A/N: Okay, I kind of rushed the making up part, but I'll try not to rush the falling in love part. Don't worry, it doesn't happen in just one chapter! But will there be a different couple popping up? Hmmmmm….
P.S. Catch the Let Me Roll It reference? Added that in for fun:)
Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN THE BEATLESSSSSSS.
Chapter Nine: Across the Universe
Aria's POV
I can honestly say that dancing with Car to the Beatles playing is the most fun I've had in a long time. Amazing atmosphere, amazing music, scratch that. Exceptional music. Although I am cultured enough to know that they're playing covers of different songs, those covers sound absolutely amazing.
The sounds of the last song stop and Paul makes his way up to the microphone. "Thank you, thank you everyone so much for coming out tonight! Such a thrill to play for you all, I hope you all have a great night!" When he says the last part he looks straight at me…I think. It's too crowded to know for sure. The band disappears off stage and the crowd begins to filter out. I suppose I can just meet them backstage where I met them for the first time…would that be okay?
Grabbing hold of Car's hand, we make our way through the crowd and meet the same security guard at the backstage entrance. He gives me a big smile and obviously remembers me. "Hello again! I don't think we were properly introduced last time, the name's Stan." I remember the last time I met him, when I was not in much of a mood to stand around and make small chat. But today was much different.
I shake his hand and introduce Caroline and tell him my name. "We're supposed to meet the boys after the performance, do you know where we should wait?"
"Hm…well backstage is usually only for staff members and people like that, so would you two ladies mind waiting at the bar? I'll tell the boys to meet you there."
"Thank you so much!"
A finger taps my shoulder and I turn around to see George smiling right in my face. "George!" I throw my arms around him and give him a quick hug.
"Someone's looking all gorgeous today," he states with a wink. I feel myself blush and see Ringo, John and Paul coming from the backstage entrance. I turn to greet all of them and can't help but smile to myself cheekily when I notice all three of them staring at me for a split second before they look away. Who am I and what have I done with Aria Chapman? Sometimes, it's okay to go a little crazy, though. I have not done that in a long time, and god, I was only twenty-two!
"Oh guys, how rude of me! This is my best friend, Caroline." Caroline smiles next to me at all of them as they reach out and shake her hand. I laugh quietly as she stares at Paul a little too menacingly and shakes his hand a little too hard. But she is my bodyguard, after all!
"I'm George, nice to meet you." I look over at George and can immediately tell that he is smitten with Caroline. Car smiles at him shyly and puts her hand in his. George and Caroline! I have to find a way to make sure that this happens!
"So, boys, what are we up to?"
"Well…" Ringo started. "There's this really good diner up the street…"
The boys erupted.
"Food! Let's go!"
"Uhhhhhh, hamburgers and milkshakes!"
"I'm so starving, I haven't eaten since dinner at your place!"
Caroline and I look at each other and exchange humored glances. Boys.
Paul's POV
That dress is going to be the death of me. Friends. I'm not even really friends with her yet! But none of those thoughts. We're going to be friends. But that dress… It just isn't fair! I shake my head and look down at the menu. We had packed into a booth, and surprisingly, the diner was pretty packed for this time of night. The boys and I almost always come here after gigs because we're just so…hungry.
"So, Caroline, did you like our music?"
Oh, George. I've known him since he was a wee little kid and I can tell when he's sweet on someone from across the ocean. Caroline seems like a nice enough girl to, except she hates me. Wonder why.
Aria is sitting straight across from me, sandwiched between George and John. I, on the other hand, am in between Ringo and Caroline. She hasn't really said anything to me at all the entire night. I just want to catch up with her, know what she's been doing, and just everything that's happened to her in seven years.
Our food comes, and everything else is gone from my mind as I scarf down my two hamburgers. It seems as though everyone else ordered hamburgers too…just too damn good to resist aren't they?
45 Minutes Later
Everyone roared with laughter as Ringo's face turned bright red. "Shut it, everyone!" But we just couldn't stop. C'mon seriously? Skinny dipping and then falling asleep outside only to be woken up by his fourteen year old neighbor (who was a girl) staring at him? Good old Rings.
"Hey, Aria!" John shouts. "You haven't told us your embarrassing story yet!" Aria blushes, her cheeks staining bright red. I look away. We're just friends goddammit!
"Yeah, c'mon, Aria! Can't be that bad, eh? Not worse than old Ringo here!" George nudges her arm with his elbow, and she takes a deep breath and laughs nervously.
"Well, there was this one time in the fourth grade…"
Everyone leans in to hear what she has to say. I myself am intrigued. This should be pretty interesting.
"Well, I had the enormous crush on the most popular boy in our class, Neil Morris. And I was just little Ms. Nerdy me, but back then, I was also extremely stupid!" She let out a laugh remembering what the rest of us didn't know yet. "So it was Valentine's Day, and I decided to write him a little poem. I didn't sign it, but he immediately knew it was me because he caught me putting it in his locker! I had to stand there right in front of him and watch him read it, and then he showed it to all his mates! Take about embarrassing!"
No one is completely satisfied, and neither am I! "So, Aria," I start. "What exactly did that poem of yours say?"
She blushes an even deeper red and mumbles something quietly. "What's that love?" John asks. "I didn't hear you!"
"I forget! It was so long ago!"
"Ahhhh, bullshit!" yelled Caroline. "C'mon, hun, I know how good of a memory you have and you'd never be forgetting that. Plus," she looks around to us boys. "I know what the poem is. She told me some time back."
"Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!"
Aria hides her face in her hands as Caroline begins to recite the poem:
My heart is going to keel
It's acting like a wheel
What I feel is real
For you, Neil
The deafening silence lasts for five whole seconds. And then the table roars to life as Aria hides behind George's back. What in the world was that poem all about? I can't stop laughing, it's just too good.
"Keel? As in throw up or something?"
"You wrote that? For a guy?!"
Aria rises up and sits up straight, but it is clear that she is laughing, too. "In my defense, I was only ten when I wrote that! I had some pretty creative rhyming skills!" The laughter and talk goes on for another ten minutes, but I only have eyes for the amazing girl- woman - sitting across from me.
"Oh my, look at the time!" Caroline exclaims. "It's ten o'clock! I have to get up early for work tomorrow, as do you, Aria!"
"Wait," Aria asks Caroline. "How are you getting home?"
"Well you know I live really close to here, I'll just walk home."
"Great, I'll see you tomorrow!" The two girls hug and Caroline starts to leave. I shoot George a menacing glare and he picks up my mental message immediately.
"Hey, Caroline! Wait, I'll walk you home!"
I laugh and shake my head. Sometimes he was so lucky that I was there for him. I see Aria saying goodnight to Ringo and John. I get an idea and don't think about it. Where's there time for thinking in life, anyways?
"Hey, Aria, come for a walk with me?" I ask. She looks at the clock and bites her lower lip, and I remember that she has to get up for work. But I keep quiet. She nods and we make our way out into the late July evening. I realize how much I missed her walking besides me for all these years. Neither of us talks much, but it was a comfortable silence. I have no idea where we are going, and I don't think she is either. But soon, we stumble across a familiar sight.
We've reached the lake. In fact, we've reached the exact pier where that entire fiasco had taken place. I know for a fact that Aria will not want to stop here because of the memories, so it leaves me hanging my mouth open when she ventures onto it and starts walking right towards the edge. Blinking and realizing for the millionth time that this girl isn't like the others, I follow her to the edge of the walk, where she is taking her sandals off. Sitting down, she lets her feet skim the surface of the water until she lets them fall all the way in, halfway up to her knees. I follow suit by taking off my socks and shoes and sit down a few inches away from her.
We stay quiet for a long time, looking up at the moon and the stars. I chuckle as I remember the conversation, though, and say the first words since we've left the diner. "So, Aria, tell me, how exactly is your heart like a wheel?"
She looks at me and smiles. "Oh, shut it."
The comfortable silence fills the air again. I'm happy right now- really happy. Sitting next to this girl who I thought I would never see again, taking in the beautiful night sky with her and just doing nothing but being.
"One of the great things about summer," she says, looking up. "You can sit out here for hours and not get cold."
I nod in agreement.
"You know," I start. "I did mean what I said back at Melrose's. You were the one who made me realize that I wanted to become a musician. That song I showed you, Follow the Sun, I had never shown anyone anything I had ever written before. And when you told me I could go places, I believed it." I'm not trying to turn on the emotional, fall in love with me dialogue here, I'm just stating a fact. And she understands that.
"I'm glad. It would've been a shame to let that talent go to waste."
It is a while until I break the silence again. "Aria?"
"Hmm?"
"What made you decide to come back?"
There is a pause before she answers. "I had to prove something to myself. I didn't want to grow old following the regular routine of a regular housewife and grow old waiting on some middle-aged husband who worked at a factory and running after four kids in high heels and a pearl necklace. And that's what was planned out for me: my own personal hell. I sent out on a date with this man from New York that I didn't even know by my aunts, and after my first date with him, I came home to find them discussing my wedding with my dad. I realized I needed to get as far away from there as I possibly could. And there's no place better to run to than home, right? So I came back here two years ago and made a whole life for myself here. And I love it so much. I'll never go back to that old life- I'd rather die than be stuck there cleaning and cooking and shopping for groceries the rest of my life. But now I'm here, I have a job, an apartment, a dog, and a best friend, and I'm getting closer and closer to becoming a writer. I can't remember a time when I've been happier, really."
Time trickles by slowly, and we sit and stare forever. Or until Aria yells, "Oh, I have work! I can't believe I forgot!" By now it's at least midnight- we've been out here for a while. We dress out feet and walk back up the pier. I hail her a taxi, and she smiles and says, "Good night, Paul."
"Good night, Aria."
The car pulls away and I begin to walk aimlessly, anywhere my legs take me really. This night had turned out perfect. I walk and walk, feeling as though I'm travelling the world, or walking across the universe. Buildings and houses, stars and space, planets and galaxies pass me by, until I am standing in front of the Liverpool Journal building. I recognize it because that's where I went last night to drop off the box of cocoa last night. That seems like forever ago. Opening the door (which is stupidly never unlocked), I go inside and go sit in her cubicle. Taking a piece of paper, I scribble out a note and leave to apartment that John and I share.
Aria,
I had a great time last night (well today as I am writing this). As I said before, I'm really sorry for everything that happened in the past and I'm so thankful that you're giving me a second chance.
See you around,
Paul
P.S. I'm not a creep! The front deskman showed me which cubicle was yours when I came here to drop of the cocoa
A/N: Eh, nothing much really happened in this chapter. But sooooon my friends! Soooon! Read & review please! Thanks all for reading:)
