No One But You

22. Veronica

Madison

I cried when the boys left. Mary, Chrissie and I got together and just cried. A crying party. How pathetic. But our boys are gone so it was necessary. 

It's been three months without Roger's touch. Three months without being able to see his face. Three months of sleeping in an empty bed. I love the fact we live together, but it makes me lonely too because it's so empty without him.

Roger calls when he can. It's not often, but I appreciate him calling. He also writes. He likes to send post cards from each city they play at. I've saved them all and put them in a box. He doesn't say much on each card, but I like seeing his handwriting spell out my name and his short and sweet  messages. 

Deaky also calls me. He calls me just as often as Roger does. It's gotten to the point where Deaky will get off the phone with me and then pass it to Rog, or vice versa. It's like they're flipping a coin over who gets to speak to me first from the arguing I hear in the background. 

I sigh, thinking about how much I miss Rog and the boys. I get nostalgic thinking of when they were here. My thoughts are consumed from when I first met Freddie, to when I convinced John to join. I nearly bump into someone in the hallway of the University I've been attending for the last couple months.

"I'm so sorry," I say to the girl. "My thoughts were distracting me," She has light brown hair with bangs coming just above her eyes. 

"It's okay!" she says with a bright smile. "Is everything okay?"

I nod, not wanting to unleash on her. "I just miss my friends and boyfriend. They're off in America right now," 

"That's so far," the girl frowns. 

"It is," 

I stand there awkwardly, not exactly knowing what to do. The girl has a thoughtful look on her face.

"Do you want to get lunch?" she asks me. "We could go to the cafe on campus. You look like you could use a friend right now to distract you,"

I don't know this girl, but she seems nice enough. I agree and I follow her through the crowded hallways to this small cafe. It doesn't have a large selection of things to eat, but I settle with a ham sandwich and a coffee. An odd combination but it speaks to my soul.

"I'm Veronica by the way," the girl says when we sit down at a table near a window. 

"Madison," I tell her, giving her a small smile. I take a bite out of my sandwich.

"So what grade are you in?" Veronica asks awkwardly, then taking a sip from her coffee. 

"I'm actually going for my doctorate. I graduated a couple years back and recently decided to come back to school," I tell her. 

After hours of applying to various universities I finally got accepted into Cambridge University. I had to go in for an interview but apparently I was a 'delight' and they offered me a spot right then and there. Brian was thrilled when I told him I got accepted for astrophysics. He said he's living through me. Every now and then he'll give me a ring to chat about what I'm learning. Chrissie calls him a nerd for doing so. 

"That's amazing," Veronica says, smiling wide at me. "I'm here for a degree in teaching,"

"I used to teach. Well kind of, I was a maths tutor and at one point I had a mini classroom,"

"How did you like it?"

I shrug. I didn't like it because I had to wake up so early, especially after Roger and I would shag all night. 

"I didn't mind it," I tell her, leaving out some details. 

"Are you going for teaching now?" Veronica asks.

"Astrophysics, believe it or not. A friend got me interested in it so I thought why not?"

"Astrophysics is hard. That's amazing that you want to go for that. You're the only woman I know into science," she laughs darkly. 

"Me too," I tell her. I'm the only female in all of my classes. It's crazy. 

Veronica and I get into talking a little more. She tells me about how she's always wanted to be a teacher and how she loves helping people. She then talks about music which leads us into talking about Queen. She's heard of them before and used to go to their shows when they were just getting started. She's been dying to go to one recently, and that's when I tell her they're on tour in America.

"Those are your friends?" she asks, sounding shocked. "Not that I don't doubt it it's just they're Queen,"

I laugh. "Those are them," I say. 

"How'd you meet them?"

So I go through the works. I tell her how I used to go to Smile's shows all the time when they performed in London in pubs and uni's. Then I tell her how I met Freddie in the bar one day and gave him a little push to go introduce himself to the band. I tell her how I've been friends with John for a while and how I recommended him to Freddie and got him to be the last member of Queen. And then I bring up nonchalantly how Roger and I have been dating for a while now. Almost 9 months to be exact. 

"You're dating Roger?" She asks. "I had a lot of of friends that would kill to be in your position,"

My cheeks flush. "We didn't get off to a great start but once we got talking I didn't want it to end," I tell her. "He had a lot of girls going for him but somehow I tied him down. I'm not sure why or how," I laugh.

"I'll tell you why," Veronica says, a serious look on her face. "Because you're beautiful and I haven't known you long but you seem like such a nice person. You're a catch,"

"Thank you," I shyly say, looking down at the table. 

"I can finally tell my friends to lay off too,"

"What do you mean?"

"They're always swooning over him. Every time they hear a Queen song or every time they see them. Doesn't matter what it is but I can finally tell them to shut it because he has a girlfriend, and she's pretty amazing,"

I decide I like Veronica. She's been nothing but nice and I'd like to get to know her more. I dig in the purse I brought and pull out a piece of scrap paper and a pen. I scribble my name and number on the paper, then slide it over to her. 

"That's my number. We should hang out more. Maybe you can meet my friends Mary and Chrissie," I tell her. 

She lights up like a Christmas tree.

"Thank you, Madison," she takes the piece of paper and carefully folds it and puts it in her bag. 

The rest of our lunch is spent talking about everything and nothing. I think Chrissie and Mary would really like Veronica too. She's sweet. 

As I'm in my car, journeying home which takes forever it seems like, I get an idea. A brilliant one at that. Roger and I had talked about it before we moved in together, but now this is a possibility. I can't wait to tell him when he calls again. 

I just hope he calls soon.