George had become a handsome young man by the time he turned sixteen in late February 1959. We celebrated him and threw a big party for him at Paul’s house. Paul’s father was out that evening, so we had a lot of alcohol etc. John got so drunk that he took of his pants and danced around. It was crazy parties we threw at that time. It was at that time I started to notice that George seemed to be really fond of this entire guitar-band thing and we didn’t have so much time together, so one rainy day in late March we decided to break up as friends after almost two years together.
In 1960 The Quarrymen had changed their name to The Silver Beatles. I saw them frequently at the Casbah every time they were playing there, which was quite often.
I and George were friends, and he often said that I was his best girl friend. I remember one evening at the Casbah. It was Friday, and I was on a date with a boy named David Normann. It was our first date, and David had convinced me to go to the Casbah. He had to convince me, because I knew George was going to be there, and I didn’t want him to know that I was dating David.
When we got to the Casbah at the Best house, we sat down at a table in a remote corner and got a coke each. We talked and I really liked David. He had slightly curly hair, brown eyes and he just looked nice. I had heard some rumors from my friends, about him, that he was a heart-breaker, and I was told that I shouldn’t go on a date with him.
“He really isn’t good for anybody, Rosie”, Julie had said and told me about her friend’s friend who had dated him, and she ended up getting pregnant and got an abortion. I had convinced them that it wouldn’t get that far, and I just was going on a simple date with him.
“But be careful Rosie” Rebecca had said before I went out of the door, to meet David.
David asked me up for a dance and I kindly rejected the offer, but he didn’t take no for an answer, and eventually he convinced me.
“It’s only a dance Rosalie” he said and took his hands around my waist.
He was eighteen years old and I was seventeen, and he was the second boy I dated in my whole life. At one point we were so near to the stage that I got eye contact with George. I knew he had kept an eye on us the whole evening. He gave me an odd look and looked back down on his guitar playing.
A few days later I opened our front door and saw George standing at our doorstep.
“You wanna go for a walk?” he asked me, and I nodded. There was a silence the first five minutes. I knew that George was up to something. He never asked me to go for a walk with him. The last time he had asked me was when we were dating, which was over a year ago.
“So I saw you with David Normann…” George suddenly said breaking the silence.
“Uhm”, I said and sounded careless.
“You know, he’s a bad guy”, George said and stopped walking. He looked me in the eyes. As did I. I started getting annoyed.
“Why is everybody so bloody protecting? We’re only dating!” I said irritated.
George sighed. “Well, maybe you should start listening to them! He will hurt you eventually Rosie!” George said and started walking again.
I ran after him. “David is nice! He really is! And I am going to date him, no matter what you and all the others say!” I said and stopped George by pulling him in his jacket.
He rolled his eyes. “Do what you want Rosalie, but don’t say we didn’t warn you! “. George turned around without looking back at me.
David picked me up the evening after me and Georges talk. I didn’t care what they said. I knew David could never hurt me. He was too nice and I really liked him. We drove in his car into town and went to a nice club. We talked for hours and time went.
“Oh my god! What time is it?” I asked.
It was almost midnight and I had to be home before it. David gave me an odd smirk look, and grabbed my hand and went down to his car. He turned on the engine of the car and started driving. He smiled at me and I smiled back.
I looked out the window. He hadn’t driven me home as he said he would. Instead he had parked the car in a remote place. I couldn’t see where we were by the buildings, but I knew we were still in town.
“David, where are we? Weren’t you going to drive me home?” I asked and looked at him. He leaned over and started kissing me intensely. At first I reciprocated but then I felt his hand sliding up under my skirt.
“No David. What are you doing! Stop it!” I said and removed his hand.
“Oh come on Rosalie! I know you want to”, he said and slid his hand under my skirt again.
“David, please stop!” I yelled and tried to remove his hand. He then started to slide his hand under my blouse.
“David stop it!” I cried and tried to remove it and open my seatbelt, but he didn’t stop. I started to scream for help, but he took a hand over my mouth.
The tears were streaming down my cheeks and I was paralyzed. Suddenly the car door opened and a hand grabbed David by his shirt and pulled him out of the car. I could here David groan, and some smashing sounds. They were three guys.
“Don’t ever fuckin’ touch her again!” a familiar voice yelled. I looked out of the car and saw John and Paul. David was lying on the ground.
“I think he had enough now, John”, Paul said and looked at John who was all red in the face. The tears were still streaming down my face and I was still shocked. The car door on my side opened and George stuck his head in and reached for my hand.
“George!” I said as I went out of the car and into George’s arms. He held me tight. The tears were streaming even more down my cheeks. “Thank you”, I whispered and looked him into his eyes. He smiled slightly and hugged me tighter.
“Come, we’ll follow you home”, George said and looked at Paul and John who nodded. We started walking.
“Perverted bastard!” John yelled back at David, who was still lying on the ground.
We were all quiet on the bus drive home. George still held me tight. They followed me all the way home to my front door.
“I don’t know how to thank you”, I said and looked at them all. George sighed.
“All you have to do is to promise that you’ll never ever ignore our warnings again.” George said with a wry smile.
“I promise”, I said. They each gave me a tight hug and I went into my house to get some sleep.
