Liar | Freddie Mercury

Chapter Twenty Five

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My hands were particularly shaky that Friday, my fingers moving frantically as I tied price tags to the large pile of clothes sitting on the register. Rose was moving around the store, placing neatly folded clothes on their correct shelves, realigning the shoes that customers had tried on but never bought.

This would happen every second Friday. We would have to restock for the weekend as Saturdays were our busiest days. Rose was humming along to a song that was playing over the radio, my eyes following her as she moved across the small store.

I looked down at my hands again, taking a deep breath when I tried placing the small piece of string through its loop. It took me a few attempts, but eventually, I managed to get the damn tag tied. I folded the bright red top neatly, moving in to the pile of tagged clothes which was still a lot smaller than the pile of clothes without tags on them.

Rose returned to the register, taking the small pile before eyeing me with a frown. "Are you okay, dear? I'm used to you doing this a lot quicker." Her eyes trailed to my hands, locking onto them. "You're shaking." She observed.

"Uh, yeah. I'm sorry, this might still take a while, but if you want to go home, I could just lock up once I've gotten everything packed away." My voice was as shaky as my hands were, and I knew it was all thanks to the anxiety I felt after speaking to Freddie the night before.

I stayed wide awake that entire night, laying in Veronica's bed next to her. I didn't even tell her what happened, I didn't really feel like speaking after all of it. She asked me multiple times if I was okay, but all I could do was nod.

Rose placed the small pile of clothes down again, walking around the register to take a seat next to me, "Sit dear child." She looked up at me sadly, pulling my chair closer to hers before I took a seat next to her.

"Has something happened? Is it your father and Estelle? For the last two weeks you haven't been yourself, but today more than ever. I've been meaning to ask you, but the store is just so busy lately, it takes up all my time and energy." She placed her hand on my thigh, smiling at me when my eyes met hers.

"No, it has nothing to do with my parents. I haven't seen or heard from them in weeks, which is good. It's something I haven't figured out how I'm supposed to deal with yet." I shrugged.

"Is it that Roger boy?"

"No, it's Freddie." Just saying his name caused my stomach to twist, he ruined me.

"Freddie? Well, what has he done?" She liked Freddie a lot, she barely knew him, but she liked him. She thought he was very respectful and I think she found him even more attractive than I did.

"Last night, I think I told him I had feelings for him." I raised my hand to my face, placing it over my forehead as I shut my eyes tightly.

"Well, what did he say when you told him that?" Her hand found my shoulder, cupping it lightly as she smiled at me gently.

"Nothing, well, almost nothing. He said that I scared him, and then, before we could say anything else, his girlfriend came back and I had to pretend that the entire conversation never happened for an entire night. He was sitting right there and neither of us could do or say anything because if our friends knew, oh my gosh, Rose. If our friends found out, I would become the new Yoko Ono." I leaned forward, planting my face into the pile of clothes as Rose's hand moved from my shoulder and to my back. She gently rubbed at my back, doing her best to sooth me, she always managed to make me feel just a little less frantic.

But it wasn't helping tonight. I had been on the brink of tears all day, thinking of what I had potentially ruined the night before.

"Because of Roger? Roger doesn't love you, dear, and he shouldn't be the reason why you have to hold anything back with Freddie. I'm in my sixties, and if there's one thing I wish I learned sooner in life, it's that love should always come first, it means so much more than anything else in this world." I turned my head to face her, the side of my face still buried in the expensive clothes.