If I Fell (The Beatles/George Harrison Story)

4: The Coffee Shop

I slipped on a nice red dress. Buttoning it up I examined my figure in the mirror. 

"Wow, how is this really happening... To me..." I whispered with a hint of disgust. 

I stood in front of my mirror for a while, making sure I didn't look too bad. I applied some light makeup and slipped on my flats. Once again, I grabbed my brown purse and hurried to the coffee shop. Sure, I was a half an hour early but that didn't really matter. Maybe, it would show that I was organized. 

My heart felt like it was going to explode. I didn't know why I was so anxious, I just was. Smoothing out my skirt over and over again I sat down and picked up a magazine. Then, the bell rang.

Ding!

My eyes surveyed the room watching for him but he was still nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a bundle of boys my age who came bustling through the door. They seemed like trouble makers, sporting leather jackets and black shirts just like George had last night. Their hair looked like Elvis' and I could tell they were teddy boys. Hustling to the back of the shop they sat weirdly on their chairs, some sitting on the top rail, some sitting sideways. 

One, two, three... I counted them in my head. Maybe these were George's friends? After all, they did dress like him. 

"Where's George?" one of them remarked furrowing their brow. My heart jumped hearing his name.

"Dunno." Another said.

"Ahh c'mon. He's probably outside y'know, the poor lad's all nervous. I'll go check on him."

One of the boys stood up and walked out of the building, coming back with George.

"Is that the bird?" He said pointing his finger directly at me.

"Last time I checked."

"Well go say hi! You can't just leave her there." Pushing him to me, he walked away to go talk to his friends.

He stumbled into his chair making an effort to seem embarrassed. He wouldn't look at me, for he knew that I saw his friends were there too.

"Uh, hello." He said hesitantly scratching his head.

"Hi." I said brightly. "So nice of you, and your friends to join me."

He let out a little laugh before speaking. "Well, I'm sorry about that.  But I wanted them here just incase I did something stupid. John's a little bit of a ladies man himself and Paul's the same."

"Oh, well that's fine. So how have you been?"

"Um, good I guess. Y'know we only met last night so I haven't really done anything too crazy.

We both laughed at the remark and caught eyes. My heart practically exploded with emotions but I kept my composure. 

For what seemed to take little time, we passed through all the details of our life's. Although there was tension, I could tell he was a great person and that we clicked. There was something different about him than any other boy, but I just didn't know what.

"So Ella, do you want to meet my friends?" He asked.

"Of course."

He grabbed my hand and we both stood up making our way to the other side of the restaurant. As we neared the boys George looked over to me as if to say: I don't know how this will go but they won't hurt you.  George shook the shoulder of the older boy and spoke.

"Hey lads, this is Ella."  Looking over to me he expected me to say something.

"Hi." I waved my hand a little.

"Is this the bird you were raving about earlier?" The boy said smirking. George blushed. "I'm taking that as a yes. I'm John, Ella, John Lennon."

The doe eyed boy next to him chimed in. "And I'm Paul. Well, Paul McCartney if you want to be formal."

We all laughed at this and I said hi to each boy individually. There was another boy named Pete, but I didn't connect with him like the way I did with everyone else, but overall he did seem nice.

 After a while of sitting down and chatting we left the coffee shop and made our way down the street.

" Hey, y'know we play in a band." Paul said. "If you want to come and see us, next Wednesday night we're playing at The Cavern."

"Sure! I'd love that!" I said excitedly while secretly trying to shake the unwanted memory of what happened last time I went there.

The day went by so fast. John, Paul and Pete would often leave to let George and I have some alone time, which let us talk about how much fun we were having. But, each time they came back we would have more and more of a greater time. George's friends were amazing and George was perfect, how did I get so lucky? Did George fancy me? All these thoughts were questions running through my head. What would happen in the future? Was I just another "bird"? Who knew, the only fact that I knew was true was that I had already fallen in love with George.