The Art of Living

[23] Do Whatever You Want

Immediately Ellie shook her head. She wouldn't be tricked so easily "No. No, of course not. You're a free person, you can do whatever you want.. Whatever you want." Ellie didn't look at him. She was fiddling with her fingers because for some reason it bothered her a lot that there was a girl who was interested in Brian. It made her a little upset, even if she would never show that to anyone. She took a few deep breaths, trying to ignore that burning feeling.

"And I will." There was definitely a hint of happiness in his voice.

Ellie just nodded, and didn't say more. Not for the entire dinner, she didn't really talk to anyone. And when they returned to the city hall, Ellie was walking beside Brian, but she didn't really mind, because she wasn't really paying attention to anything. Her mind was still occupied with that Marcia, wondering who exactly she was and what she meant to Brian.

Back at the city hall, they still had a bit of time left, so they stayed in the backstage room. Brian was in a corner, with Roger. Ellie could imagine what they were talking about, or rather who they were talking about. So she stayed where she was and discreetly got out the book she had taken from Brian's bag. Maybe that could help her distract herself, keep herself busy. It wasn't all that bad if she was honest, it was quite interesting. It was certainly a lot better than wasting that time with thoughts about Marcia and Brian. Marcia and Brian was something she didn't like. Random facts about space were much better.

When it was time to get ready for the band, Ellie quickly stuffed the book back into her bag. She wished them all good luck - even Brian - before she got her cameras and snuck onto the stage to take a couple of pictures of the audience before the concert. It was good that she had something to properly distract her now. She went into the crowd and tried to get a sense of from where she could take the best pictures, trying to focus only on that until the guys came on. And not much longer, they came onto the stage, and they made quite an entrance. It was impressive. Even though they didn't have a lot to work with, they weren't all that bad.

Even though it was easy to tell that they hadn't really played together in that formation before. It sounded a bit bumpy at times. The single parts were all really good, but put together it sounded slightly off at times. Roger and Brian seemed to play together the best, which of course made sense since they had played together the longest. And Freddie only had a few mistakes in timing and cues, but Mike, Ellie could hear him quite well, he was off a lot.

Despite all of that, Ellie got some great pictures. Most pictures she took were of Freddie and Brian, despite everything. It was tough to take pictures of Roger, and Mike.. well. She took a few pictures of him, but Freddie and especially Brian seemed more intriguing. Brian was incredibly fascinating to watch, just like before during the soundcheck. She found it hard to take her eyes off him.

Partly also because all of them were wearing incredibly tight trousers, which was especially visible on Freddie. Mike had his bass to shield certain areas, and Brian had his guitar, but a lot of Freddie was very easy to see. And it would have been a lie if Ellie had said that she hadn't been very distracted by that at times. It was a shame that Brian had his guitar, she would have liked to have a proper look at him in those tight trousers, but Freddie was nearly as good. Not that she would ever do anything with him, but she could enjoy the view she was getting. And she wasn't shy to capture it in photos either, she was quite certain that Mary would just love them.

So despite the few mishaps they were good, and the one song that Freddie announced as their own song was impressive. Very fast, and very much what Ellie liked. When they got off the stage, the audience cheered for them and Ellie captured those last few moments before she went backstage, to the room where her equipment was.

When she opened the door, she was - surprisingly - met with a rather quiet atmosphere. Brian was packing up his guitar - giving Ellie a chance to look at him in those trousers with some proper light and without a guitar to shield him from her eyes. It was a really nice view. Really very nice. So nice that Ellie lifted her camera and very discreetly took a blind photo of him, hoping he was in the frame. Hoping that would be a view Marcia would never get. Only when the picture was taken she cleared her throat.

"That was good, you guys." She smiled at them, wanting to seem as normal as possible, and went to pack up her cameras.

Brian looked at her, apparently slightly surprised by something, and smiled. "Thanks. We still need to improve a lot of things, but it was a start. I messed up quite a lot but it was okay. How was it for you? Did you get some good pictures?"

"I hope so, yeah. If they aren't good, it's definitely my fault .. because you were all very nice to look at." She just couldn't stop herself from saying that, letting her eyes wander over Brian again.

Brian chuckled a little and closed his guitar case. "Nice to look at, huh? Well thank you. I can't wait to see the pictures. Do you have all your stuff?"

It took a moment before Ellie replied, she was a little distracted. Still. By Brian, and certain things that were running through her mind. "Yeah, I do," Ellie nodded. She took a deep breath, telling herself to stop picturing Brian with another girl, and instead focus on reality. "But I assume you need help getting all your things?"

Running a hand through his hair, Brian nodded. "Yes, that would be great, but I want to change first. If you want you can go ahead and help, some of Roger's friends should have started already. I'll meet you there."

"Sounds good, okay. By the way. You look very nice in those clothes." There. That would show him. She smirked before she left the room rather quickly, not wanting to give him a chance to say something in reply to that. It was hard to believe, but she had actually just complimented him. And she had meant it, and she didn't regret it in the slightest. She was only a little nervous if Brian would bring it up again because then she wouldn't know what she should tell him why she said that. The truth? Most likely not.

Even though ... if this Marcia person was going to be there, Ellie needed to step up her game a little. Because she didn't like the thought of Brian going home with her at all. Even though it would mean that she would have more space on her mattress tonight, she'd rather have Brian sleeping beside her than beside Marcia. And she only surprised herself with the fact that she wasn't shy to admit that to herself.

But when they were packing up their equipment and puzzling it into the van again, Brian didn't talk to her, not about the compliment, not about anything. However, what did happen was that a bunch of girls came up to the group, they seemed to know them. Discreetly, Ellie walked a little closer to them, pretending to be busy with her camera bag. Eavesdropping.

"Brian!!"

Ellie grimaced at the awfully high pitched squeak. If that had been on purpose it was very embarrassing, for the girl.

"You were pretty good before, not so bad." The girl obviously thought she was being irresistible with how she was winking at Brian and all that.

Ellie just shook her head and sighed.

"I really loved seeing you in action again, it's always the highlight of my day" she continued and hugged him tightly. Much too tightly for Ellie's liking.

But Brian seemed to be very happy about that because he just chuckled a little and hugged her back. "You think so? Thank you.." He let his eyes wander over to where Ellie was, and when they made eye contact for a moment, Ellie didn't know what to think. She didn't like what she was seeing at all. Brian looked back at the girl who was standing in front of him and smiled at her. "I'm very glad to see you here, Marcia.."

Ellie pressed her lips together and leaned against the van, not taking her eyes off Marcia. There were other girls in the group, but since they were talking to Roger, Freddie and Mike, Ellie didn't really mind them. She just kept watching Marcia and Brian. It really bothered her to see them together.

She kept watching them, until Sue came up to her. "Hey Ellie, do you have all your things?"

It took a moment for her to react, but when she did, she nodded slowly. "Mhm, I do.." She tried to look away but somehow her body didn't quite obey her. She was partly wondering what had happened to her aim of not caring and treating him like any other guy because what she was doing right now was certainly going against that.

• • • • • •

So there is Marcia. And Ellie just loves her ;)

Brian is slowly starting to wear her down as it seems. Or is he?

I would really love to hear from you in a comment, just like in the recent chapters, because that always makes me happy.

Thank you so much for reading and commenting and loving this story so much! 💚