On Loving Paul [McLennon]

The Beatles

By late August of 1960, the band consisted of John, Paul, George, and Stuart. Paul and Stuart were constantly arguing and while they not only truly did disagree when it came to music, Paul was also exceedingly jealous of how fond johnwas of Stuart.

In early September of that same year, the band was given the option to go perform in Hamburg, Germany for a while...if they changed their name.

The four of them gathered at John and Paul's apartment a few weeks before they were due to leave to come up with a new name. The two of them had moved out when John turned eighteen.

"So, any ideas fellas?" John asked.

"Well the manager says Charlie and the Moondogs sounds too much like a skiffle band," Paul said. "How about Paul and the Moondogs?"

"Or Paul and the Johndogs?" John winked.

Stuart rolled his eyes while George just kind of looked at them with a sort of admiration. He had spent the previous two years going back and forth in his mind trying to decide of he should tell John and Paul that he knew about..."them". Whatever "they" were, because George couldn't figure it out for the life of him.

"No?" John raised his eyebrows. "Very well. How about the Crickets?"

"I like it," Paul nodded. "Unfortunately, I believe it's already taken."

John sighed.

"Well, how about the Ants, if you want a bug theme?" Stuart asked. "Or the Fireflies?"

"That doesn't work," George shook his head, earning a scowl from Stuart.

"No, it doesn't." Paul agreed, clearly noticing Stuart's expression.

John, on the other hand, didn't notice. However, he agreed with George and Paul. "Nah, hasn't got the right ring to it. We need something really cool, but simple. Like....like - "

"The Beetles!" George exclaimed.

"YES!" John pointed to George and grinned excitedly.

"The Beetles," Paul nodded. "I like it."

"Yeah, sounds good." Stuart admitted.

"We still need to stand out, though." John said. "The Beetles has got a nice ring to it, but it's forgettable. We need to make it unique, we need to make it ours. We need to make it us. When people think of the word beetle, they need

"How about we spell it differently?" Paul suggested. "We can sleep it B-E-A-T-L-E-S so instead of just beetles it's like a beat."

"Brilliant!" John laughed elatedly.

"Thanks," Paul smirked.

Stuart shot Paul an envious look, jealous that he hadn't thought of anything. George and Paul had come up with the name and he and John hadn't come up with anything. The only difference between John and Stuart was that the matter didn't seem to bother John.

Anyhow, the rest of the day passed by pretty quickly. The four of them just hung around the flat, smoked ciggies, and Stuart and John drank beer while Paul and George drank tea.

Around seven Stuart stood. "Well, I ought to be off to my place. See you soon, boys."

"See you round, Sutcliffe." John laughed.

Another few hours passed. "I should be off, as well, before my dad had my head. See you soon."

"Bye, Georgie." Paul said.

"See you round, Harrison." John nodded as George left the flat.

George stepped out into the hallway of the building and travelled down the fifteens flights of stairs. The building was very large with fifteen floors and six flats per floor. It was also a very old building with no elevator and John - of course - lived on the top floor. But, luckily, the building was only ten blocks from George's house which was nothing seeing as when he needed to clear his head he would leave his house in the morning, walk a good thirty blocks or so, then back track to get home by dinner.

When he finally exited the building, he headed down the street with a heaving sigh. He was trying not to think of John and Paul...alone...in their flat...late at night. He still hadn't told them he knew and it was bothering him. But what else was he to do?

Back at the flat, John and Paul were laying side by side on the mattress that sat on the floor in John's room. They didn't have bed frames, just mattresses. Paul had a room, he just didn't use it very often. Once in a while he would use his own room instead of rooming with John...but mostly when he actually used his room, John came with him.

"So...Hamburg." Paul smiled.

"Yeah," John grinned. "I can't wait."

"You know, it'll be kind of like going on vacation." Paul smiled a bit wider. "George and Stuart will be with us and we have to perform, but we're going to Germany...together."

John chuckled. "Yes, we are, Paulie. That's very observant of you."

"Oh, sod off."