⇾ 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 | 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐈

Chapter Sixty-Three: Read It!

May 6, 1964

We wandered around the island for a good two or three hours after breakfast. George and John carried around little video cameras to take videos of the natives—with permission, of course.

I was wearing John's hat today because he'd slipped it on my head and insisted I keep it, and he had a pair of sunglasses on his face as he and George scurried around, snapping short videos of some flowers or talking to some of the people walking around.

No one had recognized them so far. It was amazing. I hadn't gone one day without seeing a fan in months. It felt good to slip by everyone for once. I knew that George and John were happy about the privacy too.

The scenery around us had been beautiful. We'd walked through a town and down some trails to the beach. There were flowers in every color you could possibly imagine. The air smelled of the saltwater that was around us, the water itself being a sharp blue. As many places as we'd gone, we'd never been anywhere tropical. It really was beautiful.

When we ended up back at the boat, we'd somehow acquired ice cream but didn't know when or how. It was delicious, though.

It had begun to rain slightly, but not enough for it to be too much of a problem.

When we got back to the boat, the other three were up there pretty quickly. I held back for a moment, not really wanting to get back up there. When John noticed I wasn't behind him anymore, he stopped to make sure I was alright.

I had a frown on my face. "I've eaten this ice cream," I told him. "I'm going to be sick." I sounded pitiful.

John offered up an encouraging grin. "C'mon," he said, holding out his hand. "You can't get better if you don't get worse!"

I took his hand and smiled in response, carefully stepping onto the deck. "Let's go downstairs," he said. "Before the rain picks up."

I nodded, following him down to the lower deck of the boat. I stumbled a bit initially, struggling with the lightly swaying surface below me. John kept a strong grip on me as I adjusted. We found Pattie and George in the bedroom, licking at their ice cream cones and talking about something.

"Hello, Lennons," George said when he saw John and I walk into the room.

"Hello, Harrisons," quipped John.

"Hey, you can't do that!" George said jokingly. "You're actually getting married."

I plopped down onto my bed when I began to blush, laying down and staring up at the ceiling. John sat down and lifted my legs up so he could scoot back against the wall. In response, I sat back up and moved so that my head was in his lap.

I closed my eyes and listened to John, George, and Pattie talk to one another. John's hands were playing with my hair and it nearly put me to sleep.

"Donna?" I only opened my eyes when George's voice began to taunt me.

"Dead, my dove?" added John jokingly.

"Die, die, die," I responded groggily with a little giggle. The other three laughed. "Whatcha want?" I asked.

"You gonna go to sleep on us?" asked John.

I sat up and pulled my blanket over me as I laid back down. "Yeah," I replied, closing my eyes again. "Probably."

He chuckled. "Alright, then."

"If we start to sink, will you wake me up?"

All three of them laughed again.

"Of course we won't," said George teasingly. "You should wake yourself up."

I opened my eyes, a frown on my face. "That's not very nice, George Harrison," I told him.

He put his hands up defensively. "Sorry," he responded.

"Of course we'll wake you up," John added.

"Thank you, John," I responded, pulling the blanket I had closer around me and closing my eyes again. It didn't take long before I had fallen asleep again.

~~~

When I woke up a few hours later, Pattie and George were no longer in the room, the boat was rocking just enough for me to realize that it was moving again, and John was reading, his free hand still playing with locks of my hair. When he felt me stir awake, he moved the book, that I now could see was a Sherlock Holmes book, aside.

"Morning," he said teasingly, outlining my face features with his thumb.

"Morning," I mocked, his touch making me blush.

"Did you have a nice nap?" he asked me.

I sat up, moving so that I was leaning against him and leaning my head on his shoulder. "Yes, I did," I responded.

"Well, isn't that just grand?"

"Isn't it?" I replied, studying the book in his hands. "Which one is this?" I inquired.

John looked down at it. "A Study in Scarlet," he recited in a high-pitched voice. "Don't you sa—," he began when he saw the grin on my face.

"Read it," I answered before he could finish.

He put one of his arms around me as he chuckled. "'F course you have," he said.

"But," I added. "I will read with you."

"Be my guest," he replied, pulling it back up so that we could both see.

By the time I'd made it to the end of the page, it was clear that John wasn't done yet. I waited patiently until he was and he looked to me to ask if I was done.

"I was done a long time ago, Lennon," I told him teasingly. "You'll have to be quick."

"Smart one, aren't you?" he responded with a laugh.

"Correct," I answered as he flipped the page.

He stole a kiss off of me cheekily and I frowned at him as he laughed. "I love ye so, so much," he piped.

"I love you too," I replied, unable to not smile.

He studied me briefly before he returned his attention to the book on his lap, lifting it back up so we could continue our reading.