Something Like Love

Chapter Eighteen

They walked into the McCartney household, which was mostly quiet, except for the low sound of classical music coming from the radio. John followed Paul into the sitting room, where Mike was sat on the sofa, doing some school work.

"Hey, Mike, do you know where da' is?" Paul asked quietly. Mike looked up from his homework, surprised to see his brother home....finally.

"Where the hell have you been?" he asked, setting the papers in front of him down on the table. "What 'appened?"

"Nothing. Me and da' just got in an argument, so I stayed with John for a while." Paul sighed and looked around for any sign of Jim.

"A little argument?! You haven't been 'ome for weeks!"

"I know. Look, do ye know where he is or not?" Paul asked once again. He was beginning to get impatient...and a little anxious. He wanted to have this talk and all, but would his dad really listen? Of course he would, he had to. Right?

"'E's in the dining room."

Paul nodded and led John to the said room. There, his dad sat at the table, reading the newspaper silently. The two lads stood there awkwardly, contemplating whether they should disturb the man or let him be. Of course, they weren't just going to come back another time, so they silently decided to get this whole thing over with. Unfortunately.

"Dad?" Paul said in a small, nervous voice. Jim looked up from the article he was reading, to see the couple standing there, rather apprehensively.

"Yes?"

"Uhm, can we talk? Me, you and John, I mean."

Jim hesitated for a moment, but nodded his head and pointed to the seats in front of him. Paul was a bit caught off guard at how quickly his father agreed to talk. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad?

They all sat there in awkward silence for a good 2 minutes; Jim waiting for one of the lads to start talking, John waiting for Paul to say something, and Paul trying to find the right words to start it off. Finally, though, John got the whole thing started.

"We'd like to talk about what 'appened a few weeks ago." Paul nodded his head in approval and waited for his dad to say something.

"Ah, yes. What about it?"

"Well, y'see da'," Paul began, "I really love John. I really do. But, it's illegal, and I was hoping that you wouldn't mind since, y'know, your me dad and you said you'd always be there for me."

"But that wasn't the case the other week, when you threatened to beat him to a bloody pulp," John added, earning a glare from the other men sitting at the table. "Sorry. Go on Paul," John said and slumped back in his seat.

"Anyway, about three weeks ago, we accidentally told you about...us, and you didn't take it so well. And it hurt me, so I kind of moved in with John, but I want to talk it all out now. So, if you don't have anything to do..." Paul trailed off.

"No, we can talk."

"Great." Paul offered a small smile and looked over at John, who seemed to be playing with the buttons on his coat. He elbowed him, making him sit up and plaster a fake smile on his face.

They sat there in another awkward minute of silence. Paul had wished he'd planned this out more. He had no clue what exactly he was going to talk about.

"Why exactly do you like John so much?" Jim questioned. Paul was taken aback by this question, but quickly recovered and began to talk.

"Well, for one, he's extremely handsome-"