"I'm home!" Lillie called loudly, her voice echoing through the porch of her house as she slammed the front door shut.

It was the earliest Lillie had been home all week, and for some odd reason it felt wrong to walk through the front door without having the buzz of a pub trip still running through her. It wasn't that she didn't want to be out with Queen, God knows how much she had begun to love hanging out with them at every chance, but that evening her priorities were different.

"So, pub?" Roger asked, throwing his drumsticks down onto the floor as he kicked his stool back.

"Careful with those drumsticks, do you want Sheffield ranting at you again?" Brian commented, rolling his eyes at the thought of their manager. At Brian's comment, Roger let out an annoyed groan. "But yeah, sounds good, Lillie?"

"I actually  can't believe you want me to go to the pub on my one night off," Lillie muttered jokingly  as she fixed her guitar back into its case. "I'd be up for it, but for once I actually have plans. I promised my brother I'd call him tonight, not to mention I've been home late every night and I'm pretty sure my parents have started to convince themselves I've joined some weird rock and roll cult,"

"Sounds about right for them," John shrugged slightly.  "Didn't they throw all your stuff out after they found out you'd been skipping lectures to go to concerts?"

"Yeah they threw my old records out after they caught me skipping Uni to go follow Stevie Nicks around," Lillie laughed, rolling her eyes. "Except they got the boxes mixed up and threw out my brothers instead,"

"Well they sound like lovely people," Freddie commented, raising his eyebrows in amusement. "But in fairness, dearie, you have joined a cult, it's called being friends with Queen. Are you sure you can't cancel, surely we're your priorities now?"

"I wish, Freddie," Lillie sighed, knowing that no matter how much Freddie's comments made her want to cry with joy, she still couldn't cancel on her brother. "You guys should still go though, don't forget that whenever you get drunk at the pub you pay my wages,"

"I'll give you a lift home if you want? I'm meant to be meeting Veronica after this anyway,"  John suggested, and with that, the band parted ways.

Kicking her heeled shoes off and placing her guitar case and work bag by the stairs, Lillie sighed contentedly before wandering into the kitchen. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so happy within herself. It wasn't just that she was having more fun in her day to day life, she genuinely felt different inside, in the way she felt about herself. Lillie wasn't sure whether it was because she was too busy to worry about such things or if her opinion had actually changed, but she no longer felt worried about wearing her glasses or going out without makeup. Not to mention for the first time in a long time she had friends that weren't just her brother and John. The friendships she'd developed over the last few weeks with Roger, Freddie and Brian seemed to have changed everything in Lillie's life, and that was without considering the major crush she was developing on Brian.

And whilst Lillie had never felt happier there was no denying that her parents probably wouldn't understand the change. When she was at home, she attempted to pretend that it was all normal, as it had been not even three weeks before, and Lillie found that harder than she thought it would be. To pretend as if she hadn't had an awakening in her musical career as well as the way she saw herself, it seemed almost impossible, but yet she seemed to be pulling it off quite well, either that or her parents really didn't care.

In the kitchen, as expected, there was her mother, stood over the stove, and Elizabeth Sparrow didn't even spare a glance towards her daughter, instead muttering something derogatory under her breath. 'Home sweet home', Lillie thought, rolling her eyes.

"You're in early," she muttered, glaring over to Lillie as she hopped onto the counter. "What's changed, suddenly you want to start treating this as home again instead of a doss house?"

"I hardly treat it as a doss house, Mum!" Lillie exclaimed, laughing. "No, I've got the night off and I'm meant to be calling Xander tonight so I got Deacy to drop me off instead of going out again,"

"Deacy?" Her father's voice came, sounding mildly irritated. Henry Sparrow's default setting was irritated, and even though Lillie had known him her whole life, she still struggled to read him.

"Dad, don't act like you've never heard of him, I've known John my whole life!" Lillie laughed again in an attempt to lighten the sour mood of the room, though she too was becoming annoyed, the way she always ended up after a conversation with both of her parents.

"Yes and don't we know it," her mother muttered again. "It's bad enough Alexander used to take you along to concerts, but he was never a bad influence on you, John Deacon, however..."

Lillie wasn't quite sure what made her parents dislike John. It wasn't as if they hadn't known him for very long, the two had been friends for so long they could hardly remember life without each other. Maybe it was the fact that both of her parents were quite traditional in the way that they wanted their daughters to be friends with only girls. It was ridiculous, especially considering they never seemed to have anything against her sister's male friends. Well, anything her sister did got more approval from their parents than anything Lillie did, not that Lillie wanted to bring that up; that was a whole other argument.

"John is the furthest thing from a bad influence!" Lillie snorted, finding the idea of it hilariously ridiculous. "In fact he's told me he's thinking of asking his girlfriend to marry him, he's hardly a bad influence if he's settling down. Obviously he's not leaving the band anytime soon, I mean, Queen are gonna be massive one day! They're such nice lads as well-"

"Yes, that's all well and good, but have you thought about settling down yourself?" Her father asked, his tone telling her he was clearly bored of hearing even the slightest mention of her new friends. "We know you love music but all this is getting a little ridiculous,"

"By the time I was your age, your father and I were married," her mother pointed out. "I never wasted my time with university or wild dreams about running off and being a singer. In fact, when I was your age we already had Alexander,"

"Yes, Alexander, you should take a look at your brother, Lillie," her father carried on, nodding in agreement, and Lillie couldn't help but feel like the two of them were edging closer, closing in on her. "He's got his head screwed on. A solid degree, good career prospects, he's making a good life for himself over in America and we're very proud of him for it,"

"But you're not proud of me, is that what you're saying?" Lillie raised her eyebrow, letting out a laugh of disbelief.

"Well, what is there to be proud of?" It was her mother's turn to let out a laugh now, though this was condescending and left Lillie feeling as if she was worthless.

"You got your degree, we didn't want you to but you got it anyway, now is the time to settle down, not waste your life chasing a silly dream your foolish friend put in your head!" Her father told her firmly.

"What is there to be proud of?" Lillie repeated, trying to stay calm even though her insides were beginning to burn with anger. "I don't know. Maybe the fact I got into one of the best universities in the country to study one of the hardest courses they taught. I dropped out, sure, but it wasn't because I wasn't smart enough, but because I hated it. I then got into another top university and got a first class English degree. Do you know how difficult English is as a university subject? Harder than you'd think, considering you never even finished school, mother. I've worked in more jobs than most people do in a lifetime in three years, and my CV is far more broad than either of yours because of it. It's not as if I ask for your help with my music. I bought my own cello, I bought my own guitar, God, I even paid for lessons myself! I write my own music that makes up most of my set when I play gigs. My gigs fill up the pub function room, and you'd be surprised how many people actually like my music and class themselves as my fans. I pay rent, I work three jobs just to be able to afford to look after myself, since neither of you care! Heaven forbid I actually dream of being successful and happy in my career prospects, unlike Xander, who just picked that Uni in Utah to get away from you both! I feel like I'm forgetting something, something else really important that you always forget... oh yeah, when I drive, I drive in the fucking speed limit whilst wearing my fucking seatbelt!"

The last comment had left both parents stunned, and rightfully so. The two of them stood staring at her in disbelief at her outburst whilst Lillie glared between the two of them. She bit her lip, fighting the nerves that were telling her she'd taken it too far. In the back of her mind, she decided one of them was definitely going to slap her, or maybe even kick her out, and those two ideas were eating away at her the longer the silence rang out. The tension built until it was suddenly cut off as the phone rang shrilly, making Lillie jump slightly.

"You want me to give up music and settle down?" Lillie sighed, turning away from her parents. "Not happening, so forget about it. Don't answer the phone, it'll be Xander and I doubt he'll want to talk to you, I'll answer it upstairs,"

And with that, Lillie grabbed her bag and guitar before running up the stairs, storming to her room. As she slammed the door shut, she threw her things down on the bed, disturbing the two sleeping cats that were previously curled up together before sitting down on the bed herself, leaning over to grab the phone off the bedside table.

"Hello?" she called down the line, struggling to hide her emotions as she held back tears.

"God, Lee, is it that awful to talk to me?" the sound of her brother's laugh came through the line, and hearing how happy he sounded was the final straw, making Lillie begin to cry. "Lillie, are you alright, what's wrong?"

"Oh, the usual, Mum and Dad on my back again," she muttered, letting out a shaky sigh. "You know what they're like, nothing I do is good enough, I'm not you, and I'm certainly not Hayleigh,"

"Oh, so you had that argument," Xander sighed. "Lee, you know they only take it out on you cause you're the only one around,"

"Yeah I'm sure it'd be so much better if you were still at home, they'd just spend more time reminding me about how great you are 'their wonderful Alexander'!" Lillie let out a bitter laugh, before sighing again, wiping away her tears. "Doesn't matter anyway. How's the Lake?"

"Salty," he let out a short laugh as he made the same joke he always made when Lillie would ask him about the city he was living in, making Lillie roll her eyes. "I'm nearly done with my course though, only a couple more months and I'll be an actual lawyer, can you believe that? How's your work?"

"Depends which job you mean," Lillie shrugged, reaching out as she began to pet the tortoiseshell cat that was climbing up onto her stomach. "My contract at the office finishes next week, the pub is pretty much dead all the time even though Mick's trying to get a rebrand of it, and I'm on one of my last warnings at Debenhams,"

"How are you on a last warning? I thought you were a real goody-two-shoes?"

His question made her frown slightly, because how could Lillie even begin to explain to her brother that she was on a last warning because Freddie kept coming to visit her and distract her whilst she was meant to be working? It wasn't just Freddie, either, considering Brian came to see her in her breaks occasionally. It was rare John and Roger would bother her whilst she was working, but the few times they did had started to annoy her managers to the extent of serving Lillie with a warning. How could Lillie even convey all of that to Xander, when the last he had heard, she only had one friend?

Not to mention Xander was actually a huge fan of Queen. If Lillie was slightly starstruck when meeting the band, Xander would have been way worse. However, Lillie was close to her brother, or had been until he moved to the States, so she owed it to him to tell him about her new friends, as tricky as it may be.

"So, you remember when I told you John is a part of that band?" Lillie began. "You know, that band you quite like?"

"Queen? How could I bloody forget your childhood best friend is in one of the best bands on the rock and roll scene?" Xander let out a dumbfounded laugh, before adding, "Obviously after the Fab Four of course, Queen aren't that good yet,"

"Yeah, well, John brought them along to one of my gigs," Lillie told him nonchalantly before letting out a snort of a laugh as Xander gasped. "Yeah, I knew you'd react like that! But since then I've been hanging out with them pretty much all the time, they're such lovely guys! Honestly, Xan, since meeting them... I just feel so happy, all the time. Like, it's great hanging out with Deacy all the time again, but the other three are amazing,"

"Okay, so I'm thrilled you're happy, but fucking hell, Lee!" Xander exclaimed. "I mean, I was actually gonna suggest you come over here for a few months for a visit but I wouldn't blame you if you snubbed me to go hang out with bloody Queen!"

"Chill out, Xander," Lillie let out another laugh. "In a few weeks they're gonna have to go back on tour or to the studio and it'll all go back to normal, no more daily hang outs at Roger or Freddie's and then down to the pub. They'll go back to the Rockstar lifestyle and I'll go back to just work and gigs down the pub,"

That was the reality of it. It was bad enough for Lillie when it was just John who was away working, but now she was close to the rest of the band, it was unimaginable going back to the way life had been. Lillie had never realised just how boring her life actually was before meeting Queen. She had been stuck in a rut, stuck in dead-end jobs, blinded by her dream of becoming a musician to the point that she never even considered other possibilities, possibilities that Queen made her see. In a few weeks though, everything would probably go back to normal, and she just didn't want to imagine reality where she didn't get to hang out with John, Freddie and Roger everyday, not to mention a reality where she wouldn't see Brian everyday, the man who seemed to constantly be stuck in her thoughts.

***

Word count: 2605

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Hey guys!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I know the band didn't appear much but I just wanted to use this chapter to introduce Lillie's parents and her brother to kind of explain why is is like she is. I really like writing the bits where Lillie is talking to John or to her brother, I just love the dynamics between them all.

Please vote and comment and hopefully the next chapter should be up next week!

~Olivia