After leaving John, Lillie ran straight to her dressing room. Usually it was an over-glorified storage room, its small size meaning it was used only for crates of cans or spare glasses. On the nights she played the pub, she took over, and so the room was even more cramped than usual, considering she'd pulled a mirror in, her regular clothes hung up on the railing on the wall.

Lillie had every intention of changing after the gig, but now she knew she was meeting Queen, she couldn't help but find the clothes she'd brought with her inadequate. So instead she smoothed down her black long sleeved dress, patterned with small stars, and although they were killing her feet, she kept her red platform heels on. They were her lucky shoes, after all, and she'd need all the luck she could get. Before going on stage, she'd made sure her appearance was perfect, her short blonde hair pulled back into two braids with eyeliner in perfect flicks, but now her hair had frizzed, and her makeup had smudged ever so slightly. She didn't have time to fix herself up perfectly, so with a sigh, she pulled the braids out, her hair now wildly curly. She desperately wanted to take her contact lenses out, but she'd purposefully not brought her much hated glasses with her, a decision Lillie was now regretting.

Too late to worry about it, she sighed again, attempting to control the building nerves, glancing to the clock. She had about another five minutes until she'd told John to bring the band through, and she wanted to throw up. As she paced the small room, she realised in all the nerves that she'd forgotten to fetch her instruments off stage. Cursing herself, she ran back to the main room, noticing how the once heaving function room had cleared almost entirely, not that she gave herself much chance to have a proper look as she hopped back on stage, going straight to where she'd propped her cello up.

Once upon a time Lillie had hated her mother for making her learn classical instruments over guitar, like her brother was allowed to learn. Instead, she and her sister had to learn piano and violin. Even playing a cello was a rebellion against her mother's wishes, but there had been a time where Lillie hated classical instruments. However, nothing had changed more than that fact, especially after she learnt how fun it was to mix genres. Some of the classic rock songs she covered in her shows sounded really cool and new when she played them on cello or violin, and the audience usually seemed to love the individuality of it. Lillie knew her mix of instruments made her individual, compared to all the other artists out there. She was a niche, a niche still waiting to be discovered.

Carefully laying the cello back down in it's case, Lillie knelt down on the stage, far too focused on preserving her instrument to notice anything else around her. Sure, she'd left her guitar behind the bar, but she knew it was safe, otherwise her instruments never usually left her side. Lillie already struggled to afford to pay rent and keep her music business afloat on three jobs, she couldn't imagine having to pay to get a damaged instrument fixed, or even worse, replaced, especially her violin, the one her sister had given to her. The fear of having to pay repair costs had her practically possessed in that moment, so distracted that she didn't even notice the man who'd come to join her on stage, carrying her beloved guitar.

"Do you want a hand with anything?" a gentle voice asked. It took Lillie by surprise to the extent she jumped, hissing out a quiet curse as she darted to her feet.

Lillie's head snapped up only to see a tall, dark haired man, his hair flowing in long curls that framed his face perfectly. He was handsome, that was for sure, but he was also recognisable, and there was only one person he could be; Brian May. Brian May, one of the most promising young guitarists of the most up-and-coming bands of their time, lead guitarist in her favourite band and not to mention bandmate to her best friend, was stood before her, and Lillie found herself speechless. Not because she was starstruck, more because he was exactly how he looked in pictures, the same caring glint in his eye, the same small smile that seemed so friendly, the same warm expression. Whenever John had spoke about his bandmates, he always talked about them kindly, leaving Lillie with high expectations for how they would be in real life, but there Brian was, surpassing them all, and he'd hardly spoken.

All he'd asked was if she wanted help packing her instruments away, and Lillie was lost for words as if he'd asked her for the theory of the universe. She stared wide eyed at him for a moment before laughing slightly, feeling a blush climb up her face and she looked down at the floor nervously. Meanwhile, Brian never took his eyes off her, the same caring smile painted on his face.

"Uh, I'm all good thanks," she stumbled out after what seemed like forever, a stupid grin fixed on her face as she struggled to contain her emotions. "Sorry, actually, is that my guitar?"

"Yeah, yeah it is, the barman gave it to John after everyone left so I thought I'd bring it over to you," Brian explained, looking at the guitar as he spoke, as if he couldn't get the courage to look at her again, until he glanced back up to her, offering her a small smile. "I'm Brian, by the way, Brian May,"

"Yeah, of course you are!" Lillie exclaimed before she could stop herself, embarrassment instantly hitting her. Whilst she blushed, Brian merely laughed, until Lillie regained herself and held out her hand. "Sorry... I'm Lillie, Lillie Sparrow,"

"Of course you are," Brian quipped back, grinning as he took her hand, shaking it. "I've heard your name before, Deacy talks about you all the time, we've all wanted to meet you for ages,"

It was true, as much as it sent Lillie into a spiral of shock. John did talk about his best friend nearly as much as he talked about Veronica, especially when they were on tour and away from home for long bouts of time. The amount of times John had brought up Lillie left the other boys of Queen wondering if she had the same effect on John as they did; if she was able to transform the shy, reserved young man into a wild, sarcastic maniac the same way they could.

John never went into much detail about his best friend, other than the fact that she sang and played multiple instruments in multiple genres and, as John said, one of the best musicians he'd ever heard. The other bandmembers of Queen decided he was probably talking out of bias and paid him no more mind, though when, on the tour bus back from their last gig, John told them that their first day back home he was going to see Lillie perform, they knew they all desperately wanted to see if she was as good as John had boasted her to be.

And he had been wrong, because the moment Lillie came onto that stage and began to play, Brian had found himself captivated by her. By her beauty, by her smile, by the sheer confidence she seemed to radiate, and by her voice. It was theatrical and melodic, with so much range, and he'd never heard anyone with a voice so unique. Sure, he could sing, and so could Roger, and it would be a crime to say he didn't think Freddie had one of the most amazing voices he'd ever heard, but there was something so special about the way Lillie sang. When she sang her own songs, he noted how proud she was to announce they were songs she'd written herself, but when she covered one of their songs from their new album, he realised that there was something truly amazing about her. He would have been lying to say he wasn't attracted to her, but if anything, he was more impressed by her, impressed that she'd surpassed the reputation John had built for her, and impressed by her sheer talent.

The way she'd seemed when performing was completely different to how she was normally, Brian realised. Still beautiful, of course, but the confidence she demonstrated was replaced by something completely different. Was it her being humble, or was she nervous? Either way, he found her endearingly sweet, her personality as addictive as her confidence had been. She seemed utterly shocked to know John had mentioned her, her eyes narrowed in surprise as she snorted out a laugh.

"Deaks talks about me all the time? That little shit," she rolled her eyes.

"No, don't worry, it was all nice, he said you were one of the best singers he knew," Brian continued, speaking quickly as if to make sure he didn't think the worst of her.

"What a charmer, and a liar, he's mates with Freddie Mercury and calls me the best singer? Bullshit!" she exclaimed, laughing, and her electric smile seemed to make Brian's stomach flutter slightly.

"You called?" another voice came, making Lillie want to curl up and hide even more, this new voice belonging to Freddie Mercury himself, and when Lillie turned to face him, she saw Roger Taylor at his side, John stood behind the two of them slightly.

Lillie was hardly coping with talking to Brian, considering her anxiousness was getting the better of her, making her swear, but the arrival of the other members of Queen was sending her into a spiral of nerves. Being alone with Brian for those few moments seemed almost surreal, especially considering how lovely he was, and how friendly and kind he was being, but seeing the three other members of the band reminded her of the situation at hand, and how utterly mad it all was.

Glancing at John, she narrowed her eyes further, making him smile apologetically at her. John knew Lillie wasn't the best at meeting new people, it was one of the reasons he was one of her only friends, but he also knew how much she loved his band, and how surreal it was for her to have had them watch her perform. He guessed how nervous she was, and he knew that when she was nervous, whenever she was under even the slightest of pressure, she made bad jokes, she swore, and most importantly, she laughed, a lot.

All of the signs were there, and John began to feel almost guilty for putting her in this situation, knowing he'd hate it if the tables were turned. Meeting his band was the highest of all high pressure situations, considering she often told him how much she loved their music and admired the other band members, and he knew how nervous it all must be making her feel. He expected her to make some sort of comment and run out, like she did when they were younger and had to socialise with others, but instead, she hopped down from the stage, surprisingly not stumbling despite the heels, and held her hand out to the two men standing before her.

"I'm Lillie, it's lovely to meet you both, thank you for coming to the show, sorry about ruining one of your songs, I'd blame Deacy for writing the damn thing," she introduced, and as he watched from the stage, frozen in place, Brian couldn't help but find it endearing how she apologised for covering one of their tracks.

It was Freddie who made the next move as, instead of taking her hand and shaking it, he took it and pulled her into a hug, far too tight to say they'd just met, and it took everything within Lillie to stop herself from shaking in shock. Freddie Mercury was hugging her, one of her favourite singers was hugging her, but yet it didn't feel like that. No, instead if felt right, like it was a hug from an old friend.

"Delighted to meet you, darling!" he exclaimed as he pulled away. "You exceed your reputation, for sure!"

"I can't believe John actually talked about me enough to give me a reputation," Lillie muttered, shooting her best friend a look. He smiled nervously at her again.

"All the time, especially when he's drunk and homesick," Roger spoke up, smirking as his gaze flicked between his blushing bandmate and the girl stood before them. "Can understand why though now, you're seriously hot,"

"Hey!" John called, speaking up at last, nudging Roger with his elbow, the drummer now grinning, especially as he heard Lillie snort out a laugh at his remark. "Don't call her hot,"

"Is he wrong though?" Lillie raised her eyebrow slightly. "Trust me, you won't be saying that if you see me at my day job, the Debenhams uniform doesn't allow red stilettos, complete opposite vibe, totally not hot,"

One of Lillie's signals for being nervous in social situations was making jokes, and then following it up by a comment that could be seen as degrading to herself. John had known her do that for ages, and knew it was just a feature of her self-esteem issues. As much as he told her she was stupid for making remarks about herself, John had just accepted it was a part of her, as much a part of her as her bad vision and good singing voice.

Brian, however, couldn't believe she would ever say that she was anything other than beautiful, and he was left, practically stunned by her, remaining exactly where she had left him on the stage, still holding her guitar. Brian had only just met Lillie, but her warm personality and endearing nature made him feel as if he'd known her his whole life. Whilst Lillie was looking to Roger and Freddie, Brian glanced over to John, noting how protective the bassist looked towards the girl. He'd known before how much she meant to him, his childhood best friend, but he'd not really understood why exactly she was so important to him, what made her so special to him.

Now Brian had met her though, he understood completely, and knew he had been utterly captivated by Lillie Sparrow.

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Word Count: 2388

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