Memories

|11| • Camping in April •

When Brian and I were done with having a look at his hut, we got our picnic stuff and returned to his house, very motivated to get started on our project. It was going to be good to have something, our thing, as friends again. To get to know each other again and to go back to being like we used to be. Or at least somewhat like that again. I knew we could do that, we just had to give ourselves a chance for that.

"Do you need help doing the dishes?" I asked Brian, spreading out the blanket to dry on his terrace.

"I have a dishwasher, don't worry about that." He walked inside, into the kitchen already.

"Fancy, fancy," I told him with a laugh before I followed him inside.

Brian chuckled. "Yes, I know, that's just how I am." He placed everything in his dishwasher before he returned to me. "We can go into the living room and write down our ideas... maybe later we can go to a building centre for some inspiration, there's a good one not too far away."

"If you feel like that, sure. I'm up for that." I nodded and went into the living room with him. "We can make a list of everything and then see which options there are. You're good at building stuff, that's a good thing in this case."

"Well," Brian chuckled. "Don't get your expectations up too high, but I'll do my best."

We spent the next half hour jotting down ideas that came into our minds. There were a lot of ideas. And the funny thing was that we had a lot of very similar ideas, which meant we ended up getting along better and better, and we spent our time working together instead of arguing. Which - as he told me - to him, was something very nice, and special, because apparently with his ex that hadn't happened very often, especially not towards the end of their relationship.

And it reminded me a lot of the time when he had helped me move in to my first own flat, and we had ended up building shelves and a wardrobe ourselves because my room had slightly weird measurements and we couldn't find anything affordable that actually fit. I still had those shelves and the wardrobe, because it reminded me of him, and frankly, they were pretty great. We had done a lot of great things together.

"Should we go?" He asked after we had decided that we couldn't come up with any more ideas.

Nodding, I got up. "Definitely, let's do this. Are we taking your car?"

"Yeah, you can leave yours here. You're bringing the list?"

"Yes, I have the list." I grabbed my handbag and made sure I had everything, especially the list, before I followed Brian outside to his car. He opened the door for me and let me get in before he went to the driver's side and got in himself.

"All set?" He asked once again and smiled at me.

I smiled back at him and nodded. "All set."

He started the car and drove down the narrow road that led from his house to the main road. He had the radio turned on, and when Bohemian Rhapsody came on, out of reflex I reached for the knobs and changed the station.

"What are you doing?" He asked curiously and glanced at me shortly. "Do you not like it?"

It was only then that I realised what exactly I was doing. "Oh.. uhm, well... I do, I just.. sorry, I always changed the station when you guys came on.." I tried to change it back to the station it was on before.

"Why?"

"I don't really know.. I think it's because I always had to think about you when you're on." Finally I managed to bring the sounds of his Red Special back just in time for the solo. Which if I was honest was definitely always worth listening to because he was an incredible guitarist. Which was exactly why neither of us said anything. We just listened to the song, and for the first time in a very long time I heard more of the studio version of it than the first second or so. For the first time in a very long while I took the time to appreciate his - actually all of their talent. Sure, I had been to the concert, but I had constantly tried to distract myself. Which had been a mistake, I knew that now.