keep it professional - r. taylor

14

~April 1976~

I had forgotten how much I hated flying. The cramped space, the freezing temperature in the cabinet, the lurking fear that one of the engines could combust at any moment and plummet me to my death. Just typical things I would think about during a flight.

In the end, I decided to join the band on their tour. Although I had thought that even if they asked me, I would've said no, Kathleen urged me to go, saying this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Which was true. I was going to be traveling to many different countries, getting to explore and enjoy free concerts every night. Of course during this time, I would still be working out scheduling problems, or demanding to see the hotel manager for a mix-up with the bookings, but that wasn't too bad.

I was sad that Mary wasn't able to join us. I guess she couldn't take off that long from her work, so she stayed back in England. Without her, I was just one girl butting heads with five other men. But I had developed ways to get my way without even trying.

Every so often, I would call Kathleen to see how things were doing back there. As the wedding day approached, she became more and more nervous. Harry tried to calm her nerves, but nothing seemed to help. I still hadn't figured out what I wanted to do about my date to the wedding. Constantly moving from one city to the next barred me from finding a one-time date who would be willing to go with me. That just left me with asking Roger, which I had not conjured the courage to do.

It was the final week of the tour, and Paul had managed to pull together a small 'end of the tour' party. I really didn't see the necessity for it considering after almost every show, one of the band members suggested the group go out for drinks. Most of the time, I declined, saying I needed to work out some things with the stage managers, or the lighting coordinators. Truthfully, I wanted to save myself from the threatening hangover headache that almost everyone else experienced the morning after.

Stepping into the lift, I flattened out some of the folds of my dress. I had opted for a deep red velvety dress, with the straps laying gently on my shoulders. I would normally never go for this kind of dress, but it caught my eye while I was window shopping on one of our days off and this was the perfect opportunity to show it off.

As the doors opened, I was met with a great spectacle. There was music blasting, and barely enough room for me to walk through. The room was completely packed, mostly with people I had never even seen before. Pushing my way through, I finally found an empty pocket of space which allowed me to breathe a little.

"Elizabeth!" I turned to see Freddie and Paul make their way towards me. It seemed like recently the two of them were inseparable. Or really, wherever Freddie went, Paul quickly followed. "You look simply gorgeous, darling," Freddie said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you! Wow, this party is insane Paul!"

"Just wanted to give the tour a proper send off." Paul handed me a glass of champagne, which I happily took.

"Do you know where the boys are?"

"They must be lost in the crowd somewhere." Paul pointed off to a random direction, gesturing around the room. "I'm going to go say hello to a few more guests. Would you join me Freddie?"

"Of course! And Elizabeth, if you do find the boys, make sure to tell them to not stay up too late!" I could barely hear what Freddie was saying because Paul was already pulling him away. And here I was, standing alone at a party which I should've been enjoying. I tried to make myself not look lonely, but it didn't really work.

I made my way closer towards the corner, seeing if I could get a better vantage point of the party. Even from the outskirts, I could barely recognize anyone there. Taking another sip of champagne to relax myself a little bit more, I heard someone say, "Well don't you look lovely."

I wasn't exactly sure if that person was talking to me, but I looked around to see if anyone was looking in my direction. To the right of me was a small couch and a few chairs, all occupied by Roger, Brian, and John. They all had a drink in hand, but didn't look too excited.

"Why aren't you all up and partying? Isn't this whole party for you?" I yelled at them. The music and conversations in the room had greatly increased in volume, causing me to have to actively yell at them to get them to hear me.

"Well yeah, but we kind of thought it would be a smaller party with people we actually know."

"This isn't really our scene," Roger said, taking another swig of his beer.

"What?! Roger Taylor isn't enjoying his time at a grand party? I'm shocked!"

"Oh ha, ha. What about you? Why aren't you enjoying yourself?"

"Same reason as you. Don't really know anyone else here. You're the only ones that I can actually have a conversation with."

"Aw. That's kind of sweet," John noted. We continued to talk for the rest of the party, mainly recalling funny stories from the tour. My favorite was finding out about John's disco dancing hobby when he started to drink. Every so often, someone would come up to the group, exclaiming how much of a fan they were, and how much they enjoyed the show. But we mainly stayed on the couch, not really paying attention to the party surrounding us. It was one of the first times on the tour where I actually felt like I was connecting with the group.

At one point, the room had gotten too crowded for me, so I decided to make my way to the balcony area. It was even pretty packed on the balcony, but the cold breeze let me take a few deep breaths without feeling constricted. I made my way to the railing, overlooking the busy streets of Sydney.

"Beautiful isn't it?" I hadn't even noticed Roger come up from behind me. He found a spot against the railing right next to me. Even though it was almost pitch black outside, he still had on a pair of sunglasses.

"Yeah. It's lovely."

"Excited to go home?"

"Yeah. I mean, right when I get home, I'm going to have to get back into wedding planning mode." What a perfect segway I set up for myself. "Speaking of the wedding, I have a bit of a favor to ask you" He took off his sunglasses, looking directly at me. I could get lost in his sparkling eyes, but I couldn't get distracted now. "So for the ceremony, Kathleen expressed to me that she wanted me to bring someone so I wouldn't look all lonely. And since I don't really have a boyfriend or anyone, I thought of the next best thing..."

"I'm the next best thing to a boyfriend?"

"You're a male that I know well enough that it won't be awkward to ask to come with me. Would you be willing to go?"

I expected him to flat out reject me. Pull some 'it's not my scene' business, and cause me to begin scrambling for a date. But after a few seconds of thought, he responded saying, "Sure, what the hell."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Sounds like fun."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"Maybe just a little." I playfully nudged his shoulder. The champagne I had earlier was really giving me some liquid courage. I turned back towards the skyline, looking at all the bright lights hitting the water. "Here, you're probably freezing."

Roger had draped his jacket around my shoulders. "Thanks," I said. I wasn't even that cold, but the warmth from his jacket felt comforting to me. As I put my arms through the jacket, I noticed how much bigger it was on me. You couldn't even see my hands if I stood straight up. But I still wrapped myself up in it, shielding myself from the brisk wind that had been hitting my back.

I had never thought so deeply about someone giving me their jacket. It stayed on my mind for the rest of the party, when everything wrapped up, and even after I gave it back to him. Obviously he was just doing the gentleman thing. But he had just agreed to be my date to a wedding a few seconds earlier. What the hell was Roger doing to my head?

*a/n: sorry if this chapter is crap. i'm writing fluff now, but don't worry! things will start to pick up soon!*