To love a flower ~ Roger Taylor

Chapter 8

You had to kill the conversation...

“Mary? Are you at home right now?” Renée sniffled. “Yeah, why, did something happen?” Mary responded. “Kind of.”

Renée was laying curled up into a ball on her couch, clutching the phone to her ear.

She barely just came home, but this place felt weird now too. It was so empty, there was no one there. She felt alone and needed someone to talk to.

“Come over, we’ll talk about it, okay?” Mary said with a soothing voice. “Yeah. See you in a bit,” Renée answered and hung up.

With a sigh, she got up and walked into the bathroom to wash her face and remove the smudged mascara she still had on from last night.

Before she went out the door again, she grabbed herself a painkiller and took it together with a glass of water. Hopefully, this was going to help.

She didn’t know if it was safe to drive a car in her state, so she took the bus, just like she had done on her way home from Roger’s place.

When she arrived at Mary and Freddie’s apartment, Freddie opened the door, the usual big smile on his lips. Renée scrunched up her face.

“Oh god, why are you so happy?” she said, and his smile turned into a concerned expression. “Darling, why are you so sad?”

Renée looked down. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell Freddie, but she needed time to find the right words to explain her situation.

That’s when Mary shoved Freddie to the side and gave her a sympathetic smile. “Come in, you look like you could use a hug right now.

Mary took Renée by the hand and led her to the living room, where they sat down on the couch together.

She was about to cry again but forced herself to get it together.
“Hey, it’s okay, calm down,” Mary said, “Do you want something to drink?” Renée nodded. “Could you get me a glass of water please?” she asked, and Mary stood up to get her one.
 
 Freddie leaned in the door frame, still confused. Renée felt quite awkward and stared at her feet, trying to avoid his look.

When Mary came back and handed her the glass of water, she took a sip before placing it on the coffee table. She noticed that both of them were looking at her, probably waiting for her to say something.

Renée cleared her throat and began. “Uhm well, so Roger-” but before she could continue, Freddie interrupted her. “Listen, if it’s Roger, I can go and beat him up for you,” he said, and apparently he meant that in all seriousness.

Renée shook her head. “Thank you, Freddie, but I’d like to handle this my way.” He nodded, mumbling “Yes, of course.”

Although the silence felt pleasant for her head, she desperately wanted to escape the awkward situation.

Mary seemed to notice Renée’s discomfort and looked at Freddie. “Didn’t you want to go somewhere, honey?” Freddie frowned, but then quickly replied:
“Oh yes, I wanted to go somewhere,” before closing the door and walking away.
 
“What did he do?” Mary asked as soon as the sound of Freddie’s steps was gone.

Renée didn’t know where to begin, so she decided to tell her everything from the very beginning.
About her backstory with Joanne, how they bumped into each other at the bar, and how she found Roger outside yesterday.

It felt good to vent about everything to someone, and she felt like Mary understood her.

“Okay, go on,” she encouraged her, gently rubbing her back. “Long story short, we talked about everything and then…we kissed. I don’t really know how it happened, but I woke up in his bed this morning.”

Mary raised her eyebrows, not being able to hide a smirk. Renée sighed. “I wish I’d be as excited as you, but…”

And before she knew what was happening, the tears came back. “I went to search the bathroom, and ended up in his living room, picking up that damn loud phone, and this woman- what was her name again? Lisa? No, Linda, told Roger to meet her at ‘their spot’ tonight. What’s that even supposed to mean?”

Renée breathed in, as she was gushing without taking her time to breathe properly. “And then he woke up and had the audacity to ask me where I was going.” She hadn’t noticed that she raised her voice until she was done with talking.

Mary and Renée looked at each other in silence for a few seconds. She was still trying to hold back her tears when she realized that it didn’t make sense to keep everything bottled up. Mary pulled her into a hug as she began to sob.

Renée didn’t know how long they sat there like that, but she noticed herself getting sleepier by the second, and laid down on the couch at some point. Her headache slowly disappeared, and she fell into a deep sleep.