God Save The Queen

Roger

"What do you mean he left?!"

"Roger, you've asked me this for the 5th time, Tim left. He joined Humpy Bong."

"The little BASTARD!" I slammed his fist down on the table furiously, leaving it stinging, but I didn't care. I know I was overreacting, but he couldn't have told us earlier, could he? Our instruments were our life, and he had just broken the band, our family, up. Don't get me wrong, me and Brian weren't the worst singers ever, but you can only put so much time into singing while playing an instrument. We needed a singer, goddamn it!

"It's not his fault. He's been really distracted lately, and...he's been giving out signs, like he's not been into his music as much, and he's been trailing off his sentences, and...he was really logical when he was telling us he would leave. He wasn't rude or anything, he was kind and practical. It's not like he was-"

"What kind of a name is Humpy Bong anyway," I said, slouching on the coach, throwing down my agonized hand. Okay, so maybe hitting the table wasn't the best idea. Stupid Tim. He thought it was so easy to leave a band, didn't he? He didn't even give a second thought about everybody else in the band. Okay, calm down, Roger. You can't get pissed at somebody so easily. Calm down.

I threw my head back in frustration, and looked at the piano. There were clean spots on the keys where Freddie had played it, and the rest of the instrument was covered in a thin layer of dust. I thought about Freddie. Sarcastic, but still a little shy around strangers. And his singing. His voice was unique, almost feminine.

"WAIT!" I screeched, sitting up. I sounded like a broken violin, but I didn't care.

Brian whipped around, startled. "What the hell, Roger?"

I was still a little breathless from my outburst over Tim, but I got up. "Freddie, that guy yesterday. The pianist. Did you hear his voice?"

"Yeah, I..." And then it dawned on him. "Joining Smile?"

I nodded excitedly up and down, up and down. I felt like a bobblehead, but at that moment, I didn't give a shit. "Yeah!" There was a huge grin plastered over my face.

"Oh, Roger, you FUCKING GENIUS!" Brian yelled, looking like he had come back from the dead. He leaped up, kept his guitar to the side, and he ran towards me and hugged me, and I hugged him back. Under normal circumstances, I would feel uncomfortable (you know...I prefer to act strictly straight) but I was so excited that we were wrapped around each other and were rocking back and forth. Our band wasn't gone after all. There was still hope.

Our small phone rang from the corner of the room, and I ran over to it, the fastest I've ever run in my life. I picked it up, knowing it was Freddie.

"Hey Freddie!" I said into the phone immediately. I was so excited to ask him the join the band, and weirdly nervous, too.

"Oh, um...this is Tim."

There was an awkward pause for some time. Did he guess that we're replacing him? I honestly didn't give a shit. He was the one that left. Not knowing what to say, I was silent on the phone, hoping he would say whatever he wanted to say and hang up as soon as possible.

"So, uh, I kind of wanted to talk to you about why I left, since I already told Brian. Did he tell you anything yet?"

"Oh yeah, he did. You know, about the whole 'I'm joining Humpy Bong!' thing." Curse you Roger, that was sarcastic. And you know it.

"Well, yeah. I hope you don't have any hard feelings, though. You guys could actually sing on your own, you know? You and Brian are pretty good at it, you might just become a great duo-band!"

Are you fucking serious? "Are you fucking serious?" I asked, before I realized what I was saying. Why couldn't I control my stupid mouth for once?! "You're the lead singer, and you quit the band, and now you're telling us to sing on our own?"

There was an awkward shuffle on the other end of the phone. Brian, who until now was cleaning off the piano, went still to eavesdrop. "Well, I'm really sorry, but I've made my choice. If you need to finish any songs you all were in the middle of writing, I'll sing it for you. Okay? I really hope you're not mad."

I sighed. "I just wished you could have told us earlier. But I'm not mad."

"Why'd you greet me as Freddie?"

"Well, uh, we were thinking of getting him as the lead singer."

"He'll do you guys good," Tim replied, though I could tell that he didn't know what to say. "He's also a funny guy."

"Yeah."

"Well...I guess I'll talk to you...later?"

"Yeah, okay. Bye."

"Bye."

The phone hung up, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Brian didn't say anything either, though I could practically feel the secondhand embarrassment radiating off of him. Don't get me wrong, I'm a shameless animal, but this...this was the most awkward situation I've ever been in.

"Let's not talk about it," Brian said, finally, packing up his stuff. It was 10 in the night, and he had places to be, things to do. We couldn't sit here forever in embarrassment.

"Yeah...let's not. Get Freddie's number, fast."