Fiction

Brian Jones One-shot #1

A.N.: This one never got published, because I wanted to turn it into a full story, but then I lost interest, so now it's just a rough draft... with a bit of a sudden end. I took some ideas of this  and turned it into the story 'Stray Cat Blues' . This one shot can be read on it's own tho.

*

He nearly killed me on our first meeting.

I often wondered why I had been there in the rain in the middle of the street on this day, but I never found an answer. Maybe some part of me had known that I was about to meet somebody magical or maybe it had simply been the smell of the rain on the pavements that had lured me out, on the other hand the why didn't matter in the end. We had crossed paths and the moment our eyes met for the first time I knew my fate was forever sealed.

His car hadn't touched me nor had it the cat I had been trying to save and still I felt like he had hit me full force. My heart was beating fast and my legs were so wobbly that I expected them to give in any minute. My head was light and my thoughts were blank, until I saw the driver of the car. His blond hair was longer and it looked different from what I remembered seeing it in magazines, but it was definitely him. Brian Jones had nearly run me over with his car and my initial shook of nearly dying changed to simple disbelief.

"Are you hurt?" He asked as he got out of his car to have a look at me.

He was beautiful and I was lost.

He furrowed his brows at my silence, but I couldn't. I had hardly registered his words and all my mind could think about was if his eyes were blue or grey. There was still too much distance between us for me to tell and I felt the strongest longing to reach out for him to caress his skin, to smell his hair, to taste his lips...

"Did I hurt you?" He asked pulling me out of my sweet fantasy.

"No..." I dumbly whispered and wished that the floor could have just swallowed me up. I must have looked like a complete idiot to him. A mad woman with drenched clothes and a ruined hairstyle chasing after a cat.

However, he didn't seem to mind my appearance and simply sighed relieved. A gesture that made him look so tired, completely tired of everything like there hadn't been a moment in a long time in which nothing had gone wrong. I didn't know him, beside the things that everyone did, but my heart ached and I just wanted to embrace him to keep all the evils from this world away from him.

"... Alright then. Maybe you should pay attention the next time you cross the street..." He mumbled.

I nodded, but didn't move an inch. My feet were rooted to the wet street.

"Are you sure you're okay? You don't look too well..." He asked and stepped closer to me. Intuitively, I tried to take a step back, however my legs finally gave in. The ground was hard and wet and a pain in my hand made me flinch, but I didn't care. He was next to me in a heartbeat, his face just before mine and he took my hand in his observing it. I no longer cared about the pain, I think I no longer cared about much for anything besides my hand in his.

"That doesn't look to bad, but you should get this cleaned. I can drive you home, if you want?" He offered and helped me up. I was so close to him that I could make out every detail of his face. The way his mouth moved when he talked, how his hair framed his face and how his eyes were observing me. I knew he expected and answer of me, but my mind was blank beside for thoughts of him. I couldn't even remember if I had even existed before this moment.

"Home?"

"Or to a doctor? You seem to be in shook..." I wanted to tell him that I wasn't in shook, but in love. However no words left my lips and again a small sigh escaped his lips. "Fuck. I'll just get you to a doctor," he mumbled and directed me to the passenger seat. I had nearly sat down when I remembered why I had jumped in the street in the first place.

"The cat!"

He furrowed his brows. "Cat?"

I nodded. "It was in the street and I wanted to get it away before somebody hit it... I can't go before I know it's alright."

He rolled his eyes and the veil of the blindly love he seemed to have put me under slowly started to lift. He was clearly annoyed at my request, instead of the understanding I had hoped for. I knew from newspapers that he wasn't a gentleman, but I thought they were exaggerating. However looking at him now, I couldn't see any gentleness about him and his words made it even worse... "Listen I have other things to do than chase after stupid cats. I'll get you to a doctor and then we're good."

I shook my head. "I can't. I need to find the cat."

"Why? It's just a cat," he remarked, breaking more and more of the spell I had been under.

"Maybe, but everyone should get a chance no matter who or what he is. I'm sorry for any inconvenience, I might have caused you, but I think I need to go now," I said and was about to go, when he pulled me back.

"And your hand?"

"It's just a scratch, it's not that bad," I replied smiling.

He seemed confused at my behaviour, but then he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. "Take this at least..." I thanked him and wanted to take it out of his hand, but he stopped me and instead gently applied it on my hand himself. "I hope you find it the cat..."

"Thank you... Should I return this to you or...?" I asked gesturing to his handkerchief.

"I don't need it back, but could you... tell me if you found it? The cat I mean."

"Eh... sure?"

"Could you give me your telephone number, so that I could maybe call you...?" he asked and butterflies went off once more in my stomach. 

*

"Did you find it?"

I hadn't expected him to call me at all, especially not after a few weeks had passed. He had no reason too, I was just a stupid fan and he probably had more than enough of those, especially better looking ones. Not that I thought I was ugly, but that day in the rain I had been. I had seen myself in the mirror when I got home and I felt so ashamed for myself. He had been so beautiful and I had looked like a scarecrow... Therefore, I never expected him to call me, he was used to date models and not the likes of me and I couldn't believe he really cared about the cat.

A huge part of me wanted him to care about it and about me too, but I had thought that were just stupid fantasies like every young woman had. A beautiful man sweeping her off her feet and loving her for all eternity. That Brian Jones would be this man for me was however very ridiculous and still a girl could dream?

At least I had the first week, the second week I still thought about it, but it didn't seem no longer that real and in the third I had given up on him ever calling. Reality had me finally back, but one thing it couldn't take from me and that was Brian's handkerchief. To be honest it didn't look like much, it could have belonged to anyone and still it was enough to remind me how real this encounter had been. I had really met him and now it was really calling him.

He hadn't said hello nor who he was, but he didn't need to. I recognised it the second I heard it, making my stomach turn.

"Hello?"

"Ehh... Sorry I-I" I stuttered helplessly. " I didn't expect you to call me."

I think I heard him mumble "me neither" before he cleared his throat. "So did you find it?"

"Yes, I did."

There was silence and I felt my palm sweat. I wanted to come up with something clever, to impress him and keep the conversation going, but I was too nervous. Gladly I heard him exhale on the other side of the line.

"I'm glad you did... and it got a second chance."

"Do you want to come around to meet it?" I asked before I could think about it. Had I lost my mind, I wondered as I nearly hit myself. "I- I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to!" I added in a panic.

He laughed and I nearly died. 

"Why not?"