“Nice girls, these fans of ours,” said Paul. “But...”
“Good of them to show us they care and all,” Ringo agreed. “But...”
“And they buy all our records,” George reminded them. “We’d be in trouble without them. But sometimes I think they’re going to wind up smothering us if they keep this up.”
As one, the four boys nodded.
They were lounging around their hotel room, their suit jackets and ties hung up on the backs of chairs and light fixtures and similar, and the Beatles themselves were reclining on the couch and the rug and the bench for the piano that came with their room. Paul always liked to stay in a room with a piano. There had been a large amount of fan mail waiting for the boys when they came in, and every now and then one of the Beatles would pick up a letter from the pile and open it. But for the most part, they spent their afternoon relaxing, and talking about their experiences since landing in this city.
“They come on too strong,” Ringo went on. “That’s all it is, really.”
“They’re all hoping we’ll marry them,” said John, who was lounging on the rug, casually scanning over a letter he’d just opened. “Only this one says not to marry her, or call her or anything like that. I like this bird,” he added with a grin, folding up the letter again and putting it back in its envelope, which he set beside him for future reference.
“Johnny’s got a date for while he’s here,” laughed Paul from his perch on the piano bench, eyes twinkling. “You want to watch out you don’t make the other fans jealous!”
“Does he, though?” frowned George thoughtfully, from where he was sitting on the arm of the couch next to Ringo. “You know, maybe the girls only act this crazy because they think they’ve got a chance with us.”
“They do have a chance with us,” Paul reminded him. “They’re not bad, these girls, and as none of us has got a girlfriend....”
George nodded. “Maybe we should have girlfriends.”
Ringo frowned, a puzzled look in his blue eyes. “Like who?”
John grinned. “Like someone who tells us not to date her,” he offered, glancing at the fan letter he’d gotten, with the name “Emma” on the envelope.
“Someone who won’t sic her dog on us,” added Ringo with a shudder.
“Someone we can talk to,” George put in.
“Maybe someone we can chase after ourselves for a change,” Paul suggested.
“Doesn’t sound like any girl we meet,” John pointed out.
George shook his head. “It doesn’t sound like any of our fans,” he corrected John quietly.
Ringo frowned, his wide mouth sagging into a pout. “Does that matter? Our fans – they love us and all, but if we dated someone who wasn’t....”
“They might love other things about us,” George finished for him. “Not just the music.”
John caught on. “They wouldn’t love us just for being Beatles.”
“Should we do it?” wondered Paul, looking from one friend to the other questioningly. “Should we try and find ourselves girl friends who have never been Beatles fans?”
John considered. “Fine with me.”
“I’m in,” said Ringo quickly, touching his ripped shirt collar.
“Yeah,” George nodded. “Then when we see our fans, they might be calm enough we can talk to them.”

With this new plan in mind, it was time for the Beatles to go get some supper, and then down to a theatre to sing their heartrending love songs to the very girls they had decided would not become their new girlfriends. The Beatles were still convinced their plan was a good one as the evening wore on, even as the multitude of girls in the theatre screamed and cried and held up signs asking certain Beatles to call her or marry her.
Emma was in the crowd, jumping up and down and screaming as the Beatles sang. She saw the signs the other girls carried throughout the crowd, and was pleased to see that none of them had thought of asking John not to call her or marry her. She wondered if John had gotten her letter yet. When he did, he was sure to choose her! Out of all the girls in the city, Emma thought, she was the only one who understood how John thought. She was the best match for him out of any girl in England!
Jenna was in the crowd, though luckily for Ringo, Butch was not. “Ringo!!!!” she cried, waving emphatically as she leaned forward to get a better look, but she didn’t think he heard her. She had made herself stand out to him already today, though, and she was willing to bet Ringo remembered her! When the Beatles completed their tour, Jenna would be the one who stood out in Ringo’s mind. It would be her he wanted; she was sure of it.
Susan was in the crowd, tears pouring down her face with each incomparable love song, fresh sobs starting whenever Paul began to sing. She loved him so, so much... Was he thinking of her as he sang those delectable songs, "Love Me Do" and "Hold Me Tight" and "I Saw Her Standing There" (though this one would take another couple of years to apply to Susan, since she was only fifteen, not seventeen. But that didn’t mean Paul couldn’t think of her while singing it!) Paul should be thinking of her, because Susan thought of herself and him with every song.
And meanwhile, even as the faithful fans surrounded them with loving screams, the Beatles wondered who would be the lucky girls they would soon be singing their songs for, almost certain it wouldn’t be anyone in this room.
After the concert, the Beatles slipped off quickly and quietly before the fans could see where they’d gone, which didn’t stop a large crowd of clever girls who had gotten outside early enough to find them from chasing their car a block or two until it finally outran them. The Beatles were looking forward to finding their new girlfriends, and chatted with one another about how it might be easier to interact with the fans when that happened. They spoke about what kind of girls they liked, too, but for the most part agreed they were up for anyone as long as she was pretty and nice.
Happy but tired, and ready to nap for a while when they got back in, the Beatles entered their hotel room and were about to turn on the lights when they noticed the lights were already on.
Someone was already sitting in their hotel room waiting for them. A very pretty teenage girl.