Drowse -- Roger Taylor

8

Author's note

Hey guys I just want to take a moment to explain that my story is not chronologically correct when it comes to Queen and when their albums and songs were released. In this chapter I mention Bohemian Rhapsody even though they are just starting their career so the song wouldn't have even been written yet in real life. Their first album was a self titled one, Queen, and their second was Queen II, which came out in 1973 and 1974. In 1975, A Night At The Opera was released, which included Bohemian Rhapsody. So yeah, I just wanted to let you guys know that for the purpose of the plot I switched up the timeline of their music a little bit. Hope it doesn't bother anyone too much. Happy reading!

Leila's POV

Months had passed and life carried on. I thought about Roger more than I'd like to admit but not enough to make me go completely mad. Sometimes I would be reminded of him at a show when the drummer was blond or played with his same sense of pride. Other times he would come to mind as I laid in bed trying to fall asleep. But I kept myself distracted. I finished my exams, barely passing but finishing all the same, and I even met a guy. His name was Dom and he was the closest thing to a boyfriend I've had for years. He wasn't a sentimental guy or "boyfriend material", but he knew how to party and the sex was good so it was enough for me, My friends were quite frankly surprised when I continued going out with him for more than a week. Mandy was just suspicious. After about a month though, she started getting excited. "Leila's dating someone? Hurry, somebody start planning a wedding!" she would joke. It didn't really seem like dating to me. It was just lots of drinking and hooking up, which is considered close enough to them I guess. I wasn't home much either. I would usually wake up in Dom's loft, without much recollection of what had happened the previous night. I wouldn't say I was happy. Just distracted. My friends didn't see that, though, they thought I was finally changing. They only had brief meetings with Dom, usually at bars or when he would pick me up. They seemed to disregard my constant hungover state, dark circled eyes, and distant mood and focus on the fact that I was "maturing", at least from their perspective. And I was glad. I didn't need them worrying, so this was great. Worked for everyone. The only person who seemed to doubt this facade was Nick. He never said anything, but I could tell from the way he wasn't amused when Mandy would tease about weddings, and he seemed to look at me disapprovingly when I returned home at random hours of the day. It was like he was the new Mandy just less vocal and aggressive. But I ignored it and carried on building my fake life and fake happiness without anyone's judgment.

But then Dom got violent and I started getting bruises and Nick's suspicions continued to grow. And since I'm the stubborn cow I am, I kept up the excuses: "Got shoved at the pub." "Fell when I was drunk." "Little rough in the bedroom, if you know what I mean." I had finally reached a place in life where everyone was happy and I could live without their criticism and be distracted how I wanted to be. And if that meant taking a little bit of a beating, whatever. I could deal with it. I'm a strong girl. And I would not like to lose my dignity and admit that I was wrong about anything. Dom is a good guy, he just gets a little aggressive when he's drunk. I can totally keep a steady relationship. And most importantly, I did not need Roger.

Well, at least that's what I told myself. Because on the inside, deep down, I was just scared. Scared and alone.

Roger's POV

I don't think I've ever seen the band work so tirelessly. For months we've recorded, written, played, and sang. Having access to actual recording studios has been amazing. We're able to mess around with the tracks and create much more versatile music. It's been busy but it's been fun. And it's the only thing that's kept me from thinking about Leila. Whenever she does creep up in my memories, I push her away. She's long gone and probably way over me. But sometimes, on late nights when I'm alone in the studio, I play those few drum notes I taught her that night and I can't help but allow myself to remember our time together; her smoky kisses, gold-specked eyes, carefree spirit. I sit there in a drowse, playing those notes, and thinking of her. Eventually those notes became a few staves, and soon enough a song was being written. But it reminded me too much of her.

In the few hours we had away from the studios, the band and I kept up our routine of going to local pubs and drinking. I continued finding new girls to sleep with, repeatedly denying to myself that I was hung up on Leila. Tonight we decided to go to a new bar, on the outskirts of London. It was late, and we had just finished up our single for the new album: Bohemian Rhapsody. Freddie wrote it and it's truly a masterpiece. We were all tired, but Freddie insisted that we celebrated. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to drink, so I agreed. Brian and John figured they wouldn't be able to get out of it, so they followed suit as well. This particular bar was packed, probably because it had just opened and people were hunting for new places to party. It was much more lively than our usual bars, and closer to a club in atmosphere. Of course, this appealed to Freddie even more.

"Well, boys, now this is a bar!" Freddie exclaimed. "Much more my speed- Oh my god! I love your pants!" He turned to a blond girl who's silk bellbottoms caught his attention. As Fred chatted with his new friend, John, Bri, and I made our way to the bar.

"Where are the booths in this joint?" Brian looked around, confused at the layout of the venue. "Are we just supposed to stand?"

"Yeah, this place is a little flashy isn't it," John admitted. "It's ahead of the times, that's for sure."

"Why do you think Freddie chose it?" I pointed out. They nodded in agreement, glancing at Freddie who was surrounded by girls, waving around his hands in a animated fashion. "Can't say I'm complaining though. Obviously this is where attractive girls like to play." I winked at a redhead who met my eyes.

Brian rolled his eyes, but chuckled. "Well as long as they have alcohol, I'll be satisfied." We each grabbed our pint of beer. "To booze!" Brian declared. We clinked glasses and repeated after him in unison. Freddie then joined us with a posse of six or seven girls. Bri and I met eyes and both shrugged.

"Hello darlings! Oh, did you start drinking without me? That's quite rude of you," Freddie began.

"You seemed a bit... occupied," John stated.

"Ah, yes, meet my lovely friends," he began pointing at them one by one introducing them to us. "Alice, Donna-"

"Um, that's not my name," one of the dark haired girls interrupted. Freddie just dismissed her with a wave and continued.

"-Ruby, Blonde Girl, Second Blond Girl, Jan, and Girl Who Looks Like The Mona Lisa!"

It was silent for a second, as if we were bracing ourselves for an outburst from the last girl, but she just giggled. Either drunk, stupid, or too in love with Fred to care about the slightly offensive comparison he just made. She did kind of look like the Mona Lisa. Not gonna lie.

"So, we heard you guys were recording with Trident Studios!" One of the blonde girls exclaimed as she batted her eyelashes seductively. So that's what Freddie was bragging about so dramatically. That explains a lot. "Y'know, I think rockstars are so hot." She leaned over to John and put her hand on his thigh. He looked slightly alarmed. Within in the next few minutes, the girls were clinging onto us, asking all sorts of random questions about the music industry. They seemed especially interested in John, as he had three of them draped around him. I was talking to a dark haired girl, when something caught my eye. A flash of wavy brown hair, followed by a glimpse of a familiar profile. My heart stopped.

"Will you excuse me for a minute?" I asked the girl, still keeping my eyes on the crowd. Losing sight of the figure, I pushed past the girl I was chatting with and made my way through the mob, searching. The voices and music seemed distant, and I tried my best to follow the brown hair as it appeared and disappeared. Was it actually her? I was catching up. What would I say? Almost there. Does she even remember me? Good lord, of course she remembers you Rog, you're a catch. Get yourself together. I tried to regain my usual confident demeanor. She stopped. She was about a meter away from me. I stood there for what felt like forever before reaching out and lightly tapping her shoulder. She turned around. But she wasn't her. "Oh," I couldn't hide my disappointment. "Sorry, wrong person." I turned to go.

"Don't be sorry," she called back to me. "Wanna get a drink?"

I shook my head, not bothering to even look back at her, and walked away. Past the bar, past my friends, past the girls, right out the door into the cold, bleak London streets.

So sorry for such a long wait, I got a little distracted with life and all that shit. I wrote this kind of roughly, so sorry if it's a little vague or unclear. If you have any questions just ask! And thank you all so much for all the votes and comments, it really means a lot to me! It's been really cool talking to some of you