Lonely Old People - Paul McCartney Fanfiction

Chapter 5 - Tuesday Brunch

**

"Remind me why you're still seeing Seth again?" Shanice asked, lighting herself a cigarette.

The café wasn't very busy today, but then again, it was Tuesday and was still a bit early for lunch. It wasn't a bad thing, it just meant I could sit and chat with Shanice without getting too many interruptions. I needed a good catch up with her, she was the one who knew everything before I told everyone else.

A few nights back, Seth and I had an argument and it led to... stuff I don't even like to think about. Shanice knew Seth and I fought all the time and she always questioned why I stayed with him. When I talked to her about it, it was the only time I felt like I could think straight and not let anything fog up my judgement. She told me it in a way it made sense.

The thing is though, she didn't know the extent of the fights. I only let people see what I want them to see, I think that's how everybody is. I didn't want anyone to know, it was kind of embarrassing to be honest. I know it's strange to be ashamed of that, but that's just how it was.

"I don't know, Shan. I really don't know. But he helped me a lot, I can't just leave him," I said.

"Quit making excuses if you aren't happy and if he treats you the way he does. I'm worried about you, Mallory," Shanice said. She always used my full name. It was never Lory or Lo, she always called me Mallory. Most people would shorten it, Paul even came up with a whole new nickname that only he used.

I pushed my sunglasses back up a bit. The sun was bright today but it wasn't hot. We were only in March, after all. It wasn't all that hot in California during March. Not compared to how it was during the summer, anyway.

"Maybe I'm too scared to leave him," I said.

"Well I guess he does seem like one of those psycho ex boyfriends, doesn't he?" Shanice said, making me chuckle a bit.

Fiddling with the napkin on the table, I watched the people further down the street walking around with their bags in their hands. We were seated outside as we thought the heater was way too high inside the cafe. Plus, the fresh air was always nice. For some reason, I tended to get dizzy in cafes. I don't know why.

"He's very possessive. It's almost scary. I can barely go through a show having a man as a guest without him questioning me. It makes it real hard, y'know. I'm finally becoming friends with Paul again," I said.

"Really? That's good, I remember how close you two used to be," she said.

I nodded. "Yup. Close enough to pass gas in the same room."

She scrunched up her nose jokingly and giggled. "Ew. That's real close," she laughed. "It's good though, that you're friends again. I know you were really wrecked after what happened."

"You were the first person I came running to. And then we came here, to Cali, for a trip to get my mind off of it all, before deciding we wanted to live here. Remember when we were roommates?"

She nodded with a wide grin on her face. "You sure do take some long showers."

I chuckled. "Ok. So I take the long showers and you do extremely loud singing concerts in the shower."

"Fair enough. I bet our landlord hated seeing our water bills. We were the worst," Shanice giggled. "Now, when I visit, you only take 5 minutes. Couldn't have done that earlier? I was always scared when talking to the landlord."

"Nah. The whole point of friendship is annoying the heck out of each other," I chuckled.

"So anyways. Seth? I don't know if he's gonna like Paul," Shanice said.