Not Just A Roadie / Queen Fanfiction

43 • Trapped

at the end of the day, when everybody else had gone home, it was just Brian and I left in the studio. he was polishing his guitar and I was angling my cymbals to get the best sound in the booth. a mug was holding the door open, stopping the door from closing (they auto-locked between 8pm and 8am for security reasons) ; and a nice breeze was coming in.

"urm, Brian," I coughed and approached him, leaning on his amp.

"Roger." he nodded and his curls bobbed too.

"I have a question."

"what sort of a question, Rog?"

"could you do the vocals for my song?"

Brian almost dropped his cloth. he snapped his head in my direction and furrowed his brows. "me? why me, it's your love song." he looked a little bit disturbed that I was asking him to sing love-fuelled lyrics on the behalf of me for my girlfriend.

"hear me out. I was thinking, you were the one who made sure that I said what goes with this song. I owe you. plus, the public eye know that I have a girlfriend, and I don't want them hearing that song and getting all tetchy about our 'Next Steps'." I added little bunny-ears with my fingers on the last two words for emphasis. I also had plans as to how I was going to deliver this song to Jennifer, and it was not going to be Brian's voice coming from a record player.

"alright...you make a fair point. are you sure, though? that's pretty big."

"Brian, if you did this for me, I'd forever be in your debt."

"oh, really?" Brian raised his head and gave me a smirk.

"don't get any ideas, Curly." I stood up straight again, clapped him on the back and left the studio, clicking the door shut and making my way home.

coming from behind me I could hear banging and crashing and laughed to myself at the thought of Brian getting in a frenzy about whatever he'd dropped this time .

the roads were quiet and the sky twinkled with speckles of hope. the nights were drawing out now, so soon I'd be driving home into the hazy dusk.

rumbling into the driveway, I stepped out and made my way to the front door. I shoved my key into the lock of the white door and went through into the comfort of my home. once again i followed my familiar evening routine and settled for an evening with Jennifer on the sofa.

she was already in her pyjamas and half asleep, watching another rerun of Aristocats, which I had come to discover was one of her favourite films. thus, I bought it for her on video when we were out and about.

already in my comfy clothes, I brought two cups of tea through to the living room and placed then on the dark wooden table next to the sofa. I grabbed a blanket and put it around Jenny, curling myself under there too. she was awake enough to know I was there and sat up to say hi, stretch and sip her tea.

"Hi Rog, good day?"

"excellent day. what've you been upto?"

"well, I got myself a job interview tomorrow." she announced proudly.

"Jenny! that's brilliant!" I gave her a deep kiss and smiled into her beautiful eyes. she settled back down and laid with the blanket upto her chin, curled in a ball against me with her head on my chest. I had my arm securely wrapped around her and I turned the antique lamp off with my other free hand to let Jenny fall asleep if she wanted to whilst finishing the movie.

it didn't take long before she nodded off and when she did I turned the TV off, sitting in the blackness of the living room, focussing on everything around me. the rhythmic breathing and warmth of Jenny by my side as I held her peaceful, sleeping body. the taste of tea lingering in my mouth. the sound of the soothing hum of the traffic outside, droning on almost like white noise. with the serenity I felt, I could've happily declared myself the happiest man in the world.

soon enough, my vision became hazy and the sound of the traffic outside became distant, like I was underwater in another world. my senses shut off and then Jenny and I were both asleep together, our dreams colliding.

———

the next morning on the drive to the studio, I didn't want to reach my destination and have to leave my car. obviously I was excited to record, but everything in me wanted to drive, drive, drive...

upon arriving at the studio, I realised that I was pretty early. I wasn't used to being early, this felt weird. however, I wasn't the only one there as Brian's car was also parked in the little car park. damn his excessive punctuality, I wanted to be first for once.

when I was walking through the hallway, I noticed that the lights were on. we didn't usually turn them on until it got dark in the evening, so it struck me as odd that Brian would turn them on. dismissing it, I continued through to the booth to get a head start and was greeted with Brian already being in there, his back to the glass.

he was wearing the same shirt as yesterday. long sleeve with red and white stripes. why? and he was slouched over his amp, his guitar on its stand. again, I found this odd as Brian was always up and about at extreme times, not looking like an old man trying to tie his shoe laces.

going over to the door to see what was up, it hit me. the door. last night. locked.

the door had auto-locked when I left, leaving Brian stuck in the booth all night long with no chance of leaving. which also meant he'd probably had not a wink of sleep. and that banging wasn't him dropping something, it was him realising what I'd unwittingly done...

this was all my fault. an accident, but my fault nonetheless. and being the nice, caring person I was, I didn't let him out quite yet. I could hear him, but he couldn't hear me unless I pressed the button.

so with a broad and cheeky grin, I went over to the chair and pressed the tannoy button. "morning princess, sleep alright?"

Brian more or less jumped out of his skin, launching himself across the room and falling to the floor, clashing instruments together and knocking piano keys as he went. the sight of this almost made me lose my balance too, but I kept my cool as Deaky and Fred hobbled into the studio cradling mugs of coffee.

"YOU FUCKING PRICK!" Brian yelled and ran at the glass dividing him and us. he slammed his hand on it, leaving handprints. he looked awful in yesterday's clothes. he looked like he'd been walking in the wind, the front of his hair was pressed back where he had been raking his hand through it. not to mention the dark circles under his eyes.

"good morning to you, too," Freddie buzzed through the tannoy and Brian flipped him off with both hands.

"let me out of here, bitch!" he thudded on the glass again and he almost looked close to tears.

that's when I decided to unlock the door and let him out as the guilt began to seep through my body. it was a complete accident to have him locked in there the entire time but I still didn't feel great about it. it wouldn't even make a funny joke.