Shelter In Your Love (Beatles Fan Fiction)

98. Something In The Way She Moves

Arthur shook his head. 'Where?'

'What?' George said, feigning disinterest as he read one of the bottle lables, like he knew what he was looking for. 'Why are you so bloody interested anyway?'

'Where did you meet her?'

'It was, uh...'

'You said you went to that... that club. In town.'

George turned to him. 'The strip club?' he asked, casually, boldly, and shrugged, like he, George Harrison, went to strip clubs every day of the week. 'Yeah. So?'

Arthur laughed. 'You're lying. You never met her in a strip club. Fuck, you wouldn't even have the bollocks to speak to a normal girl, never mind a stripper.'

George rolled his eyes at him. 'I didn't say she were a stripper, did I? She was singing.'

'Singing? In a strip club?'

'Believe me or don't. Doesn't matter to me.'

'What's her name then?'

Hannah Hannah Hannah Hannah.

'Can't remember.'

'Shagged her?' Arthur continued.

'Of course not.'

'But you want to?'

'Don't be daft.'

Arthur stepped backwards so he could look through the door's window again. 'Shame you can't remember her name.'

'Why?'

'Then you could introduce me.' Arthur grinned.

'Sorry.' George smiled, sarcastically.

'I wouldn't forget the name of a girl that looks like that. Don't you fancy her?'

George took a deliberate, direct look at the girl, the first he'd allowed himself, as if he was sizing her up. Assessing her attributes. Weighing the pros against the cons. He sucked air in through his teeth and pulled his face. 'She's okay, I suppose.'

Arthur laughed. 'You need your eyes tested, la.'

*

'Have you seen my sister anywhere?'

George turned around to find that girl, that Hannah, sitting right behind him, looking up at him. The booze must have had more effect than he'd thought, because for a few minutes, he'd forgotten she was here. A miracle, because Arthur, that sod, had moved in on her. To George's annoyance, as soon as he'd renounced any interest, Arthur had said, 'Oh, so you won't mind if I have a go then,' and before George could utter another word, he'd gone over there, introduced himself and plonked his arse on the arm of her chair to chat her up.

Yeah, alright, he had said he wasn't interested, but still, he'd seen her first.

'You're George, aren't you? We met a couple of weeks ago. You probably don't remember...'

He'd been too far away to hear what they were talking about, but George had watched them surreptitiously through the glass dining room doors. At first she'd stared at Arthur, wild-eyed and panicked and George had smiled to himself because plainly Arthur was going to strike out just like he had. But then Hannah had started laughing. And Arthur laughed. And then he fetched her a drink and he'd stayed there for a good twenty minutes before George decided he couldn't torture himself over it any longer and wandered off to look for Paul or someone to distract him from Arthur and his new girlfriend.