Roger didn’t pay any attention to the fact that he had nearly knocked Freddie out, and potentially injured him seriously. He immediately jumped down from the elevated platform and went for Brian. “Oh my…god!” John said out loud, hurriedly slipping his bass off and laying it aside. “No! No! No! No! No!” he part mumbled, part shouted as he rushed over to prevent Roger from knocking Brian a good one. “NO! Stop….STOP IT!” John’s voice became more impassioned as he threw himself at Roger. “Stop! Get a hold a’ ya’self! C’mon….Rog!” John struggled to restrain him, pinning Roger’s back against him and pulling him backward. “C’mon! Calm down! Calm down, Rog!” John panted rather nervously, as he pulled Roger back away from Brian far enough that he couldn’t reach him nor fight free of John’s grasp. “C’mon man, c’mon…” he panted at Roger. “It’s okay, c’mon….simmer down…simmer down.” John coached him and rubbed on Roger to try and diffused him.
“Jesus Christ! You nearly glocked him, Roger!” Brian said, pointing to Freddie. “What is wrong with you!? Brian was rather mortified at this rage.
“Don’t you accuse me a’ shit, Brian! Don’t you fuckin’ accuse me of nothing!” Roger yelled at him as John continued to use all his strength to restrain him. Freddie was still regaining his composure from his near concussive brush.
“Oh, I can’t accuse you of not bein’ able to keep your dick zipped up but you can accuse me of anything you damn well please!? Is that the way it works? Roger’s way or no way? It’s always been like that! It has always been like that! I have bit my tongue so many times to protect your sorry arse! You come out here to wherever the hell we are at the time and you act like there are no rules for you!” Brian yelled at him.
“SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP! At least I admit when I fuck up! I don’t go around regretting the choices I’ve made!” Roger hissed back at him, still slightly resisting against John.
“You don’t regret your choices!? You don’t regret your fuckin’ choices!? Do I need to remind you of the time your filthy dick infected your wife!? You don’t regret that!?” Brian shoved a finger at him.
“Do I need to remind you of the time you FUCKIN’ TRIED TO SLEEP WITH MY WIFE!? You act like you’ve never regretted that!” Roger yelled back to him. “You leave Lydia out of this! Do you hear me you useless fuck! You leave her out of it! This is about YOU and…” Brian cut Roger off.
“All of a sudden you leave Lydia out of it!? Huh!? All of a sudden because you’re fuckin’ guilty as a rat caught in a trap you wanna’ leave Lydia out of it!?” Brian challenged him. “You do this all the time! You do what you want and then you hope and pray she won’t kick your sorry arse to the curb!”
‘That’s not true at all! That’s not true, Brian! Lydia knows! I don’t keep shit from her unlike YOU! You’re the one who has a fuckin’ guilty conscience and you’re takin’ it out on me!” Roger yelled at him, getting worked up all over again and trying to wiggle free of John.
“If she knows, if she really knows just how much of a fuck up you are then why in god’s name is she still with you!?” Brian challenged him.
“Do you know why you fuckin’ say that!? My relationship with my wife is none of your business! The reason you even ask that is because you’re so fuckin’ scared your mousey little wife is gonna’ be done with you if she ever finds out what you did! What if I pick up the phone, Brian!? What if I pick up the fuckin’ phone and tell Lydia to air your dirty laundry!? Huh!?” Roger had nearly overthrown John. Brian was losing his composure.
“You go to hell! You hear me!? What I did or didn’t do is completely different from…” Roger stopped him and Freddie finally became a little nervous that he was going to have to go after Brian.
“You don’t even know her real fuckin’ name! And Chrissie would never be able to handle the truth!” Roger accused him.
“Don’t you talk to me about the truth! You’re the one who got a phone call at a time that wasn’t the most convenient for you! You’re the one that had to face your wife before you were ready because she caught you! She called and…”
“You are so fuckin’ wrong! The biggest problem in your story, Brian is that a whore picked up your phone and I picked up my own!” He had now broken free of John, only for John to rush after Roger once again.
“Yeah, you picked up your own phone before a whore could! And don’t you call her a whore!” Brian said angrily.
“Why not!? You don’t even know her name, Brian! She’s as good as a whore could be to you, you slime!” John had Roger pinned again, firmer this time.
“Would you two shut the fuck up!? We have a goddamn REHEARSAL! And you two can’t stop screaming at each other for….for who fucked what whore!? It doesn’t fucking matter! It happened! Nothing is different in our lives! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing…Noth….”Freddie stomped and threw a fit over Roger and Brian’s rage toward each other but his rant was quickly interrupted. “Lydia’s pregnant!” Roger finally shouted at whomever would listen. His body went limp in John’s grasp and Brian’s expression changed entirely. The entire venue went suddenly, deafeningly silent. “She’s pregnant…” Roger repeated as his breath hitched a bit and the tears streaked his cheeks.
“Rog…” John’s voice was soft, almost comforting in his tone. Roger shook his head.
“There…now you know….” He swallowed hard. “Now you know…why what happened in New Orleans means so…fuckin’…much….” He said.
There were so many questions and hardly any answers at this point.
(Two short chapters on purpose everyone ;)
