Still on a high from the phonecall, the party at Roxy's flat was now a double celebration; Freddie's birthday and the potential of the band getting their big break.
There are a lot more people here this time; friends from uni, people they've all met from work...John's flatmates have even come and he reluctantly introduces Roxanne to them and, to his horror, George's way of saying hello was to throw up on her shoes.
Yeah, he hated them.
Her bedroom was supposed to be off-limits but of course, there's a few who try their luck and sneak in, only to be thrown out by John minutes later.
Surprisingly, Casper is the hit of the party; Roxanne doesn't know how many times she's gone out onto the fire escape to check on him, only to see that he's being loved on by a few drunken girls.
Mostly, Roxanne is cleaning up after everyone but that all stops when Freddie catches her, demanding that she stop and get herself a drink and so now, she's sat on the windowsill that leads to the fire escape, sipping on a beer and watching as a few of the guests looks to be setting up for karaoke.
At around nine, Alyssa finds her and tells her that she and another two girls -that she, Freddie and Mary know from Biba- are going to head out and get some more mixers and ice, which they'd quickly run out of.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Roxanne asks, frowning when she shakes her head.
"We'll manage," she waves a hand and Roxy reluctantly lets the three of them go, looking around the crowded space to try and find any of the band, smiling when she sees her boyfriend leaning up against the opposite wall, nodding his head to the beat of the music.
He looks so cute; lost in his own little funky disco world.
She couldn't really believe that the phone call Freddie had gotten earlier had been real. It was finally happening. If the meeting on Thursday went well, Queen would be signed to an actual record label.
She was just so excited for the four of them.
John's eyes meet hers and he subtly nods his head, gesturing for her to come closer and she bites her lip to suppress a grin, hopping down from the windowsill so she can go to him.
Roxanne loves tipsy Deaky - he's a lot more open with his affection; wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder as opposed to the run of the mill hand-holding.
"Hi," she greets, lips at his ear so he can hear her over the music and she laughs when he twirls her under his arm.
"Hi," he replies, "Think you really outdid yourself here, love."
She shakes her head, "Oh, hush. All I did, well Roger did, was stick up some cheesy decorations."
"Look at how much fun everyone's having though," he mumbles, kissing her cheek lightly.
She supposes he's right; all that can be heard is laughing and singing as they finally got the record player to play the songs they wanted - there was no mic and they were just singing into their beer bottles but they were having fun. That's the main thing.
Though Roxanne isn't quite sure where Freddie's gotten to and really, she's not sure that she wants to know.
++|++
As the party goes on into early the next morning, a few people take their leave but inside the flat is still crazy and so Roxanne decides to have a little bit of time with just Casper on the fire escape - John had been dragged off to do shots with the rest of the band.
But she and Casper aren't alone for long because not ten minutes later, Roger comes stumbling through the window hands first, cigarette hanging from his lips as he attempts to climb out.
"Thought I saw you come out here," he grins, sitting down beside her so his back is against the building.
"I'm fine," she nods, "How about you?"
"'m alright," he stretches, "Been a mad day, hasn't it?"
"It has," she agrees, grinning at him, "But Rog, you guys could get signed. You could get a record deal!"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, hm? They might take one look at us and decide they want nothing to do with us."
Roxanne shakes her head, taking the cigarette from him, waiting for him to pull out his lighter so she can have the first puff. "It's going to happen," she smiles, "I can feel it."
"Oh well then, if Roxanne Taylor says that then it's bound to happen." he teases, plucking the cigarette from her fingers as she grins.
"Exactly, Rog. Have a little faith."
He pats his pockets before groaning, "Hang on, I'll be back."
And so for five whole minutes, it's just Rox, Casper and the stars, which she's a little bit surprised to see considering that they're in the city.
Roger returns with John, who bends down to give her a soft kiss before he sits down beside her and Roger leans back against the railing, watching them as they quietly bicker over who's getting to have the cat on their lap - John won.
"Do you want to stay here tonight?" John looks down at Roxy as she speaks, making sure that she's talking to him before nodding.
"If that's alright."
She nods and Roger clears his throat, "Is that invitation open to all of us, Nessie or just Deaky?"
"Can all stay if you want," she shrugs, "But we get the bed."
"Dammit. Well, I'm having the couch. My back can't take another night..."
Both Roxanne and John look up when he trails off and she notices that he's looking at something down on the street. His shoulders are tense, she can see that even though he's wearing a jacket, "Rog?"
They watch as he tosses the butt of his cigarette off of the fire escape.
"Rog?" John asks, "Rog, what is it?"
Roxanne frowns when he storms back inside and scrambles up from where she's sat, peering over the to look down at the street.
And there was Alyssa. Kissing someone that definitely wasn't Roger.
"What is it?" John repeats and she feels his chest against her back as he too looks to where she's looking, "Oh."
"That, that..." Roxy trails off, hands clenching around the railing in front of her, "That bitch!"
She had the audacity to claim that he had been seeing someone...Roxanne turns and heads for the window herself, fully intending to go down there and give Alyssa a piece of her mind but before she can so much as raise a leg to climb back, in, John is wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her back.
"Hey!"
"No."
"What do you mean no? Let me go!" his arms tighten a little around her and realising that he isn't going to do as she asks, Roxanne sighs, "Fine."
"The last thing Roger will want is you barging on down there," John says softly, pausing when they hear the blonde in question's voice from the street and it hurts Roxy to hear how hurt he sounds.
She knew that he'd really liked her.
"We should go inside."
She groans, reluctantly nodding her head, "Fine."
"I said we should." John repeats, "Not that we have to..."
With that, the two return to the edge of the fire escape and peer over the railing only to see Roger storming off down the empty street, Roxanne watching with a frown on her face.
"Go,"
She looks at John, "What?"
"Go after him."
"What if you're right and he doesn't want to talk?"
"What if he does?"
Roxanne shakes her head, watching her cousin's figure getting smaller and smaller in the distance, "I don't know where he's going."
"There are only a few places he would go," John says softly, "Come on,"
"You're coming?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.
"'m not letting you walk around the city on your own at this time of night." he laughs, leading her toward the window so they can climb back in.
And so the pair of them set off on their quest to find Roger and Roxanne makes sure that she sends a scathing glare Alyssa's way when they walk by her and her friend (she did want to say more and possibly punch her but John made sure to keep a secure arm around her at all times).
She always knew that there was something fishy about her.
++|++
It didn't take them as long as she thought it was to find Roger. After checking one of his favourite pubs, which he wasn't in, they made their way back to his and Brian's flat.
At first, when they buzzed the door, he ignored it but they had seen that the light was on and so Roxanne, stubborn as him, pressed the buzzer until he got sick of them and answered.
"What?" he snapped.
"Can you let us up?" she asks.
"Who's us?"
"It's me and Jo-" she looks at John when he shakes his head, "What?"
"'m gonna head back to your bit."
"Are you sure?" she frowns and he nods, "Alright. Rog? It's just me."
The door clunked open and before disappearing inside, she turns to give John a soft kiss.
Upstairs, Roger is sat on the couch, a glass of what she's guessing is vodka in his hand and after closing the door behind her softly, Roxanne moves to sit on the opposite end, kicking off her shoes before she sits.
"If you've come to say that you told me so, 'm really not in the mood, Nessie." he grumbles, looking at her.
"Then it's a good thing I'm not here to say that then, isn't it?" she asks, giving him a weak smile, "I'm sorry, Roger."
"A month, Rox," he mutters, shaking his head, "She's been doing this for a fucking..."
Her mouth falls open. A month?!
"All the overtime, she's been doing, the going out with friends...her parents weren't in town the other day either. I feel like such a fucking idiot."
She doesn't know what to say, honestly, she doesn't. This has never happened to her. And so doing the only thing she can think of doing, is reaching over the coffee table to grab the bottle of vodka, "Wanna get pissed?"
++|++
John and Roxy be like...
i know that this is a little bit of a cop-out but i'm really considering putting bringing back Rebecca for this story because i honestly cannot imagine my bby roger with anyone else 🙃🙃