Satisfaction

Brian sings

When they got there, Shirley knocked on the door and Mick let her in. "Hello" he said to Shirley while staring at Jean, she blushed and pretended to look in her bag for her keys. "Mick can we come in now?" Shirley asked, Mick blinked and looked back at her, "yes um of course".

Jean was stunned, Mick Jagger, in the flesh, was staring at her. She could feel her cheeks heat up as she looked back down at her bag. When the pair walked in past Mick, Shirley noticed that her records were strewn across her bed and their luggage was piled neatly in a corner. Keith had his guitar out, Charlie was tapping out a beat, Bill was snoozing, and Mick was talking to Jean. Wait, She thought, where's Brian? Then she heard him, a quiet strumming coming from the small balcony outside. She walked out and slid the screen door open quietly, slipped outside, then closed it just as quietly. Shirley sat down on a step, but Brian hadn't noticed her, he had his eyes closed and was strumming a song that Shirley hadn't heard before. Then, just like that, he was singing. She was amazed, he had a beautiful voice that was in a whole different category from Micks.

"Did you like it?"

She hadn't realized that the guitarist's chords had stopped and his lips were silent. He turned around and looked at her.

"Did you like it?"

He asked again and Shirley walked up to Brian and sat down beside him. She nodded, she hadn't realized she had tears in her eyes, she wasn't sure why though. "It was beautiful" She managed before a tear slid down her cheek. She wiped it away and hurried back inside.

That night, Jean had decided to sleep over, but she fell asleep early and so Shirley was laying in her bed. She thought about Brian and his singing, it must be a secret, why else would he not have put out that song on one of their records? Maybe it was a secret, but why had he chose her? Why had he revealed his secret to her? Questions whirled around her head and her last thought as she fell asleep was that maybe this was some sort of dream, it couldn't really be happening, could it?

Brian was also thinking that night, laying on the floor of Shirley's apartment with a little blanket on top of him, he wondered. He knew it wasn't his band anymore, something happened and it was Micks band now. Or Keith's. But it wasn't his, not anymore. What are we doing? He thought, we're in a complete strangers house so far away from home, and singing to crazy people. He didn't know why he had sung in front of Shirley, he'd only sung a couple of times, but when he did, the others just said stop. He remembered the day vividly when they had decided that Keith should sing backup instead of him.

It was a lovely day and their newest single; I Wanna Be Your Man, had just been released. He had walked in to the studio and Mick was busy singing while Keith sang backup behind him. Brian didn't say anything but he knew he was going to lose what was his band. It would only take time. And by 1964, The Rolling Stones were officially guided by Mick Jagger. Brian had lost his band, and so he retreated to the shadows, only smiling when the camera was on him. But even then, it was mostly on Mick, the singer, the chick magnet, the hotty, the one who got the most winks. Brian had to do something, because he knew if he continued on this trail. He would fade away and eventually get kicked out of the band.

He tried to imagine what The Rolling Stones would be in the 70s. He couldn't though, whenever he tried to imagine what the 70s, 80s, 90s or beyond would be like. His mind came up empty. Why, though? Would he still be around in 1970? 5 short years to go and he'd find out. All these thoughts swirled around in his mind as he fell asleep and was rescued by dreams promising happier days.