⇾ 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 | 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐈

Chapter Fourteen: The First Time I'd Say That I Had Just Experienced My Best Day

August 14, 1961

"Good morning, love," John greeted, standing up straight and removing his hands from his pockets.

I smiled in turn. "Good morning."

"Did ye have a nice morning?"

I thought back to my parents' picture. I nodded. "It was good, I guess." I fought to keep my lips in a smile. "How about you?"

"It was great," he replied. A woman rushed past behind me, nearly toppling me over, and he waved to her. I didn't see if she waved back, but I presumed she did because he nodded with a smile to something behind me.

I stared blankly at my feet, feeling incredibly awkward suddenly. Then, I looked up. He was looking at me, smiling softly. "What did ye wanna do?" I asked.

He jerked out of a trance. "I-well-I just wanted to walk you around a while. Maybe I can show you stuff you haven't seen yet." He shrugged, still smiling. "I thought it could be a nice little getaway. Y'know, just you and me, no band, no people, no sneaking around...just us." He gave a grin and I nodded.

"That sounds like a time to remember."

"Well, then, shall we proceed?" He hesitated a moment before holding out a hand for me to take. I took it and I swear I caught a blush from him, but he turned his head away before I could fully make it out. I knew I was blushing then. I get flustered way too easily.

"So," he said, turning back around, sheepish to an almost-comical extent. "This is Penny Lane, as you know. Everyone here is really nice. You've got the barber shop over there. He gives some pretty good trimmings." He grinned as he began to walk and talk, bending his voice to sound like a tour guide. I giggled.

The road had almost a nostalgic feel to it. It felt like the perfect city that you'd read about in books where a hero would always live. A simple town that turns out legend after legend. Deep down, I had to remind myself that it was just a regular place in the same boring world we'd been raised in because my hyperactive imagination desperately wanted it to be otherwise. It wanted it to be the city that housed children with parents and where car accidents never happened. I almost zoned out as John continued to talk.

"Over there, in the middle of that roundabout, is a bus shelter. Lovely service in there. Always down for a chat." He smiled as he spoke, as if he thoroughly enjoyed himself here.

The sky was a striking blue with a few clouds scattered here and there and the people bustling about made me nervous in almost a homey way. It felt like I belonged here and I always had, I just never realized it until now. I could tell I was gonna like it here.

"Whatcha think?" he asked, smiling down at me. I looked around another time and turned back to him with a wide smile.

"I think I like Penny Lane."

He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it quickly, perhaps thinking he shouldn't say it at all. Then, he looked away from me as I tried to catch his eyes, his ears going pink.

I looked away too and we fell into a comfortably awkward silence.

I had finished taking in my surroundings when he turned to talk.

"How about we stop in this cafe and get some tea? Then I've got somewhere else I wanna show you." We smiled.

"I think that'd be splendid."

He beamed like a child opening presents on their birthday. "Well, c'mon then." He took my hand again gently and led me down a path and into a small diner almost to the end of Penny Lane. We sat at the counter and asked for a cup each. The waitress returned quite quickly with the drinks. The twinkling of the bells above the door mixed with his laugh could've put me to sleep right there. Why was I so...into him all of a sudden? Did his charm not have an off button?

I found that I loved when he'd get embarrassed and look away. You could always see his smile from the side because even he couldn't hide that and, if the light caught it just right, you could always see the outline of his thin nose. It all just looked so...proportionate? Like it all belonged just the way it was, and if it were any different, it just wouldn't look right for some reason.

I think this was a new feeling. I felt all glittery and fluttery in my stomach and my head was in the clouds. I found myself able to indulge in his conversations dreamily, even if I didn't completely catch what he was talking about. It didn't seem to matter. He'd always catch me being wistful and would make fun of me, but only to hide the nervous tension he could sense was about to settle around us.

It wasn't long before we'd sipped down the tea (with honey, cause apparently I'm, "sweeter than that," John had said as he poured a blob into the drink). And, having finished, I followed him down the road. He was respectful in limiting the hand-holding thing, which I couldn't tell if I was happy or upset about, but nonetheless, I was flattered at the consideration, or rather, my overthinking.

He led me to a bigger road and pulled me across it as cars cleared momentarily into a grassy knoll. It was peaceful. There were a few couples strolling the paths paved around and a pond stood in the middle, vast and proud, a few ducks paddling around in it. It really was a beautiful place, although I had no idea where we were.

"Greenbank Park," he said, looking at me as if he could read my mind. Perhaps he could just read my curious eyes.

"It's beautiful," I mumbled, marveling at my surroundings some more.

He put his hand on the small of my back, gently pushing me along the path to follow him. I followed in suit.

I only realized how long we'd been here when we sat down on a bench in front of the pond and I got to look back at the sky. The sun was creeping its way towards the west, beating down on us with incredible force. It had to be around 4 or 5 by now.

John pulled a small bag of bread out of his pocket and opened it to take out two small pieces. He handed one to me and smiled affectionately as he tossed it into the pond and a duck came up and dipped his head below the water to eat it. I threw mine in after it and another came up and gobbled it up with a quack!

"They're fun, aren't they?" said John with a chuckle.

I nodded. "I—uh—John?" I began tentatively, my stutter kicking into high gear.

"Yes, love?" He looked down after throwing another piece of bread into the pond.

I sighed. "I...I had a great time today," I had to fight to get the words out stably.

He smiled lovingly. "I did too."

We tossed the rest of the bread out to the ducks, laughing as we tried to see who could throw it farther and by the time we were done, the sun was setting and so we sat and watched that together too. I saw John hesitate a moment, then gingerly put his arm around my shoulders. I settled in his embrace comfortably the rest of the time.

To end the day, he walked me home. Making sure I had gone inside before he left, nervously placing a kiss on the top of my head before muttering a flustered, "goodnight."

With that, I bid him a good night as well, and disappeared inside to dream about all I had just experienced.

This was only the first time I'd say that I had just experienced my best day yet.