Lovely Rita

"Do you want to invite the lads 'round tonight, Julie?" Paul called over to me as I made tea in the kitchen. He was slouched accross the sofa with a bass guitar practicing a few tracks I could faintly make out - one being Martha My Dear. Martha was currently laying under the coffee table. Bless. He seemed a bit distracted, furrowing his eyebrows as he plucked away thoughtfully at his bass. I wondered what he was thinking behind those heavily lashed eyelids.

He'd almost read my mind, it seemed.

"Yeah sure. I was thinking that earlier. We could get Yoko round too?" I said, not sure whether I should have. Paul looked up at me and smiled. They were obviously on relatively good terms with eachother I assumed then.

"Groovy. See, we're telepathic. It was meant to be!" Paul said, gesturing an overly dramatic, cringe-worthy, sarcastic heart emblem on his chest. I smiled back at him sarcastically.

It was odd, this feeling I was currently getting. I felt like me and Paul were an old married couple. I was making us tea, he was sat with his dog and playing his bass, all alone in our little cosy retreat. I smiled nostalgically at that thought and plopped down next to Paul, pushing his feet off of the edge of the sofa.

"Have you taken any other drugs before?" He asked me suddenly, putting down his guitar and looking at me. He had a kind of nervous look on his face, but he had the confidence to mask it. Plus his new shaggier hair.

"Urm, I've taken speed before, but that was in my teenage days. I smoked pot with you, and did some uppers at a party once. But apart from that, nothing major." I said, shrugging it off. He looked a bit more relieved that I'd done more than he expected I think.

"Oh, cool." He said, looking back to his bass. I thought I'd ask why before he picked it up again.

"Why's that, shnookums?" I said, pinching his cheek and sipping my tea.

"Nothing. Just John was thinking of bringing around some Lucy tonight... I wondered if you wanted to join in?" He said, taking my hand and playing with the ring on my finger childishly. I think he was just trying to avoid my gaze.

I thought around in my head. This was the Sixties. They knew how to handle their drugs. I knew I was in safe hands. People weren't selling dodgy drugs in this time where it was all new... What the Hell.

"Don't be silly, man! Of course I'll try some. It's a new experience!" I said, a mixture of excitement and nervousness bubbling in my stomach. He looked up and dropped my hand, smiling warmly enough to melt my heart. I almost sighed; his eyes were looking into mine so deeply with genuine relief and warmth radiating from his to mine. His eyes were something I could never shift from my head. They were my favourite feature of Paul's.

"Thank God. I was so worried you'd think less of me for asking you about this so soon. I thought it might be a fun thing to do. I can be with you on your first experience!" Paul said, excitement bubbling in his voice after his initial nerves.

I decided to go for a jog as Paul practised. I didn't want to impose on his songwriting, as I knew the White Album had a lot to it. Pulling on my joggers and crop-top for the surprisingly warm Autumn day, I remembered I had no headphones and mp3 player to run with. It was so strange thinking of those little things. I pulled my hair up into a scruffy, thick bundle atop my head and pulled a wide headband over my bangs to stop them getting sweaty.

My bottle almost overspilled in the sink as I watched Paul twiddle away on his bass. I loved to watch it; it was just beautiful to watch so much grace on an instrument. He looked up to see me watching him, and I caught his eyes widen slightly at the sight of me in my joggers. It was a sight he wasn't used to I assumed, as people weren't so obsessive over health. I figured I hasn't ran for a while, so today was the day as I had nothing better to do.

"Are you going for a run?" He asked, looking me up and down having not seen this much of my body in a while.

I nodded.

"Yeah, I decided I'd scoot out of your way, exercise, shower then get ready for tonight. I won't take a key. Be back in an hour or so, okay?" I said, throwing my drinks bottle under my arm and opening the door to leave.

"Yeah, bye Jules." He said, slightly hazily. I assumed he'd been on something due to his distracted state.

I thought while I ran. I thought about tonight, and got tingly inside when I grew excited. I thought about me, Paul and the guys' times together before now. I thought about meeting Yoko. I thought about the fact I was staying with Paul alone mostly for two days, and felt relieved the lads would be there for the evening. I thought about going to the salon before tonight, but decided against it. I thought about just about anything, and smiled to myself.

*****

Stepping under the hot jets of water, I felt my body release all of it's tension and watched it float and twirl into the drain beneath my feet. I sighed under the fresh streams coming from the head, as I scrubbed the sweat and grime from my skin after running. I lathered my hair up and rinsed out the bubbles that had formed on my head - the sweet vanilla smell (I had purchased a bottle of that conditioner from Sara) that I loved so much.

Out of the shower, I wrapped a large bath towel around my body and rubbed myself down briefly with it, before unlocking the door and skipping across to my bedroom. I caught a glimpse of Paul still sat on the sofa, fiddling with a guitar this time and smoking simultaneously, as I walked across the hall to my bedroom. At least it would give me time to get ready.

I spread out the make-up and hair tools I had and got to work on making myself presentable. Tonight would be fun.