24th March 1978
The addiction I seemed to label as Roger Taylor didn't weaken, or become a resource I used less often. In fact I spent more time with him now than I had before knowing there was only a matter of nights until the ones we'd usually spend together would be ones he spent playing gigs across Europe.
The morning after Freddie's party had been one to welcome much anticipated hangovers and a slightly less expected day the two of us spent of the sofa watching shitty films, but it was nice. It was nice to be almost wrapped up in our own little world, one he made feel normal.
I liked that he made me feel like I was any other girl sometimes. That he took to buy shitty takeout and sit in some average park, or to just sit in the bar chatting, or down the beach as the sun set, or just lounging around on his sofa. Regardless of how we did spend our days, I soon enough realised it was more than the company I liked. It was the way we spent the time I was starting to enjoy too. Because really it just made me feel like any average girl, which is the life I'd never been given a chance to experience. Meaning it was the life I'd always admired.
And that's also why I liked Julian, not entirely in the same way I did Roger, but I liked him. Not because he had eyes as soft as Roger's or a smirk as confident or hair as blonde, or even a dressing gown so comfy I could spend my day lounging in- but because being his friend felt like it gave me the chance to be normal.
So that's why I chose to finally act on my promise to go round his flat for a change and meet the roommate he spoke so highly of, the dress she'd apparently recreated sat in a small gift bag besides a wrapped bottle of wine on the kitchen counter as I waited for the minutes between four and five o'clock to pass.
I sat flicking through a few spare magazines, just skimming over the prints on each page- that was until the phone rang. I didn't enjoy the sensation of the ringing as much as I once did. I used to smile brightly and jump up at the fair chance I'd be answering to Roger's raspy tone, but since the phone call I'd spent hearing my dad's dreadfully harsh tone I was slightly more hesitant in how quickly I leaped up to answer.
Regardless, I still did. I peeled myself up from the sofa and padded to the phone hooked against the wall, a slight nerve banging the back of my mind as my ear met the phone.
"Hey... you alright ?" Roger asked, a sense of relief washing over me when I recognised the tone almost instantly.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good. You ok ?"
"Yeah... I was just wondering if you were busy tonight ? I was thinking I could come over... if you wanted that is."
"Oh fuck." I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand, my eyes squeezing shut as my tongue clicked. "I'm going round Julians for dinner. I promised I would to meet his flatmate Summer. I'm sure if I explained that someone rather important was gonna be going away for a little while they would get it ?"
"No it's fine don't worry." He reassured me, a relieved sigh echoing through to his end, which earned me the usual chuckle from him. "I can be your plus one for a change."
"What..." I sputtered out, eyes wide and mouth swinging open as he chuckled. I didn't even partly expect the answer he gave, which was clear from the expression on my face, but that also meant I had little clue how to actually respond to him. Just because he'd suggest joining me for what was meant to be a drink or two round a friends didn't necessarily mean it was an idea good.
"Cmon... it'll be fun. I wanna see you as much as I can before I go anyway. I don't care if I'm only gone a month I still wanna see that smile of yours." I rolled my eyes and giggled, shaking my head from each side knowing full well he'd managed to convince me so easily to agree with him. But him and I both knew he'd had a certain power over me since the night we'd met. And he knew how to use it well- not that I ever seemed to complain at the time.
"Fine. But they have no idea we're even..." I paused, not knowing entirely what I should've labelled the two of us as. I knew what to label him as, a confident and smug blonde that had an odd soft side and an effortless charm that would make you fall so easily addicted. And I knew what I was- a bored senseless model struggling to part with the apparent trauma of her childhood and her intoxicating job whilst she became the one to get caught by the blonde's trap.
But the two of us together were difficult to describe. This time two months ago we were two friends who had great sex, but now him and I both knew it had become more. But no matter how confident he could be and how certain I usually was in these situations, I couldn't think of what we'd become. And that didn't just scare me.
"That we're even a thing ?" Roger saved the silence, stubbing it out as if it was a cigarette that he'd managed to drain all the life from. "I didn't think so. I'm sure we'll surprise them. I wanna meet this Julian guy anyway... you seem to be in love with him."
"He's a nice guy." We both laughed, the chuckle consisting mainly of relief knowing that we'd managed to save ourselves from our tumbling thoughts involving our prized relationship status. But even though the bullet had been one only just skimmed, it didn't mean the question still didn't ponder on my mind.
-
The two of us stood outside the address Julian had given, the bag containing the dress and wine in one of my hands as Roger's fingers laid intertwined with the other. He gave the door a short knock, rattling the wood with his fist which followed with a loud yell of 'she's here' from an excited Julian.
"Hey you made it-" the door swung open, Julian's eyes wide and jaw drooped against the floor as he registered who's hand mine seemed to be wrapped in. He let out a loud gasp, the door handle immediately falling from his grasp as he tried to lift his hands over his face in a desperate attempt to fold his jaw back into position.
"Sorry I should've called... but I hope you don't mind... Roger wanted to meet my new friend I'm always talking about." I giggled, slightly awkwardly, glancing up at Roger as he smiled somewhat warmly at the ginger with bulging eyes.
"Yeah..." Julian stuttered, eyes rescued from their wide open position by series of blinks that seemed to pull his head out of the clouds. "Sorry yeah of course. It's um... well nice to meet you."
"And you. Nice place." Roger stepped through the frame, glancing up at the walls full of colourful paintings and plants potted in every empty space available.
"Summer... they're here."
"They ?" A voice yelled back, the echo becoming closer as a pair of footsteps neared the position me and Roger had just sat in at the breakfast bar. "I thought it was just Adelynn Petrov coming ?"
"No. She bought a friend." Julian smirked a little, leaning over the counter as his dark haired roommate plodded nervously to an angle where she could make out the two faces sat in her kitchen, gasping louder than her flat mate had when she realised who me and Roger were.
"Oh my god. Roger Taylor ? And Adelynn Petrov... you two are really in my house right now ? Jules I think I'm dead. Hit me." She grabbed Julians arm nervously, shaking it as her eyes flickered between me and Roger. "Hit me !"
"Summer I'm afraid you're very much conscious."
"Wow." She almost gasped for air. "It's amazing to meet you both. Incredible. I mean... me and Julian listen to Queen records on repeat, and oh my god Adelynn you're just a dream. Can I call you that ?"
"Of course." I laughed a little as her nerves started to slowly calm, though her excitement didn't phase. "I got you a little something by the way. Julian told me how hard you worked making a certain dress, and well I wanted to give you something."
Her eyebrows knitted with confusion, hands slowly pulling the bag towards her frame after I'd slid it part way across the counter. My eyes caught Julians, creasing above my bright smile as he gave me a little nod.
"Shut the fuck up !" Summer exclaimed, holding the dress out infront of her as she almost squealed. "Is this the one you wore ?"
"Yeah. Been collecting dust. I think it'd look far better on you anyway."
"What is it exactly ?" Roger chimed in, scratching the back of his neck as his eyes switched between the three of us. I rolled my eyes playfully at the drummer before Summer's jaw once again tumbled open, this time shocked over the blonde's lack of awareness when it came to the material in her grasp.
"A dress I wore on vogue a while back. Apparently Summer recreated it for a uni project. I was allowed to keep the real one, but I thought it would look better on her. Don't you ?"
"Definitely. You'd look too pale in that." He chuckled, laughing even further as I jabbed my elbow into his sides and scoffed a little.
"How charming of you." Julian added, shaking his head at the pair of us. Summer had finally gotten over the majority of her initial shock, carefully folding up the dress and sliding it gently back into the bag.
"Thank you." She smiled gratefully. "I'm never gonna stop talking about the fact Adelynn Petrov gave me the dress she wore in Vogue."
"Best you do keep the fact Roger was here quiet though, it's a secret for the time being." They both nodded frantically. "Tell whoever you want that I had dinner in your flat, but it's best you don't mention Queen's drummer was besides me."
-
After a good few laughter filled hours had passed, mainly consisting of strings of different stories from the four sat in Julian and Summer's flat, me and Roger sat lazily sprawled across his sofa still dressed from head to toe, taking a minute to relax after such a fun night.
Summer was insanely sweet, not to mention incredibly kind. She had an immediately noticeable pure heart, one that was loving to quite literally anyone. It was no wonder her and Julian were such good friends, the pair of them were probably two of the best people I'd met.
Roger definitely enjoyed his night, thought it was very different from the occasions where I was in the presence of his friends, I think it was still just as fun. And evolved a little less bathroom sex, which in some ways was a bonus but in some a loss.
But regardless, I think it was safe to say the four of us had a decent night, and once they got over the shock of Roger, and partly me, being there, it was as if we weren't even famous. Which was nice. Normal.
"Julian's alright ain't he ? Funny guy." Roger smiled slightly, his hand rested on the low of my back as the other twirled with a strand of my hair. "Was funny watching his face when I signed those records."
"You must feel like a superstar." I laughed, head rested against his chest as he chuckled a little.
We'd unknowingly fallen into another one of those moments between us that told us it was more than what it was. But this time, it felt like I felt a feeling towards him I never once imagined. I didn't know why I did, or why it was in that moment I first noticed it. But it was a feeling I knew was wrong.
I was laid in the arms of a man who was supposedly someone else's, who could realistically never return the feeling he'd caused me to develop so quickly. By simply smirking at me, or taking my hand in his, twiddling my hair, kissing my lips, holding me tight- regardless of what the gesture was or move made it seemed it made me fall inevitably harder for him. Which is why he did what he did. Every little moment was one he played out to his advantage, and I always ended up where he wanted me. But I didn't think he'd wanted me to feel the way I did about him- I was certain that wasn't included in the supposed terms and conditions.
"Rog..."
"Yeah ?" He had a little confusion in his short lives response, one reasonable, but being the one who knew the answer I didn't lift my head up to let our eyes meet. I didn't want to in that frame of time, which was odd.
"When did you last speak to Dominique ?"
"Um..." his body stiffened, crawling with a sudden tensity that caused an itch all over. "Last week I think. She rang asking when I was away."
"When are you gonna tell people it's over ?" I asked nervously, heart beat quickening when he released a long sigh that seemed to rattle me with nerves. In the beginning, the idea of us being a secret to the world was fine. But as every night passed, and my feelings for him developed further, it never sat entirely right that everyone thought he was still with someone else.
"I have no idea. I want to. Of course I do. It's horrible still being tied up with her. And she's needs to get all her shit from my place too."
"You just promise it's definitely over yeah ?"
"Of course. How many times have I gotta say it ? I don't love her. Not at all. I'm desperate to just leave her in the past." He reassured me, kissing my forehead lightly as I nodded subtly. "Don't worry."
"I won't."
An- it's gonna get ugly soon... but not just yet :)))
thank you all for reading !!