Warning: Injuries, blood, descriptions of violence, self-doubt, eye injury
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Roughly 5 minutes after arriving at the studio, George found himself standing in the doorway of Brian’s office.
“Come on in, George. Make yourself comfortable.”
“I… really should get going. We have to start recording, and-”
“Oh, don’t be a stranger. Come on.”
George reluctantly sat in the chair of Brian’s desk. He was fascinated by the various knick knacks from all of their tour stops and the papers strewn about, no question about the locations to shoot the movie.
“Cup of tea?”
“Huh?”
“Do you want a cup of tea, Hazza?”
“Um.. yes, please.”
“I’ve got Earl Grey, Darjeeling, Irish Breakfast…”
“...just Earl Grey would be nice.”
“Earl Grey? Of course, Geo.”
Brian pulled out two plain coffee mugs and placed a tea bag inside each: George’s had Earl Grey, and Brian’s had Darjeeling. He handed these mugs to his secretary, who promptly left for the break room.
“While that’s brewing, do you feel comfortable telling me what happened?”
George rubbed a bruise near his rib.
“I… I don’t know. It… I was told that you wouldn’t believe me.”
Brian looked confused.
“Of course I’d believe you, George. I want to help you get through this.”
“Would you believe me if I told you that this all started over a messy chord?”
“Yeah, I’d believe you. But it couldn’t have been just a chord, could it?”
George shook his head.
“One chord being messed up multiple times. 45 minutes, and I still couldn’t get it right. Pathetic, isn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t say, no.”
George sighed.
“It was to Paul. He let everyone else take a break while he told me about how I wasn’t good enough for the band and how… I’m not even a good person, period.”
“Oh dear…”
“...and then he started smacking me.”
Brian nearly dropped his water glass.
“No…”
“Yes… but that’s honestly nothing compared to what Emerick did.”
“Wait, how is Emerick involved?”
“He thought I had hit Paul , because Paul was crying afterwards.”
“And why was Paul crying?”
“...I think it was because he immediately regretted what he did.”
“But what did Emerick even do?”
George froze, and his face grew warm.
“He slammed me into the wall. But even before that, he was yelling. He was furious at me, I know it. He took Paul’s side. He grabbed my throat and told me that I couldn’t disrespect Paul. I tried making my case, but he punched me in the nose and covered my mouth with his hand.”
“George, what the fuck?”
George shook his head, wanting so desperately to stop. But he realized he couldn’t. Brian needed to know what happened, and George couldn’t even bring himself to stop anyways.
“While my mouth was covered, he was scratching my cheeks. I didn’t even realize that my nose was bleeding, but some blood got on his hand, and he threw me onto the ground and started kicking me.”
Brian looked George up and down, and all of a sudden, those injuries he saw made much more sense. All of the bruises, all of the blood…
“But maybe they were right, you know?”
“...right? How, what are you talking about?”
“Maybe I’m not the best fit for this band. I’m obviously not the smartest, and you can find a better guitarist in the clubs, I’m sure.”
“No, hold on a second, there. Why don’t you stay here, I’ll get everything sorted.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I want to chat with Paul and Geoff. If Paul’s as remorseful as you say, I’ll be able to work with him and get this sorted. I doubt I’ll be able to help Geoff, but I’m going to have to talk to him as well.”
“Oh, of course. I mean, I’m sure that working with just one side of a story is going to be impossible.”
The secretary came back in with 2 piping hot mugs of tea.
“Thank you, dear. Actually, can you bring George to get some ice? His eye… doesn’t look the best.”
The secretary nodded, and George stood up to follow her.
YOU ARE READING
Hunter in the Butterfly
FanfictionPaul has enough of George's seemed incompetence, but when he accidentally goes too far in showing his frustration, George feels as though no one has his back. He tries to deal with the situation alone, but Brian pays too much attention to context cl...
