Song: Boys Don't Cry by The Cure
Freddie's PoV
"You have a good day, princes, and behave for Uncle Freddie" Victoria smiled weakly as she finished fastening her daughter's pink winter coat, her hands shaking a little as she tugged at the zipper. Despite her near perfect composure, I could detect the deep sadness behind her glassy blue eyes, her fear at being left alone with Roger for the first time since their argument. Having witnessed Roger's open hostility towards her the moment we got back from breakfast, despite Victoria's numerous efforts to bridge the divide between the two, I couldn't blame her.
Lola had witnessed it too. The small child was unusually quiet, still in her mother's arms whereas normally she would have wriggled excessively as her mother tried to dress her in her coat, kicking off that it wasn't the right shade of pink or didn't have a pretty enough badge on it. The only time the child had looked animated at all was when Rod, sensing the tension Roger's behaviour was causing, had offered to teach Lola and Victoria the workings of the sound board; that excitement was not produced by a chance to record a little something of her own, but to finally get away from her sullen, muttering father.
Lola clung uncertainly to Victoria's hand, looking so much younger than her three years, as though she were a tiny baby again, about to be separated from her mother for the first time. She sucked anxiously at her thumb, an action Victoria had confided in me that the girl only did when deeply upset. I wasn't surprised, she had been made to watch her father tear chunks out of her mother for the better part of a morning, despite her mother's and Deaky's attempts to shield her from it. When Lola cautiously asked Deaky what a bitch was and why Roger called her mum in it, I almost thought the bassist was going to swing.
"I'm going to spoil you absolutely rotten, my darling. I'm talking ice-cream, doughnuts, some killer sunglasses, teddy bears and who even knows what else" I tried to coax the child away from her mother. Although the temptation of shopping and sugary treats did excite Lola enough to drop her mother's hand, the frown still remained etched on her petite features.
"Can we go now?" she whispered, almost inaudibly. I could see Victoria's heart shattering in her chest at the sight of her child looking so downhearted, so distressed.
I also understood that this was the one thing Roger could do to push her away, fully push her away. She could put up with him hurting her, in some ways even, a part of her liked it, but when it began to upset Lola, to the extent it was hurting Lola, that became the point at which Victoria would refuse to tolerate it anymore, to put her and her daughter through it. She had tried so hard to prevent it; she had been perfectly civil with Roger the moment we arrived back from breakfast, and for a few hours, he responded well. But the moment Victoria went with Rod into the sound booth to watch over Lola as she recorded her adorable gibberish, something flipped in Roger. Despite our conversation, despite my warnings that he needed to talk to her, to listen to her before he jumped to rash assumptions, his unwarranted jealousy destroyed any chance of a reconciliation between the pair. He had been downright hostile towards Victoria for the rest of the afternoon.
"Don't I get a goodbye hug?" Roger questioned softly, the hurt ill-masked in his voice. Lola gazed up at her mother with a look that almost read 'do I have to?'. Victoria nodded at the child, gently pushing towards her father. Lola traipsed over to him; her head hung low. She embraced him for a millisecond before she stormed back over to her mother. Roger looked hopelessly confused and betrayed.
Where did we actually find someone this dumb when we invited him to join the band?
Of course, in any situation, Lola would side with her mother; it was only natural, as much as she loved her father, the relationship she had with Victoria would always ultimately be stronger, they had been all each other had for three years. Lola probably felt strangely protective of her mother, despite her young age. Roger didn't make matters any better by openly antagonising Victoria in front of her.
