Just to Dance with you

The Record Shop

Once my food had arrived, curtesy of Amelia's expertise waiting, I practically woofed it down, feeling slightly rushed now as I had to meet the lads to find this record shop, we had a meeting with Mr Epstein at 12 and it was already 11:30.....shit I've been here for an hour? Maybe someone here knows where the shop is?

As I finished my food I stood up and walked to the counter to pay for my meal to be greeted again by the lovely girl Amelia, I flashed her my biggest smile as I leaned casually against the counter trying to look cool......I did say this was more Paul's strong suit....
"Was everything okay with your meal today sir?" She asked grinning with that sweet, caramel smooth voice of hers
"Everything was absolutely perfect, thank you" I said getting my wallet out
"So that'll be 2 shillings please" she spoke adding everything up on her cash register
I gave her the two shillings I owed for my breakfast but something was gnawing in the back of my mind and I know that if I didn't say anything I may never know what could happen
I cleared my throat and stood up straight so I wasn't leaning and "looking cool" anymore
"Uh Amelia?" I started not really knowing how to ask
"Yes George?" She spoke softly making me swoon again as my name flowed from her lips

"I was uh well I was wondering if you'd maybe fancy meeting me tonight? Me and my friends we're in a band together and we're playing at the cavern club tonight down Mathew Street if you want to come? You don't have to of course I just thought, you know while I'm here and that" I stuttered quickly feeling as though I'd just rambled
"Oh you're in a band? How exciting! What time?" She asked to my utter surprise as she smiled at me
"Uh it's at 7.....well I mean we play at 8 but we all get there early so we can have a couple of drinks and such, it doesn't cost anything to get in it's only a small place and we're only a small band but we enjoy playing so what d'you say?" I ask hopefully
"Well....." she thought to herself keeping me in suspense
"Well I get off at 6 so I guess I'll see you there at 7" she giggled playing with the tassel on her apron
I couldn't believe my luck, I smiled at her and practically leaped for joy out of the shop, then the realisation hit me ........I have 10 minutes to get to where I need to be but I also have no idea where the hell I'm going. I ran back into the shop and over to Amelia who looked somewhat terrified
"Are you alright George?" She asked genuinely concerned at the sight of me running back into the shop
"Don't suppose you know where a shop called NEMS is do you?" I ask as cool and casually as I can as not to scare her anymore
She looked at me brightly and let out a small laugh, somewhat in relief
"Why yes my cousin works there, it's just down the road about 2 minutes from here you can't miss it" she giggled at the look of absolute joy on my face
I kissed her cheek and ran for the door
"Thanks love! I'll see you tonight!" I shouted running outside feeling elated

Upon reaching the shop, exactly where Amelia said it would be I noticed Paul, John, Pete and Mr Epstein all stood having a chat
After having practically ran there, I composed myself and straightened my hair and my jacket out and walked in
They all turned to look at me, Paul seeming slightly mad that I left them to it.....maybe they hadn't gone to the pub like I thought
"Ah George, nice of you to finally join us" John quipped tilting his imaginary hat
"Have a nice break?" Paul spoke sarcastically bitter at me as I glided over not giving a shit what they had to say, I was way too happy for that
"Yes actually it was very much needed, and I got us another audience member for tonight" I spoke looking toward Mr Epstein who simply grinned
"Oh aye?" Pete asked somewhat intrigued not looking up from his fingers as he twiddled his thumbs
"Oh yeah? Who?" John said unconvinced
"That's enough boys, let's talk business" Mr Epstein spoke up saving me from any further embarrassment from John, the lads know I'm not one for going round and picking up girls, I tend to keep to myself so whenever I find myself attracting the attention of a bonnie lass they usually have some sort of remark about their "baby brother making it in the big old scary world of women" ......I just didn't need that right now
The meeting went on for about an hour, talking numbers, record deals, a possible change of appearance much to our dismay and original songs
We'd only ever joked about writing our own songs before but of course Paul being Paul thought all this was absolutely fantastic.

We left the shop around 1:30 and made our way to Paul's dads house, Paul still lived there but much to our luck he forgot his bloody key for the front door
"Nice one Mccharmly" John laughed hunching over at the "hilarious" situation
"Shut it Lennon! We'll have to go through the upstairs window" Paul spoke pointing up to his bedroom window he left open
"You expect us to shimmy up the drainpipe?" Pete piped up whilst John cackled even louder
"What's the issue? I do it all the time" Paul stated as he began climbing up the old drain pipe slipping slightly
"Watch it Paul!" I spoke up not wanting him to fall and hurt himself
"Come off it George he'll be fine he does it "all the time"" John quoted cackling at his mate struggling to get the rest of the way up
"Christ Paul are you stuck?" Pete said laughing as Paul stopped for a minute
"No .....I'm just......thinking about my next move" Paul said shuffling to get his footing right

Eventually, after about 10 minutes, Paul made his way into his bedroom window, followed swiftly, a little too swiftly for Paul's liking, by John, Pete and lastly George
"Jesus Paul trust you to forget yer key and make us do all that" John said catching his breath after crashing onto the floor in Paul's room
"Come on lads let's practise for tonight, we have to impress Eppy" Paul said baptising our soon to be manager with his new nickname

But me? I couldn't stop thinking about Amelia. I wanted to impress her.