If I Fell│John Lennon/Beatles FanFiction

Chapter 81 - 2.May.1967

Chapter 81 

May 2, 1967

Adam sat beside me, his forearms pressed against his legs as he looked around the flat. Maggie played on the floor in front of us, sitting with a toy that made noise when shaken...and she'd been shaking it constantly for the last several minutes. A part of me wanted to find a quieter toy for her to play with, but her giggles were infectious, and I couldn't bear taking something from her that brought such joy.

I tapped my fingers on my leg crossed over my knee. "Tell me more about our mums."

"How 'bout we talk about you instead. Like maybe about how you ended up staying here instead of yer house." Adam turned to face me, looking at me over his sharp, pointed nose, the one that reminded me so much of my mother's nose. "You keep puttin' me off."

He wanted to talk about what was going on between John and me. But I'd decided early on when I started to spend time with Adam that I wasn't going to talk to him about John or the Beatles...I was still being cautious around him, even though he kept trying to slip into the role of protective older brother. But I already had three brothers in Paul, George, and Ringo, and I didn't need another one.

"You've still not told me why our mums had a falling out." I carried on in the direction I preferred the conversation to go. "What happened in Blackpool? Did they have a row? Why didn't we ever see you lot after we moved to Liverpool?"

Adam leaned back and sighed. "I'm not sure, really. My mum never sat me down to tell me."

"Sure, but you weren't that young at the time." I reached my hands out as Maggie abandoned the toy and took a wobbly step toward me. "I'm sure you caught on to some things, right?"

His features tightened. "I don't know, Liv, all right? I was a kid...not sure why you think I was some kind of mind reader. Like I said, Mum never talked about it with me."

My muscles tensed, and I leaned away from him. It was strange to hear him snap over something so trivial. Though we'd only spent small amounts of time together, he'd never been this short with me.

"Was just askin', Adam, no need to bite me head off 'bout it."

"Wasn't biting yer head off."

"No? Coulda fooled me." I held Maggie's hands as she bounced and giggled. "Usually, when I snap at someone, I at least own up to it."

"Sorry," he mumbled, his eyes locked on the floor. He pushed out a breath and ran his fingers over his short hair. "Maybe it had somethin' to do with me father? He was a proper arse, at least according to Mum. They went through an awful divorce sometime before you moved." He shrugged as he crossed his ankle over his knee. "Or maybe it had somethin' to do with yer father."

My eyes snapped up and I froze. Did Adam know something about my father? Had the abuse gone back that far? Was that the reason for the fallout between our mothers? But no matter how reasonable the thought, it was still strange to hear him bring up my father, especially since we'd rarely spoken about him, and never in any detail. I despised talkin' about my father, and I wanted my time spent with Adam to be focused on happier things, like memories of my mum.

"What about my father?" I asked, my voice low and tight.

"Nothin', I don't know. I'm just guessing, is all." He shrugged again. "All I know is one day I asked Mum to ring you lot, hoping you and I could play. But she refused, and I never saw you again. Not till you started popping up in the papers next to John bloody Lennon."

I hummed in response and focused my attention on Maggie as she toddled around the room.

He huffed as he leaned forward. "Dunno what else to say about it, Liv."