Let It Be (A Beatles Story)

Chapter Nine

Paul went clubbing the next night, and I stayed home reading some of his books and playing his piano. I also prank-called a few people on my phone just to see what would happen. 

Paul came back around 22:00 with his jacket slung over his shoulder so that he looked like a model going down a catwalk. I was sitting at the piano.

"'Ello." He yawned. 

"You look tired."

"I am very tired." He set his jacket down on the couch. "I heard you playing the piano."

"You did?" 

He nodded, and sat down on the piano bench next to me. He scooted over so that our legs were touching. I smiled shyly. 

"Play me something, Elle." He said. 

I bit my lip. "Um...You probably don't know anything that I play. It's all classical..." I stuttered. I realized that all I really need to do is play.

I let my fingers glide along the keys, like they were meant to be there. Music always felt like a second language to me. It just was there. 

The song was a romantic piece, written by a man with a name I couldn't dream of pronouncing. It was a beautiful song, one of my favorites. I think Paul liked it too. 

Once I had finished he said, "You're smashing." Then he added: "Does the song have a story?"

"What?"

"Most songs tell a story. What story does this one tell?"

"Um, well, my mom said that it's about a boy who...can't speak. He's in love with a girl, but he can't tell her he loves her. So he wrote a song, and poured his soul into it and performed it for her." I explained. For some reason I was inexplicably tongue-tied that night. Paul smiled, and his hazel eyes glimmered. 

"I think...that I know an even more beautiful love story." Paul said, smiling. His lips were inches from mine until my phone vibrated. Paul looked horribly confused. "What the hell was that?"

"Oh." I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Someone texted me. One of the people I prank-called. 

LOL Elle I totally know it was you.

Paul was reading over my shoulder. "What is ell-o-ell?"

I laughed. "Um, you're not going to tell anyone about this, right?"

"Of course." 

I slid the phone back in my jeans pocket. I couldn't help but smile when I explained it to him. "OK, it's kind of how kids speak in the future. We don't always like saying every single word. So we shorten a few of them. LOL stands for laugh out loud. You type it, or say it, when something is really funny." 

He nodded, and then got up. "Do you mind if I smoke?"

"It's your house."

I went upstairs to get changed, and I came back down to find Paul reading the newspaper. "Say, Elle. Do you know about the...Civil Rights movement going on in America?"

"Oh, yes. It's going to be insane." I said. I noticed the date on newspaper. He saw too. 

"Tomorrow's your birthday." Paul said. 

"Well, in a way."

I yawned a few seconds later. He smiled. "Bedtime for the little girl."

"I'm only four years younger than you."

"Three tomorrow." Paul replied. We both got up. "I'll shut off everything dowstairs. You go get into bed."

I was going to tell him that I could sleep down there, but I knew that he wouldn't let me. I went up the stairs without arguing.