Unexpected Encounters [B.H.M.]

23

I went ahead and opened the doors so we could go inside. It was a quiet and dimly lit pub, which in this case was very good. There was no one in sight, so I went ahead to the counter. There was a little bell standing on the counter to I rang that and waited for someone to come.

It took a couple of minutes but then a lovely lady appeared. "Hello, how can I help you?"

"I was wondering if you have a secluded table for two? That would be lovely."

The lady raised her eyebrows. "Secluded?"

"I'm here with someone who might be recognised by fans and he'd prefer to avoid that if possible," I explained, trying to keep it vague.

"Oh alright, I think I have something for you, this way," she said, gesturing me to follow her.

I glanced at Brian and he luckily got the hint and came with me. The lady led us to a table that was separate from the other tables in a corner, hidden behind a little bit of wall. "What do you think?" I asked Brian.

"Looks good," Brian said quietly.

"Yes," I told the lady. "This is good, thank you."

"Wonderful, I'll bring you the menues shortly. Can I bring you anything to drink?"

"I'll just have some water for now," I told her, and Brian nodded, mumbling, "Me too."

"That's fine, I'll be back in a couple of minutes," she told us, letting us take a seat.

"This is actually quite nice," Brian said, surprising me by pointing out something positive in his current mood.

"It is, yeah," I agreed. "And the lady is nice too. Do you think she recognised you?"

Brian shrugged. "I'm not sure. Probably. My hair is quite memorable I'd say. But she's polite, and I appreciate that."

"Yeah, I can tell. You weren't too friendly with those teenagers before."

"They were rude, Frida, otherwise I would have been nicer. They wanted a piece of my hair and I don't do that."

"A piece of your hair?! That's a little freaky, wow." I shook my head a little, looking at him worriedly. "Do you get asked that a lot?"

"More than you probably imagine. Sometimes people don't even ask, it can get a little scary," he admitted.

"I can imagine, yeah. Wow... I mean, yes, I'm a fan, but... cutting off hair? That seems very extreme."

"It is, it's not easy sometimes," he admitted.

"When is life ever easy," I agreed. "It's always a struggle."

"You have no idea how right you are," he sighed. "Life isn't fair."

"No, it's not," I agreed and placed my hand on his reassuringly. "But you get through it somehow. Just hang on in there, okay? I know that's easier said than done but in the end it's worth it."

He looked at me sceptically and shrugged. "I really hope you're right.. I hope you'll excuse me for not being particularly optimistic right now."

"Of course," I assured him. "I totally understand that in your situation and I think it's important to be sad. Allow yourself to grieve because otherwise you'll never make your peace with the situation. You may never understand why, you may never stop wishing it hadn't happened but hopefully one day you'll learn to accept that you can't change it. That there's no point in hating yourself for what happened to them, that even if they had stopped smoking, even if they hadn't been alone there, they might still not be with us anymore. Life doesn't make sense and life can be pretty cruel, but don't be cruel to yourself. Nothing good ever comes of that." I took a deep breath and kept my eyes on my hands. I wasn't sure if I wasn't maybe telling myself that too.