Out of Time [Brian Jones]

Complicated

*
She looks so simple in her way
Does the same thing everyday
But she's dedicated
To having her own way
She's very complicated
*

Packing my things did take longer than I anticipated and it definitely felt wrong, but it was the least I could do for him and in the worst case I was back home in 9 months because he was dead and in the best case it might didn't take that long to help him. I couldn't even see how my presence made any difference, but I guess it was some mental thing for him. I had given him some hope and that was probably what he needed right now and it wasn't all bad for me either. If he was going to pay my rent, I could save a lot of money and might get the money a lot faster together... And then? What? I couldn't leave earlier or anything. I had to stay and deal with my issues as well and couldn't just leave them behind... I hadn't thought about that. Blimey I would have done everything for a drink in that moment. I sighed. Maybe I really had a slight alcohol problem and still I couldn't believe that Mary had said something like that. She was the one who would spend every evening in a bar, she might not drink as much as I did, but I would at least stay at home on some nights... Anyway shouldn't I inform her where I was going to stay for the time being? I mean she was my best friend and would probably end up asking where I was, but what could I say? There was no real plausible reason for me to explain why I was staying at Brian's. I wasn't in any relationship with him, had a home and even if I didn't Brian didn't seem like the first choice for me to stay at. I  wouldn't even add him to  the list of places I would stay if I was really desperate.

"Are you finished packing up?" asked Brian as he entered my bedroom. He had a glass in hand, undoubtedly he had found the whiskey in my kitchen and had purred himself a glass. I just shook my head. "You know, you nearly have more things to drink at your place than I do, especially stronger things. Don't you ever drink some beer?"

"I don't like beer, but you could have purred me a glass as well." I answered.

He raised his eyebrows. "I thought we agreed on you drinking less."

"The bottle is already open and needs to be emptied before I leave..." I shrugged.

"Ok I'll bring you a glass and you can finish up here." With that he left and I resumed my packing. Luckily I didn't own that much clothes anyway, so packing went rather fast. I picked up a few more things from the bathroom and went back to my bedroom. Brian was already there sitting on my bed. His glass was in his hand and mine was on my nightstand. I took it and sipped on it. He hadn't really put much in it and I nearly emptied it. "You drink fast." He remarked. I shrugged. He wasn't the first to tell me that, Mary had on more than occasion. That reminded me what am I going to tell her about this and the others?

"Can I ask you something?" He simply nodded. "What are we going to tell the others about this? I mean I don't really see a reason why I should live with you. Even with the things I know, it still seems stupid..."

He shook his head. "It isn't, we both need somebody and it is the easiest if we stay together..."

"Ok I get that, but what are we telling the others? I mean I can hardly tell Mary I'll live with you, because you need my help or you die or whatever... And I don't think Keith would believe that either. It just seems odd if I just suddenly live with you without a reason, especially if you consider the whole thing... You were confronting me, calling me names, then you help me only to throw me out of your house in the middle of the night. This makes no sense at all."

He frowned. "I hadn't thought about that... How did you actually get home that night?"

"Keith." He looked surprised and I guessed Keith had kept his promise and hadn't said a word about it towards him. "He promised me not to say a thing if I go to your show the 10th..."