smooth sailing ~ paul mccartney - discontinued

~ five ~

;

it was the very next day and everyone was back at the casbah for the friday evening. john had invited louisa and oscar to sit down with them in order to prove his point to paul. though paul, seeing exactly what john was doing, was going to make sure that didn't happen.

louisa also felt the situation was a bit awkward for whatever reason and she didn't exactly want paul to feel uncomfortable. so she avoided being so close and romantic with oscar. of course he wasn't on board with that plan.

he leaned in close to her and she felt his lips lightly brush against her blonde hair so she turned to face him, seeing a smile on his face. "pete best is giving me the keys for this place next thursday as he needs me to close up for him, his mum owns the place. want to stay behind with me?" he asked her.

she nodded agreeably, rather naïvely to say the least and the smile on oscar's face grew before he kissed her briefly on the lips. paul couldn't help but feel another pang of jealousy as he watched them, their faces dangerously close to one and others.

he hated this. he hated the envy he felt towards oscar when he saw him kiss louisa. most of all he hated the fact that he liked louisa. why did he have feelings for such a girl?

was it her long blonde hair that fell in loose ringlets down to her chest? or was it her sapphire eyes, which were so uniquely bright? maybe it was her tendency to make a snarky remark at any given opportunity which always made others laugh? maybe it was everything.

louisa soon met paul's gaze and he quickly looked down at the table shyly, focusing on the sixpence he was fiddling around with. it seemed weird to louisa to see paul like this, so unsure in himself and lacking in confidence. something had changed with him and in just the last day as well.

john observed the whole time, watching as his best friend sat around glumly, trying to avoid looking at louisa across the table. john and george gave each other a knowing look and john simply raised his brows letting out a small sigh. paul took notice of this and huffed.

"i think i'm gonna go home," he mumbled, just loud enough for them to hear and before anyone could argue against it, he had gotten up and left. louisa watched as he did so, she couldn't help but be completely confused.

she leaned over to john sat next to her. "what's up with him?" she asked.

john pursed his lips, debating what he should tell her. "oh he's just being a miserable git," he said.

louisa nodded. "why? he seemed alright yesterday," she said. she really wasn't going to let this go was she? john thought.

john shuffled slightly. "maybe he fancies you," he said half jokingly.

"haha hilarious, lennon," she said flatly, "you get funnier by the minute."

"i try my best," he said and she chuckled.

~

it was a sunday afternoon and louisa was sat in the living room watching television with her family. her younger brother was on the floor playing checkers against himself, despite louisa offering to play with him and her dad had his head practically buried into the sunday times newspaper.

it wasn't long before they heard the doorbell ring. "louisa," her dad said without even looking up; it was
a requirement that if louisa were downstairs then she should answer the door.

she got up swiftly from her uncomfortable position of the sofa and made her way through to the entrance hall. she opened the front door to see paul stood there, fumbling around with his fingers slightly nervously.

"paul? what're you doing here?" she asked quietly, pulling the door shut behind her. he looked up at her, butterflies running through his chest when he saw what stood before him.

she was wearing a light blue cardigan, the same one he'd seen her wearing this morning at church but she was now wearing a pair of jeans. her hair was tied up loosely and a stray strand of hair fell in her face. he wanted so desperately to just tuck it behind her ear and kiss her right there and then.

he snapped out of his short daze. "uh... well i just wanted to apologise for the way i acted the other night. i'm sorry if i made you uncomfortable," he said shyly.

was this paul mccartney, apologising? and to me? she thought. louisa nodded slowly. "it's okay," she said and he smiled wryly.

"i wanted to know if you'd come out with me. not as a date! i don't mean a date, definitely not," he was quick to defend himself, "but just to show you that i am a nice guy, maybe we could go for coffee or something?"

"sounds nice," louisa responded, "when?"

"i'm practising with the band tomorrow after school so i can't do then, does tuesday sound good?" he asked.

"tuesday sounds great," she said softly causing paul's eyes to glimmer slightly with excitement.

"great!" he exclaimed, soon beginning to feel embarrassed about his enthusiasm, "wait for me after school, we can go from there."

louisa nodded. "i'll see you then," she said.

paul nodded slowly. "i should probably get going now. see you tuesday," he concluded before louisa gave him a small wave, watching as the pretty boy left off down the street.

she re-entered her house and went back through to her living room, her mum looking up at her when she came back in. "who was that louisa?" she asked.

"just a friend," louisa shrugged, sitting back down on the sofa.

"i saw them! it was a boy," her brother chimed in and louisa shot him a dirty look. suddenly her dad seemed interested, diverting his eyes from his paper and towards his daughter.

"a boy?" he spat, "what're boys doing coming round our house?"

"he's just a friend, just because he's a boy doesn't mean he's not a friend," louisa retorted, rolling her eyes which didn't seem to sit well with her dad. "he's one of john's bandmates-"

"oh, so he's some hooligan then?" her dad raised a brow.

"dad, john and his friends aren't some hooligans. this boy goes to the liverpool institute," she said.

the mention of the grammar school seemed to settle her dad and he returned to his paper. "what did he want then?"

"oh nothing. just asking me if i was going to one of their gigs on thursday at the casbah, the place i usually go," she lied. she would ask her mum later, when her dad wasn't around, if she could hang round with paul after school.

her dad just nodded, no longer bothered or even interested in what she was saying. so louisa continued to watch the tv, surprisingly excited to hang out with paul alone on tuesday.