hello little girl // p.m. (beatles au)

- N I N E -

Dani woke as she felt the absence of Paul's warm body against her back. She sat up and stretched, noticing that the sky was still dark and that it was only half past two. Both of them settled in bed for the night and fell asleep about three hours ago, but something was clearly keeping Paul's eyes wide open.

She waited about ten minutes and tried to go back to sleep, but as she remained wide awake, Paul didn't return. So she unraveled the covers and got out of bed, noticing from the crack underneath the bathroom door that the light was on.

Stepping towards it slowly, Dani gave the door a light knock.

"Paul...are you okay?" she asked.

There was no response for about three seconds, but then Paul said, "Go back to sleep, Dani."

Dani pouted, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. She didn't want Paul to get away with not telling her what was wrong.

"Paul, what happened?" Dani tried again.

She heard a sigh, immediately knowing that wasn't a good sign. The knob wiggled after a few moments, and the door opened.

Paul had a hopeless, innocent look upon his face as he held the door open and stared down at Dani.

"It was just a bad dream, baby girl," Paul whispered, giving Dani a weak smile. "Don't worry about me. Go back to sleep."

Dani gave Paul a hug while he placed his hand on top of her head. She broke away after only a couple of seconds and hopped back into their bed.

Dani remained awake for about twenty minutes after that, and she didn't recall ever feeling Paul climb back in bed with her.

She deeply worried that what Paul was fretting about wasn't as simple as a dream and had something to do with her, and she didn't know what to do to fix that.

Her fears were getting the best of her, and she later figured that she had every right to be fearful; about three hours later, she found Paul back in bed with her. However, he was stirring, tossing and turning, probably barely asleep.

It caused Dani slight discomfort, but the thing that really turned her off was that he started to mumble someone's name...

Dani sighed loudly and rolled over to the edge of the bed, and Paul's words became more legible.

"Linda...Linda?" he groaned.

Dani furrowed her eyebrows as she felt her heart sink. Who was Linda?

She couldn't stand to stay in bed with a man who was calling for another woman, so she quickly climbed out of that one and hopped inside the unoccupied one. Falling back asleep was impossible, however; Dani's thoughts of Paul leaving her and of her living on the streets by herself invaded her mind, and she began to softly cry. She hated how much Paul deceived her into thinking that she was special, that she was worth something -- just to see that it was actually all an act.

Angrily, she wiped her tears away and ripped off her pajamas -- well, Paul's pajamas. She did it both in hopes of impressing Paul with her naked body and having him want her back, as well as rid herself from the awful, worthless feeling she got for wearing the clothes of a man who clearly was yearning for someone else.

Dani stepped across the room and grabbed her guitar from its case, her body still bare and clothless. She strummed a few strings, trying her best to think of a song to play to get her mind off of the sad realities.

***

Paul's night was full of sourness. He had barely obtained a quarter of an hour of true rest, as disruptive dreams and nightmares of his deceased friend John and deceased wife Linda haunted him during the dark hours. But as he awoke, the sound of Dani's pleasant voice and guitar playing resonated through his ears, causing him to crack a smile.