Golden Lockets

What You're Doing

The silence was suddenly broken. George's precious moment was cruelly interrupted by the front door slamming and someone yelling out, "Hello?!"

"Oh, no!" George groaned, "They're back already! This is terrible!"

"We'll have to tell them about the sprog, won't we?" John asked.

"They wouldn't understand..." George held the baby closer to his chest.

"Don't be silly, George." John said, sounding flustered, "They have to know! And even if you didn't tell them they'd find out shortly! And I hate keeping secrets from Paulie." He whispered this last bit.

George looked up at John, a confused look on his face, then he went back to mulling over his own problem. George stared down at his daughter who was, by this time, sleeping peacefully in her father's arms. She looked so sweet and innocent. He couldn't bare it if the other lads said she couldn't stay. John laid a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Hey," he said softly, "What's the worst that could happen?"

Reluctantly and with a heavy sigh, George agreed and ask John to let Paul and Ringo in. John nodded then sped out into the hallway to break the news. He had two options on how he could do this: directly or cryptically.  He took a deep breath, debated with himself on which tactic would be appropriate, and soon decided to do the latter: cryptically.

"Hey, guys!" John said, desperately trying to appear casual. Casual! It sounded more like he was choking on a lobster. 

"Hi, Johnny!" Paul replied, smiling shyly, "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much." John cleared his throat, "So how was the party?"

"Oh, Johnny! It was wonderful!" Paul gushed. He then proceeded to tell John about the entire event, from the "rocking, ripping music" to all the "gear fab birds" he'd danced with. Ringo stood nearby, interrupting once or twice to give additional information. John was too anxious to listen properly. Unfortunately, his mind was focused on George and his barely-minutes-old baby daughter. He was looking over the situation carefully, testing his options. John knew if he didn't say something then Paul wouldn't shut up until he lost his voice altogether. John had to come clean.

Fortunately for John he didn't have to say a word. George's baby blew the whole secret by bawling her head off. Ringo's head jerked when he heard the noise. Paul stopped talking mid-sentence. His eyebrows rose in confusion and alarm.

"What was that?" Paul asked.

John gulped. Large beads of sweat began forming on his forehead. "What was what?"

"That noise. It sounded like a baby crying."

"What baby?! There's no baby!" John gabbled, panicking like crazy.

Ringo blinked rapidly and made one of his rare speeches, "We never said there was, John."

John didn't respond. He didn't know what to do. All he could do now was hang his head and stare down at his shoes in dismay. He wouldn't look at anyone, not even Paul.

"Johnny? Look at me." Paul demanded, his hands on his curvy hips.

John glanced upwards for a split second then went back to staring at his boots.

"I'm going to find out what's making that noise." Paul said solemnly.

"Me, too." Ringo piped up, "It's getting kind of annoying."

John froze. He felt like someone had poured a bucket of cold sick into his underpants. He regretted ever offering to walk George home. Maybe if he'd just gone to the party with Paul all of this could have been avoided. But it was too late for hoping for second chances. John watched helplessly as Paul and Ringo made their way down the hallway. They stopped outside George's bedroom door. Crying could be heard clearly from behind the door, followed by frantic shushing and whispering. Paul shot a baffled look at Ringo, then reached for the door handle.

John didn't know what he was doing. He had no control over his actions.

"STOP!" he screamed, racing over to the door and throwing himself against it like a barricade.

Paul sighed irritably, "Out of the way, John."

"You can't go in there!" 

"Why not?" Ringo asked. He sounded annoyed, which wasn't normal behaviour for Ringo. Paul looked like he was ready to personally shove John out of the way. John was sweating like crazy, and was so flustered that he barely knew what was happening next. He grabbed Paul by the collar of his coat, pinned him against the door, and pressed his lips against Paul's. Ringo backed away rapidly, his eyes popping with amazement and horror. Paul tried to break away at first, but then he stopped resisting and let John kiss him. 

John had no idea what was happening, but he had to admit he didn't regret doing it.