Lovely Rita

We reached the nearest airport in the pitch black night, and it felt like a school trip abroad when you have to leave really early in the morning. I was still 80% alcohol, so I needed help walking from the car into the airport. The automatic doors slid open as John and Paul helped me through, and plonked me down on the nearest set of chairs.

"I'm going to put you on the first morning flight, honey. Is that okay?" Paul asked in a tone that sounded like he wasn't particularly happy about me going, but felt it neccessary for both of our sakes. Life was such a buzzkill sometimes.

"No! You don't need to pay for it, I will." I stated determinedly, thrusting my finger out into the air to make my point. He laughed at me.

"With what money?" He said, scratching his chin with an 'I win' smile. I settled back in my seat and crossed my arms.

"You win this round McCartney." I mumbled as he turned to buy my ticket, shaking his head.

I layed down along the seats, which had cold, plastic coated padding covering them. I wouldn't have noticed how cold it was normally, but with my whole body being stretched across them it was hard not to. I rested my head on John's thigh, feeling ready to drop.

"Don't go to sleep on me Julie Lulie." John said, tapping my head. I cringed at the knocking on my already pounding skull.

"Not so hard, Johnny." I mumbled tiredly. He apologised, clearly totally forgetting.

"Why did you do it?" John whispered to me, fiddling with strands of my hair, trying to un-knot the tangles and leaves.

"I felt hopeless John. I took in everything you said but talking to Paul would have made no difference to my guilt. I know you can handle stuff like that but I can't, and it boils away inside me until I either yell it out or ruin myself. This time, I ruined myself and I'm paying the price." I said, clutching a hand to my forehead.

"I'll get you a drink." John said, carefully sliding from under my head and leaving me to watch what was happening in the deserted airport. I scanned across, seeing waifs and strays, businessmen and people with nothing, like me, sat about waiting for their flight to America. I clocked Paul on the phone at a booth and strained my ears to see what he was saying.

"I'm at the airport with John and Julie. She's leaving in the morning. She said she found a job and needed to go early in the morning. I'll explain more when I'm home but I couldn't leave her to do this alone. She's a good mate o'mine. Okay, see you in the morning, love." He said, putting the phone down and wandering over to me.

"There you go, sweet." John said, handing me the plastic cup as I sat up and rehydrated myself. Paul plonked himself down next to me, yawning as he stretched his arms up.

"Got your ticket to ride, madam. You're a free woman tomorrow. I ho-"

"No speeches yet Romeo." I said, finishing my cup and laying down on his legs. He started untangling my hair too, and I smiled to myself as I felt my heavy eyelids close down to the feeling of his beautiful hands combing through my hair.

*****

Paul began stirring beneath me, and I rubbed my eyes to make myself wake up. John remained asleep next to us with a pair of sunglasses intuitively put on before he fell asleep. Hopefully the superfans wouldn't recognise either of them after a rough night at an airport with a random chick...
The airport was a hive of activity as I opened my eyes, and people were rushing about to their different flights and buying last minute tickets. I revelled in being able to chill.

Sitting up, I realised I had the most painful, crippling and disgusting hangover in the world. I held my head and tried to stop myself from throwing up. Paul rubbed my back.

"You've got thirty minutes until the flight boards." He whispered, understanding how ill I felt. My liver felt like it was shrivelled up and dead.

"I need to sort my face out. Toilets?" I said, more than soberly. I wasn't in the mood for games, and my voice amplified that.
Paul led me off to the unisex loos, and stood behind me as I checked my reflection. My make-up was smeared and the tears from yesterday had made my mascara drip like a member of KISS. I splashed my face with cold water and used paper towels to get rid of the black stains. I brushed my clothes down to ensure there were no more leaves or twigs sticking into them still, and started to properly claw through my hair.

"Let me do it." Paul said, stepping forward from the position he'd held to watch me sort myself out. I yawned and let him brush through and detangle my hair.

"You make sure you call as soon as you get to a hotel, yeah?" He said sombrely.

"Uh-huh." I whispered.

"And make sure you find a job as soon as you get out there! I want to be seeing you in the movie theatres on the silver screen!" He said, smiling and looking at me in the mirror. I smiled back.

"I promise." I said, yawning again. He shoved something into my pocket quickly, and I didn't see what it was exactly. I didn't ask any questions, as his face gave me a deadly serious expression.

We left the bathroom, myself looking fresh faced and dewey with reasonable hair and Paul hiding behind some sunglasses with his hands in his pockets. We made our way back to John who was awake now and trying to look equally inconspicuous. I hugged him as soon as I reached him, trying not to cry but failing miserably. I had 10 minutes until I was out of the country I knew, where the man I loved lived. I was feeling very, very teary and emotional.

"Don't forget me okay, John?" I whispered, my voice breaking through the tears. He rubbed my back as he hugged me.

"I won't. Stop crying you soppy cow!" He said, his voice showing signs of cracking itself. Bless. I stepped back from John and smiled at him, wiping the tears from my eyes as I giggled at my pathetic, girly tears.

"And you!" I said, hugging Paul so tight I thought he might break.
"You can never forget me either, okay? I need you to promise me you'll be to Linda a good, honest husband. Make sure you treat her right and give her lots of children." I said into his shoulder, letting the silent tears drop down and dampen his shirt. I heard him sniffle over my shoulder.

"I promise. And you promise me you'll succeed okay?" He said, holding me by my shoulders and looking deep into my eyes, meaning every word he said. I nodded and got up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss goodbye. I pecked his lips and pulled back, smiling, before taking the ticket he was handing me and turning away.

"What about your stuff?" he yelled.

"Keep it, there's not much there anyway. Give my modern clothes to one of your kids if you have a daughter. She might be able to make something of it one day." I said, remembering he goes on to have a fashion-designer daughter, though her name escaped my memory. It was odd that I was beginning to forget things.

I waved goodbye to John and Paul, and stepped onto the plane, ready to start a new life. I couldn't help but feel a big twinge of sadness however as I watched them grow smaller and smaller as the plane flew further and further away...