ELEVEN: THINK I'LL STAY AROUND (AROUND, AROUND, AROUND)
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Roger 1974
"This girl really must be an epic shag, Rog. You're hardly home with us anymore." Freddie said, sitting down in the living room of our house. He was right. I was barely home anymore. I was always with Maeve in her hotel room. Almost every day since she'd returned. "I'm glad you got back out there after Maeve left without a trace." It had been two weeks since Maeve came back during our first Top of the Pops performance. Everything was going so well between us. I loved her. Deeply. "Good for you." Freddie nodded, a smirk in his expression. It was great to be with Maeve. And to be fair, she was an epic shag.
"I'm almost starting to worry about you, Roger. You must really be into this woman. You go to rehearsals with us and that's it. Whatever extra fine is with her." Brian said lightly, smiling up from his paper.
"Shouldn't we be meeting her soon?" John said, sitting on the floor, flipping through some magazine. He lifted up one and showed us our picture on the inside, smiling widely. "She must know about all this. Roger Taylor, heartthrob drummer of Queen." Freddie gasped dramatically, fanning himself with his hand. Didn't surprise me in the slightest. "What's her name?" I didn't say anything. "Roger..."
"Maeve." I said before my brain could even catch up with my mouth. Well done, Rog.
Freddie sat up in his chair, looking at me curiously. "You're seeing a different Maeve? What are the chances of that?"
"Fred, no." Brian said, folding his paper and placing it on the coffee table. "Just no." He looked at me curiously. "When did Maeve come back?" John and Freddie looked at me with very confused expressions.
"Top of the Pops."
"Are you serious?" Brian asked, leaning forward to look at me. "How could you not tell us? She's our family, Roger. We were worried!"
"I know!" I shot back at Brian. "I know." I put my head in my hands, exhaling sharply in frustration. They deserved to know, didn't they? It wasn't my information to share though. Maeve and I were finally all right. Why would I bother risking that? "I know." It was all I could say.
"Rog, how could you not tell us?" Freddie added. That was his best friend, after all. I felt guilty. These were practically my brothers.
"It wasn't my news to tell, mates." I said. This conversation was already exhausting to me.
"When do we get to see her again?" John asked softly. Almost as if it was on cue, the front door swung open and I held my breath. I forgot to tell Maeve that we couldn't meet here today.
"Maeve." Freddie said, flying up from his seat. He made his way over to her quickly, wrapping her up in a hug. She held him back awkwardly. "God woman! I was beyond nervous. Don't do that again!"
"Freddie..." She looked at me, her gaze narrowed. That's never a good look from a woman. Believe it or not, I don't know too much about women despite being with so many. But that look, I do know. She wrapped her arms around him, her eyes closing as she exhaled.
"Why'd you leave us?" John asked, stepping up from his seat and hugging her tightly. I watched as her whole body unwound. Brian stood up too, hugging her after John was done. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "Why'd you push us away?"
Maeve sat herself on the arm of John's arm chair, her usual spot. "I'm not the one who pushed people away." I saw Brian twitch at the sound of her words. "How could you not tell me? About John Reid? About firing me? I thought we were family..."
The room was silent. I knew the guilt was eating at them, just as it was me. It was quiet for a couple moments still before Brian broke the silence. "Maeve, it was nothing personal. We'd never purposely harm you. It was for the betterment of the band."
Maeve scoffed a bit. "How do you expect me to not take that personally? I've been alongside you and Roger for years, Brian. You could have at least spoken to me. I deserved at least that."
"You're right." John said quickly. "We feel awful, Maeve. You're just as much a part of the band as the four of us. You were there long before Fred and I." We all nodded in unison.
"Forgive us, dear." Freddie said, smiling warmly at Maeve.
She nodded slowly. "Okay, fine. I'll come back." She cracked a smile on her lips, which I recently became very attentive to. Freddie jumped so high I thought he'd flown through the ceiling, Deaky let out a cheerful laugh and Brian clapped.
Before I knew it, Deaky pulled me into the group embrace that everyone had already been in. Brian poked his head out to meet my face. "Do not think we're done talking about you and Maeve. Because we have not even broke the service with questions." He smiled before hiding again behind his big head of curls. Well then.
