In June 1989 Paul's friend Trevor Short (Phil McDermott) comes to Walford in search of him. He and Trevor had shared a room together briefly at a youth hostel. Trevor is a dim-witted, needy individual who idolises Paul. Paul is not exactly thrilled to see Trevor initially, but soon comes round to the idea of having him around. When Paul decides to take on some freelance work, he employs Trevor as a builder's aid, although he is more of a liability than a labourer and makes many disastrous mistakes. Paul finds a fair bit of work around Walford, his first big job being the conversion of Julie Cooper's (Louise Plowright) salon. Julie takes a shine to Paul and while Diane is waiting for Paul to take her on a romantic date, Julie seduces him and they have sex. Paul continues to mess Diane around, standing her up on several occasions to be with Julie. Diane is devastated by his sudden rejection, but she places the blame entirely on Julie. Meanwhile, Paul soon begins to feel that Julie is merely using him in order to get a cheap deal for his labour and he begins to take against her flirtatious behaviour towards other men. He dumps her and refuses to finish the salon conversion. Julie, who only saw their fling as a bit of fun, is not particularly bothered about the end of their affair, but refuses to pay him for his prior work unless he finishes the salon, so Paul is forced to continue. Immediately after finishing with Julie, Paul returns to Diane and she willingly takes him back. She will not forgive Julie however, and plays various vengeful tricks on her as payback.