the drummer boy ❦ Roger Taylor

26

"Afternoon, girls." Freddie exclaimed, entering my house, followed by the others. They'd let themselves in, as I apparently left the door open after I had let Roger in. Luckily, I was no longer half naked.

"We bought snacks!" Brian said. He put two large shopping bags down onto the coffee table. They all bounded in and made themselves at home quickly, causing a half-sleeping Deborah to wake up.

"Where did you come from?" She yawned, aiming her question mainly to John, who was directly next to her. Then, she noticed the full bags of food, "You can stay." She added, helping herself to a bag of sweets.

Mary leant down and gave me a hug, kissing my cheek as she sat down next to me.

"You feeling ok?" She said quietly, so that only Roger, who was to my right, could hear. I nodded.

"Better now you're all here," I said, "I'm honestly fine."

She smiled sympathetically, not believing me from the look in her eyes. However, she didn't push, and mouthed 'we'll speak later'.

"Where's your mum, Julia?" Brian asked, poking around at old photos hanging up on my wall.

"She went out on a date last night, so I'm assuming that she stayed round his." The idea of my mum staying with another man made bile fill my throat, further enhanced due to the taste of wine from last night, even after I had brushed my teeth twice.

"Is this you?!" Brian spluttered. I saw the photo that he was talking about, and quickly shot up to take it from him.

"Nope." I said bluntly, hiding it behind my back.

"I wanna see!" said Roger, and he stood up to try and get it from me.

"You're not seeing it." I said bluntly, keeping it close to my chest. Now, John had joined in.

"What is it, Bri?" He asked playfully. Luckily, Freddie and Mary were too engrossed in their flirting session which was occurring on the love seat, and Deborah was focused on her sweets. All three men were in front of me, trying to get a peek of the photo.

"Pleaaaaaase." Roger asked, pouting. How hard it was to not give in to that face was unbelievable. Realising that they weren't going to give up, I sighed loudly and tossed the photo onto the floor.

"Fine." I said, putting my hands up in defeat and watching them all scramble to get it. They all looked over Rogers shoulder, not saying anything. Then, they burst out laughing.

"This is you?" John cackled, pointing to the child in the photo.

"Why're you naked?" Brian said.

"Don't be horrible!" I cried.

"Why is your face so red?" Roger added.

"Why're you holding a turtle?"

I stood up and snatched it from them,

"It's a tortoise, actually." I said, now in a strop.

"It was taken on her fifth birthday," Deborah said, "she had this weird pet tortoise called Stanley and took him literally everywhere. She also went through a stage where she didn't wear clothes, thus this photo was born." She concluded. They all shared looks of confusion,

"That doesn't explain the red face..." Brian countered.

"I was sunburnt." I mumbled whilst shrugging.

"What happened to Stanley?" Roger asked. He sat down next to me, now over the initial humour of the photo.

"He got eaten by a cat." I said quietly. They all stifled their laughter, other than Freddie, who had now joined the conversation.

"Eaten by a cat? Tortoises can get eaten by cats? My cat wouldn't dream of doing that." He piped up. I looked over to him. Mary couldn't keep his hands off of him, and vice versa. I could tell that they truly were obsessed with one another. Following this, I shuffled closer to Roger, leaning my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around my own. He leant down and kissed my forehead, instantly making me relax into him further.

"Can we put some music on?" John asked, rummaging through my record collection. I nodded, Brian then joining to pick out one. They ultimately decided on The Rolling Stones, and the familiar beat of Satisfaction burst from the speaker. We all hummed along to it, tapping our feet.

"Can we smoke in here?" Roger asked.

"Of course. Mum smokes like a trooper, she won't care." From my approval, everyone took out a cigarette in unison, Roger giving me one. All of a sudden, the room turned into a hot box. A nicotine hot box.

It was a perfect situation. My favourite people in one room, listening to music, eating snacks and relaxing. It was a perfect Sunday.

Then, the front door opened up and mum stumbled in, Richard and Tasha in tow.

"Girls! Richard and Tash-oh." Mum exclaimed, then stopping once she saw all seven of us slumped in the living room. I stood up, giving Tasha a huge hug.

"Julia! I've missed you!" She grinned, rubbing my arms, "You look like shit, you hanging?" She laughed. That's my favourite thing about her; she was completely honest.

"More than you know," I laughed, "Mum, what're you all doing here?" I asked uncomfortably. Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind seeing Tash, but why was her dad here?

"Richard is going to cook dinner for us! Isn't that kind?" She giggled, still clearly tipsy, even more evident from her strap hanging halfway down her arm and eyeliner rolling down her cheeks, along with her unbrushed hair and that she was holding her shoes. Tasha, Debs and I raised our eyebrows, whilst Richard stood there looking at all of the unfamiliar faces awkwardly. "Hi Roger!" She exclaimed loudly, giving him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"Lovely to see you again." Roger replied pleasantly.

"Who's this?" Mum asked kindly, motioning at the band and Mary. They stood up quickly, introducing themselves.

"It's lovely to meet you." Brian smiled, shaking her hand politely. He then turned to me, "We will leave you to eat your dinner, come on lads."

Mum stood in front of him, keeping him from leaving.

"Don't be silly! You can all stay! Can't they, Dicky?" Mum said to Richard, who hesitantly nodded. He looked pretty intimidated. Deborah mouthed the word 'Dicky' to me whilst keeping in her laughter. The two of them exited the room, whilst Tasha perched herself on the pouffe.

"Oh, this is Tasha everyone. Tasha, this is Mary, Freddie, you know Deborah, Brian, Roger and John." I said, pointing to each of them as I said their names. They all said a simple hello, but John took a particularly long time shaking her hand, giving her a flirtatious wink as they pulled away. Roger and I noticed this, and we gave each other shocked looks. Tasha and John?! That would be an unexpected pair.

We decided that the rest of the afternoon we would spend doing what we had been doing before Mum got home, whilst they prepared dinner.

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cute