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June 25, 1961 // 7:04 am
{ Soundtrack; Call Me Back Again - Wings }
"Love, what's wrong," he frowned, straightening out his Oxford University sweatshirt and pushing his Buddy Holly-like glasses up.
"Nothing's wrong, Dad. It's just something didn't work out the way I wanted it to," I answered sheepishly. He just lazily wrapped his arm around my shoulders and brought me into a hug, resting his chin on my head.
"Come inside, dear, I've made some hot cocoa." I've missed him. I knew I couldn't last a whole night without him. He was, and forever will be, my home. After taking a well-needed nap for a few hours, he woke me up with an inquisitive question and a pat to the head. "Now who did you spend last night with?"
"What? No one," I rejected any thought of Paul.
"All those tears... Cried for no one?" I nodded, watching as he examined all the tissues scattered on the carpet floor.
"I find that all his words of kindness linger on... When he no longer needs me. I was just another dumb girl to fall into his plan," I explained as he sipped on some coffee.
"There's nothing wrong with you," he reassured, but I just averted my eyes away from his. Paul had said that same exact thing, and for once, I believed it. He is kind to me through his words. But sometimes, I fear he is just reciting a script, scribbled over and revised from trials and errors of his past lovers.
"I'm going to go to Jean's, if that's alright. She seems to be more fitted for a conversation concerning my ill-fated relationships. Love you, Dad, and I'll be back for dinner," I gave him a kiss on the cheek. As I neared the door, I turned to face him. "And this time I promise I'll be here for dinner." He nodded and gave me a wave goodbye.
I opened the door only to find a woman who didn't shy away from bare skin greeting me with a wooden smile. "Is your father around?" She asked me.
"No, he's square," I added sarcastically as I deliberately shut the door forcefully and walked away.
I was done. Paul broke my heart and I was not surprised that my Dad had ordered himself a prostitute for his lonely night. As I crossed the street, I turned back, only to find the two bickering and a loud yell with something along the lines of, "It was one night!"
~
The clock hit 12 as I knocked on Jean's green door, but she didn't answer. I then opened the door, finding her jump up, startled - with a telephone clutched in one hand and the chord dancing around in the other. "Penny! You scared me!"
"Oh... Sorry to frighten you. Look, I need to talk to you, you're the only person I can about this-"
"Alright, one second. James, I gotta call you back," she said, soon hanging up the phone. "What's the matter, love?"
"So you know how you constantly wanted me to find someone... After, wait!" I eyed her as she twirled around her desk chair. "Were you talking to him?"
"Pshh! No I wasn't. This is another James, not the one who broke your heart like what? 5 years ago? You need to get over him he's just dust in the wind at this point-"
"No... But I know another James... Er Paul, I mean. I call him Paul, he just looked more like a Paul... Oh, no."
"What? What's the matter?"
"Well Paul and me... We did it... And everything was amazing but he was so... Odd, almost. Like everything felt too familiar. It couldn't have been the same James, could it?" I asked with a sense of urgency in my voice, frantically running my fingers through my matted hair as everything seemed to come together.
"No! Have you gone mad? The James who broke your heart a long time ago is not the one who I was just talking to. They're both completely different, with different ambitions and aspirations. The James you fell in love with was a Teddy Boy - a rocker, but this James is a Mod." I just shot my worrisome eyes up at hers, not appreciating her choice of comparisons.
"Were you talking to James Paul McCartney just a minute ago?" I asked her, and she glanced away from the tension.
"Yes, I was. It's only because Keith had put him on the phone. He called... Asking about you."
"Well? What did you say?"
"At first, I told him he was a sod for breaking your heart... After he told me what happened of course, but he was ruthless. He wanted to talk to you and tell you something. Here I'll call him back, so he can tell you himself," she explained with hesitation, then dialed him. "James... I've got Penny here for you." She handed me the phone with a faint smirk on her face. I knew she was proud of me for snatching a boy after finally moving on from James.
"Hello?"
"Hey Penny, I'd just like to apologize. I've phoned your house every hour since then. But I ain't never, no, never heard you calling me my sweet, sweet baby."
"You manipulated my wish, Paul. You believed me into thinking that I had actually found love again. I gave in, I was naive and you saw your chance to pounce and you took it. Now, goodbye." I shut the phone and threw my head into Jean's pillows.
"Penny? I think you should go home. Not that I don't want you here, it's just you've been carrying the world on your shoulders. You've been trying to please everyone that you forgot the only person who really should matter in your world, is yourself. Please go home and watch old movies and listen to some Elvis and wallow around like I knew the old, innocent Penny would do."
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When my Pandora played Call Me Back Again by Wings I screeched bc that was my jam like 3 years ago so why not incorporate into this chapter riiighht
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Hey You ⌲ Paul McCartney
Fanfiction❝I can't love you,❞ he spoke lightly. How I had yearned for him - how I had begged and pleaded for him, how my strength had fallen at the foot of my door when he walked away, how at the last I could only whimper, ❝I knew it.❞ - in which one fateful...
