CHAPTER 13 collins THEN
collins
THEN
Since my confession to Johnnie earlier, putting my fast-progressing feelings for her out there, there’s been a shift between us. Johnnie has, I guess you could say, let her guard down. She’s been letting loose, and we’ve been having fun. Downing beers, getting in on a game of beer pong, dancing.
Crandall left with some chick, but Campbell’s still here, watching us from his seat in the living room.
He opted to stay sober so he could drive us home.
Quite the responsible one, my brother. By the look he’s giving me, I know he’s ready to get out of here.
If only I can convince Johnnie it’s time to leave.
She’s currently having the time of her life dancing with a few girls I don’t know.
Just as I’m about to head toward her to tell her it’s time to wrap things up and head home, a tall figure makes his way to her before I can.
He slips a hand around her back and pulls her in close.
Johnnie is so drunk she sort of just falls toward him, and I see his hand move from her back, down to her ass.
Fuck this shit.
I fly toward her and don’t even hesitate to grab this dude’s hand and shove his shoulder away from her.
Just when I’m about to get in his face, I can see clearly who this douchebag is.
Fucking Lee, Campbell and Crandall’s friend from school.
The last time I saw him was at our place the night of Laken Fest. I overheard him talking to someone on the phone outside when I went out to take a piss because the bathroom was occupied.
He didn’t know I was there and he was talking about Johnnie.
Saying how hot she was and how he had plans to get her into bed.
I was so pissed off, I grabbed his phone and threw it, telling him to get the hell out of there and never come back.
He took a swing at me, and just then Campbell came out and asked what was going on.
I told him everything I had overheard him saying about Johnnie on the phone, and even though Campbell didn’t really see why I was getting so upset over it, he’s always had my back and agreed with my decision, telling Lee to get lost.
Now, here I am, face to face with this asshole, once again trying to stake a claim on Johnnie.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, dude. I warned you once, stay the fuck away from her.”
Lee just gives me a dirty look and smiles at Johnnie.
“I didn’t hear your girl complaining, maybe you should just get lost.” His disgusting dark hair sticks to the sweat on his forehead and I see fucking red.
Before I have time to think, Campbell is at my back.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but we’re fucking leaving,” he snarls and jerks my arm.
“Did you hear yourself?” I spit out in Lee’s direction. “My girl. That’s right, if I ever catch you near her again, you’re gonna wish you never knew her name.”
As if she knows exactly what to do to calm me down, Johnnie slides in front of me and drapes her arms around my shoulders and rests her head on my shoulder.
I reach under her ass and lift her up, walking to the front door and glaring at Lee as I make my way to the front door with her stuck to me like a koala.
I swear I hear Lee mumble something about revenge, but I try concentrating on the girl in my arms, leaving this motherfucker in the past—where he belongs.
When we get to the Trailblazer I set Johnnie down, keeping one arm around her to make sure she doesn’t fall over. I open the door and she practically falls in, laughing as she does. I put her legs in and gently shut the door, and round the back to get in on the other side.
“You’re going to sit in the back?” Campbell asks. “Do I look like a chauffeur?”
“Unless you want her puking in your car, I think I better stay beside her.”
“Do not let that happen, or I’ll kill you. There’s some plastic bags in the back, grab them and have them on hand just in case.” Campbell climbs in the driver’s seat.
We make it about halfway back to Laken when we’re at a stop sign in the middle of nowhere, and Johnnie says she has to pee.
Campbell puts it in park and instructs me to help her out before anyone comes down the road, even though he knows as well as I do that no one will be out here this time of night.
Just as I’m about to reach over and open the door to help her out, Johnnie pulls the lever, door opening and her spilling out onto the road.
“Oh, good lord.” Campbell slaps a palm to his forehead and sighs.
“Are you okay?” I get out and stand over her, but she’s not saying anything and her hair is covering her face.
I bend down to clear the strands away and realize she’s laughing, one of those laughs that takes all the breath away from you, and all she’s doing is lying there with her mouth open, eyes shut, and making some sort of cackling noise from the back of her throat. Then, she sits up and wheezes.
I can’t help but start laughing, too.
“You’re a mess. Go to the back of the car and piss so we can get you home and into bed.”
She stands up, still laughing, and smacks me lightly on the cheek. “You’re a good guy, Collins. Pretty fucking cute too.” Then, she wobbles to the rear bumper, where I hear her zipper go down and she leans down just before I hear a splash on the pavement.
On the way home, I think she falls asleep because the laughing momentarily stops and her breathing becomes heavier.
Campbell parks when we arrive, wishes me luck on getting her back into her trailer, and retreats inside.
I open the car door and scoop her up, carrying her over to her window.
When she becomes coherent again, the laughing starts back up.
She laughs at the way I open her window, she laughs at the way she falls inside as I try helping her up and through as gracefully as possible.
I’m just praying Nan doesn’t wake up as Johnnie takes her finger and puts it in my mouth, pressing against my front teeth.
“You see this tiny little gap between your front teeth, Collins? It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I think that’s what I like most about you. The gap between your teeth.” Then she’s in hysterics again. I can’t help but smile as I bring my own finger to her mouth, in an attempt to shush her.
“You have to be quiet, or you’re going to wake Nan up.”
She gives me a toothy grin and her eyes go wide. “Okay, I’ll be quiet,” she says in an exaggerated whisper.
“Get in bed, beautiful. You need to get some sleep.”
She starts peeling her shirt up and over her head, and I scratch my forehead and beg God to give me strength.
She walks over to her dresser drawer, digging around and mumbling something.
“Everything okay?”
“I can’t find my favorite T-shirt. Nan probably put it in the washer. I keep telling her to leave it alone, I only like sleeping in that one.”
I take a step toward her, peeling my black Metallica shirt off.
“Will my favorite shirt do?”
She turns around, and I don’t give her time to answer before I’m pulling it over her head.
“Even better,” she says.
Then she reaches down and unzips her pants, kicking off her holey jeans and flinging them across the room.
There she stands in my shirt with messy hair, smelling of stale beer and sweat, mixed with her own scent of something sweet, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more enamored by anything in my life.
“Stay with me, Collins?”
This girl is going to be the death of me.
“I can’t stay here, Johnnie…your Nan finds me here and I’ll be castrated by morning.”
“She sleeps until at least eight. Just until I fall asleep, please?”
Well, twist my fucking arm, why don’t you? I walk over to her bed and pull the covers back, gesturing for her to climb in.
She walks seductively toward me with that cute grin on her face as she climbs on the mattress. “I knew you’d see things my way.”
I can’t help but smack her ass before she lands. “You’re trouble, you know?”
Silence falls over the room, the only sound coming from the hum of her dolphin lamp that spins around making them look like they’re swimming. The glow of the lamp lights up her shelves, and apparently dolphins are her thing. They’re everywhere.
Johnnie’s back is plastered to my front, our legs tangled. Her head is resting on my arm. Just when I think she’s sound asleep, she turns and faces me.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier.”
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” I say as I brush hair from her forehead and look into her eyes that are a lot more visible now that my eyes have adjusted to the dark.
“What you said about sex and giving a part of your soul to someone.”
“Oh, that. Yes, what exactly were you thinking about it?”
With heavy eyes she leans in, kissing my chest, and I can feel her breath at the base of my neck as she says the words that I’m fairly certain will haunt me for the rest of my life.
“I think that my soul already knows yours, yours knows mine. Souls don’t forget.”