A Soul For Sale Or Rent

Leaving Home Ain't Easy

Billie was loving it. She was loving every second of the evening she was spending at Brian's house. She couldn't remember a time she had laughed that much in one evening. She rarely laughed and now, as Brian's Mum was telling her story after story about him she rarely stropped laughing. She could tell that Brian was a little embarrassed by all that was being revealed about him but she was enjoying all those little anecdotes about how he used to run around the house naked as a little child and how he and his father were building a guitar together.

Brian had told her about the guitar and she hadn't thought much of it. She thought they were building a little toy guitar maybe, one that didn't really work, but when Brian took her upstair after dinner and showed her the nearly finished instrument on its drying rack she could hardly believe her eyes. "It looks so good.." She stepped over a few pieces of wood that were on the floor and stood right in front of the guitar, studying it in amazement. "How did you do this? It looks so .. real.. I mean it is real, but it looks so professional." She glanced at him and smiled to herself when she saw him beaming at her. He hadn't stopped smiling the entire evening since he saw her and she didn't exactly know why, but it made her feel really good, both about herself and in general.

He stood next to her and looked at the guitar as well, a proud smile on his face. "You like it? We've been working on it for more than a year, I really hope it'll be finished soon. I can't wait to play it."

She looked up at him and let her eyes wander down to his hands. He had incredibly long fingers, they had to be really good for playing guitar. She reached her hand out for his hand, wanting to hold it and look at it closer. Widening her eyes, she stopped herself last minute. Holding his hand? What was she thinking.. She shook her head a little and looked at the guitar again. "Yeah.. It looks like it'll sound great. And you told me you've been playing since you were seven, so you must be really good as well."

He just shrugged. "I don't know about that.. I can play a few things, but I'm not that good.." He fiddled with his fingers and glanced at her. She looked so pretty in her dress and she was smiling. He had been waiting to see her smile that much for so long and it made her even prettier. He wasn't looking at his guitar anymore, he was only looking at her. She was tracing the guitar strings with her fingers, smiling when they made that metallic squeaking sound. "I love the colour." He smiled at her. "Yeah.. it's almost like your dress. I like the colour. It looks good on you and the guitar."

She blushed a little and tried to hide her face behind her hair. She mumbled a quiet 'thank you' and pushed some hair behind her ear, smiling a little at him. "I'm sure red looks good on you too." They shared a quick glance before nervously averting their gaze, not quite sure what was happening between them. Like so often around him she felt her heartbeat quicken. Her heart was beating loudly, almost making her scared he might hear it.

What she didn't know was that exactly the same was happening to him. He was feeling happy and fuzzy inside when he looked at her. A bit earlier he had seen out of the corner of his eye that Billie had reached over as if she wanted to take his hand and that had completely rendered his brain unfunctionional. Had he been able to control his body just a little better he might have gathered the courage to take the initiative and take her hand in his, but he was simply unable to control his own body. That's what she was doing to him and he was certain she had no idea.

She took a deep breath and turned to face him. "Do you have another guitar?" He nodded, still looking at the guitar on the working bench. "I do, yeah, but it's a simple accoustic. I've never owned an electric guitar, that's why we're building one."

She smiled timidly. "Could you play something for me?"

Brian shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not that good.."