Beatlemania!

“Where are we again?” I whispered to George as we hopped onto our respective donkeys.

“Rishikesh,” George shot me an annoyed look.

“Bless you! I hope you’re not coming down with a cold!” I teased, forcing George to crack a smile.

The ride with the donkeys was a lot longer than I had anticipated. It was hot, and I was sleepy. I think John noticed I was drooping slightly, because he drew his donkey next to mine.

“Hop on, love,” he said quietly.

“Excuse me?” I yawned, stretching with one arm.

“Get on my arse, girly,” John leered at me.

I giggled. “No, really, John. What is it?”

He sighed. “You’re fallin’ asleep on your ass over there, love, so I thought you might want to have a bit of a sleep over here.”

I smiled in relief. “Really?”

“Yes, you daft old bird.” John rolled his eyes.

So, I got my donkey as close to his, and I slid in front of him. His hands were wrapped around my middle, and I leaned into his chest and fell asleep within minutes.
~

John woke me up about an hour later. It was dusk, and we had arrived at this meditation centre. I was still woozy from jetlag and pure exhaustion, so John kept a firm arm around my waist to keep me from sinking onto the floor and falling asleep.

The Maharishi greeted all of the Beatles by name, as well as me and Pattie, which surprised me. He wanted to get started on meditating right away, but George gently explained that we were tired and hungry, and could all do with a sleep.

There was spicy soup for dinner, dahl as it was called, and then we were shown to each of our individual rooms. I was given a room in between Jenny and Paul.

The first sleep was the best sleep I had had in a while. There were loose, white clothes laid out on my bed, which I hadn’t noticed last night. With a shrug, I washed my face and pulled them on. When I got down to the dining area, everybody was already up, and drinking tea.

“Well there you are!” George grinned at me.

“Sleepy head,” Pattie added, motioning for me to come sit with her.

I rubbed my eyes with one last yawn and sat next to Pattie with my own cup of tea. I nearly choked when I took a sip.

“What is this?” I peered into the cup curiously.

“It’s some sort of Indian tea,” Jenny whispered to me. “It’s not that bad after a while.”

She was right. After a few sips, my tongue adjusted to the strange, fragrant tea, and I actually began to enjoy it. Everybody else was wearing the loose fitting white robes as well, so I assumed it was required.

After breakfast, we were shown to the lecture room, where the Maharishi gave us a demonstration.

“Let go of your mind,” he instructed. “Forget your troubles, and relax.”

Jenny and I were often caught up in a fit of giggles, and could never get it right, but George, John, and to some extent, Pattie, were quite into it.

Once the Maharishi was done talking, we spent the rest of the day practicing. We were advised to go and find a spot on the retreat where we felt peaceful and calm.

I found mine immediately. It was a little clearing further away from the ashram. I got tired of meditating after a while and started bringing books with me to read. I was getting into Little Women for the millionth time when I heard a rustle in the bushes.

I lobbed the book into the bushes and closed my eyes and pretended to be meditating.

“It’s only me – you don’t have to pretend like you’re enjoying yourself,” a beautiful voice reached my eyes.

I opened my eyes in relief. “Oh, hello, Paul.”

“I...need to have a word with you,” he said with difficulty.

I sat up and waited for him to contunue. “I’m all ears.”

“It’s been killing me...I need to know what the hell happened,” he tugged at his hair.

“What do you mean?” I demanded defensively.

He rolled his eyes. “One day we’re great, having a fantastic time, and then suddenly you run off to Spain with fucking John and I get a cryptic letter postmarked from New York. I need some answers.”

“I...” I froze. “But you already know!”

“No, I don’t! I’m as confused as hell – you didn’t explain anything to me. I-I thought you were on the same page as me,” Paul implored, his brown eyes gazed right through me.

I stood up to look at him face to face. “I saw you, Paul! I saw you in the park with...that woman.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he snapped irritably.

I groaned in frustration. “You idiot, I saw you in the park with another woman – that’s why I left all of a sudden to Spain.”

“I wasn’t seeing another woman!” Paul cried out in desperation.

“Oh, don’t lie to me, Paul. I saw you with my own eyes!” I spat.

He covered his face with his hands. “I would never!”

“But you did! You were kissing!” I insisted.

Paul laughed darkly. “Oh don’t go lecturing me. You went off with John while we were together!”

I blushed. “That was totally innocent, Paul.”

“You liar! You slept with him!” he shouted.

My eyes widened. “How the hell would you know?”

Finally, Paul exploded. “Because I found your stupid little letter in his coat pocket!”

“What?” I yelled, tears filling my eyes.

“I can’t believe you!” he accused. “You write me a ridiculously ambiguous letter and John gets a heartfelt love letter!”

I backed away from Paul. “I only slept with John because I thought you didn’t care about me!”

“Oh, that’s rich. I never did anything to hurt you,” Paul’s voice softened. “I never could.”

I looked at my toes. “Who were you in the park with that day?”

“Jane,” Paul answered after a short pause.

I paled. “Why?”

“She wanted to see me. I explained to her that I didn’t want to be with her anymore; I had found somebody that I really loved. You probably walked in when she kissed me goodbye. Jesus, I really do have shitty timing.”

I had stopped listening properly. “You loved me?” I asked quietly.

“I love you. As in present tense,” he whispered.

“Paul,” I whimpered. I took several long strides and kissed him on the lips, something I had been dying to do for months.

“Are we good now?” he asked as we broke apart.

“I want us to be good,” I admitted. “But what happened in Spain...”

“Stop!” Paul’s voice rose slightly. “I don’t even want to think about John touching you.”

I kissed him reassuringly. “You have nothing to worry about, Paul.”

“As long as there’s nothing between you and him anymore,” he said seriously.

“I promise.”

“Shall we head up to the rest of the folks and have some lunch, then?” Paul put his arm around my waist.

“Absolutely,” I grinned. “Oh, by the way, Paul...”

“Yes?” he turned to look at me.

“I love you too.”