From Seeds to Flowers | John Deacon

Chapter 15

October 17, 1971

Thalia stared at John, her heart skipped a beat when he asked. "I hadn't expected you to remember," she muttered.

"Well you promised, so you have to tell me."

"O-okay." She panicked as she thought up a lie. "I just wasn't feeling well last night. That's all."

John looked at her with skepticism. "Are you sure?"

Thalia nodded. Suddenly, Freddie and Brian barged into the room. Thalia silently thanked them for changing the subject.

"Deaky, we were so worried, darling!" Freddie exclaimed as he practically tackled John with a hug.

"How are you doing?" Brian asked as he sat in another chair near the bed.

John hesitated, still thinking about what was really bothering Thalia. "My head hurts very much. Not sure if it's from my fall or the hangover. Possibly both." He chuckled.

"We got a hold of Roger," announced Brian. "He's on his way now."

Freddie sat down next to Thalia and the four began to chat for a bit before being interrupted by Roger knocking on the door.

"Thank God you're all right, Deaks. I don't know what we would have done without you!" Roger exclaimed as he took a seat at the foot of the bed, almost on top of John's leg. John quickly pulled his leg away to avoid any more possible injury.

"Watch out, Rog! Are you trying to break him even more?" Brian joked.

Roger made a face at Brian.

"Will you be able to play," Freddie asked suddenly.

They all looked expectedly at John. After a short while, he responded with a curt shrug.

"I haven't tried yet, so it might be a bit uncomfortable, but I'm still willing to play."

The entire room let out a sigh of relief.

John soon got up and ready to head out. The group decided to go back to the hotel to just relax.

Thalia was ready to get out of that hospital and get away from John's doubt about what she had said. She knew he kept looking at her strangely but didn't address it.

"I think I'm in love," Roger said suddenly as they walked down the sidewalk to the hotel, which luckily was nearby.

Everyone stopped and stared at him in shock.

"With who?" Brian asked, breaking the silence.

Roger shrugged and continued walking. "I'm too poor for her though, I can't take her out."

The rest followed behind him, still just as confused as before Brian tried to make Roger clarify.

"Tell us more about her then," John ordered.

"She's gorgeous," he responded dreamily.

John fiddled with his cast and stopped pressing Roger about his love because he could see that he wouldn't get any solid answers. The cast bugged John so much. It reminded him of how reckless he could get sometimes, which was one of his qualities that he liked the least. He was known to get blackout drunk and wake up completely regretting what he had done the night before, or not remembering it at all. Thalia knew this too well. She noticed John messing around with the cast and used the hand closer to him to lightly tug on the sleeve of his silk shirt. John looked to her with a smile spreading across his face and slid his hand down to hers and entangled their fingers.

Roger sighed, still thinking about his love. His eyes darted to the overcast sky and a smile of pure euphoria graced his lips.

The walk back to the hotel only took about ten minutes and was mostly silent the entire way. They all packed into Thalia and John's room and Roger switched on the TV to a car chase show.

"Do you really have to watch that right now?" Brian asked, annoyed by Roger's constant need to be looking at cars.

"You just don't understand, Bri. Cars are art to me, just like the stars and clogs or whatever you like these days are art to you," Roger responded.

Brian was slightly taken aback by Roger's statement.

Before he had a chance to respond Thalia shot up from where she was sitting in the bed and ran towards the phone. "I have to call Dottie! I was supposed to talk to her last night, but with that whole situation I forgot." She quickly dialed the familiar number and held the phone up to her ear.

John grabbed the remote from next to Roger and put the TV on mute.

They stayed quiet as Thalia told the story to her aunt, of course leaving out the drunk part, just saying that there was an accident. After she finished recalling the events from last night Dottie started talking for a very long time. Thalia stared blankly ahead for a while and listened before an emotion that no one in the room could read swept across her face.

"Alright, I'll have to see about that. Love you, goodbye," she said in a low voice before hanging up the phone.

She slowly looked over the boys. It took her a while to put the words together and process the information she was just told. "My father died," she informed the band. "It apparently happened about a week ago. Dottie wants me to go to the funeral."

The band looked shocked.

"I'm so sor-" Freddie started before he was interrupted by Thalia.

She shook her head. "I've never met him, so you don't really have to be sorry." She then turned to John. "She's calling a cab for me tomorrow. You can come with me if you'd like to," she offered.

John nodded. "Of course."

They had a break from concerts for the next couple of days, so it was perfect timing for one of the band members to have to attend his girlfriend's father's sudden funeral.

A cold feeling hung in the air. Everyone was silent. Thalia herself didn't know how to feel. Her father was dead, she knew she should feel something, even if it was happiness that the man who took her mother away from her was gone. She just felt emotionally empty. It might have been because she had always wanted to meet her parents at some point in her life, but now it was too late to meet them both.

Thalia sighed and stood up. "How about we go out and get something to eat. I'm starving."

"Me too," Roger said as he slid the same fur coat he was wearing last night over his shoulders.

A sudden clap of thunder came from the distances as drops of rain because to patter against the window in the back of the room.

"Or maybe we'll just stay in for a while until this clears up," Thalia suggested, looking up to the gray sky as the widow was showered by the rain.

~~~

Well, there's another chapter. Sorry if this one isn't that good, it's been a while since I've written anything so I need to get back into the swing of it. Despite the fact that it might be really bad, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Also thanks for 1k reads! I never thought I'd get this far.

If you have any questions or anything you'd like to say feel free to leave a comment.