrible Christmas movie on it.
I debated asking how many of these channels existed, but I didn’t actually want to know the answer. I already knew it was too many.
“People should know how talented you are,” Nalini finally admitted, “I didn’t realize nobody knew you were the songwriter. And I wish I was surprised Jack seemed to take that credit too.”
“Would you be okay with that?” I asked, watching her anxiously bite her bottom lip as she thought about it.
“I don’t know,” Nalini answered, and I was glad she wasn’t trying to lie to make me feel better.
“I think it gives a lot of perspective as to why you’d want to bring the band back.
If everyone only saw you as the joke brother who got lucky, you’ve got about as much of a perception problem as I did.
And you deserve for people to see the real you. It’s something I understand perfectly.”
Nalini kissed my cheek, and for the first time it felt like she believed there really was a third option outside of the two doomsday scenarios she’d come up with.
I wasn’t sure if it was enough to convince her to stay, but as my arms wrapped around her and her head rested against my shoulder, I hoped she would.