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Roger 1971
"Hi Roger!" The crowd, they loved me. Especially the women. I smirked a little bit into the direction of the crowd. As I scanned the crowd, my eyes fell upon Maeve. She looked ill almost. Panicked even. I gave her a small smile, which caused her to look in any direction but mine. Alright. Our frontman greeted the crowd in a very Freddie manor, that didn't seem to impress the audience much.
"Where's Tim?" A man hollered. There was something else said after, but I didn't listen much to it. I locked my gaze on Maeve, who just looked down at her feet. Fuck. I clenched my jaw. I knew that hurt her still, even almost a year later. She had a tough life before Bri and I met her. I couldn't even imagine.
I decided to channel my anger into playing. That usually helped. "Ready Freddie?" And he nodded. Fred picked up a tambourine and began to play as the rest of us began. He began having trouble with the microphone stand, eventually breaking it in order to sing. What the hell was he doing? For a bit everything seemed to be fine until he started singing the words all wrong. C'mon Fred. Just because Freddie was messing around didn't mean I had to. I continued to play, really well actually. I looked up at Maeve again, our eyes locking together. I just kept looking at her.
Her face filled with panic and all of the sudden she turn around and pushed her way out the room. I sat up straighter in the seat, watching her leave. Once the song ended, I stood up and walked to the side of the stage. "Where are you going, mate?" John asked, stepping into my path.
"I have to go." I replied, making my way past him.
"You can't just leave, Roger." Brian said loudly from the other side of the stage. "We need you to play drums." I rolled my eyes, stepping down off the stage.
"Play a song without the drums. Simple. I just need to go." I made my way through the crowd, some fans grabbing onto me. I appreciate them, but it wasn't the time. Some even followed me to the door.
"Alright, darlings!" Freddie said, causing the crowd to turn. "We have another song for you all! This one? It's called Liar!" The bunch cheered, now directing their attention to the frontman. He winked at me and allowed me to slip out.
As soon as I was outside, I found her. She was outside seated on a bench. The light shined on her as she looked over at me. "I thought you didn't smoke." I said, gesturing to the lit cigarette in between her fingers.
She tapped ashes onto the ground as she moved over so I could sit beside her. "And I thought you were playing a gig. You know? The only one I'll get you all?"
I sighed, fishing a cigarette from my pocket. She lit her lighter and lit my cigarette. "Maeve... I'm sorry about what I said last week. That was uncalled for." She scoffed, basically letting me know she agreed. "When Evelyn left, it... fucked me up."
"You were already fucked up before." She said, taking a huff and blowing smoke out from between her lips.
"I get it." I said coldly, not impressed with her comment. "I cared about her a lot, and she just left. Just like that." I swung my hand out, waving it and the cigarette around.
"Yeah, I get that too. You were there when Tim left me. Left all of us. Like we were nothing. Like I was nothing." I felt my face soften. I felt bad for her. Really awful. She deserved so much better than Tim. He treated her like shit anyway.
"Maeve. I really am sorry." She finally looked over at me. Her face was practically emotionless. "You're going to be a great manager for the band. Better than great. Magnificent. Fantastic. Amazing."
"Run out of adjectives?" She said, a small smile forming on her lips. They were soft and a crimson color. Why was I studying her lips?
"There's a smile." I said, smiling wider back at her. She covered it, but I could tell in her cheeks that she was smiling harder than before. Good. I wished she'd smile more.
"I'm glad Evelyn left you." I cocked my head. What the hell? "Shit!" She hissed. "I shouldn't have phrased it that way. She wasn't good for you. You are so better off without her. She was wicked, and she was a horrendous influence on you. All those hard drugs..."
"And Tim was a shining star, huh?" I leaned back on the bench, propping my leg up on the other. "He was an absolute arse. He treated you like you were garbage. He never deserved you." I didn't realized what I was saying until after it was said. "And he wasn't even that great of a singer."
"Yeah, that's it, huh?" She teased me. Shit. I felt a tightening in my chest. My hands felt clammy. What the hell was going on with me? Why am I nervous around her? "I reckon you should get back in and perform. They need you."
I threw my cigarette on the dirt ground, rubbing my foot on it to put out the flame. "I guess so." I stood up from the seat, looking over at the girl. "Are you gonna come back in?"
"I don't know." She took another huff. It was weird seeing Maeve smoke. The amount of times she had ripped a cigarette from my mouth and put it out, I swear.
"Well, consider it." She looked up at me. "I always play better when you're around." I went back towards the door, entering back into the pub. I ran up to the stage, taking my seat behind the drums.
"About time." Brian said. He was clearly annoyed with me. I didn't care much though, especially tonight. "Alright." He said into the microphone. "Now that we have our drummer back, we have another song for you. This one's called My Fairy King."
There were cheers in the audience. It felt good to have fans. It had been so long since we performed. Out of all the cheers, one stood out. I looked into the crowd and standing beside Mary was Maeve. She smiled at me and nodded. Then we began to play.
~~~ I hope you guys are loving this story! I've never written anything like this before! I appreciate the feedback greatly! I'll see you again soon with another update.
