Miss Americana // The Beatles

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

February 7, 1964

Today was the day. We were boarding a plane at Heathrow to be whisked away to the so called   "British Invasion". The American public was waiting for  us on the  other  side of the Atlantic. I was especially excited for this  trip.  This was a great homecoming for me. My songs have been doing so  well  in the country and pop charts in the US. I hadn't been back to the  states  since I visited my mom with George last year. She was so excited  to watch me make my American television debut on the Ed Sullivan show,  and hopefully we could meet up whilst we're in New York. However, our schedule looked extremely busy, hopping back and forth from New York to Washington D.C. to Miami. I couldn't believe I was going to be on Ed Sullivan, a show I used to watch all the time when I lived here, a show I  saw Elvis make his debut on. Brian had set it up so I could be on the first half of the show, and the boys could close out the show. I  could hardly handle the excitement and nervousness.

George was sat next to me on the eight hour plane journey to New York. I had my head resting on his shoulder. He was reading the in-flight magazine.

"Sasha, did you know I could buy cologne on the plane?" He asked as he read over a cologne advertisement.

I  chuckled. When we had come to America in September, we didn't have the whole first class to  ourselves like we did now. Then, for some reason, I thought back to the flight to New York when I took John to meet my mom. We were so in love back then. I thought that nothing was ever going to get in  between us.  Who would have thought that five years later I would be sitting next to George of all people, and John would be sitting next to his wife, who  wasn't me. It's not at all how I expected my life turn  out when I thought about the future back then. John and I had  continued to be friends since Brian forced us to. I was actually starting to get comfortable around him again. Maybe it was a good thing for us to be friends.

The captain's beep sounded, "Ladies and gentlemen, if you  could put your seats in the upright positions and lock the tray tables in front of you, we will be   beginning our descent to New York City shortly. Thank you for flying Pan American."

I sat up and looked out the window. I didn't realize how much I missed America until I saw the vast New York City skyline staring back at me. I was home.

That  night, in the hotel, I sat on the couch in between Paul and George.  Ringo sat in the chair next to Paul, and John was in and out of the room  with Cynthia.  Maureen had come to America with us, but she was already in bed from jet lag. The boys and I were trying to stay awake, so we could get  used to the five hour time difference faster. Two men were  filming the  boys  for a documentary they were producing. Brian was in and out of the room with the publicists and radio announcers. They had rented out a whole floor for us at the Plaza Hotel, but not  surprisingly, we had all ended up in the same room.

"I'm tired because I've been up for days," George said to the camera that was filming part of a documentary.

Ringo began to say that we would all go out later.

"I really don't feel like going out," George said to me.

I rubbed his back, "Are you alright?"

"I'm kind of feeling under the weather right now," George said standing up and walking into the bedroom that we shared.

"What's  wrong with Harrison?" John asked when he had left the room. I noticed that Cynthia wasn't with him. Maybe she had gone to bed.

"He said he wasn't feeling well," I explained.

Paul  looked at me in shock, "He can't feel bad. We have a photo shoot, Ed Sullivan, and I think we're doing something with some radio host or something   tomorrow."