Tomorrow Never Knows - Chapter Fourteen
Authors: lovely_rita_mm, jenny_wren28, & pennylane_fic
Starring: The Beatles and Maggie Sue
Rating: M for language, implied sex (though none of it is explicit) & implied drug use. Characters used in this story are either our creation, or are historically-based (ie, The Beatles).
Disclaimer: We don't own any of the Beatles, this obviously never happened, and is a complete work of fiction.
October 9, 1967
"Happy Birthday, dear John…Happy Birthday to you!" Everyone sang as Maggie Sue put a chocolate cake topped by a plastic guitar in front of a beaming John. He closed his eyes, blew out the candles, and then looked up and winked at Maggie. Reaching over he pulled her onto his lap and hugged her.
"What did you wish for?" she asked, running her fingers through his hair, which was starting to get long again.
George watched John grin and whisper something in Maggie's ear that made her eyes go wide and her cheeks blush bright red. This made John laugh out loud. Maggie jumped up from his lap, seemingly in a huff, and leaned up against the table, head bowed away from John. George smirked when he saw what Maggie was really up to. When John, who looked surprisingly apologetic, leaned forward towards Maggie and opened his mouth to speak, Maggie surprised him by smearing icing from the cake across his nose. John reached out to grab her, but she danced away from him, laughing. Maggie raced off down the hallway with John in hot pursuit, a big smile on his face.
He shook his head – disgusting how those two were always at it. George had one guess what John's birthday wish had been, and it looked like it was about to be fulfilled. The ice cream would be melted before they rejoined the party, he supposed, but at least that left more for him. Since no one looked like they were going to take charge, George shrugged and cut himself a slab of cake, topping it with a scoop of ice cream. After a moment's thought, he made up a second plate. Motioning to Ringo, he carried the two desserts through the sliding glass door outside to the backyard and slapped them down on the picnic table. "Hey Ring," he called back inside, "Bring some forks!"
Ringo popped outside brandishing the appropriate silverwear a few minutes later. George pushed a slice of birthday cake over to him.
"Thanks, mate!" Ringo said. The two of them ate thoughtfully, keeping whatever thoughts they had to themselves. Ringo was the one to finally break the silence. "Where's Paul?" He'd seen John run off with Maggie Sue, but suddenly realized he hadn't seen Paul all night.
"Paul is…actually, I have no idea where Paul is. Last I saw, he was chatting up Maggie's
friend, Linda."
"The cute, blonde American?" Ringo asked.
"That's the one," George said.
"Again? Didn't he already…"
"Yup."
"Huh."
The two men sat silently again, their conversation about their bandmate's love life completely tapped out.
"Care for a smoke?" George reached into his pocked and pulled out a plastic baggie.
"Sure, mate, thanks." Ringo and George companionably shared a joint and continued to enjoy the mild, autumn evening and the relative quiet offered by the backyard.
---
Also enjoying some quiet away from the party were Paul and Linda. They were seated next to each other on the piano bench in John and Maggie's music room. Paul, in an effort to impress Linda, had offered to play her one of his new songs from the as-yet-unreleased Magical Mystery Tour album. "Fool on the Hill" was a wistful ballad, perfect for showing the birds his sensitive side. Linda had been suitably impressed, which made him feel pleased with himself. Paul knew he was a good songwriter, but for some reason Linda's opinion mattered to him, and it made him uncharacteristically unsure.
"You really liked it?" Paul asked, hating that he sounded so insecure. Was he or wasn't he a Beatle?
"I loved it," said Linda truthfully. Was Paul, the famous Beatle, actually unsure of himself? Surely not. This was the man who had written so many famous songs so effortlessly. Was it possible he didn't know how good he was? How could he not? "Would you play me another?" She suddenly felt shy, and nervously tucked her blonde hair down behind one ear. Paul suddenly had the urge to reach out and repeat the gesture himself, imagining the feel of those smooth golden strands beneath his fingertips. Instead, spotting the vase of flowers on the piano, he reached out, grabbed one, and tucked it gently in her hair. She smiled at him, and he ducked his head, a little embarrassed by his tender display of affection.
He and Linda had slept together before, but somehow this little gesture felt so much more intimate. Linda was just supposed to be a diversion from his problems with Jane, but she was turning out to be rather a large complication. Paul was afraid he was actually falling for her. However, Jane was, and had been, such a large part of his life. He didn't know what to do – he didn't really want to break things off with Jane, but he found his thoughts more and more with Linda lately. In his weaker moments, he allowed himself to imagine what it would be like to be a family with Linda and Heather. He tried not to let his thoughts go down that path too often – talk about complications!
"Another song, then?" Paul said, trying to make his thoughts behave properly. Linda nodded, an eager smile on her face and Paul launched into a fast version of "Your Mother Should Know". Linda seemed to like it so much, that he played it a second time, making her sing along with him. She wasn't bad – and he found that he rather enjoyed harmonizing with her.
"Play something older next!" Linda requested.
Paul thought for a second, and settled on the perfect song immediately. He discarded it just as quickly, not sure he wanted to go down that path yet. The hell with it, he finally thought, figuring that that he'd gone this far, he might as well go one step further. He got up and grabbed one of John's acoustic guitars. It didn't have a strap, and it was right-handed, so he knelt down in front of Linda, and propped it upside down on his knee. Strumming it a few times, he looked up at her and began to sing "I've Just Seen a Face". Though he hadn't written it with Linda in mind, it suited how he was starting to feel for her. Linda blushed as he sang, "She's just the girl for me and I want all the world to see we've met…" to her.
She applauded when he finished and he gave a quick bow to her before placing the guitar back on its stand. She patted the spot on the piano bench next to her, and he lost no time in accepting her invitation. "More?" she asked.
"More? You're insatiable, woman!" he teased. But he was happy – he loved performing for people, and Linda was currently his favorite audience. Paul ran his fingers up and down the keyboard. "Maybe I should write you a song," he said, hesitant.
"Really?" Linda said curiously.
"Well, I'd actually wanted to write you one as a birthday present, but I wasn't able to get away from filming to actually see you for your birthday. Though I wish I could have," he added. "Maybe I should do that now!"
Linda hadn't expected Paul to remember her birthday, let alone visit her for it. She knew from Maggie that they hadn't finished filming until the day after. Paul had called her though, which had delighted her. "See," Maggie had told her, "I told you he's into you!" And now Paul was writing songs for her? She couldn't wait to tell Maggie about this, so they could analyze every nuance of this conversation.
"You can just do that? Write a song just like that?" Linda asked. She knew John and Paul had written "I Wanna Be Your Man" on demand for the Stones, but she'd never seen Paul in action.
"If I have the right inspiration…" Paul smiled at her, doing his best to charm her. He hoped it was working. "Hmm, let's see." Paul actually did have a melody floating in his head, and he'd wanted to write a song to express how he felt about Linda, which was to say both entranced and confused as hell. He'd never been able to come up with the right words, but maybe something would come tonight. He thought the melody was more suited to the acoustic guitar, but Linda was sitting close to him, and he didn't want to move to grab a guitar. Piano it would have to be. Paul picked out the melody, gaining confidence and playing more surely. "La la la la la lovely Linda," Paul sang, adlibbing. He snuck a glance at her, and saw the delight on her face. She was indeed lovely, and noticing she still wore his flower, he continued, "…with the lovely flowers in her hair. La la la la la lovely Linda…"
He wasn't sure where to go next with the song, but he needn't have worried, because he suddenly found Linda's arms wrapped around his neck and her lips pressed to his. The piano instantly forgotten, he kissed her back, using the opportunity to run his hands through her hair at last. He'd definitely have to write Linda more songs if this was going to be her reaction every time. Bloody hell, Paul thought hazily, I am in deep over this one - and John's never going to let me live it down.
---
"I'm going to get you!" John called after Maggie. She laughed as she raced down the hallway and up the stairs. She could hear him behind her, and he was gaining ground. Maggie darted into the bathroom and started to close the door, but it was too late! She retreated to the back corner of the room, until her back was against the sink. Looking around for a weapon, and finding little to choose from, she finally grabbed the toothpaste and brandished it at him.
John had closed and locked the door and Maggie knew she was trapped. "I have toothpaste, and I'm not afraid to use it!" she giggled.
"Well, I have icing and I'm not afraid to use it!" he tossed back at her, pointing in mock anger at his nose. His long, famous John Lennon nose. Maggie shook her head quickly, trying to shake that feeling. She hated it when her John disappeared and she only saw Famous John. She knew that feeling might never go away – she'd spent too much of her life seeing pictures of the infamous Beatle who'd died the year she was born.
Though Maggie's expression only altered for a split second, John caught it. He forgot about the icing on his nose in his need to make sure she was okay.
"Luv, what is it?" he said, circling her in his arms. He plucked the toothpaste from her hand and set it safely down.
"Nothing, it's…"
"Ah," he nodded. "Did Beatle John catch you unawares again? What was it brought it on this time?"
She smiled at him. "Your nose, actually."
"My nose?"
"Yes, your nose is very…" She couldn't resist making a Hard Day's Night Reference.
"Is it?" He played along.
"I would have said so," Maggie said seriously. She knew the whole movie by heart.
"You know him better."
"He's only a casual acquaintance." Maggie stuck her finger out and wiped some of the icing off, unable to resist licking it off her finger. It was chocolate after all.
"That's what you say!" John laughed. He grabbed a towel and cleaned the rest of the icing off his nose. He looked in the mirror to see if he'd gotten it all.
"What have you heard?" Maggie asked, curious to see how long they could go on quoting the dialogue from John's movie. Frankly she was amazed he'd remembered this much of it. She knew how terrible his memory for lyrics was.
"It's all over the place!" John turned back to her, "But I wouldn't have it. I stuck up for you."
"I knew I could rely on you." She nodded in mock gratefulness at John.
"Of course," John said, going off script, "You owe me one for desecrating the icing on my birthday cake."
"What can I do to make up for it?" She smiled at him, knowing full well what he had in mind.
"Well, if you recall, I did make a birthday wish…"
Maggie looked up at him flirtatiously. "We'll have to see if we can make it come true then! You are the birthday boy, after all…"
"Surely you don't mean…" John tried to look aghast. "Right here? Right now? With a all those people downstairs? You wanton, hussy! I am shocked, shock…" John's words were cut off by Maggie throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately. When they came up for air, John inquired, "Have we done it in this bathroom yet, then?" Maggie raised her eyebrow and looked over at the tub. "Oh, yes. How could I forget? Well, I don't think we have time for a bath right now, so we'll just have to improvise. We do have a party waiting for us, you know, Miss Margaret." He tried to look disapproving but failed miserably. He had absolutely no interest in the party right now. "Shocking, just sh…," John managed to say, before his lips became otherwise occupied.
---
Maggie and John lay breathless on the bathroom rug. Maggie propped herself up on one elbow and looked over at John. "Did your wish come true?" she smirked. He turned on his side, and hooked his arm over her naked hip, pulling her towards him so he could kiss her. "Best birthday ever, luv. Best birthday ever."
A/N: Thanks for reading! The next update will be next Sunday! We love comments, so please tell us what you think!
(Also, John really did have a birthday cake with a plastic guitar on it, when he turned 31!)