Winter Queen (Roger Taylor fanfic)

9. ...she fell asleep

After they finished their food, they moved to the living room. Josie turned on the gramophone and played one of Led Zeppelin' s album. She made them tea, since they drank all of the wine. Roger sat on the couch, she sat next to him, with her feet up.

"It was a really nice dinner, Jo." Roger appreciated.

"You're the only one to call me that.  And you sister, actually"

"Am I? Clare got it from me. You know, like Jo March."

"You know who Jo March is?"

"Yeah, why, you think I'm illiterate?" Roger laughed.

"No, I just never met a man... That's amazing."

"Well, I am one of a kind."

They smiled at each other, she felt so warm with him around.

"I actually noticed last time, you have a pretty not-so-little collection of books." She remembered, how sorry she was, that she couldn't take a closer look at them, she was really curious about Roger's reading taste.

"I never said I don't read."

"And what do you read?"

She couldn't believe, there's actually somebody to talk about books like that. Roger had tons of recommendations for her, so did she, they talked about what's important in the plot, if they prefer series or short stories, they talked about the books they both read, the writing style of todays authors.

Later he sat, waving with his hand in the air, hold almost cold tea in the other. She laid on he couch, head rested on his thigh and wached him. He looked a bit like he greek god Apollo, at least she imagined him like that. She carefully sounded him about the religion and once they both knew they are both atheists, they begun to talk through the dogmas, but also stories of many religions.

"You just fall asleep during anything." Roger whispered, when he saw she fell asleep. He put away the cup and gently touched her hair, careful not to wake her up. He just sat there, with tips of his fingers resting in her hair, he waited until she was deeper asleep. Then he gently hold her head in his hands, got up and put a cushion under her haid. He looked around and found a woollen shawl on the backrest of armchair, he covered her with it. He considered the option of him sleeping on the floor or getting her to bed, but she look so calm and content, he decided to let her sleep. He only found a paper, wrote her a short message, before he left home. It was barely an hour walk to his house. He saw some taxis, but prefered to walk anyway, he needed to clear his head, before going to bed.

She woke up at dawn, it took her a few seconds to realize, where she is. She sat up and noticed the note on the coffee table.

Thank you for the dinner, see you tonight. R.

The tonight explained he left after midnight. She folded he note carefully, hid it in her drawer and went to her bedroom, only to fall asleep once again.