Is it true love - A Robert Plant fan fic

Chapter 6

The next day I woke up having a sore throat, freezing and having the worst headache ever. I was confused as I looked around the room, until I realised I was in a different hotel than the day before. The door to the bathroom suddenly opened and Robert came out, wearing a pair of black trousers and a tie-dye tee. “Good morning baby.” He sat on the edge of the bed and smiled warmly at me. “Mornin’”, I croaked out, sniffing. “Looks like someone caught a cold.” He chuckled, though his concerned eyes belied him. “I guess you won’t have a photographer for the show tonight.” I mumbled, interrupted by my own coughing. “That’s not important, but what is important is that you get well again. You’ve taken enough pictures yesterday anyways. I’ll get you some tea, tissues, medicine and something to eat, okay?” “Thank you.” I tried to smile, failing miserably. He kissed me on my forehead, his luxurious curls touching my cheeks and sighed. “You seem to have a temperature, too.” “It’s just a little cold, it won’t be that bad. I’ll just stay in bed for today and tomorrow I’ll be fine again.” “All right then. I’ll be right back!” The mattress squeaked as he got up from the bed. As he walked out of the room, I decided to go to the bathroom and got out of the bed. I searched for a pyjama in my suitcase and quickly changed. The warm fabric felt soft against my skin and I wrapped it as tight around me as I could. On the way to the bathroom, I glanced out of the window. I could easily tell that it was about to rain, an ability which was a life saviour if you lived in England.

When I came out of the bathroom, it was already pouring with rain. I snuggled up in a blanket and sat down on the bed again, watching the raindrops falling down on the street. . For some reason rain always reminded me of my home back in Epsom; maybe because rain always soothed me. When I had had a particular bad day, I would watch the raindrops pattering on the windows for hours. Suddenly I heard a squeaking noise and jumped a little in surprise. As I turned my head to the source of the noise, I saw a head with familiar looking black curls poking in the room. “Robert has told me you have a cold, so I thought I’d come and visit you.” “Thank you.” Jimmy closed the door behind him and sat down on the edge of the bed. “So how do you feel?” “Isn’t it obvious you dork?” I rolled my eyes at him. “You know that’s not what I meant, Millie!” He looked at me with stern expression; I knew I had to give him an answer; otherwise, we would end ignoring each other because we were so stubborn. “I haven’t had an attack since the last time I was at Pangbourne.” I lied. “That’s great!” Jimmy smiled warmly at me; I could see he was relieved I was doing better and I felt bad for lying to him. “How are things going with you and Robert? Did you...” “That’s got nothing to do with you, Jimmy!” “I just don’t want you to get hurt! I mean have you seen how he looked at the girls backstage yesterday?” Of course, I had seen Robert looking at them, but I didn’t think too much about it. Yes, they were way sexier and prettier than I was, but I didn’t want anyone to ruin my great evening. “Everyone looked at them, and just for your information, Bonzo and Jonesy are married!” “i still didn’t like it; the way he looked at them was different.” Jimmy insisted wilfully. The door opened again and in came Robert, holding a tray with tea, a plate and flowers in his hands. I hoped he didn’t hear anything of our conversation and smiled at him. “I see you came visiting Jimbob.” “Um... Yeah. I’ll leave you two alone then.” Jimmy got quickly up from the bed and turned around at the door, looking at me, as if he wanted to say he warned me. “Here you are.” Robert placed the tray in front of me and sat down next to me. “There’s lemon tea, cough syrup, ibuprofen and I even got the chief to make chicken soup for you.” “Aww, thank you! This is so sweet of you!” I hugged him, and then I took the cup of tea in my hand and drank. The hot fluid warmed me from inside and I thought about the things Jimmy had said for a moment, but decided to brush these thoughts away.

Robert and the others had left for rehearsals at the club they were playing at tonight and I had decided to take a nap, which ended up in an eight-hour long sleep. When I woke up again, I felt well again and looking on the clock on the wall, I decided to head to the concert. I had ten minutes to get ready and to find someone driving me there, so I quickly put on a green vest and black trousers. After that, I tried to fix my appearance in the mirror, and when I was finally happy with it, I ran out of the hotel and looked for a cab, but I had to wait at least twenty minutes until one parked at the hotel. Before anyone else could get into it, I slipped inside and gave the driver the directions to the venue. I was utterly excited to see them perform again, especially Robert. As he seemed to be quite tense when they left, I thought I’d surprise him and show up at the gig. I snapped out of my thoughts as the driver told me we arrived, thanked him and gave him his money. The venue was a small club in a part of the town, which was quite popular with young people, the perfect location for the New Yardbirds. When I was just about to open the stage door, a tall muscular man stopped me with his deep voice. “You’re not allowed to go in there.” I gulped. “But I’m the tour photographer of the New Yardbirds!” He laughed. “So you want to tell me those four guys engaged a girl to be their tour photographer? Don’t take me for an idiot!” He grabbed my arm and was about to drag me away, when suddenly Peter came out of the building. “What a pleasure to see you Millie! I thought you were ill?” “Well, I don’t feel ill anymore.” The man loosened his grip on me. “You know her Mister Grant?” “Of course I know her! She’s our photographer and Jimmy’s sister!” He finally let go of me and Peter came closer to us. “I’m so sorry Miss Page. If I had known...” “That wouldn’t make things any better. You already disrespected me only because I am female. What you wanted to say was if you had known I was Jimmy Page’s sister you would have let me go inside, which is quite disrespecting, as well, isn’t it?” He looked taken aback and Peter smiled encouragingly at me. “You’ve heard the lady, Richie. Piss off!” “Umm... of course... I...” The man turned around and went back inside. “Thank you, Peter.” “I can’t believe he didn’t let you in! What did he say to you, then? You sounded enraged.” “I told him I was the tour photographer, but he couldn’t believe the guys would have engaged a girl for the job.” Peter shook his head. “What a twat. C’mon, let’s go inside, the lads just finished playing.” I sighed and walked inside the building behind him. “I thought I’d make it to the show.” “Well you made it to the after party, that’s good enough.” He led me to the small backstage area, where I could spot Jimmy, Bonzo and Jonesy; the only one missing was Robert. “What are you doing here, Millie? I thought you were recovering from your cold!” Jimmy looked not quite thrilled to see me here. “It seems like I’m finished with recovering.” “I’m glad you’re feeling better Millie!” Bonzo smiled warmly at me and hugged me. “Thanks Bonzo.” I smiled back at him; he was such a nice person to have around when he wasn’t drunk, he always cared about you and he had a sympathetic ear for everyone. I figured he was that way because he wanted to be distracted from missing his little family. He even came visiting me and told me some jokes to cheer me up; when Robert was gone to talk to Peter, I asked him about the stuff that Jimmy had said about Robert. He assured me that it was only flirting though; Robert would act differently towards his girlfriends, and he told me he thought I was a special excuse, as he had never seen Robert as happy as he was now. Bonzo told me he could almost feel how much Robert adored as well. I thought it was quite cute how he defended his best friend yet tried to reassure me. He was a good friend.

“Have you seen Robert, Bonz?” “He’s in his dressing room. I’ll lead you there.” “Thanks.” I walked close behind him as he led me to the crowd backstage to Robert’s dressing room. “Get your arse out Plant! You have company!” He yelled and walked away. Robert didn’t open, so I thought he might have fallen asleep; unlike me he was a sound sleeper, a bomb could explode and he would still be asleep. Silently, I opened the door and walked inside, just to see Robert sitting on a couch with four half-naked groupies. A joint and a bottle of Jack Daniels stood on the small table in front of the couch. When I was about to make my present felt, one of the girls kissed him on his lips. “So this is what you do when your girlfriend is ill and stays at the hotel. I hope you have fun.” I said sarcastically and stormed of, slamming the door shut behind me. Jimmy was right; Robert had more interest in groupies than in me. I ran as fast as I could, hearing his footsteps behind me. “Millie!” He shouted, but I didn’t stop. “Is everything okay Millie?” Jimmy asked when he saw me. “Could we switch rooms, please? I don’t want to be in one with Robert anymore.” I tried to suppress the tears in my eyes from falling. “What has happened?” “He has fun with some groupies, that’s all.” “Millie! Just let me explain...” I turned around to face Robert, still suppressing the need to cry. “What do you want to explain Robert? How it works to betray someone? How it works to hurt someone?” “Millie...” “We’re going now Robert.” Jimmy looked pissed when he talked to him, whilst Robert just looked miserable and sorry. I walked out of the building, followed by Jimmy and Robert. “Listen to me Millie...” “Piss off.” I said coldly, as a cab pulled up in front of us. He seemed taken aback and hung his head in shame. Jimmy and I slipped into the cab and he gave the driver the directions. I leaned my head on his shoulder and he hugged me tight. “I’m so sorry that has happened to you.” He mumbled, and eventually I sobbed my heart out. I was so naive to believe Robert had feelings for me; he could have any woman he wanted. My own stupidity hurt me even more than his actions did.

When we arrived back at the hotel, Jimmy paid and thanked the driver. Immediately we went up to our rooms. “Just pack your stuff and come to my room, okay? I’ll pack Bonzo’s stuff and bring it to your room, all right?” “Are you sure he’s fine with this?” “Well, Robert and he are best mates, aren’t they?” Jimmy glanced down at me and smiled encouragingly. I gave him a quick hug and walked off to my room. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped inside. Quickly, I packed everything in my suitcase and sat down on the bed, touching the sheets. It reminded me of Robert and I cuddled up on the bed together last night and how he cared for me this morning when I felt so bad. Was I overreacting? The girl had kissed him, not him kissing her. but it still hurt that he had flirted with those pretty girls. I sighed and got up again, seeing Jimmy standing in the doorway. “You ready?” I nodded and grabbed my suitcase, while he put Bonzo’s suitcase down. We walked to his room in silence. When we stepped inside, I got my pyjamas and my toilet bag out of the suitcase and headed to the bathroom. The girl in the mirror had a tear-stained face and looked hopeless. It reminded me of the first time I saw myself in a mirror after Emma’s death. I was disappointed with myself; I had sworn that I wouldn’t let feelings hurt me as bad as they had again, but I completely failed at it. Having Jimmy with me was the best thing that could have happened to me in this situation. He knew exactly who I was, I sometimes thought he would know me better than I did myself.  “You all right Millie?” I heard his muffled voice. “Yeah.” I quickly got ready and exited the bathroom. “Do you want to talk?” “No, I think I better get some sleep. Tomorrow will be another exhausting day.” “All right love.” He kissed me on my forehead and I slipped under the sheets. “Good night.” “Good night Millie. Sleep well.” He turned the lights off and I fell asleep after a while of tossing and turning.