Winter Queen (Roger Taylor fanfic)

21. ...it was in NYC

Josie got company flat in New York, it was tiny, but for the first time, she had a flat for her own, bathroom she didn't share. Once she settled in, she started to discover the city.

She loved the Central Park most of all, it reminded her parks of London. She was homesick, she missed not only her friends but also the city. No matter the cold, she took a walk there at least every other day, drinking coffee and admiring the nature in the middle of this huge lively city.

During one of these walks, she saw a poster about Queen's concert at the beginning of February at Madison Square Garden. She turned on her heel, went there and bought a ticket immediately. She went home and dialed Jim Beach's number, not considering the time shift.

"Beach?" The voice was woman's, very sleepy.

"Mrs Beach, good morning or evening, I'm so sorry, I'm calling from US and forgot about the time shift."

"Is Jim okay?"

"Oh, of course, no worries. I just need to know, where are they now."

"Are you a journalist?"

Josie realized she hadn't introduced herself yet.

"Yeah, you're the girl Roger ran away with during the final tour preparations." Mrs. Beach remembered, luckily she didn't sound outraged about their escape. She told Josie every number she could catch Queen at during present days.

Once she finally reached them, she asked for Brian. She wasn't brave enough to speak to Roger.

"Josie, finally, you called!" Brian sounded a bit reproachfully.

"I just bought your gig ticket!" she exclaimed.

"What? Why did you that? You could've called and go free." Brian didn't understand and spoiled her joy a bit, the ticket wasn't cheap.

"Oh."

"So, we'll see you in New York?"

"You bet you will! But don't tell Roger, I want it to be a surprise."

When the day finally came, she was energetic. She almost danced into her boss's office, when she brought him her translations, she was singing most of the time.

She was just about to leave, when Scott entered their open space office and headed to her table. He was tall, dark-haired, with unusually dark eyes. And he never missed the opportunity to flirt with Josie.

"What are your plans for tonight?" he asked. "You look happy."

"I'm going to a concert. To see my friends after a long time."

"What kind of concert?"

"Queen." Just to say their name made her warm inside.

"Of course." Scott laughed. "So you and your friends are fans?"

"Jus me." she smiled a bit.

"That's what I call friendship, if they still go with you."

"They play there."

It took a while, before Scott realized what she meant.

"And here I was, thinking you are a decent girl. Well, I hade a nice Manhattan restaurant on mind, but I understand, old friends come first. Maybe next time."

She forgot about his offer almost immediately and as soon as she could, she left the office. She counted minutes, until the show start. She knew the way to the Madison Square Garden well, it was just a few blocks away from her work.

It was a bit strange, to be alone in the middle of crowd. Brian offered her, to go to the backstage right away, but she declined that, she wanted to enjoy the show properly. And she believed she wouldn't be able to let Roger go, if she'd seen him before the show.

She heard the groups of girls around her, proclaiming their love to all of the band members, eager to finally see their idols. She had understanding for them, she felt the same way. With every flash of lights, she hoped the concert starts. Then finally it went dark, people started to scream louder, the light on the stage began to pulse and the huge cover began to rise from the stage. She stood on her toes, but as soon as she saw a movement there, the lights went off. From the darks sounded first tones of Tie Your Mother Down. There was a bang on the drums and he lights were back on and she saw Deaky, Brian and Freddie, only Roger wasn't visible in the cloud of smoke. She had to laugh. Then finally she saw the drums, but heard first his vocals before he finally appeared.

At first she just stared at them, unable to move, watched how happy they are. She wanted to push through the crowd, climb over the fence and hug every one of them. She had goose bumps, singing and dancing, incredibly happy to be near them again.

When the show ended, it was hard to get through all the people to the backstage entrance, the crowd kept pulling her to the exit, and she missed the right door at first. Finally she showed her ID to the bodyguard, he checked the guestlist and nodded.

She was in the backstage, alone, and had no idea where to go.