𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 | JOHN LENNON

011: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯

𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭,
𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘰'𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮

the soft morning sunlight cascaded itself into the small slit in the hotel curtains. charlie felt a large hand creep over her shoulder and warm breath on her neck. someone was in bed with her.

the night before was a blur. ringo convinced john to have a few drinks with him while charlie read in solitary on the bed. when they came back up to the room while charlie was asleep, they were as drunk as sailors. both of them were slurring their words, tripping over one thing or another. all she could do was laugh. if she got mad at either of them, she was sure they would've thrown her out of the room.

ringo made himself cozy in the bathtub after puking a few times, ready to puke some more. john insisted on sleeping in bed with her, but she didn't really want him to. she asked him to take the couch, but he wouldn't. he wouldn't let her, either. he spilled wine on the cushions just so she couldn't sleep there. he knew what he wanted.

soon after they got in bed, john was trying to be smooth with charlie. he made a few innocent comments about her looks, then how beautiful she looked in the moonlight. charlie knew not to oblige to any of his advances. instead, she pretended to fall asleep midway through him trying to ask her to come to his side of the bed. he sighed, giving up easily.

but, just as she really fell asleep after he was soon sober, he made sure that he was closer to her, he could feel her body heat. when the sun rose, and charlie felt his arm over hers, she didn't care enough to move.

"john," she whispered, turning her head to his. "why are you so close?" he wasn't awake yet, but she knew he could hear her. "i have to go run some errands. i'll be back soon, okay?"

launching out of bed with john's head nod, she sprung to her suitcase, finding all the clothes she didn't wash yet. first thing to do that morning was find a laundromat. then, do her and john's laundry. probably ringo's, too. he didn't smell too hot. "don't spend all our money, charlie." she heard ringo's voice from aside her. she jumped, looking up and seeing him peering down at her with a crooked smile.

"i won't," she muttered, rising from the ground with all the clothes that needed washing. "don't drink anymore. you're horribly hungover. if i see you've touched the whiskey..."

ringo frowned. "don't worry about me, love."

___________________
𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦,
𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 7𝘢𝘮

now that charlie was 18, she had total freedom. no one had control but her, which was new. fun, maybe. she hadn't decided yet. in this case, it was fun. she could buy whatever she wanted at the store since she had tons of money. did she? no. it felt like too much to handle for her.

instead, she bought the minimum and what the hotel didn't offer: fresh food, fruits and yogurts, a few movies for john and ringo to watch if they were bored, a hairbrush since hers was lost, deodorant, a mini fan, a few hair ties and some milk. the store held a few customers, but at that hour, not many at all. the sun was only just rising. charlie liked the quiet. she milled around, staring at all the fancy british items. she gandered at how different they were from american stores.

after an hour or two when she got bored, she decided to make her descent back to the hotel. she checked out and accidentally dropped a hundred dollar bill, which she was sure an old lady snatched, but it didn't make a difference anyways. she got back into her dusty car, filling it with groceries and laundry.

upon her return to the room, the boys were in full action. the hangover was waring off. they were galloping around the room with papers and pens, talking wildly fast. she furrowed her brows, stepping in and putting the groceries on the paper covered counter. "i got the laundry don-"

"watch it! that's our list!" john swiped the paper away from charlie, hastening to return to ringo.

"list for what?" she began putting the things away, beginning to become curious of the progress. she definitely didn't expect this much hustle out of john.

ringo and john deviously grinned at one another, almost as to wonder if they should tell charlie. john nodded once, allowing a peep of the plan. "our list... our song-list. we have a plan."

"a plan?"

"a plan, darling..." john responded.

he came up behind her, forcing something into her hands. it was a scribbly drawing of five people, four of them on a stage and one off to the side, smiling widely. john, who drew the picture, made charlie's legs a bit too long, but she thought it was nice. "who's this?"

"us," ringo said quickly.

john leaned back, waiting for her to say something about it. he didn't put a lot of effort into it, but he thought it was quite good. "d'you think it looks alright?" he muttered nervously, smiling at her.

"this'll be you two and george and paul this time next year, i'm calling it." she grinned. satisfied with her answer, john took the paper back and put it with the rest of the papers. he had just about everything mapped out.

"now, just as soon as we find george and paul, we can put this thing to action," he mentioned, brushing past charlie, who was putting away the groceries. she was happy to see him so productive and smiley. "of course, you'll be our manager. that's okay with you, right? you'll be our manager? it'll be fun, won't it? let's have fun. shouldn't we?" the jumbled mess of words poured out of his mouth before he could stop them.

charlie stopped and laughed half-heartedly. she about thought he was joking until she looked into his serious, bright eyes. "i don't know the first thing about managing a band, john," she stuttered. though, once she saw his disappointment, she took it back. "i can... try."

unexpectedly, john came back up to her and gave her the biggest hug she ever received. "oh, charlie, you won't regret it!" that sentence sounded oddly familiar. "it'll be a jolly good laugh, won't it?!" he enthusiastically squeezed her, almost lifting her off the slippery floor.

"i hope not," she uttered. when he let her down, she resumed putting the groceries away. john jumped at the tapes, taking the old western movies and putting them by the small tv. "ringo, i'm putting your laundry on the cou- oh, that's right. john spilled wine on the cushions. then, i'll... put them in the bathtub?"

ringo nodded uncaringly as she took his clothes to the bathroom. "thank you, charlie," he called to her. "she's a keeper, john. she does laundry, dinner, groceries. don't let this one go." he winked to john, who was hunched over a newer drawing on the counter.

"trust me, i don't plan on it."

𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬. 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭. 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 <333