Good Vibrations

Smile

 Jeni moaned and blinked with difficulty. Once her eyes were open, the first thing she saw was her purple wall. She stretched her back, moaning again, and clenched her fist. She felt like a piece of wool was in her hand. She looked at it, and indeed, there was; it was a woolen scarf, smelling of roses and mint. “How the fuck did I get it? It's not mine!” she thought. Suddenly, it all came back to her mind. The concert of The Faces at the Marquee, the waiting for Bonnie who was flirting with Rod Stewart, freezing outside in the dark, getting lost at Shortgate and meeting this group of boys in the next street. The group of boys... She remembered only two of them. A blonde guy who fell on the ground and started to vomit, and the other. Brian. As she remembered his name, Jeni smiled. He had been so nice with them, showing them the way to the nearest tube station, giving them money for two tickets – as Bonnie spent all their money buying beers – , and wrapping his scarf around her neck. Moreover, she had to admit it: Brian was an incredibly handsome young man. She smiled again and gently pressed Brian's scarf against her nose, closing her eyes as she inhaled its elegant scent. She sighed and finally decided to get up. She left the scarf on her pillow, walked up to her wardrobe, opened it and picked a pair of high-waisted flared jeans, a white blouse and a burgundy jumper. She closed the doors of her wardrobe and went up to her chest of drawers, from which she took out a bra, a brief and thick socks. She went out of her bedroom and sneaked into the bathroom. She removed her pajamas and let them fall on the floor. She tied back her hair and entered the bathtub, pulling the curtain behind her. She let the warm water pour on her fragile skin, rubbing it softly with a lavender soap. She closed her eyes whilst holding her hair up as she was rincing her back. As soon as her eyelids prevented her from seeing anything, her mind showed her Brian's face. He was smiling at her, his curly hair framing his face. Jeni unconsciously touched her cheek, right where he kissed her before running back to his friend in need. Without opening her eyes, she turned off the water and pushed the curtain. She grabbed her towel and wrapped herself in it; way too lazy to dry herself, she sat on the edge of the bathtub, waiting for her body to dry naturally. She scratched the tip of her nose with her towel and stared into space. But her mind was staring at something else. Brian. Why did she feel obsessed? After all, she had seen him only once, and she would never meet him again. So why thinking about it? Was it his kindness that touched her a lot? She had no idea.

After she dried, thinking about Brian for endless minutes, Jeni stood up and got dressed. She untied her hair and brushed it carefully, having bows in it. Then, she brushed her teeth and applied makeup on her eyes. After that, she took her dirty clothes and put them in a basket. She got out of the bathroom and went downstairs. She heard the sound of papers being moved in the living room. When she went in, she saw Bonnie leaning over the big table, with a cup of tea next to her. Plenty of papers, newspaper articles and concert tickets were spread on it. Bonnie's blond short bob in the same style as Faye Dunaway, was moving along her head everytime she moved it to read all the papers. She was wrapped up in a pink waistcoat, falling on her tight jeans. Jeni walked up to her.

“What are you looking at?”

Without a word, Bonnie handed her a concert ticket. Jeni took it and read what was written on it. She remembered this concert very well.

“Oh, it's my ticket for the concert of Smile at the Royal Albert Hall last year! The band was great! But why are you showing me this?”

“Because I remember that I cut many articles about them after that. And I'm looking for them.”

“Are they releasing an album officially?”

“I don't know.”

“Then why are you looking for them?”

Bonnie took a handful of articles and read them silently, putting aside those which were not related to the band Smile. She sighed and shook her head. Apparently, she could not find them. Jeni shrugged and helped her finding them. Unfortunately, all the articles she could find were about the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Small Faces, the Faces, Jimi Hendrix and the Troggs. Whereas Jeni took a new handful of articles concerning the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, Bonnie raised her arm in the air.

“AH! I found one!”

Jeni looked over her friend's shoulder and read the article. It was about the concert they went to, at the Royal Albert Hall. Bonnie tapped her fingers on the picture of the band.

“I found their names. This one, the blond guy, is Roger Taylor. This one is Tim Staffell. And the curly-haired one is Brian May.”

“And?”

“Can't you recognise him?”

She shook her head and frowned, looking at the picture a bit closer. The blond guy looked a bit familiar.

“Roger Taylor, the blond one,” Bonnie said, “he's the guy who was completely drunk yesterday and who threw up on the ground. Remember the guy we talked with? He called him Roger. And what was the name of the guy?”

“Brian!” Jeni said, her eyes widening. “Is it Brian May? Are you sure?”

“Of course I am! Look at his hair!”

“Yeah but now they grew.”

“Indeed. But it's him, I can tell. We have met these guys before. Well, we didn't actually meet them, we only saw them perform!”

Jeni's face lit up with a huge grin. She knew how to find him now. If she wanted to pay him back the tickets or give him his scarf back, she just had to go to one of his concerts. That was easy!

“How did you find out they were in Smile?”

“Well, I felt like I had seen them before. They looked familiar to me. And I saw a new article about them in the newspaper this morning, but without any picture. I read their names and a small voice in my head said it was them!”

Bonnie laughed and took back the article. She intensively stared at Brian with a grin. She stroked his chest with the tip of her fingers.

“He's gorgeous, isn't he?” she whispered.

A bit embarrassed, Jeni nodded. She almost fell offended because of what Bonnie had just said. But after all, wasn't it the truth? She suddenly felt the urge to jump on her bed and bury her face in Brian's scarf. She did not understand why it made her a bit angry or even jealous to hear Bonnie say that. Brian did not belong to anyone, he was not their property. He was not Bonnie's, nor hers. She silently took a deep breath and looked at Bonnie.

“Hey, Jeni, why wouldn't we go to their next concert? We could meet them backstage, you know! And then, I could take my chances with Brian!”