2 months later
Joe had brought me to set again. This time, they were filming a scene in a recording studio at a place that resembled Rockfield Farm, where Queen had recorded A Night at the Opera. They split the filming between two buildings. One was for the 'housing' of the band and the other was the recording studio. The recording studio was unlike anything I had seen before. While there was still a separation between the booth and the studio, off to the side was a kitchen and a barn door to let people in and out. It was still very warm and welcoming for such a strange set-up.
It took about an hour and a half to drive to and from set, but the drive was always lovely. We would pass green pastures and fields. It reminded me of my road trips back home in Chicago. Driving from one state to another meant a lot of time in the farmland of the Midwest. So, I was used to all the flatness. Sometimes, we would even pass a farm with animals. I would always point them out to Joe who would happily look over at them and smile with me. The pure joy of seeing some cute animals in the early morning.
Joe always drove and I was the DJ. I would play either classic rock or some newer song that I liked off my phone. I always loved playing a new classic rock song that I found for Joe because he either had never heard it before either or he had and loved it. He would sing along quietly while I would belt the lyrics and dance in my seat, trying to wake myself up and give myself some energy to start off the day with. One time, I played "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys and Joe went crazy. He started wiggling in his seat and had a huge smile flash on his face. He belted every lyric and even danced a little to the music. I loved seeing him like that. Joe loved driving to set those days because it felt like a mini road trip and I knew how much he loved those. We had been going to set for a while now, about 2 weeks, to finish all of the Rockfield Farm scenes. Today was the last day, but I still couldn't forget my first day.
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When we got to set, there were crew members hustling about everywhere. We parked a little ways away and walked up to the buildings hand in hand. But, just like every time, once we were past the gate, his hand left mine and he was walking ahead of me. Like a little kid at an amusement park. He was walking around trying to find out where to go. Bopping and darting between buildings. I waited in the dirt-laden in-between hoping he would give me a signal to follow him. He entered a building quickly and then backed out slowly, his mouth falling open a bit.
"Babe," he whispered. "Babe," he said louder motioning his hand for me to come to him. His eyes never leaving the interior of the building. I jogged over to him. My eyes didn't adjust from the sun to see what was in the building.
"What?" I laughed.
"Look," he whispered. I looked and I couldn't really see anything. My eyes weren't adjusting. My lack of response told Joe that. He chuckled. "Go in, go in," he said pushing my lower back closer to the door. I walked in and saw the recording studio. It was bathed in a glow of yellow/orange light. Both from some artificial lights that were being set up and the lights from the chandeliers on the ceiling.
"Wow," I whispered to myself. Joe had followed me in and was now standing right behind me. He put his hand on the small of my back telling me he was there. There were no cameras in the room, so that meant that they weren't filming in there that day. I let out a puff of air and shook my head. "It's...real," I said. "Like, I know it was a real place, but...wow," I heard Joe chuckle softly behind me. I examined the rest of the room until my eyes landed on the white piano. I gasped softly. "The piano," I whispered again. I felt myself unconsciously start to take a step toward it and reach for it. But, I stopped myself before I even took a full step. It called to me as the Live Aid set did, but I wasn't falling for that again. Joe picked up on what was happening.
"Good choice," he said, kissing my cheek and grabbing my hand. "Now, come on. We have to go find my trailer." We went off looking for it and we eventually did find it. I let Joe get ready as I waited outside, taking in the intricacies of the buildings around me. Suddenly, I heard a couple footsteps walking up to me.
"Looks pretty similar, doesn't it," Roger was slowly walking up to meet me. I relaxed when I realized who it was.
"Oh, hi Roger," I said with a giant smile and a laugh.
"Hello, dear," He said back. "It's quite good," he said as he gestured to the buildings.
"Yes, it is. I went inside the recording studio and I couldn't believe how amazing it looked. It really left me speechless," I gave him another little laugh. Throughout filming, I had gotten closer to Brian and Roger. They were beginning to see me as equal to the other actors. Well, they definitely were seeing me as much as the other actors. Roger gave me a small smile. He was wearing sunglasses to block out the bright sun.
"Did you look at the drums?" he asked.
"No, I didn't. I just took a quick look at the room and left," I shrugged. He gave me a bigger smile, no, a smirk even. I raised an eyebrow at him. I didn't have time to register that I was being smirked at by Roger Taylor.
"Let's go take a look," he said, leaning in a little bit as he spoke.
"Alright," I said almost as a question. I looked back at the trailer right behind me and then back at Roger.
"Better tell him you're leaving." I walked up the two steps and knocked on the glass of the window in the door.
"Joey?" I asked.
"Yeah," I heard. I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was in the middle of changing.
"I'm leaving for a little bit, just so you know," I waited with an ear to the door for his response.
"Okay, have fun," That response confirmed that he was definitely doing something else. If he was really focusing on what I was saying, he would have asked where I was going and with who. But, he didn't, so I left. Roger and I walked back toward the 'recording studio'. Roger was the first past the threshold and I followed suit. He took his sunglasses off as soon as he was inside. He walked further into the room, past the piano, until he was standing at the foot of the drum risers. He turned to look at me. I hadn't moved from the door. I didn't want a repeat of Live Aid, so I waited for affirmation that it was okay to follow him.
"I'm quite sure you can't see the drums very well over there," Roger sassed with a smile. It was enough of an invitation to carefully walk over to him. As I walked over, he stepped up onto the risers. I stopped at the foot of them. "Up here, come on," He reached his hand out for me to grab and I joined him on the elevated surface. I looked back at the room and smiled because, for some strange reason, it felt like home. Like this strange conglomeration of people and places and things felt like home. It was all so comforting and it confused and astounded me. But, I was broken out of my trance with Roger's words. "Sit down." Sit down? That's what got me in trouble last time. Sitting at an instrument that I wasn't supposed to be playing.
"I don't think I'm suppose-"Roger cut me off.
"What? Because Brian caught you last time?" I was taken aback. I didn't know that he knew. My mouth stayed slightly open. I was dumbfounded. I paused for a second trying to collect my thoughts.
"You know about that?" I asked, in a very soft tone of voice.
"Of course I know. Brian told me. But, Brian's not here. So, please. Sit down." I followed his orders which sounded so elegant coming from his mouth. I sat on the padded stool that was behind the drum kit. Roger reached down by my leg and grabbed a pair of drumsticks out of a black compartment bag. He handed them to me. "Do you know how to play?" He asked as I took the sticks from his hand.
"A little. Nothing like you," I chuckled softly. I couldn't take my eyes off the drums. They were so much nicer than the ones I had back in LA. I had finally bought some right before I left for London. Because of this, they were super cheap and used and not very nice. But, the red, black, and gold drums looked beautiful in that lighting. In any other circumstance, I might have started crying over how nice they looked. I mean, I had cried over how beautiful guitars looked before, so it would be nothing new. But, right then, I was so anxious that I didn't have time to think about how beautiful they were.
"Well, no one can play like me," I laughed at his joke. He watched me watch the drums like they were about to do tricks. "Hit the Tom," he said. I directed my gaze over to the Tom drum. It was placed on the floor. It was long and was the drum, along with the bass drum, that you could feel in your chest at concerts. If I had to pick a favorite drum, it would be that one.
"Uh," I stammered quietly. I looked back up at Roger for affirmation once again. He chuckled a bit at my hesitance.
"It's okay, go ahead," I hit it once with the stick. It made a small bang because I was still nervous to hit it. "Come on, you can hit it harder than that," I tried again, hitting it harder. And then harder again. I hit it a couple of times to an unknown beat. I looked up to see Roger bopping along with my hits and smiling. "Yes, good," he said. I took a look at the door. I saw Ben and Rami walk in. They were completely dressed and had their wigs on. They wanted to see the recording studio as well before they filmed. They seemed to have been attracted by the strange sounds of drumming. I stopped as soon as I saw them. Roger didn't notice them until I did. The sudden stopping of my hits called his attention to whatever I was looking at.
"Oh, hello," Roger greeted as the two of them made their ways over to the drum risers. I swallowed hard. I was a ball of nerves, but the only person who would have noticed wasn't there to calm me.
"What's going on?" Ben asked with a smile.
"Yeah, we heard some drumming from outside," Rami added. His speech being impeded by the teeth set in his mouth.
"I'm just showing Julie how to play my drums," Roger said as a matter of fact.
"Your drums?!" Ben and I said at the same time. We took a quick glance at each other. Rami joining in and giving us a shocked face. I looked back at the Tom drum that I had been hitting and I could feel myself start to breathe harder. I held the drumsticks tighter and clutched them to my chest, trying not to touch anything around me.
"Yes, well I guess only one of them is mine," I still stared at the drum. There was a beat of silence while I put two and two together.
"The Tom?" I asked, never taking my eyes off of it. My heart was pumping twice as fast as I realized what I had just done. What I had just played.
"How'd you guess?" He joked with a small laugh. Ben and Rami were laughing. But, I gave a forced smile at his remark.
"Why'd you let me play it?" I asked. "I could have hurt it, I could have damaged it," My mind was racing at a million miles an hour. I turned to face him. Ben and Rami were still, waiting for Roger's reply.
"I knew you wouldn't hurt it. I'm rough with my drums, so your light tapping wouldn't leave a dent. Plus, this is an old drum. If it broke, it wouldn't matter." He spoke very nonchalantly.
"But, it would have mattered to me," I answered. "I would have broken Roger Taylor's drum."
"You wouldn't be the first girl to do that, but you would be the first one to be sorry," I raised my eyebrow at him. So did Ben and Rami.
"What are you talking about?" Ben asked.
"When I was younger, back when Queen was starting out and when we just got big, I used to sit girls behind my drum set and teach them how to play. It was a pick-up method that was quite effective, actually. But, when a couple of them came looking for me in a week or so and found out I had moved on, they would...break one of my drums." He was slowly getting through his answer. "They would take a stick and just...jam it through the head. I was always more sad about losing a drum than worried about how angry she was. Not my best work." He let out a nervous chuckle.
"I didn't know that," Rami responded, breaking the small silence that followed Roger's story. We were all dumbfounded by Roger's story, not knowing what to say next. Then, Ben piped up.
"But, weren't you just teaching Julie how to play?" My eyes widened and I realized where I was sitting and what Roger had just said. I looked up at him. I was on the verge of blushing, but I held it together as he took a quick, nervous look at me, back to Ben, and then back to me.
"Maybe in my younger days, dear, but I promise that wasn't my intent." I laughed and gave him a smile.
"I know it wasn't," I responded, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "But, in your younger days?" I asked. I liked seeing him nervous like this. You never got to see that side of him in interviews or concerts. It might have been a side that he let out more in his older age, but it was still fun to see.
"Oh, yes," he said with a smile. This elicited a roar of laughter from all of us. The tension of the moment melted away and we just laughed. Joe came walking in and was utterly confused by our laughter.
"What's so funny?" He asked, walking over to join us.
"Seems like you have some competition, Joe," Rami laughed as he patted Joe on the back. Joe looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I nodded and continued to laugh.
"Apparently, Roger is using a pick-up trick on me," I smiled and looked over at Roger. He rolled his eyes and stepped down off the risers.
"Shouldn't you all be getting to set? Come on," Roger said, waving for the boys to follow him as he began to walk out of the building. A chorus of 'okays' came from the boys. I placed the sticks back in the black bag and I jumped off the risers. I met Joe in the middle of the room.
"Should I be worried that you're going to leave me for Roger?" Joe asked, snaking his hand around my waist.
"Well,..." I said in an exaggerated tone. Joe yanked my body closer to his as a way to shake me back to reality as his mouth hung open. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," I giggled. I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him. "Now, if it were seventies Roger, that's a whole other story,"
"I can't believe you," Joe said, shaking his head with a smile.
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They were filming some pickup shots of two scenes on the last day we were at Rockfield Farm. The kitchen scene with all four of them, and the Love of My Life scene with Rami and Allen. They had done the Love of My Life scene earlier in the day, which meant that we arrived after lunch for the kitchen scene. I was laughing along to all the lines every time they went through them, but I made sure to be quiet as to not ruin the takes.
Over the next couple of hours, they filmed and worked. I had eventually moved into the recording studio part and just stared at the drums, reminiscing on my first day here, and how I would probably never be here again. I slowly walked over to the piano, which I knew worked, and I lightly dragged my fingers across the keys, being very careful not to press them down. I would do that every so often while they filmed.
Then, they called a wrap on those scenes. Everyone cheered and were excited. This meant that we wouldn't be coming back here. I felt a pang of sadness and I kept dragging my fingers along the keys.
"I know you want to play it," I heard behind me. It was Brian.
"Hi, Brian," I replied. I hadn't seen him until now. He hadn't made the trip out here as often as Roger did. But, because it was the wrap of these scenes, they both made sure to be here. I stared back at the piano and I watched myself take my hand away. I looked back at Brian. "I won't though," I said with a smile.
"Go ahead," Brian said.
"What?" I asked.
"Go ahead. It doesn't matter anymore, they're done filming. So, play for us." He egged on. I was tentative, but I sat down anyway. I didn't see him, but Joe must have come around the camera and saw me sit down at the piano.
"Julie, what are y-" He was stopped when Brian put his arm out.
"It's alright. I told her it was okay," Brian replied. I softly placed my fingers on the keys and my mind went blank. I couldn't remember one of the many songs I knew by heart.
"I don't know what to play," I said quietly, hoping no one could hear me.
"Love of My Life," I heard Rami say. "I'm sure you're much better than me on that thing." I smiled at his words and I found the familiar keys. Because everyone was behind me, it felt like it was only me in the room. I started to play as the chords and words came flooding back to me.
I was singing my heart out and playing with all my might. Trying to be the best that I could be. As I was playing, I could hear a respectful silence fall across the cast and crew. I played and played and sang in hopes of making Freddie proud if he was listening.
I slammed my hands down on the last chord and was greeted by a wave of applause. I turned around to see a crowd of people huddled together to listen to me. I felt my face begin to flush with embarrassment. I had done live performances before, but this felt different. I looked over at Joe. He was standing next to Brian and Roger who were also clapping. I gave them a big smile. Their gratitude meant a lot to me.
"Shall we join you?" Roger said. I raised my eyebrows and my mouth hung open.
"Uh...uh, you don't have to if you don't want to. I don't want you to do something that you don't want to do," I stammered. I put my hands up in defense.
"Yes, you should. That's a great idea," Joe answered for me, nodding his head vigorously at the two men and then at me. Widening his eyes as if asking why I didn't give them a resounding yes.
Brian and Roger moved past me to their instruments. Roger up on the drum risers and Brian over to the guitar sitting in a stand in front of some amps. It wasn't his guitar, but he would make do. Roger seemed eager to join me. Brian seemed like he was just along for the ride.
"What song shall we do?" Roger asked me.
"I don't know, uh..." I was still shocked that they were about to play with me. I turned back to the crowd, silently asking for suggestions. Before I could even open my mouth, Joe shouted.
"Don't Stop Me Now," He yelled. I gave him wide eyes. Joe just gave me a reassuring nod. He knew I could sing it from that karaoke bar that felt like so long ago.
"Alright, we can do that," Brian said. "Can you do that one, Julie?" he asked in a soft voice. I started to turn around and I slowly nodded. I felt all my nerves coursing through my body. "We'll follow you then." I stared at my hands. They were shaking slightly at the nerves running through my body. I turned back to look at Joe one more time. He had his phone out, ready to record the whole thing. He smiled at me with love. He was my rock and I loved him.
Thinking about Joe calmed me a bit. I took a deep breath and placed my hands on the correct keys. And I started singing.
Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time,
I feel ali-i-ive,
And the world, I'll turn it inside out yeah,
I'm floating around in ecstasy,
So
Up until then, I was singing alone. Then, Brian and Roger chimed in. They had no mics, but their harmonies with my notes still sounded amazing.
Don't Stop me now,
Don't stop me,
Hearing them sing like that made my eyes close. I kept them closed and just imagined I was back in my music room in LA with some headphones on.
Cause I'm havin' a good time,
Havin' a good time,
I kept singing. Brian and Roger joined in with their instruments. I was worried when they came in that it would overpower our voices, but it didn't. It was a perfect blend. I sat there singing my heart out with closed eyes. Trying to forget who I was doing this with. Because, if I thought about it, I would never be able to hit the notes like I wanted.
Then, we hit the guitar solo. Brian, of course, took the reins and began the solo. I opened my eyes and watched him. As a guitar player myself, I always admired how cool, calm, and collected he looked when playing the guitar. He played like it was the easiest thing in the world. Even with his amazingly complex solos. I watched him until his solo came to an end. But now, I was fully aware of who I was playing with. I couldn't get the thought out of my head. But, my voice didn't react like I thought it would. Instead, I got a new sense of power in my voice.
I almost growled out the next line. I sang it with so much power and intensity that I felt like I was overpowering the instruments. I pulled back a little and continued to sing. I put all that power into my fingers, dancing along the keys like Freddie's used to. Then, the song ended with one final chord. The crowd erupted in applause. They were more applauding for the fact that they got a Queen concert for free. I smiled at the men, taking a bow for the cast and crew.
I looked over at Roger. He was looking at me, knowing full well what playing with them meant to me. I mouthed 'thank you' over to him. He put his hand over his heart and bowed his head a bit at me. I felt a hand slam against my back as Joe pulled me into a big, tight hug. He sat on the piano bench next to me. I couldn't stop laughing and giggling at what just happened.
"You were amazing. I know I tell you that a lot, but you were." He was kissing my cheek over and over.
"Thank you, this wouldn't have happened if you didn't say something," I smiled into him.
"I know. But, I knew you would never agree to that. So, I helped." I pressed into him even tighter. The applause had fully stopped by then and people were starting to leave the room. Joe let go of me and I stood up from the bench.
"Thank you, Brian," I said as he passed me.
"You're welcome. That was fun. Plus, it helps that you're very talented." He paused for a moment. "Freddie would like you, too," he gave me a knowing, sad nod. He smiled at me. I put my hand over my heart. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.
"Thank you," I whispered. Brian patted my shoulder before leaving the room. I sat back down on the bench in a daze. Joe rubbed my back. I shook my head and turned to Joe, looking him deep in the eyes. "I love you," I said.
"I love you, too," he whispered. It was because of him that all this was happening. So, I needed to say it. I needed to say that I loved him because it was the purest truth that I had ever spoken.
(Ok, so. I don't have many ideas for what's going to happen while they're on set. I have a couple more ideas, but then there would be big time skips which I kinda don't want to do too many of. So, if there is something you would like to see while their on set or an idea you have that you want to see in the story, tell me. I still have a lot of ideas for this story, but I just need some more for when they're actually on set. I know this is kind of a strange request, but I want you guys to be happy with this story since you've stuck around this long. And, I feel like if I completely skip over their time on set just because I can't think of any ideas right now, I would be letting you down a bit. So, if you want something to happen, tell me. <3 love ya.)