Love In Her Eyes

5

"That liar! That pig!"
Cynthia yelled in disbelief.

Naturally, I went straight to my best friends house after I was hit with the marriage bombshell by Keith.

I watched from Mary's bed as she paced back and forth, trying to help me make sense of it all.

"He doesn't deserve you," she concluded angrily. "And you're way prettier than some old wife of his anyway, so the jokes on him."

"Cynthia," I said with a bitter laugh. "We've never even seen her."

"And we don't have to," She rebuked. "You're the most gorgeous girl out there and if he doesn't appreciate that, then it's his loss."

I gave my friend a smile.

She may leave you at a concert by yourself on occasion, but at the end of the day you could always count on her to lift you up when you're down.
Or at the very least, try her best.

I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling, only to find the smoldering eyes of Jim Morrison on a huge poster looking back at me.

Cynthia stopped her pacing and sat on the bed beside me. Her eyebrows were furrowed in deep thought.

"But what I want to know is, why didn't any of the other members mention this to you? They had to know their precious lead singer was married. What are they, heartless?"

I frown. She's right. But then a flicker of a memory comes back to me.

That first night.

The brief conversation I had with Charlotte, Jimmy Page's girlfriend.

What was it she'd said?
To be careful, that not everything was as it seemed...

Was that her way, subtle and mysterious as it may be, of warning me about Keith?

I relayed this to Cynthia, and then told her I'd better be heading home.
Soon it would be dark out, and I was supposed to be home with the car by then.

Cynthia squeezed my neck. "I'm sorry this has happened to you Gwen."

"It's okay," I mumbled, fighting the fresh tears that threatened to spring from my eyes.

What was it about a comforting hug that triggered the sadness all over again?

"Do you need another cup of tea before you head home?" she asked after releasing me.

"No, I'm fine, thanks."

She gave me a sad smile.

"See you later."

After leaving Cynthia's, I turned onto the main road, and headed out of London. I left Keith and the beautiful, fiery sunset behind me.

I was about to take the exit that would lead me home, but at the last minute, and probably with less than good judgement, I headed a different direction.

A few minutes later I was pulling up in front of the quaint home of Charlotte Martin. I planned on asking her just why she'd sat by -literally-while I was seduced by a married man.

With all the courage I could muster, I marched up to the front porch, and was about to ring the doorbell and demand her explanation.

That's when a certain sight in the window stopped me in my tracks.

There in the living room, with her back to me, was Charlotte.
She was wearing a sweet orange dress, her strawberry blond hair pushed back with a floral headband- I had one almost identical at my house.

Cradled in her arms was the tiniest baby I'd ever seen, a little girl.
I'd heard the news from Keith a few weeks back when she was born, but hadn't actually seen Charlotte, or the baby, until this moment.

The two were completely oblivious to me, and my anger melted away as I watched the mother and baby sweetly fawn over one another.

What was I doing here?

Charlotte wasn't at fault, and I had no right to be upset with her.
My problems momentarily faded, and I turned around to head back to my car.

Just as I was about to open my car door, another car pulled up, stopping just a few inches in front of mine.

I paused, curious to see who was getting out. A second later, a tall, thin figure stepped out.

Upon seeing his thick, black curls I knew instantly it was Jimmy Page.

He approached me smoothly, his porcelain face dimly lit under the street lights.

"Is that you, Guinevere?" he asked in his soft voice.

"Guilty," I answer a little nervously.
"Hello, Jimmy."

We'd never exchanged more than a few words to each other in all this time, so I bit my lip, wondering if we were really on a first name basis.

"Hello," he repeated.

His eyes glanced at me in that same, peculiar way that they had months ago.

"What are you doing here?" he asked conversationally, and my cheeks flushed, for I'm sure it looked a little odd.

I sighed. "Well, I came to talk to Charlotte about something. Well, about Keith, actually."

"I heard..."

"You did? How?"

"Keith phoned me earlier, he told me everything."

Lovely. Now I really felt embarrassed.

"Oh," I mumble, unable to meet Jimmy's gaze.

"It's too bad, really. If you ask me, Keith seemed to care much more for you than he ever did for oh, what's her name? April, that's it."

"Really?" I ask.

"Definitely," he answers with a chuckle.

I take a deep breath.

"Well, I suppose everything works out for a reason," I say with a laugh, trying to seem as nonchalant as Mr. Page.

But he sees right through it.

"Are you alright, love?" he asks, his gentle voice full of concern.

"Oh yes, I'm fine."

His green eyes narrow. "Are you sure? Would you like to come inside?"

My eyes flash to the window again.
I don't see Charlotte or the baby anymore, but we both know they're in there.

"That's very kind of you but no, I wouldn't want to intrude, and besides, I really should be getting home."

"Okay, if you're absolutely sure. At the very least would you like some tea?"

This time my laugh was genuine.

"No thanks, trust me, I've had plenty of tea today."

Jimmy smiled in an amused way, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"All right then. Goodnight, Guinevere. Do be safe heading home."

I smiled, our eyes meeting once more.

"Goodnight."