Faking It • Queen FanFiction

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 43

"What sort of time do you call this!" Brian tapped his watch and yelled across the dusty car park of Rockfield Farm once Bernie and Roger had finally arrived at the grand time of 4pm. The traffic had been horrendous, delaying them by almost an hour. Roger's continuous profuse swearing did nothing to speed up the congestion, which Bernie kept reminding him of.

"Well, I needed to sort myself out, unless you want me to come here in uniform?" Getting out of the car, she slammed the door shut, still with the window open and Roger craning his neck through to talk to the others too.

"Well... I wouldn't be complai-"

"Shut it, Taylor." Not even looking at him, Bernie pushed a forefinger in his direction to silence him. "This is your first of, I'm sure, many reminders that whilst we are here: we do not need to act like a couple." At the final part of her sentence, she spun around and maliciously said the words directly into Roger's eyes. It seemed he understood, but was he going to abide her almost-command? Absolutely not.

"Whatever you say," he smirked and got out of the car, locking it as he went. Bernie was eager to stop Roger's flirting in its tracks as she gave herself time to get over what Holden had done to her.

"Roger, couldn't you have just put your foot down a bit? Kingsley's told us we're not allowed to go in until you're here as he doesn't want to have to show us around twice," Freddie tapped his foot on the ground, picking at his nail and evidently bored out of his mind.

"I would've loved to, if we hadn't have hit all that traffic. Didn't you get caught in it too?" Roger asked, now standing next to Bernie. If Brian hadn't have had an eye on them, Roger would've stood a lot closer to her than he was. If there was anything stopping him from trying to achieve his goal, it would be Brian. The goal, exactly, he wasn't overly sure on.

"No, we passed it just as they were putting the cones up." John responded, also fiddling with his wedding ring out of boredom. The three of them had been standing around the yard for two hours, not even allowed to bring their luggage in. "I'll go tell Kingsley we're all here." He went off to find the owner of Rockfield farm.

A short while later, John returned with a smooth faced, long haired Kingsley, ready to tour the band (plus Bernie) of the house. Before Roger could tail along behind with his suitcase, his arm was caught by Brian's harsh grip. "Give me one reason not to suspect that you weren't trying it on with Bernie, causing you a delay." He snapped into Roger's ear through his thick blonde hair. Roger thought Brian was being much too paranoid for his own good.

"Your defensiveness is degrading. How's that?"

"'Degrading?' Since when did you care about morals." Brian felt partially responsible for making sure Bernie remained safe at all times, which meant keeping Roger's lustful eyes away from her.

"I may not have slept with Bernie, but she's sure taught me a few things, Bri. Come on, I want the biggest room." Roger shook off Brian's grip and, with a good peace of mind, they both hurried to catch up with the other three and Kingsley, not wanting to be the first to get lost. The yard was rather sizeable, so if that was anything to go by then inside the building and outhouses was going to be like navigating their way through a labyrinth.

"This is the upstairs, where three of four of you will be staying," Kingsley led the way up the creaky carpeted stairs of the house and allocated rooms to everybody. Much to Roger's disgust, Freddie was assigned the biggest room, which he smugly hopped into and started laying out his belongings. Roger had the next biggest, followed by Brian, who's room wasn't quite large enough for a double bed. Downstairs, John was given a cosy little room in the basement which Bernie secretly envied.

"Urr, Mr Ward, I hate to be rude, but may I ask where I'll be sleeping?" Bernie asked after the members of Queen and their crew had been shown to their rooms. Kingsley looked quite surprised that she was left standing by herself and burrowed a hand through his hair in thought.

"Oh, are you not one of the girlfriends of the band?" Bernie crossed her arms, taking slight offence that he thought her only purpose here was because she was tailing after a boy. Although, her annoyance was short lived as she understood how Kingsley would think that. 'I'm running away from my landlord' was a bit of a mouthful to explain conversationally, so she just told him that she wasn't and left him to infer the rest. "I see, well...I'm afraid that's all the rooms taken up. Would you be able to stay in the same room as one of the band members?"

"...Of course," she said, a big sign flashing 'NO' in her head. She'd thought about it already: John and Brian had single beds. Freddie was engaged, she couldn't stay in the same bed as him for six weeks. So, by process of elimination, she had to stay with...

"Roger." Bernie entered the room and threw her suitcase onto the double bed. It was true she was developing feelings for him and wanted to be around him, but in no way was she ready to share a bed with him. What if he slept naked? She wasn't ready to see him in the nude. What if he tried it on with her during the night? There'd be no escape then. God, her mind flashed Holden, Holden, Holden.

"Bernie?"

"Apparently I have to stay in here with you. Now, I'd rather sleep in the stables with the horses, so let's set some ground rules," despite everything, Bernie felt she had reverted back to her bossy self as she was adamant not to let her new prominent fears get the better of her, plus protect herself at all costs. All she had to do whilst bossing him around was not look at him...not look at that irresistible face of confusion...not think about the softness of his lips...

"Ground rules?" He asked, disbelievingly.

"Yes, Taylor. Ground rules. You will be sleeping with clothes on, regardless of your regular routine. And you dare lay a single finger on me with intentions that spread further than platonically, not only will I have your head on a stick, but Brian will come down on you like a ton of bricks," she stepped closer to him, almost worriedly, still not looking at him, "you touch me and Brian will know about it. Do you hear me, Taylor?"

Roger almost looked intimidated and he didn't add any innuendos about the close proximity of one another. There was a time and a place, and now was perhaps the place, but definitely not the time. "Yes. I understand. I promise." It was then that he understood that perhaps Bernie had something deeper going on, as she'd always been closed off about physical contact, unless she was with Brian or around other people too. But never had she allowed Roger to touch her when it was just the pair of them...bar the massage back at her flat... not the time to be thinking about that, he thought to himself, bringing himself back to the present moment.

"Great! Now pick a side!"

"The left one, I like the left."

"Fab. I'll be taking this side, then," she smiled and sat on the left side of the bed.

"I could get used to waking up beside you, actually," Roger rolled over and whispered the next morning. She grunted and kicked him under the sheets, nipping his comments in the bud. "Not a morning person...ooookay." Not not a morning person, she was simply not a romance person... anymore.

8/2/23 - how is it the 8th already?? also thank you for 1k reads!! <3