Ellie was sitting on the carpet of her living room, puzzling together the last pieces of her project. She had to be finished by Monday, and she had planned to be finished already. Brian's visit the evening before had messed up her plans entirely. And even now she wasn't able to focus as much as she would have needed to.
Because even though Brian wasn't there, he kept creeping back into her mind, distracting her from deciding on which pictures to include where in her portfolio. Not only did she have to arrange her photographs, she also had to write down facts for each of them. Where it had been taken and when approximately, for some of them she needed to write a more detailed description to give her instructor in insight into how her mind worked when it came to photography.
And yet all she could think about was how long it had been since Brian had left. It couldn't have taken him more than half an hour to go home. Which meant a total travel time of an hour, and then some time to change and shower and whatever he wanted to do. Ellie had expected him to come back after two hours, so they could eat lunch together, possibly do some shopping first so they would have something to eat. But now it was close to 3pm and Brian still wasn't back. Five hours. That was a very long time.
As much as Ellie was aware that before she had freaked out at the idea of spending the entire day with Brian - she didn't bother lying to herself, she had been really freaked out - as much did it bother her that now she wasn't spending the entire day with him. It had been a complete turn. She had gone from freaking out about being close to Brian to missing him. She still didn't know why she had freaked out so much. After all, the evening before they had cuddled on the couch he had been all over her, kissed her cheek and held her close, and during the night she was sure they hadn't exactly been far apart either.
But when he kept wanting to be close to her in the kitchen, or even while eating Ellie had felt the constant need to get up and run far away from him. And now, now that she was far away from him she was longing for him to be by her side again. She really needed to talk to Lynn, or even better Mary, because she wasn't making sense to herself, she was completely lost what her mind wanted to tell her. She hoped one of her friends would be able to decipher her.
Ellie looked at the photographs in front of her and got up with a frustrated sigh. There was no use. She had too much time to think if she wasn't doing something physically engaging. If she just sat there and stared at her pictures it was too easy for her mind to wander, especially because she occasionally found herself looking at a photograph of Brian, one she had taken for them during their gig in Cornwall. That only helped to distract her.
Carefully she gathered everything and placed it in one of the boxes that she had reserved for university work. Once the lid was closed firmly she made her way over to the boxes where she kept her records. She needed some good music to distract herself now, and the radio just wasn't what she needed now. Letting out a rather heavy sigh she pulled out a few records that could possibly help her distract herself while she waited for Brian.
In the end she decided on letting the heavy sounds of Led Zeppelin II fill her flat. It was exactly what she needed, heavy, full of innuendos. It was in moments like this she was glad that her landlady and landlord were mostly on the ground floor of the building and didn't hear so well anymore, that even if they did go up to the first floor they wouldn't be bothered too much. How her landlady had heard Brian that morning still was a mystery to her.
Maybe she had seen him when he had gone out to get milk. That was the far more likely option, because if she could distinguish a male voice, then she wouldn't find it very entertaining what Robert Plant was now singing loudly. Other than Ellie. Ellie found herself nodding along, singing along while she made it her task to clean her flat. All she wanted was to move, but with music it was so easy to clean and it put her energy to good use.
And yet the time still seemed to pass slowly because every time Ellie glanced at the clock, only a few minutes had passed. It was almost 4pm, and she hadn't had lunch yet, she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. She didn't have much to eat which meant she had to go shopping before she could make herself some proper food. But she didn't want to go out before Brian had come back because she didn't want to miss him and make him believe she didn't want to let him in or something. That only left her with the option to wait. Wait, listen to music, and try to stay calm.
She turned down the volume a little and put on the latest The Kinks album, one of Lynn's Christmas presents. When that started to play she looked around her living room and shrugged a little, thinking that it probably didn't get much cleaner than that. But because she knew that if she sat down to continue on her project now, her mind would only start wandering again, which meant she moved into the kitchen and began to tidy and clean there.
And while she did that, she found some leftover pizza in the fridge which Brian had apparently put away earlier. How thoughtful of him, and she hadn't left him a chance to tell her that. Ellie sighed and sat down at her kitchen table to eat a little of the pizza to calm her biting hunger.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't register the ringing of the doorbell until after the second or third time. But when she realised that the sound wasn't part of her record, she immediately jumped up and rushed to answer it.
"Yes, hello?" She mumbled, still chewing on a bit of pizza.
"Hi.. It's me."
Brian. He had finally come back. Ellie smiled widely and pressed the button to let him in. "Come on up," she told him before she went to open the door of her flat, impatiently waiting for him to make it up the two flights of stairs. When she could see him, she smiled widely at him, genuinely happy, and very relieved to see him again. "Hey," she greeted him and closed the door behind him.
"Hey," he greeted her as well, with a seemingly surprised smile on his face.
She took the bag he handed to her and waited for him to take off his shoes. "Where have you been so long?" She asked and couldn't help herself from glancing into the bag curiously. But unsuccessfully, because she couldn't distinguish what was inside. "I was getting a little worried," she admitted after a moment.
"You were? I'm sorry.." He gently rubbed her arm. "I would have called, but I still don't have your number."
Oh. That explained a lot actually. Ellie immediately walked over to where she had her phone and scribbled her number on a piece of paper. "Here. Now you have it." She smiled a little at him.
Brian smiled widely, obviously surprised by her gesture, but incredibly happy. "Thank you.. I'll make sure to keep this very safe."
Ellie smiled and let him take the bag, following him into the kitchen. "So what happened?" She tried not to let show through too much how happy she actually was to see him again.
"My mum came by.. She had said she would but I completely forgot about that to be honest. So when I got home she was already there, worried why I didn't answer the door."
"Oh.. I hope she wasn't upset with you."
Brian smiled and shook his head. "Oh no, she wasn't, she was just very relieved to see me. And of course I had to explain everything to her, which took a while."
With a smile on her face, Ellie listened to what Brian was telling her, watching what he pulled out of his bag. "Everything? Why you're late?"
"Yeah.. I told her that I was at here, at your place actually. You're the Scottish girl to her, she already likes you, and she's still curious, she still wants to meet you." Brian smiled at Ellie before he opened one of the boxes that he had brought.
Ellie took a deep breath when she heard that and nodded. She had to remind herself to stay calm. As happy as she was about Brian being back, thinking about meeting his parents still freaked her out a little.
"But I told her that I already told you that, and she said that there's no need to rush, we can go home to my parents' whenever you want to. No rush, no pressure."
Hearing that put Ellie a little more at ease again and she nodded, allowing herself a small smile. "Okay.. Thank you. I appreciate that. Your mum seems lovely."
"She really is. She brought me food, and when she heard that I had to come back here so we could do some shopping because you don't really have much right now she insisted on cooking for us, so I brought us some pasta and sauce and salad and.. things to choose from. I hope you don't mind that." Brian smiled a little at her and showed her what he had brought.
"Your mum cooked for us?" Ellie looked at him. That was something she hadn't expected, but it was a pleasant surprise. "That's so sweet.. she doesn't even know me but she cooked for me."
Brian smiled and nodded. "Yeah, she did. She's always worried I don't eat enough."
"It's easy to get that impression of you," Ellie chuckled. "You are so thin, I always wonder how that's possible."
Brian looked down on himself and shrugged. "Yeah.. But I don't.. I don't know, I'm just thin, but look at Freddie or Roger. They're thin too."
"I didn't say it's bad.. you don't have to defend yourself," Ellie tried to calm him down. "I haven't seen them shirtless, but at least Roger has a bit more muscles, because of the drumming I guess."
"So.." Brian furrowed his eyebrows a little. "You're saying I should start drumming?"
Now Ellie looked at him confused. "No, where did you get that from?"
"Because.. well because Roger has more muscles than me because he's drumming.." Brian gently shook the box that he was holding, watching the vegetables move inside it.
As much as Ellie tried to understand him she couldn't really. "So.. I still don't get you. Sorry, I'm a little lost why you think I want you to take up drumming."
"Well.. Don't women like muscles? You obviously noticed a difference, I want you to.. to like my body," he mumbled, slightly embarrassed. "So... do I have to start playing drums?"
Ellie couldn't help herself and chuckled softly when he said that. "No.. No you don't have to start playing drums." She stood beside him and gently rubbed his arms. "You're a lot better looking than you seem to think that you are. And.. whether you want to believe it or not, it's not all about muscles. There's so much more to it than that. I promise. Actually I don't like it if a guy has .. y'know, huge muscles." She gestured to him what she meant.
"You don't like huge muscles? But a bit is nice?" Brian looked at her intently, obviously very much caring about her opinion.
"Sure, a bit is always nice. But think about it. Would you .. like.. dump a girl because she has small breasts or.. I don't know, short hair?"
"No, that would be ridiculous.." He shook his head, his eyebrows scrunched up a little.
"Exactly. It's about so much more.. If it's for a one night, then screw the personality, then all that matters is the body and.. y'know, the skills.." Ellie was still trying to convince him. But what she didn't tell him was that exactly that logic - screw the personality - was why she had ended up going home with him. She had a feeling that wouldn't necessarily help the situation.
Brian was looking at her, listening closely to what she was telling him. He really cared about what she was telling him. He nodded slowly, getting an idea of where she was going with her little speech.
"But.. if it's about.. about more than just one night .." She gulped, it was still a little hard for her to actually admit that that was exactly what was happening between her and Brian. "Then.. it's about more than just the body. Then it's about the personality and.. y'know, the entire package. Does that make sense to you?"
Brian nodded a little and smiled. "Yeah.." He sounded relieved. "That makes perfect sense. I'm glad you think that way. I was a little worried that - I mean.." He trailed off and unpacked the rest.
"A little worried that what?" Ellie asked curiously and looked at everything that he had brought.
Brian hesitated for a moment and shrugged. "That.. that you might not.. y'know.. that you might pay more attention to the body than the personality."
Ellie pressed her lips together and shook her head. "No.." She couldn't exactly blame him for thinking that way, after all she was sure that she had given that impression. On purpose, you might have to add. Because she never wanted anything more, so she did whatever it took to give guys the impression that she wouldn't be good as a more serious partner. And it worked perfectly fine until Brian came along, because he messed up her system.
"I'm sorry..," Brian immediately told her and wrapped his arm around her.
"It's alright, I don't judge you. That's how I think about one night stands. But.. you.. well.." She trailed off, shrugging.
"What about me?" He asked, a small smile forming on his face.
Ellie couldn't keep a smile off her face either, but turned away to try to hide it. "Oh come on.. You know you are different. In a good way."
"I am?"
Ellie couldn't really decide what to make of the tone of his voice. Was he teasing her or was he really asking that? "Yes.. you are.. I mean.. you're here. You slept here. That alone shows how different you are. In a good way."
Only moments after she said that she was surprised by Brian softly kissing her cheek. She looked at him and smiled. "You knew that.. You just wanted to tease me."
"Who knows?" He said cheekily and kissed her cheek again. "Now.. what do you want me to do with the food? Have you had lunch?"
Ellie shook her head. "No. Well.. Kinda. A bit of the pizza but I was waiting for you."
"Oh.. I'm sorry. You should eat something now. What do you want? I'll warm it up for you." He gently rubbed her arms and showed her the various boxes. Ellie picked one and no matter what she said, Brian insisted on warming it up for her so she could relax.
• • • • • • • • •
As promised, here's the next part already 😊 Probably not quite what you expected, right? But hopefully you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.
As always I'd love to hear from you in a comment! Thank you for reading and supporting this story so much, it means a lot! ♥