ROCKSTAR // roger taylor

18

"Alright, everyone up on the drum risers." Brian ordered everyone in the room, which was the band minus Freddie and Hyacinth, along with Deaky and Brian's wives.

Just as everyone was ready to hear Brian's idea Hyacinth walked in.

"Sorry, i know i'm late- oh freddie's not here. can't be that late then." She shrugged and threw her bag and jacket onto the sofa. "What are we doing?"

"Standing here waiting to hear Brian's 'great idea'." Deaky said, and she came over, standing between Roger and Brian's wife, Chrissy.

"Okay so at our last show the crowd was singing our songs back to us and it was amazing - deafening but amazing - they're becoming a part of our shows, and i'd like to encourage that." He said. "Let's start with this." He stomped his foot twice, left a beat and repeated it. "Stamp to this beat."

"Genius." Deaky sarcastically commented.

"Thank you john." He said with the same level of sarcasm. "Come on!"

"Now, i want you to clap on the third beat." He added just as Freddie finally walked in.

"Don't speed up!" Roger laughed.

"Rog, keep that time." Brian said, going over to the piano. "No Prenter?" He said to Freddie. "It's unusual to see you without your clone."

"It's unusual seeing you be so bitchy." He followed Brian back to the others.

"Ah you kept your time Rog."

"Hyacinth didn't." He muttered, earning a elbow to his ribs. "Ow!"

"Shut it Rog." She groaned, though there was a hint of a smile on her lips that didn't go unnoticed by Roger.

"What's going on?" Freddie asked, and Roger said
"You'd know if you were on time."

"i'm a performer darling, not a swiss train conductor."  Freddie shrugged. "Sorry i'm late." he mumbled.

"Again." Deaky added. "You were even later than Cynthi this time."

"Jonny!" She gasped, and glanced between him and the rest of the boys, all four of them giving her the same blank look. "Ok yeah, Freddie you were later than me, how does that even happen?"

"Alright, i'm sorry.. now will you please tell me why you're not playing any instruments?"

"I wanna give the audience a song they can perform," Brian started. "make them feel like they're part of the band. So what can they do?" he repeated the stomping and clap a couple times before the rest of the group joined in.

"What's the lyric?"

The rest of the day was spent writing the lyrics and the music for the song, and in the early evening Brian and Deaky finally decided to take off and leave with their wives, Freddie also leaving soon after.

Roger sat tapping at his drum set while Hyacinth scribbled down words in her notebook on the sofa, quietly humming along to the beat.

Eventually Roger got bored of that and went to join Hyacinth on the sofa, careful not to sit too close her considering he still didn't know how she felt about him after recent events.

He lit a cigarette and offered her one, which she silently accepted with a nod.

"So when are we ever going to hear a song by the lyrical genius that is Hyacinth Morse?"

"Probably never." She muttered, closing her book and setting it down on the table.

"Oh come on, we're in a band, you've got to write at least one song for us at some point."