Be my Starr (Ringo Starr)

Chapter 1 part 1: Just another day

A 20-year-old Susan Wright walked home from a hard day at work like every other down a busy Liverpool street in 1964. The air was warm with a chilly breeze but that was to be expected in spring. Either way, Susan was just happy to be finally outside. She had been stuck in that gloomy office for too long and the constant bickering of everyone around her was starting to drive her crazy.

Susan was training to be a journalist but so far there had been no luck. No one in the office took her seriously. She was known as the little girl who was acting big. All of her co-workers were monsters. Trying her best not to dwell on the negative, the young trainee walked up to the front door of her flat at the end of the street and lightly pushed the key into the lock.

———

Linda Brown, Susan's best friend and flatmate, was sitting at the desk by the window when Susan entered. Like always she was consumed in her various textbooks. It would be a surprise if she wasn't in that same seat. She had been there so long that she had permanently imprinted it forever. Susan took off her coat and hung it up on the hook.

"How was work?" Linda asked without turning to her friend and instead turned a page of her book on English literature.

"The same as always." Susan groaned, collapsing onto the settee and sinking into its comfiness. Her legs ached from all the coffees she had delivered to all her self-obsessed betters at work.

"I see," Linda replied in monotone. "And what does one call work every day?" It was always question after question with Linda.

"Terrible." Susan cried. "No nauseating." She countered. There wasn't even a word to describe how she felt about that dungeon. Linda didn't reply. After a moment of awkward silence, Susan thought she should ask Linda about her day to avoid coming off as rude or selfish. She was always thinking about the other person. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Linda closed her book and turned to Susan as if she was being interrogated. Her face gave that feeling too.

"How was your day?" Susan asked politely. Linda sighed.

"You know you really don't have to act like you care." Linda exhaled sharply. Susan opened her mouth to speak but Linda spoke before she could even try. "You don't want to seem rude by not asking me, I understand that and I appreciate the thought but I would rather you say nothing. I have more important things to be doing than indulging in cheap chitter-chatter." Linda turned back to her books.

Susan stared at nothing for a moment. What just happened she thought. She knew it wasn't a joke because Linda wasn't that sort of person. She was a serious academic that wanted nothing more than to drown in paper with scribbles on it. Her words always sounded mean but Susan knew she was just being honest. Linda always had good intentions but she never had a good way of showing them.

For Susan, it was a matter of controlling her feelings. She took everything to heart and anything meant as a joke would be taken literally. She was trying her best to get over that but it still affected her.