To love a flower ~ Roger Taylor

Chapter 3

keep thinking, 'bout his angel eyes...

It had been around a week since the night at the bar, and Renée felt like she had found some great friends in Mary, Brian, John, Freddie and Roger.

Roger... The clear image of his ocean blue eyes and his sly smile didn't want to get out of her head. She really enjoyed talking to him, and it seemed like he did too.

It was already 3 AM when they all finally went home, and to say that Renée was exhausted was an understatement, but she would've stayed longer to continue talking to him. For a reason she couldn't explain, something just drew her to him.

The following week, Renée was busy at work, as Led Zeppelin had dropped another album, and of course, everyone wanted to buy it.

When the doorbell rang, she didn't even turn her head to look who it was, until she heard that voice.

“Hey, Renée!” Her heart skipped a beat as she turned around to see Roger standing in the doorway. “Roger, hi!” she exclaimed, a smile brightening up her face.

He approached her, and they hugged for a brief moment. “I wanted to buy the new Led Zeppelin album and I thought it would be nice to see you again, so I decided to come and buy it here,” Roger explained.

“That's a nice surprise. Although I don't know if we have any albums left. Let me go and check, I'll be right back.”
Roger nodded and slowly began to wander around the store, looking at the different shelves.

A minute later, Renée returned with no record. “I'm sorry, but we didn't think it'd sell this fast, we'll get a new delivery next week.”
“Oh, well that's okay. It'll even be a good excuse to come and see you again next week,” he said, giving her a wink.

Renée felt her face turning red, but she tried her best to hide it. Why was he so good at this?

“Oh and also,” Roger began, “I, I mean the boys and I wanted to invite you to this little party we have this Friday. It's at Brian's.”

Renée was more than happy because she'd been wanting to see her new friends again since the day after their gig.

“Yes, of course,” she answered. “Good then-” “Renée, tell your little friend to catch up another time, now's not the time for chit chat!”
Renée sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes Mrs Johnson,” she yelled back at her boss.

Roger laughed before saying goodbye and left the store. The moment he went out the door, her belly was filled with butterflies.

She couldn't believe he came just to see her. And, well, to buy the album, but that wasn't important right now.

                           <><><>

On Friday night, Renée got ready for the party at Brian’s place. Since it was supposed to be a casual get together, she picked out a pair of jeans and a beige top with lace details.

She brushed through her hair before going into the bathroom to do her makeup. Renée never really used much of it, since she liked to keep it natural, so she just put on some mascara and some soft pink lip-gloss.

She went back into her bedroom to turn off the record player and dropped onto her bed to pack her purse. Mary and Freddie would pick her up any minute because she had never been to Brian’s place before.

After putting her lip-gloss, some money and her keys into the little bag, she placed it next to her. She looked around the small room.

At the other end of the room stood her desk, a few books were carelessly strewn across it.

Her walls were covered with posters of her favourite artists, including Elton John, The Beatles, and some more so that there was only little space where she could see the original flowery wallpaper.

Her acoustic guitar leaned against the cupboard with records, and her record player stood on the highest shelf.

Regarding all this, her room kind of looked like it belonged to a teen, but she didn’t care. She was only 20 years old, and she considered that as pretty young.

Renée heard a car honk outside and got up, walked through her small apartment, and locked the door behind her. “Hey, Renée!” Mary called through her opened car window when she appeared outside.

“Hi!” Renée replied when she reached the car. She got in to be greeted by Freddie too. “Hello Renée, ready to go?” he asked, turning his head to the back to face her. She nodded, and Mary started the car.

After about 20 minutes, they arrived at Brian’s place. Together, they walked up the stairs of the building to his apartment and came to a stop in front of a blue door. It was opened by Brian, who was still talking to one of his friends.

“Hello, come in,” he smiled brightly when he turned towards his new guests. They walked through the bright hallway into a room which combined living room and kitchen. The furniture looked modern, yet not expensive.

Renée sat down next to Freddie on one of Brian’s couches. They chatted for a bit, and soon, John arrived. He sat across from Renée and smiled at her. “I’m glad you decided to come along,” he said.

Renée smiled back at him and replied, “I’m glad about that too.” They both laughed and began talking, as John told her that they recorded a few demo tracks to find a label for the band.

An hour later, only one person was missing, and that person was Roger. Renée couldn’t help but feel a slight disappointment-like feeling when she thought about that she might not see him tonight after all.

Brian checked his watch every five minutes, muttering something along the lines of: “Where is he? Bloody hell, late again.”

Finally, the doorbell rang and Renée almost jumped out of her seat. Brian opened the door and she could hear him scolding Roger for being late.

Renée peeked down the hall and saw Roger, with two crates of beer in his arms. She held back a laugh when she heard him saying: “Alright, calm down mother goose. Now get out of my way, these crates are fucking heavy.”

Roger brought the crates into the open kitchen and joined them. Renée smiled at him when he looked at her.

“Nice to see you, flower”, he said, causing her smile to grow wider. “Flower?” she asked, and Roger nodded. “I don’t know why, but you remind me of a flower, I don’t quite know what kind though,” he said, stepping closer to her.

John looked up at Roger from his seat across from Renée and smirked before getting up to sit somewhere else. Roger took John’s seat and rested his elbows on his knees while continuing to talk.

Again, the two were soon in a deep conversation, and Renée forgot about the other people in the room. Around twelve o’clock, Mary nudged her shoulder, telling her that she and Freddie wanted to go. Renée looked up at her and suddenly noticed how tired she was.

They said their goodbyes, and soon, Renée sat in Mary’s car again, gazing into the night through her window.
When she came home, she threw herself onto the bed, unable to get that stupid grin off of her face.

Maybe, she had a tiny little crush on Roger. Not tiny. She had a big crush on him. And that hadn’t happened since when? Tenth grade? She just felt a certain connection with him, but she couldn’t explain it. It was probably just his charm anyway.