~She wasn't a fool, but love flowed from her face.
She's not scared of me; she's afraid of disgrace.~

*

Brian sometimes really had the worst of lucks.

At first the whole Marion scenario, then the stupid fight with her sister and now he had a bleeding nose. He had definitely reached his limit for today.

Brian should have gone home after the fight with Celeste, but then he had seen a nice girl at the counter of the bar and had thought he needed a recompense after all the trouble he went through. It was stupid of him to think he could magically save a wasted evening; then again how could he have known she was the girlfriend of the barkeeper? She surely hadn't told him about it, so how was it his fault that she wanted to go home with him? He had been the innocent one in this, even if that was hardly any reassurance when his nose was bleeding like mad.

He could just hope he found a cab nearby to go home and he could finally put this awful evening behind him. He definitely had enough of it, but of course he couldn't be that lucky.

The cold air felt good on his bruised skin and for a moment Brian honestly believed everything would turn alright. He could get home, sleep and erase everything that happened from his mind, however nothing was ever that easy.

"Luck wasn't on your side then; I suppose?" He nearly groaned when he heard her voice, of course he had to run into her again. Even if Brian was surprised that she still was around, she had left him at least half an hour ago, giving her enough time to go home or wherever she liked. So what was she still doing here, he wondered and again suspected it to be some strange plot of Marion or maybe he was just starting to get paranoid. There were probably a billion reasons for her to be still here without having her sister scheming something. If Brian had to guess, it looked like she had stepped out to get some fresh air and to have smoke. She was standing next to the entrance, cigarette in hand and for some reason Brian thought she looked more attractive in that moment than before in the club. Nothing about her had changed except for her environmental and he couldn't understand how it made such a big difference. "Or didn't she want to spend the night together with you?"

"Really funny..." he mumbled as he passed her. Even under normal conditions, he wouldn't have liked her to tease him and now he had even less understanding for it. He was still trying to stop the bleeding from his nose with a handkerchief and leaning his head back, which was sadly not very effective.

"You're doing it wrong, that way you won't get it to stop," She pointed out, making Brian stop in his steps and he couldn't remember the last time he had such a huge need to strangle someone. He loathed it when people corrected him as if he was a stupid little boy. If Brian wasn't one thing, then it was stupid, he could perfectly take care of himself.

"I'm perfectly able to do this on my own. I don't need your help," he snorted, hoping to finally get rid of her as he quickened his steps, but all he achieved was that he lost his footing and Brian accepted that nothing was going to work out tonight anymore.

He reached out with his hands to soften his fall, when suddenly there was an arm around him and tried to pull him up. Celeste had caught him and Brian knew he should have helped her, but in the first moment he had simply been so caught off guard by her sudden help, that he just stared at her. The light wasn't the best, but it was enough for him to have a closer look at her. He hadn't bothered before to gaze at her face and now he regretted it. He couldn't exactly tell what it was about her that appealed to him, but there was something so warm and gentle about her in that mkment that it made him feel secure and safe. Marion's face had gentler traits, but Celeste seemed gentler. The only thing that put him off in that moment was her smell. She wasn't supposed to smell like cheap beer and cigarettes, it didn't fit her.

"It's okay to admit you need somebody. So don't be an ass and let me help you out," She told him and finally yanked him out of his daze. Brian straightened himself and put his handkerchief away for a minute to see if he still was bleeding. He touched his face and was immediately greeted by a new wave of fresh blood, flowing out of his nose. In a blink of an eye the handkerchief was back on his nose and again he pulled his hand back.

Celeste didn't comment on his behaviour this time, instead she rubbed his back as if she was trying to calm him down. It was no bad sensation, but it just seemed so out of place for her. This Celeste was so different to the one in the bar. She had been judgingly of him without knowing him at all and now she was nearly too kind.

"We should sit down somewhere, so that I can have a look at your nose." Her voice sounded concerned and it irritated Brian even more.

"Why do you even care?" he mumbled.

She ignored him. "I don't expect you want to go back inside... Well I don't live that far away, but you probably already knew that or Marion has a different friend who likes to drink my tea. You can come with me so that I can try to fix up your nose."

Brian sighed and mumbled a 'fine'. In all honesty he wasn't fine with it and would have preferred to go home, but a cup of her wonderful tea sounded too tempting to pass, especially after today. He deserved at least that much.

"First you should stop to lean your head back, that's not helping at all. It needs to come out." She told him and strengthened his hold on him. Brian had no idea when he had put his arm around her shoulder, probably when she had caught him, but he didn't mind it to be so close to this friendlier version of Celeste. "Oh and take this. Yours looks very gruesome already and I doubt it can take any more." She handed him a new clean handkerchief and again Brian caught himself staring at her, but in his defence it was very easy. She was as tall as him, which then again was not really an achievement considering that he wasn't very tall to begin with. It annoyed him on certain days that he was compared to everyone else so small, but now he was glad or else he couldn't have looked into her face without making it very obvious.

Celeste was frowning, probably due to his lack of reaction, but faster than he could blink she stopped and back was the concern. With the hand that wasn't on his back she touched his who was holding his soaked handkerchief and Brian wondered what she was up to now. She took his out of his hand and put it away inside her bag and exchanged it for a new one. She handed it him without a word and Brian took it without one either. Somewhere inside his mind told him he had to thank her, but no words left his lips. Her sudden kindness had rendered him speechless apparently and that even though he had a million questions for her.

*

"You can wait here. I'm just going to fetch a few things," she said as she sat him down on the kitchen chair. Brian just nodded. For him this whole scenario still was somewhat incomprehensible. A few hours ago he had been sitting on the exact same chair listening to Marion complain about this and that and now he was here again, but with her sister and a bleeding nose. Definitely not how he had envisaged his evening to turn out. Ending up here again was probably the only thing that he perhaps could have predicted, but with Marion, not Celeste.

Even if Brian preferred her currently. Marion would have been useless, she might have gushed over him and annoyed him, but wouldn't have been a help at all.

"I'm going to have a look at your nose first, before I clean it up. That might hurt a bit, but I try to be as gentle as I can..." She told him as she came back into the kitchen in her hands a cloth and some bottle. She rummaged inside the kitchen until she found a large bowl which she put down before Brian.

She sat down next to him and gently pulled his hands away, that were still holding her handkerchief, which was now soaked through as well. He was eyeing her and it still astonished him how much she looked like Marion and in a way didn't. You could definitely tell that they were sisters, but Celeste seemed so much more grown up, even though she couldn't have been that much older than Marion. She was 20, if Brian remembered correctly, not that he had cared much and Celeste couldn't be older than 23.

"It doesn't look broken at least..." she stated after she had touched his nose. It hadn't exactly hurt, but neither had it been a very nice feeling.

She put her thumb and her index finger on his nose and put a wet cloth on his neck. "That should help stop the bleeding and close the wound."

Brian didn't reply and just watched her, still surprised at how nice she was acting after what had happened between the two of them earlier and he felt guilty.

"I'm sorry for earlier," He said and nearly laughed at how ridiculous nasal his voice sounded, even Celine seemed to smile, no matter her surprise. She probably hadn't expected him to apologize.

"We probably started on the wrong foot, but that still doesn't mean I'll sleep with you. Your bleeding seems to have stopped, but I would cool it some more to make sure." She said and removed her hand from his face and put the wet cloth on it. "If you could hold it while I'll make some tea, that would be nice."

"Sure," he mumbled and held onto it as she removed her hands and left him sitting there alone.

It was odd watching her prepare him a cup, when he was so used to do it on his own. Marion surely wouldn't dirty her hands to make him one or maybe she too would now, considering he had suffered a minor injury. He nearly wanted to ask Celeste if she really was this nice or if it was only the blood loss making him see things, but then he thought better of it.

"Where do you get your tea from?" he asked instead and hoped to get a satisfying answer this time, because what he had heard from Marion was next to nothing.

"A friend. She sends it from New York, but I'm sure you can arrange to have it delivered to your place as well. I'm sure the little shop in Chinatown, who sells it would be delighted to have Brian Jones among their clients," she remarked in a bitter tone, making Brian wonder if he really had missed it before or why she was now back to her defensive self, when she earlier had been so nice.

Again Brian had a million things on his mind he wanted to ask her, but the most stupid one left his lips: "You've been to New York?"

"Yes and why do you even care?" She asked sighing as she sat the tea down before him. "I'm sorry for being so harsh to you, it's nothing personal, really! I'm sure you're very nice and everything, but I can't use people like you in my life."

"Thanks..." Brian mumbled sarcastically and took a sip out of his cup. The tea was as good as ever, he definitely need to track down this store in New York or have somebody do it for him, considering he was kind of unable to obtain a VISA at the moment. A sentence which still annoyed him, especially when the drugs found at his house weren't even his. After last year he wouldn't be that stupid to let them lay around for everyone to find...

"But if it's a comfort I liked the harpsichord in Dandelion," Celeste said and surprised he looked up at her. She was now sitting next to him sipping on her tea and her eyes again held the caring nature he had seen earlier. Brian suspected that she actually was a very sweet person, but for whatever reason she couldn't show that to him and still considering what he had been thinking of Brian probably hadn't looked very happy and her comment with the harpsichord was obviously a try to make him feel better. Even if it wasn't very helpful.

"Good thing then I am not the one playing it."

She looked honesty surprised at that. "You're not? Sorry I didn't know that. I suppose the dulcimer in Lady Jane is you then?"

Brian was unsure what to think of this. Celeste hadn't shown any interest in him all evening and considering that Marion was not interested in music at all, it seemed strange that she seemed to know their songs and especially who played what instruments in them. Brian hadn't really expected her to be fan.

"I usually don't like the sound of dulcimers, but I have to admit you use it well. It gives your songs a very distinctive sound and it's interesting to see how you link baroque elements with popular music. You can't imagine how astonished I was when I heard in my Life by the Beatles! I had kind of lost interest in pop music and it was just an instrumental bridge, but the piano reminded me so much of a harpsichord, that I suddenly had this strong need to give pop a chance again and I wasn't disappointed!"she exclaimed, but then her expression changed. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to ramble to you about those things..." she added.

"Do you play any instruments?" Brian lamely asked, he still was kind of confused at her behaviour. At first she treats him like he's the worst thing in the worst and now she happily chats with him about music of all things. He seriously wondered what went on with her.

She shrugged. "I would like to play a harpsichord someday. Those from the 18th century look so beautiful; I probably would kill somebody to get my hands on one."

That wasn't the answer he was expecting and Celeste suddenly seemed rather melancholic the way she looked at the teacup in her hands and even how she had evaded his question... He had a strong suspicion that there was more behind it than simply her wish to play a harpsichord, but Brian knew better than to ask her about it now.

"How comes it that you're interested in music and your sister isn't?" He asked instead, which was another thing he had wondered about.

Celeste smiled. It still looked kind of sad, but the mood seemed a bit lighter. "She is actually, but she has no talent and well she doesn't like to be reminded of it."

Brian laughed at that, that indeed sounded like a very Marion thing to do. If you can't do something, just pretend you have no idea about it. Celeste shot him a glare and Brian coughed to cover up his laughter.

Then he cleared his throat. "We have a harpsichord back at the studio, if you want you could play it. It's not form 18th century, but it's better than nothing."

She looked at him surprised at first, but then there was again the sad smile. "Thank you for the offer, that's very kind of you, but I told you I'm not interested in you and nothing will change my mind about it."

"Maybe I just want to help a fellow musician out," he said and in that moment he really only wanted to help and pay her back for everything she had done for him.

"I'll think about it," she replied smiling and this time it was a real one.

Lyrics by The Who.

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