Page 59 of The Other Brother
“Well, I look more like my mum,” he begins.
Yeah, I’m glad Cody looks like his mum. There’s almost no resemblance between him and Mel and Kate, which makes the fact I find him attractive less weird.
“But obviously I got the musical stuff from my dad,” he continues.
“Do you think your dad is living out his unfulfilled musical ambitions through you?” I ask.
Cody’s eyebrow shoots up. “Woah, where did that question come from?”
I run my fingertips along the scratch in the dining room table, another casualty of my unsupervised after-school antics as a child.
“I don’t know. He just seems to place a lot of pressure on you.”
“Yeah, I know he does. Sometimes it’s a bit much.” Cody leans back in his chair. “But I love music. And if I’m going to succeed in playing professionally, I need to be disciplined and focused.”
“You are already really disciplined and focused,” I say. “Seriously, I admire the shit out of how you can practice for so many hours.”
Cody plays with his pen, twirling it in his long fingers. “I can get too intense sometimes. Like, Mum was worried when I was a kid that I was spending too much time practicing, which is why she enrolled me in tennis lessons.”
“And then you turned out to be incredible at that too.”
“I wish I could be more like you.”
I widen my eyes. “What, a complete screw-up?”
Cody shrugs. “You’re not a screw-up. But I mean I wish I could go with the flow more like you do. Not get so caught up in making sure everything I do is perfect. Not be so concerned about what people think about me.”
Wow. There’s a lot to unpack there. That Cody wants to be more like me is a more bizarre concept than salted pork ice cream.
“Do you remember Mel’s birthday party at the lake that time and how you jumped in and started wrestling with that fake crocodile,” he asks.
“Yeah, I remember. I totally won that fight.”
“Against a plastic crocodile?”
“Hey, you’ve got to take all the wins you can get.”
He smiles a half-grin before he continues. “I was so jealous of you, because it was so hot and you were having so much fun, and all I wanted to do was dive in too, but I knew my parents would get angry if I did.”
I snort. “Shit, I got told off so badly after that. My mum always had an extra freak out if I misbehaved in front of your parents.”
Cody huffs out a laugh. “I swear my parents would always try to get me to show off at any events where you guys were at.”
“I did always think you were a bit of a show-off,” I say.
He grins properly at me, that slow-moving grin that overtakes his face.
A bolt of attraction races through me. I have to use all of my WWF moves to wrestle it back under control.
Cody takes a deep breath, looking away. “Talking about showing off, my music teacher just confirmed I’m playing at this concert showcase at the Royal Theatre. Someone has pulled out, and they have invited me to take their place.”
“Seriously? The Royal Theatre?” Even I know that’s a big deal.
“Yeah, I’ll only play three songs, but still, it’s an incredible honor. Some of the other musicians playing are amazing.”
I let out a low whistle. “Go, you. That’s awesome. Are you going to play one of your own compositions?”
“Nah, I’ll just stick to the tried and true.”
