Unexpected Encounters [B.H.M.]

8

As it turned out, they did make sense, his directions. Put into the context of our surroundings they had actually been pretty accurate, and we managed to make it to his house in just under forty minutes. I pulled into his driveway, struggling to squeeze my car in next to his but somehow I managed. Now the next task would be to get Brian inside his house unharmed.

That turned out to be trickier than it sounded at first because balance really wasn't his strength at the moment and that stupid tree standing in his driveway blocked the light from the street lamp and I didn't know his driveway particularly well. Brian just wasn't cooperating, but with a bunch of curses from me we eventually made it to the door.

"Where is your key?" I asked him, making him lean against the wall next to the door.

"In.... In my pocket... here," he said and patted the back pocket of his trousers.

"Come on, get it out or do I have to tell you to breathe in and out as well?" I asked, getting a little annoyed with him. I just wanted to get back to sleep by now if I was honest. I had been up for one and a half hours just because some famous guitarist didn't have himself under control enough to monitor his alcohol intake and take money with him. It was ridiculous, honestly. I didn't even really know him, the most I had done was to spend an afternoon at the A&E and then have dinner at his place. Sure, that was more than the majority, but still not enough to make it acceptable for him to make me miss out on a good night's sleep. That was what good friends were for, not random fan acquaintances.

And yet here I was, waiting for him to react.

"Brian, come on, you need to work with me here," I told him firmly.

"But I don't want you to leave," he admitted quietly. "When we go inside you're going to leave and I'm going to be alone again... I liked your company the other day, that was nice."

"Don't be silly, Brian. You have to get some sleep, you're going to hate yourself tomorrow if you stay up all night," I told him, trying to reason with him. He didn't really mean that, he didn't even know me.

"I do that anyway," he muttered, letting his head bang against the wall. Luckily he had so much hair to shield his brain from the impact.

"Why do you stay up all night anyway?" I questioned a little confused.

"That's not what I mean," he complained and finally reached into his back pocket to get me his key. "Here... just go ahead and leave, they all do... all of them."

Drunk people didn't make sense. Maybe this would make more sense if I knew him better but I didn't and I definitely didn't want to get into a conversation like that with a drunk, recently single man, especially a +40. Midlife crisis and so on, that could end badly. "Let's just get you inside and into bed, okay?" With the key I could finally open the door to his house and I even got him to go inside without too much resistance.

Inside I struggled to find the light switch, I had to nearly yell at Brian to help me with that because he was being very stubborn and refused to cooperate, complaining that I would just ditch him as soon as I could anyway. Who would have thought that he could be so damn whiny? That made him a whole lot less attractive suddenly.

However, I managed to get the light on and he managed to get his shoes and jacket off which was already a big advancement. To make it easier I took off my jacket as well, maybe then he wouldn't constantly complain about how everyone was just going to leave him anyway.

"Brian, I'm going to get you a glass of water, that'll do you good. Come into the kitchen with me, will you?" I asked and gently reached for his arm.

"Okay... will you stay for that?" He asked quietly and looked at me with big eyes.

"For a glass of water?" I asked, unable to keep a smile off my face. He was whiny, but like with a whiny puppy you couldn't be angry with him because he was cute.