• "Wouldn’t you be better alone? I can wait for you somewhere".

• "Thank you, Edu, I owe you everything. I know one day I’ll pay you back".
• "Rubbish, Vicky, I’m leaving you. Good luck, and please, if you really need it, tell John you love him".

With that she left me alone in front of John’s door. I took a deep breath and knocked on his door. My heart was beating really fast. Damn! What if he’s not in? What do I do then? I finally heard some steps coming to the door. John opened the door.

There was an awkward silence of about, fifteen seconds, but then John put both his hands on my face and kissed me softly. Without getting away from my mouth, he made me walk in, closed the door with one foot and directed me towards the bed. We both sat sown, still stuck by the mouth, and when we finally stood apart I told him:

• "John... I got your song. Thanks very much for it, I really love it"., He smiled.
• "See? The first song written to you? I’m not Buddy Holly, but Lennon still sounds right, doesn’t it?", I laughed. He went on: "But, honey, the surprise doesn’t end there. Hold on a second!", and then he stood up and walked to one of the cupboards there were in the room. He took out a sort of transistor or tape recorder. There was a tape inside. "I want you to listen to this. I recorded it yesterday night, only me and me acoustic guitar", he then clicked on ‘play’ and the sound of a strumming guitar went on:

It was the song John had written to me but he was singing it. Oh, boy did he have a lovely voice! He sounded so sexy!! Who knows? He could be even famous one day! What are you talking about, Vicky? He’s already famous! He’s a star in England, he even has come out in an article in a magazine!

• "What? Did you like it?"
• "Oh, John, this is the best thing it could have happened to me! John... Will it be in your next record?", John laughed.
• "I have to tell Paul but this will be forever recorded on this tape, and it’s yours, Vicky, do you want it?"

• "Then I’ll take it"

• "John... I know this sounds really brave, I mean, I’ve only known you for a few days now, but... You know, I... I..."

• "Let’s go somewhere to spend the day together, you and me alone, no worries, no time, just you and me".

We went out from the hotel and walked hand in hand along the streets. John invited me to have lunch, to have some cool drinks. We talked about everything. I found out that his real name was John Winston Lennon. His mum was very patriotic at the time he was born and so he was called with the name of the British prime Minister Winston Churchill.

• "My dad fought the war, you know. Our Civil War, and he’s deaf from his left ear due to a bomb that exploded nearby", I told him. He told me he hated his middle name, though.

We also talked about music (that was what we did most of the time). I asked him why he formed the Beatles.

• "I wanted to be like Elvis, you see. Every time I saw or heard Elvis, I thought that was exactly what I wanted to be. Couldn’t have been any other fucking thing, Vicky. I love drawing, I must show you some of my drawings, but I could have never been a painter, no when Elvis was making good music. So I talked my best friend Pete into forming a band with me and some other more mates and then the Quarrymen were formed".
• "The Quarrymen?"
• "Oh, yeah, we were all students at the Quarrybank thus the name".
• "Oh", I laughed. Then he told me how he had met Paul and also told me about George, his lead guitarist and Ringo (strange name!) his drummer.
• "We had another chum before, you know, Pete, ah but we didn’t like him. Ringo is perfect, you see. You must meet him. He’s a good old thing!"

We spent the whole day talking, chatting, getting to know each other. Inevitably, Cynthia and his son were also brought up to the conversation. John could see my whole face changed at every mention of Cynthia. He finally asked me:

• "When are you coming back home, Vicky?"
• "On Sunday... The classes have already started but I still wanted to spend some more days with Edu, so I want to resume my classes next Monday". He looked down at the floor.
• "So, we’ve got very few days left", I nodded. "Eh, Vicky...", I looked at him. "Would it be very brave of me if I asked you... Well, I know you still have some years left at University, but there’s a good university in Liverpool, or even in London... What I’m a trying to say is... Why don’t you and Edu come with me to England? You can finish your studies there and we could be together".

My oh my! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! John was asking me to go with him to England. There was nothing in the world I’d rather do, but there was still one very important thing missing.

• "But Cynthia...?"
• "Oh, yeah, Cyn... Fuck! She has to understand. I’m not gonna forget about Julian. He’ll always be my son but I don’t love her and I’ll leave her if only you told me you were coming with me..."

Would that be true? Was John going to leave Cynthia for me? This was food for the thought, I couldn’t decide right then. So, to give myself time to think I leaned and kissed John in the lips. He kissed me passionately and then whispered in my ear:

• "Let’s go to the hotel..."

And so we did. We walked hand in hand to the hotel and he led me to his room. He knocked on the door. I looked at him in a questioning way. Then he told me:

• "Just checking the cost is clear", then he gave me one of his lovely goofy smiles and I knew immediately what he was up to. Nobody answered to his knock so he took the key out of his pocket and we entered the room. Without much hesitation, he made me lie on the bed and started kissing me all over my face. I knew what he wanted but I was really scared. He noticed:
• "Shhh, luv, it’s gonna be alright. Don’t be scared".
• "But John, please, be careful, it’s my first time". He kissed my neck.
• "Yeah, I know, luv, and I’m really proud that you let me be the first. I’m gonna make love to you the way you deserve it, with care, kissing every part of your body, making you feel like a little precious diamond".

Oh, that was much more than I could have asked for. John started undressing me, the way he had done the day before, but now he also took my knickers out. He undressed himself and lied over me, kissing my mouth softly, then the nose, then the eyes, the eye lids, one ear, then the other and said:

• "I’m gonna make love to you, honey, I wanna make you happy", then I felt sort of a terrible pain inside me and I let out a little scream. John kissed me in the mouth and told me softly: "It’s alright, luv, it’s alright Vicky", then I noticed him moving inside me and every time I felt less and less pain until I finally felt the best feeling I could have possibly felt. John was breathing hard, I could feel his breath in my ear. I reckon that first time I was more scared than anything else but John was having a very great time. He kept pushing inside me with soft movements until I finally felt some liquid that I attributed to the thing they said we slip when we are virgins no more. Then John rested his head on my shoulder and kissed my skin. He stood still during a few minutes and then lifted his head to watch me. I smiled at him and he smiled back: "What?", he told me.
• "John, that was a very... I don’t know, funny feeling, there was pain at first but then I got to like it. Oh, John, thank you, thank you very much", John laughed.
• "No, thank YOU, my little bird", he kissed me again and then turned to lie on his back. He searched for a cigarette and a lighter in one of the drawer in the bed side table, lit it up and took some drags. He stood that way for some minutes.

I was feeling really sleepy by then. I fell asleep and I was woken by some hard blows on the door. I woke up in a sudden jump and saw that John was already asleep. I shook him out.

• "John, someone’s knocking on the door!"

He got up, put a towel around his waist and went to open the door. Edu was smiling right at me just outside the door.

• "Brian is coming in a minute, he’s downstairs making some phone calls. I knew I would find you here", she said. "HI, John! You’d better get dressed this minute, and I’m sorry but I’m taking her out from you for the night". John smiled.
• "As you say, captain!", we all laughed and I went to the bathroom to get changed. I went out to the door with Edu and kissed John goodbye.

When we went to our room I told Edu everything in as much detail as possible. I also told him John’s idea of going with him to England. Much to my surprise that I had thought Edu would say a NO, she said she had been planning on going to England for some time now and that maybe that was a good idea. She saw my puzzled look:

• "Vicky, it’s not John, I would have done it anyway, you see. I’m willing to change my life a little bit. I can leave my job at the library and find a job there. In Liverpool or even in London".
• "Yeah, but what about me? I mean, I’ve got some studies to finish...", as soon as I said that sentence I realised my University had some grants to study in any university abroad. John had said Liverpool had a very good university and also London. It’ll be to choose one and apply for the grant. That meant getting good results in my final exams and go to England with John. When I went back to reality Edu was waving a hand in front of my face like mad.
• "Vicky, you there?!"
• "Yeah, yeah, sorry. It’s just that... Why not? Edu, let’s do it. Let’s go with John to England. I can finish my studies in London".

Edu smiled and that was how we decided to go to England with John. We decided not to tell John anything until he had brought up the topic again, though. And he did. The Sunday Edu and I had to go back to our respective places. We were packing in and John knocked on our door.

• "It’s John, may I..?"

I myself opened the door for him. Just to see his smile, his looks, his lovely face made me wanna shout or do something worse, but I kissed him.

• "Uau!! You know how to make someone comfortable, baby!", I smiled and he came in. Then he went to Edu. "Packing in, eh? I’m gonna miss you terribly, my little birds", then he kissed Edu on the cheek. I felt a pang of jealousy but it vanished in a second. We three remained silent for a couple of minutes and then John said: "Come with me to England, Edu, convince her." Now there was Edu’s turn to smile at John:
• "This must be your lucky day, John. We’ve got some news for you", and now it was my turn. I walked to him, put my arms around his neck and kissed him. Then I said:
• "We’re going with you, John, to wherever you want, to Liverpool to London or to the end of the world if you want"
• "Oh, gear, Vicky! Edu, you’re also coming, aren’t ya?", she nodded and then John started talking nervously. "Ok, so let’s fixed everything, I’m going for Brian".

Edu and I smiled and I sighed in relief. With my eyes I told Edu John was the man of my life. I didn’t know much about him, only that he worked as a musician and that he was English. And honestly, I wanted to study hard because I didn’t trust much in a musician. They were not Elvis, that for sure, and I hardly doubted they could make a living out of his music, but I loved the guy, I really did. John came back with Brian.

• "Hello. Brian!"
• "Hello, Vicky. Edu..."
• "Look, this is the plan", started John, "Vicky wants to finish her exams now in May and June, but as soon as she finishes she and Edu are coming to Liverpool. You will arrange everything, you’ll find a job for Edu and a good University for Vicky, alright? Tell me, do you know the days we’ve got off, Brian?"
• "Well, as you know, you’re touring with Roy Orbison during May and June. Look, by the middle of June they can have a couple of days off. Tell me your number, Vicky, or Edu, I don’t mind, and we’ll phone you up in advance so that you can buy the tickets and fly directly to Liverpool, ok?"

We did, I gave my number and I would contact Edu. Brian said we would hear from him and then said his farewells and went away. John came to me and put his arms around my waist:

• "Hell! I can’t believe this is actually happening." He kissed me. "Don’t worry about anything else, ok? I’ll talk to Cynthia and she’ll have to understand, but please, don’t forget me, right?"
• "How could I ever forget you, John? You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time... How does it go? If you ever leave me..."

John laughed it and sang it along with me. Our train left in half an hour so we had to hurry up if we wanted to be at the station on time. I hugged John for the last time in quite a long time:

• "I’m gonna miss you, John... I –I... love you"

• "That’s a Lennon-McCartney song, luv", I laughed and Edu looked at us with the corner of her eyes.
• "Come on, you two! We have to go!", she tapped softly John’s shoulder and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodbye, John. Keep on writing those lovely songs and see you really soon, only two months, ok? Keep in touch".

With that we took our bags and went directly to the taxi that was waiting for us at the entrance of the hotel. I turned to look at John for the last time and saw him waving at us. I couldn’t feel that sadness that always made impossible my talk. And I couldn’t help it. I cried. With loud sobs. Edu was also sad, but of course, less than me, since my heart was held back at the hotel. I couldn’t stop thinking that John had been the first man who had ever made love to me, who had whispered so many beautiful thins in my ear, who had kissed me so tenderly...

When we arrived at the station. Edu and I hugged each other. Her train was in platform six and mine was in platform two. She had a little bit more of time left, but mine was about to leave in ten minutes, so I wanted to be on it as soon as possible.

• "Ok, Edu, we’ll be in touch. I’ll phone you in week and then you phone me the week after, right? And of course, as soon as Brian rings me up, I’ll let you know."
• "Yes, Vicky, study hard, pass all your exams and think that pretty soon we’ll be together in Liverpool having fun with John".