A/N: Welcome to my Across the Universe fanfic! i tried to stay trure to the formet of the movie with the songs and as for the songs, i'm using songs that were NOT used in the movie. the titles will be the chapter titles. i don't own the Beatles...doi! and i don't own Across the Universe.
Chapter 1: Penny Lane
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
Max smiled as Lucy ran from her platform and into Jude's arms. His best friend and his sister were happy, that's all that mattered. He turned to see Sadie and JoJo singing their hearts out into the microphone, also in as much love as his sister and friend. He shrugged and turned back to the door leading downstairs.
"Everybody's got somebody," he smirked to himself and headed toward the stairs. "And I gotta get back to work."
"Hey, Max!"
He stopped and spun around to see Jude running toward him, Lucy in tow.
"Where ye goin'? The party's only starting!"
"I gotta get back to work," he replied with a shrug. "I'll see you guys later, ok?"
"Come on," Lucy urged, walking toward her brother and pulling on his arm back toward the makeshift stage. "You can work later!"
"People still need to get places," Max smirked and pulled Lucy toward him to kiss her on her head and nodded at Jude. "See you back at the apartment, yeah?"
"Yeah," Jude nodded back, pulling Lucy under his arm. "Don't work to hard, eh?"
Max waved him off as he headed toward the stairs again. He hurried his way down the stairs till he came to the front door of the building and had to shove his way past the line of cops that was keeping the crowd of people in the street from going in. He shoved past the people, too to get to his cab and when he got there he frowned in wonder.
Everyone was paying attention to what was going on at the top of the building, their heads up and staring, except for one girl. She was leaning on the hood of his cab, examining her nails and unfazed by anything going on around her. She had strawberry red, curly hair that fell to her elbows, pulled back from her face by a pair of pins on top of her head and amber brown eyes under thick lashes above pouting pink lips.
Max had frozen a few feet from the cab when he had seen her, and he was still frowning in puzzlement when she looked up at him.
"Is this your cab?" she asked, pointing a thumb at the car she sat on. All Max could do was nod.
"Groovy," she smiled and stood tall. "If you can get through this crowd without a problem, I need to get somewhere."
She opened the back door to the cab and let herself in. Max was still frozen where he stood, but once he registered her words he shook off his shock and hurried to get into the cab. Once inside he turned to her and asked, "Where to?"
"Get outta this crowd and I'll tell you," she smirked, pulling a mirror from the small handbag she was carrying.
"Alright," he nodded and turned back to start the car and laid in on his horn. "Outta the way!" He waved his arms dramatically as he slowly rolled forward and people moved as much as they could out of the way. "Come on! Jeez, these guys are slower than molasses out here!"
Once out of the crowd he turned back to her and she leaned forward with a smirk as she said, "Penny Lane, please?"
"Penny Lane it is," Max nodded and turned to drive through the streets. As he drove, he couldn't help but look at her every once in a while through his rear view mirror. He'd never seen anybody so pretty.
"She's not prettier than Lucy," he admitted. "But close." His hands gripped the steering wheel nervously as he bit his lip, still glancing back at her. "Say something!"
"I'm Max, by the way," he finally blurted. "What's your name?"
"Clarabella," she replied, examining her reflection her little mirror.
"Clarabella," Max echoed, nodding. "That's not a name you hear every day." He sneered at his own comment, gazing out the window in disgust when he turned down another street.
"So," he tried again. "What's on Penny Lane, if you don't mind me asking?"
"My dad's place," she replied, snapping her mirror shut and stuffing it back into her little bag. "You can just drop me off in front of the building. I'll tell you when to stop."
"Ok," Max replied. A silence filled the air again and he was kicking himself, mentally every second. Finally, shifting in his weight a bit, he said, "Ya know, I love going down Penny Lane."
"What are you doing?" he asked himself.
"Really?" Clarabella humored, looking at her nails again and Max glanced at her again.
"Yeah," he smiled.
"Stop," he told himself. "Stop now before you embarrass yourself."
"Why?" Clarabella asked and Max smiled, ignoring his own warnings.
In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he's had the pleasure to know
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello
Max glanced into the rearview mirror and saw Clarabella roll her eyes, but he only shrugged.
On the corner is a banker with a motorcar
The little children laugh at him behind his back
And the banker never wears a mack
In the pouring rain, very strange
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back
In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the queen
He likes to keep his fire engine clean
It's a clean machine
Max turned onto Penny Lane, glancing through his mirror again at her and started to smile when he noticed her smiling at him. She suddenly sat forward and so that she was nearly leaning on his shoulder and gazing out the windshield.
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
A four of fish and finger pies
In summer, meanwhile back
Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And though she feels as if she's in a play
She is anyway
Max couldn't help but grin as she started pointing out her own things that she liked about Penny Lane.
In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer
We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim
And then the fireman rushes in
From the pouring rain, very strange
Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back
Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
Penny Lane
She smiled and gazed out of the window and suddenly shot straight up. "Stop!"
Max slammed on the breaks right in front of an apartment building and they both slammed forward then slammed back as the cab screeched to a stop.
"Sorry," she smiled sweetly when he turned to her.
"It's alright," he shrugged as she rummaged through her little handbag.
"I hope this is enough," she said, handing him some money. Max didn't even bother to count it, he was still smiling at her.
"That's fine," he replied and Clarabella chuckled at the fact that he wasn't even looking at the cash she had just placed in his hand.
"Well, see ya round, Max," she smiled and got out of the cab.
Max leaned toward the passenger window to watch her and call, "Yeah! See ya round!"
She turned and waved before disappearing into the building. He sat up and grasped the steering wheel with a smile he couldn't get rid of.
"Clarabella," he sighed. "She was wicked cute." He started driving again, a grin on his face. "I hope I see her again."
A/N: