I'll Cry Instead

Chapter 32

The Beatles and Brian had nearly arrived at the hotel. The drive had been mostly quiet, for Paul had fallen asleep within the first five minutes of the trip. As surprising as that was to the three Beatles, Brian simply knew it was because Paul was so ill and exhausted. After all, he hadn't been able to rest since the day before the press conference. Still, John, George, and Ringo did worry for Paul since he hadn't been able to stay awake any longer than a measly five minutes.

"Here we are, Sirs," the driver spoke up as he drove into the hotel's parking lot.

"Good," Brian nodded gratefully. "Now we can phone a doctor for Paul."

"Yeah, speaking of Paul," John chimed in, his voice exuding the tones of both amusement and worry—an interesting combination indeed, "how are we gonna get him inside? Do you want us to wake him up?"

Brian hadn't seemed to think of such things, but, once he'd contemplated it, he shook his head.

"No, don't wake him. He needs his sleep, poor lad. We'll just carry him in," the manager replied as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"But isn't that going to be conspicuous? I mean, we don't want everyone to see him like this, do we?" John countered, his eyes drifting to Paul's sleeping form in a sympathetic gaze.

"Well..." Brian sighed nervously, his lips curving downward as he thought.

"Hey, how about two of us carry him and the other two shield him with our coats?" Ringo suggested, which prompted a small smile from John and George.

Brian slumped forward in relief before he said, "Yes, wonderful idea, Ringo. Let's get to it, then."

"Alrighty," John muttered as he, George, and Ringo opened the doors and got out, a gust of cold wind whipping into the once warm vehicle as they did so, which caused Paul to whimper and grimace in his sleep.

"Okay, how about me and Brian carry him and you two shield him?" John told George and Ringo.

"Sounds gear," George agreed with a thumbs up before John and Brian prepared to lift their bassist.

John tucked his hands beneath Paul's warm arms and Brian took Paul's bony legs. Once they were ready, John counted off and ended with a "go!"

Easily enough, they lifted the still sleeping Paul. But what no one noticed was that a small piece of paper had fallen out of Paul's pocket. A very dear and important paper to the sick Beatle, and, if he'd been awake, he would have cursed the fact that it had even hit the ground.

But he wasn't awake, and the paper with Jackie and Cathy's telephone number scribbled messily across it had fallen into a puddle of melted snow, completely disregarded and forgotten about. If only Paul had been awake, and if only one of the lads had seen it as it drifted onto the ground, it would have been saved.

But it wasn't, and Paul would be most upset over the loss of his possible girlfriend's number when he did wake up.

As inconspicuously as possible, Brian and John were able to carry Paul into the lobby, and, with George and Ringo's help, were able to make it into the elevator without being noticed.

"Is he heavy?" George asked as he surveyed a panting John Lennon.

"No, I'm just a nervous wreck 'cause I don't wanna drop him," the rhythm guitarist explained, not even thinking about how 'soft' he had just sounded.

Almost touched by his friend's caring remark, George merely smiled and replied, "Understandable."

Suddenly, someone else spoke up as the elevator continued to rise to the top floor. Interestingly enough, though, it wasn't any of the conscious Beatles nor was it Brian.