Chapter Text
"Hey, slow down, wait a second!" Brian called out, running after the young lady who'd angrily stormed out of the room she'd been rehearsing in. The flurry of annoyance she had left in had left all of the people with him in quite a shock, though Brian was the first to decide that he'd try to calm her down. After following her down a set of stairs and catching up to her - how did someone so much smaller than him walk so fast?! - he grabbed her hand as gently as he could and stopped her. "Slow down! Hey!" She was short - the top of her head only reached the tip of his shoulder - and she was much stronger than it seemed she was. Her face showed her annoyance, her blue eyes glaring at him.
"Leave me alone! I don't care if you're some famous musician, I don't care that they overbooked my studio time, I don't care! I care how rude you all were to me! Now let me go!" Holly argued, taking her arm away from him, then throwing her bag on the ground. Her pointe shoes were angrily torn off her feet, then Keds were quickly thrown on after them. "I had a valid reason to be in there, and I should be allowed to rehearse! But I'm not rich and famous like you apparently are," she yelled more, not noticing the man with her never even reacted. The idea of not having a rehearsal space sent her heart spinning into anxiety - she'd spent so much on this space - and she sighed and rubbed her eyes before looking up. The man just sighed and brushed some of his copious curls away from his face.
Brian sighed and sat down next to her, holding out his hand. "I'm terribly sorry, really," he said, his voice now calm and much softer than Holly expected to come out of him. "It's not fair they overbooked your time, but we'd heard that this place had only one room left and that it had good acoustics, which we needed for a rehearsal... Freddie shouldn't have been as rude as he was, but sometimes he can be like that. Anyway," he said, holding his hand out again, hoping she'd actually shake it now, "my name is Brian Harold May. I used to be a teacher, I almost got a doctorate degree in astrophysics, and I play guitar for the rock band Queen. I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot. You dance very well."
Holly groaned and took her hair out of the bun it was in before taking his hand and shaking it politely. "M'name's Holly McCartney. Yeah, McCartney like Paul, I'm related to him somehow... I work at a diner and library and I have an audition in a month and a half for the Royal Ballet. Which is why I had this important rehearsal space for today. My flat's too small to dance well in it, and I have nowhere else really..." She rubbed her eyes and sighed. What on earth was she going to do? If she failed this audition, what even could she do? This was her life! She'd been doing ballet for almost 15 years - at 24, she was really pushing it for such a prestigious company. Most ballerinas retired, on average, at 35. Hollybeth was already 24... the idea that she'd never do what she loved because she was just too old terrified her. "Anyway. Tell everyone I'm terribly sorry I made a scene, I was just throwing a strop..."
"It's alright. Is there anything else I can possibly do for you?"
"I mean... I doubt it. I wonder if they'll give me my money back since they overbooked me. Or at least some of it. Money's quite important when you have a one bedroom flat by yourself in London, huh?" She laughed, though it wasn't a happy sound at all. Brian felt horrible - this poor woman. She was just doing what they were doing! Rehearsing for the art she loved.
Before he could even think, it came out. "How about I give you the money?"
"Huh?" Holly was floored. He wouldn't possibly give her the money. That was silly, he'd only known her a few minutes! "No, really, I can't allow you to do that. It wouldn't be right."
"Too bad!" Brian hopped up and held his hand out, genuinely feeling gentlemanly about the whole thing. He watched Holly's face as a myriad of emotions ran over it. Confusion, then excitement, then more confusion. After a shake of her head, she got up and took his arm. She sighed, then nodded, signaling for him to lead her way back to the rehearsal space. His band members all turned their heads at seeing the two walk in - how had he possibly talked her out of the anger-filled tantrum from earlier? There was dull conversation going on as they all were setting up their equipment, but Brian called out easily to them. "Freddie? Apologize, please," he called, letting Holly go to look through his bag.
Freddie looked over. "Sorry, darling."
"Like you mean it, Fred."
"I'm sorry we took your rehearsal space for something terribly important!"
Holly groaned in annoyance, her nostrils flaring as she looked at the flashy man in front of her. It wasn't long until Brian stepped in her eye-line again, blocking off the view of Freddie from her. There was fire in her eyes, like she'd possibly explode if Freddie spoke again.
"Here," Brian offered gently, holding his hand out and keeping his voice calm. His hand had her money, though definitely more than she had originally paid for the same space. "This will pay for the rehearsal time, and then some, as an apology. And uh," he held out a paper nervously, "this is for if you ever wanna call Brian the astrophysicist, not the guitarist."
As Holly flipped through the pound notes, counting them quickly, it seemed as if her eyes would bulge from her head. It was far more than she'd paid. She counted out what she had paid and held it out towards Brian again, not worrying right away about the phone number. "I didn't pay this much, Brian, I can't take all this money..." The excess was over a hundred pounds more than she'd paid - she couldn't, in good conscience, take this! But as Brian covered her hand and folded it up so she would keep the money, she sighed. "Okay... If you insist. I won't feel good about it, but if you insist." The phone number finally hit her, though, like a slap to the face. He'd actually given her his number? He must be crazy. "Anyway I uh... Gotta go back home to Liverpool for a few days next week. Maybe when I come back to London, I'll uh, use this," she mumbled, holding up the paper with the number on it. Her cheeks turned pink at the vaguest idea of even using it - she'd probably talk herself out of it anyway. But might as well give him the satisfaction in knowing that she may use it.
"It's alright if you don't... I just thought, well, I might as well be nice after we ruined your day," he reassured, smiling down at her. It was quite a relief that he'd been able to calm her down, as she was absolutely livid just twenty minutes prior. The guys couldn't believe it, either. To watch this woman who'd just about blown a gasket at them to suddenly getting a number from one of the men she'd lost her cookies over was quite surprising.
Roger, John, and Freddie watched the two sort of comedically, leaning a bit to see around Brian and watch Holly's reaction. "You must be joking," Roger mumbled. "He gave her his number. I should've calmed her down if I knew that was the plan." John rolled his eyes at him, and Freddie shook his head.
The young lady put everything in her bag, shaking her head at the absurdity of the afternoon she'd just experienced. Most of this money would be able to go to bills - she'd actually have money left over this month! The thought made her quite excited, and she leaned forward to give Brian the quickest of hugs before stepping back. "I'll... let you rehearse. Thank you for the money.. uh. Bye," she finished, then bolted out of the room before she knew she'd make a mistake of herself in front of the handsome man who'd just ruined, then saved her day.