Through Chrissie's eyes

Still Complicated Romances

After leaving work on a Thursday afternoon, I drove quietly but with some anxiety to Richard Branson's office. I parked, got off the car, and walked there, trying to look as relaxed and friendly as I could. Friendly? That I could be, Bri and my friends would say yes. Relaxed? I could never get relaxed outside of a family environment, even though I had already come here. The problem was what I had come to do there, which made me nervous. I just put on my best face of "Mrs. May, wife of Queen's guitarist", I went into the reception and found just who I wanted to see.

"Chrissie, hi!" Dominique greeted me, leting out the serious air of the job for a brief moment "is everything okay with you? You brought some complaint from Queen to Mr. Branson?"

"Oh no?" I was scared, already preparing myself for the worse, thinking that the boys had done something bad again.

"I'm kidding, I'm sorry to scare you" she clarified at my state and smiled.

"Well, in that case I'm doing well, we all are" I stolled a bit "I actually came to talk to you."

"With me? That's rare" She turned her attention to me curiously.

"I came to invite you to a meeting at my house, you know?" I relaxed as I explained "we have this tradition of watching movies whenever the boys have a break, and if Queen didn't traumatize you too much, it would be nice if you came."

"Wow, I ... I don't know what to say, thank you for the invitation" Dominique hesitated, but thanked me politely, sincere "there's a long time no one invites me to something like this ..."

'That ain't true, and what about Roger's invitation?' I thought, but then I understood what she meant, paying more attention, I realized she felt alone. And technically I was inviting her to a meeting between friends, while Roger asked her to a date, which was two different things.

"It will be a pleasure to go," she decided at last, "and don't worry, except the way Roger and I started with the wrong foot, the Queen boys are perfect gentlemen."

"With a few exceptions," I said playfully, "look, so I won't disturb you any more, give me your contact number and I'll call you to explain where I live."

"Oh, yes, all right." Dominique took a piece of paper from a notepad that was on the table and wrote it down, handing it to me right away "call me at night, that's when I'm home."

"I will call you" I smiled at her "and thank you for accepting the invitation, Domi."

"You're welcome" she returned. "Bye, Chrissie!"

"Goodbye!" I waved and went out, returning home.

That same night, before I called Dominique, Brian and I got the folks home. While Mary and Freddie were quiet, arguing about one detail or another of their wedding (most of the time it was her trying to stop his most extravagant ideas), John and Veronica were a little tense, which was very unusual for them. They were always quiet, but the same thing was worrying them, I was almost sure. I offered camomile tea to the bassist and his beloved in an attempt to calm them down, since I wasn't in the right to ask them directly if they were all right. It was obvious they were not well, but if they didn't want to tell, I would respect that. Veronica and John were grateful for the tea, and they were drinking, still worried.

I nudged Brian back into the living room and sat next to him, tried to make a gesture that didn't catch everyone's attention, to follow me. My husband came after me at once, understanding what I meant.

"What happened to John?" I asked Bri when we were in the kitchen "did he say anything at the rehearsal? Is it something with Veronica? Because neither is well. Sorry to be curious, I care about them ..."

"No, I know you're worried," Brian understood. "We are, too, he's like that, quieter than normal for a long time, but one time he'll tell us, just don't press."

"They know they can count on us, don't they?" yet I doubted if at any time they would tell what was bothering them.

"Of course I know." Brian hugged me to the side, laying my head on his chest "If it's between them, they'll come to understand eachother."

"All right" I sighed and agreed not to interfere, and in the meantime, I remembered another problem involving another (supposed) couple "I have to call Dominique."

"Richard Branson's assistant?" Brian was confused "Oh, yeah, you promised Rog that you were going to invite her to spend the night with us, right, but you think she and Roger ... I don't know, does he have any real chance?"

"I don't know, Bri" I shook my head "I think it's in her hands now."

I kissed Brian's cheek before pulling away from him and went to the telephone, which was in the hallway that separated the living room from the dining room.

"Hello? Dominique? It's Chrissie" I smiled as I heard her voice "so can I give you my address now?"

She confirmed and I dictated as she noted.

"Shall we meet next week then?" I waited for Domi's reply.

"Yes, yes, I will be there" she confirmed "Look, will Roger be there, too?"

"Well" her curiosity about the drummer has kept me on alert "why, if I may ask?"

"It's just ..." I felt Dominique's hesitation and embarrassment, she sighed in a nervous smile. "I don't know if I should be telling you, but it's just ... I think he's a nice guy, and what the girls talked about him, I mean the good things, I realized that he really is like that. And there's also ... the way he looked at me after I did those pranks, I thought he was going to want to kill me, but he laughed! No one has ever reacted like this to my pranks, and after that, the way he has given himself to apologize and start over, he cared about my feelings, and when I talk to him ... he looks at me like I'm the the only girl in the world. And look, I know it's true, I know how to differentiate womanizers from real love. Maybe he's a ladies man, but he's acting different with me ... Ah ... I don't know Chrissie ... maybe I like him too."

I heard all that confession with a racing heart and a smile at the whole statement, happy for Roger. Even with him himself, whose face appeared right in front of me, making faces, curious to know what exactly I was reacting to.

"So maybe you ..." I tried to hide it so he wouldn't guess what the conversation was about "can come here and talk to him."

"I'll try," Dominique said, "thank you for listening to me, Chrissie."

"Don't worry, I'm here for this" I smiled "bye!"

I turned to Roger after putting the phone back on the hook and placing my hands on my waist.

"You came here and listened to the talk because you heard me talking to Dominique, didn't you?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"It was her? I knew it!" his anger was quickly replaced by insecurity "did she speak of me? Did she ask about me? Is she coming here?!"

"Ouch!" I let go, with my hands up "Calm down, Taylor. Yes, it was her, she asked if you were going to be here the day she is coming, I said yes, and she said she'll come."

"Anything else?" he begged with puppy eyes.

"Roger, stay calm, it's going to be okay." I tapped him on the shoulder.

"How can you be so sure?" Roger still doubted it.

"I just know!" I smiled, and made my best smarty face.

For every heart Roger had broke, his heart, suffering for true love, could wait a little longer to be rewarded.