I Will [Paul McCartney/Beatles Fanfiction]

nine

"What's been up with Paul today?" Ringo asked a bit worriedly as he entered the hallway to find George standing in front of the mirror, fixing his hair.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... Look at him."

George temporarily put his comb down and glanced over his friend's shoulder to see Paul sitting anxiously in front of the phone in the living room, his eyes not leaving it for a millisecond. Ringo watched his face change slowly into an incomprehensible expression.

"I don't know," he eventually said, "but something's the matter, you're right. Hey, John?"

The two bandmates turned as George called up the stairs to the fourth Beatle, waiting for the response that came a few moments later.

"What?"

"Could you come here for a second?"

"I'm sort of busy right now, Georgina."

George sighed. Not the feminine names again. He put on a high-pitched voice anyway and responded, "Oh, but Joan! It's important! And... And prom-related!"

His laugh echoed from upstairs. "You're an awful girl, you know that?"

"Yeah, well, I'm a beginner."

"Fine. Just because you at least tried, I'll be down in a minute."

When the younger of the two turned back around to face Ringo, his face dropped, noticing he was stifling a laugh.

"I...wasn't that bad, was I?"

Ringo tried to contain it, but he couldn't, so he ended up squeaking, "And prom-related!"

He broke into fits of laughter and George sighed defeatedly. Whatever Paul's problem is better be worth it, he thought to himself.

When John finally decided to come down, there still hadn't been any appreciable change in Paul's condition. The other two didn't even need to give any explanations; all they did was point at him and John understood.

"He's waiting for that one bird to call him," he said casually.

"That one we met?" Ringo asked. "But... He's so transfixed. Don't you think it would have to be something else? Something more serious?"

"Don't you get it, Ritchie? He's crazy about this bird," John snickered. Then, it fell from his face and, in its place, rose a grin. "You know what we could do to wake him up?"

"We're open to suggestions," George said.

"We should get him to invite her. You know, on the tour. I mean, you're bringing Mo and Pattie and I'm bringing Cyn and Julian. What's the harm in him bringing her along? I don't think anyone would mind."

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Ringo said carefully. "He's clearly waiting to get some contact from her. What better way is there to do that?"

"Majority vote wins, then," John said, ignoring the "I didn't even give a vote" from George and walking off to his best friend. "Hey, Macca? Macca, I hate to do this to you, but snap out of it."

Paul sighed, so John knew he was paying attention as he offered, "Just call her, man. Invite her on the tour."

He finally pried his eyes off the phone to meet his friend's glance with wide eyes. "Really?"

"It's not like it's a crime. Come on, then, stop sulking and call her!"

"Freda's okay with this?"

"Does it really matter? Like you said before, she doesn't have the authority to tell you no, especially if you've already done it."

That was good enough for Paul.