After Hours

Please Please Me

January 9, 1971

As Jane woke the next morning, she regretted those three words she said to Freddie as she thought she would. Not because of a hangover she thought she would nursing after a typical night out, but because of the not so great reunion.

She struggled falling asleep, tossing and turning as Brian's words echoed through her ears and his expression projected on the back of her eyelids. She'd rather have a hangover than the feeling of guilt rising to the surface after being suppressed for years . Preparing for the upcoming week would take her mind off of the guilt. She more than likely wouldn't be seeing Brian soon, unless Freddie invited her to another gig. It was unfortunate that Denise actually did go home with Roger last night, she wished she had someone to distract her on the cab ride home, but instead was left alone to stew alone in her thoughts. Maybe this was her punishment after what she did to him. To her, the worst feeling of all was finding the correct words to say afterwards.

The rest of the day was uneventful for the most part, she attended to a few errands, running to the shops for groceries and other supplies. When she unlocked the door to her flat, the phone was ringing. After quickly, and not so softly, setting her things down, she rushed to the phone that hung on the wall. At the last second she was able to answer, "Hello?"

The person on the line seemed to sigh in relief that she answered, "Janie, I've been calling you for an hour, why weren't you answering?"

Freddie.

"I was out at the shop, I'm surprised you're so relieved to hear me answer." Jane leaned against the wall, twirling her hair to give her hands something to do. A wave of anxiety washed over her at the thought of Freddie calling her, she figured he was going to call her a terrible person regarding the situation last night, Brian had probably told them all of the nasty details last night.

"I know you think we all hate you, we don't. That's why I'm calling you, Rog and I would like you to grace us with your presence for a few drinks later this week."

She laughed, "You sure do have a way with words, how could I say no?"

"Marvelous! We'll have plenty to drink but if you would like to bring something anyway, we're most definitely not going to turn you down."

Freddie continued on to tell her more details about their little get together, where the location was and what time she should get there. She also heard Roger in the background asking her to bring Denise again. Jane talked to Freddie for a few more moments, mainly small talk and she went on about how great the show was last night and she would love to come to another show. Justifying that she wanted to go to support her friends and not just to see Brian, even though the view wouldn't hurt.

They said their goodbyes and she was actually excited, spending time with the two of them and her best friend. It was going to be a nice change of pace from the usual social events she attended. She stepped back into the living room and almost tripped over something, but was quickly reminded she still had to put away her shopping.

After everything was in its place, she decided to listen to the radio where she heard the tail end of "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison, the jock then went on to talk about George's promising solo career before playing the first Harrison composition to appear on a Beatles album, "Do You Want To Know a Secret".

She reached up to place her hand on the knob to turn the radio off, she always did when she heard a song from that album, but to her own surprise she kept it going. Her hand fell to her side and she leaned against the counter in front of the radio. The song took her on a journey to a very specific day and period in her life, one she hadn't thought of in a long time. A vision of her and Brian rushing to the record store to buy that first Beatles album, both of them had scraped enough money together to go buy it, joking how they would treat the record like a child they had joint custody over. They would sit on the floor near his portable record player, flipping the record over and over again. The two of them had to have listened to that album a hundred times. Singing along after they had studied the lyrics to each song or talk while having it on in the background, but that song was their favorite. Brian would talk about how he idolized George Harrison and wanted to be just liked him. It was one of the last wonderful memories she has with Brian.

The next song started playing, pulling her out of her sweet memory, she turned the radio off quickly, staring at it for a few moments. Brian had made more appearances in her mind more today than he had in the last three years combined and for the first time in a while, it was happy memories.

Hearing the song elevated her mood, which she almost never the case when she heard a Beatles song. She retrieved her papers and folders that were on the coffee table, spreading them out among the table and next to her on the couch. She wasn't looking forward to planning this upcoming semester, especially when she would have to read and grade some sixty half assed essays about "Hamlet". Jane taught secondary school English at one of the public schools in London. Her first love had always been reading and writing, why not continue on with that love? As a kid, her dream was to be an author but had to think realistically, so education presented itself in her career path. Her half finished novel sat gathering dust in the bottom drawer of her desk in the corner, beneath lesson plans and worksheets for her students. It was hard at times but at the end of the day she was doing what she loved. Of course, the majority of her friends didn't know what she did for a living. If they asked, which rarely happened, she would try and shift the conversation or give an extremely vague answer. Being a teacher isn't the most glamorous or easy profession but she couldn't imagine herself being anything else.

*****

I know this may seem like a filler chapter but I promise it's important!

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