CHAPTER TWENTY
'MEET THE IN-LAWS'

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A FEW DAYS HAD PASSED SINCED THAT REGRETTABLE EVENING AT THE BULLDOG AND WHAT OCCURRED WAS NOTHING MORE THAN A BAD MEMORY as my main goal now was to carry on with life and to put everything that did happen, firmly behind me. The drugs, which I was most concerned about, had worn off by the next morning and apart from being a bit tired otherwise I felt fine - I guess I was lucky. But I'd be lying if I said the whole experience hadn't shaken me up.

Everywhere I went outside the house I was watching my back, making sure no one was watching me come and go, following me along the street. Just being on my own whilst I was out and about made me anxious. I couldn't risk Colin knowing where I lived, that would be a nightmare. That is, if he didn't know already...

On a less sinister note, I think what surprised me the most out of everything that night wasn't Colin revealing his true colours, or the fact that he'd been drugging me up without me even knowing. What surprised me was Roger and his attentiveness, how quickly he came to help me even after telling him where to go and that I didn't need his protection. I was sure that he wouldn't have come especially after how I treated him, but he did. It was a whole new side to him that I'd never seen before - he wasn't completely arrogant as I thought he was.

He came to my rescue, and I was immensely grateful to him for that.

Anyway, life seemed to be returning back to the way it was, which could only be good. However, an unexpected phone call I received early Tuesday afternoon threw everything up in the air again as it was someone I really wasn't expecting to hear from.

The sound of ringing filled the house as I descended the stairs and into the hallway, approaching the phone slowly and hesitantly. What if it's Colin? I wondered. What if he's calling to threaten me, ask me if I've contacted the police? The very thought of hearing his voice sent chills down my spine. But when I picked up the phone, the voice of my mother came through instead - which to me wasn't that much better, in all honesty.

'Heidi, darling? It's your mother here.' she announced with her usual air of grandeur.

'Mum,' I replied, half-heartedly, 'How are you?'

'Oh, you know, as rushed off my feet as ever.'

I raised an eyebrow, 'Really?'

'I'm just so busy at the university at the moment, what with marking papers and disertations I don't know how I'm going manage to get everything done.'

'Right,' I rolled my eyes, 'So, was there any particular reason why you're phoning, only I'm in the middle of revising for exams.'

'Don't be so rude, Heidi,' she scolded me, 'I'm sure you can take a break for a couple of hours, your father and I won't be able to make time to visit you any other day for at least a month.'

I furrowed my eyebrows, 'Wait, what do you mean 'visit?' me?'

Mum sighed on the other end of the phone, 'We were thinking of coming down to see you today. If you're not busy, that is, which by the sounds of things, you're not really.'

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. As always, my plans didn't matter and I had to drop everything for them.

'It's a bit short notice, don't you think?'

'Oh, come on, darling, I thought you'd be happy to spend some time together. It's not like we get the chance nowadays, do we?'

'I know, I know,' I told her, pinching the bridge of my nose, 'I just wasn't expecting it, that's all. Look, you and Dad come down, I'll make us dinner and we can have a proper catch up. Yeah?'

'Sounds delightful, my love,' Mum replied, 'We'll be there around fivish...I'll be expecting a three course meal when I arrive.'

'Sure,' I chuckled, although I couldn't tell if she was joking or being serious, 'See you then.'

And with that, I put the phone down. Great, I thought to myself. This is the last thing I bloody needed. But despite my discontent, I knew that I had to get on with it, so without further delay I went through to the kitchen and started rading the cupboards, hoping to find something I could rustle up quickly before the 'royals' arrived. After a lot of indecisiveness, I eventually settled on making lasagna and garlic bread for tea, so I got to work preparing it - knowing my parents they'd probably show up way earlier than planned before it was even ready. Not that they'd be mindful about something like that.

You're probably wondering why my relationship with my parents is as ropey as it is, what they did to make me resent them so. It's a very long story; something that happened a long time ago. I never spoke about it, and neither did they. But the tension between us was still there, it always was and probably always will be. Some things stay with you forever, to 'forgive and forget' just isn't enough, that's just how things were.

Anyway, as I stood in the kitchen, lost in my thoughts and preoccupied by making dinner, I didn't hear the front door open and footsteps wander into the room as I knelt in front of the oven, checking on the lasagna.

'Mm, something smells good. What are we having for tea?' Roger's voice snapped me out of my trance.

I nearly jumped out of my skin from fright, 'Jesus Christ, Roger! What are you doing here?'

'I live here? I thought you'd noticed...' he said in a matter of fact tone as he walked over to the fridge and took out a bottle of beer.

'No, no, no, you can't be here,' I told him frantically, 'You're going to have to leave.'

'What do you mean I have to leave?' he asked as I walked over to him and started pushing him towards the door, 'Hey! Hold on, I only just got here.'

'Go over to one of the boys houses, go to the pub, I don't care, just...anywhere but here.'

The drummer turned around and looked at me, 'Alright, I'm obviously missing something. What's going on? Why am I being kicked out the house?'

I sighed, rubbing my forehead, 'My parents are coming round for dinner.'

'Oh, wonderful, it's about time I met the in-laws.' he winked at me.

But the serious expression didn't leave my face, 'Roger, they don't know you live here! They still think I'm living on my own, if they see you, they're going to ask questions.'

'Like what?'

'Oh, I don't know, how about 'Why is there a stranger living with our daughter?!'

'You could always just tell them the truth.' the drummer suggested.

'What, and you think they'll believe me?' I scoffed, 'C'mon, Taylor, get real. You know what they're going to think as well as I do.'

'And who says that's a bad thing?' he shoved his hands in his pockets, looking at me with an eyebrow raised and a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.

'You're not even remotely funny.' I told him, as I went back to what I was doing, 'Look, you can stay for now, but I'm telling you - before they show up, you're going to have to...'

I was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. My eyes widened as I turned around to check the time - half four. They were early, just like I'd predicted. Fuck.

'I'll go answer that, shall I?' Roger said with a devious smile, knowing by my reaction exactly who it was, as he made his way out into the hallway.

'Roger, don't you dare answer that door!' I sped off after him. Grabbing ahold of his shirt to try and pull him back, it was a waste of time as it was already to late. The door was wide open and there, standing in the doorway, were the figures of my parents, looking at us with perplexing eyes.

'Mum? Dad?' I paused, 'Y-you're early.'

'Yes, we, uh, figured we'd leave a bit earlier; our plan was to beat the rush hour traffic.' my dad replied. He was eyeing Roger up and down very suspiciously, 'Heidi - who's this?'

I could feel my heart hammering in my chest as I tried to think of an explanation, 'Oh, uh, well, Mum, Dad; this us, uh -'

'Roger Taylor, pleasure to meet you at last,' the drummer quickly intervened, shaking hands with my parents. Then, despite thinking that things couldn't get even more awkward, Roger put an arm around me and told them, almost too happily;

'I'm Heidi's boyfriend.'

-

Hey guys!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's late at night again so it might be kinda rough, I'll look over it in the morning. But Roger though, he's definitely way too happy for his own good 😂 Anyway, if you liked it, feel free to go ahead and leave a vote or a comment. The support means a lot to me.

Thank you!

- Anna :-) x