smooth sailing ~ paul mccartney - discontinued

~ three ~

louisa;

it was saturday, a week after the party at john's house. jade and i decided to head down to the farmers market and look around all the stalls, before going to a small cafe to have tea.

we were out for most of the afternoon and it was all a lot of fun, particularly since i hadn't managed to get out of the house this whole week - apart from going to school of course.

i arrived back home just after five and from outside the door i could hear yelling, obviously my parents were fighting. as soon as i came in the yelling stopped and i heard my dad say, "oh, speak of the devil."

i went through to the kitchen, slightly confused as to what my dad meant. my dad frowned sternly at me whilst my mother stood sheepishly by the sink. "is there a reason you're so mad at me?" i asked him.

he pushed a pack of cigarettes on the counter towards me. "care to explain what these are?"

"i believe they're called marlboro's," i chuckled.

my dad was unamused. "don't get smart with me, what were they doing in your bag?" he asked.

i pursed my lips together. "what's wrong with me smoking, you do it," i argued.

"well you're a young lady, it isn't very good for a teenage girl to smoke. and who knows, if you're smoking, what other nonsense you get up to!" he exclaimed. i seriously couldn't believe he was getting so mad at me over this. "i bet it's the influence of those stupid hooligans you hang out with at those dance clubs. what's the lads name.... oh yeah, john."

"john isn't some hooligan, he's a nice guy and he's my friend. maybe if you weren't so superficial you would care to know," i spat. my dad gritted his teeth and he was practically seething.

he came round from the other sound of the counter and over to me. "don't you ever talk to me like that, what's wrong with you for goodness sake. your sister was never like this."

"well i'm not her now, am i?" i shouted and with that he slapped me clean around the face.

i saw my mum flinch slightly before i ran upstairs to my room, hot angry tears running down my cheeks. i got into my room, shut the door behind me and lay down on my bed.

~

i lay there for what must've been hours, for when i next looked at clock it was almost midnight. i didn't know why my dad had gotten so mad about a dumb pack of cigarettes and why he had to bring my friends into it. it was ridiculous, he had such a short fuse. most of all, i couldn't believe my own dad hit me.

i couldn't bare just lying there for hours and i certainly wasn't falling asleep. i was going to go out. i went up to my cupboard and pulled my coat from the hanger before slipping an old pair of shoes on.

i grabbed a heavy book from one of my shelves and brought it with me over to the window. i unlatched it and lifted it up, a cold breeze hitting me. i placed the book down to keep the window open and stepped down carefully onto the thick branch of a tree just outside.

once i had successfully scaled down it, i sighed heavily before i just started walking, though i wasn't quite sure where i was going.

~

it wasn't long before i began to regret leaving the house. despite only being september, it got bitterly cold in liverpool at night and it was also not exactly safe for a young girl to be out at such hours. that soon became very clear to me as i began to be heckled by some drunk.

"oi hello there lady, fancy comin' home with me," he slurred but i continued to walk and ignore him; he remained at a safe distance.

"oh come on now, i promise you it'll be a lot of fun, i'll make it work your while."

i could hear him getting closer and i began to panic, not exactly sure what i would do if worse came to worst.

i then felt a hand slide around my waist and i flinched slightly but looked up to see that it was paul. he brought his head down close to my ear. "don't worry, if he thinks you're my bird he'll bugger off," he said quietly.

he held onto my waist firmly and just like he said, the man left and we carried on walking till we arrived at a small park. "are you gonna tell me why you're out on your own at this time of night?" he asked, folding his arms.

"i could ask you the same thing," i responded snarking.

paul rolled his eyes. "i'm going home from a gig. now you tell me why you're out. were you with oscar?"

"yes and he was shagging my brains out," i said apathetically.

he rolled his eyes once again. "can you please be serious?"

"okay," i sighed. "if you really want to know, i got in a bad fight with my dad and then he hit me. i just was pissed off and wanted to get out of the house," i explained.

paul's eyes went wide. "your own dad hit you?" he asked and i nodded. he shook is head. "lou that isn't right."

"i'll get over it," i said sadly and paul flashed me an apologetic look.

"come on," he said, "i know a quiet place that's always open at this time of night."

~

paul and i got on a bus, giving a thruppence each to the driver before sitting down. it wasn't long before we arrived at a service station and that's when i realised where paul was taking me. next to the service station was a small cafe open for twenty four hours, mainly to cater for lorry drivers doing long shifts, so it wasn't a surprise for us to get a few looks from the people in there wondering what two teenagers were doing out at this hour.

we sat down at a table and paul picked up a menu. "you want anything to eat?" he asked and i shook my head.

"i'll probably just get coffee or something," i said and he nodded slowly.

"me too," he said as he examined the menu. shortly after a waitress came over. she looked weathered and i was sure she was probably younger than she appeared but years of smoking and an unforgiving job had obviously added a few years to her.

"what are we having?" she asked, not lifting her eyes from her pad.

"i'll just have a tea please," paul said.

"black coffee please," i said and she nodded before walking off over to the counter.

paul turned to me. "i just wanted to say thank you for helping john out with... well... looking after drunk me," he said with a chuckle.

"it's fine, it wasn't any bother really," i said, "john actually tried to get oscar to help but you refused so i was the only other option."

paul chuckled slightly nervously. "well thanks anyway."

our drinks soon arrived and small talk became a lot easier between the two of us and i was surprised to say, things were actually going well between us.

"you didn't have to take me out," i said.

he shrugged. "you were sad and i thought it was best to be out of the cold and if you didn't want to be at home, then, it was the least i could do," he said.

it was odd to see paul this way. for him to actually be nice to me instead of making stupid remarks or hitting on me because in actuality, we got on pretty well. if only he was like this all the time.