God Save The Queen

Freddie

I was standing outside the door of the room I had seen Tim go into repeatedly. I called it the Happy Room, since that was where Smile would go to play music. And now I was standing right in front of it.

I heard "Earth" playing from inside. Tim had told me about it. It really was a beautiful song. How  on earth could I compete with that? I thought. And then I shook my head in the most confident way I could. No negative thoughts. You're talented in the arts, there's no way they wouldn't want you. I took my hand down from my mouth, which was a habit I've had ever since I've felt self-conscious about my teeth.

"For what it's worth,

But I'll never see again the planet earth..."

I opened the door before I was fully conscious of what I was doing, and all eyes turned to me. The music didn't stop immediately, though. 

"My earth..." Tim finished, as the Brian ended the song with a pleasant chord, keeping his eyes trained on me. Everybody was staring, and I felt a little uncomfortable. But they don't even fucking know you! Best case, they realize how good you are at music and you join the band. Worst case, they'll think you're a failure and you can run away and never see you again! So you might as well act confident. "Hey, Tim invited me for a jam session?"

"And who are you, pretty boy?" a blonde-haired man asked. I assumed he was a drummer, just by his demeanor.

"Freddie Bulsara, pretty boy," I replied sarcastically. Whoops.

"I like him," he told the other two. "So I'm assuming that you're a pianist?"

"Yeah," I said, examining the room quickly. It was a room made of brick, and it was quite cozy. Perfect for making music.

"I'm Roger, by the way. Roger Taylor. I'm a drummer. That annoying man over there is Brian, he's the founder of the band, and that's Tim. But I'm sure you know Tim. He's the one that invited you, yeah?"

"I actually know Brian. HEY BRIAN!" I yelled, waving to him grotesquely. I saw Roger hop, startled, but he broke down laughing. Brian shook his head and covered his eyes in mock embarrassment.  Tim watched the whole scene, smiling. It felt a little more comfortable now that I had made a fool of myself and the atmosphere was less awkward. This man was dating my crush...or at least, I thought they were dating. Still, how can you dislike a man with curly hair and mad guitar skills?

I took a seat at the dusty piano in the corner of the room and played a key. It was ancient, but it would work. Quickly, I played a tune I'd been working on creating, and I loved it. It was fast, it was elegant, one of the best tunes I had ever come up with. I was quiet, but I could feel the room getting quiet. If I had to be honest, I loved it. I loved to perform, whether it was at a ping-pong competition, or a theatrical production. I had done it all, and when people were watching me...well, there was simply nothing like it. So instead of stopping my mini-performance, I finished the piece I was making.

"That's good," Brian said, smiling. "We could do something great with that."

We didn't bring my piano-playing skills after that, but we had an amazing jam session. They had come up with a song called "Doing Alright," a slow and peaceful song, and I sang a bit with Tim. His voice was really suited to the part, I hadn't heard him sing much before this. But they liked my singing, too, and after they asked me to play the piano for them, they loved that, too. I'd always considered my piano-playing to be very mediocre, and I was quite happy with myself.

And at the end, they all said bye to me warmly.

"Come back again!"

And I was sure as shit that I was going to come again.