The Benefit of Mr. Kite

6

YEAR: 1976

•John's POV•

"Michelle," I called.
"Oui?"
"Are you ready?"
"Almost," she smiled as she put her earring in. I had recently bought her a gorgeous pair of pearl earrings and a necklace to match; she wears them all the time.
"Well, hurry up. Our reservations are at six and I don't want to be late,"
"And we're not going to be,"
"It's 5:30 now,"
"And it takes ten minutes to get there," she chuckled. "Why on earth are you in such a rush? Anna isn't even here yet,"
"She got here five minutes ago, Michelle,"
"Well, how was I supposed to know? I'm up here getting ready,"
"Yes, and we need to go!"
"Stop yelling! Why are you in such a rush?"
"I just wanna give you a nice night out, that's all,"
"Well, I appreciate it. I'll be down in a few,"
"Okay," I kissed her cheek and headed downstairs with the boys. "Jules, be good," I mumbled as I put my jacket on.
"When am I not?"
"Fair enough," I sighed.
"Dad," he smirked.
"Yeah?"
"Are you gonna propose?" he teased.
"Jules, it's literally been three months. I'm not gonna propose. All I'm doing is taking her out for a nice dinner; she deserves it. For gods sake, she's stuck at home all day with you two; she could really use a night off,"
"You love her," Julian smiled.
"Yes, I do,"
"When are you gonna tell her?"
"When I think she's ready. Remember, Julian, she's never been in a relationship before. If I say it too soon, she'll probably freak out,"
"Oh yeah..." he mumbled. "You love her!"
"I swear to god, I'm gonna hit you," I laughed.
"I'm ready," Michelle said.
"You look absolutely stunning," I smiled.
"Why, thank you," she blushed.

She had curled her hair and pinned a few strands back with some bobby pins. She was wearing a black fitted cocktail dress with black heels to match. She looked beautiful.

"Now boys," I said as I helped Michelle put her coat on. "Please be good for Anna,"
"We will be," Julian said.
"Bye Sean," Michelle smiled. She took him from Anna's arms and kissed his forehead.
"Bye-Bye mum," he whispered.
"What did you just say?" she whispered back.
"Bye-Bye mum," he giggled.
"Bye-Bye bub," she kissed his cheek and handed him back go Anna. "We'll be back," she said.
"Bye, have fun you too," Anna said.
"We will."

***

"So," I said. "How's your wine?"
"It's good," she smiled.
"How was your dinner?"
"It was amazing. Thank you again, you really didn't need to bring me out,"
"But I wanted to," I said as I held her hand. "I love you, Michelle,"
"You what?" she whispered.
"I love you..."
"I love you too," she blushed. "I've never said that before..."
"You say it to Jules all the time,"
"I mean in this sense, John,"
"Oh..."
"How, um... How many girls have you said it to?"
"Oh my god," I sighed. "Well, my wives, my ex-girlfriends, my mistresses, and you,"
"Oh my god, you're a whore," she laughed.
"Do you even know what that word means?"
"Anna taught it to me," she smirked. "My boyfriends a whore," she teased.
"And my girlfriends a prude,"
"Yes I am, and I'm proud," she paused for a minute. "I love my whorey boy-"
"At least I've had sex before," I spat.

She stopped laughing and started to pout. She let out a tired sigh and lowered her head so we were no longer making eye contact.

"I'm sorry Michelle...I didn't-"
"No, it's fine," she mumbled. "I wanna go home,"
"Michelle, I'm sorry. Can we-"
"I want to go home!" she yelled.
"Okay, okay," he said as he asked for the check.

She didn't speak to me for the rest of dinner; she even ignored me when we got home. When we got home, she took her jacket off, ignored the boys and stormed up to her room.

"Great, you're home," Anna said as she placed Sean in my arms. "Bye John," she yawned.
"Dad," Julian started, "what's wrong with Michelle?"
"She's mad,"
"Oh my god, what did you do?"
"Nothing! She was calling me a whore, I called her a prude, then she got mad,"
"You guys are weird," he said. "Go apologize,"
"Why should I apologize?"
"Because,"
"Because why?"
"Because you're the boyfriend and it's the nice thing to do. Just go apologize. Please... We can't risk losing another mum..."
"She's not your mum," I said.
"She's the closest thing we've had since Yoko died... Please apologize..."
"Fine," I sighed.

I took my jacket off and put it in the closet then head upstairs, to Michelle's room. When I got there, she was nowhere to be found. I let out a sigh and started searching all if the upstairs bedrooms; she wasn't in any of them. Then I reached my room.

"Michelle," I said as I walked in.

She was awkwardly standing in the middle of our room, wearing nothing but her bra and underwear. She flashed me a small smile and took a few steps towards me.

"Fermer le porte," she whispered as she shut the door. She backed me against the door and shyly started placing kisses on my neck.
"Michelle, stop," I said.
"Pourquoi?" she smirked as she cupped my clothed member.
"Michelle," I shuddered. "Stop-Stop!" I yelled as I grabbed her hands and held them against my chest.
"John-"
"No, shut up for a minute," I said. "I don't want you to do this,"
"Pourquoi pas?"
"English!"
"Why not?" she huffed.
"I don't want you to do this because I know you don't want to do it,"
"You don't know anything, John Lennon," she rolled her eyes.
"Just because I called you a prude, doesn't mean you need to prove me wrong,"
"But John-"
"No..." I whispered. "It has only been three months... I don't want to rush you..."
"But, I'm ready!" she cried as she tried to break away from my grip.
"Stop," I said as I pulled her into a soft kiss.
"Why won't you let me do-"
"Because, I love you!" I yelled. "I didn't love any of my past girlfriends or mistresses. I didn't love Cynthia or Yoko. I didn't care about any of them but, I love you! I care about you and only you! I don't want to hurt you in any way. I don't want to pressure you into something you don't want to do. I-" I was cut off by her giving me a quick kiss.
"Shut up," she smiled.

She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a tight hug. She dug her head into my neck as I lightly rubbed her back to make her feel better.

"Do you want to go to bed?" I whispered.
"Oui,"
"Okay... Go get changed... You can sleep in my bed tonight," I smiled.
"D'accord," she mumbled.

She walked into her room to get into her pajamas while I went downstairs to put the boys to bed. When I got back to my room, I got into my pajamas and crawled into bed with Michelle. She was already dozing off when I protectively wrapped my arms around her torso and snuggled into her as I fell asleep.

"Je t'aime," Michelle whispered as we fell asleep.
"I love you too."