𝕃𝕖𝕥 𝕀𝕥 𝔹𝕖 | 𝕁𝕠𝕙𝕟 𝕃𝕖𝕟𝕟𝕠𝕟 ✅

11

28th September, 1960

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Stu had gone out before John had woken up, so John took his friend's bed sheets off of the bed and bundled them into a bag. He then led Ruby out of the flat, not bothering to lock up before they left since, in John's words, "they had nothing to take, anyway."

Ruby and John took the bus to Aunt Mimi's, Menlove Avenue, and talked all the way. He told her a little about his childhood and the band, and she in turn filled him in on her childhood - though she had to make up wild stories in order to seem like she had grown up in the 1940s and 1950s.

When they got to their stop, John grabbed her hand and pulled her off of the bus, not bothering to thank the driver. "So you grew up around here?"

John nodded as Ruby looked around them. Woolton was a lovely little village, and looked quite like it had come from a quaint water painting. Ruby smiled as she took everything in, just imagining a little John Lennon running around the place holding onto his aunt's hand. How many Beatles fans wanted to walk around Liverpool with the band? And there she was on the way to get her bed sheets cleaned by John's own Aunt Mimi.

"You done staring at shit, now?" John asked roughly, in a tone that was not characteristic of the him that Ruby had come to know in the last twenty-four hours. He grabbed her hand and roughly pulled her along the streets.

"Ouch!" She hissed, pushing his grip from her skin, "John, you hurt me!" John didn't look back at her as he kept walking. Ruby took a few deep breaths and then called after him. "John!" He stopped in the middle of the path, but didn't turn around. Ruby sighed and hurried over to be beside him. She put a hand on his forearm and said quietly, "are you okay?"

He looked up from the pavement at her and she could see the vulnerability in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" She asked him again, even more softly.

"You, um, should brace yourself." He looked away from Ruby, it was as if he knew that he was vulnerable and didn't want to be seen like that.

"Why?"

"Because Mimi isn't nice to any girl that I take to meet her."

"But -"

"She hates Cynthia." He looked at her hand, "did I hurt you?"

He had, but she decided to not make him feel bad about something that didn't particularly matter. Ruby shook her head, "not really."

The two of them stood in silence for a few seconds before John seemed to mentally pick himself up, "shall we go, then?"

Mendips, the house that John Lennon had grown up in, was quaint and sweet, and exactly like it appeared in the pictures that Ruby had seen of it in the twenty-first century. John knocked on the door and then took a step back, turning quickly to look at Ruby. "Remember what I said, eh?"

She nodded and bit her lip. John was still watching her, but the second that the front door opened, he tore his eyes from her mouth and to his aunt.

"Mimi!" He exclaimed in a bright tone of voice that didn't seem quite genuine.

"John," Mimi frowned, "what are you doing here? You don't usually come on Wednesdays -"

"Mimi," John interrupted, to which she responded with a frown, "this is Ruby." He went and stood behind Ruby, putting a hand on either of her shoulders. He was half a head taller than Ruby, so peered over the top of her at his aunt. "She's moving in with Stu and me. I brought her bed sheets to be washed -"

"Give them here." Mimi said after only a brief pause. Ruby held the bag out to Mimi, who took them quite quickly but not rudely. She peered inside and sighed. "I must have done these over a year ago - they're not -"

"Stu doesn't get back to Millie's, much." John paused, "you were the last to wash them, Mimi."

Mimi pulled a disgusted face, her lipstick coated lips pursing. "John, I have no clue how you and Stuart live like you do." She sighed, "come in, I've just put some tea on."

John smiled at Ruby invitingly as he walked around her to go into the house. Ruby followed suit.

They sat in Mimi's living room, three cups of tea between them and a fire burning in the fireplace. "So," Mimi said as she lowered her teacup delicately, placing it on the saucer and then onto the coffee table in between the two settees, "Ruby, was it?"

"Ruby, yes." She confirmed. John was sitting quite close to her. She could feel how tense he was because it was practically radiating from his body.

"What do you do?"

"Do?" Ruby echoed, "as in, what do I do at school?"

"School?" Mimi asked in a slightly alarmed tone of voice, "do your parents know that you're moving in with my nephew and his friend? How old are you?"

Ruby fought the urge to sigh. Mimi was just like she had always imagined her to be; strict and rigid and judgemental.

"I'm in college." Ruby told the woman, "art college, actually. I'm in John's class -"

"She got moved up by two years because her art is that good, Mimi." The way that John was speaking made Ruby think that he was proud of her. She wondered if it was possible to be proud of somebody that you had met only the day before.

"Yes, she looks like the sort." Mimi looked her up and down, "actually, Ruby dear, you look more like a model from one of John's magazines -"

"Mimi!" John exclaimed in a horrified tone of voice, "you can't -"

Ruby had an idea of what magazines Mimi meant, and she wondered how Mimi had seen them.

"A right side better than that other girl you were with, John. What was her name?"

"Cynthia." Ruby said quietly, "and they're still together, Mrs Smith."

"Mimi's fine, dear." Mimi gave her a kind smile. Ruby returned it. "And it's a pity," she sighed at John, "your children would be much prettier -"

"Mimi!" John exclaimed again, absolutely horrified at what his aunt was implying. "You can't -"

"Oh, it's fine." Mimi promised, waving a hand at her nephew, "women like Ruby love being told -"

"Women like Ruby?" John echoed, standing up. Ruby sighed, grabbing at his wrist to try and pull him back down to the settee. She didn't want there to be a row, even less one that she was the cause of. "What the fuck do you mean -"

"Language, John." Mimi chided in a raised tone of voice, "now, sit down and finish your tea -"

"I don't want your fucking tea!" He knocked the cup onto the floor on purpose and Mimi gasped. The liquid was spreading across the carpet. In an effort to limit the stain which would be left, Ruby dropped her now-empty tote bag on top of it, pressing down with her foot to quench the growing puddle. "Now what the fuck did you mean when you said that about her?"

Ruby just wanted him to sit down. She slid off of the settee and landed on her hands and knees, continuing to try and clean up the tea.

"Only that -"

"Forget it, we're leaving." John knelt down and took Ruby's hand, helping her up until she was on her feet again. He glared at Mimi and led the way out of the house. Mimi watched them go, standing up, her jaw on the carpet.

"It was nice to meet you, Mrs Smith!" Ruby called over her shoulder before John closed the door behind them.