CHAPTER FIVE
'HEY ROOMIE!'

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THE MORNING DRUMMER BOY WAS MOVING IN HAD INEVITABLY COME AROUND. I'd spent the last couple of days getting the room he'd be staying in ready for him, which mainly consisted of moving all of the cardboard boxes filled with junk from when my parents lived here from upstairs into the basement below the house. Home to spiders, mice and other unpleasantries, it was definitely not a place I enjoyed visiting often. So as soon as I'd dumped the last box, climbed back up the steps and locked the door shut, I was glad to get out of there, and get on with giving Roger's room, and the rest of the house for that matter, a proper freshen up.

I don't know why I was so insistent on making sure everything was perfect for when he arrived. Perhaps it was because making a good impression and the fear of failing to do so was ingrained in me from an early age (my parents were the ones to 'thank' for that). It could also have just been slight OCD, but whatever the reason, I highly doubted that Roger would even care about what the house looked like.

Anyway, as I finished preparing the house for what looked like a royal visit, I got lost in my thoughts. I couldn't believe I'd decided to go through with this. Curse my kind heart. Maybe it wasn't too late to change my mind? But before I could even think about doing anything of the sort, I heard the sound of a car pulling up outside, which quickly grabbed my attention. Peering out through the net curtains in the living room window, I watched as Roger got out of his car and shut the door behind him, looking at the house curiously, probably wondering if he had the right place or not.

The blonde was dressed in his usual attire - a shirt buttoned up only halfway, a pair of black leather trousers, trainers, and aviator sunglasses covering his eyes like he was some sort of celebrity. He walked towards the steps to the house swiftly, moving with an unrestrained swagger as the overconfidence just oozed out of him, making me scoff and shake my head. He really is quite something, isn't he? I thought to myself.

Nevertheless, once I heard the ringing of the doorbell echo throughout the house, I left the living room and went to the front door to greet His Royal Highness. When I opened it, there was Roger smiling down at me with his infamous smirk plastered on his face.

'Hey, Roomie!' he greeted me excitedly as he took off his sunglasses.

My hello was a little less enthusiastic, 'Roger,' I said with the best smile I could give him, 'Come on in.'

'Thanks,' he replied cheerily as he strode into the front hallway, whilst I shut the door behind him.

He turned around and faced me, 'So, how are you?

'Not bad,' I shrugged, 'Yourself?'

'Yeah, yeah, fine,' he replied distractedly, as he admired his surroundings intently, 'Nice place you got 'ere.'

'Thank you. It used to be my parents house, but it was given to me as a sort of start-of-university present.'

Roger chuckled lightly, 'I'm guessing they're not empty, then?'

'I suppose you could say that,' I admitted, 'It's just a shame looking after it when you're on your own is a full-time job, though.'

'Well, that's what I'm here for,' he told me with a small smile, 'I'll help you out with the bills and whatever else that needs paying for. I know what it's like to be scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to money. It's a shit situation to be in.'

Nodding in agreement, I looked down at my hands awkwardly as the two of us suddenly became silent. After a couple of seconds, I cleared my throat, 'So...do you want to take a look around? I'm sure you'll be wanting to dump your belongings somewhere. Where is your stuff, might I ask?'

'Oh, it's all in the car. I'll bring it in later.'

'Ah, I see,' I nodded, 'Well then, I guess I'll just crack on and give you the grand tour.'

And so the two of us went for a little wander around the house, with me showing Roger each room and telling him what was in them. The tour of the kitchen took the longest, as I made sure to let him know exactly where everything was in the drawers and cupboards (believe me, he'd be doing his share of the cooking whether he liked it or not), although I'm pretty sure the information left his brain about five seconds later.

Despite our differences and my attitude towards him, I wanted Roger to feel welcome here, or at least more than he'd been back in his previous digs. I know at the beginning it would take a while to get used to being in each other's presence so much - no doubt we'd have our arguments. But I did want this to work - I couldn't afford for it not to. Literally.

'That's my room at the end there, if you should ever need me,' I told Roger, who smiled a little as I pointed at a white door at the end of the corridor when we'd headed upstairs, 'The bathroom is just here on the right. And this...is your room.'

Opening the door next to us, I stepped into the bright, sunlit room, as Roger followed behind me. It wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing bedroom in the world, with its gaudy looking wallpaper and mismatched carpet, a colour scheme which came like a punch to the face when you walked through the door. A double bed sat at the left (its sheets also clashing with everything else) with a wardrobe and a chest of drawers sitting across from it. It wasn't very spacious in here, either, apart from the one corner of the room which had practically nothing in it. But at the end of the day, it was the best I could offer.

'I'm sorry if it isn't exactly what you'd hoped it would be.'

Roger looked at me in confusion, 'Are you kidding? It's perfect!'

'Really?' I asked, unconvinced.

'Well, it certainly beats sleeping on a couch, that's for sure.'

'I suppose so. Still, can't say how comfortable that bed is,' I told him, honestly, 'Anyways, there's a linen closet next door if you need clean sheets, anything else just ask. But apart from that, I think that's about it, really. I know it's not much, but I do hope you'll feel at home here.'

Wow, this was the nicest I think I'd ever been to Roger Taylor.

Turning around to face me, the drummer just smiled and said, 'Thank you, Heidi. I mean it, I appreciate this a lot.'

Giving him a small smile, I replied, 'No problem.'

After a quick cup of tea, the two of us went outside to Roger's car to bring his stuff into the house. When we approached the green Mini, I couldn't help but notice something peculiar that was taking up the entire back seats.

'Is that...is that a drum kit in there?' I asked, looking in through the back windows at the dismantled instrument.

'Uh-huh,' Roger said proudly as he unlocked the car, 'Gotta be able to practice somehow, right?'

I stared at him, dumbfounded, 'Did you even bring anything else with you?'

'Well, duh. The rest of my junk is in the boot, of course,' he told me in a matter-of-fact-tone, earning a disapproving look from me, 'Look, I know I'm being presumptuous here, but what else was I supposed to do with it? Leave it behind? I'll set the kit up in that empty corner of the room so it won't be in the way, and I promise I'll try not to annoy you with it. Deal?'

Looking at him with an unimpressed expression on my face, I sighed heavily as I knew arguing against him would be a waste of time, 'Alright, fine...the kit can stay. But I'm warning you now, Taylor, if you keep me awake every night with your incessant crashing and banging, you'll be out on your arse before you know it.'

'Depending on what type of 'banging' you're referring to, darling, I can't make any promises.'

Knowing Roger as I did, I wasn't in the least bit surprised by what just came out of his mouth.

'Hilarious,' I said, dryly, 'Now, are you going to help me take this stuff inside, or are you just going to stand there and make silly innuendos as usual because if you are, you can bloody well stay out here. Got it?'

'Our first argument living together,' I could tell he was trying to refrain from laughing, 'I was wondering how long it would take before you stopped being nice to me.'

Instead of replying to the drummer as I knew all he wanted was a reaction, I kept him waiting by reaching into the back of his car where I found a box of old records. Taking it out and walking back over to Roger, I shoved the box straight into his arms and said to him as he stared at me amusedly.

'Just shut up and help me unload the car.'

-

Hi guys!

Just a wee note to tell you that updates might be scarce for a while as I have prelims (i.e. mock exams) coming up really soon and I haven't started studying for them yet, not to mention a tonne of homework I need to get through, so I don't know when the next update will be. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I have so many ideas for this story and I just wish I didn't have to put it all on hold, but that's school for you. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and if you did, as always a vote/comment would be wonderful. As I said, because I don't know when the next time I'll post something will be and this is probably my last update of the year, I want to wish every single one of you now a very, very Happy New Year and I hope 2017 will be good to you.

Thank you for making my year all the more amazing!

- Anna :-) x