Shelter In Your Love (Beatles Fan Fiction)

24. Reminiscing

I'm just sitting here reminiscing,

Wondering who you've been kissing, baby

'It's nice of you to join us, Minnie,' Bet says, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

I grip the microphone stand in front of me, glancing over at Cat who rolls her eyes at me in response. We were booked into the studio at nine this morning. Minnie rolls in just before eleven, banging the door behind her and ruining a take, despite the red recording light being lit. She crosses the studio towards me. As she nears, I can see her blood shot eyes and tired expression. She wears the same dress as she'd had on last night.

'Shut up, Bet,' she mutters, dropping her bag on the floor at the side of the room.

'Honestly, Minnie. I'm starting to seriously question your commitment to this group,' Bet continues, a spiteful edge to her voice.

'I'm here, aren't I? You'll have been doing mostly Hannah's vocals so far anyway.'

This is true, but Bet's not about to admit it. 'Well, so long as Maurice doesn't mind having to pay for more sessions. We finish at twelve.'

'Uh, actually girls, the afternoon session cancelled, so you can stay later if you want to,' one of the engineers says over the intercom, from the control room behind the glass.

Minnie gives Bet a tight lipped smile.

'Oh, yeah, that would be great,' Cat replies enthusiastically. 'See, Bet? We can still get it finished.'

'That's not the point,' Bet says, turning back to Minnie. 'You're never here on time, Minnie. You will hardly ever go on stage. Now you're late for recording. We're more like a trio than a quartet.'

Minnie sighs. 'You're the one wasting the studio time now,' she says, sounding tired. 'Shall we just get on?'

'You look like you're hung over -'

'I'm fine.'

'Can you even sing like that? It's not... professional, Minnie. Answer me honestly, do you even want to be in this group anymore?'

Minnie narrows her eyes at her. 'Of course I do,' she says quietly.

'Well then,' Bet says, looking around at me and Cat. 'I suppose the question is, do we want you to be in the group?'

I hate it when she does this. She always speaks as if it's the three of us versus Minnie. I feel like I'm in the middle of them all, pulled this way and that. I don't want to fall out with anyone. I hate arguments. Bet and Minnie fight all the time. They have almost right from the beginning, but Minnie's appearance of unreliability throughout this summer is leading to arguments more and more frequently.

I know the reasons behind why Minnie missed a lot of the live dates this summer. I know why she's now not keen on going on in front of cameras anymore either. But no one else does.

One of the things which haunts her is Howard telling her he was in the audience for the final show of the last season. We haven't talked about it. I wouldn't know how to bring it up if she didn't first, but I can guess that it's that which goes though her mind.

Sometimes she's fine, but other times - there have been repeats of the scene at the theatre in Miami. Stage fright Minnie's calling it, but only between me and her. She won't discuss it with anyone else. She pretends it's not happening. I thought stage fright was when you were just nervous or scared of performing in front of people. I didn't think it was when you cannot physically move, can't breath and can't speak. But I've seen it happen to her elsewhere and at other times. It's not just before the shows, so it's not simply 'stage fright'.