𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 | JOHN LENNON

014: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭

𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮,
25𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳

"hello," john's words were hollow and empty as if he didn't know the meaning behind the word or why he even said it. charlie and ringo stood by anxiously, watching his every move and word, listening closely for paul's words.

paul cleared his throat carefully. "i know it's you, john," john's face-anxiety ever-present, morphed into relief. "what happened?"

john flashed ringo a thumbs-up. charlie hurriedly snatched the phone book from john, searching for george's name, too. if paul picked up, there was hope that george would too.

"nobody knows," john was relieved to hear paul's voice-even amidst all their arguments. his familiar liverpudlian voice brought almost a sense of comfort to john. his old chum.

paul was still the little schoolboy john knew him as, auditioning for the band, encouraging john before the ed sullivan show, being the cool guy in their last performance as a group. the memories rushed back from so many years before.

"i woke up last week in some house in england. i'm still married to linda but she's away on a trip. i haven't been able to go far since she took the car, but-" paul's voice was cut off by the screams of a baby in the background. john's face fell. "mary doesn't exist, but my newborn daughter, stella does. it's been a nightmare here!"

john's voice nearly trembled as he attempted to console paul. i've lost julian, too," john muttered. his only child and he was gone. "yoko won't see me. she doesn't know who i am. so much for being soulmates, am i right?"

paul chuckled half-heartedly. "i can't believe this. nobody knows who i am. at first, i didn't suspect much except the fact that i was in a brand new house, mary was nowhere to be seen, and no press had shown up for a while." he explained very quickly. charlie raced outside in search of a telephone booth and was already dialling a george harrison-though there were many. "i thought to myself, maybe i got drunk and fell asleep somewhere else, but that didn't explain the family portraits. without mary. and when i went into town, people recognized me as paul the neighbourly fellow, not paul the beatle!"

john nodded. "same thing happened to me, too,"

"and me!" ringo shouted with a laugh. paul gasped loudly. "'ey, mccartney!" for the second time, all eyes in the lobby were on them as soon as ringo yelled into the phone.

"ritch! you found him, john!" paul guffawed loudly. "now all we need is george!"

john nearly cringed. how long would it take to find him, too? "you actually want to... to... come together again?" john carefully spoke, accidentally referencing a song of his.

paul cleared his throat once again. "i- well, i mean... yeah, i do," those words were golden to john. he was worried that maybe ringo wouldn't, but he was confident paul wouldn't have an issue. george, on the other hand...
"where are you lads?"

"london," ringo uttered beside john, taking a swig of a half-empty water bottle he found on the ground. "and, oh... you wouldn't believe the girl we found-she is one be-you-ty!" he pronounced each syllable with different voices.

john had to refrain from swatting ringo's nose away from his side. why would he say that about her before acknowledging the fact that she was the whole reason the beatles would even be reunited?