Winter Queen (Roger Taylor fanfic)

3. ...they talked

"Should I be worried?" Josie frowned.

"It depends, what's she looking for tonight." Roger shrugged.

"Well, then maybe she found the right one."

"And what about you and your plans for tonight?"

"If she's not coming back, I need to back to my halls in time."

Roger looked at his watched and frowned a bit.

"When's that?"

"Not until 1 a.m. at Fridays."

"Until?"

Josie grabbed his hand and pulled it closer to take a look at his watch.

"Oh fuck, I gotta run." she blurted out. She thought she'll go home with Susan, but as it looked, Susan was leaving with another escort, so Josie had to make arrangements.

"Come on, you're not gonna make it, if you don't live across the street." Roger stopped her.

"Well, the only other option is to sleep on a street."

"Don't worry, we'll get you something." he promised. She looked at him with doubts. "I promise, I won't let you sleep on a street." He added.

"I'm not looking for the same stuff as Susan does." she warned, although she regretted it a little already.

"That's alright." he laughed. "So - languages. If I understand it correctly, you speak four languages. That's amazing, I barely know a word in French."

"Well, it's something about hearing, like musical hearing. Once you hear a C, you know it. Well, I don't, but I bet you do."

He nodded proudly.

"So you hear a a word and...?"

"Of course somebody must tell me the meaning. And it's now hundred percent working, sadly I'm no genius. But I like it. Languages it's like a ... game. I love sayings, idioms, word plays. I'm sorry, I always get passionate about stuff, that's incredibly boring fo normal people."

"Oh, be passionate as you want." Roger winked at her. "I think it's amazing, how you enjoy it, how talented you are."

"Well, it's not much compared to you." She returned the compliment. For a moment, he observed her face, she looked so young, event too young to have a bachelor's degree. He looked away at the river.

"Beautiful view. I'd love to have one like this sometime."

"Really?"

"Sure. Penthouse, with big terrace. And a view over a city. LA maybe."

"Oh wow, rockstar in LA, isn't a bit cliche?" She teased him.

"And what's a translator's dream home?"

"Couldn't be more different. A cottage near the woods, with perfect peace nad quiet, where foxes say goodnight."

"Foxes say goodnight?" He laughed to her word to word translation of czech saying.

"In the middle of nowhere." she explained.

"That's cute."

"I like foxes." she nodded and he laughed. Then she felt somebody's arms around her waist, it was Susan.

"Honey, can you sleep at the halls tonight? Or I can give you y keys. I'm leaving with Mike. To celebrate." She grinned. Then she realized Josie is not alone and look at Roger. "Well, I see you are taken care of. Bye bye." She quickly kissed Josie's cheek, grabbed her purse and got lost.

"Well, I would have taken the keys." Josie sighed.

"Don't worry." Roger tapped her hand, which laid on the balustrade. They argued about the pros and cons of living in the middle of Yorkshire and Los Angeles. Christine disturbed them half an hour later.

"Josie, Susan asked me to look after you, but we were just heading home." she started carefully.

"I'll take care of her." Roger promised and Brian chuckled.

"I think that's what she talked about."

"I'm fine, thank you, Chris. And thanks for keeping us here, when we crashed you party, even by mistake.

"Oh please. Listen, do you have an address book or a piece of papier? We could call each other sometimes, grab a coffee." Christine offered. Josie found an old receipt, lost in a side pocket of her purse. Christine tear it in half, wrote her own number on one part and then wrote down Josie's number.

"Be a good boy!" She told Roger, before she left.