This Year

Chapter Five

I went upstairs to my room and unwrapped my new Chuck Berry record, and carefully placed it on the recordplayer. Suddenly the room was filled with rock and roll. Even though I didn't know the lyrics to the new record, I hummed along.

I went to one of my drawers and browsed through my dresses. I picked out a royal blue tea dress with a black bow collar. I decided that my black Mary Jane shoes went well with the dress. I put on a pair of pearl earrings while I danced around towards the mirror. What to do with my hair? I decided to braid it, since I always let it hang loose. I put on some mascara and made a brown winged eyeliner, put on some rouge, filled in my eyebrows a bit, and put on a hint of a neutral lipstick. To finish everything off, I put on a tiny amount of perfume. Perfect.

Just when I was finished, the record was finished too. I put the needle back in place, and turned the player off. What a great record I bought. It really was.

I went downstairs and looked at the grandfather clock on the wall which had startled Paul and I earlier today, and saw that I still had about ten minutes or so before John and Paul would arrive. I poured some more tea, but it had become lukewarm. Instead I picked up the guitar and strummed a bit on it. Paul must've tuned it, because it was perfectly tuned. I played a few songs I had written until I heard three knocks on the door. I placed the guitar beside the sofa and went to the door.

When I opened the door I saw Paul and John, naturally. They were both wearing leather jackets. John had a black shirt underneath, while Paul's were white. The both of them were smoking cigarettes also. They almost looked like brothers. When they saw me, they put out the cigarettes and stared at me. John crossed his arms and smiled wide.

"Wow." was all he said.

Paul didn't say much, but he smiled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Are you ready Love?"

I smiled back at them and said that I was just going to get my coat. After I got my coat, I shut the door behind me and locked it. It seemed like the storm had settled now, which was perfect since we were walking to the Cavern. 

It was kind of awkward walking since I was between them while they had a conversation going. I didn't have a clue of what or who they were talking about either. Hopefully we were there soon. I felt John coming closer to me. He lit a cigarette and turned to me. He was just a few inches away from my face, scanning me as if he looked for something. He turned away again and asked me if I smoked. That was it. He was scanning me to find out if I were the type to smoke or something, I thought. I'm not a smoker, but I have tried it several times and it wasn't too bad.

Paul turned to John. "John, I don't think Laur-" 

"Actually, I wouldn't mind one." I cut Paul off.

Paul looked kind of surprised of what I said. I don't blame him though. I'm a really shy girl, and really not the type you would've thought smoked. 

"Wow, I didn't expect that at all. But I don't mind." John grinned while giving me the cigarette and lit it for me. I inhaled it slowly, and exhaled it in the same pace without coughing. It was a long time since I've smoked the last time, but I was still used to it. To be honest, it felt really good.

"And I see it's not even your first time smoking. You really surprise me, Love." he said and slapped my shoulder very lightly while he laughed. 

I looked away and continued to smoke the cigarette. Then I saw the red glowing letters on a building. The Cavern Club it said. Outside there was a lot of people mostly about our age or older, standing in a line to get in. They were laughing and talking, and I could hear the music coming from the club.

"Here we are then! This is the Cavern. John, will you take Laura to the line and wait for me while I get George? I bet he's already here." Paul said while walking backwards down the pavement.