A Night at the Theatre

Chapitre 2

23rd of August 1975

You pushed the little fence and went up the ally. The hot sun of August was hitting hard at the nearly hottest hour of the day, and the skin of your shoulder was damp below the plastic of your case's strap.

You rang the bell and waited; ten seconds later, a quite old man opened. You cleared your throat: "Hi, I come for Brian, I'm-"

He hummed and cut you: "Right, come in, young lady." He was gentle and kind with you, but you noticed he judged you from the corner of his eyes and looked like he wasn't very pleased with your presence. He went at the end of the stairs and shouted Brian's name. You heard a door and steps, then saw his form coming down. He thanked his dad who soon left the hall after wishing you a good day and Brian greeted you. "How are you, y/n? Already there?"

You puffed: "Already?" You eyed your watch. "It's 11:03am." He took a breath: "Oh, yeah, punctuality is something you'll have to deal with if you work with us."

He led you further in the house. "This is how it works: if we have a meeting somewhere, at five pm, let's say, we tell Freddie and Rog the appointment is at four, to hope they will be there at six." You shrugged. "Oh, I see. You mean I could have slept this morning and come two hours later?" You had said that humorously, but he took a concerned face: "Well, I'm very sorry y/n, I should have contacted you or-"

You laughed: "Don't apologize." Of course you would have preferred to sleep later, as you had a waitress job and worked late, but it was fine. You passed in front of the living room, where Brian's dad, as you assumed he was, was watching the television. You quickly glanced at him as you entered the kitchen, and Brian noticed it. He said, on a lower tone: "Has he been nice to you?"

You nodded: "Yes! Yes, just... I felt like he would have preferred I didn't bother him to come and open to me."

Brian huffed: "You can be reassured, it has nothing to see with you." He took a teacup in the drawer and put the water to boil. "It is with... All of that, you know. The band and all." You hummed. "Yeah, I think I see what you're talking about."

"It's not that he doesn't support my passion for music and all, but, let's say he would have preferred if I had carried on on a more traditional path." He made tea for both of you and handed you your cup. "Thank you. What were you doing as a job before all of that?"

"Hmm. Writing a thesis to pass my doctorate in astrophysics."

You nearly spat out your tea. "Jesus. That's quite serious." He hummed. "And you're fine with leaving all of that behind? I mean, it's huge."

"Well, to be honest, it's more Rog and Freddie who kinda dragged me into this. I'm a hundred per cent with them, but they got the impulse."

You winced at Roger's name, remembering his cold attitude with you the day before. Brian read through you: "Hey, don't worry about Rog. He can be a total prick sometimes, but he's someone we can rely on."

You hummed. "It's just... Well, I don't want to sound too sure of myself, right. But if I get to work with you, it risks to be... heated." You didn't show that the day before, but you were the kind of person to fight back if you felt attacked; and when Roger scanned you in the theatre, you had taken a lot upon you not to say anything. Brian nodded, getting it.

-

"y/n, that was great!"

You smiled a bit your lip shyly as Brian congratulated you.

The bell of the nearest church had just rung midday and both of you were jamming, you on your bass and Brian on his Red Special, that he had spent twenty minutes introducing to you and explaining in detail how he and his father had made it.

"Really, that was good. It's great we found you."

"Hey, wait. I'm not in the band... yet." You raised a finger and he laughed as the door of the garage opened on two people.

"y/n! How are you?"

Freddie headed towards you, arms opened, and you got up to hug him. Roger quickly nodded to you and lost no time installing himself behind the drumkit, barely addressing a hello to Brian either.

The singer didn't pay attention to that and said: "We're going to play one of our new songs, that we will record for the new album. We haven't written any bassline yet, so let your inspiration go." He gave you an encouraging wink and grabbed a mic further.

You smiled as you all started to play, but the sweet atmosphere didn't last long.

You heard an angry sharp hit on a cymbal behind you, and Freddie stopped. He took a breath to not get things worse that soon and cleared his throat, looking at Roger.

"Yes?"

"It's not good."

"Can we know what's not good, Roger?"

"Me."

The three of them turned to you as you talked. "Me, I guess. That's it, Roger?"

He pouted as he was brought in front of his actions, but it just looked like he confessed. Freddie rolled his eyes: "Nothing's wrong with the way she plays, Rog..."

You huffed and put your hands on your hips, the head of your bass pointing to the ground under its weight. "I don't think it's linked to the way I played, innit? It's me. My being." You looked at Freddie: "Honestly, I could play like Paul McCartney and he would bitch about it either."

Roger stood and turned around the kit, coming in front of you.

"I'm not saying you don't play well, y/n, just... You don't fit."

You cocked an eyebrow and Freddie rolled his eyes in the background, throwing a look at Brian. "Oh yeah? Then what am I doing here? Hm?"

The drummer waited a bit before answering, not wanting to involve his friends into his argumentation even though it was quite hard not to. "You're here for a try. We didn't make you sign any papers, if I do remember well."

You gulped. Okay, fair point.

In front of your lack of immediate answer, he grinned, proud of himself. But that made you want to rip this attitude off him.

"I'm sorry, but who wrote this song?"

He answered through greeted teeth: "Fred."

You gave him an understood gaze and looked at Freddie, this one seeming to enjoy the show in front of him. You spoke: "Freddie, do you have a problem with the bassline I thought would suit the song?"

He shook his head no, afraid to open his mouth and explode.

You looked back at Roger, who just let a "Of course you're not." whispered. "Roger, I think you can go back banging your tambourines up there."

He scoffed: "You don't talk to me like than y/l/n, or I swear I-"

"You know where you can put your drumsticks, Taylor?"

"Are you joking? I-"

"Stop!"

Both of you just noticed you had stepped towards each other during your speeches and quickly jumped away from each other like you had the plague. Freddie clapped in his hands and headed to you: "Sorry to interrupt you, but I had to make this sexual tension between both of you vanish or you would just have exploded."

You opened your mouth, cheeks getting red and Roger looked at his feet, hiding his face.

He took you by the shoulders, turned you to him and hugged you tight. You huffed to the sudden action and Roger lifted his head. The singer broke apart and looked at you in the eyes.

"Honey, have you ever been to Wales?"

Roger looked at him and frowned. Brian lifted his head.

You looked at him expectantly. "I... Guess." You didn't dare to jump on any conclusion, but the sides of your mouth tickled, making your earlier shame run away. Freddie resumed: "Rockfield, to be more precise."

He passed his arm around your shoulders: "Gentleman and gentleman. Here is our new bassist."