To love a flower ~ Roger Taylor

Chapter 10

I guess that's why they call it the blues...

Renée blinked a few times to assure herself that it was actually Roger standing in front of her.

She felt overwhelmed with a thousand thoughts drifting her mind, just like on the phone the day before.

Maybe she could hide behind the counter, but he already saw her. And also, she'd feel just a little pathetic doing that.

What was she going to do now? Why couldn't he just leave her alone and let her deal with this on her own?

Roger approached her, walking a little faster than usual. Concern was written over his face, and Renée felt her heart drop to her feet.

Seeing him, looking into his face reawakened her feelings about the whole situation.

Roger came to a stop in front of the counter, a slight smile forming at the corners of his mouth. "Hi!" he said.

Renée gulped before forcing herself to speak. "Hello Roger, can I help you?" she asked, trying to avoid his gaze. Roger furrowed his brows. "Are you alright? I got worried when you hung up on me yesterday."

Renée looked up, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach, but she decided to go on. After all, this was what he wanted, right? Move on like nothing had happened after he got what he wanted.

"Oh no, I'm alright. Do you want to buy anything or...?" Roger's frown became bigger as he put both of his arms on the counter and leaned a little bit closer to Renée.

"No, I came to see you. Are you sure you're alright? You're acting kind of weird," Roger said, looking into her eyes.

Renée felt herself become more nervous and broke off the eye contact while she pretended to look through a stack of papers in one of the shelves next to her. "I don't know what you're talking about, what makes you think I'm acting weird?"

She tried to make it sound as carelessly as possible, but she couldn't help but peer over at him to look at his reaction.

Roger shrugged. "I don't know, you're acting so distant all of a sudden as if you and I never had anything to do with each other. Did I miss something?" he said, standing up straight again.

"Why would you still want to have anything to do with me?" she asked, noticing him getting just a little bit irritated by her question.

"What? What the hell are you talking about? Two days ago we spent the night together, and now you're acting as if I'm a complete stranger to you!"

Renée sighed slightly as the stinging feeling in her chest came back.
'You messed this one up yourself, Roger,' she thought to herself.

Already feeling the tears in her eyes, she looked up at him and spoke in a quiet voice: "Wouldn't you rather have it this way, Roger? Isn't this how you always do it?"

"Do what?" Roger yelled. A few people in the shop looked over to them, clearly confused about what was going on.

This was enough. He lied to her, but now he also acted all clueless about it. Did he really think she was that dumb?

"Well I don't know, you could ask the mob of thirsty women constantly wavering around you, maybe they know," she snapped, getting up from her chair. Roger scoffed.

"Renée, you know I'm not like that anymore. I changed, okay?" Renée clenched her jaw, stepping out of the counter area to face him. "You changed? Wow, really, the best joke I've heard today," she said, sarcastically clapping her hands.

She could see that it took Roger a lot to stay calm as he flared his nostrils and tried to avoid looking at her. "What the fuck is wrong with you? I did nothing, and all of a sudden you do-"
he threw his hands up in the air in a frustrated manner- "this."

Renée narrowed her eyes as she felt the anger taking control over her, defeating all the hurt and disappointment.

"Nothing? You did nothing?" she shouted. An older couple left the store, shaking their heads.

"Then who the hell is Linda? And why have you been meeting up with her behind my back? Really Roger, great change, you went from player to a real dick!"

She expected him to yell back at her, but instead, he went quiet for a second.

"How do you know about Linda?" he asked, the name rolling off his tongue with a distinct sound of disgust. Renée breathed out, trying to calm down.

"Is that really of importance? Fact is, I know about her, and that you two have something going on-" "Hold on," Roger interrupted, pointing a finger at her.

"I don't have anything going on with her. Yes, she's my ex, but I haven't seen her in months. It's the truth."

Renée sighed and said nothing. This fight was exhausting her, and she just wanted to go home to continue getting over whatever this stupid thing was.

Also, the fact that Roger and her were fighting in public made her feel even more uncomfortable, as she could practically feel the looks directed at the both of them.

"I'm sorry Roger but I can't believe you after the things I've heard." She turned away from him to pack her bag, but mainly to hide the tears that were coming from her eyes.

She hoped that he would just let her leave now, but of course, that was not going to be the case.

"Is this still about what happened with Joanne? You really trust her pathetic words more than mine after everything she's done to you?
You know, sometimes it's better to just forget things from the past Renée," he said, his voice slowly going back to normal.

Renée took her bag, checked the clock one last time to make sure that her shift was over, and turned around to Roger. His beautiful blue eyes seemed to be paler than usual.

"Right," she began with a slightly shaky voice. "And I'll start with forgetting you."

She hastily made her way out of the shop, not turning around once while quiet sobs escaped her mouth.