He left, hearing Thomas' laugh.
The following morning, Norm was freaking out; they were going to have another photo shoot at 8. It was 8: 30 and only Ringo and Paul were at the lobby.
"Where's John?"
"He's not with me" George arrived.
"Where were you? Your tie is stained"
"I went to eat, I was hungry, and this must be mustard"
Norm sighed with exasperation.
"I told him to wait, Norm, but he simply left; you tell him that he must obey me" Paul said."
Norm, quite angry at them said "I'll go to look for another tie, and this time don't move!"
"I think I saw one near the telly" Ringo told him.
Norm, quickly, took the elevator, in the next floor the doors opened and Michelle was there, she said hi with surprise.
"I was about to look for you sir, I gave Shake the book, well the 'manuscript', just in case there are things you want me to change"
"Don't worry, I started reading it last night, I liked it very much, I'm very pleased"
With a big smile she thanked him.
"Where are you going?"
"To look for a tie, and see why John's not ready, these boys drive me crazy, you know" he said as he opened the door of the apartment. "You tell me if you see a tie" he asked.
She looked for the tie in the living room while Norm, very frenetically, knocked on John's door.
"John we are very late" he said and knocked harder.
Michelle spotted the tie and took it. Suddenly the door opened, a half naked girl went out, giggling, she took her shoes from the floor and left. The way Michelle felt in that moment almost made her faint, her chest hurt, or was it her heart?, she thought that broken hearts were a thing for songs and poems, but she practically felt it breaking, she was breathing heavily. She couldn't break down, Norm was there, she tried to go out from there but Norm stopped her when he said:
"Oh Michelle you're a dear, you found it" he took the tie from her hands.
As soon as he said her name an astonished John went out of his room, he looked at her feeling guilty.
"Make sure he hurries up, please, I have to go and tell the taxi to wait" Norm instructed leaving them in the room. Since he left the door half opened John waited to speak, then he heard the sound that the elevators do when the doors close.
"It's your fault" he accused.
Her voice had left, she tried to sit down, but she noticed she had seated on a pair of tights, she stood up immediately.
"I'm not going to apologize" he said firmly.
"I'm not asking you to do that, please put on a shirt" her tone was with indifference.
He went into his room but rapidly with a shirt on went out and said "You forced me into this"
She sighed deeply.
He was buttoning his shirt when he asked her to say something.
"I'm not going to tell Candy about this" that was all her response.
"Fuck, Michelle, you know I don't care, tell me I don't have to feel guilty"
"You don't have to feel guilty" she said what he wanted to hear.
"You're an idiot; don't you know why I did this?"
She shook her head.
"Because you have bewitched me, I'm obsessed with you, I'm besotted with you"
"That's a very lovely way to show me" she croaked, she was pretending to be strong, but her voice wasn't going to lie for her.
"Shit! I've told you a zillion of times, over and over, and you've rejected me. I suppose that is the reason why I want you so badly, you've played your mind games with me and I'm fucked. You have seen through me like no one else, but still you said all your shit about not believing in love" he was yelling with a tiring voice.
"I don't, I'm sorry" she turned away.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to stay "Why can't you believe I love you? Last night I screamed your name more than 10 times, that girl was very angry with me, but I couldn't help it"
"That is very sweet, we shall be married in the morning" she said with sarcasm.
That made him go mad, he threw a lamp against the floor "Don't mock me!"
"Or what?" she dared to say.
John started to throw everything to the floor, the table, the tea set, he also smashed his guitar. Michelle couldn't leave because John was between her and the way out.
"Stop" she said, he didn't listened "Please, just stop now" she begged.
"Now, I have to listen to you?" he said and grabbed her once again and pushed her against the wall. "Who are you kidding? You should've told me from the first time I told you how I felt, that you didn't want anything to do with me. Oh, but I know your kind, you give hope and then regret it"
"How dare you! I never did such a thing, I really thought you were different from the rest of the men, but no! You must always think that we're flirting, misunderstanding our real feelings" She tried to wriggle away, but he pushed her again against the wall "I'm not that kind of girl"
"Really? Then what about that journalist? You're dating strangers now"
"Oh my God, not again" she said not wanting to discus that.
"That's exactly what a tart would say" he said that without thinking, immediately he made a gesture as if he regretted saying that.
"I was right, you're a monster, a beast… how do you want me to believe in love? When your idea of love is hurting everyone who wants to help you"
His face changed, he bit his lips with anger, and let her go, but he wasn't going to give up so fast "Don't believe you're special Michelle, I only said those things because I wanted to shag you"
She had reached the door when he said that, she did what he had done so many times, slam the door.
John stayed there motionless for a minute, thinking; he had blown a fuse, it had taken him almost three months to make her want to be near him, and he had just ruined it in less than 10 minutes. He opened the door, not knowing if he was going to apologize or to keep screaming at her; he saw Thomas entering the elevator behind her, he just managed to yell "She's not good for anyone, mate!"
The doors closed.
She was touching her shoulder, she still felt John's thumb pressing, looking at the floor and grinding her teeth was the only way to avoid crying in front of him. The doors opened,Thomas followed her "Why are you following me?please just go" she thought.
"I'm sorry, I didn't plan to be there, a man told me you were there"
"Don't worry" she whispered, then cleared her throat "Good-bye"
"Please, come with me, let me cheer you up, you need a drink" he said "I'm your friend, you can talk to me or are you thinking on repressing your feelings?" they had reached the door when he said that.
"I don't know how long you were there, but you have a mistaken idea about the situation, besides its 9 am"
"So what? Listen, I know you don't know me very well, but I'd like to know you, please let me help, just let me buy you a drink"
She said yes, but no because she wanted to be with him, she wanted to give a reason to John to believe that she was seeing this man. A hurt girl can be heartless if she wants to
They went to a pub near there, he started talking but she wasn't feeling very talkative. He told her about a girlfriend he had, she was mean and she didn't care for him, he said he forgave her so many times until she slept with his brother, then, he said, the woman and his brother married. Thomas talked without having a response, he tried to make her say something; after a few drinks she said:
"John's an arse" she smiled and suddenly she began to sob, feeling embarrassed she cleaned the tears with a napkin, but there were more to come. She tried to compose herself, but it was impossible, she felt rage, all the awful things John said were stuck in her head, that was the reason why she couldn't help crying. She told him about, John about Candy's problem, the way John acted with everyone. She talked for 10 minutes about John.
"Did you two…?" he desired to ask.
She thought about what she was doing, and realized she shouldn't be there and that she was giving too much information to a stranger, she went to the restroom and cleaned her face, she returned to say that she wanted to go. He drove her to the building and left.
They were leaving the studio, in the car John was trying to open a coke; he couldn't so he opened the window and tossed it. Everyone looked at him with fear, the John that had disappeared months ago, was there again.
"You could have told me to open it for you" Paul said.
"Sod off!"
Everybody begged Paul to stop talking to him, but he continued "What if it hit someone's car"
"That's not my bloody problem, is it?" he responded.
Paul gave up, George and Ringo shared looks with him. The ride back home was in complete silence, they had no idea what had happened. They arrived, George said to Paul that he should talk to him, he was not willing to let John ruin his dinner, George had invited a girl to the apartment.
Paul spotted him, he was outside the building, smoking.
Magically he guessed "Michelle saw her, didn't she?"
"Saw, whom?" he pretended no to know.
"I told you it was a bad idea"
"Macca, I really don't care, in fact I was hoping for her to come and see her"
"Shit! John, how could you say that? I told you the first day she came 'Don't get involve with her' she's not like that girl you slept with, now I feel sorry for her"
"Don't be, she said she enjoyed it" he laughed.
"I'm talking about Michelle, she cares for you"
John flicked the ashes off his cigarette "Don't protect her, you're making me hate her more"
"What did you do?"
"I yelled, I broke some things and told her she was a tart or something" he said not feeling remorse.
"Way to win her heart, mate" he scolded him.
"I didn't want her heart, I wanted her in my bed" he corrected.
Paul stared at him, wanting so badly to punch him; he decided not to, his biggest punishment was to be hated by Michelle.
The next morning, Paul went to see her, he knew they cared for each other, but John and Michelle were too stubborn to admit it. He took her to have breakfast; he avoided talking about John, he knew John had said and done more horrible things than what he admitted. She seemed thoughtful, with a far off look; she did try to be a good company for Paul, she made some jokes, but it was easy to notice that she was upset. After the meal, they returned to the building, he asked her to come with him to the room, she rejected his offer, she was trying to avoid John, and Paul knew that.
"Please, let me show you this new record…John went to pick up Candy at the airport" he announced.
His name again, in her thoughts, she closed her eyes as if only by hearing his name hurt. He took her hand and led her to the apartment.
"I don't know why I'm afraid of him" she smiled
"We all are" they giggled.
Hello! Here's another chapter, I'm so glad that you like this story, I adored all your reviews! And got so many new ideas for the story! Thank you so much lovely people, I hope you're having a fantastic week. Bye bye!