January 28th 1968
It was a new year and exactly a month until the wedding, but that was the least of Amelia's worries.
That morning, Paul received a phone call.
"What do you mean they don't like it?... It's a master piece!... A drug fest? Are you joking!" He shouted down the phone.
Amelia ran up the stairs from the kitchen, wondering what all the commotion was about.
"Oh, and I suppose I'll get all the blame for it too... I don't care what the press say! They can say whatever they want to bloody say about it! But we know what it is and why we've done it and that it is exceptional... if the public can't handle this, how on earth will they take our next record" he spouted, still on the phone as Amelia entered the bedroom.
"Aren't I on leave at the moment anyway? I'm getting married in a months time and I'm moving house... Right, well, call the rest of the boys and see what they say, but frankly I do not care. Goodbye!"
Amelia tried her best to suppress her shock once he slammed the telephone down.
"How can they not like it!" he said dragging his face down with his hands in despair.
"Who is it that has given it a bad review?" she asked.
"Everyone Lia! It seems like the whole bloody planet hates it" he exclaimed, high tempered.
"I'm sorry, dear. At least they loved the record" she said feeling her heart crumble on his behalf.
"Why are you sorry? It's not you fault" he said trying to be kind, but still sounding frustrated.
Amelia thought for a moment before answering, "Well, I did direct a whole scene in the film-"
"And it was the best bit!" he exasperated, cutting her off.
She looked at the floor and couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for the bad reception for the film. Paul sunk his head in his palms and sighed greatly with half his body still under the duvet.
"Come on, Paulie" she said in a calm tone "When has bad press ever set you back, hey?" and sitting on the bed in front of him.
He looked up but with his eyes still towards his hands, "I know, it's just we put so much effort into this film more than any other"
"I know, it is rather frustrating. But you can prove them wrong with the next record I'm sure, it's going to be huge and the boys haven't even gone to India yet!" she said optimistically.
Paul stretched out his arms towards her like a child from the bed, but still she embraced him and held him tenderly. She planted a firm kiss on the top of his fluffy head of hair.
"We're going to have a great time this year. Don't let this defeat you, Paul" she said reassuringly.
"I almost forgot we were getting married for a second there" he said pulling away and smiling at her.
She gave him a playful hit on his bicep, "How dare you! We're putting a lot of money into it so you better show up!" she said eyes wide with a small smirk.
Paul chuckled still holding her in his arms, "Can we just stay in bed all day, Lia?" he whined.
She pulled herself away reluctantly, "I'd love to dear, but we do have a house to start packing".
"But we still have a month" he whined again.
"We can't take all of this junk! We need to start throwing things away" she said standing up.
Paul gasped, pretending to be offended.
"I'll have you know I can assure you that there is no junk in my house!" he insisted.
Amelia clambered under the bed before quickly popping up again holding a dusty and rather miserable looking Etch a Sketch.
"Hey! I was given that when we went to America for the first time!" he said pointing at the object.
"Paul, you've never used this" she said looking at the thick layer of dust that had collected on it.
"Ok fine, get rid of it" he said defeated.
"Oh don't worry, I'm not just throwing it away" she said.
Paul was puzzled, "What do you mean?"
"I'm donating some things to the charity organisation down the road" she said pulling up a box from the corner and placing the toy inside it.
Paul smiled at her lovingly and with pride, "That's my girl".
She turned to look at him and smiled back happily.
"I just cannot wait to move into our own place. I know it's not that far from here really but still, we will be able to call it ours!" she said excitedly.
"It's going to be the bestest!" he said with a morning stretch.
Amelia stopped suddenly in her tracks, "Pardon? What did you just say!".
"the bestest! that's grammatically correct isn't it?" he said playfully, knowing it would annoy her.
"I think not!" she said appalled.
Paul laughed and so did she, "Oh Lia, you're such a journalist!"
****
DISCLAIMER! I know the wedding and trip to India dates don't line up with when they actually went, but this story is only loosely chronological to the real timeline so not everything will be 100% accurate. Some very interesting stuff is about to go down btw, I hope you're ready!
Also, keep commenting! Always love hearing what you think of the story :)