You And I

Chapter 3

A couple of months later, I went walking around Chelsea College, trying to find John. He left his wallet in the hall, after a classmate gave it to me so I was looking everywhere for him. A couple of people said that he was in Trident Studios, working with his new band on their album. So I took a taxi, and went to the studios. Inside, it did look like a professional studio. I found a room with a sign saying 'Queen: Recording in progress' and went in. I tiptoed into the room, just outside from where the band were playing, to see a couple of men in there working at the sound equipment. One of them stared at me, blankly.

"Can I help you?" His tone was dry.

"I have something for John Deacon." I said, politely.

"Just wait in here, love." The other guy was smiling at me, obviously flirting. I gave him an angry stare which made him stop.

Queen were in the middle of recording a fancy track for their album that was filled with harmonies and fancy guitar riffs. It sounded so professional for a band that had just started recording their debut album. After they finished playing, I could hear Roger taking the mick out of John.

"Look who's come to see you, Deaky! She's obviously not fed up with you yet!" He was laughing away as John just stuck his tongue out at him and then smiled at me. All four men came into the waiting room and joined me.

"Melanie! Well, this is a nice surprise." John said, smiling away.

"Hi. One of my friends found this, after your last gig." I gave John back his wallet and he looked so relieved.

"Wow, thank goodness you've found it! Been looking for it everywhere!" He placed it back in his pocket and turned round to see his drummer pulling faces at him.

"You remember Roger?" He asked, sounding irritated.

"Of course, John! How can anyone forget me?" Roger said with a hint of flirting in his voice.

"Quite." John said quietly and everyone sniggered. "And this is Brian May, our guitarist and Freddie Mercury, our lead singer. Boys, this is my friend, Melanie. She came to our gig at your college, Bri, a couple of months ago."

Brian smiled as he shook my hand. "Well, I hope we were good. Nice to meet you, Mel."

Freddie laughed as held out his hand. "Lovely to see our supporting fans, making an appearance here, my dear! You're welcome to stay and hear us record if you want."

"No, it's ok. I don't mean to be a bother." I said.

"I'm sure Deaky will let you know if you were a bother!" Roger joked and John stared at him.

"Yeah, like I'm letting you know right now that you're being a bother." He stood on Roger's foot, making him shut up.

"It's no problem really. It'll be good to get someone in to say if we're going too crazy or Freddie's being too extravagant." Brian pointed at the singer who was throwing his arms around.

"Lovey, I can never be too extravagant! Now come on, you arses! Back into the studio and leave the beautiful young lady alone!" And with that, the boys went back inside the recording studio and sat by their instruments.

I spent the whole day with the band and got to know each one of them better as time went on.

Brian was the main songwriter of the group, he showed me some of the lyrics he had written down. He had so many creative ideas, there was not one line I disliked in any of his work.

Freddie came up with all the musical key changes and the orchestration. He and Roger seemed to be the jokers of the group, always coming up with new tricks and pranks up their sleeves. Freddie showed me a sketch of what the artwork of the album was going to be, as he was studying at art college. It was a drawing of him, holding up his microphone stand with the bright light from the stage shining down on him. He also showed me the band logo, it was a royal crest with two lions, a crab and two fairies, each identifying every member's star signs. He also drew my star sign which was Aries.