The Certainty Of Chance (Beatles Fan Fiction)

17

The next couple of days were mercifully busy for May as she worked hard on the film set. The train scenes were only to last for another four days, so the pressure was on to get everything done correctly and to schedule. Being occupied helped her keep her mind off Jack and in the evenings she had George and Ringo to concentrate on, cooking them dinner and listening to stories of the Beatles.

May appeared a lot happier, and George hoped that whatever Jack had said to her on the phone had changed her mind about going back to him. Not because he wanted her to stay with him, George told himself, but because he didn’t want to see her hurt. However, George decided to put down what had happened the other night to the effects of alcohol, on both parts. May was married, rightly or wrongly, and it was obvious the only man she wanted was her husband. Besides, he rationalised, why would I want to bother with a married woman? Like Ringo said, it’s just an invitation for trouble. George could pretty much have any girl he cared to flirt with; Girls like May are ten a penny. In fact there was a pretty blonde model, who was an extra in the film that appealed to him.

Still, it was nice to have May around and she could certainly cook better than him or Ringo. They had mostly relied upon their neighbours, Fred and Carol, previously. And he did genuinely like her, as a friend. She had a similar sense of humour to him and he found he could have interesting conversations with her, unlike most of the female Beatles fans he had met, whose topics didn’t stretch much further than Beatles, Beatles and more Beatles. Very flattering but after about the fiftieth identical conversation, also very boring.

“There’s that Oxford thing tonight,” Ringo said over breakfast two mornings after the phone call to Jack.

“Oh, forgot about that,” George moaned.

“What’s that?” May asked sipping orange juice, cold from the fridge.

“We’re having dinner and drinks at a college in Oxford. It’s a charity thing.”

“Very tedious,” Ringo added.

“D’ya wanna come?” George asked her idly.

“Don’t you think you’d better ask Brian first?” Ringo said. It was usually a deal for the main four only.

“Why not?” George said, “You wouldn’t mind lurking about in the background, would yer?” he said to May, “Perhaps we could do somat afterwards. You know, I keep reading about these wild and crazy lives we’re all living. We might try it sometimes.”

May smiled, “ A train and a room, a car and a room, and a room and a room.”

The two Beatles blinked at her blankly.

“The film?” she said, “Haven’t you read your own script?”

Brian begrudgingly agreed that May could accompany them to Oxford, but only after George implied that otherwise he might take another unscheduled jaunt to Wales. “But on the conditionshe comes as a secretary or an assistant to me, or something,” he said, “and you sit on separate tables, and absolutely no pictures.”

Filming broke slightly earlier that afternoon, and the Beatles attended a ‘drinks’ at Vincent’s, a very exclusive establishment for members of the Oxford University Sportsmen’s club. The presence of ladies was not exactly welcomed at this very all-boys-together club, so Mal offered to take May to the town instead so she could pick out a dress for the evening meal.

“Oh no,” May said politely, “you join the others, I’ll be okay on my own.”

“Shhh!” Mal hissed to her, “Don’t make me go in there! I can’t stand all those upper class twits, poking and peeping at the bizarre, but ever so fashionable working classes!”