CHAPTER SEVEN
'DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH'

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THE JOURNEY TO WORK WAS A SHORT ONE AS I GOT THE TUBE TO OXFORD STREET and then walked the rest of the way to my destination - a small, yet quaint, antique shop called Timeless Trinkets. A hoarders idea of heaven, it sold everything - from furniture to paintings, crockery to silverware, records to turntables and even the occasional creepy looking doll. But as bizzare as it was, I rather liked it; so much so that I'd been working there for the last 3 years now, after inquiring about an ad that I'd seen in the newspapers.

I was given menial work, like dusting ornaments, writing prices on price tags, and sometimes - if it was totally necessary - answering phone calls or being in charge of the till, but always under the watchful eyes of my boss, Mr. Bennet. A short, bald-headed man in his late 60s, he was a strange sort of fellow, with a permanent frown upon his face, and who prized his hundreds of antiques like they were of incalculable value, creating a problematic reluctancy to let things go. But over the years I'd managed to earn his seal of approval, even if he never admitted it.

Anyway, being a Monday morning, the shop was quiet, which gave me the chance to do a stock take - something Mr. Bennet made me do probably more compared to other stores, but it put his mind at ease I suppose. However, because of the mountains of stuff on display, it was a near impossible task, and took me right up until noon to get it done. But I can tell you for certain that I was happy when I had.

'Heidi?' I heard the voice of my boss shout throughout the shop.

Climbing down from the step ladder next to the shelf full of clocks I'd finished taking a note of, I replied, 'Yeah?'

Mr. Bennet's head appeared from around the corner at the end of the aisle, 'I'm popping out for a while. Need to go and see a chap up in Camden - says he's got some old jewellery that we might be interested in. I'll be gone some time. Hold the fort, will you?'

'Of course, sir,' I smiled, 'No problem.'

And with a just one simple nod, he shuffled off towards the door, grabbed his coat from the hook before leaving the shop and shutting it behind him, the little bell above ringing slightly as he did.

I was alone - well, apart from Bing Crosby's voice singing through one of the record players, but I still smiled to myself as I knew that I was now in charge. Once I'd finished doing the stock take, I disappeared into the small room at the back of the shop where I retrieved the latest David Bowie album which I'd stashed away in behind a stack of boxes (I may have made a slight detour to work this morning by the record store...)

Taking it back through to the shop, I replaced the current record that was playing with my own, as the sound of the intro to the first song filled the room. Standing back and doing a little dance as I strolled towards the counter, I jumped up and sat myself down on the chair behind it, whistling along to the tune as I did. Searching the little shelf underneath the desk curiously, I pulled out an art magazine and scanned the front cover. Nov. 1970. Bit out of date, but that didn't matter. I'm sure Mr. Bennet wouldn't mind if I took a short break. It's not like we were exactly booming with business, were we?

So I sat there reading the magazine, whilst singing along to the music playing away in the background. By now, we hadn't had a customer in over an hour, and I'd become so comfortable where I was in fact that I'd even propped my feet up on the desk, making myself very at home as I oggled over painting supplies. However, my daydreaming was soon interrupted by the bell above the door ringing out, indicating that someone had walked in.

'Hey, Heidi.'

Before I could I even reply, I found myself face flat on the floor, having fallen off my chair from sheer fright. Very dignified. Slowly getting up off the floor, I peered over the top of the desk, praying to god it wasn't Mr. Bennet, but thankfully it was only Brian.

'Brian,' sighed a sigh of relief, 'You almost gave me a heart attack.'

'Thought I was your boss, did you?' he raised an eyebrow at me as I stood up straight, wincing at my now sore back, 'You alright?'

'I'm fine,' I laughed nervously, 'And yeah, I did...'

'Good thing it wasn't, then,' he chuckled, leaning against the counter, 'Somehow I don't think he'd be impressed if he'd seen you sitting there reading when you're supposed to be working.'

'For your information, I've been doing a stock take all morning, making sure every single item in this shop has been accounted for. I deserve a little break, thank you very much.' I defended myself.

'Every item?' he looked around him, 'Surprised it only took you the morning.'

'It used to take longer. Nowadays I usually just do a rough estimate, he'll never know the difference,' I told him, putting the magazine I'd been reading away under the desk, 'So, what's up? I thought you'd be working today.'

'Bank holiday.'

'Lucky for some. Mr. Bennet never lets me have bank holidays off...miserable sod.' I complained.

'Yikes,' Brian smirked, 'You'd be fired if he heard you say that.'

'Yeah, well, unless he can hear me all the way from Camden, I've got nothing to worry about.' I told him, 'Did you get the bus here? Surely you didn't walk, it's perishing out there.'

'I walked. It's better for you.'

'Are you mad?' I looked at him, shocked, 'How did you not die from hypothermia?'

'It's not that cold,' he laughed, 'Besides, I stopped off at the Market on the way, so I warmed up a bit in there. Saw Freddie at his and Roger's stall, actually. Roger himself wasn't around when I got there, he showed up just as I was leaving. Said he had some uni thing he had to go in for in the morning which kept him back.'

I nodded and said quietly, 'Yeah, he told me about that.'

'Speaking of Roger, how did yesterday go? Glad to see neither of you killed the other in their sleep.'

I scoffed, 'Well, don't hold your breath - it was only the first night. I already had to lay down the rules about smoking this morning as well as a few other things - that didn't go down well. So I think it's safe to say that it's going to take a lot longer than one day before the two of us become best pals.'

'I know that,' Brian said, 'But still...don't be too hard on the guy, yeah? You gotta let Rog have some freedom. He's not a child.'

'Brian, I'm not trying to act like a domineering matriarch,' I informed my friend, 'I'm just trying to build an element of trust between the two of us. You know how I feel about Roger, and you know as well as I do what's he's like. I need to know that I can trust him to behave himself in my home. If he can't do that, then how am I supposed to trust him at all?'

Brian just stared at me blankly, like he'd not really taken in what I'd said, as he asked me with a small smile, 'Y'know who you sound like right now, Heidi?'

I sighed heavily, 'Who?'

'Your mother.'

'I beg your pardon? I am in no way like my mother!' I quickly defended myself.

'You are so,' Brian laughed, 'Maybe not as terrifying, but you're more alike than you think.'

'That may just be the most insulting thing you've ever said to me,' I told him, as he carried on giggling like a schoolgirl. Grabbing the magazine again, I gave him a light whack on the arm with it, 'You're such a dick.'

Brian stopped laughing and just smiled cheekily at me, 'You still love me, though.'

'Only when you're not winding me up.' I stuck my tongue out at him.

Then, as if on cue, the front door opened to reveal Mr. Bennet who stepped into the room, obviously back from his trip uptown earlier than I thought. Shit. As soon as his gaze landed on Brian, his face turned from serene to infuriated within seconds.

'You again?' he exasperated, before grabbing Brian by his collar and dragging him towards the door, 'How many times must I tell you to stop coming in here and distracting my staff? If you're going to keep on barging in here, I'm going to have to ban you - for good!'

This certainly wasn't the first time that this had happened (I was surprised Mr. Bennet was able to grab hold of the guitarist considering the height of him) but despite this I couldn't help but laugh as Brian gave me one last wave and a smile as he was thrown out onto the street, my boss slamming the door in his face, before he gave me a disapproving look of my own and disappearing into the back room of the store.

-

Hey guys!

Sorry again about the accidental upload of this chapter before it was ready, but here it is now in its entirety. It's a bit boring, probably irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but I wanted to put it in anyway, just to develop Brian and Heidi's friendship a bit more (the story will get more exciting soon hopefully). But, if you liked it, please leave a vote/comment, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you!

- Anna :-) x