Roger's P.O.V.

Lee and I talked and laughed about anything that came into our minds whilst we sat and ate our meal. The conversation was perfect, whether it was about my life or hers or something completely different, we never ran out of things to talk about. That was one of the things I'd noticed in particular about Lee, she was so easy to get along with and nothing but herself. Most girls I'd met tried to act like something they weren't and put on a persona in an attempt to impress me but, really, I knew that all they wanted was to have something to show off to their friends i.e. a 'rockstar' for a boyfriend.

But although I wasn't going out with her, Lee didn't come across like that at all. Even the day we first met, although she was interested in what I did for a living, she still treated me like any other human being; something I didn't receive as often as I would preferred from people anymore. I really appreciated it.

'So, what's the plan when you head back up to London? Apart from your new job, of course.' I asked, taking a sip of my drink.

Lee looked up at me from the food on her plate, which she was currently taking a forkful of, 'I dunno. I'll have to get back into the swing of being back in the bustling city environment again, for a start. Although I've been living there for almost 4 years now, when I go back home to the country, I often forget how hectic the town really is in comparison.'

I chuckled, 'I know what you mean. I grew up out in the sticks myself.'

'Really? I thought you said you lived in Truro?'

'I did, but not in the actual town itself. I lived outside it, in a little village. Have to admit, it was pretty boring. Not much happened. I couldn't wait to pack my bags when I got accepted into dentistry school in London.'

'Hold on. Dentistry school? Lee giggled, 'You never mentioned that you wanted to be a dentist.'

'I didn't, I absolutely despised it - the work, the people. The only reason why I enrolled was because my teacher told me it paid well. I was just so unhappy that I dropped out within the first year. I did go on to complete a bachelors in Biology, but I didn't have any intention of doing anything with that either - I only did it to keep my parents happy.'

'But if you disliked it so much, why put yourself through hell in the first place?'

I shrugged, 'I needed to have a plan if things didn't turn out the way I'd hoped, but I really only went there for the music scene. I missed being in a band - the one I was in before had split up, and I realised I couldn't stand not being in a group. I figured, given its reputation of being the birthplace of so many great bands, London would be the perfect place to go.'

'And was it?' asked Lee softly, her blue eyes shining as she lifted her glass to her lips.

'Well, I think so,' I smiled, 'I mean, I joined a band which has become a bigger success than I could have imagined. We've been lucky enough to do what we love for a living, travel the world and use some of the best recording studios in the country. Which, ultimately also led to meeting you - definitely one of the best highlights so far.'

I winked at Lee as she just shook her head and chuckled, 'Very charming, Rog.'

'So I'm told.' I said, a grin spreading across my lips as I took a bite of the food on my plate. Lee smirked as she turned her head and peered out the window, watching the all the people go by. I knew she was trying to hide her face from my view, but I could still tell it had turned bright red because of my comment.

The two us talked for a little while longer until we'd both finished our lunches. We sat back in our chairs, unable to move, as we pushed our empty plates into the middle of the table.

'I'm stuffed.' I exasperated.

'You're telling me.' Lee replied, 'I don't think I can face eating anything else for the rest of the day.'

'Yeah, me too. D'you want another drink?'

'No thanks, you're alright. I don't think I could live with the guilt of making you spend even more than necessary,' Lee admitted.

'I already told you not to worry about the money,' I assured her, 'There's no reason to feel guilty. Although I must admit, it's probably best to stay as sober as we can today. Unless we want to have a repeat of last time.'

'As fun as it was, I think I'll have to agree.' Lee giggled, 'That was a gorgeous meal, though, and in a just as gorgeous place. Thank you for taking me to lunch here, Roger. I really enjoyed it.'

'You're very welcome,' I replied. Sitting up straight and stretching my now stiff back, I drummed on my knees with my hands, 'So, shall we get going then - if you're ready to?'

Lee laughed lightly, 'If I can get up off the chair, sure.' whilst collecting her handbag and other belongings.

Once we were ready to go, I went and paid the bill for the food before the two of us left the restaurant and went back out onto the busy street again. We stood at the bottom of the steps of The Parlour as I looked around, trying to see past the crowds of people lining the promenade, which seemed to be even busier than before.

'So, where to now? Or is that classified information?' Lee spoke up, putting her sunglasses back on.

'We'll head back down this way and then make our way to our next destination,' I told her, as I lit up the cigarette I'd popped into my mouth, 'And yes, it is classified, so you'll just have to wait and see.'

Looking at me disappointingly, Lee huffed at my refusal to elaborate, 'Aw, come on. Could you at least give me a clue?'

'No, because you'll figure it out straight away - where's the fun in that?' 

Eventually, after several failed attempts to get me to reveal all, she gave in, 'Alright, I suppose I can be patient.'

'Good, I'm glad to hear it.' I beamed, 'Right, what do you say we quit hanging around and start making our way there, yeah?' I offered my arm to her, while I waited for her response. She looked up at me with the most beautiful smile on her face, pausing for a moment, and saying;

'I'd say - what are we waiting for? Let's go.' before taking my arm and linking it with hers.

Amelia's P.O.V.

Roger and I walked along the bustling street arm in arm contentedly as we talked about his trip to Japan a couple of months ago, which was extremely fascinating. To be honest, I was rather jealous he'd been to so many places in the world (the furthest I'd ever traveled was France to visit my auntie) but that was one of the perks of being in a band, I guess.

It was quite strange, you know - despite the fact I'd only known Roger for a couple of weeks, it'd felt like I'd known him him for much longer. As cliche as it sounds, he was so easy to talk to, and so willing to get to know stuff about me too. He would talk about himself for while, but then he'd be straight back to asking questions about me - like he was genuinely interested in what I had to say. Clearly, it'd been a long time anybody had shown so much interest in me, but nevertheless, I was flattered.

Anyway, we carried on navigating through the people swarming the surrounding area, which was made a lot easier by the fact we were now so close together - something I didn't mind at all. As we passed by a number of shops, my footsteps ground suddenly to a halt, making Roger stumble slightly as a result. He turned and looked at me curiously, wondering why I'd stopped in my tracks, and followed my eyes to figure out what it was that had grabbed my attention - the entrance to the marketplace.

'Chrissie mentioned something about this earlier on.' I told him, 'She said it had some really nice stalls which we just have to go and check out. Oh, please can we go and have a quick look? You never know what you might find here.'

Roger looked at me whilst rolling his eyes jokingly, 'If we must.'

Smiling broadly, I scurried off towards the entrance to the marketplace, whilst pulling a reluctant Roger along with me (he obviously wasn't impressed that I'd diverted us from his original plan). We walked through the busy marketplace at a slow pace, as I checked out the occasional stall that grabbed my attention. There was one for just about everything here - clothes, furniture, books, flowers, farmers produce, you name it - someone was selling it. I looked up at Roger, who still had an slightly uhappy expression on his face, so I decided to ask him why he'd become so miserable all of a sudden.

'Why you looking so glum, Rog?' I nudged him gently in his side, 'Don't enjoy shopping very much?'

Roger shook his head, 'No, it's not that. It's just that I'm not a big fan of the marketplace environment anymore, that's all.'

'How come?'

'I, uh, used to run a stall in Kensington Market selling second hand clothes many years ago. With Freddie, actually.' he admitted.

'My, my, how many more surprises am I in for about you?' I tried to contain my laughter, 'Forgive me, but I can't really imagine you and Freddie sitting at a stall selling clothes all day.'

'Well, there was a time before all the glitz and glamour, y'know?' Roger told me, 'We had to make money somehow until our music career kicked off and that seemed the best option at the time. Anyway, I don't really like to talk about it. It's a bit embarrassing.'

'Oh, nonsense,' I rolled my eyes, 'I'll find a way to make you to talk about in more detail one day - mark my words.'

'Sure you will.' the drummer said mockingly with a cheeky grin on his face.

We continued to browse around the stalls for a little while longer - Roger's mood soon brightened up when he found one selling records - whilst I checked out the one across from it which was selling the most beautiful jewellery, a lot inspired by shells and other artefacts related to the sea. They had bracelets, necklaces, rings, earings, and broaches; all intricately hand-crafted in the finest of detail. I looked up to see where Roger was at, to make sure he hadn't wandered off, only to find him talking to a group of young girls who had surrounded him and were pleading for his autograph. I smiled, leaving him to it, and carried on admiring the accessories around me.

As I was scanning the different pieces of jewellery, one in particular caught my eye which made me stop and take a closer look. It was a pendant necklace, with three tiny shells cast in silver hanging from a matching, delicate chain. I held the small shells in the palm of my hand, inspecting them more closely and smiling at the daintiness of them. What an adorable necklace, I thought to myself, holding it up so it glimmered in the light. In the midst of my thoughts, I hadn't noticed Roger standing at my side, who had finished signing autographs.

'That's nice.' he said, 'You gonna buy it?'

I glanced up at him, then back to the necklace, before shaking my head, 'No, I was, uh...just looking.'

Returning it to its place on the stand, I dismissed the necklace and continued browsing through the other items for sale, whilst Roger looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. After several more minutes of indecisiveness, I decided not to buy anything and left the stall empty handed. I walked along the pathway again, assuming Roger was behind me, but soon realised he was much further back than I was. Standing still so he could catch up, he rejoined me, whilst I looked at him suspiciously.

'Sorry, got a bit distracted. I didn't notice you'd walked off.' he explained.

'Oh. Right. Thought I'd lost you, for a second there.'

Roger chucked, 'Not quite.You'd have to try a lot harder than that to get rid of me.'

'Good thing I wasn't trying to, then.' I winked.

The two of us wandered around for a little while longer - I bought a couple of items of clothing whilst Roger bought a record from the stall he visited earlier - before deciding to head back to the entrance. As we began walking along the pavement again, I decided to ask Roger if we were any closer to our destination.

'Oh yeah, we're very close now.' he told me.

'Good,' I replied, 'I don't think I can take much more of this secrecy.'

We continued to walk for maybe a minute or so more, before Roger stopped in his tracks and so did I. He then nodded in the direction of what he was looking at, whilst I followed his eyes to see for myself. I probably should have guessed where he was taking me, perhaps it was so obvious that I didn't even think. But then again, you can't very well come to Brighton without visiting the famous pier.

Roger turned and looked at me, with a cheeky smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

'Hope you're feeling enthusiastic,' he said, as he took ahold of my hand and began walking with me towards the popular tourist attraction, 'We're going to the fair.'

─────

Hi guys!

Another chapter that you had to wait ages for - I'm so so sorry! School's been absolutely hellish at the moment, the amount of homework they've been giving us is ridiculous. I know I shouldn't let that get in the way of my writing but I've just not had the time recently, and I sincerely apologise. Hopefully, things will quieten down soon and I can be more regular with my updates - even though there's only two more chapters and an epilogue left of this book (I'm emotional just thinking about it). Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you did, a vote/comment would be fantastic and I'll try to get the next part to you a.s.a.p.

Thank you as always!

- Anna :-)