The Less I Know The Better [complete]

40 ;; advice

The auburn-haired boy stayed silent at that. Hearing all that from Ringo, it did make him reconsider.. maybe things wouldn't end in disaster after all. The whole 'fate and destiny' sent shivers down his spine. Were they meant to be? Who knew, really. But he did know that he loved Paul, wanted to be around him as much as he could - and he couldn't stand being away from him like this any moment longer. Knowing he hurt him with his stupid lashing out. It couldn't be left like this; that wasn't fair on either of them.

"You can do this." Ringo placed a hand on his knee for a moment. "C'mon, John."

He hung his head, biting the inside of his cheek in anxiety. "I guess so. I'll try."

The day school started up again only a few days later had buckets of rain falling from the sky in thick rivulets. It had been raining on and off for the past few days, and the streets were absolutely soaked as John carried his measly umbrella like a shield, making his way to their usual meeting spot before lessons began. At first, he'd been incredibly tempted to just bail on school and go do something more interesting so he wouldn't have to face Paul - but after that long talk with Ringo, he'd decided he could no longer avoid him anymore. He had to face him.
When he reached the spot, Ringo and Paul were waiting underneath a shop awning out of the rain, both chatting away about something, George apparently not having arrived yet; John's breath caught in his throat once his gaze landed on the raven-haired boy. He looked the same as he'd last seen him, dark lashes and plump lips pulled into a smile that seemed slightly forced at the edges, but there were considerable shadows below his eyes, and his hair was tousled and seemed to only have been lazily swept aside. A drop of rain ran down his temple and settled at the bottom of his jaw; he absentmindedly wiped it away with his blazer sleeve. Seeing him there present, in the flesh, hearing his voice as he asked Ringo about something - John felt completely at a loss. He debated on whether or not he should slink away quietly or just run for it as quickly as humanly possible, but the shorter of the two spotted him and called out his name before he could move, making him freeze with wide eyes in his spot, barely noticing that he wasn't holding the umbrella properly and he was promptly getting soaked.

"John, aye, lad! Come 'ead, George will hopefully be here soon." He flashed a smile, discreetly glancing at Paul for a moment - who had looked up and now was watching John - before waving him over. John felt heat bloom over his entire face when his expression seemed to harden, forcefully neutral as he trained his eyes onto the ground a moment later. John's heart thudded, stomach churning unpleasantly as he compelled his feet to move one in front of the other until he reached them. This isn't going to end well, he thought with an inward wince.

"Hey." He muttered quietly. At once, just to give him something to do other than stand around awkwardly, he slipped a cigarette pack from his pocket and shook two out, lighting one up and putting it between his lips before offering Ringo one. He took it with a nod, setting it alight; when John registered Paul shifting slightly in the corner of his eye, he straightened up and sucked in a deep breath to calm himself before he slipped out another one.

"Um.. want one?" He held it out in Paul's direction - he could only meet his gaze for a moment before hastily looking away, breath catching in his throat. He held in for a few terrified seconds, worried that this was an insanely stupid idea, but when Paul gently took it from him with a wordless nod, he let out a sigh of relief that he was sure both of them had heard and lit it up for him. He flushed even more when Ringo sent him a discreet wink.

Only a moment later, George finally appeared in their midst with a declaration that he hated his brother Peter because he ate the last of the scones and he couldn't wait until he'd move out, and the conversation promptly moved on as the four of them made their way to school together. John threw himself into some mindless banter with them, hoping to distract himself from his constant awareness of Paul's presence only a few metres away - Paul seemed eager to be present in the conversation as well, but both of them carefully avoided each other's gaze or having to talk to each other directly. George and Ringo definitely noticed what was going on after a few minutes or so, but they thankfully kept silent about it. When they got to the building and gratefully escaped the rain, John was feeling more and more on edge by the second. It was incredibly hard for him to be in Paul's presence. He was constantly aware of him without even trying, his gaze constantly wandering to him before he quickly corrected himself, and he hated it. Never in a million years would he thought he would've actually said this, but he was eager for classes to start so he could just get the hell away.