Razzmatazz (Beatles Fan Fiction)

3

Five Years Earlier

When Ruby opened her eyes, it took a moment for her to remember where she was. As the realisation flooded over her, rather like a shockingly cold bucket of water, so did the mortification. She sat up, propping herself on her elbows. The room was bright with early morning sunshine. This was bad, very bad.

John was sitting in a chair reading a book; his feet resting on the foot of the bed. He looked up. ‘Hi.’

‘Hi.’ Ruby sat up, the blanket that had been covering her fell down. She was still wearing the same clothes as the night before. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I can’t believe I fell asleep...”

John took his feet off the bed. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said, casually.

‘Your Aunt...’

‘She didn’t twig. She’s gone out already too, so the coast is clear.’

‘Oh God.’ Ruby swung her legs over the side of the bed so that she was sitting on the edge. She put her head in her hands. ‘What am I going to tell my mother? Where am I going to say I’ve been?’

‘I’ve been thinking about that.’ John closed his book and put it on the bed. Ruby stole a glance at it. She hadn’t imagined John would be the reading type. ‘You could tell her the truth.’

Ruby laughed dryly. ‘Yeah, I’ll do that. Got any more good ideas?’

‘Nothing happened, though, did it? You wouldn’t be lying.’

‘Would it make a difference?’

‘You’ll have to go with plan A then.’

‘What was that?’

‘What we were saying on the bus, remember?’

Ruby didn’t. She didn’t remember an awful lot of anything that had happened - or at least there were parts missing. They were in the pub. She’d lost Clare, but Stuart had still been there. She remembered John yelling at him in the street, and then they were in a bus shelter and John had --

‘Blame it on that Clare. Some sort of emergency, you had to lend a hand. Emotional support,’ John continued.

‘I guess I could say that,’ Ruby mumbled, the memory of the kiss distracting her. She stood up, feeling herself blushing. She couldn’t quite look at John. ‘I suppose I’d better go then. Face the music.’

John stood up too. ‘Alright, mind how you go then,’ he said, rather shortly.

Ruby turned to leave.

‘Er, what are you doing Saturday?’ John asked suddenly, with a unnecessarily violent clearing of the throat. ‘D’yer fancy going pictures?’

‘Oh, I can’t,’ Ruby said. She dared look at John again, surprised by how crestfallen he suddenly looked. ‘I work on Saturdays,’ she explained quickly. ‘At the Boots chemist in Penny Lane.’

‘How about Wednesday afternoon then?’

Ruby had classes on Wednesday afternoons but she nodded. Wouldn’t harm to miss one, would it?

***

August 1963

‘Did you get there alright?’

The phone line crackled and popped, distorting Billy’s voice. He was only sixteen or so miles away, but he might as well have been on the moon.

‘Yeah, fine, love.’