Worlds Apart

Chapter Sixteen

For once during my many mornings spent bleary eyed while pool side with Logan, we both had separate guitars instead of passing mine back and forth between us. The additional guitar had been donated for Logan’s use by none other than the absent Harrison in the equation. It was an offering that Logan had been quite willing to accept – let’s face it, the guitar that Cam lent him was much nicer than my ancient chipped acoustic – but I was slightly suspicious of the whole deal.

It gave Cam license to come around during our lessons now that he knew about them, not that he ever stayed long. I could see the sidelong glances that were spared to his guitar and the almost pained flicker that would flash through them.

It was plain as day that Cam didn’t want his brother playing his guitar, but here we were.

Yeah, I was definitely suspicious of those motives.

Thankfully he never lingered too long, though. I noticed the differences immediately in Logan when his brother was around, all the sudden he’d stiffen up as he played – the exact opposite that I needed him to do – and then he’d mess up, hit a chord to hard or miss a change. He was out of his element when Cam was watching, but when it was just the two of us he’d relax again.

Really, the differences were like night and day. Although if he wanted to play a song with his brother, he was going to have to move past the nerves.

I could understand them, though. Guitar was Cam’s thing, it was obvious, he melted into the guitar when he played it like that’s where he was meant to be. Logan knew it was different with him. It was the same as when Cam sang opposed to Logan. These just weren’t the talents they’d been born with, and it was harder to do it in front of one another than anyone else in the planet. Maybe it was that competiveness that they had with one another, even a fear of ridicule, but I would hazard a guess to say it was because their opinions mattered more to one another than anyone else in the world.

Not that they were likely to admit that in the next thousand years.

I knew the truth, probably even better than they did.

However having the second guitar made life a lot easier for me, and it was easier to keep more of a distance between Logan and I this way. At least this way I could stay in my chair while he was in his, though that didn’t seem to occur to Logan, because he was always filling in the space the moment he could.

And it was not good for a girl who had her hormones already raging out of control from one brother when the equally attractive older brother was pressing against her. No, it was not fun. In fact it felt like I might just spontaneously combust at any moment between the two of them.

It wasn’t fair, but that wasn’t something I was likely to admit in the next thousand years, either.

“You’re almost done recording, aren’t you?” asked Logan abruptly.

Leaning against the guitar with a hand pushed into my hair to keep me upright, I nodded slowly, wondering why he’d stopped playing just to ask that question. I thought everyone knew about it already. “I just need to lay the vocals down for my last song today, Cash is setting it all up for the vocals in the kitchen. We have two days left here and then we’re going to mix in LA, studios are all booked and waiting for us.”

Logan nodded, staring at me in that way he and his brother perfected, but it was just so intense and searching I had to avert my eyes.  “We’re just mixing here,” said he. I couldn’t help but think he was hedging to some sort of a point.

However I was too tired to be bothered by it, and just raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, Cam told me you guys still have at least three weeks booked here before you’re finished.”