NINE - Where It Started

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The day went by fast, her walk home looked the same as it always did that night. Mari found it funny, really. When she was younger, all she wanted to do was move to the city, famous, and make money doing what she loved.

Music.

She was always artistic growing up, never a mathematician. Always reading something, and then as soon as she got home she'd drop everything just to put a record on. She was dead set on moving to America and making it big. Everything changed when she met Billy Preston.

She was desperately searching for a record deal. She'd been working as an assistant for someone she couldn't even remember the name of anymore, and working at a record store on the side. One day, her boss told her he was letting her go. Why, she couldn't remember. It was insignificant in the end. A couple weeks later during her shift at the record store, Billy Preston walks in.

He picks out a couple records, and as he checks out, he seems to recognize her face from somewhere. He knew her boss, asking her who she worked for. She told him she was let go and that she was looking for a new job to fill in it's place.

He seemed to know just the right thing.

The Beatles had been complaining about their lack of assistance at the studio lately. Billy remembered this, and it was as if a light bulb had lit up above his head.

"You know, I'm working with The Beatles right now. They could use an assistant."

He mentioned it so casually that Mari almost didn't notice what he'd said, but when she did, she stopped everything.

"Really?" She asked, not believing him at first. She didn't recognize him, if he was good enough to be working with The Beatles, surely she would recognize him. She watched as he gave a nod.

"Yeah." He said, nodding.

"Oh my God, that would be incredible." She said, watching as he searched his pockets, presumably for any type of contact info.

"Do you have a piece of paper? I can give you their managers number."

It was barely a couple weeks before it was time for her to start working.

Her first time meeting them was interesting, Allen Klien being the one to introduce Mari to the group. There was an overwhelming tension in the room among the four.

The first member she really got close with was Paul. Paul thought she was hilarious, but the other members hadn't ever really spoken to her much. When she finally got to joking around with John one day, it was as if she just clicked with the rest of the group. Like she was meant to be there.

She had great memories of those years spent with The Beatles, even if she didn't really talk to most of them anymore, that was probably the best time of her life. After the band broke up, John put a good word in for her at Polydor records sometime later in 1971, finally giving her that record deal she'd always dreamed of.

She never really spoke to Billy after he went back to America, but she thanked him for the impact he had on her life. She'd still be working at the record store if it wasn't for him. There were reasons she never really spoke to the other three ex-beatles, but if she could help it, she wouldn't think about them. She would just walk home in peace and hope for a good nights sleep.

***

𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝘼𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, 𝘽𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙚!Where stories live. Discover now