Long Away (Queen Fanfiction)

Chapter Seven

My fingers trace the end of the couch as my arm hangs over it. My eyes flutter open and land on the clock on the wall which tells me it is 5:30pm. I hear a faint sound coming from outside the front door which sounds like talking. I sit up and rub my eyes, still half asleep. The door creaks open and Queen enter the house. Brian strays from the group to put his famous Red Special in a safe place. Freddie, John, and Roger greet me before walking over to the refrigerator to each get a beer. Brian comes back to join them. The four of them trudge back into the living room, sleepily finding a place to sit.

"What've you done all day, darling?" asks Freddie as he takes a seat next to me. I see Brian sigh behind him, plopping down in one of the two armchairs.

I try to think of what to tell him since I don't think the boys would appreciate me snooping through their stuff. Finally, I grin and tell him, "Nothing much, I just got to know my way around the house, then I took a really long nap."

"That sounds pretty boring," Roger tells me, lighting a cigarette whilst getting situated on the other side of me. "Why don't we do something in a while, just the two of us? I haven't done that much today either."

Freddie, John, and Brian sit up, staring at him with wide eyes and jaws dropped.

"Not a date," he assures everyone.

"I'd love to, Rog," I tell him. "How about dinner at seven?"

John wolf whistles from the other armchair, causing Roger to get up and lightly punch him. He then grunts and sits back down.

While the boys watch TV and talk, I turn to look at Brian. He's hanging his head, running his hands through his hair. I feel horrible because I know dinner with Roger actually is a date, and it's probably breaking his heart that I'm going. But I can date two guys at once, can't I? I've done it once before. One guy from a musical I was in and a guy I met at a bar. Of course it didn't really end well, but I didn't like them that much anyway. I decide to inch off the couch and go talk to him.

"Bri?" I whisper, trying not to draw attention to us.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm alright." He pauses then adds, "Just a little upset."

"How about we have dinner tomorrow night? Can we do that?"

"I guess." He gives me a weak smile.

"Okay, good." I smile back at him before going to my room to get ready for the date.

***

After trying on many of my new outfits, I put on a knee-length pink floral dress and white heels. I pull the top layer of my dark hair back and braid it down to the bottom. I wear mostly natural eyeshadow and winged eyeliner to compliment my bright blue eyes. After one last look in the mirror, I know I'm ready. By the time I walk out of the bathroom, it's time to go. Roger looks so handsome in his button-down and sports coat. His golden mane is teased to perfection.

"You look great," he tells me.

"You do too." I blush.

He takes me outside and leads me to his car. He puts on the radio and drives me off.

"I think you'll love this place, Roxanne!" he exclaims excitedly.

"Good," I reply, giggling.

We listen to the radio silently until "Killer Queen" comes on. I start singing under my breath. Roger raises his eyebrows, looking over at me for a second.

"Holy shit. You can really sing."

I smile at him and take his compliment. "Thanks! I told you I did musicals back home!"

"You always got a lead role, didn't you?" he questions.

"Well, most of the time."

Soon, we pull up to the restaurant. It looks pretty nice. We're lead to a table. After our waitress comes and we order our drinks (he gets a beer and I get a nice red wine), Roger asks about my life back home.

"So I know you really liked to party in 2015, right?" he starts. "How did you get into bars and clubs and things like that if you were so into theater? Theater girls seem like such good girls."

I laugh. "Um, before I auditioned for my first musical when I was twenty-two, I sang at bars and a few clubs. I liked the scene there and started going more often. I even invited my first cast members to my favorite bar to celebrate after our opening night. I had a reputation there and I was basically locally famous for all my lead roles. I was invited to parties and dates at clubs and stuff. It was fun.
"Don't think that I have a drinking problem, though! I only get drunk occasionally."

Roger grins. "I understand, love. It sounds like you had a good life there. Who was your closest friend?"

"I had this really good friend named Jane. She didn't like to party as much as I did, but I spent a lot of time with her. She's a Queen fan too, but she mostly spends her weekdays working at a boring office. She's not as crazy as me," I answer.

After we order a big steak that we can share, I start asking questions about him, and I knew a lot of the answers, which made me feel like a creep. I already know nearly everything about my date!

Our waiter comes back and we eat, having light conversation as we do so.

Roger pays although it is pretty expensive. I'm glad I got to spend the evening with him. We go home. When we get to the front door, I kiss him on the cheek and thank him for taking me out.

"I hope you had a good time," he says.

"I did, don't worry," I assure him. "I really do miss home, but I had fun telling you about it."

We walk inside. I excuse myself and go into my room.

Tonight reality hit me in the head. I'm not going home. I'm leaving my shows behind, my friends and family behind, my parties and bars and clubs behind, and basically my whole life behind. I know I'm lucky to be with my favorite band, but it hurts that I can't even contact Jane and tell her about where I am. There's probably a big search going on. News channels are probably saying I'm "missing" and my friends and family are probably worried sick.

I bury my face in my hands and weep. As I keep thinking about 2015, my cries get louder. I hear a knock on my door, followed by the door being pushed open. It's John.

"Hi," he says timidly. "I heard you crying. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Deaky. Just thinking about home."

"I understand. Don't think about it too much, though. It'll make you really upset. Just think of this as your new home." He pulls me into a quick hug then leaves so I can be alone to calm down. I hear him tell the boys that I'm okay.

I spend the rest of the night listening to records and trying my best to not think about home. I really wish I wasn't homesick after having such a good date with Roger.