More than just a friend || Roger Taylor

30- the man of my past

5th October 1980

Tw- mention of abuse

And there it was again. The smirk.

The same smirk that had intrigued me, pulled me into the trap I so desperately tried not to fall into as hard as I did, that somehow owned a confidence I'd managed to find myself in love with, that sat on the same lips I could no longer recall the feeling of kissing.

Nothing about how our paths decided they needed to once again cross was out of place, completely and bizarrely strange or something out of the ordinary, but that was to the average person. To us, me and him, it was insane. The chances were so slim we'd convinced ourselves it was impossible.

It was as if me and him were two complete opposites, living two completely different lives that had never been so distant, but we'd been pulled together again as if it needed to happen. It was fates way of taking our paths and letting them cross that one lass time, waiting with a patience not built to last long enough to anticipate wether they'd wind up intertwining with each other again.

When I did see him, hands buried deep in his pockets and eyes scanning the cracks in the pavement beneath us both, I had to try not to gasp as loudly as I felt I needed to. Or run in the opposite direction. Or let the sudden shock of fear crash over me and manipulate my next moves like it was itching to.

I saw him first, the blonde scruff of hair he owned and the smoke unsurprisingly leaking from his lips, one that I used to watch with amusement as it tangled between us.

The two of us had found ourselves walking down the same path, both in opposite directions that were designed to let us pass each other, which he soon realised was bound to happen when he let his eyes look up from the gravel.

They looked me up and down in a rush, like they were never gonna find the chance again, desperately soaking up every last piece of my as if it was bound to be the final time. The baby blue fencing his pupils were assisted by when analysing me was too perfect, almost designed to make any girl fall for him in an instance.

There was still a fair amount of steps until our bodies would meet after our eyes had, which is when we both took the opportunity to decide wether we were about to stop and finally talk after all those months and years. But he knew better than I did after the way his eyes had gazed into mine there was no denying me at least a simple hi, which is exactly what left his lips when our bodies finally did fall close enough.

"Uh... hi." Roger let a deep sigh escape, one clearly doing his stiff frame few favours. "It's been a while since we erm... since we last spoke I suppose."

"Yeah." I nodded nervously, my entire body rattled, struggling to really accept what he was saying. "You're an even bigger star."

"Yeah." He chuckled, scratching the back of his neck, eyes letting themselves meet every part of my they felt they wanted to- accept mine. They weren't brave enough to glare into mine, no matter how confident they always seemed to be.

"I'm happy for you. I really am. It's nice to see you tour the bloody world."

"Adelynn I know this is fucking mental but... please come get a coffee with me or something. I mean, it's been years. I wanna catch up properly, not in the middle of the pavement." The lack of hesitation and the ache of sorry in his tone was hard for my ears to hear without letting the emotion of it all hit me in one swift motion.

-

My heart was beating at a speed I was struggling with, my leg bouncing and my cheeks covered by a blush caused simply by what seemed to be uncontrollable nerves. I took my eyes away from the floor, and tried to let them meet his, the soft blue eyes I remember staring into with nothing but awe as he used to hold me against him. But he didn't let me. He let them fall onto every detail of the room, but not me.