I'm A Loser

Good Night

"You're the closest person to George I know." Prudence whimpered to Paul.

"You're the same to me, Love." He told her.

"You should go home soon. Or Linda's gonna kill me." She warned Paul.

"I don't care about Linda right now; I want to make sure your gonna be okay." Paul said and cuddled with Prudence.

Paul began to kiss her and she put her hands in his hair. After they kissed, Paul playfully braided her hair and gave her kisses as he did it.

"How's your wrists?" He asked her, trying to avoid the topic of George.

She offered him her wrists and he looked at them. Once realizing she hadn't cut in a while, he kissed them and told her how proud he was of her.

"The funeral's in 4 days." Paul murmured.

Prudence turned white.

He really was dead. Funeral and all.

"Can we go home?" She asked him.

"What about Richie?" Paul asked.

"I'll be back soon." She said and they agreed to go home.

Ringo said that she could take her time.

When they got home, Linda was having a nervous breakdown.

"Linda, what's the matter with you?" He asked.

"Paul, George is dead."

"Yea, I kinda realized."

"George is dead, this is George's house. His parents pay the rent so George can live here. George is no longer living here, this house will no longer be paid for." She said in between breaths. "And don't forget all of our food and things were bought with the money George's parents sent him."

"It's gonna be okay, Linda." Paul tied to calm her.

"Okay? Paul, we have two babies living in this house and three teenagers that George's parents have no idea about." Linda said frantically.

"We'll get our own place." Paul said.

"Paul, we don't have any money! We can't get a fucking job cause we blew off high school! We're screwed!" She yelled with Heather in her arms.

"Lin-"

"What are we gonna do?!" She began crying.

The baby started crying and Paul took her from Linda.

"Shhh." He whispered to the girl who was crying. "Hey Sweetie..."

"Linda, we'll figure something out." Prudence said shyly.

"Oh shut up! You're just as bad as Paul!" Linda screamed and went to her room.

"She didn't mean that-" Paul began to say.

Prudence looked at Paul and he saw the disappointment in her eyes.

"I don't know what's gotten in to her lately..." Paul sighed.

He handed Heather over to Prudence and went to check on Linda. He opened the door to their room and found Linda drinking a beer with tons of bottles in the trash already.

"Linda, what do you think you're doing?" He asked, shocked.

"Get out." She said, swaying on the bed.

"Linda how many bottles have you had today?" He asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and put the bottle down.

"It makes everything go away, alright?" She said sternly and walked to the bathroom where she proceeded to throw up everything in her stomach.

They hadn't been evicted yet after 2 days, Linda was back to normal again. She had been changing in the bathroom when she felt a lump on her chest. She ignored it, fearful of what it may be. She didn't tell Paul or anyone else.

After another two days it hadn't gone away. But it was the day of the funeral and she didn't want to have Paul worry about anything else at the moment.

At the funeral, Prudence was too shy to speak but when everyone said their final goodbyes to George in his open casket, Prudence froze.

"George?" She asked, as if she didn't recognize the lifeless body.

"I've missed you." She whispered to him. "I'm sorry I didn't visit you in the hospital, I didn't know."

Paul looked at her confused.

"I hope you're okay with me spending time with Richie. I promise he won't hurt me. And I swear he'll never replace you." She said. "He's just helping me until we get together again."

"Prudence?" Paul interrupted her.

She looked at him.

"Hey." She said.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yea." She said wiping a tear from her face and walking away.

Paul said his goodbyes and watched as the casket was closed and George's body saw the earth for the last time.

They went home and Paul asked Prudence to come to his room. She followed and he locked the door, leaving only the two of them inside.

"Paul, I'm not really in the mood to talk right now." She explained.

"But Prudence, this is important." He swore.

She waited and Paul pulled a small, black box out of his pocket. He handed it to her and she opened it. Inside, a little note said

"Prudence, the love of my life, will you make me the happiest person alive and marry me? Yours truly, George."

Under the note, was a simple but gorgeous silver ring with a diamond in the center. The diamond was made of four sections, forming into a flower.

"He was gonna propose?" She asked as her voice became shaky.

Paul nodded and hugged her.

"I'm so sorry, Sweetie." Paul apologized. "I can't express how terrible I feel."

"How'd he get enough money for this?" She asked.

"He sold all of his guitars, not a single one left." He told her.

"He sold his guitars?" She asked, astonished.

He nodded.

"Thanks Paul, but I'm just gonna head over to ou- my room." She stuttered an left.

Shortly after, Linda came in, her hands trembling.

"Linda, if you're upset about the house, my dad said he'd let us st-"

"Paul, I'm scared." She said.

"My dad's gonna let us stay, you don't have to worr-"

"It's not about the house." She announced.

"Than what's wrong?"

"We need to go to the hospital."

"Why?"

"Th-there's this lump, or whatever on my chest and-and- Paul, I- I'm scared." She said, a tear falling.

"You'll be fine, Love. We'll take you there in the morning. It's nearly midnight." Paul promised.

She nodded and changed into her pajamas. Paul saw her looking at herself in the mirror with fear in her eyes.

He came up to her and hugged her.

"It'll be alright." He promised.

Linda was shaking in his grasp and tears were slowly falling.