Roxanne barely got any sleep that night. She didn't know if it was because she was nervous about having to face her father or if it was because John was snoring on the floor next to the couch.
Freddie and Brian were also going to be coming up to Scotland with them. Roger had tried to argue that there wouldn't be room but the singer wasn't having it - saying that without Brian as a navigator, they'd get lost and well, Roxy knew that he wasn't wrong.
She tossed and turned all night, eventually dosing off at around four, only to be woken at seven on the dot by Brian so they could go get some breakfast at the diner - Roxanne was a lot happier going there now that she knew that John was not seeing Kim.
Freddie met them there, clutching a road map and his notebook and once seated inside with a pot of coffee for the table, Brian opens the map up and immediately starts planning their route.
"Where is it you live again, Roxy?"
"Pittenweem," she mumbles as she scans over the breakfast menu. She isn't really hungry enough to eat a full portion herself, "Do you think they'll just do me some bacon and toast? 'm not that hungry..."
"We could share something?" John offers, "The breakfast scramble? I'll eat anything you don't want."
She agrees and he gets up to put the table's order in at the counter and she watches him as he taps his fingers on the top of it in some sort of rhythm.
"Take a picture, darling. It'll last longer."
"Shut up," she mutters as her face turns red, "I-I wasn't staring."
"Alright," Brian begin, looking up from the map, "If I've calculated this right, which I'm sure I have, it's going to take us at least eight hours."
"Jesus Christ," Roger mutters and Roxanne can't help but agree with him. That is a long drive.
"There are some services at Warrington. We could stop there for a break and let Roger off the driving. Either Roxy or I will take over."
"It'll have to be me," she mumbles as John sits back down, "I can't read a map to save my life."
"I can," John says, thanking her as she pours them all some coffee, "I'll navigate for a bit."
"Great," Brian nods, leaning over to put the map down in front of Roger, "We'll take this way. It should take us out of the city fairly quickly and it keeps to the quieter roads."
"Okay," he nods, taking a swig of coffee, "So we..."
Roxanne zones out as they talk -she's exhausted and as soon as they set off, she's fully intending to find somewhere in the back of that van to lie down and sleep until it's time for her to drive.
The waitress puts their orders down in front of them and as agreed, she and John share the breakfast scramble and it's silent until John excuses himself to go to the bathroom.
"That's cute," Roger muses, nodding towards her as she pours some more coffee into John's mug.
"What?"
"Sharing breakfast, pouring him coffee. Acting like a proper little couple aren't you and I, for one, am all for it."
"Roger," she hisses, "Be quiet!"
"He's in the bathroom, Nessie. He's hardly going to hear me."
"Still!"
John returns not ten seconds later, sliding into the booth beside her once more, "I've just seen Kim. Asked her if they'd found anyone to replace her yet."
"And?"
He shakes his head, "No one. She says she'll bring the manager out when we're done so she can meet you. She reckons you could get the job today."
"Seriously?" Roger asks, raising an eyebrow.
He nods, "No one is responding to the signs he's put up in the windows or in the local shops."
Well, she can't really say no to that, can she?
++|++
Half an hour later, she returned to the van with what was going to be her uniform under her arm. Kim was right, she'd gotten the job right on the spot.
"You got it then?" Roger asks, noticing her approaching first and she nods.
"Start Wednesday for training."
"Brilliant," he throws his cigarette butt to the ground, "Shall we get going?"
With Roger driving and Brian being the navigator, there was a fight for the third and final seat upfront - which Freddie won. He claimed that he got truly awful car sickness on long journeys but Roxy didn't buy it.
That left her and John in the back - which looked much bigger now that there wasn't a drum kit or any other instruments in it.
"I'm not entirely sure that this is legal, Rog," John says as the two of them settle against the wall, "I mean us two in the back like this."
"You'll be fine," Roger waves a hand as the van roars to life, "Just uh, grab onto something, yeah?"
"Dear God we're going to die."
For the long journey, she's relieved to see that while she was still in the diner, one of them must have nipped across the road to the newsagents to grab some magazines, newspapers and some sweets - at least they'd have something to do.
"Who went to the shop?" Roxy asks, crawling over to the pile of supplies.
"Me."
"Did you get some-"
"Fizzy cola bottles?" Roger finishes, looking at her in the rearview mirror, "Yes. 'm not an idiot. Knew you'd kick off if I didn't."
"I can't see - oh wait. Got them, thanks!"
John looks down at her as she returns to her spot beside him, opening the white paper bag and holding it out to him, "Want one?"
"Thanks," he smiles, taking one from the bag and popping it into his mouth, his face screwing up immediately as the fizz takes over his mouth.
"Oh my god," Roxy laughs, "John, your face!"
"No," he shakes his head, "Don't like them,"
Roxanne continues to giggle away to herself as she reaches over to grab the bag which she knows contains dolly mixtures, "How about one of these?"
He holds up a hand and shakes his head, "I'm good. It's going to take me a bit to get over those ones."
++|++
Maybe half an hour into the drive, John's in the middle of doing a crossword in the paper with Freddie's help from the front seat when he feels Roxanne rest her head against his shoulder, her arm wrapping around his as she starts to doze off.
"Hey!" Roger barks, making her jump and John glares at him, "Deaky, don't let her fall asleep. We-"
"Calm down, Roger," he hisses as she settles against his shoulder again, "I'll wake her when we get to Warrington, alright?"
"If she doesn't wake by Warrington, it's fine," Brian tells Roger, "I'll drive and Deaky can navigate. We'll just need one of you two to take over being her pillow."
John goes back to his crossword. Well, that's what he tries to do but he can't seem to keep his eyes on the paper for too long.
He quite likes having her resting against him like this. She's warm and soft and there's something about the way...
"Deaky!"
He snaps his eyes to the front, where Freddie is staring at him over the back of the seat, "What?"
"What's the next clue?"
"Oh," he mumbles, quickly trying to find the clue that they had reached, "Right-hand page of an open book?"
++|++
in case you missed it, i made a twitter and if anyone wants to get in touch with me on that, my username is staceeeeers, the same as on here. i only have like three followers so it shouldn't be too hard to find me lol