Darkness slowly seeped through her vision. Heavier and heavier her eyes get until she can't hold back any longer. She gives in as blank nothingness washes over her. She loses consciousness and hits her head on her desk.
A loud thud is heard throughout the entire room. She immediately gets up as the professor flashes her a look of disapproval and returns to his lecture. She hears little snickers and sinks into her chair out of embarrassment and wipes the now dry drool off her face.
Five minutes pass and she's already falling asleep again. Slapping her face and pinching her cheeks, she attempts to keep herself awake for the remainder of this class. Resting her head on her hand, nodding off, she sees a tall figure hiding in the corridor attempting to get her attention, but rather getting other students's attention as well. The shiny chocolate hair and bangs only means one thing. Roger fucking Waters.
I excuse myself and make my way to the corridor. Roger is waiting at the end of the hall, smoking a joint that is more than three-fourths finished.
"How are you smoking that and you'll burn your fingers off at this rate" she says noticing that the lit end is reaching his fingers.
"Hey!" He says turning around to greet her, "no more rolled joints on me right now. Want a hit?" He says offering the tiny nub.
"Yeah, pffft what's left of it!" She says laughing and taking a hit. "What'd you call me out here for?" She says as she blows an O through her lips.
"I'm playing a set tonight with a few of my friends. I'd love it if you were there." He says looking down at her in awe as she parts her lips and releases smoke into the air. Little did she know that, to him, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. But, he knew it wouldn't ever work. They had been friends for over a decade and he couldn't risk jeopardizing the amazing bond the currently had.
They walk out to the courtyard as she drops the joint to the ground and smothers it into the gravel.
"I wasn't done with that." Roger says
"I really don't care" she says laughing. She gives him a shit eating grin, having to look up because of his great height. He brushes a hand through her messy black hair.
"When was the last time you showered?" He teases as his long fingers get caught in a thick tangle in her hair. He attempts to untangle her hair when she slaps his hand away.
"Ouch! That hurts you arse!" She says as he laughs at her more.
"I'm just trying to help you. That's what you get when you don't wash your hair." He states, continuing brushing her hair with his hands.
"So about that gig you're playing tonight... who're you playing with?" She asks
"Oh a few lads I met at school" he says nonchalantly. She is still curious about it, but decides she could just wait and see. They both hop on his motorbike and ride away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They walk into the room and her attention is drawn to the mirage of art and sculptures in the room. The room was filled with beautiful and colorful pieces of art. She looks around in awe when she realizes that the room is also swarmed with people. Her stomach drops. She begins to have an overwhelming feeling of anxiety and squeezes Roger's arm. He turns around and immediately knows what's going on just by looking at her face. He knows she tends to panic in social situations and goes to try to calm her down.
"I'm gonna go wait in the bathroom until the show starts..." she says as she tries to hurry off. Roger catches her by the wrist and pulls her in.
"It's okay I can take you backstage, there will be less people here." He says looking down at her. She nods her head.
He pulls her through the sea of people and weaves his was to the doors at the end of the room. They walk through and it doesn't seem much like a "backstage." It was more of a spare room, hardly bigger than a broom closet. The room smelled like weed and whiskey, although she didn't mind much. In fact, she really needed something to get her mind off the room full of strangers behind the door. Walking into the room, there is a beaten-up red sofa and coffee table. Those were the only pieces of furniture in the room, the rest of the room was filled with musical instruments and amplifiers. There were three men, looking to be around the same age as Roger sitting throughout the small room. However, one of them seem to have caught her eye, and seemingly, she caught his. His hair was mildly unkept, but not too messy and he was wearing a lightly patterned button up with a red ascot. He stands up and walks to the two newcomers.
"Roger! You're late" The man says. He was shorter than Roger, (well who isn't?) but still much taller than her.
"I had to pick this one up," Roger says motioning to you. "I brought her here because she doesn't tend well to large crowds... or any crowds." He teases. She nudges him in the side and looks down at the floor.
"Hello there, I'm Roger Keith Barrett, but you can just call me Syd" He says softly.
She looks up and see he's looking at her in curiosity.
"I'm Emily Yen" She says, softly smiling.
"You look very familiar Emily. Have we met before?" Syd says tilting his head. Syd had seen her face before, whether it had been in person or in a dream, he had seen her before. He was intrigued by her unique features. She looked Asian, but not typical like any face he'd seen before. She enchanted him.
"If you don't mind me asking, what is your ethnicity?" Syd says
"Oh, my mother is Chinese and my father is half Filipino and half French." She says.
"Well, it's a very nice combination in my opinion... you are very beautiful." Syd says as he smiles at her. They look into each other's eyes for a moment and both turn away blushing. Roger feels like he just swallowed a weight. Syd was one of his closest friends besides Emily. And it didn't even occur to him the Syd could even be any competition.
"Hey Em, why don't I introduce you to the other guys and get you outta Syd's hair, hm?" Roger says taking your hand.
"Oh she really isn't much of a bother, she is quite lovely company." Syd says shyly as she looks at the floor blushing, "but she should meet the other guys and I need to tune by guitar."
Roger takes her and introduces her to the other members.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emily was different for sure. Not in a very obvious way, but they knew that she had a very different desire in her. She wasn't an outcast or an attention seeker at all. She didn't care for titles, she never gave it a price of mind, for if she were to have one, she'd be called a dreamer. A lust for change, a need for a new reality. She's always had a twinkle of curiosity in her eyes and anyone who understands could see it. And that's what drew Syd and Roger to her, pulled them in like a rope around their neck. Looking at her during their gig, they knew. The lively atmosphere, all the bodies dancing and jumping with each other, gracefully and not-so-gracefully swaying throughout the fine pieces of art displayed; didn't faze her one bit. She stood amongst the crowd, she definitely didn't stand out to most, but to them, she did. She watched with amazement in her twinkling eyes, for she had never watched them preform before and she was blown away. She wanted to savor every note, beat, and lyric. To Roger, she was the ideal audience. She listened to the music and understood and was able to comprehend it, rather than having it be background noise and aimlessly dancing to what they believe is just white sound. He could tell in her eyes that she absorbed each word. For Syd, he was infatuated by her because of that dreamlike glaze. He could tell that her head liked to be in the clouds and he wanted to be in the clouds with her. He knew that she had an adventurous heart, the one who liked to believe in fairy stories. Syd also recognized her face. He had seen it maybe on the street or in a dream, nevertheless, today wasn't the first day he'd seen her face and heard her name.
