Not Just A Roadie / Queen Fanfiction

10 • After

"you sounded like you had a good shag last night, Rog," Brian said conversationally the next morning as he was pouring himself some apple juice.

"haha, yes, very funny. look, I know I'm having problems but i'm not finding the jokes funny yet." I said. what was he talking about? me, sex, especially after what I'd confided in him?

"I'm not-" he began, turning to face me with a look of bewilderment, "-you don't remember, do you?"

"remember what?" I demanded to know now. he was pulling my leg and I wanted to be let in on the secret.

"oh my god, Roger. You and that girl Kelly!" Brian cried, exasperated as he took a long slug of apple juice.

"WHAT?!" I yelled, causing Freddie and John to groan from the other room, their hangovers treating them poorly. "I would neve-" although I struggled to finish that sentence.

Brian tapped his foot, cocking an eyebrow, waiting for things to click into place.

"NOOOOOOOO!" I yelled as the memory hit me.

"WILL YOU PIPE DOWN!" Freddie yelled from the other room (aka, from the other side of the plasterboard). the other guys had all gone to bed but I had stayed at the back of the bus with Kelly and then...I kissed her....and then she......and i...... oh. my. GOD.

i covered my eyes with my hands as I remembered a majority of last night. yeah, cover my eyes, that'll help it all go away, asshat. "w-were we....ya know, well...loud?" i asked through gritted teeth, peeping through my fingers.

"honestly mate, the whole bloody bus shook." Brian nodded, smiling, and I could've crumpled. that's it. I was never getting drunk again.

"wait...when did she leave?" I asked, Kelly was nowhere to be seen. no coffee mug, no loose bra hanging over somewhere. nothin'.

"hmm let me think...so you did it at around 3:15am....she left at around 3:45am..."

"oh, bloody hell. didn't even give me a chance to apologise." I sighed, tiredness hitting me.

"well generally when you have sex with someone, you don't really need to apologise."

"yeah but I was drunk. and she was nice." I felt a tad guilty. not that I'd done it, but that she felt the need to do a runner instantly afterwards.

"although, Rog, did it feel..." Brian trailed off.

"feel, what, Brian?" I asked, fairly sure what he was trying to say, but wanting to see him suffer a little bit after telling me all of this. i mean, it was me that did it, but still. entertainment.

"well, did you enjoy it?" he looked up from his apple juice to catch my expression, which I was fairly sure resembled a softening look of regret and hangover.

i thought about it for a moment. had i enjoyed it? i was drunk so that ruled out whether or not I was particularly excited to do it, but I swiftly came to the conclusion that, yes, it was pretty good.

"you tell me Brian, enough to rattle a coach." I laughed, wanting more than anything to make light of it. maybe this would be my next step to forgetting about Zara and moving on. because I didn't think about her once last night. before, during, after, not once. well, I'd think not about the during part most definitely.

John came and placed his bowl in the sink, dark circles around his eyes. "you alright, Deaky?" I asked, pretending to act blasé about a conversation he had definitely just heard.

"well I'd be a lot better rested if somebody hadn't been screaming until the early hours of the morning. oh and by the way Roger, Betty doesn't make for a good rocking chair, but good idea." he left.

damnit. Brian and I shared a joint grimace in John's wake. "well, I guess my evening activities were not so graciously accepted by some people."

Brian burst out laughing, his proper deep laugh which, in turn, made me break out into a fit of chuckles too. we made our way through to the back of the bus again, where Freddie, John and Paul were sitting...hang on, Paul? Freddie and Paul were sitting side-by-side; Paul's arm was around Freddie's shoulder and their knees were touching.

"what are you doing in here?" I asked quizzically.

"I think that's for me to know." he said haughtily. god i could not be bothered with this man, he'd always been a bit of a handful but I was currently recovering from mild embarrassment and a killer hangover.

"did I hear from the other room that you were just heading out?" I retaliated cockily. I wanted to talk to the band, and that certainly did not include Paul as well.

"no, I don't think you did, Roger." he responded, raising my hackles. the rest of the band stayed deadly still and quiet, listening intently to the friction between Paul and I.

with a smirk, I headed over to where the two men were sitting and leant over Paul. Freddie looked alarmed, but I simply said in his ear, so only Paul could hear "I had sex in this seat last night."

I'd never seen anybody move faster in all my life, and it felt great to see that I'd won whatever that was between Paul and I. "well, urr, I best be heading back to the trailer, see you guys," and with that, he left swiftly.

John let out a low breath as I took the seat Paul was previously sitting in, next to Freddie. surely it was okay for me to sit here, it was me that'd used it, so it was fine right? I chuckled slightly at Freddie's innocence as to what Paul had just been told.

"right, ladies, where do I start?" Freddie put both his hands on his knees and leant forwards. he looked like he was about to be sick as he hung his head, but instead he just looked up and gave us all worried looks in turn.

"you alright, Fred?" Brian asked with condolence. he was the caring one of the group, always giving a damn if somebody had an issue. of course the rest of us did, but Brian was particularly empathetic.

"well....Paul and I-" he broke off, sighing and staring at anything but us. "we- we....you know- did what Roger did last night."

wow. way to bring my name into things. cheers, Fred.

we all sat in silence for a moment, processing his words. I peeped up at him briefly to catch his expression, and he'd gone as pale as porcelain.

"okay." I said simply, breaking the silence that was becoming increasingly more awkward. even Brian had remained silent.

"what?"

"I said 'okay'. I'm gunna be honest with you, I don't like Paul as a person, but it doesn't bother me who you shag. why should it?"

the rest of the band all nodded in agreement to what I'd just said and Freddie's face lit up. his shoulders visibly unclenched and he broke into a smile. no more was said about the topic and we all continued with our day. and the day after that. and the day after that, etc, etc.

still, if Paul put one toe out of line, there'd be a nice search party for a flat man with a moustache plastered into the road somewhere in America