Not Just A Roadie / Queen Fanfiction

15 • Concerts

the next morning I awoke with Jennifer still in my arms, but both of our hugs had slackened and we lay slightly sprawled across the mattress.

of course, Brian was already awake and right now he stood fully dressed next to my bed with his hands on his hips. "and what do you think you're doing?" Brian asked suspiciously, raising both eyebrows. I stared at him through half open eyes, adjusting to the morning light trickling in through the open window.

"i didn't make a move on her, if that's what you're thinking." I began to carefully disentangle myself from my sheets and Jennifer, careful not to wake her up. a glance at the clock told me it was not yet 8. I stood up and stared at her still body. she looked so peaceful asleep, with her impressively long hair scattered over the pillow and I could hear her gentle rhythmic breaths.

"is this enough evidence?" I waved a hand over my fully clothed body. Brian seemed to accept this and went over to make his bed.

I took the opportunity to have a proper look out the window and, God was Reid right. the view was absolutely phenomenal. if I'd appreciated it yesterday, I would've felt so much more blissful sleeping here in the fluffy duvet and springy mattress. mountains stretched as far as the eye could see, small village houses scattered everywhere. shapeless clouds danced around the ocean blue sky, painting a beautiful picture in my mind.

———

the duration of the day was spent on a very long lunch break and setting up for the concert later that night. I felt a bit bad about Jennifer just loitering around, she didn't really have much to do unless we broke down on the road. she didn't seem to mind not really doing much, because as we set up and did various sound checks, she examined every nook and cranny of the arena.

i'd never seen anybody stare so intently at a fog machine and literal pile of amps before. yes, pile. Deaky was supposed to sort them out an hour ago, which he hadn't and it was now 4pm.

Paul had continued to make his unwelcome opinions about having Jennifer around. "for god's sake Paul, can't you just accept something not going your way for once?" I'd heard Freddie say as I tuned my drumkit. okay, so I might've been eavesdropping, enjoying Freddie having a small go at Paul. although he was seemingly smitten, I could tell Paul couldn't half get on Freddie's nerves at times. as with all of us really.

in the end, Reid took Jennifer backstage and apparently she was very occupied with lighting. it brought a smile to my face to know that she was doing something helpful that she found fun.

"you're falling for her, aren't you?" Freddie said wisely from behind me and I physically jumped.

"bloody hell Fred, you frightened the shit out of me."

"well? I've been watching the way you're looking at her, Jennifer. it's the same look you gave Zara many moons ago." I winced slightly at the mention of Zara's name, comparing her with Jennifer. "just a little something to think about." Freddie smiled satisfactorily and walked away.

truth be told, he had a point. I wouldn't say I was falling for her, but there was definitely something about her that I thought was special.

the audience that night was smaller than usual, but that didn't mean they couldn't make as much noise. the feedback we received was amazing, egging Freddie on to prance around the stage with his usual charisma.

for two hours we gave them all the performance of their lives and wrapped it up with 'Death on Two Legs'. to this they went absolutely crazy and their energy was insane.

Jennifer was on the sidelines of the stage and when we exited, she went slightly berserk herself: jumping around with excitement. "OH MY GOD I DIDNT KNOW YOU COULD ALL PLAY LIKE THAT, THAT WAS THE BEST THING IVE HEARD IN MY LIFE!"

the praise from her made me feel more adored than any fan or girl. my mind suddenly raced back to Kelly and it took a celebratory clap on the back from Reid to snap me out of it. "well done, mate, that was excellent." it really must have been an exceptional performance if we were getting such a broad seal of approval from him. usually we just toasted to another concert.

———

the next few concerts went by slowly but steadily, going back to Philadelphia for a couple of shows there and then Norfolk. it felt weird to perform in the place that I was born in, but halfway across the globe from where I was actually born.

Richfield had quite a large turnout, as did Landover, the crowds much larger than we'd expected by quite a longshot. Reid had the approximate number of people attending each concert, and it quickly turned into a bet involving alcohol as to who could get the closest. A bet that Brian often won and Deaky happily lost as he downed a shot for every couple thousand people that he was off. one night he ended up having to take 10, but we only made him take 5 as we (Brian) got worried.

of course, the parties in between were incredible. we'd try not to get too drunk, but did anyway, and I'd never had more women interested in me. we'd toured America before and I remembered then that the girls here simply adored us British lads. by the time we'd reached Philadelphia, the rest of the band had let loose a little and it wasn't just me following a girl back to her hotel room almost nightly.

before we knew it, we were on the road to New York and it was the last day of November. soon all the Christmas stuff would be coming out in shops and venues/arenas would be decked out.

on the way, concert to concert, I steadily learned more about Jennifer and she learnt more about us as a band and people. Freddie had started calling her 'JJ' and the rest of us called her Jenny. this she didn't seem to mind at all. from what I'd learned, she grew up in Florida but moved to London (America) two years ago for a reason that she hadn't specified. this missing piece of information struck me as slightly suspicious, as moving to a completely different state had to have quite a big reason - but privacy was privacy and it'd be rude to pry.

as the days went on, my feelings for Jenny grew slightly more prominent. the way she'd cover her mouth when she laughed, even though she had a beautiful smile. the way she pushed her glasses up her face all the time through force of habit. the way her dark hair flowed so shiny and effortlessly elegant. she wasn't particularly slender, but that didn't matter to me and she wasn't scared about the way her body looked. her radiant confidence made it impossible for anybody to dislike her and...oh, shit.

was I falling for Jennifer Harran, for real?