Butterflies and Hurricanes

"So what do you think?"

I jumped slightly, having not expected anyone to talk, and Brian laughed lightly at me. I turned to see him and frowned slightly as he carried on laughing, the night air carrying it away. When he didn't quit I turned away from him leaning up the iron balustrade and staring out.

"Oh come on Kirsty!" He giggled.

I managed to refrain from looking over at him, but smirked to myself when he came up beside me thinking I would look at him. When he went the other side I turned my head again, this time giggling myself until Brian grabbed my head in his hands and turned it before forcing his lips to mine.

I smiled, before pulling away and biting down on my lip.

"You're, um, parents are nice," I said, glancing upwards through my eyelashes before turning back to look at the land. He chuckled some more.

"Mmm, they seem to like you too," he replied. I raised my eyebrows slightly. "To be honest, even if you were Sarah they would like you. It's just Zack's parents that are...fussy...like that. Well just his mom in actual fact."

I nodded and wondered what Sarah was doing. I hadn't seen her at all today. Not once! It was unheard of for us not to see each other. It must have been the first time since I met her we spent a day away from each other, with absolutely no contact. I hoped Mr and Mrs Baker were nice.

Unlike London, the silence was pure, not haunted by eerie noises and that in itself was almost unsettling after being so used to London. I hadn't actually thought about the fact I was in my nightgown until that moment and I gave a small gasp before dashing for my dressing gown and hastily pulling it around myself.

I frowned at Brian some more. "You shouldn't be in here, not at this time of night," I mumbled moving back out onto the balcony.

"Worse things have happened," he shrugged.

"I suppose," I whispered, glancing up at him quickly then looking away when I saw him looking. I hadn't, in all honesty, quite got used to being his fiancée, not that he had asked me, just my father. Friend yes, future wife no. And it wasn't just a match for convenience either, I was pretty much the centre of his Universe which was weird on its own.

And unlike Sarah, I wasn't all too keen on mushy-ness. I would much rather have a proper conversation than have his lips constantly against mine. Even though it was nice to kiss him.

"Why are you so quiet?" He suddenly asked.

I folded my arms and looked over at him. "It's just being in a new house I suppose," I said quietly. "It's too quiet, too still. Almost too still, you know?"

Brian gave me a funny look. He had no chance to reply though because one of the maids came in, screamed at the sight of him sending the things she had been carrying flying before clipping his ear and shoving him out of the room followed by stern words against him coming into my room at night.

I chuckled at this before slipping under the covers of my new bed. Turning on my side I looked out of the window I had instructed to be left open. But I did not like what I saw, no matter how beautiful this place was. I had not been settled since the moment I left London, it was too engrained.

Something wasn't right but I couldn't pin down what exactly that was. Maybe it was just the fact I was travelling to foreign shores and one of my friends had been seriously ill. But then, would Sarah have agreed if it was that?

Suddenly, I heard something soft pad across my room before the weight of the bed shifted. Turning onto my back, I saw Brian creeping towards me before laying down, his front paws crossed with his muzzle upon them on my stomach before his eyes fluttered closed. I only knew it was him because he had a single white spot behind his right ear.

I smiled softly, before reaching up and gently stroking him paying particular attention to that patch behind his ear. That was his weak spot, I had come to learn pretty quickly. After a while he opened his eyes to look at me and tried to scratch at his ear; I was clearly tickling him by doing so. I stopped after a moment though because I didn't want to irritate him too much.

Once I removed my hand Brian crawled up the bed, till his head and paws were on a pillow beside me, those dark eyes watching me carefully until I felt my eyelids droop and I could no longer keep them open. But that's not to say I actually went to sleep because I did not. I simply lay there trying to sleep.

It seemed almost impossible since I was so restless with unease but I vowed that for Brian's sake I would make myself like this country come hell or high water.

Or anything else that might be lurking, not that I knew that then of course.