Borrowed Time: Saving John Lennon - A Beatles Fanfic

Chapter 24 - YOU SAVED MY SOUL

June 9, 1985

"John??" Holly practically yelled into the phone.

There was a small pause on the other end of the line. "Who is this?"

"Christ, you've forgotten my voice that quickly? It hasn't even been the full five years!" Holly laughed.

"You!" John exclaimed. "Where are you?!"

"Right down the street! I stopped by hoping I'd recognize the doorman but I didn't. Then I tried calling and got Rosaura." Holly was talking a mile a minute. "What's going on? You have your own apartment now?"

"Stop talking and just come see me, future girl!" John ordered. "I'll call down to security and tell them to let you through."

A few moments later Holly was inside the Dakota making her way up to the seventh floor. It was then she realized that John didn't tell her which apartment was his. Taking her best guess she knocked on the guest apartment that she had stayed in previously.

Almost immediately the door swung open and John was standing just a few feet away from her. He didn't look all that different than he did five years ago, but it was noticeable that he had put on a little weight. He no longer had that gaunt, frail look to him. His hair was short, in a similar cut as when she last saw him, and he was wearing cut-off blue jeans and a white t-shirt with the words Enjoy a Coca-Cola over a picture of a red Corvette.

Before saying anything Holly stepped closer and wrapped her arms around John, hugging him tightly. John returned the hug equally as fiercely.

"So you really didn't recognize me on the phone?" Holly asked, pulling away from John.

"You surprised the shit out of me!" John exclaimed. "I wasn't expecting a phone call. You always show up in person."

John moved out of the doorframe and allowed Holly to walk inside. The apartment looked different than what she remembered. A lot of the furniture was the same, but instead of being sparsely decorated like before it was now full of trinkets and clutter. It looked less like a guest house, and more like a fully lived-in home.

"So you live over here now?" Holly asked as she put her bag down and sat on the couch.

"Yeah, for the most part," John began, joining her on the couch. "At least until Yoko ever gets her shit out."

Holly gave him a sideways look. John went on to explain that he and Yoko had spent most of 1981 growing farther and farther apart while still living together in the apartment. They officially separated in 1982, and the divorce went through in 1983. John had taken to staying in the guest apartment just to keep his distance from Yoko while their lawyers dealt with the logistics of dividing up the estate.

"I was supposed to get the main apartment and she was supposed to take this one, but we all know how Yoko always manages to get her way," John explained. "Actually I did get that apartment, but the bitch won't fucking leave. Moved Sam in there an' everything."

"Won't leave?" Holly blurted.

"The lawyers are having a fucking field day with it all." John leaned back into the couch. "She doesn't want to leave, and I've stopped giving a fuck if she does. So," he sighed, sweeping his arms in a grand gesture, "here I am."