On Loving Paul [McLennon]

Hello (Part 1)

A/N: this one is short but I just updated last night and I really wanted to add this :) hope you enjoy

~~~

The phone rang barely five minutes after How Do You Sleep was played on the radio for the first time.

"George or Ringo?" John asked when he picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear. "And how long do you think you'll be yelling at me for because I've got things to do."

"I can't fucking believe you, John," George huffed. "You....you need to get your act together, mate. You can't do this. Do you want to see him hurt? Are you trying to break him or are you just a fucking idiot?"

John sighed. "George, this is my business. Not yours."

"No, it is my business because, you see, Paul is my friend." George was absolutely fuming. "Okay? He's my friend and - and you are, too, but you can't keep doing this."

"George, this is between myself and Paul," John said.

"Really?" George said. "It's between you and Paul? Right, because you call him and discuss all of this so often, right?"

John clenched his jaw.

"John Lennon, you have not spoken to Paul since the day you broke up the Beatles," George hissed.

"Excuse me?" John scoffed. "I didn't break up the Beatles! We were growing apart and we were so...distant from each other. All I did was point it out. If I hadn't, no one would have and who knows how long we would have gone on like that."

George sighed heavily. "John, you absolute dick."

"Guilty as charged," John sighed. The two of them sat there, with phones pressed to ears, in different countries and on different continents..... And them John put down the phone and hung up.

George didn't stop there, though. He and Ringo both call John near,y every other day to badger him about the song and, of course, urged him to call Paul.

~~~

Three months later, on almost the other side of the country, Paul was sitting in he kitchen staring at the phone. It was March and Paul still hadn't called John... He couldn't do it...

"Just call him," Linda shook her head as she entered the room. "You and I both know that you want to, so just do it."

Paul buried his head in his arms on the table and sighed.

Linda sat down next to him.

Paul looked up at her. "Are you going to hate me if I do this?"

With a smile, Linda shook her head again and chuckled. She patted Paul's shoulder and laid her head down on the table so that they were face to face. "I could never hate you, Paul. I've already told you... You're my friend first."

Paul nodded. "Thank you. For everything."

~~~

Months passed. June eighteenth came and John didn't by any means forget what it was. But he got up, ate breakfast, went on with life as normal.

Yoko went out for the day and John was left alone in the apartment for the day.

At ten in the morning, though, his peace was disturbed when the phone began to ring. "Ugh," he huffed and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Call him,"

"George Harrison," John spoke through gritted teeth, working to keep his anger at bay. "For the millionth time, I am not going to call him and that is final. Do you understand me?" But he didn't wait for George to answer, he slammed the phone down and stormed back to the sofa.

He was sick of Ringo and George calling and bugging him about this. It was taking everything he had, every ounce of control, not to call Paul. George and Ringo were only making that ten times more difficult.

John had lunch at noon and sulked around the flat. He read a few chapters of a book and then tossed it aside...

It was at four in the evening that the phone rang once again. John picked it up and shouted angrily into the phone. "GODDAMMIT, RINGO! I KNOW I SHOULD BUT I AM NOT GOING TO AND THAT IS MY FINAL DECISION!!"

Silence.

And then, "Hello, John."

John's heart skipped a beat and he froze. He stayed quiet for several moments before he spoke. "Paul?"