Personal Preference (George Harrison)

Chapter Twenty: Act Naturally

Stella was still angry and now that I realized why I couldn't much blame her. Upon returning home from the party at John's, I packed my things for the tour and readied myself for the first dates in Glasgow, Scotland. This was mine as well as Stella's first time touring the United Kingdom, sure we had played shows in London and some other large cities of Europe, but we had never taken the time to tour the rest of the U.K. Therefore, I appreciated the fact that we were finally being given the chance to do so.

Outside of my flat, the sound of a car horn caught my attention. I moved to the window in the family room that overlooked the street and I was met with the sight of John Lennon leaning out of the back window of a Phantom Rolls Royce. A nice car to say the least, and much more expensive than the car that he had picked me up from the airport in. I grabbed my suitcase and headed out the door of the flat. I took the elevator to the lobby and headed outside to greet John. "You're late," John stated as his driver took my suitcase and placed it into the boot of the car. 

I shake my head as I open the door of the window in which he's hanging out of, "Says the person who told me they would be picking me up at 8 o'clock, on the dot." 

"Well, I changed my mind when I found out our train leaves at 10:00," John rolled his eyes. 

I laugh, "It's 9:30, John, I hope we don't have a long ride to the station."

"Don't give yourself worry lines, my driver will get us there," John says

I nod and settle in for the ride to the station. After a long and traffic packed ride through the streets of London, we arrive at the station shortly before 10:00. The ride has given me severe anxiety, to say the least, and truthfully I did not expect to make it on time with John's slow-poke driver behind the wheel of the Phantom. I practically burst forth out of the car once the wheels had come to a complete stop and ran in the direction of the loading platform. Paul, George, and Ringo all stood with their ladies and Stella sat on one of the waiting benches, looking sulkier than she had the night before. I ignored the looks of Paul and George as I walked over to sit with Stella. I feared having to speak to her, but I knew that sometime during this tour I would have to break the figurative ice. 

"Johanna, don't speak to me because I don't want to hear it," Stella spoke first. It caught me off guard, but what she said did not. I expected to hear something like that when we started to converse again, but I still had to make an effort despite it all.

I take a deep breath, "Stell, I'm sorry, I didn't really mean to cause any trouble."

Stella scoffs and finally turns towards me with an angry look embellishing her face. "We both know that's a lie considering how you've always made it your mission in life to cause me agony, watching Paul and Jane say goodbye to each other is bad enough without you making a point to throw everything up in my face, so excuse yourself and stay away from me until this tour is finished," She rants, quiet enough though so no one else will overhear the conversation. 

I give her the satisfaction and remove myself from my seat on the bench beside of her. I say hello to Paul and we exchange a look, which I use to apologize. He nods and I know that things between us are better than they were before the unspoken words shared through the glances. His girlfriend, Jane, smiles in my direction and stops me before I can go say hello to Ringo and Maurine who stand with Pattie and George. "I'm a big fan," She says as she extends her hand out to me to shake. 

"Hi, big fan, I'm Johanna," I joke and Jane smiles as her cheeks flush in embarrassment. I can hear Stella chuckle from her seat on the bench. 

"Actually, I'm Jane Asher, I'm sorry I didn't exactly introduce myself better," Jane states with another smile. 

I return the smile and finally shake her outstretched hand, "It's all good I was only joking with you... like I said before I'm Johanna, but you can call me Jo."

Jane nods but is interrupted before she can say anymore. Brian Epstein returns to the group with our tickets and hands one out to each of us. "These are your boarding passes and without them, you will be kicked off of the train so please keep track of these for the next few minutes," He says. 

I see John roll his eyes at this from across the way before he raises his hand, acting as if he is a pupil at school wanting to ask the teacher a question. Brian turns to John with a sour look on his face, "Yes, John?"

"I've already lost mine, mister."

Brian turns to John and shakes his head, "Sod off while you're ahead."

I cannot help but giggle and other laughs reverberate from the other members of our party waiting to board the train, too. I watch as John's driver and the other roadies that work for the boys take the luggage up into the train to put away before we board. John and I board the train first, showing the conductor our tickets as we get on. He stamps them and sends us on our way to our section, which is private and situated in the back of the train. I sit down in the seat beside of the window and watch as the couples say goodbye to one another outside. Ringo shares a chaste kiss with Maurine and Paul and Jane exchange a kiss that is quite similar. However, watching George and Pattie say goodbye seems to have the biggest effect on me. They share a passionate kiss, initiated by Pattie and I cannot help the feelings of jealously that form in my gut.

Once Brian takes a once-over of all of us once we have loaded onto the train, he leaves our section to go converse with Derek Taylor. Stella and I ignore each other for the entirety of the train ride, four hours long, give and take layovers for all the other stops between London and Glasgow. After the train docks in at the station, Brian and Derek shepherd us out of the train and towards a limousine that will take us to our hotel. 

We have the rest of the day for settling in at the hotel and for rehearsals at the venue. Stella and I discuss a setlist with Brian and finally, we are able to settle on one that shows off both mine and her talents. 

Thankfully, both of the Glasgow shows go over without a hitch and Stella and I keep a platonic relationship with each other and not one fight manifests on or off stage. 

Author's Note:

Just a quick note: this is a filler chapter and the next few will be fillers as well because the tour is not really relevant to the storyline. However, it still is part of the timeline and holds a few events that form Johanna and George's relationship, so those will be coming up. Also, I know I'm late and I'm sincerely sorry, however, with the next few chapters comes a new year with a whole lot of drama. 

Love, 

jayne.