Ben
"Bennie!" Joe shouts when Ari and I walk on set.
"Joey!" I reply, running into his outstretched arms. We embrace, him burying his head into the crook of my neck.
"I'm never leaving you again," Joe mumbles.
Aria walks over to us, amused. Joe turns his head slightly so that he can see her. He outstretches an arm welcoming her into the hug, which she walks over into and joins us.
"I missed you Joe," Aria says.
"I missed you too. My two lovers," Joe says.
Oh my.
Another person wraps their arms around us, followed by another and another.
"It's sad how much I missed you fools," Lucy says, laughing.
"Yeah you guys are pretty alright," Aria jokes.
We stand there for a couple minutes, just hugging each other. We've grown so close. I know that these people are some of my best friends now and it's crazy.
"It's warm in here," Rami says into the hug.
We all pull back so we are no longer touching. I missed these people so much. It's amazing how we've turned into this big family, and in such a short time too. The connection we all have is unreal.
"How was your break?" Gwilym asks the group.
"Really great actually," Aria says, intertwining our fingers together.
"I ate so much I thought I was going to vomit for three days, but it was pretty good," Joe tell us.
We continue to talk for a few moments before we start filming. The rest of the cast and crew comes to set to prepare. Jim Beach and Graham King, who I am glad to see coming on set more often, say hello as they enter, as do Brian May and Roger Taylor. Allen Leech eventually comes and joins our little huddle. He's actually a great guy and I look forward to working with him more as the film progresses. It's a shame the fans will hate his character.
I notice Aria looking by the doorway to see someone who just walked in. I feel her hand go stiff, and she pulls it out of mine, her eyes glue to the person. I strain a little to see who she's looking at, the rest of the group following. It's Bryan Singer.
"Hello everyone," he greets, walking up to us.
Aria walks closer to him, almost as if she is protecting us from him. She stands in front of the group.
"Can I help you?" she asks. Her voice is eerily calm, although I can feel her tension from here.
"I'm here to work, dear," he says, a smile on his face. I've worked with Bryan before and he was fine, but I think the fact that he made Aria so frustrated makes me not like him anymore.
Rami disappears out of the lot of us. I turn around to see him speed walking to Jim and Graham. He exchanges a few words to them, and gestures towards us. The three of them then walk over to rejoin us.
"Can we have a word outside?" Aria asks.
"We can talk after filming," Bryan says. "Let's get this scene done then we can talk before discussing the rest. I need to get the files from you in regards to what was filmed previously while I was away,"
"Away? You didn't come to work. As in you just didn't show up,"
"Bryan what a surprise," Jim says, walking up to him and Aria. Graham stands in front of them, blocking our view and gestures for us to walk away. We do as he says, but the majority of the room is focused on the interaction going on.
"What the fuck," Joe whispers to me as we go to stand by Brian and Roger.
I shrug.
"Was he supposed to come in?" Allen asks Brian and Roger when we reach them.
Brian looks concerned. His arms are crossed and his eyes never leave Aria, Bryan, Jim and Graham.
"No. We took his leave of absence as his unofficial resignation," Brian explains tensely.
I look over and see the four of them talking. Bryan looks annoyed, but not nearly as annoyed as Aria looks. Everything she says it looks like she's spitting out. I can't hear specifically what they're saying, but I can vaguely hear an angry word or two every now and then.
"She's feisty," Roger laughs. "always has been,"
"Aria?" Gwilym asks.
"Yes. She's always had an edge. It doesn't come out often but when it does.." Roger makes an exacerbated sound. "She can be strong headed,"
"She's like Freddie in that she's not afraid to say or do what she wants," Brian tells us. "Just a more muted version, in certain aspect anyways,"
The conversation between the Aria, Bryan, Jim and Graham has intensified a lot. Bryan is using wild hand gestures and looks like he's making somewhat threatening remarks. If Jim and Graham weren't there, I would have stepped in immediately. I still want to, but I don't want to cause more of a scene than there is.
"I see you angling to go over," Joe says quietly to me.
I look at him. "I just want to protect my girl," I say.
"She'll be fine, mate," Gwilym says.
"I agree, Ben," Brian says. "If anything Bryan is going to be the one that needs protection,"
Just then Aria storms away from the three other men, walking in our direction.
"You can't just walk away!" Bryan shouts from across the room. Now it is completely silent, so we can hear everything they're saying.
"I just did!" Aria says, not bothering to turn around. She walks past us and to a phone hanging up on the wall. She picks it up, dialing a few buttons before calling for security it sounds like. She speaks very low so I have trouble hearing that, but I'm pretty sure she is calling for Bryan to be removed.
"You might be the daughter of Freddie Mercury but that does not give you the right to kick me off of my project!" Bryan yells.
Aria hangs up the phone and walks closer to him, not going all the way back to where she was but about halfway.
"I think being the daughter of Freddie Mercury is an excellent reason for me to kick you off of this project, primarily because it's not your project. It follows Queen's story, specifically my fathers and I have been there every step of the way along side everyone here except for you. I am the executive producer on this film, and I had to take over directing when you failed to show up to your job," Aria says, not yelling but definitely not calm. "Therefore I'm firing you from this production. Now get off my fucking set,"
Two security guards walk in at that time, and the room fills with applauds and cheers as Aria walks back over to us and Bryan is taken out. I don't know what they talked about when we couldn't hear them, but obviously it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.
"Shit," Joe says when Aria joins us again. Brian slings an arm over her shoulder and kisses the side of her head.
"There's the girl I raised," he says with a huge smile on his face.
"What the hell did he say to you?" Lucy asks, her eyes wide with curiosity.
Aria outstretches her hand in my direction. I gladly take it and join her other side, her body visibly relaxing.
"He threatened to end my career," she tells us softly. Jim and Graham join the group that has formed around Aria.
"He said he would sue if he wasn't allowed to direct," Jim says.
"I still don't understand the whole thing," Gwilym sighs.
"It's...complicated," Aria says. "He was giving a whole list of excuses for not showing up, all of which were lies. And then we exchanged words and he treated to sue and then threatened to end my career. He said something about me being privileged too, which I get because I had connections to work not his set but for reasons you know? So I fired him, and my next step is to make sure that his name doesn't end up anywhere on the credits of this film,"
We all smile at the fiesty girl standing before us all. The whole thing is confusing to me, but all I know is that Aria is a strong woman.
How did I get so lucky?
"We better start filming," Aria laughs. "Can't let a little distraction ruin production,"
...
THAT'S THE TEA LOL
I was going to put this authors note in the beginning but I didn't want to spoil the chapter lol
Okay so I don't know the exact drama that went down between Bryan and the production. I heard some nasty things and the I heard some less bad rumors, but regardless I'm running with it and here go lol enjoy the beef. I know I did
ALSO YES QUEEN 2.0 WILL BE COMING EVENTUALLY ;) keep patient