Time Passages (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

64. Hakuna Matata

Danny

Staring at the multicolored ribbon screensaver flickering on the white screens where they project the hymn lyrics during church, I let out a huff.  "Man, they are taking for-ev-er."

"She's on her way, Mini-Prince," Cousin Roxie coos.  "Last time your mom texted me, she said she was about ten minutes away - and that was nine minutes ago.  So, she should be here any second."

Yeah, any second, except for this one, I mutter in my mind. 

My stomach rumbles a little, reminding me that I still haven't eaten anything except three gingerbread men and a big glass of milk three hours ago.  Trying not to sigh too heavily, I slide the yo-yo up and down on its string one more time, then stick it back into my backpack.  While I'm doing this, I check my phone again.  I see one more message from Lauren, which I leave unread like the others. But Mom hasn't texted me since the last message she sent, asking me why I was trying to kill her.  I wasn't, of course, I just wanted to know if we had really and truly surprised her. 

It was so much fun, setting up the trap for Mom.  Freddie and Mr. Burdon were the ones who did most of the scheming, true.  But they still listened to me, and directly asked me if I had any ideas of my own. Freddie even took my idea about telling Mom that there was a big church party at the Tavern, saying it was probably more believable than anything else we could have come up with.

Dr. Preus has never done that, ever.  Listen to me, I mean. I seriously think that guy pretends that I'm not even there unless Mom is around, like I'm her imaginary friend or something.

But my favorite part of the whole project happened right before Freddie left.  He was just pulling on his white jacket, while all three of us were running through it one last time.  When we finished, he looked at the floor with this nervous expression, his mouth twitching the way it does sometimes.

"Right, then, here's hoping we don't overplay our hand here," he murmured quietly. 

Mr. Burdon just nodded, but that didn't seem to help Freddie very much.  So I said, "Shinpaishinaide."

All that basically means in Japanese is "No worries" - Ms. Yamaguchi taught me that phrase because music from The Lion King was playing over the class speakers that day- so I might as well have just told him "Hakuna matata" and been done with it. 

But if I had, Freddie probably would not have replied, "Arigato, waga tomo yo." 

Then the funny part happened.  I straightened up and halfway bowed before seeing his fist clench for a bump, so I made a fist too only for him to start a bow, so on instinct I put my hands out to stop him, which he slapped like we were playing some weird version of patty cake.  Giggling, I asked him what the heck he was doing, but he only pinched my nose again, and just laughed when I rubbed my face to make it stop itching.  I know Freddie was just playing with me, so I don't really mind too much- but man, it tickles like crazy when he does that.

Hey, tell me something.  Why is it that Mom leaves a great guy like Freddie after just two weeks, but she dates boring ol' baggy-eyed Dr. Preus for three plus years?

I mean, as nice as it is to watch them together (when they're not mad at each other, that is), I still can't believe that Freddie and Mom were literally boyfriend and girlfriend once.  He said that they were only technically lovers, whatever that's supposed to mean- but I'm not stupid.  I know how it works.  They wouldn't even be called "lovers", if there wasn't love and all that stuff involved between them at some point, so it still counts. 

Not only that- but Freddie's still in love with her.  He said so.  And to me, that's the part that makes the least sense, because if the two of them were lovers, why didn't they stick together?  That's what happens in the movies, and in the books.  The good ones, anyway.  I mean, Neo ended up with Trinity in The Matrix, Rick stayed with Eve in The Mummy, Dean and Annie from The Iron Giant- well, you get the idea.