back to you ◦ mccartney

two

"Just skimming"

December 15th, 1956

E. E. Eummings once said, "I carry your heart with me."

Two months had passed since the death of Mary McCartney. Paul had been doing better but of course, was still very sad over the whole thing. Today was one of their monthly trips to the bookstore and since it was close to Christmas, the two said they would pick out one book for each other.

Amelia stood facing a tall bookshelf, her hands held onto a random book tightly while her nose was buried inside. Moving on, she pulled out a book that caught her attention, it had seemed she had done this to every book she came across, but none of them were good enough. Nimble fingers ran over the spine of many books as she tried to find the perfect one, finding "The Story of Art" written by Ernst Gombrich, her eyes widened. The blonde-haired girl knew that paul loved art and English, this could end up being a double whammy.

Although Paul, on the other hand, was across the bookstore holding two books, not knowing which one would end up intriguing the uncommon girl more. Resting in his left hand he held the novel And Then There Were None, in his right hand was some love story, girls like those right?

McCartney turned around to look at Amelia who had been talking to the clerk as she purchased his book, her straight teeth lit up the room as a laugh erupted from her lips. After the book had been paid for, her legs strutted over to the boy that she claimed as her best friend. Looking over him, she had noticed his stare, her eyes squinted back at him in a questioning manner.

"What?" the blonde asked, Paul cheeks quickly turned red before he spun around to put the romance book away. 

"Nothing, just skimmin'." The tall boy's demeanor changed quickly to become more awkward. His hands were behind his back holding the book written by Agatha Christie, the rest of his body seemed to lean weirdly as if he was trying to act cool in front of the bird. A smile appeared upon her face at his actions, "Alright weirdo, hurry up I'm ready to go!"

James made his way around the Amelia, making sure that she hadn't viewed the surprise. Pulling out the small amount of money that was due, doe eyes flickered over to Amelia who had been wrapping her scarf nicely around her neck before putting her gloves on. He noticed how elegantly it seemed she could do anything, shaken out of his thoughts he grabbed the paper bag.

The bell rang above the duo's heads as they parted ways with the store "Literature Point."  An arm was thrown over Amelia's shoulder, while hers slipped around the lad's bicep. It was no shock that this had occurred, the two had always walked like this. In other people's heads, it had given off a different vibe then they took it as. Everyone swore that the two were a couple, sometimes even asking them if they were, but most of the time the girl next door brushed it off with an awkward laugh and the phrase "a couple of besties!"

Breaking the comfortable silence, Paul looked down at the short girl before questioning her, "You hungry?" 

At that exact moment, it seemed the blue orbs lit up in excitement, "Yeah!" A sweet smile seemed to cover her face before continuing on, "The place with the shakes?" Jokingly, the chap rolled his eyes before sending her a nod. 

It didn't take long before the two made their way into the small diner. Since they started coming there, the two of them had always sat in the same spot, it was like their own little thing. Thankfully within a short few minutes, a frail old lady came to take their orders.

"Hello, my name is Margaret, how may I help you two today?" her grey hair was curly as can be, reminding Amelia of her own grandmother that she had loved dearly. 

Paul leaned forward with his chin resting in the palm of his hand, "We'll take two strawberry milkshakes and two fish and chips please!" he recited her favorite since she was a child, wherever she went that had been what she ordered. 

Margaret jotted down the order on her note pad before looking back up at the teens, "You two are a cute couple!" she announced before walking away. Paul's and Amelia's faces turned the brightest color of red that you could imagine. The tension stood for a moment before the young McCartney cleared his throat.

"So my dad was wondering if you guys wanted to come over for Christmas... and new years?" At this point, it was silly for him to even ask as it was a normal reoccurrence for the two families to spend the holidays together. It would definitely be different this year since Mary was no longer around, but it was something that they would have to get used to. 

The food had quickly come before she was able to answer, the girl took a quick sip from her milkshake before looking into his doe eyes that had awaited an answer. "Of course we will James! It's silly to think that I wouldn't come over even without an invite." 

A small smile formed on his full lips before he dug into his food. They had sat there for about an hour, eating and talking about random things in life as they would do usually. The conversation that they had been invested in was so amusing that the darkness outside didn't even alert them. Although it was only the late afternoon, the set decided on going home.

Before leaving, Paul made his way up to the register where the lady that had been helping them stood. With a peppy smile set on his features, the yougin' handed over two notes to the lady before telling her to keep the change which wasn't much, but it was something. As he was about to turn around, she laid her fragile hand upon his own. 

"I meant what I said earlier." Her matured voice spoke, his eyebrows furrowed before he had remembered the exchange the three of them had encountered an hour earlier. 

"Oh no no, we're just friends, 'ave been since birth." Paul tried to say calmly without his words getting stuck in his throat. But by the way his voice shook, the noble lady knew it was obviously something more than 'just friends' as he claimed.

Margaret squinted her green eyes at the tall young man, "I could tell by the way you were looking at 'er that you want to be more than friends." She took a deep breath before continuing, "Make a move before someone else takes her away from you, have a good night now!" The words had hit him like a bus as he watched the waitress walk away from him. 

Paul turned away shocked, he wasn't expecting anything of that sort out of the old lady. Slowly walking back to the table, the words kept sinking in more and more like a rock thrown into a lake. Amelia looked up at him while putting her coat on, "What took ya so long?"

"Just 'ad a friendly chat with Margaret." The doe-eyed boy spoke as he was shaken out of his thoughts. Within a minute later, the two had departed from the diner, making it home not long after. As the night went on, the same sentence went on repeat over and over in his head. Lying in bed, he thought that Margaret had no idea what she was talking about, she didn't even know the two! Paul was only fourteen he could never think of that girl he used to take baths with as anything more than friends, that would be weird. Now thinking about it, she did have very pretty hair, and eyes... and mouth. With that final thought, he angrily rolled over to let out a loud, frustrated, groan into his pillow.

AHHH hi hello I'm currently trying to rewrite these chapters as I hate them very much :)  I hope this isn't AS bad as the original, I really want to rewrite these chapters all together with a different storyline but people seem to like the way it is now!  I promise once I upload the actual new chapters they won't be as bad. ♡