Beatles Imagines

7. Ringo

Lina grabbed hold of my hands, urging me to dance more as she broke out her nonpareil moves on the floor, which seemed quite odd in her drunken state. I did as she urged, and started to move my body along with the tempo of the upbeat song that an unknown jazz band played rather loudly in the background, even I felt awkward in doing so. Even if everyone else at the party were dancing, I felt as though everyone was scrutinizing every step.

Brushing off the thoughts that swirled around in my chaotic mind, I decided to get a drink to take the edge off. Even if it was only one. Plus, it wasn't as though I was the designated driver for the night; Karla was. But, by the looks of it, she was too busy letting a guys hands hike her skirt up to notice that her friends had stayed here longer than they would've wanted to.

"A vodka tonic, please," I asked the bartender politely, which he gave a curt nod to me before handing another attendee a Shirley Temple.

"The ladies' drink's on me, Rick," A masculine voice sitting on a stool said.

I turned towards him, and was met with a man. His eyes were the first thing I noticed, the bright azure almost hypnotic. But, it didn't end there, as that wasn't the only feature that was handsome. Almost everything about him seemed to be, and I was almost envious of such physical perfection. I was sure I was ogling over him, but in the moment I wanted to capture all of his beauty. He then smiled at me, a charming lopsided smile, which had me weak at the knees, which I knew wasn't from the dancing.

Now, I wasn't a firm believer in love at first sight, in fact I was a firm believer that it wasn't true, and neither was love itself. And though, I wasn't in love with him by the moment I looked at him, a strong sense of infatuation struck me like thunder. It still is a wonder of how one man could've changed my mind about such an embedded opinion, but he almost managed to do it in mere seconds.

"Hi." I finally spoke, glad that I hadn't stuttered the words, and that they'd left my mouth successfully.

"Hello," He replied smugly, taking a swig of beer. "How are you?"

I grabbed ahold of the drink that he'd bought and took a generous sip from it, smiling shyly at him as I responded with a simple,"Fine, and you?"

"Great." He raised his eyebrows at me, leaning back in the bar stool. "You're a good dancer, you know."

"Yeah, I highly doubt that," I shot him an 'are you being genuine' type of look. "Took dance lessons three times before the teacher said I wasn't 'fit for the arts'"

As I awaited a response, anxiety took ahold of my thoughts, becoming the pre-dominant emotion within me. I felt like I should've taken back my words in fear that I might've said something wrong or revealed too much information too quickly. I didn't want him thinking I was an aberrant being.

I took another ample serving of my drink, running my index finger around the tip of the glass. I then looked towards the crowd to see Lina stumbling around drunkly with another woman.

"Yeah, well I've been in a band for four years, and still have rarely made the spotlight."

My eyes snapped back to him, and I saw him already smiling at me. My heart felt bulky, and my stomach felt airy; a fluttering sensation fluttering about.

I had never felt so cliché in my life.

"Oh, that's dreadful. I hope you make the spotlight soon..." I cut myself off, realizing I didn't know the fellow's name.

"My name's Richard," he nodded towards me, extending his hands outwards for me to shake presumably,"And yours is?"

"A fine lady never tells." I extended my hand as well, putting my hand in his.

"A mystery, eh?" He laughed politely.

I raised my eyebrows at him and nodded.

He pulled a cheeky move, grabbed my hand and put it to his lips, before letting my hand rest in my lap once again. I was sure to be blushing, and I tried my hardest to cover it up as casually as possible.

"It's a good thing I like mysteries." Richard said, which made me wonder if he was trying purposefully to make me blush.

"I suppose." I responded shyly, downing the last of my drink which had been made so finely, and set the empty glass on the bar, and looked to the band that was playing tonight, European Holiday.

The band finally played a different song, and instead of some jazz rhythm, they played I Want to Hold Your Hand, by The Beatles. It was my favorite song at the time, and since I heard it almost every day on the radio, it grew on me.

"Oh I love this song." I stated boastfully, looking towards the band that was covering the song quite well, and hummed along silently to the main part.

"You do?" He started laughing,"That's hilarious."

I questioned him,"How so?"

"It's just that-uhm-I don't know...it's every girls favorite song around here." He stumbled on his words, giving a half-hearted smile in response. "Anyway, you want to dance?"

"I don't know," I stated bashfully, afraid that I may step on his feet and ruin the night. He was a delightful person, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to ruin the night so soon.

"Come on," I took note on how the words rolled so perfectly off his tongue. "It'll be fun, plus you said so yourself, this is your favorite song,"

"Fine, but if I step on your feet, you can't say that I did this to you."

He took hold of my hand and led me to the dance floor, leaving the comforts of the bar stool behind.

Soon, he started dancing with me, in which I was absolutely stunned at the moves he was pulling. He was a great dancer, and I trailed him, following whatever he did.

"See, this isn't so bad," he spoke before twirling me around in a circle.

"I guess not," I replied, wary of my answer.

Making eye-contact with Lina once again, I saw that she was giving me two-thumbs-up, making me roll my eyes at her. Richard looked back as well, to see what the commotion was about and chuckled as he did so, which made Lina smile sheepishly.

The end of the song was near, and I actually wanted to dance another song with him. He made it, actually tolerable, maybe even enjoyable.

Pulling me slightly closer to him, his body heat clashed with mine with our close proximity, and I shivered. I hoped he hadn't seen that, but the way his blue eyes were peering down on me, I could tell that he most-likely had.

Impulsively, he dipped me as soon as the final cords strummed, which made me involuntarily gasp. I stared into his eyes, waiting for him to set me back onto the ground. He stared as well, but for a whole different reason in mind, which made my breath caught in my throat as soon as I realized his intentions. The intensity of the moment increasing by the second as our proximity was decreasing.

"May I kiss you?" He asked, with his voice hovering just above a whisper.

And with me, being as cliché as could possibly be that night and many after, I responded with:

"Yes."