𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩//𝐌𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧//

Twenty seven

thursday 25th june 1959

paul

Paul woke up at nine thirty in order to shower and get ready to go and see john. george wasn't going to be able to make it to rehearsals until a few hours later so paul decided to just meet him there later in the day. paul put on a red buttoned up shirt with blueish grayish trousers( like the picture at the top). he put on some black fancy shoes and brushed through his hair and made it wavy but more straight like and he made it like a mop top kind of, not making his hair stand up( like the picture at the top). he decided been as they'd be going on a date after rehearsals he would make an effort with his appearance. he put some spray in his hair that supposedly makes it stay put the whole day. he put on some of his favorite spray and put on chap stick, he also put on his bracket Jane and Eric got him. He stood in the mirror and just gave himself a reassuring smile and went and grabbed his camera bag which held his normal film camera and his polaroid camera. by the time he was finished getting ready the time was eleven thirty. leaving him just enough time to have a cup of tea and be on his way. he got to the cavern at ten past twelve and walked straight into the club. as paul walked through the entrance he faintly heard stuarts voice say "well what the fuck do we do now? we can't play half of these songs without a drummer!" "come on we'll figure something out, let's have a five minute break to think things through yeah?" an unknown voice spoke up. there were a few mumbles in response. Paul tapped the door that separated himself and the voices and he slowly peeked his head round and walked in to see stuart, john, collin and an unknown boy and girl that he'd never met before. "paul," johns voice boomed as a smile overtook the scowl on his face. paul smiled at him as john walked over to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder bringing him deeper into the room. stuart and collin greeted him, alongside a new boy whom he'd never met before but had seen perform with the quarrymen on that night. "hi i'm pete, and this is my girlfriend kate," he introduced himself pulling the long haired brunette girl beside him. she smiled at paul. "i'm paul, i'm uh-" paul not knowing how to introduce himself furrowed his eyebrows as john intervened to say, "he's mine. my friend, or person or whatever," he laughed brushing off the comment as if it hadn't made paul blush prolifically. this comment made stuart smirk. "about time johnny." john and the boys then split back apart, john getting a drink for paul and sitting him on a sofa they had placed in front of the stage that they'd dragged out of the dressing room. john plonked on the seat next to him and stared at him smiling as he drank his water. "what?" Paul questioned smiling at him. "did you do something different with your hair?" he looked at him quizzically as if trying to figure it out. his arm rested on the back of the sofa behind paul and he twirled a strand of pauls hair between his fingers. "yeah, made it mop topped like, i thought i may as well make an effort today," he smiled at john. "you'd look beautiful even if all your hair fell out and you were nothing more than a bald head," he joked ruffling his hair. "stoppp! you'll mess it up," paul giggled back grabbing his hand off of him, paul held onto it when he pulled it down. "are you excited for later?" John questioned. "excited to spend more time with you? urgh i cant think of anything worse," he joked. "oh come off it you love spending time with me," john laughed back. "since when was johnny a softie," stu said plonking himself next to john on the sofa. "oh shut it stu," john replied smiling. "so paul, how'd you manage to crack his stone heart then? do tell." john put his head down embarrassed at his friend. "stu stop embarrassing the boy," collin said walking round to stand in front of the sofa. Collin then spoke up changing the subject, "what are we gonna do about pete lads? is everyone just turning a blind eye to the fact we have no drummer?" "yeah come on johnny you're the one the sacked the kid, what do we do next?" stu added john smirked at all the boys who were losing their minds in front of him. Paul rather guessing pete had something else to do. Then Richard popped into her head. "Wait! What about Richard? What happened to him?" John turned to Paul with a loving smile. "He's visiting his cousins in a different country, he won't be back til right after the gig starts, sadly" paul just nodded, John then turned to the band. "but lads lads, you didn't think i'd sack pete without a back up did you?" he questioned making everyone's eyebrows raise, "you see paulie over here has a friend who he says is a brilliant drummer, she'd fit right in with us." " A girl! And our gig is tomorrow john and she's not here at rehearsal who's to say she even knows the songs we do? or what if she's shit and paul just says she's good cos they're friends? no offence," collin replied, "non taken, but jane is a fantastic drummer, i could see if she could come down here if you like?" stuart laughed at the simplicity and said, "well call jane then and ask if she could come and save our arses." "But... what!? She's a girl! A girl you see! A girl" collin exclaimed. "Oh shuddup collin" John rolled his eyes. "She's great I swear" paul laughed. stu directed paul to the telephone inside the club which was inside the tiny hallway near the women's bathroom. after only a few rings paul got ahold of jane who said she'd come down straight away as she had nothing to do and eric was at work. as he hung up he turned around to see kate walking out of the bathroom. "oh hi paul right?" she asked, a thick german accent rung out her mouth. "yeah and kate right? a beautiful name by the way," paul smiled. "oh thank you, it's a typical name in germany, that's where i'm from if you couldn't tell," she laughed. "I thought pete left?" Paul asked with a confused face. "Yeah he did but I stayed for the gig" paul nodded understanding. Paul and her walked out the hallway together making small talk about germany and the boys. "so is she gonna come?" stuart asked as everyone stood looking expectantly at paul. "She's coming she'll be here in the next hour or so, trust me you won't regret giving her a chance," paul smiled as john went on to exclaim, "see lads! my paulie has it all sorted, we'll be fine." the lads nodded still skeptical. • after around thirty minutes the boys had gone back to practising the set list whilst paul and kate sat next to each other on the sofa chatting and swooning over how good the boys were playing. every now and then john would wink at him or if he mixed up the words he'd pull stupid faces. "hello?" a voice called out snapping paul and kate out of their conversation, the voice came from the front of the club making the boys also stop playing. paul stood up knowing the voice belonged to his beloved friend. jane walked in with a confused look which was soon overtaken with relief when she saw paul. "Jane! thank you for coming down in such short notice," he spoke happily as they shared a hug, "this is the quarrymen, you know john, and this is stu, collin and pete, another band members, girlfriend kate." Kate smiled at her, the other boys all shook her hand and john spoke up, "paul told us you're quite the player on the drums, and were in dire need of a drummer for tomorrow's gig, you wouldn't mind helping us out would you?" "no of course not, what songs you planning on doing?" and with that jane and the boys exchanged conversation about how the set list was organised and what songs they'd be performing. and as it turns out jane knew most of the songs they were playing and the ones she didn't, she learnt very quickly. john and the boys were impressed to say the least. • after another two hours, george arrived looking more like a celebrity than ever before. george, paul and kate got on like a house on fire, it was great to see their friendship blossoming. the boys were extremely fond of the boys getting along so well, and so were george and paul, seeing jane speak to the guys like he'd known them for years and vice versa. "paul, can we reschedule the photo shoot because we're going to be late to our reservation if we do it now?" john said striding over to where paul was standing alongside kate and geo. "reservation? oh my god are you going on a date? James-Paul McCartney why didn't you tell me?" George said mock hurt. John not hearing george call him James from talking to the boys made paul have a relieved expression. "i'm sorry i just didn't get the time you haven't shut up about richard since you got here, and he's not even here!" paul laughed, "and of course john, are we leaving now?" john turned and nodded enthusiastically. george took pauls camera off of him to take it back to his apartment where he'd asked if he could stay on this night, potentially with jane and kate. john got changed in his dressing room into a different shirt, now wearing an all black outfit finished with a black denim jacket. Paul was undeniably checking him out as he shared farewells with his band mates and jane who decided to stay and have a drink with the boys. they left after saying goodbye to george and kate. outside john walked with his arms swaying by his sides every so often brushing against pauls hand until he stopped and just started to play with his fingers instead. (in that cute way idk how to describe it) "so are you going to tell me where we're going?" Paul asked, "nope. it's nothing fancy or anything like that but it'll be nice." John smiled down onto him. "well i can't wait," he replied, "and i don't think i've told you how good you look today," paul grabbed his hand properly. "no i don't think you have," john joked, "but thank you love, you look beautiful as usual, i like this outfit, it might be my favourite on you." "really?" He replied, "i'm kinda just a plain jane." "you most definitely are not. you have this beauty where you don't even understand the extent of the effect you can have on people," paul looked at the ground blushing. "you're too naive paul, you're amazing stop selling yourself short of what you are and what you're capable of," paul just shook his head and squeezed johns hand. john leading the way took paul around several streets until they reached a small italian restaurant that paul had never seen before. walking into the restaurant john told the waiter at the door for the table under the name lennon and he lead them to a booth at the back of the restaurant. it was fairly secluded and went round in a 'c' shape, it had a dim light hanging from the ceiling directly above their table and a single vase in the middle of the table with a rose in. the layout of their table was much different to the other tables, it was much more romantic than the other tables, which made paul wonder whether john had asked for this table specifically. "john this is much fancier than you let it on to be," paul whispered walked behind the waiter who seated them. "really? it's not that fancy, but do you like it?" he asked, "of course i do, thank you john." John let go of his hand to allow the both of them to sit down, they slid around to the curve of the booth the sit next to each other still and opened up their menus.
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The date has officially started!! I bet that's what you guys were waiting for lol 😂 sorry I haven't updated in 3 days!! I've gotta start writing again😳 I'm moving in a week so if I forget to update I am very very sorry 🥺💕 just try to remind me 😂 but anyways I hope you guys liked this chapter and sorry for the emoji spam🤣❤️