PRETTY LOVER BOY - ROGER TAYLOR

XXIX.

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I sit outside of Ray Foster's office, back against the wall, leg bouncing, mind racing. My second cigarette of the morning sits between my middle and forefinger, shaking along with my hand. I can hear the faint sounds of the ending of Bohemian Rhapsody floating from underneath the door. I shouldn't be as nervous as I am, considering I'm not in the room and the album is practically perfect, but I can't seem to stop that ache in my stomach as I take a long drag of my cigarette. The muffled sound of voices comes from the room and for a moment I wish I had taken Reid up on going into the office as well.

What seems to start as as calm, even tempered conversation suddenly turns into raised voices and some sounds of slamming. I sit up a little straighter, pressing my ear to the wall as if it could possibly aid me in hearing them better. After a bit more yelling, I hear footsteps drawing closer to the door and then, it swings open. The four boys come out, all looking irritated as Roger holds his hand out to me, pulling me off the ground.

"What happened?" I ask as they drag me along, towards the exit.

"He won't release Bohemian Rhapsody as the single," Freddie replies as we push through the revolving door outside.

"Why not?" I ask, furrowing my brows.

"Said it was too bloody long," Roger squeezes my hand a little tighter, quite obviously pissed off.

"Bullshit," I twist from his grasp, jogging forward to the fountain in the middle of the little square. I stoop down, ripping two bricks from the set up. I toss one to Freddie, looking towards the building. "That one's his office right?"

"I like how you think," Freddie grins, coming up next to me. We both look at each other, nodding before throwing the bricks, both of them shattering right through the glass of Foster's office. After a moment, Pretner appears, opening one side of the window, followed by the man himself.

"You can take that out of our royalties!" Freddie shouts as I move around him, earning my high-fives from the other three boys. "Twat!"

"Wanker!" Foster responds, Freddie beginning to lead us to the car.

"You can shove your gold discs!" Roger adds on, Deaky unable to contain his laughter.

"You've made a mistake Foster!" Brian shouts.

"Asshole!" I turn, walking backwards so I can flip him the bird.

"You'll never have a gold disc, you're medium talent!" I laugh, catching back up a bit with the others, leaving a crowd of onlookers in our wake.

When we all get into the car, the moment of teenage rebellion passes and a thick quiet falls over the boys at the realization of what just happened. We sit for a while, me between Roger and John, Freddie and Brian in the front, a sense of uncertainty present.

"Alright darlings," Fred twists to address all of us, "we've got a masterpiece that we need to get out there, and we have to find a way."

I begin to chew my lip.

"Do you know any radio show hosts?" I ask, Freddie nodding. "Give them a little taste of the record."

"And then they'll simple be dying for more."

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"In the studio today, singer Frederick Mercury!" The familiar voice of Kenny Everett stirs me awake and I manage, after a moment, to open my heavy eyelids. Slowly, I sit up, finding three of four band members sprawled about, Brian on my armchair, John on the other end of the couch, and Roger partially under me, all of them asleep.

I sit up a bit more, looking around to try and find Freddie. We had all been here last night and it is well into the morning now, but Freddie would never just leave without a word would he?

We'd had dinner out and eventually migrated to my flat for the night. Freddie had decided that we all needed to brush up on our scrabble skills, apparent from the half played board set up on my coffee table. We must've all eventually drifted off while waiting turns, Freddie the last of us to call it a night I'm sure.

"I'm really not supposed to." I look towards the radio, Freddie's distinct voice floating from it. He had gone to Kenny Everett while we were all sleeping and hadn't bothered to tell anyone.

"Roger," I elbow his stomach, sliding off of the couch and crawling to the radio, turning the dial.

"Five more minutes," he throws his arm over his eyes and I scoff. Standing up with a groan, I bang the table a few times, managing to get all three boys up with a start.

"Freddie's on the radio, wake up." This knocks the sleep from them all a bit.

"Bohemian Rhapsody." Everything freezes in that moment, all of us staring at the radio, trying to imagine Freddie sitting with Everett, record passed between the two of them.

"The BBC won't play it, in fact, no one will play it on the radio, so EMI won't release it." I sit down in front of the coffee table, pulling my knees to my chest.

"What's wrong with this song?" Kenny asks.

"Nothing's wrong with it at all, except that it's six minutes long."

"Play the damn song already," Brian mutters, the suspense in the room nearly unbearable.

"Ladies and ladies."

"Here we go," I begin to chew my lip.

"Bohemian Rhapsody!"

When the first few notes play I can tell it's surreal for all of the boys. The complete look of disbelief on their faces when I glance back is picture worthy. Their awestruck expressions are quickly replaced by pure childlike happiness as they jump up, unsure what to do with themselves. That unbridled excitement is released in a tight hug between the three of them as I laugh. By the time we get to the rock portion of the song, we're already jumping around the flat like teenagers.

I'm pulled away from the elation by the telephone ringing, and with a grin I'm unable to wipe away, I pick up the green phone.

"Hello?" I say into it.

"Clementine, it's Mary." I grin, holding the phone tighter to my ear.

"Are you there with him?" I ask, rolling on to my toes, "we're listening now, over the radio."

"Yes I am," she replies, but there seems to be uncertainty in her voice. Mary and I don't talk often, not because we don't get along, but because she hardly goes anywhere with Freddie strange enough. But still, I can tell that something is off in her voice.

"Is everything ok?" There's a long sigh on the other end.

"Yes, I think so," she says after a moment, "just wanted to make sure you all were listening. Bye Clementine."

"Bye Mary." I keep the phone to my ear a while after the call drops, all of the excitement of the event draining away. I'm almost glued in place by the uneasiness in my stomach until I'm forcefully removed by Roger who picks me up over his shoulder to bring me back into the room, the phone dropping to the end of its cord.

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NOTE!!: sorry for slow updates and this short chapter. we do try though. :/