AN: Would you look a this.. it's a huge time jump! Have fun.
P.S. I definitely don't own Les Beatles. Nopidynopenope.
P.P.S I know it's very unlikely that a theatre would be open when no one was in it. CREATIVE LICENSE.
P.P.P.S. I'm sorry about the whole weekly update thing not working... I'm trying really hard to get it all finito!
The theatre was empty. Only the ghost light was illuminating the stage as Regina poked her head out around the proscenium to look into the house. In two days, she would be walking across the stage and receiving her BA in photography. Somehow, through all the ups and downs and pitches sideways, she'd made it through college. At 21 years old, she was going into the world, knowing she could make a living for herself.
Mrs and Mr Starkey had taken a train down on Monday so they could be tourists and help Regina clear out her dorm room. That's what they were doing as Regina was hiding in the dark theatre. It's one thing to have parents that come and help you and it's another to have them overbear, micromanage, and then pry into her entire college experience. Granted, Regina was happy to have them around and to fill them in on recent events, it sometimes got a little too much.
The darkness and seclusion of the theatre made Regina feel as though she had a blankets wrapped warmly around her. She closed her eyes and imagined the seats filled with smiling families and bored little brothers and sisters who didn't want to watch their siblings walk across the stage. She saw Ringo, George, Paul, and John sitting with her parents, cheering loudly for her as she walked across the stage. They looked so excited for her and she just wanted to run off the stage and fall into their arms.
Regina slowly opened her eyes, looking longingly at the seats in front of her. They wouldn't be there. They'd be touring and playing some magnificent shows in America or something. In the past two years, the band had exploded. Everywhere. The only way Regina had known where they were and what they were up to was then someone would announce it on the radio or there would be a newspaper article about them.
As much as she was thrilled that they had become so popular, she missed their goofy letters and crazy, late night phone calls. It was something to look forward to when her piles of homework seemed to stack higher than her waistline. Maybe she'd see them after graduation. Hopefully.
The young woman took a last long look out into the theatre, tapped the ghost light, and went out the door. Regina meandered through the cool night back to her dorm room where she found her parents half asleep on her tiny bed. Her belongings were neatly packed into boxes that were neatly stacked in the corner of her room near the closet.
"Hey..." Regina whispered "Go back to the hotel and get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow." Her parents smiled, yawned and slowly made their way to the door.
"Love you, sweetie." Her mum mumbled
Mr Starkey kissed her on the forehead and they both smiled as they walked down the hallway to the stairs.
XxXxXx
"REGINA! REGINA! REGINA! GET UP! GET UP GET UP! WEGOTTAGOGRADUATEITSTHATTIMEOFYEARGETUP!" Polly's overly excited, quite loud voice startled Regina out of her hibernation.
"Tea. Now. You go. I'll clothe myself." She groggily pointed to the door and her closet respectively
"OKAY! BUT IF YOU GO BACK TO SLEEP I WILL POUR THE TEA ALL OVER YOU."
As soon as the door closed Regina hopped up, quickly did her hair in a messy bun, got dressed and placed Polly's present on a newly made bed. Earlier that week, Regina has gone back to their freshman photography teacher and grabbed all of Polly's work that Professor Peach had saved. She'd bought a poster-board and made a pretty great-looking collage for her.
When the doorknob turned, Regina attempted to look very nonchalant and carefree, but she did want to make sure that Polly didn't drop her tea. She really did need the caffine.
"Look at you! You go out of bed! What's that?" Polly noticed the collage
"What do you think it is, silly?"
"Are those my... Is that...REGINA! You didn't!"
"Oh, but I did."
Polly practically threw breakfast on Regina's desk and tackled her.
"Thank you!"
"You're welcome. Now, can I have some breakie?"
Before they knew it, Regina and Polly were fighting through a line of students, trying to get in some semblance of alphabetical order. It wasn't working. Most of the staff had given up on the whole organization thing, just hoping that the right students would appear when their name was called. The two young women were standing against a wall laughing at everyone else.
Walking across the stage was much less exciting that everyone made it out to be. Regina thought it was nice to hear people cheering for her, but really, it was just getting a piece of paper stating what everyone already knew. Not that it wasn't great to have a college degree, but Regina was much more excited about what would come next.
After graduation the auditorium was packed with human beings waiting to greet their child, friend, or loved one. Regina and Polly guessed that there must have been about 8 people to every one person. They found Polly's parents and siblings first. There were hugs all around and some nicely placed small talk of which Regina didn't mind. Next came for weaving through bodies to find Regina's mum and dad.
"REG!" Came a booming voice from behind the two young ladies.
Both of them whipped their heads around and came face to face with four young men and Regina's parents.
"BOYS! OH MY GOSH WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Reg jumped into Paul's arms, he was the closest, and was then passed off to the other three, barely getting a chance to breathe.
"Well we had to come see our favourite fan graduate uni, didn't we?" John snarked
"It's not every day that the girl who completed your band becomes a loftily educated person." Paul attached himself to the sarcasm train
"You all are swine. And I love you. By the way, this is Polly, she's the best. Get to know her. Now. While I go hug my parental units."
XxXxXx
"How long until you're next gig?" Polly asked, her mouth full of ice cream
"We're leaving in a few days to go to Scotland. And then we're flying to America." Ringo smiled
Regina practically choked "America?! Are you kidding? That' huge!"
"Well... we actually wanted to ask you... and Polly, if you'd like to come with us. We could do with some company." George awkwardly stirred his ice cream and looked down at the table.
"Well, I have school... NO WAIT," Polly yelled, awakening the sleeping cashier at the counter "I just graduated! YES WE'D LOVE TO COME."
"There's your answer boys." Regina smiled at all of them "You okay with it mum, dad?"
"Of course, sweetie."
"Hey, Polly. We're going to America!"