-black velvet ; j.lennon

five

1 9 5 9
ও
<violence>

john couldn't stop thinking about anna, and it drove him mad as he was trying to prepare for his gig tonight with the rest of the quarrymen.

"so we can run long tall sally, too?" paul looked up at john for confirmation, but he was knocked into another daydream, looking out the window of room 41, where they would come to rehearse since pete slept with the professor who taught in the classroom on wednesdays. pete pelted a wad of paper at john's cheek, which seemed to assist him back to reality.

"yeah, sorry. sounds gear." john got up and brushed off his trousers.

"ye got a date, john?" george quipped, the other three laughing.

"na, just got something on me mind." he tutted, adjusting his jacket before walking past his band mates. "see ye pieces of shite later."

"ye reckon it's gotta do with that bird who hasn't called 'im back?" stu whispered to paul, who shrugged. john overheard and snapped back around, his blood boiling.

"it's none of yer fucking business!" he screamed, spit flailing from his mouth. the boys went wide-eyed.

"s-sorry johnny." stu quickly apologized. john walked off after wiping his lips.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

anna had a different day, consisting of more lectures on new writing techniques. she was finding herself torn between the two open paths in life, wondering what being an artist would bring to her, and what journalism would do if she could travel the world writing for the papers.

she mindlessly flipped through brian epstien's personal collection of records in her quiet workplace, the evening rain pattering against the large windows to the store, her mind in a fog as she watched children release themselves of their mothers grip to go jump in puddles on the roads, their yellow jackets bright against the dark and misty atmosphere.

her shift was ending and she called home to check in with holly an hour ago, but no answer. she assumed that holly had stayed back to study, or went to nap after another long day.

without any further customers and the sky outside darkening faster than normal with the abundant cloud coverage, anna locked up at a quarter to eight. as she tucked the key safely into her small purse, she heard commotion from the south end of matthew street, where a glowing red sign lit above-- 'CAVERN CLUB'. she could hear a strong bass line thumping through the closed metal doors, and her curiosity got the best of her as she took off towards the attraction.

a group of kids her age stood around the entrance, their eyes attracting to her tidy outfit, a simple, black, mock neck shift dress with bold white pockets in the front to pair with her white booties. she analyzed their scruffy appearances.

"ay look at 'er." one of the boys smirked, winking at anna. "ey love! looking for a good time?" he laughed and swung the neck of his bottle in his dark fingers, showcasing his chipped and battered teeth.

"leave 'er alone, bobby." an older woman hissed, silencing the crowd of young men and grabbing anna by the hand, leading her inside the loud club. "come inside, luv." she smiled modestly at anna, and ushered her to the bar, where the lady walked behind and quickly made a black velvet.

"how'd you—?" but the woman just winked and carried on with her business, allowing anna to take in the stuffy atmosphere, which compared nicely with a human brick oven. she followed the bunch of people crowded in front of the stage, where naturally, her eyes wandered to the gentleman performing.

[that'll be the day; buddy holly]

john...and stu...and some others.

when they finished their set, anna slipped back further, in hopes that she wouldn't be noticed. suddenly she felt a hand grab her bum.

"where ye going?" she turned around to see the same boy, bobby, who harassed her from outside. he tightly grabbed her wrist and started to drag her towards the restrooms, which were stationed stage right. anna whimpered softly.

john sat on the edge of the stage with his mates, chirping with a bird that had danced in front of him all night long, her hips luring in the young boy--he hadn't noticed anna join the crowd.

"follow me, luv." he whispered into the girl's ear, causing her to giggle before nodding. john winked to paul before pulling his achievement to the restrooms, passing by other couples making out along the grimy black brick walls.

"please stop!" anna cried, tears flowing down her hot cheeks as she struggled to push the greasy boy off of her. he grunted and slammed her against the wall, leaning in to kiss her, forcefully holding her jaw firmly, placing his hand on her thigh. 

john heard the cries and stopped, apologizing to his fling, who stomped off, annoyed that they couldn't just ignore it. as anna continued to whimper, john hastily followed the noise until he opened the back door into one of the dressing rooms, anger rushing to his clenched fists at the sight of which girl it was. "GET OFF OF 'ER!" he yelled, pushing bobby off of anna with his palms and watching as bobby stumbled before launching back at john, punching him in the nose.

anna screamed at the two to stop, and bobby grunted, coming close to anna's face and slapping her straight. "shut up, whore." she could smell whiskey laced heavily on his hot breath. john wrapped his arm around bobby's neck, bringing him into a strong chokehold, clenching his jaw tightly with a mission. anna shrieked, thinking he was going to kill him.

anna dropped down to the floor and clenched her knees to her chest tightly, ignoring the hole in her tights, wishing that was the biggest of her problems. someone else opened the door to the room and anna looked up, relieved when she saw it was john's friends.

"get away from me!" john yelled out as bobby struggled to breath, lazily punching at john to let go. stuart looked behind him to the younger boys.

"take anna out of 'ere, ill handle john." stuart placed an open hand far out in front of him, calmly approaching john, who was starting to shake.

"ye don't know what happened, stu! he-he was hurting 'er!" john spat.

"okay, okay john. just let 'im go." stuart tried to touch john but he jerked away.

"NO!" john's beady eyes looked at anna helplessly and all he wanted to do was comfort her—but he didn't have a clue as to how.

she shook, still on the floor, watching in shock with the other two boys. stuart yelled at them again. "paul! george! ye heard me!" they finally obeyed, helping anna up on each side, assisting her out of the room.

"see? she's safe now. ye can let go." bobby's face continued to grow purple, and john released him to the floor where he inhaled sharply, breathing in quickly before hurrying off, scared for his life. john crashed into stu's arms.

"I-I don't know why i did that." he sobbed.

outside it was quiet, and anna stood shaking, george wrapping his leather jacket around her for warmth.

"d-did he do this?" paul asked her as she stared out at the street blankly, his fingers softly touching the open wound on her temple where he slammed her into the wall. anna nodded.

"i want to go home...please." she begged, looking desperately into paul's eyes. he nodded and looked at george, the two of them walking with her to the bus station.