smooth sailing ~ paul mccartney - discontinued

~ one ~

louisa;

my friends and i sat at a table at the casbah club. it was a regular hang out spot for us and other teenagers in the area. the quarrymen performed there often and i quickly befriended two of the band members, john and stu.

also in the band was george and paul. george and paul both attended the liverpool institute, a grammar school across the road from my own. and in short, paul was an asshole.

it wouldn't seem that way at first, the baby-faced, doe-eyed boy had a way with charmingly convincing people he was a nice person. but it wasn't that way at all. he had girls throwing themselves at him from all corners, many even going over to his house to do chores - his dad allowed it of course because it saved him time.

but paul loved the attention, mainly brought on from being in a band. earning a reputation as 'the pretty one' he took advantage of the fact that he had easy girls piling in on him every night.

paul had taken an interest in me just less than a year ago, still desperately trying to get me to like him back but i was smart enough to know paul wasn't actually interested in me; all he wanted was a quick shag and he'd be done. i would despise giving him any sort of satisfaction.

when they had finished with their set, off the stage they went and i made my way over towards them, my friend jade following in suit.

"great set, boys," i said as john and stu came down to greet me.

"was that... miss hunt.... giving us a compliment?" john said, placing his hand to his mouth dramatically.

"apathetically, yes," i responded.

"hey louisa, what did i tell you about using big words with me," he scowled. i rolled my eyes before getting out a lighter, which i handed to stu after noticing him frantically patting his pockets down in search for his own.

"thanks," he said, proceeding to light the cigarette he had readily prepared between his lips. he took a long drag and tossed me back my lighter. "let's all go sit down, ay?" he said.

~

we all sat squashed into the same booth jade and our other friends had been at before. unfortunately i sat between paul and jade and jade was too busy flirting her arse off with stu, i was stuck with paul.

i glumly played around with my beer bottle, not really sure of what else to do; i'd tried my best to hear what the others were saying, but i couldn't hear over the racket.

"not having fun, doll?" paul asked me and i winced at the nickname he loved to use so profusely.

"i was until i was forced to sit here with you," i said monotonously.

he chuckled lowly. "you know i'm not that bad. you just love to convince yourself that i'm so awful," he replied. he leaned in closer, "i'm a nice guy."

i rolled my eyes. "nice guys don't try and get you to shag them every night you see them," i said, turning to face him.

"oh you'd be so lucky, hunt," he smirked.

"hey louisa," i heard john yell from across the table, causing me to look over to where he was sitting, "isn't that ya' little squeeze," he said teasingly, pointing across the club.

i followed where he was pointing to and saw oscar stood there with his group of friends. oscar and i weren't dating but we were some what 'involved' i guess you could say. we got with each other at parties and that but no, he wasn't my boyfriend.

"excuse me," i said, practically climbing over jade and stu to get out of the booth.

"bloody hell lou, you didn't need to step on me," stu whined.

"oh, suck it up sutcliffe," i chuckled before walking over to oscar. the blue-eyed boy beamed when he saw me, wrapping an arm around my waist.

"i didn't know you'd be here tonight," i smiled.

"yeah, we were meant to go to a party but someone," he scowled at his friend simon who looked down at the ground sheepishly, "didn't set us up with alcohol when he said he would."

"i'm sorry guys, i seriously thought we had whisky in the house, i saw it last week! my mum must've drank it all," simon said defensively.

"whatever," oscar chuckled, "we thought we'd come here. less of a buzzkill."

~

i stood around with oscar and his friends for the rest of the evening, every now and then looking over at paul who watched on with his jaw clenched. i don't think he was jealous, he never seemed to like oscar and i think he was so mean to him just to spite me.

i didn't understand paul really, i never got along with him but i had to put up with him because i enjoyed the other boy's company so much.

he knew just how to push my buttons and i hated that but of course he loved it. my way of coping was just to do the exact same thing back.