The Night Before

4. I Wanna Be Your Man

    Ringo and Monica walked to the diner in peaceful silence, enjoying the sunlight. Ringo kept his head down in an attempt to not be recognized. They arrived at the diner and sat down at an empty table. Monica ordered a chocolate milkshake and a blueberry scone and Ringo ordered a vanilla ice cream.

    They talked for a while and ate happily, Monica thought it was nice to spend time with Ringo, but she still couldn’t stop thinking about her grandfather. Ringo noticed the worried expression in her eyes, “Is everything alright?” he asked with sincere concern. Monica nodded, and looked at the table, refusing to meet his eyes.

    Ringo shook his head, “No, I know you well enough to know when you are lying to me. You know you can tell me anything Monica.” She looked up, “It’s nothing really, I’m probably overreacting.” “Well then if it’s nothing surely you can tell me.” Ringo retorted looking at her expectantly.

    Monica rolled her eyes, “It’s just… my grandfather.”

    “What about him?” he asked looking straight at her.

    “I don’t know exactly, just something is different about him, he doesn’t seem well.”

    “How can you be sure?”

    “I really don’t know, he just looks more tired, more sickly, and less aware of his surroundings, just different I guess.”

    Ringo nodded, “Have the nurses said anything?”

    Monica shook her head, “No, they say he’s fine, so I don’t know maybe I’m overreacting, I just can’t help being worried.”

    Ringo grabbed her hand and gave it a sympathetic squeeze, “There’s nothing wrong with worrying, but don’t drive yourself mad over it, I’m sure he’s ok. The nurses know what they are doing.” He let go of her hand took a bite of his ice cream.

    Monica forced a quick smile and nodded, “You’re probably right.” She was grateful to have a friend like Ringo, he always made an effort to cheer her up when she was down.

    She remembered one time a couple of months ago when she and Paul got in a fight over how much time he was spending with the band. Monica had stormed out and walked back to her house to be alone. Ringo came over and wouldn’t leave until he got her to smile. He even did a goofy little dance to cheer her up.

    Monica tried to change the subject so she would stop dwelling on her worries about her grandfather. “So anyway, how are you and Molly doing?”

    “Oh… uh, great, she’s really great.” He nodded his head not sure what to say. He made sure to avoid the part about canceling a date to spend time with her instead.

“You don’t seem too enthusiastic…” Monica pried.

“Well, I don’t know, I do really like her, I’m just not sure she’s exactly what I want.” He replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“How so?”

“Well, I watch what you and Paul have, the closeness and the passion, I just don’t know if I feel that with Molly right now…”

“Well you’re just at the beginning of the relationship. Paul and I weren’t always so close, the beginning is always awkward, but I really think if you give her a chance it could go somewhere.”

Ringo nodded, “You’re probably right, but then what if I do find that, and she ends up breaking my heart, I’ve never really been lucky in love like Paul.”

“Well you know Paul and I aren’t perfect. We fight, and we have our problems, but I still love him, it's just part of the risk I suppose, you have to be willing to take that chance.”

Ringo nodded slowly, not looking convinced.

Monica sighed, “Look, you like Molly right?”

“Yeah of course”

“She’s pretty?”

Ringo nodded.

“And sweet and funny?”

He nodded.

“And she’s pretty smart too right?”

He kept nodding.

“So what’s the issue, I really like her, she seems great, why are you holding back.”

Ringo looked at Monica with an emotion in his eyes that she couldn’t quite place. He looked like there was a battle going on in his mind and he wasn’t sure how much he should say. Eventually he seemed to come up with an agreement with himself, “You’re right, she’s really great… I guess she’s just not perfect y’know?”

Monica shook her head smiling, “Well that’s silly, no girl is perfect.”

Ringo looked ready to argue but he quickly thought better of it, he just stared at Monica with intense eyes for a moment then nodded, “You’re right, I’ll make more of an effort with her.”

Monica smiled, feeling accomplished, she wanted Ringo to be happy. She looked at her empty glass, “Are you ready to go?” She asked. Ringo nodded.

They paid and left to go back to the flat for the band’s rehearsal. When they walked in the door they saw that everyone else was ready and waiting for Ringo. “Where were you at?” Paul asked sounding somewhat annoyed. “We just went out for ice cream.” Replied Monica.

“Well it was nice you of you to finally show up.” Snapped John, “we’ve been waiting.” “Well sorry, Monica needed a friend and you were all too busy to be bothered.” Ringo snapped back. Monica looked somewhat startled by Ringo’s sudden change in mood and his defensiveness.

“She told me she was fine!” Paul argued.

“Well you obviously don’t know her as well as I do if you think that was sincere, she never wants to be a burden, you of all people should know that!” Ringo retorted.

Monica put her hand on Ringo’s arm trying to calm him down, “Ringo it’s fine really.”

Ringo looked down at her with sympathetic but determined eyes, “Well he’s your boyfriend, he should know these things, he’s obviously not paying enough attention, and he rarely makes time to see you anymore. If it were me I’d never treat you like that!”

Monica furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head slightly. Ringo tried to brush it off, “Well I uh, I just mean that you shouldn’t treat your girl like that, that’s all, you have to show some respect.”

“Don’t talk to Paul like that Ringo, what’s gotten into you?” John spat at Ringo defensively.

Paul narrowed his eyes at Ringo angrily.

There was a tension in the room, everyone was on edge, annoyed with each other in some way or another. George was the only one who looked indifferent, he just wanted to start playing.

“I’m going to head home.” Monica stated, not wanting to deal with the piercing stares everyone was giving each other. “You can come and watch if you want.” Ringo told her but she shook her head just wanting to leave. “Sorry, but I want to go home and relax for a while.” She dipped her head to them as a goodbye and walked out the door ready to be out of the conflict. The guys never fought like this, and Ringo was never one to blow up like that. What has gotten into him lately?