Too Scared to Love Again

“What?” Lynn stuttered, still shocked after the small crash, as Brian offered her his hand, which she took, letting his strength pick her body up from the ground.

“I mean the part were you accidentally do something clumsy and hurt yourself.” Brian snickered, meanwhile Lynn looked down at her arms that were both scraped. “God, that looks nasty.” he sighed, taking in the sight of the wound on her temple, before he placed his long index finger under her chin and gently inspected the wound.

“Look, this isn’t Grey's Anatomy.” Lynn reminded him, as she stepped away from him and crossed her arms over her chest.

“No, and it doesn’t look gross enough to be featured in that show either.” Brian said under his breath.

“Right,” Lynn agreed. “What are you doing here?” she asked, as she was convinced this was pretty far away from his house.

“I was just going for a walk. I had to do some grocery shopping. You should by the way start wearing a helmet.”

“Who are you? My father?” she cocked her eyebrows at him, making him chuckle at how she had crawled into her shell again.

“I never thought I’d be accused of being your daddy.” Brian chuckled, as Lynn rolled her eyes at him again.

“You disgust me.”

“You’ve said so a couple of times. Anyway, I do suggest that you get yourself cleaned up.

“Thanks, Dr Brian.” Lynn mimicked, just as she went to look for her keys, which she suddenly realized she had left at home. “Fuck my entire life!”

“What?” Brian cocked his eyebrows at her, looking at the groceries that had hit the pavement, including a spilled Heineken, which he sympathized with her for losing.

“I forgot my keys in my bedroom, and no one’s home right now.” Lynn muffled, a heavy groan leaving her lips. “How the hell can people be religious when these things happen?” she groaned.

Brian chuckled at her existential question, before he shoved his hands into the pocket of his shorts.

“Well, you could come over to my place. I mean, if you wanna get cleaned up and wait for someone to return home.”

Lynn wanted to turn down the offer almost immediately. She did not want to spend time at Brian’s place, in his territory. However, she realized that Blair was doing nasty things with Zack, and Cynthia was on a date with a person she refused to reveal in front of her best friends. So the brunette then realized that it didn’t matter that she had a personal vendetta against this man, because she was left with no other choice.

“I guess Netflix and chill is cancelled for today, then.” she sighed.

“Netflix and chill? That was actually my plan for the evening.” Brian admitted.

“Oh…” Lynn dropped.

“I’m in the middle of The Blacklist right now.” he admitted, which suddenly caught her interest. “Have you seen it before?”

Lynn adored crime shows, and The Blacklist was no exception. The brunette had literally binge watched every season on Netflix, as well as every other TV-show that combined murders on the hunt and psychology.

“Well, only like a thousands times before.” Lynn announced, her harsh look softening as Brian chuckled.

“Okay, you’re that person.”

“Oh, shut up.” Lynn rolled her eyes. “Fuck, my beer…” she sighed, glancing down at the spilled beer.

“I have beer at home.” Brian told her.

“Do you have Jack?” she asked.

“And Coke? Of course!” he said, his hands hidden in the pocket of his jeans.

“I guess it won’t hurt to get cleaned up and watch some The Blacklist.” Lynn shrugged. “But you’re not gonna tell Blair or Cynthia about this!” she demanded, pointing her finger at him, the tip of it drilled into his broad chest.

“You got it, ma’am.” Brian assured her.

♠ ♠ ♠

The brunette parked her bike in front of Brian’s house, which in reality was a massive mansion. The house was painted white with an impressive ceiling and huge trees that surrounded the property. The brunette was left with a wide-open mouth at the sight of the impressive mansion, as well as the porch in front of it.

“You coming?” Brian asked, the keys already resting in his fingers, as Lynn pressed her lips together and followed the dark-haired guitarist passed the porch and into the house.

The inside didn’t let her down; the walls were painted white, few pictures hanging on them, meanwhile he had a rather modern chandelier hanging over the coffee table. The floor was of light tree, and wide windows invited the sunlight inside.

“I think I have the first-aid kit in the bathroom.” Brian mumbled, as Lynn followed him passed the kitchen, where she dumped her groceries, and then all the way into one of his bathrooms.

Lynn was leaning against the sink, watching as the guitarist found a first-aid kit in one of his shelves and then returned to the brunette, who was currently drumming her fingertips against the sink.

“Okay, I think I have something that can help,” the dark-haired man said, his hands working on a piece of cotton that had been humidified. “Hopefully this won’t hurt.” Brian said, as he gently pressed it against her temple, making Lynn hiss a little.

“I can take it from here,” she reassured him, stopping his hand by placing hers on top of his, and then taking the cotton out of it. “Could you maybe get some plasters? I think I have wounds on my knees.” Lynn sighed, as she cleaned the blood from her temple.

“Sure thing,” Brian smiled, his hand digging into his first-aid kit. “Can you sit down for a bit?” he asked, as Lynn paddled towards a stool that had been placed in the middle of the bathroom. Lynn then rolled up the sleeves of her jeans, exposing her sun-kissed legs, as well as her scratched knees.

Meanwhile Lynn cleaned up the wounds in her palms and forehead, Brian put plasters on her knees and then collected his first-aid kid and put it back in the shelves. Within the next ten minutes the two of them had settled in his couch, as Lynn was scrolling through his Netflix, looking at what Brian had been watching.

“Why the hell have you been watching Supernatural?” Lynn cocked her eyebrows at him.

“I haven’t! That’s my younger sister!” Brian explained.

“Yeah, right.” the brunette dropped sarcastically, as Brian grimaced at her.

“It’s the truth!” he protested.

Lynn shook her head at him, unable to resist the silly smirk that curved her lips, meanwhile Brian connected his Macbook towards the big flat screen in front of them. Merely five minutes later, The Blacklist was rolling on the screen, while Lynn took sips from her Jack and Coke. Brian, on the other hand, was enjoying a cold Heineken.

“I can’t believe she still doesn’t get it!” Brian groaned out in frustration at the sight of agent Keen, meanwhile he took a swig from his beer.

“I know! It’s so annoying!” Lynn replied, her eyes soaked up in the sight of Reddington, who had just fired a gunshot.

Just as Brian was about to open his mouth again, Lynn’s stomach groaned loudly. The brunette had almost forgotten that her plan had been to cook a delicious meal before she occupied the couch the entire evening.

“Do you have any food?” Lynn asked, her feet propped on the coffee table.

“Food? Of course not. I never eat.” Brian dropped dryly, just as Lynn threw a pillow at his face.

“I’m starving!” she whined.

Brian only chuckled at he brunette. “What do you want? Pizza?”

“With lots of pepperonis and mozzarella!” she exclaimed.

“Oh, you’re that kinda person.” he nodded slowly, meanwhile he fished for his phone. In the meantime, Lynn paused the episode, as Brian called the closest Domino Pizza for food.

“It’ll be here in about ten,” Brian told her, stretching out, as he laced his fingers together and used them to support back of his head. “Are you gonna survive that waiting?” he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“Oh, definitely not. This might be even worse than the Russian famine in 1921.” Lynn dropped rather dramatically.

“I didn’t know you were such a nerd.” Brian rolled his eyes at her, and then drove his hand through his rough dark hair.

“What?” Lynn stuttered. “I’m a history student!”

“And a very nerdy one too.” Brian added.

“You’re awful!” she groaned.

“I invited you into my home, made you a drink AND ordered pizza for you!” Brian reminded her.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t be awful too!” Lynn pointed out, this time a silly smile curling along her lips.

“Are you actually smiling?” Brian asked, almost taken aback by the sight of her lips curving into a festive smile.

“What? No!” she protested, almost unable to prevent the smile that tickled the corners of her lips.

“Yes, you are!” he grinned rather wickedly, just as he threw the same pillow she’d thrown at him.

“Why would I be smiling? I just offended you!” Lynn said, dodging away, and then snatching the pillow with her hands.

Before Brian got to respond, the doorbell rang, the sound echoing through the entire mansion. The guitarist soon got to his feet, noticing how Lynn was making herself even more comfortable on the couch by wrapping her legs into a fluffy carpet that had been resting by the end of the armchair. Brian snatched his wallet on his way towards the door, whistling to a riff he’d been working on as he attended the door.

Lynn emptied her glass, watching as the ice cubes slipped around in the glass Brian had given her. She was ashamed to say it, but she was actually having a good time. He had been nothing but kind to her, and she was once again having a hard time believing that this was the same man she’d meet at Dreams that night.

Meanwhile Lynn was in her own head, Brian returned with the pizza, which he placed on top of the coffee table. He soon noticed that her glass was empty, and then decided to grab the bottle of Coke and his whiskey before returning to the living room and settling down. Lynn soon accepted a new drink, as she mixed it out herself, like she preferred to do.

“God! This is heavenly!” Lynn all but moaned out loud, her mouth filled with pizza.

Brian chuckled, as he chased the food all the way down with a little help from his beer. “I didn’t know you could make that sound.”

Lynn all but waved her middle finger at him, ignoring the quirky grin on his lips, as she wrestled the melted cheese on top of her pizza, unable to hide the pleasant smile on her lips.

“And here I was, thinking that nothing could ever please you.” Brian shook his head.

“Let’s just say there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.” Lynn told him, and then took a sip from her drink.

“What are your roomies doing tonight?” Brian asked, as they had decided to take a break from The Blacklist.

“Well, Cynthia is out on a date with someone we don’t know, and Blair is doing things with Zack.” Lynn shrugged and placed her glass down on the coffee-table.

“Blindedate?” he chuckled.

“I think so, yes.”

“So I take it that she broke up with the guy that called her on her birthday?” he asked, cracking a new beer.

“Yeah, Asher…” Lynn replied, a little disgusted.

“How did she meet that guy anyway?” Brian nursed back to the beer he had placed on top of his knee, as he picked it up and brought it towards his lips.

“Through a friend who used to be a pretty committed customer at our club.” the brunette explained, tying her hair into a loose ponytail.

“Do you have a lot of them?” he cocked his eyebrows, sounding as though he was interrogating her.

“Yeah. That was kinda Donna’s idea with the bar. She wanted it to be a bar people would get attached to.” she said, and then emptied her glass of Jack.

“Well, that obviously worked out.” Brian shrugged. “Anyway, I hope Cynthia’s gonna be okay.”

“She will be,” Lynn reassured her. “She’s one of the bravest people I know of.”

“I think Jimmy likes her a lot.” he commented, nursing back to his beer that was almost empty, meanwhile Lynn glanced up at him.

“Well, she’s been your biggest fans since ever. I’m surprised she hasn’t crept him out yet.”

“Jimmy?” Brian chuckled. “You can’t creep that guy out.”

“Oh, you haven’t seen Cynthia when she fangirls.” Lynn reassured him.

“I think I have. I was there the night she met Matt.” Brian reminded her of.

“As if I could ever forget.” Lynn rolled her eyes.

“About that,” Brian started, looking down at his tattooed fingers. “I’m sorry about the way I acted that night.”

Lynn looked up at him, leaving her glass on top of the coffee table. “W-what? Does Brian Haner have a conscience?” she let out, her hand on her chest and her honey brown eyes wide.

“Oh, shut up!” Brian frowned at her, and then threw another pillow at her, this time hitting her face.

“Thanks for the apology, by the way,” Lynn said. “Now I won’t regret that I didn’t kill you that night.” she added teasingly.

“Wow, aren’t you just fucking hilarious?” Brian rolled his eyes, chuckling at her.

“I am! Thank you.” Lynn smirked, and then grabbed her drink again.

“Do you want another drink?” Brian offered, as he was in the mood for more beer.

“I’d like that.”

“What do you want?”

“Surprise me.” Lynn shrugged.