Cloud of Light (Beatles Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

It had been a week since Audrey first arrived and already her minor acting role was over, at least as a school girl.   They had traveled on a train between London and Minehead and she had played a rather small role in comparison to Pattie and Prudence.  Not that any of the girls had any real part in the movie, but Pattie and Prudence were chosen out of the four of them to have a small scene with Paul and John, while Susan and Audrey were basically cast as extras.  Still, Audrey was on call for participating in what had been the original part Frank had gotten for her, but she’d have to wait until the end of March before she got in front of the cameras again.  Off cameras, however, she and the other girls had a bigger role.  George and Pattie had become quite close in just a week.  Paul had been flirting back with Prudence…and Audrey…well Audrey was split between John and Ringo, not to mention that she had to compete with Susan for John’s attention.  Things were not going as Audrey had initially planned, but this job was quite different from anything she’d done before.

Aside from the obvious reason of who her target was, she had never had to “work” alongside other girls that were not part of the business.  This was new territory for Audrey.  She was having to not only compete with Pattie, Prudence and Susan, but dozens of other females that were constantly brought in to meet the Beatles.  This wasn’t the hardest part of her job though…she had been successful time and time again in seducing her target despite the other women in the picture, but it was the fact that Ringo had a strong interest in her that was causing her the most trouble.  It’s not to say that Audrey didn’t like the attention she was receiving from him.  Truth be told, it had been a long time since she had felt at ease with a man as she did with Ringo.  He was friendly, laid back and funny.  He could make her laugh and she loved that about him.  But she had purposely set her boundary with him…trying not to lead him on.  She needed to seduce John, but the fact that John knew Ringo was interested in Audrey, made it almost impossible.  Every time she would try to have a conversation with John, he would end up redirecting it so that they’d end up talking about Ringo.  You had to love John for trying to play the matchmaker between them, but Audrey was getting somewhat frustrated at the fact that she couldn’t get anywhere with John because of Ringo.

“Do you want to dance?” Ringo asked Audrey

“I…uh…”Audrey stumbled on her words…

“I promise I don’t have two left feet, you’ll see. ” Ringo laughed, which made Audrey smile.

“Aww c’mon Audrey…give the poor lad a chance…he’s been pining for you to dance with him since we got here…go on!” John urged Audrey.

Ringo raised an eyebrow. “So…?”

Audrey sighed and uncrossed her legs.

“Is that a yes, then?” Ringo smiled and Audrey nodded.

As Audrey got up, she saw Ringo wink at John in appreciation.

“You two have fun now!” John waved them off to the dance floor.

Audrey and Ringo danced to two fast songs before a slower song came on.  Audrey began heading back to the table, but Ringo caught a hold of her hand.

“One more?” Ringo asked.

Audrey looked at those beautiful blue eyes…and despite her knowing better, she agreed.  Ringo put his arms around her waist and she put hers on his shoulders.   They swayed to the music.  Audrey didn’t speak, she didn’t even look at Ringo; she just kept staring down at his chest.  A few seconds later she felt Ringo lift her chin up so that he could look at her. 

“You can look at me, y’know.”

“I know.” Audrey spoke softly as she looked at him. 

But she really didn’t know.  She didn’t know what she was doing here-dancing with Ringo.  She was feeling something she hadn’t felt in years….she was feeling vulnerable.  This wasn’t like her at all.  If her life had taught her anything, it was to be fearless ….but here she was, dancing with Ringo and actually feeling…shy around him!  Why on earth would she feel shyness around a man?  Audrey was a woman who could seduce any man she wanted…she was bold and daring.  She had done things with a man that would shock people if she actually said them aloud…and here she was in the middle of the dance room, feeling shy and nervous.

“You know I like you, right?” Ringo said.

“I think you’re very nice too.” Audrey managed to get the words out.

Ringo chuckled. “You know what I mean, Audrey.”

“Really, I don’t.” Audrey said, her mind quickly working to come up with a way to get herself out of this situation.

Ringo then leaned in and made a very valid attempt to kiss her, but Audrey turned her face and Ringo instead encountered her cheek.  He leaned further in and whispered in her ear.

“If I didn’t make it clear enough just now, I like you in the way a boy likes a girl he wants to desperately kiss.”

Audrey hesitated for a few seconds, fighting with herself on what she needed to do.  Part of her wanted to follow through with what Ringo was propositioning, but she knew that if she kissed Ringo, there would be absolutely no way for her to ever get through to John, so she gathered all her willpower and tore herself away from Ringo’s hold.  He looked surprised as he looked at her. 

“I’m sorry, Ringo.  I didn’t mean to lead you on…I thought we were just friends. I…I don’t want nothing more than that….I should…go.  I’m so sorry.” Audrey said as she quickly walked off the dance floor without looking back at Ringo.  Audrey contemplated leaving the club right then, but she had to stop and grab her purse from the table before doing so.

She swiftly grabbed her purse and mouthed to Pattie that she was heading back to the hotel.  

“Audrey! Where are you going?” She heard Prudence say as Audrey ran to leave the club.

“Where’s Ringo?”  She faintly heard John ask before she walked out to the street. 

“Focus, Audrey!  Focus!” Audrey scolded herself. 

She walked down the block to catch a cab and while she waited, she saw someone familiar making his way towards her. 

“Hi.” Robert, one of the crew men greeted her.

“Hi.” She replied.

“Are you okay? I saw you rush out of the club rather abruptly.”

“You were spying on me?” Audrey asked a little stunned.

“You could say that.” Robert replied.

Audrey looked at Robert and cautiously took a step backwards.

“Why would you do that?” she asked.

“It’s part of my job.” He simply said before acknowledging the cab that was approaching them.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing.  Since when does the production team have someone spy on the extras?” she said apprehensively.

By this time Robert had stopped the cab.

“C’mon…let’s go.” Robert said to Audrey as he tried to escort her into the cab.

“No!  What makes you think I’m going to get into a cab with you!”

“Get in!” Robert demanded firmly, taking Audrey by the arm.

Audrey struggled to get out of his grasp, trying to make eye contact with the cab driver to see if he’d help her.

Without saying another word, Robert pushed Audrey into the back of the cab.

“Where to?” The cab driver asked.

“To see Frank.”

Immediately Audrey froze. 

“Frank?  You work for Frank?!?” Audrey yelled.