CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
'NOTHING TO IT'

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WHEN WE ARRIVED AT THE DRESSING ROOM, WE COULD BARELY GET IN THE DOOR BECAUSE OF THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE INSIDE WITH THE SAME IDEA, most of them either fans, crew, people from Trident or journalists looking for an inside scoop from the band or their management for whatever magazine or newspaper they wrote for (not that anything they could possibly say could be negative after such a show-stopping performance as that). However, after we'd managed to squeeze ourselves through the the excited crowd of strangers, we eventually bumped into Brian who had somehow escaped the madness for a split moment.

'Bri!' I approached him as he turned at the mention of his name. When he saw me, a huge smile appeared on his face as he made his way over to me through the crowd where we met in a tight embrace.

'You were bloody amazing, Brian,' I told him, smiling, 'That has got to be your best show yet. I mean, just look at the reception!'

'I know, it's crazy the amount of people here wanting to speak to us. It finally feels like people are showing a real interest in us.'

'And just think, this is only the beginning.' I beamed.

'Hello, my darlings! Room for one more?' Freddie practically shouted in our ears as he came up behind us and joined in on the hug. Once he'd finished crushing us to death, his attention turned to Penny, a smirk appearing on his lips, 'Well, well, who is this lovely little thing?'

'Oh, of course,' I almost forgot to introduce her as planned, 'Freddie, Brian, this is Penny. Penny, this is Freddie and Brian.'

She shook their hands, 'Pleasure to meet you both.'

'No, no, dear. The pleasure's all ours,' Freddie winked at the blonde girl flirtatiously, making her blush like mad. Well, they were certainly going to get on like a house on fire.

As we chatted amongst ourselves, the two other missing members of the band decided to make an appearance. I greeted John with a congratulatory hug, however, the drummer's instinct to embarrass me in front of everyone made a triumphant return as he decided to come up behind me and scoop me off the ground in his arms.

'ROGER! Roger, put me down right now!' I screamed at him as he just kept on laughing - scaring me seemed to have become the favourite pass time of the evening. When he finally did let me down, I smoothed out my clothes, my face now bright red, 'Not funny.'

'It was a bit, I mean, the look on your face was something else,' he chuckled, however, on noticing Penny standing next to me, his smug smile soon wavered, 'Penny. Um...hi.'

'Roger...' she simply replied, an eyebrow raised.

'You're...you're looking well.'

'As are you.'

Laughing awkwardly to fill the silence, he asked her, 'What are you doing here..?'

'Now, that is a funny story,' she started, 'You see, myself and dear Heidi here have formed a bit of an, I guess you could say, 'unexpected' friendship. It's a long story, but I suppose you could say it was fate that brought us together.'

Looking at me expectantly, I added, 'Yeah, fate!' joining in on the wind up, whilst the two of us girls tried not to laugh.

Roger just stared at us blankly, obviously finding this situation very odd, as he eventually said although sounding more like a question, 'Uh, that's great. Brilliant, even.'

'It is. Oh, and don't worry, I won't hold the fact you never called me back after our dalliance that evening against you; life's too short to be holding grudges,' the blonde girl told him, 'Besides, it never would have worked between us anyway, darling.'

The drummer shrugged, 'Somehow, I think I can live with that.'

I was wrong about Penny, she was certainly not the airhead I first labelled her as. She was bloody hilarious.

'Are we going, guys, or what?' John piped in.

'John's right. You lot; enough palaver,' Freddie ended our nonsense, 'I don't know about anyone else, but I feel like getting absolutely bladdered tonight, seeing as a celebration is most definitely in order.'

Brian chuckled, 'I can only agree.'

So with that, the six of us, followed by the entourage of people that the band had managed to garner in their dressing room post-concert, headed across to the nightclub on the other side of the street to continue with the after party, and by the time everyone had swarmed in, the place was heaving.

'Right, I'm getting the first round. What's everyone having?' Roger announced over the music and the people talking, as we all sat round the table in one of the large booths.

'Put your money away, Taylor, I'm buying,' Freddie insisted, the blonde ready to argue with him but instead just sent him a defeated eye roll. He turned to Penny and I, 'Ladies, what can I get you?'

I shook my head, 'Freddie, at least let me pay for our drinks.'

'And what kind of gentleman would that make me?' he asked with a cheeky smile, 'No, I'm getting the first round - I insist. So, what are you having, darling?'

Admitting deafest, I replied, 'I'll have a vodka tonic, please.'

I gestured to Penny who told the frontman, 'I'll just have a glass of white wine, thanks.'

'Small or large?' Freddie smirked.

She snorted, 'Now that is a silly question.'

'I figured that'd be the answer.'

Once he'd gotten the band's drinks orders, and added two bottles of champagne to the list, the singer sauntered off to the bar, Roger following him as he would need a hand bringing them all back to the table, whilst we sat and conversed waiting for them to return.

'He's terrible,' I referred to Freddie and his stubbornness, 'The poor sod will be bankrupt by the end of the night if he doesn't let the rest of us contribute.'

Brian scoffed, 'You know that won't stop him. He'll drink the place dry, even if he's penniless.'

In the midst of our conversation, two girls navigated their way though the crowd and approached us, one of which I recognised as John's not-too-long girlfriend, Veronica, who greeted us and sat down next to the bassist, and the other who I didn't know at all.

'Chrissie, you made it!' a massive smile appeared on Brian's face as he jumped up from his seat and gave the long, brown haired girl a hug.

'Of course I did, I wouldn't miss this for the world. Sorry I couldn't make it to the show itself, I was asked to cover for someone doing the evening shift. Typical, eh?'

'Don't worry about it, you're here now, that's what matters.' the guitarist told her.

Chrissie turned to us and smiled sweetly, 'Hi everyone.'

'Hiya,' we waved in return, myself sitting there trying not to stop the smug smile wanting to show on my face.

Brian asked her nervously, 'Can I, uh, get you a drink?'

'Oh, please, that'd be lovely, I need it after the day I've had. I'll come with you.'

'Yeah, 'course,' Brian replied as she smiled and headed off towards the bar.

Just as he was about to follower her, he caught sight of the suspicious look I was giving him, 'What?'

'You never mentioned you were seeing someone, Bri...' I smirked.

'It's nothing serious. We've only been going out for a week or two,' he told me, before noting, 'Y'know, just because we're best friends it doesn't mean we have to tell each other everything.'

'Of course we do!' I retorted, 'How can I ask a thousand questions if you don't drop a few hints?'

'Fine, I'll make sure to tell you next time.' Brian chuckled.

'Hey, I'm happy for you. It's about time you got yourself a girlfriend, it took you long enough.'

Rolling his eyes jokingly, the guitarist wandered off to the bar, leaving us to carry on chatting.

The night flew by as we mingled and chatted with those from the concert and drink kept flowing and flowing. Celebrations were now in full swing as the dance floor, and the whole room in fact, was overflowing with people that there was barely enough room to breathe. But that didn't stop us from having a good time as the music blared and we kept on chatting away, like we didn't have a care in the world.

'She packed my bags last night pre-flight.
Zero hour, nine AM.'

'Oh. My. God. I love this song!' Freddie shouted over 'Rocket Man' which had just started playing through the speakers. Knocking back the rest of his champagne, he slammed the glass down on the table before grabbing Penny's hand and pulling her into the crowd, 'Come on, my lovey, let's have a dance!'

Giving me a cheeky wink, Penny rushed after the singer, whilst I just sat there laughing, watching them dance drunkenly on the dance floor together.

'Care to join them?' Roger who was sat next to me suddenly said in my ear.

'What?' I turned to look at him, unsure if it was the amount of alcohol I'd consumed or if I was just hearing things.

'Well, I'm game if you are. I know you'd probably rather dance with anyone else in this room, I don't blame you, but why not? It'll be a laugh.'

I shook my head, 'Roger, you've obviously never seen me dance. I've got two left feet.'

'Yeah, so? I do too but that ain't gonna stop me,' he replied. Then, before I had a chance to argue any further, the drummer got up and took my hand before towing me along behind him towards the dance floor, 'C'mon, we can make arses out of ourselves together.'

Opening my mouth to protest, I knew that trying to stop him now would be a waste of time, so I begrudgingly followed Roger to the floor where the song had now properly begun. Feeling out of place around everyone dancing, I tried to retreat back to our table, but the drummer wouldn't let me. I was frozen on the spot, not sure what to do or even where to begin. Luckily though, Roger was a lot more comfortable than me in this situation and encouraged me by taking both my hands in his and swaying me side to side along to the beat. A small smile appeared on my face as he sang along to the lyrics and I started to slowly cooperate with him by beginning to sway on my own.

After a couple of minutes in, I'd fully relaxed and actually started properly 'dancing' to the music, albeit very badly. I have to say Roger wasn't much of a dancer either which made me feel a bit better about myself, although he was certainly more carefree than I was.

'You see, what'd I tell you - nothing to it!' he shouted over the music as I just smiled.

Roger spun me around carefully and pulled me back to him, this time placing his hand on the small of back and taking my hand in the other. I rested my left hand on his shoulder, the two of us swaying slowly to the music in comfortable silence, until the drummer asked, looking at me intently.

'Did I tell you how lovely you look tonight?'

I looked down at the floor, a shy smile tugging at the corner of my lips, 'Shut up.'

'Hey, I'm not saying it just because I'm a shameless flirt, I'm saying it 'cause I mean it. You look gorgeous, Heidi, I should have told you that earlier.'

Trying my best not to blush, I just smiled at the blonde and replied, 'Thanks, Rog.'

After having danced with Roger and more drinking and chatting, I decided that despite having such a good night, it was time to think about going home. I was sat next to Penny in the booth, who was now sitting on Freddie's lap.

'Penny?' she turned to me and smiled, 'I, uh, think I'm going to head off.'

'What? Oh, Heidi, you can't! The night's only just begun!' she argued, 'How about I go get you another drink?'

'No, no, please, I've had plenty,' I assured her, 'I have work in the morning anyway, I really should be going. You wouldn't happen to know where himself is, would you?'

'At the bar, I think,' she frowned, 'Oh, c'mon, just ten more minutes?'

I could only smile sympathetically, 'I'm sorry.'

'I suppose there's nothing I can do to change your mind,' she shrugged. She then pulled me into a quick hug, 'Good night, Heidi, have a safe journey home.'

'Good night, Penny, I will,' I smiled as we pulled back and I slipped out of the booth discreetly, knowing full well that everyone else would cause a fuss if I announced that I was leaving.

Navigating my way through the crowds of people, I made my way to the bar where I found the drummer waiting to be served and leaning against the counter awkwardly, probably using it to keep himself upright.

When I approached him, I put a hand on his shoulder, 'Roger?'

A big smile appeared on his face when he turned around and saw me, 'Heidi! Just the girl I wanted to see!' he said, giving me an unexpected cuddle, 'Can I get you something to drink, my darling?'

'No, I'm fine, thank you. The reason I came over was to tell you I'm gonna head home.'

His smile quickly disappeared, 'What? Nooo, don't go! Why are you going? The night's still young!'

'I know, I'd love to stay but I have work tomorrow. If I don't go now I never will.' I laughed half-heartedly.

'A-at least let me see you home, make sure you get there safe,' he started to stagger off, but I stopped him.

'Rog, I'll be fine. Honestly, stay here and enjoy yourself. This is your party, after all, you can't just disappear. I'll get a cab, don't worry about it.'

I could tell he wasn't very happy about it, but he nodded anyway, 'Well, if you're sure. Just be careful, alright?'

Nodding in reply, I was about to walk away but he quickly called me back, 'Oi!'

Turning around, I looked at him, confused, 'What?'

Not saying anything, he simply gestured for me to come here as I rolled my eyes and shuffled back over to him. Then, taking me by complete surprise, Roger gently took my face in his hands, my heart hammering in my chest, as he pressed a sloppy kiss to my forehead. He pulled back and looked at me with happy but drunken eyes, as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

'Good night, Heidi. Thanks for coming along with me tonight.'

I swallowed hard, my face now bright red, although I managed to utter, 'Good night, Rog.'

Giving me one last smile, I made my way across the room to the door and headed downstairs to the foyer, that fluttering feeling in stomach I felt earlier in the evening having returned. Once outside, I soon flagged down a cab and made the long journey back home, my thoughts whirling around in my head until we arrived on my street and outside my front door.

I walked into the the silent house and shut the door behind me, sighing heavily as I kicked off my heels which had been killing me all night long. The fatigue had hit me now as I trudged up the stairs to my room, where I changed out of my clothes and into my pyjamas, the sight of my bed a welcoming one. After brushing my teeth in the bathroom and removing the six tonne of makeup I had plastered on my face, I returned to my room where I basically fell onto the bed, throwing the duvet over me. I wasn't looking forward to work in the morning, no doubt I'd have a splitting headache, but soon drifted to sleep, alone in the empty house with nothing but my dreams for company.

-

Hi everyone! Happy Hogmanay (New Year) to you all!

This chapter was well overdue, and once again, I can only apologise. Hopefully in 2018 I'll update more regularly, that's going to be my new year's resolution haha! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, unfortunately I've went and left it on a cliff hanger so who knows how long it'll be before you find out what happens 😂 I also just want to say a quick thank you for all your support over the past year, despite my lack of regular updates, I love writing and hearing your thoughts and having your support makes it all worth it. I'm going to be publishing a new fanfiction in the next few days centred around The Everly Brothers, another one of my favourite bands, so that'll be something different. It's something I've been wanting to do for a while so we'll see how that goes. Once again, thank you so much, 2017 was a great year but hopefully this one will be even better.

All the love in the world,

Anna :-) x