Faking It • Queen FanFiction

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 12

That night, once safely tucked up in her bed away from Roger, Holden and Brian, with the addition of his menacing face when they returned to the studio with the news, Bernie tried to fall asleep. However, the plush sheets and squishy pillows that usually lulled her to sleep with ease felt rigid and cold. There were too many things encircling her mind for her to be able to drift off to sleep. But above all the anxieties and "what if"s was Roger.

That kiss...what did it even mean? Nothing for her, but could she say the same for Roger? The way in which his lips were soft but his kiss was rough, how he held her face protectively in his calloused hands, shielding her from Holden's glare. How he took a moment to try and stare into her eyes afterwards. Maybe he was right. Maybe she did have an issue with romance. Most people would have had an exhilarated feeling pulse through them if they had had somebody as attractive and self-confident as Roger spontaneously kiss her. Not Bernie.

She couldn't deny that he wasn't attractive. Secretly, she found his messy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes rather alluring, but that didn't mean she liked him in any way. She also thought Christine Mullen was an extremely lucky girl, but that didn't mean she had feelings for Brian, not by any stretch.

Looking back, that was one hell of a good kiss he'd given her, which was possibly why she let him do it; and not just because she knew they had a suspicious audience named Holden. But still, that didn't mean she had feelings for Roger, right? She could think somebody was attractive and enjoy kissing them (and possibly maybe want to do it again if the opportunity were to arise) still without liking them in that way, right?

oh just shut up and go to damn sleep, stupid brain.

But no matter how much Bernie mentally tried to switch off, she just couldn't. So instead, she surrendered and got up to make a late night cup of tea. Just as she was sat down at the counter with a mug of steaming tea with a fashion magazine laying open in front of her, she heard the lock click. From the hallway, it was easy to decipher the sound of the door swinging open on it's swelled hinges. Who on earth, who had a key, would be coming in at this hour? It was one o'clock in the morning on a weekday.

Adrenaline was simmering, but the sight of the silhouette in the doorway allowed Bernie to take her shoulders away from her ears. It was just Flo! "Florence!" Bernie flung her arms around her sister: she looked so tired and wilted after such a strenuous shift at the care home. Two o'clock in the afternoon till one o'clock in the morning was enough to do anyone in. A couple of nights a week she was a live-in carer, another couple she was on a night shift and the remaining evenings were either spent resting or doing evening shifts. Luckily she didn't always work during the day, just at night time, which was a bonus.

"Morning Berns, what're you doing up at this hour?"

"More like what're you doing working at this hour."

"Inefficiency doesn't get us by, little sis," Flo dumped her small backpack on the counter next to Bernie's tea and stretched her shoulders. Unfortunately, there was no drilling it out of her head that there were better jobs out there for her: she absolutely loved what she did and was a helpless workaholic. It was because of this that Bernie didn't stop her sister: Flo enjoyed her job and got paid decent money for it. Soon she'd be getting a pay rise, too. The only thing Bernie wished she could get her sister to do more often was take more time for herself.

For a while they both sat and caught up on things they had missed in each other's lives. Apparently one of Flo's favourite residents had just successfully come out of knee surgery and was recovering well, meaning that the entire unit got to celebrate with cupcakes and get-well-soon cards. Bernie smiled at the anecdote and it made her heart swell with pride for her sister.

"So, tell me what's been going on with you," Flo pressed, realising that Bernie had remained relatively quiet about her own shenanigans the entire time. The thing with her job was that nothing ever really changed. There wasn't much social pizzazz outside of colleague interactions in the break room. One thing she did consider telling her sister about though, was her little kiss with Roger. Undoubtedly Flo would want to hear about it, especially as Bernie had had little to nothing to do with romance in her life since...Holden.

"...Urrr, not a lot really. Finish college in three weeks. Holden's been a persistent pain in the backside. But I've got backup: Brian's mate, Roger. He's a right tosser but he fulfils the title I need from him." She was very aware of the rapidity in which she was speaking, at least two hundred words a minute.

"Ah, Roger Taylor, huh. Heard he's a catch," Flo unsubtly winked and raised an eyebrow in Bernie's direction, earning a hoot of laughter. Flo had an impeccable sense of humour, even at one o'clock in the morning.

"Shush. So he might be, but if you knew him then you'd want to punt him. And he kissed me." Flo took a gulp of Bernie's now cold tea, popped her eyes out of her skull and then comically sprayed the tea everywhere. "Florence!!" Bernie yelled, scanning all the areas that had been a victim of Flo. The cabinets, the counter, Flo's bag, the floor and even Bernie herself.

"Bernadette Poppy Maxwell. You cannot leave me with just that." Flo demanded, crossing her arms childishly and pestering for more details whilst her sister grabbed a cloth to wipe up the mess. So Bernie delivered. She explained everything. Which of course led to questions, questions, more questions and a sisterly chat about the precautions to take in a relationship.

It was just gone two o'clock in the morning by the time both sisters went to bed and this time, as soon as Bernie's head hit the pillow, she was out like a light. Talking about things helped a lot, even with something like that, which was unknown to even herself that it was playing on her mind.

The final thought she remembered was her silent, semi-unconscious wish for a better Tomorrow.

19/10/22