speechless | roger taylor

twenty four

Roger wasn't quite sure what he was expecting when he walked into the kitchen, but it sure wasn't what was laid out in front of him. Elise was sat at the table with one leg crossed over the other, the skirt of her gold dress slightly hiking up her leg. When she stood, it ended mid-calf, but when she was sat down, it ended at her knees, showing off her freshly shaved legs. She held her glass of wine in her hand and her soft curls rested over her shoulders—needless to say, she looked perfect.

"Happy Birthday, love," she smiled, setting down her glass to stand up. She made her way over to the speechless man and wrapped her arms around his torso, inhaling the scent of his cologne.

He was wearing her favourite.

"Take a seat, won't you?" she asked the four men standing by the door, a sly smile on her face as she went back to her seat at the table. Brian laughed lowly as he elbowed Roger on his way to the table.

"Cheesy pasta?" Freddie asked, tilting his head as he sat down across from Elise. "It looks amazing, darling!"

"I'm not very good at cooking, but cheesy pasta is my favourite thing to make," she replied. "I'd call it macaroni and cheese, but it's not macaroni."

Once Roger had come back down from his shocked state, he took a seat between Brian and Elise. "This...all for me?"

Elise nodded happily. "Who else would it be for?"

"You are forgetting my birthday is in two weeks," John said, laughing as he took a small sip of his wine.

"Shut it, dork," she replied. "At least yours will be on time."

Roger rolled his eyes playfully and pressed a kiss to Elise's cheek. "Thank you, really."

"It's no problem," she smiled. "Dig in!"

The boys each took a bite of their pasta and each of them let out a low moan at the taste. "This is amazing," Brian said, quickly shovelling more of the cheesy goodness into his mouth. Elise chuckled, nodding.

It didn't take long for the five of them to finish their dinners, conversing about everything between their new songs, to whether lemonade is better than iced tea. Elise was having the time of her life, and she hoped Roger was, too. She knew that wasn't quite the situation when she looked him in the eyes once they were alone in the kitchen.

"Love?" she asked, placing the stack of plates in the sink. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and stood from the chair he was sat in, smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt. "It's—it's nothing."

She could tell that he wasn't telling her something, and a small ball of anxiety began to grow in the pit of her stomach. She decided on letting it go, for now. She walked across the kitchen from the sink to where Roger was stood, taking his hand in hers. "Come with me?"

He nodded and she led him out of the small cottage-like house and into the field area of the property. The sun was just going down as it was nearing on 7 in the evening, casting a light orange glow over the rolling hills. She squeezed his hand in hers before letting go, plopping down on the ground.

"Lay with me," she said, smiling. There was a glint of something in his eyes that she couldn't put in the form of words as he laid down beside her—adoration, maybe? Roger knew it was much more than that. He loved her. He was in love with her.

Love was something he never thought he'd be capable of, but here he was, laying with the love of his life. Happier than he ever thought he could be, yet there was still something holding him back from letting him be completely happy.

"Isn't it pretty?" she asked, her voice snapping him out of his daze. She pointed up at the sky, tracing over the shape of a cloud with a smile on her face.

"What?" he replied, shifting so his head was laid on her stomach. Her fingers immediately tangled in the long, dirty blond locks and he closed his eyes, revelling in the bliss.

"The sunset."

"I thought you were talking 'bout yourself," Roger told her, causing a small giggle to fall through her lips.

"I'm not nearly as pretty as the sunset," she whispered. "You gonna tell me what's wrong, now?"

He debated on letting it go, but he thought that maybe if he talked about it, everything would get better. Letting out a heavy sigh, he shifted himself so he could look at her without moving his head from her tummy.

"I'm...scared."

Elise pulled her eyebrows together and sat back on her elbows, looking at him with a confused expression. "What do you mean, bubs?"

Though Roger was somewhat upset, the pet name made butterflies erupt in his stomach. "Please don't think I'm absolutely mad or something—please."

"Of course not, what is it?"

He sighed. "I'm scared, because I've never been attached to somebody like I am with you. I've never—I've never felt this way with anybody else, and I'm scared because I don't know how to handle it. I know I'm not good for you, and that you should find someone that will be good for you, but fuck, I can't stand the idea of anyone else touching you the way I do. I know that I have anger issues and that one day I'm going to scare you so bad that you won't want me to touch you, and I'm scared of that because I'm trying so hard to fix it so that I don't hurt you."

"I don't want to hurt you. I'm scared that I will. I know I'll never lay a hand on you in any bad way, but I'm scared that one day you're gonna see me get angry and it'll scare you. I'm not good at this relationship thing—I've never been in a proper one and I didn't have a very good role model of it. Please...just bare with me."

Roger was crying now, leaving a feeling of sadness to wash over her. She sat up and pulled the blonde into her arms, holding him tightly as he cried into her shoulders. She rubbed his back with the heel of her hand and smoothed out his hair. "Baby, shh."

"'M sorry," he whispered, wiping away his tears. "Never thought you'd have to see me cry."

"Hey," she said. "No. Don't be sorry about that for even one second. It's okay to cry. I just want you to know that you don't have to worry about those sorts of things. I get it, okay? I'm not very good at this relationship thing either, but I'm gonna stick with you through thick and thin. You're stuck with me forever, sorry 'bout that."

Roger let out a broken laugh and snuggled closer to Elise. "Ellie?" he asked, looking up at her through his lashes. His bright blue orbs burnt holes into her brown ones and she tilted her head to the side, questioning him. He moved forwards in the slightest and kissed her, his lips meshing against hers in the most perfect of ways.

When he pulled away, her cheeks were flushed a bright red and she had a smile plastered across her face.

"I love you."

-

[ oh my god ]