DECEMBER 8TH 2024.

Elsie had watched Paul on SNL, and decided to try and call him once she was sure he'd be awake.  Paul had been lying in the bed in the hotel and was just about to try and go to sleep when his phone rang. He didn't bother looking at the caller ID as he picked it up and answered.

"Hello?" He asked, his voice slightly drowsy, having expected that whoever was calling was going to be someone for work. The last person he'd expected was Elsie.

"You looked like you had fun." She commented, she tilted her head slightly as she held the baby.

Paul sat up slightly as he realised who had called. The fact that Elsie had started the phone call with that comment made him smile slightly at her comment. "Yeah...I had a laugh with it. You saw it?"

"Yeah, It's everywhere, especially that clip of you as Bono." She chuckled

A hint of embarrassment crept into his voice  "Oh God...yeah that..." he trailed off for a moment, slightly self conscious about the impression he'd done since it had been making the rounds online.

"I think you looked..." She paused for a moment, she couldn't say hot "Cool."

He was pretty sure he was imagining it, but he thought for a moment he might've heard Elsie's voice falter slightly as she spoke, like she'd been going to say something other than cool before she'd changed it.

A small part of his ego was slightly satisfied as he sat up more and leaned against the headboard "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She nodded, she was grateful Will was at work.

Paul was slightly glad that Elsie was unable to see his expression in that moment, as his confidence was growing a little bit from her compliment, and a slight smile was on his face again "You liked it, huh?"

"Yeah, SNL is cool, when they're not doing politically inappropriate sketches anyway." She said "But you didn't do any, so the episode was great."

He chuckled slightly at her comment about political sketches "Yeah, I was in the clear then." There was a short pause before he spoke again "Are you sure that wasn't too cringy though?"

"No, it showed a comedic side of you i think people who don't watch interviews of you struggle to see." She assured him.

A small sense of relief hit him as she confirmed it wasn't too cringy. He'd been a little worried about it being too embarrassing for both himself and for Elsie, if she'd actually been annoyed at it instead.

"People struggle to see my funny side in interviews, huh?" he asked, a teasing tone in his voice

"That's not what I'm saying, the average person doesn't really watch interviews, fans do, like dedicated ones, this was like, a chance for people to see you're funny." She explained, not wanting to insult him.

"Yeah I was just teasing, don't worry." He assured her. Paul didn't mind what she'd said, and his ego had grown a little bit from her comment. He almost felt proud that Elise had pointed it out.

A thought occurred to him in that moment, and he continued, an almost taunting tone to his voic "So what, you're saying you watch interviews of me?"

"I- I put them on for the baby so he knows your face." She stammered, she was lying, Paul knew that.

Paul let out a short laugh, an almost smug tone to it as he caught her lie. He knew she was lying, and his ego was growing from it "I doubt he understands anything from an interview, Elsie." He said, his voice slightly teasing.

"No but, he needs to recognise your face, and this is basically me tricking him into remembering you being here in his early months." She replied quickly.

Paul couldn't help but continue to laugh at her reply. It was blatantly obvious that her reason for watching was not to show Aneurin his face, and he was very much enjoying the fact it was so clear. "You do know you can just leave photos of me around, and they'll achieve the same outcome, right?"

"I'm not convinced by that." She shook her head "Plus, Will would find it weird if i had loads of pictures of you round the flat."

Paul chuckled slightly as Elsie denied that photos of him could have the same effect as videos. His mind wandered for a moment to a mental image of photos of him stuck up around the flat, and he could easily picturing Will's reaction to seeing it. "Are you worried he'd get jealous of my charming smile?" He teased.

"I don't want to make things awkward for him." She confessed "He and I haven't done anything since before the baby was here, I feel like a shit girlfriend." 

Paul was slightly surprised by her sudden confession. The fact that he could be the reason they hadn't been intimate recently hadn't really crossed his mind until she'd said that, and a pang of guilt hit him.

"You shouldn't." He said quietly "You know Will doesn't blame you for anything, right?"

"I can't be sure," She shook her head "I mean technically I'm not meant to be doing anything sexual for another like month, but I'm worried he's going to break things off again."

The pang of guilt went deeper as she spoke, and Paul silently cursed himself as he realised that of course she'd be worried about it right now, it was too obvious. He was quiet for a moment as he thought about, not entirely sure how reassuring he could reasonably be with the situation.

"He's an idiot if he breaks it off with you again." He said softly "You think he will?" She asked, panicked.

Paul was slightly taken aback by her panicked reaction and immediately felt the need to reassure her "No! No, I don't think he will. I just meant that if he did, then he's an idiot." He said firmly, hoping that she would realise he wasn't meaning he thought that Will would dump her.

"He's been so busy with work, but I don't know if that's an excuse or if it's actually true." She rambled, Paul felt a twinge of guilt as she spoke about her doubts, worrying that it could somehow possibly be his fault that she was doubting things.

"He does genuinely get busy with work. It's probably nothing to do with you." He said, trying to reassure her it wasn't anything to do with her. He paused for a moment, considering his next words. He didn't entirely want to ask, but he knew he should. "Just... he hasn't said anything to you about him breaking things off, has he?"

"No, but he got busy with work last time and then sprung the breakup on me." She explained her reasoning behind the panic. Paul's heart clenched in sympathy as she spoke. He didn't want to think that Will would ever do anything like that again, that he wouldn't want to keep things going with her, but the thought crossed his mind all the same.

"I know it probably doesn't mean much, but I really don't think he would do that now. It's not the same situation as before, Elsie."

He paused for a moment as he searched his thoughts "If he really wanted to end things again he wouldn't need an excuse, he's capable of being upfront and honest about it." He said, speaking as if in attempt to convince her that Will wouldn't pull the same thing he did last time, but simultaneously trying to convince himself of it too.

"Yeah maybe you're right, I'm just panicking about it." She told herself.

He couldn't help the pang of guilt at the uncertainty in her voice. He felt like it was his fault she was doubting it so much.

"You don't have anything to worry about, honestly." He said softly and quietly, hoping she would at the very least doubt herself a little less

"Thanks for reassuring me." She thanked him softly. It made him recall her face when they had slept together.

A small pang of guilt and embarrassment crossed his mind as his own mind travelled when he remembered that moment. He couldn't help but picture her in that moment, and he had to quickly force the thought away as best as he could

He cleared his throat before speaking again, hoping it didn't seem too obvious that he'd been reminded of that moment

"It's fine, honestly."

"I'll leave you get some sleep." She said softly before hanging up

Paul felt a small wave of disappointment as she suddenly hung up. He found himself secretly not wanting her to hang up and suddenly wishing he would hear her voice again, but there was nothing he could really do about it now.

"Right...yeah, I'll speak to you soon." He said, hanging up and putting his phone back on the bedside table.

He put his phone back down and laid himself back down in the bed. He tried to make himself comfortable and tried to make himself fall asleep, but he suddenly found his mind drifting more than it had before.

He thought of the phone call once again, wishing she hadn't hung up so quickly and wondering what else they could've talked about if neither of them had ended the phone call. He tried to push the thoughts away and just fall asleep, but his mind continued wandering regardless*

A few more minutes passed and he still found himself unable to fall asleep, his mind was now stuck on the memories of their night together. He tried to stop thinking about it repeatedly but his efforts were pointless. Every time he tried to push it from his mind, the image would just come straight back.

He knew that thinking of her in that way wouldn't be helping him fall asleep, but he found it was impossible to stop.