IF NOT FOR YOU {George Harrison}

Chapter 12

Paul

Two days later...

"Geo, letters for ye!"

I dumped George's many letters onto him, startling him awake. He glared at me between one that read from mum, and another that read from da.

"Ye needn't get me with such a rude awakening, ye crumb."

I rolled my eyes, picking through my letters. There were two from my father and one from a distantly related aunt who I never spoke to.

George shoved all of the letters to the ground with a snort of annoyance.

I smirked, not looking up from my letters.

"Did ye check the senders?"

"No," he mumbled from beneath his pillow. I glanced up at him.

"There's one from Dash-"

Never before had I seen a man fall out of his bed faster then George had in that moment. He grabbed the letters, finding the one that read from Dash. A pure grin spread across his face, his sharp teeth poking out.

I couldn't help but smile— he really liked her. Why the dodo didn't just tell her boggled my mind. I was always the first of any of my mates to find a lass to charm and wouldn't hesitate to tell her that I enjoyed her company.

Stu had done that with Astrid not two days after he'd met her, and Pete had had sex with half the girls and prostitutes in Hamburg. John was flirt but rarely strayed far enough to tell a girl he loved her, especially not now while he was with Cynthia. And however much he tried to ignore it, Cynthia was his other half. She leveled him better then anyone else and she was one of the few that could provoke the kind side of John. And then there was George, who was half in love with a very available girl, and denied all feelings for her.

George grabbed all of his letters, stuffing them into his jacket. He had managed to pull on his trousers and stick an apple in his mouth in the span of time it took me to throw a pillow at John to wake him.

"I'm goin te the park to read these, so long!"

"No, wait! When will you get back here?"

George turned around and glared at me.

"Yer not me mum, Paul."

I frowned at him as he stalked back out the door.

I sighed, concerned. He's going to get himself killed one of these days. As I stared after him, worrying, John began to laugh.

"He's not your wee chick, mummy-hen-macca. He's almost eighteen. In fact, he's barely younger then you."

I rolled my eyes and began absently making my bed. Mummy hen, my pretty little tush. He's just as concerned for him as I am, I'm certain of it.

GEORGE

Dear George,

I wanted to thank you for joining us yesterday for my birthday festivities. I had a wonderful day. I've never seen Astrid get so pissed before, not to mention Paul's atrocious dancing. But besides all of that, I wanted to know how you're doing after your breakup? I wanted to let you know that if you need someone to talk to through this, I'm here for you.

See you soon,

—

I smiled as I chewed my apple, enjoying the short but sweet letter from Dash. When I saw how she signed her name, a simple line, a hyphen, would only be understood by someone who knew her name and knew her. I was glad to say I knew her well enough to recognize it.

I was laying on the grass in the middle of the park, chewing on an apple as I read the various letters from my family, along with the one from Dash. Hers had of course been the first one I'd opened, seeing as she was practically my true love. I rolled my eyes at my own thought, muttering "In yer dreams."

The contents of her letter brought me back to the events of yesterday morning, however, rather undesirably. Never before had I seen a girl screech as I had yesterday. Karen had gone on and on about how unfair I was being and how dare I have the audacity to break up with her! Spoiler alert: I had the audacity because she was, for lack of a better word, a complete hoe. She'd hit me on more then one occasion and I was certain she'd slept with Pete at least once while we were together, which was another issue entirely that I didn't want to deal with.

After I'd finished reading the letters, I laid back on the grass. The sun, which rarely came out, was shining full blast and was emitting plenty of heat. I closed my eyes, sucking in the warmth. I nearly fell asleep, the toastiness lulling me into a stupor. I had just begun to dream of holding Dash's hand and visiting Penny Lane when I heard shuffling footsteps and someone trip over me.

"Oi, bugger!" I shouted at the boy who had stepped on me.

He had landed on his face and turned around, looking very surprised. He had the bluest eyes in the world. He looked very sorry as he said, "Sorry! I wasn't thinking and I walked right on you!"

I sat up and dusted myself off, still looking at the grungy looking boy. He was about my age and was very frightening looking. He had deeply hooded eyes and a brooding look to him, but his expression told me he wasn't as scary as he seemed.

"S'alright, I spose. What had ye thinking so hard?"

He smiled softly. "Home," he replied.

"Where's that?"

"Liverpool."

Jesus, did the whole of Liverpool move to Germany suddenly?

"Ye don' say, that's my home as well. Names George by the way, 's yours?"

"Ritchie! Er, well, my stage name is Ringo. Ringo Starr."

I raised my brows.

"You're with The Hurricanes, aren't you? With Rory Storm?"

He smiled and nodded. He held out a hand to me and he pulled me up.  He was quite a bit shorter then me and he had to look up at me as he smiled again.

"How do you know our band?We've only been here since yesterday."

John had been up the entire night complaining that Rory Storm and the Hurricanes were coming to steal our thunder.

"News gets around."

He smiled and it seemed to brighten the surroundings. Despite his rather frightening looks, Ritchie seemed like a genuinely kind person.

"I'm so glad. Was afraid no one would know about us, what with the Silver Beats running around."

I pursed my lips.

"Do ye not like them?"

He shrugged.

"Nothings wrong with them, I suppose. Only thing is, they're competition, and competition is bad for business."

We're that good?

"Ye here for that fancy thing? The thing with the bands and the competition and all that?"

He nodded.

"What about you? Ye here for any particular reason?"

I shrugged and muttered, "I'mpartofthebandyou'recompetingwith."

"Eh?"

"Nothing, just a cough. So how ye likin Germany?"

A/N: I AM SO SORRY THAT I DISAPPEARED! I started cosmetology school and my free time went out the window and across the park. But I'm back with more ideas then ever! Toodles!