People Can You Hear Me? [A Brian May Story]

[14]

Brian walked up to the front desk, pulling out his wallet from his coat. The receptionist smiled brightly at him. "Here to pay, sir?" She asked cheerfully.

"Yes, for Brian May," he said. He was not pleased with the now added cost of the wash but he would have to make do.

I'll have lunch every other day now, Brian thought to himself grimly.

The receptionist smiled shyly. "Your haircut has already been paid for," she said.

Brian furrowed his brows. "That's not possible. Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yes. A young woman came by and asked to pay for you. Well... not ask, she didn't say a word. She just pointed on the clipboard and gave me money."

The young woman went on for a while but Brian wasn't listening. As soon as he heard, "she didn't say a word," he knew immediately who had paid. But Brian was very, very confused and bit embarrassed.

Why would she pay for me? Brian wondered.

It was already embarrassing having to sit there through his awful haircut while she watched with empathetic eyes. He felt uncomfortable with her just watching him while he awkwardly stuttered his way through the event.

Stupid, stupid stupid! Brian kicked himself as he tried to block the memories just from an hour ago. He knew he shouldn't have just walked away from his friends but he was just so humiliated. Brian was simply too polite to fully speak his mind when it came to his looks. Freddie was just so insistent on "glamming" him up.

Sitting in the back, looking in the mirror after he ran away, Brian could not fight the tears. He just felt so defeated and small, and to top it all, with a haircut that he saw as ugly, unflattering and useless.

Until Genevieve came along.

Brian had been startled at the sound of a box dropping behind him, his heartbeat increasing at the sight of the mysterious woman. He wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone, he just wanted to be alone. But that all changed when her face flashed with determination and she grabbed a comb. Brian felt his face flush and his heart race as she gently ran a comb through his dark brown curls.

If it had been anyone else, he would have stopped them and said, politely, to go away. But... she was just so gentle. When Brian said that out loud, he was surprised he didn't feel embarrassed. It felt natural, a feeling that was foreign to him. His body relaxed as she moved around his head of curls, not even accidentally tugging a stray curl once.

The feeling didn't stay for long as she put her finger under his chin. Brian nearly melted as he finally was able to get a good look at her face during the day. His palms got sweaty, a blush spreading from his cheeks to his neck.

She's just so... so... beautiful, Brian thought, his body growing warmer with every passing second. Very natural beauty, like a Greek goddess or a fairytale princess.

Her black, button-up blouse brought out her green eyes, that to Brian was his favorite part of her. For what she lacked in words, her eyes showed every bit of her thoughts, emotions and wants. Brian couldn't help but get lost in them as she combed out the front of his hair. He snapped out of his daze quickly, only to see that she had stopped brushing and was just staring at him, with a tender expression on her face.

Brian had squirmed uncomfortably, a little nervous at her so close to him. And it didn't help the height of the chair had placed him nearly at her chest level. He had been good but the longer she was just looking at him, the harder he found it to not let his eyes wander.