A Whole New World (A Queen Fanfiction)

Chapter Eight

How much the fates had shifted in less than a mere week.

Mr. Branson, the kind soul he was proving himself to be, had given the band a hotel room to temporarily replace their house. The best part was, their room was right across from Dominique's.

Freddie was overjoyed to have his own "simply fabulous" room, and Roger figured it was probably way nicer for him than having to share a tiny twin mattress on the floor.

John loved the quiet and more uptown setting, often spending time in his room and talking on the phone to someone, who he never talked about but seemed to be named Veronica.

Brian also seemed to love spending time in his room, often reading an array of classics he found, talking about them every morning at breakfast, in great detail -- None of them ever wanted to think about Wuthering Heights ever again.

Roger definitely loved his room, but he was adapted to the outside. He loved the city like he loved very few other things, and he loved exploring, even if it was simply just walking around a building.

Leaving the room decently early in the morning, he began to walk down the hall.

But then, he stopped, and stared at the room right across from him.

Dominique.

He always thought about maybe visiting her, along with Mr. Branson, the chauffer, and maybe even that Todd guy, But he could never work up the courage.

He had no problem with being comfortable with her, for she knew him. But he could not help but feel self-conscious -- feeling too skinny, so much lesser-than compared to everyone else, and dirty.

He looked down at the pile of clothes he was carrying, which included his two outfits. Hopefully he would not feel dirty for very much longer.

Today, he wore one of Brian's outfits, for he had kindly offered. The purple sweater and black bell bottoms were a little big for Roger, as Brian was taller than everyone else. But the clothes fit well enough to leave the room with.

He continued walking, taking the stairs to stall time, until eventually he came upon the lobby.

The clerk, a blonde girl with the nametag 'M. Austin,' looked at him as he came in, smiling. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Roger said. "May I have directions to the laundry room here?"

"Oh yes," she nodded, then pointed down long hallway past the giftshop. "It's right in between the continental breakfast hall and the gym."

"Alright, thank you!"

He started down the hall, but made the mistake of looking behind himself for a moment, where there stood Todd, simply standing there and staring at him.

Seeing that Roger had looked at him, Todd smirked, slowly nodding while walking away, going back into the elevator hall.

Roger had gotten a decent look at Todd before, when he and Mr. Branson had come to the house, and so he was recognizable. And then, of course, Dominique had told all about him.

Roger continued on down the hallway, finally finding the laundry room and looking for a washing machine to use.

He eventually found one out of the many, and began to load it, putting each of the garments in one by one.

He picked up his denim jacket, thinking fondly of his outing with Dominique a couple days before. Almost the entire day, he had had butterflies in his tummy, but tried so hard not to show it, trying instead to conform to the normal, chill personality that he had usually.