Queen Of Hearts | Roger Taylor

XLIII

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Today was our last day here. The boys would stay longer, but me and the girls would all leave tomorrow morning. I had to get back to work tomorrow. For the first time since starting, I was not excited to get back. I just wanted to stay here. Stay here in Roger's arms in the warm cosy bed. Even though it wasn't cosy anymore, he had gotten up earlier than I did to get to the studio.

I stretched out and rolled over onto his side. His pillow smelt like him. A mix of cigarettes and his cologne. After a few minutes of just lying on his pillow, I pulled the covers off me and got up. I put on my robe, grabbing my bathroom supplies to take a shower.

The house was quiet. I was used to the sound of people chatting and life being lived, but not today. After taking a shower and doing my skincare, I walked back to the bedroom. I got dressed in a light-wash denim suit. It was a pain to get on but looked stunning. I slipped into my boots. I finished the look off with some jewellery – which consisted of only putting in earrings. Before walking downstairs, I put on some makeup and was ready.

No one was downstairs either. I had no idea where the other girls were, but I'm sure I would find them later. I didn't mind having breakfast on my own. I made some tea, toast with peanut butter and read the newspaper. Then I washed my dished and sat on the couch to read my book.

An hour passed by. I was getting bored now. Reading could only keep my attention span for a little while. I put my book away, deciding to check on the boys in the studio. Most of the time I stayed away, but I was curious to see what was happening there. I grabbed one of Roger's cardigans – I was living in his clothes most of the time and stepped out.

The door to the studio creaked as I opened it. I walked through the hallway, towards the door. I already heard them arguing as I walked in – but that was nothing new. Freddie was saying something along the lines of more and higher.

When I walked in, I saw Roger standing on the other side with headphones on and in front of a microphone. Freddie was pressing record and stop on the tape, Deaky sat next to the mixer and Brian was sitting on the couch writing something.

"Galileo! Galileo figaro!" Roger was singing it over and over again. I heard him sing high notes before, so this wasn't something new. "How was that?" he asked when Freddie stopped the tape.

"Freddie?" Deaky asked, turning his head to look at him.

"Higher," he said without looking up. My brother snickered and looked at me, smiling.

"Can you go a bit higher?" Deaky asked Roger through the intercom.

"If I go any higher, only dogs will hear me," he complained. Endlessly. Endlessly complained.

"Try," Freddie said, closing his eyes and pressing start again on the tape.

"Freddie's notes, sorry," Deaky apologized. He smiled and leaned back again.

Roger sighed. The music started again at the same spot and he sang the same line again, this time a little bit higher. I chuckled when I saw him do the hand movements with it to feel the music – as he always told me. It was cute.

"How was that?" he asked. He looked proud, wearing a big smile. "Better?"

"Higher," Freddie commanded. Brian moved his hand up and down, saying it needed to be higher. I pushed his hand down again.

"Stop that," I hissed at him with a smile.

"Can he go higher, Lotus?" Deaky asked me. I looked at him confused and shrugged.

"How am I supposed to know?" I asked. They all looked at me and then I saw what they meant. I rolled my eyes. I was not going to answer that question, ever.

"Jesus, how many more galileos do you want?" Roger now asked, getting annoyed. He looked at Freddie and then saw me standing and I waved. Instantly, his face relaxed and he waved back. I winked at him to encourage him to have more patience.

"Freddie wants to do a few more overdubs," Deaky answered through the intercom.

"Do we even have any tape left?"

"I do have to say, the tape is wearing out. I can't take much more,"

Brian sighed and put the paper down, frowning. "We can't afford much more. What are we? Three weeks over schedule?"

Freddie pressed the record button again and the music started again. Roger sang the exact same line, the exact same way. It kept going like this. One more, and then one more again, and one more again. Roger was getting frustrated, being done with the situation but still followed Freddie's instructions and did as he told him. Then, out of nowhere, he stopped.

"My nuts feel like they're in my chest right now," Roger joked. I put my hand over my mouth and laughed. "Are we done?"

"That's it. He loves you," Deaky spoke.

They went on a little while longer, Roger doing some overdubs for the other lines. He looked and felt a lot more comfortable now since he knew what he needed to do. Freddie paced around the studio, smiling proudly at him. Brian and I looked at each other impressed. I knew he could do it, but I never thought he had so much patience for it.

"It's beautiful. Love it!" Freddie called out, complimenting Roger.

He took the headphones off and breathed in and out, walking around the wires to the door that led to this side of the recording studio. Brian started clapping when he closed the door and walked over to me.

He cupped my face with his hands and my arms wrapped around his waist. I could not really hear what everyone else was saying, because I was so caught up in him and kissing him that it took my brother to throw a pencil at us to catch my attention.

"We still need him," he complained.

"Alright, I'll go," I offered. I wanted to turn around and leave, but Roger grabbed me by my waist and pulled me back.

"You can stay. He focuses better when you're here, anyway," Freddie said. I took this as a compliment and threw myself on the couch next to my brother.

I usually didn't really like hanging out in the studio that long. It was kind of tiring and I always had to wait for hours, but today was different. Whatever they were working on, sounded interesting, and I wanted to hear more.

"He sounded good, right?" Paul broke my thoughts, talking about Roger. I grabbed a magazine to read. Literally, any time that I was at peace, this man came and ruined it.

"Very," was all I said. I wasn't going to play pretend and be nice. That wasn't who I was.

"I'm glad you're not distracting him," he then said. I lowered the magazine and looked at him. I swear to God this man could be standing on a cliff and he'd still insult and then gaslight you. Then he made it even worse. "How's your nurse job going?"

Roger gasped and turned his head so fast, his neck almost broke. "She's not a nurse. She's a doctor, you swine."

Brian snorted next to me and held his hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing. Roger offending someone had always been funny, not just to him. I also laughed. My dear husband, always coming to my aid.

"Apologies, Lotus," Paul smiled at me. It wasn't real. People like him did one thing: sucking up to you until they got what they wanted and then painting you as the bad guy. I was surprised Freddie didn't see what was really going on.

"It's okay. Not all of us can have big brains. Yours just happens to be smaller than mine," I shrugged, giving him a condescending smile in return. "And to be exact, I'm a psychiatrist."

Now Roger was the one throwing his head back and laughing.

-

lotus is a tough cookie! hope you all enjoyed this chapter. i am trying to write more, but since starting with uni again it's sometimes hard to juggle everything. 

xx