Tomorrow Never Knows - Chapter Seventeen
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.
It would have been a party like any other, except for the odd array of costumed guests, most of whom looked dated to Maggie's modern eyes. Maggie was reminded of the Elizabeth Taylor interpretation of Cleopatra, which could have come from no other decade but the 60s. In such a way, this party was full of gypsies with heavy eyeliner, witches with beehive hairdos, and micro-minied Indians.
When they walked into the party, it was already in full swing. The Turtle's "Happy Together" was playing, and Paul pulled Linda out onto the dance floor almost immediately.
"Shall we join them?" John asked Maggie. He wasn't that much of a dancer, but he was happy to participate in any activity that required him to get close to his fiancé. Especially as he'd been unsuccessful with getting her unclothed earlier this evening.
"Sure!" she said happily. She loved this song and was glad it was one that wasn't due to come out 10 years from now. There was a great deal of music she missed, and she often thought regretfully of her iPod, which, without a cable to recharge it, was useless.
She and John moved onto the dance floor, and despite song being mid-tempo, he lost no time in wrapping his arms around her as if it were a slow dance. Maggie Sue accepted this with a sigh of mock disapproval – really, slow-dancing with John Lennon was no hardship. Even if he vaguely resembled Wolverine from X-men. Maggie smiled as she remembered the very first time they had danced together at that party in 1964. If only she had had any inkling of what was to come!
Paul and Linda only had eyes for each other. Paul thought she looked lovely in her gauzy white and gold costume, and he was gratified when she joked about his sexy legs. They alternated slow and fast dances, until both of them were tired and in need of refreshment.
Paul left Linda with John and Maggie Sue, who were also taking a break, to go in search of drinks for Linda and himself.
Recognizing Paul as one of the Beatles, the bartender took Paul's drink order quickly, but even so, Paul fidgeted, impatient to get back to Linda. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and out of the corner of his eye saw the flutter of a white sleeve. Had Linda come to find him? The woman couldn't stay away from him! Not that he minded.
He whirled around, "Lind…uh, Jane!" he amended. The petite redhead was standing there behind him, a confused look in her eyes. She was dressed in a flowing white gown, somewhat similar to Linda's, which was what had tricked him.
"Jane? What are you doing here? I thought you were… I mean, I'm really happy to see you, I'm just surprised is all!" He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, hoping that would hide his discomfort.
"Well, surprising you is what I came to do," Jane said. Paul was acting strange, but she wasn't sure what it was. Probably it was just nerves – his film was coming out in a few days, and since it was his baby, he was the most invested in it of the group. "I was able to get some time off filming, and I felt badly missing the big bash. They found me this gown in wardrobe, so I could match your Marc Antony costume. Do you like it?" She twirled around, showing off her Cleopatra-inspired outfit.
"Yes! You look great!" he managed to say. What was he going to do now? Linda was waiting for him, and now here was Jane, dressed to match him like they were some sort of tragic lovers. Paul wasn't sure what kind of statement this was supposed to make about his and Jane's relationship. He would normally be happy to see Jane. He loved her, shared a history with her, but Linda…
The bartender chose that moment to hand Paul two drinks. He pondered them for only a brief minute before tossing his back quickly. Jane looked slightly shocked, but Paul had a feeling that one drink was not going to be anywhere enough tonight. He eyed the second one and considered downing it too, but he couldn't go back to Linda empty handed after all this time.
"Who is the other drink for?" she asked. Paul wasn't sure if there was suspicion in her eyes or if he was being paranoid.
He thought quickly. "Maggie Sue. Speaking of, let me go give this to her and then we'll go dance or something, okay? Why don't you order a drink, luv. I'll be right back."
"But I could go with…" Paul didn't stick around for the rest of Jane's protest. His only thought was to get the drink to Linda, without Jane seeing. What was he going to do? Linda was his date for this party, and he wanted to spend time with her – but that was impossible with Jane here now. And he couldn't just admit to Linda that Jane had shown up and so their date was now off, could he? Could he work it out so neither woman knew the other one was here? The party was certainly big enough, maybe they wouldn't even bump into each other – and then he could see both of them tonight. It would take some juggling, but was he a Beatle or wasn't he? Yes, this would work just fine.
Linda smiled as she saw Paul approaching with her drink. "Here you go, luv!" he said, handing her the glass.
She sipped at it. "Thanks! Where's yours?"
"I was thirsty," he smiled at her.
"If you're still thirsty, you could have some of mine," Linda offered.
Maggie Sue smiled, seeing the two of them together. They obviously adored each other. Maybe Paul would finally figure out that Linda was the one for him, and he would finally break up with Jane. Maggie again felt guilty for wanting Paul to leave Jane, but they were just so wrong for each other. Everyone could see it, and she was willing to bet that even they could. But they'd been together for so long and their lives were entangled enough that their relationship wouldn't be an easy thing to detach from. Added to that was the fact that Paul seemed unwilling to take a risk. If he could go from sure thing to sure thing, he would do it, but he seemed a bit unsure of Linda's commitment to him and so he hesitated. Maggie thought that he needed to earn Linda's trust and respect and that he'd never do that as long as he showed that hesitation. The course of true love never did run smooth, Maggie sighed to herself.
"Dance again, luv?" John asked Maggie. The Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" had just come on, and John knew it was one of Maggie's favorites.
"I'd love to," she smiled back at him. Knowing Linda was safe with Paul, she gave them both a smile, and made her way back out to the dance floor with John.
Linda was still holding her glass out to Paul. Unable to stop himself, he swallowed the rest of her drink in one gulp. Yes, more alcohol was definitely what he needed. Drink now gone, Linda looked expectantly at Paul, waiting for him to ask her to dance again.
"Oh, look, it's George and Pattie," Paul said suddenly instead. "Let's go say hello."
"Okay," Linda said, a bit puzzled, but nevertheless happy to say hello to Paul's friends. She didn't know George very well, mostly because whenever she'd been at a Beatle event, Paul had always monopolized her time. Not that she'd minded. Maggie was always talking about George though, so it might be nice to get to know him better.
George was dressed as a pirate, complete with eye patch and hat, and Pattie as a gypsy. The pirate outfit was also Maggie's idea – George had agreed to it, after Maggie, seeing no harm in spoiling it, had told him about the Python skit he'd be in someday.
"Hello, mate," Paul said to George. "Pattie," he nodded his head at George's wife. "You remember Linda, right? Linda, you've met George and Pattie, I think."
"Yes, hello, nice to see you again." Linda said, shaking their hands.
"Listen, I have to run to the loo," Paul said suddenly, after a surreptitious glance at his watch. It'd been 9 minutes since he'd left Jane and she was going to be furious. "I'll be right back." He scurried off without waiting for Linda to reply.
"What's wrong, luv?" George asked Linda, seeing the quizzical look on her face.
"Nothing – it's just that Paul's acting a little bit strange."
"Paul IS a little bit strange," George laughed.
"Stranger than usual?" Linda smiled back.
"Ooh, let me see your costume," Pattie said, interrupting. "Did Maggie Sue have a hand in this? For someone that doesn't pay much attention to fashion, she's been talking about nothing but costumes for the last few weeks! Now spin around so I can see the whole thing!" Pattie commanded.
Linda, flattered, spun around, letting Pattie admire her dress.
"Maggie did make it, and she did a great job, didn't she?" Linda said. A bit shyly, she added, "Did Maggie help you with your costume?"
"She did!" Pattie exclaimed. "I'd wanted to do this harem outfit, but then Maggie turned up this peasant blouse and waist cincher. We went through my stuff and found these huge hoop earrings and head scarf, so the costume went together pretty quickly. I like it!" Pattie said, tugging the blouse down a bit to better display her cleavage. George unconsciously smiled approvingly, which made Linda and Pattie both laugh at him.
Paul felt bad leaving Linda, but he had to find Jane. He moved around the edge of the crowd as quickly as he could to the bar room, where Jane was standing there, a drink in one hand, the other hand on her hip, and an unhappy expression on her face.
Paul skidded up to her, a bit breathless. "Sorry, luv. Big crowd and I kept getting stopped. Do you want to dance?" He grabbed the drink out of Jane's hand and put it down on the tray of a passing waiter.
"But…" It was too late, Paul had her arm and was towing her towards the dance floor. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and she relaxed into his arms.
"How's the film going, luv?" he asked her.
"Well, thanks."
"Good." He struggled to remember what film this was, and thought it'd be best if he kept his questions vague.
"Getting along with your co-stars, then?"
"Yes, of course," Jane said. "I have to tell you this funny story though." He tried to keep his mind on what she was telling him, and to laugh in the appropriate places, but his mind was ticking away the minutes. He had to get back to Linda soon.
Paul spotted Ringo and Maggie dancing together out of the corner of his eye, and he maneuvered Jane over towards them.
"Ritchie! Good to see you!" Ringo, who was dressed as a cowboy, looked up from his conversation with Maggie.
"Hey, Paul," Ringo said.
Maggie looked over at Paul expecting to see Linda in his arms. Her eyes widened when she saw whom the woman in white was.
"Hi, Jane!" she said, trying to sound unsurprised. "We didn't expect to see you here!"
"Yes, well, I was able to get some time off of filming last minute, so I was able to come after all!"
While Maggie and Jane were talking, Paul mouthed "CUT IN!" to Ringo. Ringo, noticing that Paul was looking a little desperate, decided he'd better help the poor bastard. He'd noticed Paul with a blonde dressed in white on his arm earlier this evening – and now Jane was here also dressed in white… Clearly Paul was in over his head.
"Er, Paul," Ringo said a bit too jovially, "Mind if I cut in and dance with Jane?"
"Not at all," Paul said.
Maggie quickly caught on and added, "That sounds good, I haven't had a chance to dance with Paul yet."
Jane was forced to comply, but she gave Paul a hard look as he danced off with Maggie. Once he had some distance from Ringo and Jane, he pulled Maggie off the dance floor and behind a potted plant. "Maggie, luv, you have to help me."
"What's going on? Did Jane show up just to surprise you?"
"Yes! What am I going to do about Linda?"
"How is this my problem?" she said, exasperated. "You're the one who won't choose between them."
Paul hung his head for a minute. "I suppose it isn't your problem, but I…I really don't want to screw things up with Linda. I don't want her to have to watch me have to be with Jane when we'd planned on coming to this party together. But I can't be with Linda with Jane here now."
"Then why not go explain all this to her?"
Paul looked at Maggie like she had two heads. Maggie sighed. Paul really needed to be straight with both women and make some difficult choices. He couldn't keep going like this, trying to hold onto both relationships – he was only going to end up losing them both.
"Come on, luv, you're Linda's friend…"
"I'm Jane's friend too, actually," Maggie said. "Fine, I'll help you, but only because I'd like to avoid either of them being publicly embarrassed by you. What is your plan?"
"Plan? No real plan, I'll just make sure they stay on different sides of the room. There are enough people and it's big enough that as long as neither one of them sees me with the other, it'll be fine."
Maggie looked at Paul dubiously. "If you say so."
"What could go wrong?" Paul said. "Let's see, Ringo will keep Jane occupied for a few minutes. Now, where did I leave Linda?" Paul looked peered across the room, as if trying to mentally retrace his steps.
Maggie groaned inwardly. This wasn't going to end well.
A/N: Thanks for reading! The next update will hopefully be next Sunday! We love comments, so please tell us what you think!