Lovely Rita

14 beer bottles were standing empty on the table amongst others that I had gone to retrieve in the three hours since the lads got here. I was still sipping my first, Yoko had finished one and the guys had had three each. They were getting a little louder and joking around a lot more than usual already. I'd only been in the vicinity of them and alcohol once before, and I had been theone to get the most drunk it seemed...

We had moved the sofa out so there was a more open floor space, and put all of the cushions on the floor in a circle so we could all see eachother. A few ash trays made a delightful centrepiece to our arrangement. I sat next to Paul; relatively close considering my typically logical brain and the state I could possibly get into. I tried not particularly thinking, as it was often my mind that ruined nights out for me.

I heard the click of a lighter and looked at Paul to watch him take a drag. I enjoyed doing that; it held a certain grace that I had seen noone else but Marilyn Monroe have when smoking. When Paul smoked it wasn't dirty looking and it certainly didn't smell on him - it was pretty. He looked down at me and noticed me looking at him, and he offered me the cigarette he was holding. I took it and took a toke, before passing it back to him and blowing out the smoke slowly. I loved the happy, chilled out feeling I got from smoking pot. I wouldn't particularly smoke it alone, but when I was with these guys it was nice.

Paul had watched me, too, and after I had given him back the cigarette he hung his arm over my shoulder in a relaxed manner. I didn't flinch outwardly, but inside my heart skipped a beat or two. I wasn't expecting that and I loved the feeling. I hadn't had it for a while. I snuggled in a bit closer to him but not 'lovingly' exactly. Just friendly. I motioned to Ringo to pass me another beer and he cracked the cap off and passed it down the circle to me.

"Ahh, Georgey! Going so soon?" John piped up as I started listening to the conversation again. I looked up to see George standing a bit shakily (due to the alcohol he'd consumed) and slinging his drawstring bag over his shoulder. He looked down to John and gave him a 'the wife' face as an answer.

"Pattie said she didn't want me getting too hammered. Thought I better call it a night. S'been nice though lads, ladies!" George said, waving at us before heading out the door. I thought it common protocol, so I excused myself from Paul's arm and made my way to the door with George.

"Thankyou for coming, George. It was nice to see you again, out of the studio I mean." I said, smiling as I leaned on the door. George stepped outside and turned to look at me. The sky was pitch black now and George's face was illuminated by the light from the house.

"Jules, I'm just going to say this and you can interpret it anyway you want. He's always had feelings for you; they never died, even after you went and he met Linda. Do what your heart feels is best - or right, should I say." He said in his boyish voice, smiling a cheeky half smile at me and putting a sympathetic hand on my shoulder, as if he knew my inner turmoil. He was always the more deep, spiritual member of the group, so I took his words in and stored them in my mind as 'wise words from George Harrison'. I smiled back at him and mouthed a 'thankyou' because I'd suddenly become overcome with emotions (probably from a mixture of alcohol and a few puffs on a joint) and didn't want to speak for fear of breaking down. He smiled back before walking away from the door and waving as he turned the corner. He was literally like a wizard. I found that funny to imagine.

I closed the door and returned to my previous position with a new state of mind. I downed the remainder of my beer and joined in the jokes with the remaining guests and Paul.

Then things took a different turn.

John went rummaging through his bag, looking for something in particular; I felt I had a pretty strong idea of what it was. My heart started racing and I was actually getting nervous. I couldn't believe myself.

I leaned over and grabbed another beer from the coffee table, and noticed Paul admiring my extremely pushed up and exposed chest as I did so. I didn't mind. Like I said, people pleaser. I smiled to myself and began to calm down. I tried drinking my beer really fast, because I just felt like getting super drunk so I couldn't feel nervous or scared or whatever. I had to slow down after the first few swigs though, as I shuddered and slugged back the first few mouthfuls.
I was now sat kind of in between Paul's legs; the one my back was resting on was bent with his knee pointing to the ceiling, and his other out straight on the floor. I hadn't even realised.

"Found it!" John said, pulling out a little resealable plastic pouch, with a few little squares of paper in it. My predictions had been correct.

"Wahey!" Paul said, making a pathetic Mexican wave. I looked up at him, showing the nerves through my eyebrows. He looked back at me with his puppy dog eyes, and all of my worries subsided and I became completely subdued and childlike under his gaze. He pulled me into his chest and played with my hair as we waited for John to hand out rations.

"This your first time, Julie?" John said, looking at me expectantly. I nodded in reply. I noticed I got real quiet when completely shitfaced drunk.

He laughed at me for being so quiet.
"Well, at least your in a good enough mood. Chilled and smiling, that's all you need for a good trip really." He said, passing Paul two little tabs. He thanked John and I watched him give some out to Ringo and get two out for himself and Yoko.

Paul took my hand and stood me up, and I wobbled as I got to my feet. He led me into the kitchen and looked at me under the slightly brighter light. After consuming that third beer, I was (in an extreme case of being a lightweight, for some reason) seeing about four of him, so it was difficult to focus.

"You don't have to take this, if you don't want to. We're not going to like you any less, babe." He said, still holding my hand.

"No, no. I wanna. Haven't before and it looks fun. You'll have to guide me though." I said, trying to keep my verbal expression to a minimum in my drunken state. He smiled at me, clearly noticing the sudden slur in my words, and led me back down to the rest of them.
Ringo had clearly already taken a tab, because he was turning on some instrumental music and sitting there just... listening. I looked at him and furrowed my eyebrows, wondering what he might be hearing or seeing. I'd heard about what LSD did on a good trip, but I'd never seen anyone with the effects in person before. We sat down and I watched John and Yoko take their's together. Great. This meant we had to. My heart started beating a little faster again and I was starting to panic. Paul noticed.

"Calm down, sweetheart. You're with us." He said, smiling and putting his hand over my heart to feel how fast it was beating. "How about, I give you yours and you give me mine? Will that make you more relaxed?" He said, cocking his head to the side and smiling in a slightly seductive way. I smiled back.

"Okay, Pauly baby." I said, not meaning to add the baby. It just slipped out. I picked up his one, and examined it for a moment. It was perfectly ordinary looking, which surprised me. The modern ones I had seen in drug awareness presentations at High School had pretty pictures on. I'd never been anti-drugs, by no means. I'd just had no particular opinion or care. Drugs had informed a lot of my favourite band's music; why would I be against them?

I leaned into him a bit too sexually for our situation. I giggled slightly as I leaned forward with the small square. He opened his mouth slightly, the corners of it turning up in a little smile at my seductive facial expression. I made my chest prominent as I crawled over on my hands and knees to feed it to him, and pressed it onto his tongue. He closed his mouth and smiled, as I sat back on my heels.

"You ready?" He asked, and I nodded. He picked up my square, and leaned forward. He did it a bit more dramatically than I; cradling my face as he delicately placed the intoxicated square of paper on my tongue. I blinked for a moment longer than usual, and opened them to be met with Paul's eyes looking cheerful (but, in all honestly, high).

I smiled back at him and waited for the effects to take hold.