Growing Old With You (Part of Those Three Little Words threequel)

Part 20

6th February 2001
Roger's POV
"Hello, boys. Can you talk?" Jim asked and both of us hummed, leaning over the phone, "alright, we've had an offer from some people to get you into a sort of party"

"Party? It's not some snotty little rich kid, is it? Because you know we don't do that, Jim" I asked and Brian winced, waiting for the reply.

"No, actually, it's the Queen's jubilee party. They're putting together a huge show for her fifty years and they wanted you to be involved" he explained and the whole room went black.

How did I get on the floor?

"Oh fuck, my head" I groaned and saw Brian, Emily and Rufus above me, "stay there, love, you hit your head. I'll get you an ice pack" he said softly then left me with Rufus and Emily staring down at me, "Pap? Are you alright?" Emily asked and I tried to sit up but my head throbbed, "yeah, I'm... I don't know what happened"

"Dad said something about the Queen" Ru said and I felt my head swim again, "oh my god... oh my GOD!" I sat up and went straight back down again as Brian rushed into the room with an ice pack. "Stay still, Rog" he gently lifted my head and pressed the ice pack to the back of it, "it's so cold" I winced and he slowly sat me up, "I know, it'll help though"

The kids had gone by then so Brian was able to get me onto the stairs to sit down, "You feeling okay now?" He asked and I nodded, holding the ice for myself, "yeah.. still a bit sore" I looked up at him and he sighed, "silly bugger. I've got to phone Jim back now" he chuckled and I smiled as he got the phone and sat next to me, putting an arm around my waist.

"You'll be okay, yeah?" He looked over at me and I nodded as he dialled the number and put it on speaker, letting it ring for a while. "Hello? Is it Brian?" Jim asked and Brian hummed.

"Yeah, it's us. We've got the damsel off the floor" he smiled and we heard a laugh through the phone.

"Good... so, what're we thinking?"

"I'm thinking my bloody head hurts!" I joked and all three of us laughed, "nah, I think it's a yes... when is it, actually?"

"Um, it'll be about this time next year but they want a definite guest list by a few months' time" Jim explained and both of us nodded.

"Okay, we'll do it! If anything changes, give us a ring" Brian said and a little hum came across.

"Course I will, I'll do your mobile phone just in case, alright?"

"Brilliant. Talk to you soon, Jim" Brian waited until he said goodbye to put the phone down then turned to me and gently took the ice pack off my head, "is it better now?" He asked and I nodded, "yeah, it's pretty numb now" I giggled and he got up, patting my knee, "good"

I got up slowly after him and went down into the basement where I found Rufus scrounging through my drawers, "hey! What you doing?" I shouted and he looked back at me with wide eyes, "looking for sticks... I-I don't know where they are, I thought they'd be..." he noticed where I was looking and looked in the cupboard above his head and sighed when he saw the packs of sticks.

"Cheers, Pap. Did you want to, um... can you see how I'm doing?" He asked quietly and I nodded, "yeah! Course I can, don't get all embarrassed" I patted his back and he went over to the kit, going a little red. I sat down on the office chair and watched as he sat down and ruffled his hair, "sorry if I'm no good, Pap" he said quietly and I frowned as he played with his hands.

"That doesn't matter. I don't care if you're god-awful, you're making an effort and you'll get better" I told him and he nodded with a small smile on his face, "I hope I'm not god-awful... that would be embarrassing" he chuckled a little then got himself comfortable, trying to delay it a little. "Ru, just do it. I'm not going to laugh" I assured him and he sighed, "'kay"

He started with a simple rhythm then tried at some tricks and I was seriously impressed, in the time that he had been practicing he had made a huge improvement. I didn't expect him to be nearly as good as he was so when he finished, I was sat there in a stunned silence and he must have taken that in the wrong way. "That was bad, I'm sorry, I-" I cut him off with a shake of the head, "no. You're nowhere near bad, Ru, you've got the knack for it"

"Don't lie to me to make me feel better" he frowned and I stood up, going over to him and kneeling down next to him, "I'm not lying. That what you just did there was really great, I'm gonna be honest I wasn't expecting much but that blew me away" I rubbed his shoulder and he smiled, rubbing his hands nervously. "Thanks... I still need more practice but, um, I'm glad I'm doing good" he put his hand on mine as I got up and headed out of the basement, "I'll be back in a second, stay there"

I went upstairs and found Brian who was dancing with Archie in the kitchen, "hello" I grinned and he almost threw the cat down when he jumped, "god, don't do that, Rog! What's wrong?" he asked and I took Archie from him, "go downstairs"

He looked me up and down like I was planning to prank him then went down and I followed after him, cradling Archie like a baby. Lola crawled over when she spotted me and held onto my trousers, using them to stand up, "pa...papapa" she patted my leg until I knelt down, "what is it, honey?" I rubbed her head and she toppled back onto her bum, pointing at Archie. "You want to have a cuddle?" I asked and she kept pointing so I put Archie down on the floor and he went straight to her, nuzzling his head into her.

"I went to leave them to see Ru but she started whining and followed me to the top of the stairs so I left the door open and sat on the top step, "Ru, show Dad what you just did!" I shouted down into the basement then helped Lola to stand up and gave her a cuddle. I could hear them talking to each other and eventually Ru started playing again, "is your brother good at drums?" I looked down at Lola and she started playing with my lips, "oh... obviously not" I laughed and she laughed with me, holding onto my lip.

She babbled to me about something and I made it seem like I understood what she was saying, nodding and throwing in quite a few phrases like, "did they?" and, "that's great, love"

Wow, I've just realised I talk to Brian like that... oh well.

Brian came back up after Ru was finished and scooped Lola up and started rubbing noses with her, taking her into the living room. "What did you think of him?" I asked and he turned around, looking at me, "I think he's a lot like another person I know... in more ways than one, too" he smiled then turned and carried on his path, talking to Lola in a high-pitched baby voice.

I went down and Rufus was spinning around in the office chair, arms up in the air and legs sprawled out. "Having fun?" I chuckled and he groaned, stretching his body before he got up, "yeah... hey Pap, um, could you teach me more? I... I want to get better at this, I'm really enjoying it" he admitted and I nodded, "yeah! maybe I can get some practice in, too, I'm a bit rusty"

We spent most of the rest of the day in the basement going back and forth, me teaching him different techniques and him trying to work out how to twirl a stick properly. The look on his face when he finally got it was an absolute picture and that whole afternoon was one that I promised myself to never forget.

There are only a few days that I make an effort to remember and look back on and that is one of them.