18th November, 1955
The next day was very eventful. That morning John and Paul, who had slept in eachother's arms once again, woke up to Mimi shouting them down for the phone.
"What?!" John called down to her, rolling his eyes playfully at Paul, making him laugh.
"The phone! It's Ringo." At the name, both boys shot up out of bed, rushing to the phone.
When they saw Mimi, holding the telephone with a wide smile on her face, they knew it was good news. She handed it to them, standing around as Ringo began to speak up.
"John? Paul?" He asked, excitedly.
"Yeah?"
"The Alan guy liked it! We're going back to the store to see him in literally two hours!"
"Oh. My. OH MY GOD!" He called, making Paul jump.
John turned to him, putting his thumbs up, and both the younger boy and Mimi began to clap and cheer.
"Meet us at the record shop at 12." And with that, Ringo put the phone down.
"Good news! We did it! He liked it..." John grinned out, practically jumping onto Paul and wrapping his arms around the boys shoulders. He hugged back just as tight, until John saw Mimi smiling.
The older boy pulled away clearing his throat.
"We're going to the top!"
"You certainly are!" Mimi called out.
"Not just yet, though. We still need to visit him and see what's actually going on, y'know?" Paul spoke, even though he was incredibly excited, there was a bleakness in the back of his mind.
"Yeah, but he liked it Paul. We have a chance at getting big..."
"Aye, and it's all thanks to you, Paul." Mimi smiled, ruffling the boys hair. "He didn't believe he was good. Was even gonna quit, weren't you?"
"Yeah. And I'm so glad I didn't." He turned his attention fully back to Paul, lowering his voice. "Thank you, Paul. I don't know what would be in my future if you weren't here."
"Anytime..." Paul responded, trying to keep it as normal as he could.
After a few seconds of staring at eachother, Mimi coughed again.
"Go on, go and get changed and ready for your big day." She ushered them to the stairs, smiling as she saw them rush back up, laughing and giggling.
-
"C'mon George! Hurry up..." Ringo ushered him into the shop, the rest of the boys following behind.
Paul was so excited he could hardly contain himself. Every so often he'd glance at John and grin at him, the other boy returning the gesture, just to stop himself from screaming.
He'd always loved music, but never thought he had a place in the world for it. But now, in a completely different time, he realised that he did. He was overjoyed at the fact the Harvey guy thought he had a great voice, and it got him thinking.
"Harvey!" Ringo called to the man. "Where is he?"
"In the back. He's brought all the kit down, now all he needs is for you lot to play."
"Brilliant."
They went into the back without a second thought, greeted by a man, who definitely looked like he owned atleast two cars. George hovered behind Ringo and John, feeling a bit dominated by him.
"Boys? Are you the ones in the band?"
"Aye." Stuart nodded.
"Right." He smiled, standing up, flicking on a switch on a machine. "I enjoyed what I heard. I thought it was going places. So, do you mind doing another take right here?"
"Of all of the songs?"
"Yeah, but I'm gonna need an extra one."
"4?" Ringo asked. They'd only performed and practiced three.
"Yeah..."
Without a second thought, Paul spoke up.
"I have a song." He said, timidly.
"Really?" Alan asked, looking at Paul like he didn't believe him.
"Mhm."
"How old are you?"
"14." Alan looked at him, before nodding and taking a deep breath.
"Very well. You play your song last, we'll have the other songs first then we'll record yours on a separate tape . That sound fair?"
The boys all nodded. The guy wasn't strict, but he certainly knew what he was on about. Paul could tell he certainly didn't stand any messing, and even though he tried not to be, he was sort of scared of him.
John placed a reassuring hand on Paul's shoulder, before leaning over and discreetly whispering to him.
"Don't worry, Macca. You got this. Remember that I love you."
"I'd never forget." Paul whispered back, before the two joined the others in heading to the instruments. Paul and John shared one microphone, Stuart and George on the other with Ringo behind the four on drums.
"Play them all in the same order, the fourth song being yours." He pointed to Paul, who just nodded, staring at him like he was a ghost.
Come on, Paul. You can do this.
Do it for John. Do it for music...
"3...2...1... Go." He flipped the switch once more, the boys all beginning to play.
After the first song, they got the hang of it, immediately going onto the second then the third.
Everytime John and Paul sung together and shared the same microphone, Paul's heart fluttered. Their voices just went together so well, and the younger boy loved John being that close. He wanted to kiss him, so bad.
Incase he never got another chance.
Once the third song finished, Alan flicked the tape off, looking at them with a smirk.
"Oh yeah, I think that's it." He nodded, clearly happy. "Last one?"
"Aye. It's just Paul." George spoke, moving one of the microphone stands out of the way, taking a seat at the other end of the room with Stuart, Ringo and John.
Paul felt his throat tighten. His heart beat faster at the thought of playing on his own infront of all these people and being recorded. But he knew he was going to do it. He was going to do it for John, because he loved him.
"Ready, kid?"
For John, For John.
"Yeah." As soon as the switch was flicked, he began, trying to forget about all the worries.
All that mattered was the thought of how proud and happy John's face would be afterwards. That's all he wanted.
He didn't care too much about becoming a big sensation, not as much as John anyway. He just wanted his boyfriend to be happy, and if making music made him happy then Paul would make sure he had a chance to do that.
If it was up to Paul, he would have been born in 1941. This last week or so had been amazing, he had met the man who he was sure that he wanted tot spend the rest of his life with, he had found friends, and he had a future prospect ahead of him.
It was clear why Paul didn't want to go home. But the main reason he wished to stay, was of course, John.
How could he live without John... It had only been a week but it seemed like forever. John meant so much, and he might loose him.
"...Hmm, hmmm... Hm, Hmm..." With a few tiny strings, Paul had finished.
Nobody spoke, nobody moved. The tape was still recording the sound of the empty air. When Paul looked up, everyone looked surprised, even though the majority had heard it before.
The boy leant down and flipped the tape off himself once knowing Alan was too shocked to do so.
"You're all signed. I- I'm just... Amazed." He spoke. "The songs are amazing, all of them. You've all got the looks... You just need to be a bit older."
All 6 laughed, before it finally clicked that they'd been signed already.
"You're going places. All 5 of you." With that, he stood up and walked out.
John, George, Ringo and Stuart all rushed over to Paul and gave him a massive hug, telling him how great he was. John even managed to plant a small kiss on Paul's neck, too, which made him giggle.
He wanted to feel this happiness forever.