Miss Americana // The Beatles

Chapter 14

Author's Note: Thank you all for reading. The Hamburg drama is starting. Enjoy.

Chapter 13

March 13, 1960

"It will be nice to have these photographs and have some friends here that are locals," Stu commented as we all waited at the bus stop.

We were meeting Astrid and Klaus at a location on the outskirts of Hamburg for our photoshoot.

John exhaled smoke from his cigarette, "I guess, they're a bunch of exies though. We're rock 'n' rollers."

I rolled my eyes, "Does it matter, John? They're nice enough to befriend and do this for free for us."

John scoffed, throwing his cigarette to the ground. Stu shot me a look. Over the past couple of weeks, John was progressively getting more cynical and twisted. At night, out in Hamburg, he was possessive and controlling over me. It was scary for a girl like me to be here, but he was mean about it most nights. His possessive behavior over me had even extended to the band, even though they did nothing harmful.

The bus pulled up and John grabbed my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine. Don't get me wrong, I love John as much I did before we came to Hamburg. I knew it was from lack of sleep and stress that his behavior had changed since coming here. We would just have to work through it. Any couple has some bumps in the road.

John led me to the back of the bus. The others sat in the seats in front of us.

He kissed my cheek, squeezing my hand, "When we're famous, we won't have to take the bus. I'll drive you around in my fancy car. Or better yet, we'll have a driver and we can shag in the backseat."

"John," I said, blushing, "Promise you'll still love me as much when we're famous."

"I'll love you forever and always, mama," John said, looking into my eyes, "Don't forget that."

I kissed him on the lips. He put his hands on either side of my face to deepen the kiss. I wasn't sure how much time was passing as John and I shared this intimate moment with each other in the back of the bus.

"Alright, lovebirds," Pete said, "This is our stop."

John took my hand and led me off the bus, following the other boys. I looked around as the bus pulled away. It looked like a junkyard almost, near a train track that looked like it wasn't in service anymore. Broken down wartime trucks were parked all around and there was a broken down train car on the track. Astrid and Klaus were standing a few yards away. We all approached them.

I watched as Astrid positioned the boys with their instruments around the trucks and train car. I stood by her and Klaus as she took all the pictures and directed the boys. At one point, Astrid left the camera to adjust Stu's shirt collar. I watched as they locked eyes whilst she touched his shirt. I grinned. I noticed that Klaus looked down at the ground. She came back to take some photos.

"Sasha, can you fix George's hair?" Astrid asked as she looked through the viewfinder of the camera.

I walked forward and stood in front of George. I noticed John watching intently as I stood there. I hadn't spoken to George much since being in Hamburg, mostly because he was quiet. I ran my fingers through George's quiff, making it stand up taller. George's dark eyes locked with mine whilst I fixed his hair. I got lost in the darkness of them for a few moments.

"Okay, that's enough. His hair looks fucking fine," John said beside us.

I backed away. I had never noticed how dark and deep George's eyes were. I shook my head slightly as Astrid started to take pictures of the band. I thought about the moment that just happened between us, it confused me.