Golden Slumbers (Book 1)

Chapter 2 I've Just Seen a Face

Fast foward to 4 years later, October 1964

London, England

Chapter 2 I've Just Seen a Face

"I've been thinking lately," George said as he, Ringo, John, and I sat on the balcony of our hotel room. The cool autumn breeze tickled at our barefeet as they hung loosely over the balcony. A bottle of scotch was being passed around, stopping at me when I replied, "'bout what?" I took a quick gulp of the bitter liquid and passed it to Ringo.

George sighed and said, "I think I love Pattie." We all turned to George when he said this.

"Already?" John asked as he reached for the scotch. George blushed a little. It was obvious he had been thinking about this a while and telling us went a little differently in his head. I felt sorry for him. He was the only one of us that really felt that way about someone. John loved Cynthia but felt that one of the only reasons they got married was because he accidently got her pregnant.

"We've been really getting close. I think she's the one for me," George took an urgent gulp of the scotch. The bottle was back in my hands. "Well, I'm happy for ya," I spoke up, letting the last of the scotch trickle down my throat. It burned like a raging flame in my stomach, making me shift my weight uncomfortably. I let the scotch bottle slip through my fingers, listening as it crashed to the ground below us.

"Eh, we better get to bed, boys," John said after a moment of silence. "Got another damn press conference." He slowly got up and walked to the room. Ringo was the next to go, leaving George and me.

"Are you sure George?" I looked over at the younger Beatle. I honestly felt as though I could talk some sense into him. Maybe he didn't really feel this way and he was feeling pressured. "Love is a strong word." He looked over at me with a serious look. "You have no idea," and with that he stood up, brushed himself off and walked inside, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

***

It was almost noon when I awoke that morning. Breakfast was already served and the lads were already awake when I walked into the livingroom.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Ringo said, with his mouth stuffed with eggs. I yawned and flopped down next to John on the couch. George was done eating and was strumming silently at his guitar, murmuring to himself. I felt bad about last night. I couldn't help not feeling the same way he did. Maybe when I found the right one I'd understand.

Neil Aspinall and Brian Epstein came into the room then. "Come on lads, we're late," Brian said. I quickly gobbled down what I could and we all ran down the million flights of stairs to the lobby of the hotel.

I held my breath as we opened the door to the bright sun outside. Screams started like a siren as we walked out into the street. "Quick!" Neil yelled at us. We dodged girls as they violently grabbed at us and screamed in our ears, and ran toward the car. I couldn't help but laugh with excitement. I loved the attention.

Finally safe in the car, we all took a deep breath of relief that we were all still alive. The car ride was dull. Other than the screaming girls clinging to the car, all was quiet. A random thought crossed my mind as I sat there. I thought of that girl from Hamburg. I never did find her. Her face floated into my mind. The way her almond brown eyes hypnotized me, her salty skin drugged me..

My thoughts were suddenly disrupted when we pulled up to a tattered building. "We're here," Brian said to the four of us. The others looked as though they had been in a trance as well and looked uncomfortably out the window at the building. The local police came to our car and gaurded us from the screaming fans.

We slowly made our way to the enterance. The fans crowded around us and tried throwing themselves upon us, screaming and crying. I became a bit scared that we wouldn't make it to the door, that the crowd would swallow us and we would never see the light of day again. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the girls to pull me under but when the screaming was sudenly muffled, I opened my eyes again and we were safely inside. Just in front of us, though, what seemed like millions of people with camras suddenly started flooding into the room.

I let out a heavy sigh which I'm sure came from the other lads as well. Brian lead us through the crowd to a small room, a room that vaguely reminded me of Hamburg.

"'Kay, boys. Get ready in here and we'll be down there in 5." Brian left the room.

We got ready in silence, combing our hair and picking hair from our suites. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was just that none of us had anything interesting to say. After five minutes, Brian popped his head back into the room. "Ready fellas? Come on."

"Good," Ringo sighed, "The silence was depressing me."

The four of us shuffled down the long corridor after Brian. An occasional person passed by, acting as though they didn't recognize us or just didn't care. I didn't really care either. As we walked further and further down the corridor, the buzzing of people socializing became louder and louder.

"Ya ready, boys?" Brian asked, turning to us.

"Course," John spoke up. Brian smiled and opened a big brown door that stood at the end of the corridor. The light that came from the other side was blinding. I squinted and put my hand in front of my eyes, blocking out most of the flashes.

The buzzing got louder as we came in and sat down behind a long table with michrophones and glasses of water neatly arranged on top of it.

"I love you, Paul!" "George smile for me!" "Hey John!" "Ringo look over here!"

I smiled widely at the crowd and waved. I loved all the cameras pointing my way. Looking around the room at all the faces, somthing caught my eye. Or someone, rather.

Someone with almond brown eyes.