A/N: Hi, everyone! Here is chapter thirty-eight. Finally! Sorry that I didn't update this soon. I was having a writer's block for quite a long time. I was staring at the laptop, and my fingers weren't typing! Okay, so, I'll let you read now. Enjoy!
The next few days, Paul and John were friends again, and there were no hard feelings. They became great friends, again, like they were before they fought. Paul invited Prudence to come to the Scala Theatre, just a few days since they were shooting there.
"Oh, I'd love to come, Paul!" she said with a wide smile on her face. "What time must I be there?"
"Around nine or ten o'clock will be fine," he said.
"Alright, love."
Prudence went to the Scala Theatre with her three friends the next day after Paul asked her. Her friends insisted that they wanted to come with her so they could meet The Beatles again. Pattie wanted to join, because she wanted to see George, and she also wanted to support him like what a girlfriend would do to her boyfriend. Beth and Emma wanted to join, because they knew that they would be very bored staying at the hotel all day.
Prudence, Pattie, Emma, and Beth walked in after struggling with those raging hormones waiting outside the theatre. The four friends walked in looking quite very messy, but they had time to fix themselves in the bathroom.
They walked in, and were told to go to the right side of the stage, where the boys were waiting. Beth and Emma were very excited, and they couldn't stop giggling when they saw the famous group.
Pattie ran to George, and they hugged each other tightly, and they gave each other kisses. Prudence looked at them with an eyebrow raised, and her arms were crossed in front of her chest.
"Prudence…" called Paul slowly.
She looked to her right, and saw Paul standing beside her with a handsome smile on his face.
"Hi, Paul," she greeted him with a wide smile on her face.
He was about to hug her, but she stopped him.
"Not here, Paul. My friends don't know about us," she said with a soft voice.
"Oh, I see," he said with a nod, and shook her hand awkwardly.
She chuckled, and shook her head. "Okay, maybe a friendly hug won't hurt," she said, and he immediately dragged her to his warm and friendly embrace.
"Hello, Prudence," John greeted her kindly, and Paul let go off her.
She looked at John with a shy smile. "Hi, John," she greeted him back nervously. "H-how are you doing?" Her heart was beating very fast, and she didn't really know why.
"Fine, really," he said with a cheeky smile. "And you?"
"Uh, good," she said, and pushed a stray of hair behind her ear. Her palms were starting to sweat, and her brain felt very cold. "How is Cynthia?"
John's cheeky smile still remained on his face. "Taking care of her past relationships, that's all I know," he said.
She looked at him with a puzzled look on her face, and Paul held her hand.
"Places, everybody!" said Dick Lester from the stage.
"Prudence." Said John with a nod, and walked away.
She looked at Paul, and he smiled at her kindly.
"I'll tell you about it after this, love," he said. "Kiss for good luck?"
She chuckled, and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Break a leg, Paul," she said as he walked away from her.
"Can I also have a kiss for good luck, Prudence?" asked Ringo with his wide innocent blue eyes.
She chuckled, and held his arms. He's very adorable, with his wide blue eyes, and all. He had the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen.
"Of course, Ringo," she said, and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Now, break a leg."
"Thank you, Prudence," he thanked her with a wide smile on his face, and planted a kiss on her cheek before he walked to his bandmates.
Prudence stood there while watching them walked to the stage. Pattie, Emma, and Beth dragged her closer to the stage so they could watch them perform.
"They're going to perform And I Love Her!" said Pattie excitedly. "That song is so romantic!"
"Yes, I agree," said Emma. "I bet Paul wrote that song for Jane Asher. Who else did he wrote it for?"
Prudence didn't say anything, and she remained looking at Paul while holding his guitar bass. And then she looked at John, he looked sort of sad, and she wondered why. Paul was going to tell her about it.
"Uh, music!"
Their song, And I Love Her, began to play. Emma had to bit her lower lip tightly to hold her girly squeal. Beth was swooning, and swaying slowly to the slow beat of the song. Prudence looked at Paul with a wide smile across her face, and Pattie was biting her nail while watching George playing the guitar.
"Do you want to sit over there?" asked Pattie while pointing at the audience seat.
"Okay."
Pattie and Prudence walked to the seat before the studio quietly after telling her friends that they were going to sit there. They didn't sit very close to the stage, though. Paul was looking at Prudence as he mimed to the song.
"They're very charming, don't you think so?" remarked Pattie.
"That's why we fell in love with them," said Prudence. "Because they are very charming." They both chuckled.
"She gives me everything,
And tenderly
The kiss my lover brings,
She brings to me
And I love her."
"What's your relationship with Paul?" asked Pattie to Prudence. "You seem awfully close with him. Is it something special?"
"We're just close friends, Pattie," Prudence lied kindly. "There's nothing special going on between us, and I'm not lying. We're just close friends."
"Close friends or more than friends?" asked Pattie with a wide smirk.
"Close friends."
"Bright are the stars that shine,
Dark is the sky
I know this love of mine
Will never die
And I love her."
"You know what, Prudence?" she said. "Paul is looking at you all the time."
Prudence chuckled heartily. "Oh, surely, not all the time," she answered. "Perhaps only for a few times." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh! he's doing it again!" said Pattie softly, and chuckled.
Prudence ignored her, and looked at Paul. A smile crept to his face as he sang the line: "I know this love of mine will never die." And he was smiling at her.
She chuckled, and bit her lower lip. Eventually, the song ended, and Victor Spinetti, the television director, said: "Thank you. Very nice."
George played the notes of the song, and they talked a bit while waiting for Dick Lester's cues.
"And…cut!" announced Dick Lester. "Take five, everyone!"
The group walked away, but Paul and George walked down the stage to see Prudence and Pattie with wide smiles on their handsome faces.
"Do you like it, Prudence?" Paul asked her as he sat on the empty seat beside her.
"I like it very much, Paul," she answered with a wide grin. "Can I talk to you privately, please?"
"Oh, yes, of course," he said, and immediately stood up from the seat. He helped her stand up from her seat, and they walked to a private place to talk.
"Oh! I almost forgot," she said. "The thing that you wanted to tell me about? About John?"
"Oh, yes, he and Cynthia are having a little problem with their marriage," he said. "He told me that Julian isn't his real son. You see, Cynthia slept with another man while he was away in Hamburg. And he found out about it when he eavesdropped on her telephone conversation with the man."
"Oh, I see," she said. "I feel so very sorry for their marriage." She looked away.
"What is it that you want to talk to me about?" he asked her after a short pause.
Her heart started to beat very fast, and she felt very weak. Her hands and legs were trembling, but she still could stand. She took a deep breath, and exhaled all the airs in her lungs. She breathed normally, and looked at him with a serious look on her face.
"Paul…our relationship…it is only built…on a fantasy," she said rather slowly, and it was very hard to say it, because she was looking straight to his handsome wide doe eyes.
He looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "What do you mean, Prudence?" he asked her.
"Oh, geez, I don't know how to say it," she said with a sigh, and looked away from him.
"You can tell me, Prudence," he said. "I'll understand."
She was very nervous, and she tapped her foot to calm her down. She looked at his eyes, again, and convinced herself that she could do it.
"I'm always thinking of someone else when I'm with you," she said, rather slowly. "And that someone else is…John."
He nodded his head. "Ah, I see," he said.
She looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. "So, you're not hurt or angry about it?" she asked him, puzzled.
He shook his head. "Not really," he said. "I, too, have something to tell you, Prudence. I'm just with you, because I miss Jane. I miss Jane very much. She's very busy, lately, because she's an actress and all."
"Oh…I see," she said, and looked at his black leather shoes. "Our relationship is just made out of a fantasy."
He chuckled, and lifted her chin with his finger. She looked at his handsome hazel eyes, and raised both of her eyebrows.
"Do you think that I'm a good lover?" he asked her.
"You are a good lover, Paul. Better than Christian."
"Do I kiss as good as John?" he asked her with a chuckle.
She chuckled. "I can't answer that, it's too…awkward."
He let go off her chin, and looked at her kindly.
"I know that you don't really love love me, Paul," she said. "I'm just in place of Jane when she's gone."
He held her hand, and caressed the back of her hand with his thumb. "I do love you, Prudence. But…not as much as I love Jane. And yes, you're just in place of Jane. You remind me so much of her. Your voice reminds me of hers, and…you're the same age as her. But you have a dark hair, but she has a lighter hair." He said.
She nodded her head. "So…what does this lead us to?" she asked him. "Must we break up or…something?"
He pursed his lips. "It is very hard for me to say this, but…yes, we're breaking up," he said. "But we can remain as friends—good friends."
"Close friends." She added.
"Good and close friends." He agreed, and let go off her hand. "Well, now, that you are free…you can go to John. I know that he loves you, because he kissed you, and often talked about you just a day after we started becoming secret lovers."
Her eyes widened. "Really?"
He nodded his head. "It's quite hard for telling you that—really." He said, and paused for a short while. "Why don't you go get John, Prudence? He needs you very much right now."
She smiled at him, and gave him a bear hug. She shook his hand after that, and chuckled. "Thank you, Paul…for being good to me," she said to him.
He nodded his head. "Now, go get John."
She grinned, and walked away from him. But first, she walked to her father to extend the minutes of the break.
"Dad, can the break be at least fifteen minutes?" she asked Mr. Lester kindly. "They really need a fifteen minutes break. They're very tired, you know?"
"How about ten?" he offered.
"No. Fifteen, and we're starting since the beginning of the break," she said.
He looked at her oldest daughter kindly, and stroked her hair gently. "Fine."
A wide smile crept to her face, and walked away to find John in the backstage. She asked Ringo where he was, and he told her that John was in the changing room.
"Thank you, Ringo," she thanked him, and walked to the changing room.
She knocked on the first before going in, and she heard John's voice saying: "Come in."
She slowly turned the doorknob, and opened the door. She saw John sitting on the couch with a cigarette on his right hand. He immediately stood up when he saw her standing beside the door.
"I said, you can come in," he said.
She walked in, and closed the door behind her. She leaned against the door while she looked at him with a serious look on her face. He was also looking at her with a serious look on his face, which made her chuckle.
"What do you want, Prudence?" he asked her before taking a drag of his cigarette.
"I want to tell you that Paul and I broke up," she began. "We just broke up."
"Hm. And why is that?" he asked her while approaching her with an eyebrow raised.
She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. She looked at him kindly, and a pretty smile crept to her face.
"Because I told him that I'm in love with someone else," she said, and paused for a while. "And that is you, John."
He looked at her with a surprised look on his face. "You're in love with me?" he asked her.
She nodded her head shyly, and bit her lower lip.
"Hm…you're in love with me?" he asked again. "Now, what must I say about that?"
She opened her mouth, and said: "It's okay if you don't have anything to say about that, really. I just wanted to know that…I love you, John." She chuckled. "I sort of started the relationship with him just to make you jealous."
He chuckled, and looked at her kindly. "And it certainly did work." He said. He walked back to the couch, and lighted out his cigarette on an ashtray. He walked back to her, and her cheeks immediately turned pink.
"Now, I know what I must say about that," he said, and stopped when he was very close to Prudence.
"What?"
He smiled. He leaned his face closer to hers, and stopped when his lips were almost touching hers just to make her feel nervous. He moved to her ear, and said: "I'm fucking in love with you, too."
He looked at her lovingly with a kind smile on his face, and pushed a stray of hair behind her ear.
They looked at each other deeply, and he rested both of his palms against the door beside her shoulders.
"I think, this is the perfect time for you to kiss me," she said with a soft voice, and bit her lower lip.
He chuckled, and nodded his head. "Yes, it is."
He gently pressed his lips against hers, and they slowly closed their eyes. He angled his head, and slowly wrapped her around his arms. He pulled her closer until her body was against his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and smiled as they kissed.
He brushed his lips to her cheek, and then stopped kissing her. They looked at each other, and he noticed that there was a bright shade of red upon her cheeks.
"Ms. Prudence Lester, I am going to sort things out before we go steady," he said as he gently caressed her cheek with his thumb.
She nodded her head. "Okay."
He planted a kiss on her cheek, and said "I love you" to Prudence before going out of the changing room.
Prudence walked out seconds later with a wide smile on her face. She walked to the right side of the stage, and she saw Paul looking at her. He smiled at her, and she smiled at him back reassuringly. She bit her lip (still smiling), and nodded her head. He gave her a wink and a thumb up.
"Thank you, Paul," she mouthed to him.
He nodded his head as an answer.