𝗕𝗮𝗯𝘆 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂 ❦ (𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹 𝗠𝗰𝗖𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘆)

꧁𝗬𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆꧂

The girls and many other girls and Beatle fans finally found their seats inside the theatre. Susan sat in the middle to save Linda from the pain that was Barbara.

"How long now?" The devil moaned, looking ahead at the curtain in front of the stage.

"Not long."

Susan watched in the corner of her eye as Linda pulled out her book from her bag.

"Are you being serious right now?" She looked disapprovingly at her friend.

"What's wrong?" Barbara looked over and laughed.

"Of course."

"Is it a problem?" Linda queried.

Susan exhaled. "Just put it away when they're playing, ok?"

"I will."

I might...

In her only defence, Linda wasn't overjoyed to see the Beatles live. Just another inconvenience for her. If it were up to her, she would still be at the hotel, away from the hoards of screaming girls and probably reading on the balcony. She sighed thinking about it. Peace and quiet...

She was also quite fond of her ears too and wasn't very keen on losing her hearing.

Then, the curtains opened, revealing the 4 lads sending the crowd into a hysterical screaming fit.

For fuck sake.

They were so excruciatingly loud that even she couldn't ignore the noise. She was both astounded and horrified to how that kind of scream could come out of someone's mouth.

As the lads began the first song, the whole crowd went absolutely ballistic, drowning out everything else, most importantly, the boys' performance. Barbara sighed to herself, resisting the urge to shout out and throttle someone. She knew they were just as excited as her. Knowing the lads must have had a sort of effect on her which took away any hysteria she could have felt otherwise.

A compliment Linda could provide for the boys was their calmness on stage, especially with the crowd going nuts. If it were her on that stage, she wouldn't hesitate to run off in stage fright.

꧁꧂

After a few numbers, George came up to the mic and thanked everyone, moving on to welcome Paul on stage to perform his solo piece "Yesterday."

As the lights flickered for a moment, George had suddenly disappeared and Paul was on stage with his guitar. The crowd was hysterical until he started playing the chords and like magic, the noise just stopped.

Whilst he sang, Linda was pleasantly amazed by the song. She knew it took talent to come up with a piece like that. If it was his original piece anyway. She always was a sceptic. But the song surprisingly managed to touch her cold heart, maybe even light it up for a minute.

That song is beautiful...

Before now, she only saw Paul as an annoying, witty joke man who played the guitar and enjoyed annoying others. Even the revelation of his mother's death wasn't enough to change her perception of him. Not entirely anyway.

Though she still felt that way, she couldn't help but see a more gentle and open side to him whilst he sang, quite similar to how he was when talking about his mother. The time Linda liked him most. He was undeniably talented and a great songwriter. Maybe his mother inspired him.

꧁꧂

After the show, the girls met with the boys back at the hotel to celebrate their success.

"64 million people were watching y'know," George said, taking a swig of his fourth whiskey.

"I know, this geezer came up to me and said it just as I was going on." Paul huffed, finishing his glass of rum and coke. He glanced over at Linda who was once again sitting alone in the corner with a book in one hand and a glass in the other. He watched her for a moment.

I hope she liked it.

In truth, Paul was feeling more for Linda than he was supposed to. Or, least at he thought. His aim was to make her fall in love with him, and only because she seemed hard to get. Now, that plan didn't seem so enticing. Maybe he just wanted to get to know her, for real this time.

Opening up about his mother would have been a tedious chore but Linda surprised him. She was different. And although he respected other people's respect about the whole thing, it seemed like Linda understood in some way. He could feel it. Maybe she had lost someone too.

"Did you enjoy the show then?" Paul inquired with a smile.

Linda looked up slightly and closed her book. "I did actually." She said and took a sip of her drink.

Oh...

Paul blinked. He hoped she would but he didn't expect to hear it. Then, realising he had been dazed for too long, snapped out of it and nodded. "I'm glad you did."

"That song. Yesterday. How did you come up with it?" She asked.

Paul's lip curled into a small grin. Finally, this woman was taking notice of him for the right reasons. "I just did." He grinned. "I woke up one day and it was there."

Linda looked at him with unconvinced eyes.

Bullshit. It probably took him weeks.

"What do you mean there?"

Paul tapped his nose, grinning as he did, clearly opting to keep it a secret. Linda rolled her eyes and returned to her book.

"Thanks for coming to the show." He said after a moment.

Linda looked up, a warm smile spread across his face. "No problem." She took a breath. "I was actually forced to come."

A look of concern furrowed his brow. "Oh?"

"Yeah." Linda nodded. "But." Another small, uncontrollable smile snuck its way in. "I'm not mad about it."

"Oh?" Paul chuckled to himself. "So, can I say that me and my trusty guitar redeemed ourselves tonight?"

Linda rolled her eyes. "And the others."

Paul nodded, accepting that she was never going to say it outright. "Well then. Are you going to kiss me for my efforts or will I just have to come over there?" He flirted.

Say yes.

Linda laughed and shook her head.

Bastard.

"Nice try." She returned her gaze to her reading, leaving Paul yet again to his own devices.

Paul shrugged and lit himself a cigarette. "You'll crack." He said and turned away.

Linda glanced at him, a ray of smoke leaving his mouth.

No. I don't think I will.