This Boy | j.l. [complete]

Chapter 16

      I ran off the stage in a hurry, I had blown it. Again. My voice was shaky, I couldn't focus enough to actually sing well, it didn't help watching Brian's face in the back of the room. I headed out into the street as I heard John and Paul calling my name.

"Ruth!"

"Don't bother, it was stupid anyways." I bit my lip, holding back a river of tears

"You were nervous, that's all," Paul frowned sympathetically

"I know I was, you both threw me in a bad situation."

"Come 'ere," John pulled me into a hug and I wrapped my arms around him, tears slowly falling from my eyes.

"I bet he wasn't even looking for a new female singer, he has Cilla so I don't know what he would want with me anyways." I mumbled, my fave buried in Johns chest

"You'll make it baby, I know you will," John kissed my head as the three of us started walking home.

— A Few Months Later —

      I had recently figured out that Will and the boys brought in a new member, her name is Catherine. I still talked to Larry now and again, but maybe its time I leaved them in my past. Hamburg seemed so long ago, the focus was gone. I had three choices, sing solo, join a group, or forget singing all together. I was leaning towards solo.

After the whole Brian Epstein situation, I took a break for a while from singing in the clubs. Maybe it was time to start getting back in the swing of things? John and I would often sit in his room together and he'd play his guitar while I sang along. Every day he would try to convince me to go back to singing in the clubs, he was talking about how they were supposed to start a recording a record of their own in a couple days, Ringo included.

Tonight I was going back to it, singing in the clubs. So, I got there and sang. At first I was shaky, flashbacks of the night with Brian replaying in my head; but I eventually started feeling better. Soon I felt like I did before, like I could sing with a passion. I was back to it, singing again. When the night started to come to an end, I finally got off stage and waited by the back door for John to come around. As I did, someone came up to me.

"You seem to know what you're doing," I turned around and was faced with a tall man, he had round glasses and chestnut coloured hair to match his chocolate eyes. I could tell he wasn't from Liverpool though, his accent was to posh.

"Oh, thank you," I smiled warmly, my eyes taking a shy glance to see if John was there yet

"I'm Thomas Alexander, a talent agent from Southern London," As he introduced himself he stuck out his hand, I shook it firmly and he grinned softly

"Ruth," I smiled

John often told me to stay away from people from London, he said that they're a lot tougher and much higher class then Liverpool. But that's just John and his casual opinions. I knew people from London, but not many. My take on them was all the same, London was the city everyone knew and everyone had their own ideas about it.

"I wanted to tell you that you sounded wonderful tonight, like a real professional. Maybe you could stop by my office tomorrow, say around eleven?" He reached into his inside coat pocket and handed me a card, I looked at it skimming over each word then looked back to him.

"Goodnight," He smiled and then headed back down the steps

"Hey daydreamer?" I spun around and John stood outside the door, "Come on, feels like its gonna rain."

I stepped outside while sliding the card in my pocket and John took my other hand. As we walked he did most of the talking, I didn't say much. My mind was still focused on the tall talent agent, I couldn't get him out of my head.

"Everything alright?' John asked taking a drag from his cigarette

"Yeah, just fine." I smiled to myself.