Chapter 8: Drive my Car

Before I know it, I'm at my old house again, packing up my things with everybody else, which isn't much, if you think about it.

"So you're my Mum now?" I ask Mrs. Harrison for about the millionth time. I can see it in her eyes that she's grown weary of answering that, but she still smiles and says 'yes'.

All of the Harrison's get into this tiny little car somehow, and they stick their heads out the window, waiting for George and I to get in as well.

"Well, I guess we'll be seeing you at the New Year's party tonight at Ivan's place, right?" John says, and I'm about to ask who he is when Paul answers the question for me. "I'll pick you guys up at around 10:00 tonight. Sound good?"

"Yeah, great." We reply, jumping at the sound of a car horn behind us.

"Well, we ought to go. See you at 10:00."

I walk over and give Paul one last hug before chasing after George to the car. I wave as the three boys and Ms. McKenzie as they grow smaller and smaller.

Mrs. Harrison, known as 'Mum' now, peeks at me through the rearview mirror.

"Is everything alright back there, honey? You look depressed." I shrug and meet her eyes through the mirror.

"No, I'm fine. Just a little bit dazed by it all. You know, it's all happening so quickly."

She nods and smiles. "Yes, I don't blame you the least. It's a new family, and you just left everything you knew. You only have known us for a few hours, with the exception of Georgie."

George's face flushes pink. "Mum, don't call me that."

Mrs. Harrison winks at me, which makes me smile. George glances at my hand, then looks at his own, and sets it in his lap again.

When his dark brown eyes flash in my direction, I turn away, pretending I didn't see. And anyways, it wouldn't really work if he liked me. I'm his sister, right? And I'm dating Paul. I think. This whole day has been a blur, and I lean my head on the damp window, looking outside as we pass meadows and fields, and to my surprise, out of Liverpool.

The countryside seems so peaceful as we ride along the winding dirt road, that I don't even notice my eyes sliding shut.

I open my eyes a little bit to see that the ground is gone beneath me. I think about it a second, and then realize that I'm being carried.

I'm taken through doors and up a few steps and then placed gently on a bed. I feel the warmth of a quilt being pulled over me.

Then I hear a voice singing softly and beautifully, a voice I've never heard before. The accent slides through every note perfectly, and it sounds like something you'd hear in a dream, I'm not lying.

I open my eyes a little bit and smile at George, who's sitting on the bed beside me, face bright red from being caught singing.

I prop myself up on an elbow and turn to face him. "George, that was amazing."

He shakes his head, his eyes darting around the room.

"No really. Where did you learn to sing like that?" He scratches the back of his head.

"I guess I just taught myself."

I grin and pull the covers off of me, swinging my feet to the edge of the bed and letting them dangle.

"So George, who are you going with to the party tonight?" He smiles a toothy grin. "My girlfriend."

I stand up and put my hands on my hips to stop him from escaping me.

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend! Who is it?"

He sits on his hands and sways from side to side.

"Iris Caldwell."

I bite my lip, concentrating on trying to remember her face. Then it hits me. I see the wavy brown hair and the cute dress.

"Rory's sister?"

George nods. "Yeah, you know her?"

"Mmhm! I went to school with her one year. She was in my class." George gives a small smile and looks outside, into the fading sun.

"I think it's about time to eat, we don't want to be late for Paul, do we?"

I shake my head and follow George to the kitchen.

I look outside my bedroom window while running my fingers through my hair, looking down at my little dress I wore the day I met Paul. I thought that it might make him smile. It seems that someone pulled a black curtain around the town of Liverpool, it's that dark. Someone knocks on the door, and I walk downstairs, meeting George and Paul by the doorway. Paul has on the exact same thing as George, and it makes me a little curious.

"Why are you guys wearing the…" Paul frowns.

"We've been asked,"

"Begged." George interrupts him.

Paul stops and gives George an annoyed look.

"Sorry, begged to perform a few songs when we get there, for about a half an hour. I'm really sorry, I'll try to make it up to you. I just need a little bit of money, so I can get you…"

I put my finger to his lips. "You don't need to get me anything more. You got me out of that house, and you got me a wonderful boyfriend. I can't ask for anything more. And I don't care the least that you're performing. I think it's great, now that you've got yourselves a manager, and a producer's looking at you. You're really getting noticed, and that's brilliant. It's only fair that you go up and show your talent off to the world." Paul gives a small smile.

"You mean Liverpool?" I shake my head.

"Elvis had to start somewhere, didn't he?" Paul thinks about this a minute.

"You mean you support my musical dreams?"

I nod. "Every bit of it."

He leans in and gives me a quick kiss and then we walk outside, Paul's arm around me, and a guitar slung over George's shoulder.

We get in the car and drive off down the road, and I can't even imagine what's laying ahead for me.

"Hey guys, you ready? Girlfriends can stick together, have a few drinks while we're up. Sorry again, we've just really got to do this." John says, as they stand before me and the three other girlfriends.

It's hard to hear John's voice because the noise level is so high from all of the people and music. It's very stuffy, which makes it hard to breathe as well.

The boys slide their guitars in front of them and give us one last look before going up on stage.

The crowd's cheers are deafening, and the four of us jump at the sound made for our boyfriends.

I see Cynthia cross her arms, and although I can't hear a thing over the screaming, I can tell she's mumbling something.

Paul steps up to the microphone and clears his throat.

"Well, thank you for the, wait." The microphone seems to not be working.

He fingers it a little, and John and George come over and try to fix it.

John's mouth is moving, and then all three of them burst out laughing, probably at a clever Lennon joke that nobody can hear besides those two inches from him.

The microphone makes a horrible high-pitched screech and Paul jumps back, holding his hands in the air as surrender. The crowd laughs.

Paul smiles and steps up to the microphone again.

"Alright then. Sorry about that one. We were having some… issues. But, we're all here now, and we'd like to thank you all for that great welcome."

He strums his bass, which makes all of the girls in the room run up to the stage and scream.

Paul looks at them with wide eyes and backs up a little.

"And enough of this mushy stuff, I'll just get straight to it."

He strums his bass again.

"We're The Beatles and we're here to play you some Rock n' Roll!"

The crowd cheers again, Paul counts them off, and off they go.

Paul leans into the microphone and screams, "I'm gonna tell Aunt Mary/'Bout Uncle John/He said he had the mis'ry but he got a lot a fun…" And there was no stopping him. He was in the zone. His happy place. And watching him up there made me realize something that I never really understood until now. He's cute, he's charming, he's funny, he's talented, he's sweet, he's a heartthrob for all the girls in Liverpool, and best of all, he's mine. He's bouncing around on stage, beads of sweat trickling down his face, playing his heart out so hard, his face is bright red. Then he looks over at me and winks.

Half of the girls turn to look at me, and I turn towards Cynthia and pretend that I don't even know him.

Luckily, nobody pays any attention to me after that, and I can resume staying in the shadows.

I turn around and notice that I haven't met the short girl with long, black hair behind me. I smile at her.

"Are you Ringo's girlfriend?"

She nods and beams. "Yes!"

She shoots a glimpse at the drummer on stage.

"Are you one of their girlfriends too?" I nod, and am about to tell her when she shakes her head and rubs her temples, concentrating.

"Wait! Don't tell me!" She continues rubbing the sides of her head.

"John belongs to Cynthia… Iris is George's… and I'm Ringo's… You must be Paul's!"

I smile. "Yeah, I'm Paul's."

She grabs my shoulders and shakes me.

"Paul has a girlfriend! Paul has a girlfriend! Good for him!"

I look over my shoulder to make sure that nobody heard her yelling.

She holds out a hand. "I'm Maureen Cox, but everybody calls me Mo."

I shake her hand. "I'm Stella McKen… wait, Harrison."

Iris's ears perk up as she walks over and joins in on our conversation.

"Hi, Stella, remember me? Iris Caldwell? I'm George's girlfriend." I smile and nod, a little confused why she's all jumpy.

"Yes, I remember you. I'm Paul's girlfriend."

She raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, and I suppose you just date George on the side?"

I shake my head. "No, I don't cheat. I'm dating Paul. What makes you think that I'm going out with George?"

She glares at me. "You just called yourself Stella Harrison. What happened to McKenzie?"

I laugh out loud, in spite of myself. "Oh! Iris, calm down! I was adopted, so my last name was McKenzie. Then I was re-adopted by George's family. So now my last name is Harrison. Simple as that. I promise you, I have nothing to do with George, other than he's my friend."

She looks at me strange, and then walks away towards the bathroom.

I look at Mo for help, but she simply shrugs.

"She gets to be a bit moody. I'm sensing that George notices that too. This should be fun." She says, rolling her eyes.

I'm not sure, but I think that Mo's a pretty cool girl.

Before we know it, four sweaty boys are running our way, huge smiles on their faces. They put one of their arms around us, the other holding the neck of their guitar beside them. I turn my head at the smell of their sweat.

"I know… I'm sorry. We can go back home quick and shower…" Paul says, wrinkling up his nose, which makes me remember how adorable he is.

I shake my head. "No, you're fine." I say cheerfully, and he gives me a quick kiss. John whispers something in Cynthia's ear, and she nods.

"Alright, well I guess me and Cyn are going to try to find a bedroom. If there isn't one open, though, we might just have a quick drink and then check into a hotel or something." John says, tucking Cynthia in closer to him.

John's face lights up as he gets an idea.

"Hey! What if we all left for a hotel, checked in, had a little party of our own, and then went to our own little rooms afterward? Wouldn't that be fun?"

I look at Paul, and he looks at me and shrugs.

"You wanna do that?" He asks. I nod.

"Yeah, sounds fun."

Paul looks over at John and nods.

"McCartney's are in!"

Ringo nods.

"The Starr's are in!"

George shrugs.

"I don't know, I think we'll just stick here."

John shrugs.

"Your loss."

Iris bumps George in the arm and looks at him angrily.

John meets George's eye, and they exchange a glance, probably a whole conversation about Iris, and how pissy she's acting.

We turn to leave, and then suddenly, a horrible noise comes from behind us. I turn around and see Ringo bent over, being sick.

Mo puts her hand on his back and bends down next to him sympathetically.

"Richie, you want to go home?" She whispers, and Ringo shakes his head.

"No, I'll be fine, I don't want to ruin your night." Then, he's sick again, and Mo looks up at us and shakes her head.

"We'll figure it out. You guys go." She gives a little wave, and then walks poor Ringo over to the bathroom.

The four of us left pause, and then walk outside into the night air.

"Well, it's just us now, is it?" Paul says, looking behind him at the now tiny little club.

"Yeah, I guess, but it'll still be fun."

We walk without a word along the sidewalk for a few minutes, and then John breaks the silence.

"So are you guys gonna go at it tonight?"

Paul looks over at John in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

John smiles. "I mean, are you guys gonna sleep together?"

When Paul doesn't respond, John adds, "Have sex?"

Cynthia punches John in the arm, which makes him yelp and then giggle.

"You don't need to get into their personal business, John."

Then she pauses and whispers in his ear, like we can't hear her, even though we can quite clearly, "I don't think that either of them have ever done it before."

John smirks and nods.

"Yeah, you're right, Cyn, she's got one of those rings on her finger. You know the ones that look like they're cutting off the blood from the poor thing." John and Cynthia both glance down at my hand, and I study it too. The tiny ring shines in the dim light from the streetlamp above us.

Paul takes the hand with the little ring in his, and we walk in silence once more.

I don't really know what to do, and if Paul's ever done it before, and if I should, or if he wants to.

I can see it in his eyes that he wants to a little, just for a bit of fun, but I don't know if I want to do that. I've only gone out with Paul for a day, even though I've known him for about a year. I'm not sure if the thing that's bugging me is the concept of it all, actually, I'm sure it's not. I could care less about the concept. The only thing that bugs me is that

I'm.

Not.

Married.