Save Me (Roger Taylor FanFiction) [Wattys 2019]

2: Teasing

*December 1st 1971*

"LUCAS WILL YOU PLEASE come with me to the gig?" I begged my boyfriend for the millionth time tonight as I put my makeup on.

"Julie, stop asking me! For the last time, I'm not going. That Bulsara guy can't sing to save his life,"

I hated when Lucas said this about Freddie.

"I wish you wouldn't say things like that, Lucas. Freddie is amazing, plus I've told you before, it's Mercury now,"

He laughed aloud at my comment but didn't reply; he simply rolled his eyes and undid the buttons on his jeans.

"I'm not going, you just have fun,"

"But I don't wanna be in a pub alone, you know I don't like that,"

"You won't be alone, you'll have your precious Freddie Mercury,"

I sighed in defeat, realising I couldn't convince him. I applied mascara and asked Lucas how I looked.

"You look fine," he replied, not even looking.

"Well thanks, fine is exactly what I was going for,"

I stood up, made my way to him and kissed his cheek, "I'll be home before 1 am."

"Keep away from that Roger Taylor. He's a dirty low life and you don't need him in yours. He's not like us, Julie,"

"I know, Lucas, I'll keep away from him. I don't like him anyway,"

I sighed and made my way towards the front door, shouting a quick goodbye to my boyfriend.

The chilly December air hit my face and a shiver made its way through my body as I made my way to my car. I loved my old, beat up car.

I was excited to see Freddie's band perform but I was more excited to see Freddie. It had been a few weeks since I last saw him. His life was busy and so was mine so it was hard to make time for each other. I hated when long periods of time marched by without Freddie.

I pulled up at the old pub they were playing in and made my way to the door. Apparently I was slightly late because I could already hear Freddie's virtuosic singing.

The pub was crowded and everyone was cheering for Queen, which was no surprise because they were frankly outstanding.

By the end of their performance, the crowd was louder than anything I'd ever heard.

Freddie and Brian made their way over to me.

"Darling, so glad you made it," Freddie exclaimed, kissing both of my cheeks.

"Freddie, it's so good to see you again. Well done to both of you, that was an amazing show! I'd say it was your best so far," I told the two men with a smile. They both beamed widely at me and at each other.

John Deacon appeared next to me from nowhere, "Julie, you're looking really nice," he blushed. Freddie Mercury was not good at keeping secrets and so I knew that John had a bit of a thing for me. John was a sweet guy but I had Lucas and I loved him.

"Thanks John, you too," I never liked to overdo it with him because I didn't want to lead him on. He smiled and nervously thanked me.

"Where's Roger?" Brian asked in his kind voice.

Ugh. Roger.

Roger Taylor was my least favourite person that I had ever had the misfortune to meet. We didn't get along at all and the whole band was aware of this.

"Probably off chatting up some poor random girl," I scoffed, disgust dripping from my words.

Brian laughed, "Yeah, he probably is,"

I never found Roger funny though. He was outspoken and downright rude.

"Hello, Jules," I heard the familiar raspy voice come from behind me and I rolled my eyes at the sound of it. I hated when Roger called me 'Jules' and he knew it fine well, although, I wasn't planning on giving him the satisfaction of asking him to stop calling me it again. I'm sure he'd heard it quite enough.

"Roger," I replied disdainfully, turning to look at him. He always got a kick out of the fact that I was at least a head smaller than him; he probably wasn't used to that at his height, seeing as he was so short.

"Did you enjoy the show?" He asked me in a jokey tone at which I sighed.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did, I was just telling the boys that,"

As much as Roger knew I didn't like him, he knew I still liked to watch the shows and he knew I was still beyond impressed by his drumming; so he liked to exploit that knowledge to the best of his abilities. He always liked to hear me complimenting the band although I tried to avoid doing so while he was around. It gave him a big head and I couldn't stand how smug he'd get.

"Where's uh? What's his name again? That guy with the brown hair?"

"Lucas, his name is Lucas, and he isn't feeling well so he couldn't come,"

"Why don't you just say that he doesn't like the music we make, my dear?" Freddie asked me, butting into the conversation Roger was trying to start and I was trying to end.

"It's not that, Fred," I don't know why I didn't just say that, to be honest. Nobody in the band seemed to like Lucas and Freddie had told me many times before that he didn't care what Lucas thought of him.

The four boys were forever telling me to lose Lucas and 'find someone of good use', as Freddie always tended to put it. I hated talking to them about him because it made me very uncomfortable. He certainly wasn't their biggest fan and, even though they knew it, I didn't have the words to tell them.

"Let's just forget about him just now," I begged which probably didn't help their opinions of Lucas. My days of praying they would all just get along were gone, now I just wished I'd never introduced them so I didn't need to deal with them bitching about each other.

"Yeah, we'll give it a go," Roger replied, nudging me with his elbow. I pulled my arm back from him and glared.

"You know, something Roger-" I began but Brian cut me off.

"Anyone for a drink?" He asked hurriedly, shooting Roger a look which he seemed to understand.

"Yeah, I'll come and help you carry them all back," he replied, "And I'll try not to spill yours, Jules,"

"Just make sure you bring back a rum and lemonade, Taylor," he winked at me and followed the tall, curly haired Brian to the bar.

"Well, that went well," John said, letting out a sigh of relief as the tension dissipated slightly.

"You two really need to start trying to get on, darling," Freddie told me.

"Tell him that, he just spends his time deliberately winding me up," I retorted quickly.

"And you rise to it every time," Freddie replied and I scoffed but I knew he was right. I did rise to Roger's crap every time and I just allowed him to wind me up. Well, I'll be doing it differently upon his return.

"Here you go, love," Roger handed me a glass of the sparkling combination of drinks.

"Thank you, Roger," I smiled sweetly at him which seemed to confuse every member of the band.

Well, except Freddie. He knew my game all too well.

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A/N

So, what's everyone thinking so far? Let me know how you feel about this story. What do you think of Lucas?

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