"I don't like him in that way, do you see the problem here?" At that last question she turned to tried to face him, but found him too close so she turned back. "You don't see me getting angry at you when you told me you weren't interested in me," it was true, she wasn't but her tone at that moment indicated the contrary.
"But I have experience, I've dated, they have broken my heart and I probably have done that to others; how would you know the true difference if you don't even experience dating, isn't that something in philosophy about the intelligence of emotions?" He was passionate about lecturing her on that topic, deep down in his mind he thought that maybe if he pushed her into a relationship, his increasing interest in her would diminish.
"I don't need a boyfriend to break my heart, Paul," she turned to look at him, "that has happened with my family already, they even call me from outside this country to simply tell me how disposable I am for them, even I have been quite harsh with myself. Besides it's quite shallow to think that you must suffer to thrive, 'it's not what happens to you but how you react to it that matters'," she quoted Epictetus.
"I'm an arse," he said, with a gloomy smiled he joined her, sitting next to her he took her hands, "I thought myself a progressive person, but look at me, giving you advised on how to look for a husband like a beer ad,"
"Yes, or worse," she said, removing her hands from his embrace.
"I'm beyond sorry, I didn't stop and think how stupid I sounded, please Ella promise me you won't be mad at me for a long time."
She gave him a half a smile , "There's no fun in that,"
He smiled, "maybe you'll forgive me sooner if I curse at myself a bit more, I'm such a sod for taking his side, I've heard of Ricky's constant cheating to other girls, and I was defending him. He deserves your rejection."
Ella saw John hop in the bus, and knew her stop was there, he said goodbye to him and asked him if he wanted her to take his other guitar home, and he thanked her. John saw her, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and rapidly exited the bus.
"Why does she have your guitar?" John asked, as he sat next to him.
"She helped me, I played at that party I told you about."
"I remember now, you won't play in that shitty outfit, will you? You look ready to go to a horse-racing. "
Paul only laughed, and he did change his outfit once they arrived at the place where they were going to perform, when he entered the restroom he found Ricky kissing with a girl, for a second he meant to apologize for the intrusion, but then he felt hatred, mostly to himself since just minutes before she had tried to convince Ella to date that man.
"You know there are cleaner places to do that, right?" He said to them.
Ricky could have punched him, but he didn't mean to break the spark he was having with the woman, so they went out.
"That looks wonderful, Charlotte," Mimi praised the breakfast she prepared.
John got downstairs, and simply took a scone from the plate Ella had prepared for him. One day before her boss had asked if he had the telephone number of one of the Beatles, and at that moment he called, and told John that he wanted a meeting with his band. She was pretty excited for them.
"John, morning sunshine, do you have any idea what time it is?" Mimi asked.
"Yeah, time to go, see ya birds!" And he was gone.
George was outside of his house smoking when saw John arriving.
"Let's go baby! We have an appointment with Mr. Eppy."
"Did you tell your auntie about it?" George asked
"Nah! Later, maybe, Ella wanted me to, but I didn't want to argue,"
They went to his office, they were really late for that, so the anger on Brian Epstein face was obvious.
"Sorry we're late, Mr. Epstein, we got lost." George joked.
"And you better be sorry, next time we have an appointment I want you here early, do we have an agreement lads?"
"Yes Mr. Epstein, sir" they said in unison.
"Where's McCartney?" he asked impatiently.
"He's taking a bath," George said "He likes to be clean."
"From now and on, you are a group, and as a group you must be together when taking decisions."
"What do you mean with decisions?" John asked, crossing his arms, and the others imitated him.
Mr. Epstein calmly went behind his desk and sat, "Do you have a manager?"
"Do we look like we have one?" John smirked.
"You don't at all, that's why I would like to be your manager, but first talk about this with McCartney, when arrives." So they waited.
The four lads decided to agree with Mr. Brian Epstein, to make him their manager.
They we going to have a gig in a new place, they hadn't played before, although it was near to their usual spot, they felt a little more nervous since new crowds could be present. Mr. Epstein had a personal appointment that day, so he asked Ella to go and take note, he wanted notes on good and also harsh criticism she could hear from the crowd, just to get a sense on what changes had to be made in order to improve. They arrived early, and Ella joined just before their rehearsal.
"Is that our playlist? I wanted to add a song,"
"Which song? Paul," John asked
"Hello, little girl, let's try it again," he said as he plugged his bass.
"Are you serious?"John looked at Paul, "Okay, we'll try again if you want,"
"But don't blame me if it doesn't go well, we barely practiced it." George said.
Ella approached the stage, she informed them that their new manager would not be able to see them that afternoon,
"Are you his spy dog?" John asked, suspicion on his face.
"Something like that, so you better behave." She warned, and went to sit at a table to wait, they were going to rehearse a little and then an hour later the performance would start.
"Are those the Beatles lads?" A young woman sat next to her.
"Yeah, it's their first time playing here," she grabbed a pencil in case she was about to listen to an opinion on them.
"They're really cool, do you think a band of girls could be as good as them?" The woman asked, inspecting her.
"Probably, I've heard there's one-,"
The woman interrupted, "Sorry, I'm Cleo, you see I'm starting a band with my friends and I play the bass, do you happen to know the bassist in the Beatles?"
"I'm Ella," she turned to see her, was this woman asking or did she know already that Ella knew them? "Paul, that's his name."
Cleo turned to look at the band that had began to rehearse a song, "I've heard he's neat, a great bassist, do you think I could ask him for an advice?"
"Probably," she remembered that Paul had patience to teach music, and maybe that could earn him some extra money. "Do you want me to introduce you to him?"
"I don't know, they don't have the best reputation, is he arrogant? " she said, offering a cigarette, which Ella took but didn't light it.
"No, he isn't," Ella seemed thoughtful.
She looked at her, a strange expression on her face "you don't sound convinced."
"I am, he is very polite, and...er," then she remembered, she was talking about Paul, "He gets really close to you anytime he wants you to listen to him, he could be insecure I don't know, " A smile appeared on her face, "just the other day at a party, I was sitting to his left we were eating cake, and my arm kept bumping into his and he tried to use his right hand, unsuccessfully." She realized that she was rambling, so stopped.
"He sounds great!" She stood up, "I'll see you outside when they finish?"
"Okay, we'll be outside," she said.
They boys finished the gig; Ella helped them to put the instruments in Pete's van. John and Paul were imitating George's performance.
"Bag it! I did better than any of you," he declared, with a smug look.
"At cocking up the arrangements," Paul said.
"Sod off!, that's not true, Is it Ella?"he only received a smile from her, as she closed the doors of the van, "You are against me too? Aren't you?"
Pete had a dinner party with his other friends, and he had to leave, the others had decided to stay for a night out, and John said that he was going to wait for Cyn.
"I have to go, tomorrow I have an early class," said Ella, " John would you accompany me to the bus?" She asked.
He told her to wait for him, he was going to go to the restroom, George followed him inside the pub looking for a drink.
"I'll wait with you if that's okay." Paul said to her, and took a cigarette she offered him, "Where do you keep on getting free unlit cigarettes?" He marveled.
She only nodded, then she saw Cleo standing in front of the street, she doubted for a minute if she should take Paul to meet her, or not "I almost forget, Paul there's someone that wants your advice," she finally said.
"My good or my bad advices?" Paul said taking a drag from the cigarette.
"About bass playing," she said and took his arm, "She has a band also."
Paul stopped her, "Are you setting me up with a girl?" He attempted to leave, but Ella stopped him.
"I'm telling you she has band so she wants your musical advice, you're good at teaching," she encouraged and led him to the girl. "Hi Cleo, this is Paul the bass player, and she is Cleo she is in a band."
"Are you?" Paul asked monotone.
"I'm not a groupie if that's what you think," she smiled playfully.
Ella felt awkward being there so she left, she looked back and saw John going out, she said goodbye to them and left.
"What do you want now, Cleo?" Paul asked. He knew her from before.