Gnik Nus

Chapter 5

"I know what's going on."
Ben had cornered me on my way to the kitchen later on that day.
"What are you talking about?" I asked innocently.
"With George. He tried to crack on to you, didn't he?"
"It was just a little misunderstanding. He wasn't feeling well."
"I'm sure he wasn't," Ben smirked amusedly.
"What do you mean?"
"He was feeling… unwell, you could say, and he came to you to treat his illness. Only, he was rejected. He rushed off, did he not? Well, he had to go somewhere to get fixed.
"Ew!"
"My guess is that he ran home to his chick I heard the guys talking about the other day."
"Of course!" I exclaimed, "Pattie!"
"Yeah, I think that's her name."
"What about Pattie?" Ringo interjected, coming into the room.
"Pattie is who George has been with this whole time! Why didn't I realise it before? They met on the set of A Hard Day's Night. Oh, I can't believe I overlooked that."
"So, I'm guessing George and Pattie are together for a while then?" Ringo asked, "If you know about her."
"I would know about her anyway, Richie."
"Richie? No one calls me Richie except-."
"Maureen. Yep, I know about her too. Only my age, isn't she?"
"So?"
"Super-nerd strikes again!" Ben jeered and I directed an evil eye his way.

To avoid an awkward conversation with Ringo, I randomly hurried away, which I realised was an embarrassingly silly move. But I wasn't going to hang around in the kitchen arguing with Ringo about Maureen or answering his questions. I snuggled into a corner of the living room with a random book, avoiding everyone for no reason. After a few minutes, a dark shadow loomed over me. I looked up to find Ben (surprise, surprise) smiling down at me amusedly.
"What?" I asked with irritation.
"What the hell was that?" he asked, his mouth still permanently cemented in his sideways smirk.
"What was what?" I tried acting innocent.
"That, back there," he crouched down in front of me, "Why did you hurry off like that? It was really random."
"I couldn't stand Ringo's questioning. He wanted to know too much about the future, and I had to get out of there before I accidentally let anything slip."
"He wasn't asking anything," he chuckled, shaking his head. His long brown locks draped over his face as he looked at the floor.
"You're a strange one Sophie, you know."
"As are you, Benjamin."
"Benjamin?"
"It's your name, is it not?"
Little sounds came out of his mouth as if he were going to say something but he just ended up laughing at me again instead.

I couldn't help the small smile that crept onto my face. His laugh made me smile. He was a pretty cool laidback dude. He was probably the most chillaxed out of all of us, given the situation.
"I made you smile!" he pointed at me, "I made Sophie happy! She has barely smiled since we got here!"
"Shush!" I playfully slapped his hand away. Oh, he made me smile all right. He slowly stood up, winked at me, and sauntered off to go do something else. I didn't realise I was staring after him until Kylie came crawling over.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing. It's just… Ben. He's so funny. You should get to know him better."
I swear Kylie shuddered next to me.
"What? You don't like him?" I questioned her after seeing her reaction.
"No, I do, I do! Very much so. It's like I've known him for years… you don't have feelings for him, do you?"
"What? No, no!"
"Oh, good."
"Why do you say that?"
"I don't know… it just feels awkward to me."
Kylie's feelings towards Ben were inexplicable. I had been observing her and it did look like she was avoiding him, although she often watched him. It was like she couldn't take her eyes off him, but from a distance. Maybe she had feelings for him and didn't want me to get in the way? Well, she needn't worry. I didn't come to 1964 to find a boyfriend. In fact, I didn't come to 1964 for any reason in particular.

"Oh, Sophie, when are you going to have that quiz?" Ethel shuffled over to us and asked in her thick Welsh accent, "I would find great amusement in it, I can tell you. I was quite a fangirl in my day."
"Well, we haven't asked Brian yet. He's the one who knows them best after me and them themselves of course, so he'll have to come up with the questions."
"Yes, he has been quite busy lately, hasn't he? He's not around much. He's not even here when the boys are here!"
"Ah, yes, I guess he hasn't mentioned it to us, and I had forgotten until now, but he manages other groups besides The Beatles," I told her.
"Really? Who else?"
"Gerry and the Pacemakers are one. Uh, let me think… that Billy J. Kramer guy?"
"Oh, yes, I know them!"
"Yeah, them. He manages quite a few acts actually. I'm surprised he has time for them all, let alone us!"
"When he comes home we'll ask him," Peter, who was on the lounge next to where Kylie and I were sitting on the floor, leaned over and said.
Well. This was going to be fun.