As the sun colours flowers | Paul McCartney - Beatles Fanfiction

15. Enough with the silly jokes

"As long as I live
I will have control over my being."

— Artemisia Gentileschi

***

February 1965

The first few weeks of our last semester were absolutely hectic. Between classes, studying and writing my final essay, I barely had time to think about anything that wasn't school related. After years of hard work, it was finally feeling a bit more tangible and I was over the moon to be where I was, a few months away from graduating.

I was nervous about finding a job, though. I'd been told by a few people, professors and advisors mostly, that it would be hard to make it in my field, so I'd already started writing letters for a few places I was thinking of applying when I'd go back home. I was determined to find something that would both be challenging and help me boost my future career.

Doing it all with Lydia was making it bit easier, and I relied on her a lot in that time. Neil was stopping by often, since the Beatles weren't on the road for a good part of winter. I got a lot closer to him in that time and the three of us spent much of our free time playing cards and drinking wine if we were not going out. And since going out wasn't much of an option as our free time came mostly in short increments, we spent many nights and short breaks back at our apartment.

However, as any young couple completely heels over head in love (really, they couldn't keep their hands off of each other), they did like to spend time just the two of them, and that cold evening in mid-February was one of them. I'd decided to call Maureen, hoping to catch up with her as she and Ringo had recently got back from their short honeymoon. Not feeling up to go out as I'd suggested, she instead insisted I came over at their home for dinner, saying that we wouldn't be disturbed by Ringo anyway as the boys were in the studio that night.

So that's where I found myself after a short taxi ride, profusely thanking Maureen for the invitation when she took my coat from me. She greeted me like we were old friends and I was really touched that she was so welcoming and nice to me. We quickly made our way to the kitchen where she already had a kettle boiling and some sandwiches out.

"I didn't get a chance to congratulate you, Mo. I didn't even know you were engaged!" I exclaimed and gave her a smile.

She giggled and shook her head. "We weren't, it was a bit precipitated, but that's all Brian's doing."

"Oh? How come?" I sat down as Maureen poured us two cups of tea.

"Didn't you hear?" She looked at me with surprise and sat down next to me. "I'm pregnant."

"You are? Congratulations! How's Richie taking it?" I asked, wondering how difficult it must be to expect a child given all the fuss around Beatlemania.

"We're happy. It'll give me something to do when he's away, so it's good. And how about you? How have you been?" Maureen was positively glowing and I immediately told her all about the last few weeks. We hadn't seen each other for a while, both being too busy, and we had a lot to talk about. We shared about our families, our best childhood memories and she told her fears and hopes about being a mother.

The hours went by quickly and we were just finishing up washing the dishes when the front door slammed loudly. I winced and gave a look to Maureen who just laughed and rolled her eyes.

"I guess things didn't go as planned in the studio tonight." She said knowingly, folding the towel carefully.

As soon as she said it, Ringo and Paul walked into the kitchen, making long faces and looking like they hadn't slept in days.