keep it professional - r. taylor

15

~April 1976~

My alarm blared in my ears, ringing over and over. It was too far away from my comfortable spot to snooze it, so I was forced to get up to turn it off. I had a minor headache, but it wasn't anything some medicine couldn't fix. Opening my curtains, I took one last view of the Australian skyline.

Finishing out the tour last night, it was time to finally head home. Like always, I was sad to end the tour, but excited to not have my body constantly adapting to the new time zone I was stuck in. Thankfully, I had thought ahead and packed up most of my belongings last night. Putting some comfy clothes on, I gathered my things and made my way out of my hotel room. I went down to the lobby to call us a taxi to the airport.

I noticed after my phone call that I didn't see anyone else in the lobby, which worried me. I would've given them the benefit of the doubt and waited down there for them, but with this group, you never know.

Stepping out of the lift, I saw Paul, Freddie, John, and Brian lugging their suitcases behind them. "Thank god. I thought all of you were still asleep."

"Well, technically not all of us. Roger's still kind of knocked out," John said.

"Seriously? Why didn't you wake him up? Aren't you two sharing a room?" I motioned over to Brian, who had a nonchalant look on his face.

"He ruined my night of sleep last night, so I decided to ruin his morning. I knew he was going to sleep in, which meant that he would have to face your wrath of anger."

"Wrath of anger? What the hell does that mean?" But all of them continued down the hallway before they could answer my question. I couldn't dwell on that because we needed to get moving. Brian had propped their hotel room open, so I was able to make my way inside.

The room was practically pitch black. The curtains were still drawn, with a sliver of light peeking through. It was quite difficult managing my way through the room without tripping over a pile of clothes that laid on the floor. I could make out one figure on Roger's bed, sprawled out, snoring loudly. I had to cover my mouth with my hand to quiet my laughter.

First, I yanked the sheets off of his back. Next was the opening of the curtains. When I turned back to his bed, I noticed that he wasn't the only one inside of it. A brunette girl turned towards me, trying to shield her eyes. "What the hell lady?" she yelled at me. "I was trying to sleep!"

"Well, I'm sorry to inform you that your... lover boy has to get going to catch a plane back home. Alright, let's get you up. Roger, you need to get up now so that you can pack your things so we can leave."

I started kicking his clothes together so that they could be in one big pile. Hopefully that would be easier for him to clean up. The woman managed to get her clothes back on quickly, not happily since I cut her rendezvous with Roger short. Before she left, she stopped herself to say, "Goodbye Roger."

"Goodbye... Abigail...?"

"It's Adelaide," she said with a stern tone in her voice.

"That's right." Adelaide stormed out, kicking some of Roger's jeans in the process.

"She was... lovely."

"I had to go out of Australia with a bang."

"Usually that means going out and partying. Not actually banging someone. Now let's get moving. The taxis are on their way."

Under his breath, I could hear Roger mumble, "Dear god, please don't unleash the wrath of anger."

I stopped before leaving the hotel room, and turned to face Roger again. "If you seriously think that what I've done before constitutes a wrath of anger, then you seriously have a storm coming if you don't get down to the lobby in five minutes." He then jolted out of his bed, grabbing the nearest shirt and pair of pants on the ground. Even if I had no idea what they were talking about, I guess I now had a new device to get my way.

---

The day after we got home was difficult. My internal clock was all messed up, making me wake up even before the sun came up, and making me fall asleep as soon as it went down. Luckily, Reid understood Paul and my difficult adjustment, so he gave us a little bit of an easier week. We spent most of the time looking over documents and signing forms, trying to limit any kind of other human contact that we could.

The weekend after we got back, I was going through some of my old clothes that I barely wore any more. I had been wanting to go through my closet since things were getting a little crowded, and most of the stuff hadn't been worn in weeks.

After getting everything I no longer wanted into a separate bag, I noticed how empty my closet now looked. It was reduced to about half its' size. Maybe, just maybe, I needed to go find some new clothes to fill that void. Not too many, just a few pieces. Besides, I've been wanting to revamp my style a bit, and this was the perfect opportunity. And I deserved it, seeing as all the hell I've been through these past months.

I think I may have a shopping addiction.

Brushing that aside, I gathered my purse and headed down towards the shops. Window shopping may be my favorite hobby on earth. Even if I don't buy the clothing, just looking at it through the window and picturing it on me was a fun pastime. Making my way down the street, I saw the shop Biba ahead of me, and I remembered Mary mentioning that she works there. And since she's got the best style of any female I know, it made perfect sense to visit her and get her input.

I didn't see her anywhere on the floor when I walked in. Luckily, there was a sales associate nearby who didn't look too busy. "Excuse me, do you know where I could find MAry Austin? I think she works here."

"Oh yeah. Last I saw she was over by the dressing rooms."

"Great thanks!" Just as the associate said, when I made my way towards the dressing rooms, I saw Mary's blonde head leaning over a small display case. As I got closer, however, I could hear her sniffling to herself.

"Um, Mary?" I didn't want to interrupt her personal moment with my own fashion problems, so I tried to see if she even wanted to talk.

She swiveled around quickly, wiping some stray tears from her eyes. I could tell from the puffiness of her eyes that she had been crying to herself for a while. "Oh, Elizabeth! Hi! Sorry, I've just been setting up a new display. Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah. I've been wanting to spruce up my closet a bit, and I..." I trailed off on my sentence. I noticed that tears were beginning to well up in Mary's eyes, even if she tried to hide it. "Mary... is everything okay?"

And with that, Mary flung herself into my arms. They were pinned to my side for a few seconds since I was not expecting for her to wrap her arms around my neck. She began to wail, tears dropping from her cheeks to my shoulder. I tried my best to comfort her while also trying to pull us away from the busy clothing displays. Mary and I had never been the closest of friends, but it seemed like right now she needed anyone to cry to.

"Aw Mary, what is it?"

Through sniffles, she managed to get out, "It's... Freddie... he and I..." I didn't need her to explain any more. Clearly, it was a sensitive subject for her, and I didn't want her to share more than what she could. She pulled away from me, wiping her eyes and trying to recollect herself.

"Sorry about that. I just haven't really been able to express those feelings in a healthy way."

"Don't worry. I totally understand. One time I found out that a guy who I had gone on two dates with was secretly seeing someone, so I locked myself in my room for a few days." That managed to bring a smile back to Mary's face. "You know, I've found that alcohol seems to always help with boy troubles."

"Really?"

"Totally! Come on! I feel like we've barely gotten to talk recently, and it'll help you forget your worries."

"Actually, a few shots of tequila sounds great right now."

"That's the spirit!"

"Let me just check in with my manager, and then we can head out." I headed towards the door, waiting for Mary to wrap up with her stuff at work. Reflecting now, going out drinking did not sound pleasurable in my head, but Mary clearly needed something to get her mind off her break-up. Plus, if the two of us were lucky, we might be able to swindle our way into getting some free drinks.  

*a/n: i lowkey love mary and elizabeth's relationship. let me know if you want more of the two of them! sorry this chapter's kind of short!*