Somebody To Love (Ben Hardy!Roger Taylor fanfic)

forty two

The taxi that he had called had been waiting outside for at least ten minutes and hearing the driver lay on the horn once more, Roger got up off the couch.

"Rebecca, seriously, he's going to leave if you do-" he stops talking when she finally steps out of the bedroom. She' wearing the dress he bought her, her hair curled and pinned back just enough so that he can see her face and he swears that his jaw drops.

She gives herself a silent pat on the back, enjoying his reaction as she closes the bedroom door behind her, "What do you think?"

He can't stop staring at her, especially where the dress splits up the side of her leg.

"Rog?" she asks and he closes his mouth, clearing his mouth as he steps closer.

"Beautiful," he breathes, taking her hand to raise it above her head, "Give me a twirl?"

She giggles and does as asked, placing her hands on his chest when she's done, gazing up at him with sparkling eyes.

"This dress," she whispered, "God, Roger I've never had anything like this before. I feel so glamorous."

"You look it," he mumbled, "Though..."

She's confused when he disappears back into the bedroom, "What about the taxi?"

"He can wait another couple of minutes," he says as he comes back through, his fur coat in hand.

Rebecca grins when he wraps the coat around her shoulders, turning her head just a little bit to nuzzle the soft fur with her nose. It smells like him, aftershave and cigarettes and she kind of wants to scold him for smoking while wearing it but she can't bring herself to.

"There," he whispers, stepping back to look at her, "Now you're perfect."

She flushed red and slid her arm through his when he held his up for her, "Let's go, yeah? His Majesty will be waiting.

||-||

"Mary! Hannah!" Rebecca shrieks, darting away from Roger side to greet their friends as soon as they get into Freddie and Mary's flat but he catches hold of her hand before she gets too far, telling her that he'll bring her a drink over once he's said hello to Brian and John.

She sits down beside Hannah and immediately, the two women start gushing over the dress she's got on.

"Roger has a good eye," Hannah mused as she leant in to inspect the dress closer while Mary nodded along with her.

"Very. It's gorgeous, Becca."

Roger appears and basks in the compliments the pair give him about the dress, handing Rebecca her gin and tonic and she takes a minute to look around the flat. There's not a lot of them there; you've got the band, of course, and partners. She's surprised to see Paul here, standing on the other side of the room talking to a young woman she doesn't recognise with black hair. She's short, even shorter than Rebecca is and she's wearing a black and silver jumpsuit.

"That's Alice," Hannah informs her as she and Paul make their way to the band, "Apparently she's going to be shadowing him while you guys are in the states."

Rebecca doesn't like the way she says that, "You mean you're not coming?"

Hannah shakes her head, making her look at Mary.

"Please tell me you're coming."

"Sorry," the blonde said quietly, "I've got to go back to work."

"And I've got uni," Hannah explains.

"So it's just gonna be me and the guys?"

They both nod and Mary lifts a hand to take a sip of her drink and Rebecca forgets about being upset when she sees the rock that's on Mary's left ring finger.

"Hold the bus," she breathed, reaching out to take her hand, "Excuse me, what is this?"

Mary's cheeks turn a bright red as she draws attention from Paul and Alice, who come over to see what all the fuss is about.

Hannah also looks down at her hand, "That looks like an engagement ring to me, Becca."

"It sure does," she grins, "Tell us, Mary, are you engaged?"

Mary glances at Paul and Alice before sheepishly nodding and both Rebecca and Hannah start giggling like little school girls.

"How did he propose?"

"Where did he propose?"

"How much did the ring cost?" Hannah shrugged when both women glare at her, "What? You know that's what you're all thinking too."

"Perhaps but some of us have the decency not to ask."

Paul clears his throat quietly which takes the attention off a still blushing Mary and Rebecca can't help but notice that he doesn't look particularly happy about the news of the pair's engagement, "Ladies, this is Alice. Rebecca, she'll be joining us in America."

She stood up to greet the raven-haired girl, giving her a warm smile when she saw just how nervous she was, "Hi. It's nice to meet you."

"Rebecca's Roger's girlfriend," Paul explained and she nodded.

"Yeah, if you need help with anything and Paul's not around, you can come talk to me and I'll try and help you as best I can."

"Plus, she's the only one who can handle Roger when he gets pissy." Freddie grinned as he appeared beside them and Rebecca let out a cheer and wrapped her arms around him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Congratulations!"

"Ah why thank you, Darling." he smiles before noticing Alice standing by Paul, "And who's this?"

"This is Alice," Paul answers, grinning at him, "She's joining us for America."

"Oh, have you met the band yet?" Rebecca asked and Alice shook her head.

"That's why Paul invited me tonight."

Standing up, she held out a hand, "Come on, I'll introduce you."

She looked nervously up at Paul, who gave her an encouraging nod, "Best to do it now before they get absolutely shit-faced."

Roger and John are first; standing by the table of snacks that Mary has put out. They're both pleasant to her and John, being as lovely as ever, makes her feel at ease when he welcomes her to the Queen family while Roger knocks back another two drinks and nods along.

"What he said."

"Where's Brian?" Rebecca asks when she can't spot his tall figure, "Wasn't he just here?"

"He'll be outside," Roger scoffed, "You know what he's like."

"He has been a bit strange recently. Quiet." John noted, sipping his drink.

"Yeah, well he best snap out of it before tour starts," Roger continued, "What's wrong with him anyway?"

"He's lonely," Rebecca hummed, making them all look at her, "Oh come on, it can't be easy being the only single one in a group of friends."

The boys shared a glance.

"I suppose," John agreed.

"Brian's the guitarist, right?" Alice suddenly asked, "Tall? Long hair?"

"That's him," Rebecca nodded, giving her arm a light squeeze, "Don't worry, I think you're going to fit in just fine with us."