Time Passages (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

39. Danny's Dilemmas

Danny

The lunch bell finally rings- and just in time, too.  I'm starving.  Social studies is almost as boring as math; why do they have to put the most boring, slow classes right before the best stuff of the day?  It's like they're messing with us or something.

Single file, we march into the cafeteria.  As usual, I sort of hang back from sitting down right away.  Although Mom always makes me bring a sack lunch from home, Lauren is on the school lunch program thing; I like to wait and see if she gets in line or just makes straight for the tables.  Art is not a Thursday class, and all my other morning classes are assigned seats, so I haven't seen much of Lauren yet today.  That is going to change very soon.

Soon her red ponytail appears in the cafeteria line.  I sigh, frustrated.  I hate waiting too long, and today I'm feeling especially impatient thanks to all the Freddie stuff I'm just dying to talk to her about (including that my very own godfather, Uncle John, played bass with him for twenty-five frickin' YEARS)- so I just plop myself down in my usual spot and start eating, ever so often turning my head to see if she's almost out of the line and heading my way.

I tried asking Cousin Roxie more questions about the ring, but she wouldn't tell me anything.  "I promised," she kept saying, shrugging her shoulders.  So I tried a new, more roundabout tactic.

Staring at the wipers sliding back and forth across the windshield, I asked, "Yeah, but- I mean, how long ago was it, Rox?  That you got it, I mean."

She hesitated, then replied, "I was twenty-one at the time, so let's see- that would be- 1982."

My eyes bugged.  I forget sometimes how old Cousin Roxie actually is.  "Wow."  After a second or two of silence, I spoke up just once more.  "Was it a present?  Or did you just randomly find it?"

"It was- I suppose it was kind of a gift."

"From who?"

But I guess that was another of the "wrong" questions, because she answered, "Danny, I'm sorry, but I promised.  He made me promise."

"Who's he?" 

"I can't tell you.  I want to, though.  It's been so long, and I've wanted to tell so bad some days, but- if I never told any of my husbands, and I never told your mother, and I didn't even tell the cops when they- well anyway-"

"The cops?" I interrupted, shocked.

But she didn't explain, just kept on, "If I never told them- then I can't tell you.  It's- just a secret for Me, Myself, and I."

"And the guy," I added.

"And the guy," she hummed in agreement.  And said no more about it. 

I don't think about it for much longer, though.  I didn't really get any helpful clues out of her, and there's so much other cool stuff to think about right now anyway.

A couple of my other friends sit down too, but they're not very much fun to talk with.  If they aren't listening to music through their earbuds, they're hunched over either watching anime or playing some game on their smartphone.  At least Jamal shares his shows and stuff with me, lets me wear one of his buds so I can hear too- but he's sick today.  So really, Lauren is all I've got- but that's totally fine.  She's all I want most days anyhow, but not in a creepy way.  She's my best friend.  Like I said, she gets me- or at least, she doesn't mind me.  And for an "excessive personality" weirdo like me, that's plenty.

I've already finished my sandwich by the time she's through, looking for a place to sit.  Right away I put my hands in the air, wave them around.  "Lauren!" I yell.  "Over here!"