Jupiter - Brian May

Chapter Nine: Electric

No matter how much her parents wanted her to give up on music and settle on a normal life, Lillie was far too stubborn to embrace their desires. So, Friday night as usual, Lillie found herself in the supply room in the back of the pub, braiding her hair as she warmed her voice up. The show was starting in twenty minutes and for once, she was ahead of schedule. She'd already tuned all of her instruments, set up her kit on the stage, done her makeup and gotten ready, and as she finished tying her hair off into her signature show bunches, she realised that she had nothing else to do before starting.

With a small sigh, Lillie began to pace around the tiny room, humming quietly. One of the things she hated about performing was warming her voice up. The repetition of it annoyed her, and if anything, it always made her doubt her abilities as a singer, putting the doubts in her mind. It wasn't something she could just skip though, so she began to sing quietly, singing the first thing that came into her head.

"Yesterday, my life was in ruin, now today I know what I'm doing," she sang, pacing around the room, that focused she didn't even hear the door creak open. "Got a feeling-"

"I should be doing alright..." the sound of a beautifully melodic voice came from behind, and upon hearing it Lillie sun round, initially shocked, except when she saw it was Brian, a grin spread across her face, matching his own expression.

"Doing alright..." the two sang together, their eyes locking in an intense stare, and Lillie couldn't hold back the laugh she was fighting, the laugh which came from the utter happiness of being around Brian.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it, I was walking past and heard you singing and..." Brian began to explain, flushing red as she realised he'd actually interrupted her warming up.

"I hate warm ups at the best of time and then you come along and sing better than me?" Lillie teased, raising one of her eyebrows. "It's fine, Bri, don't worry,"

But Brian did worry. He always worried when he was around Lillie, as much as he loved being around her. He constantly worried he'd make a fool of himself, worried that he'd annoy her or that she'd get bored of him. Any second he spent with Lillie he felt so lucky to have her company. Any time he made her smile or laugh he felt thrilled. He loved being around her, and he loved every part of her, her personality, her appearance, and the more time he spent with her the more he realised he was slowly but surely falling in love with her.

What he didn't know was that Lillie felt the exact same way. She'd never been in a relationship before, never even had a real crush on someone before. It wasn't something she was ever bothered about, never something she spent too long dwelling on. Either people didn't interest her or she didn't interest them, but it didn't matter too much, because until she met Brian, she never even thought about falling in love or getting a crush. Except there she was, two weeks into knowing Brian, and she couldn't imagine never having those feelings for him. Everything about him made her like him, the way he smiled at her when he picked her up from work, the way he frowned in concentration when playing his Red Special, the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn't watching. She'd never felt like that before, but there she was, hopelessly falling head over heels in love with Brian.

"Well, anyway, how you feeling?" Brian asked, snapping the two of them out of their thoughts. Brian had known Lillie long enough to know she suffered from bouts of nerves, especially before playing.

"Fine really, it's not like I haven't played here before," she shrugged, running her hands down her black flared jumpsuit.

Brian loved the clothes Lillie wore. She always seemed to be in-fashion with what she wore day-to-day, even in her work clothes, but she never seemed to blend in with what everyone else was wearing. She always managed to stand out in what she wore, looking unique compared to everyone else. However, he loved her show outfits, and what she was wearing that day was no exception. When Queen played gigs, they liked to have fun with their costumes, going for the full glam-rock aesthetic, whilst Lillie just seemed to dress like she did normally but more glamorously, like she was allowing herself to reach her full potential. Seeing her in her show outfits made Brian's heart pang in his chest, and as he looked her up and down, he found himself speechless yet again.