We Come Out At Night 5

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Christ
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Chelsea was taking forever to get ready and I had been waiting so long to find out what the hell was going on that the suspense was killing me. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. “Chelsea, how much longer?” I called out from the living room where I was waiting.

“I’m almost ready.” She yelled back and I rubbed my hands together in anticipation. Almost ready turned out to be another twenty minutes. When Chelsea did finally come out into the living room I swear I lost my breath.

“Wow. You look incredible.” She did a little girly twirl for me to show off her red party dress. She had legs for days. “Ok, I can’t wait anymore.” I reached for her hand and she walked with me down to the elevator. Heaven only knows what was waiting at The Rev’s place. She squeezed my hand as we reached his door and I pushed it open and walked inside.

Everyone was there. All my friends stood before me with smiles on their faces apparently waiting for me to arrive. I would assume the party was for me judging by the resounding “Surprise” that everyone shouted at me.

“Uh, it’s not my birthday.” Why else would they be having a party for me?

It was Gates who walked up and handed me a beer. “Nope, not your birthday.” He shook his head and The Rev stepped up beside him.

“Just a party to show you how much we care.”

“Yeah.” Shadows agreed. “There’s been a lot going on lately and through it all we seemed to have missed the fact that you were pretty much the glue that was holding us all together.”

Vengeance put his arm around my shoulder and added his two cents. “So, we just wanted to you to know that we’re grateful.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I really didn’t think anything I did was that big of a deal. “Especially me.” Gates said. “If it wasn’t for you, Kristina would have left and now we’re getting married.”

“Well you didn’t have to thank me. It was nothing really.”

Shadows laughed. “It wasn’t nothing when you punched me in the face, that took balls and you’ve definitely got em.” Yeah, and it’s a good thing I can run fast too.

Something still didn’t make any sense to me as I looked around the room. “What’s the matter honey?” Chelsea asked.

“I don’t see the pink and purple decorations.”

“Oh!” She giggled. “That was just to throw you off.”

I nodded and looked down at my feet. “So, why did you and London use a measuring tape on me?”

She giggled again. “Just because it was fun.”

“And the clown wig and red nose?”

“Oh that was just to make you wonder what was going on.” She laughed. “It worked too!” She was smiling at me, but I wasn’t smiling back.

“Well, I really don’t know what to say.” I handed Gates the beer back and he looked at me with a confused gaze. “If you’ll all excuse me for a second.” I walked away and went into The Rev’s kitchen leaving them all there to wonder.

When I got inside the kitchen I braced my hands against the counter and shook my head.

“Johnny?” I heard Chelsea’s voice from behind me.

“How could you?” I asked her as a looked over my shoulder.

“What do you mean?” She put her hand on my back and I shrugged it off and walked away from her.

“I thought you loved me.”

“I do.” She said.

“Then why would you make a joke out of me?”

She walked closer to me and tried to reach for my hand, but I pulled away. “Johnny, I didn’t – “

“You didn’t what Chelsea? You didn’t humiliate me for all my friends to see?”

“No. Johnny, I wasn’t trying to..” Again I didn’t let her finish her sentence.

“Well you did. Congratulations.” She put her hand over her mouth and started to cry while I just stood there shaking my head.

“I think I better go.” She said through tears.

“Yeah.” I nodded and she walked out of the kitchen. Not only did she walk out of the kitchen, she left the party. When I finally did walk out of the kitchen myself, I was met with a few disappointed looks.

“That was not cool.” Shadows said as he poked me in the chest.

“Not cool at all.” Gates agreed.

“What the fuck?” Vengeance said to me and I had just about had enough humiliation for one night.

“How would you all feel if your girlfriend set your kitchen on fire and then made you try on a clown wig and red nose along with making you go harass your friends to find out what the hell is going on only to find out it was a stupid game?”

“You’re an idiot.” The Rev was quick to point out. “We told you to just go with it. You just couldn’t listen. The party was Chelsea’s idea, but everything she did, we told her to do.

“What?” So they were all in on it?

“Yeah the kitchen, my doing.” Gates said.

“The measuring tape was me.” The Rev added holding up one finger.

“Clown wig and nose.” Zacky smiled after owning up to his part.

“Yeah and I picked out the pink and purple decorations. And we all planted the seeds that drove you to wonder what was going on.” Shadows poked me in the chest again after having his say. “You could fuck up a wet dream.” He added.

I just treated Chelsea like she was the worst person in the whole world and she was only doing what they told her to do. She threw me a party just because she appreciates me and I pushed her out the door. “Great. I’m an asshole.” I said out loud and not surprisingly they all nodded.

“Yeah, you just spewed a whole bunch of shit too.” The Rev, always quick with a joke. I rolled my eyes and walked past the four of them and out the door. I sighed when I got on the elevator hoping Chelsea wasn’t too upset, but I knew I was kidding myself.

When I walked into my apartment, Chelsea was sitting on the couch with her elbows on her knees and her face was hidden in her hands. I walked over to her and knelt down in front of her. “Chelsea?” I said her name, but she just shook her head and didn’t look at me. I took her hands away from her face and held them in mine. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.” She looked so sad and the tears just kept on falling from her eyes. “I didn’t mean the things I said.”

Chelsea wiped her eyes with her hands and looked at me. “How could you think that I would do something to upset you on purpose, Johnny?”

I got up off my knees and sat down beside her putting my arm around her. “I know you wouldn’t and I’m sorry I made you feel that way. I was stupid and ignorant and I’m sorry.” I was so damn use to being the butt of everyone's jokes, I couldn't handle it when I thought she was behind another one.

She turned her head to the side and looked at me. “You forgot mean and ungrateful.”

“Yes, I was mean and ungrateful too.” I pressed my lips to her temples and squeezed her lightly. “I love you. Will you come back to the party?”

When she nodded I took her hand and stood up with her and walked her to the bathroom so she could wash her face and afterwards we went back up to the party. “Ok, lets try this again.” I pushed the doorknob open and as if I was never there before, everyone shouted “Surprise” again.

I faked a shocked expression and held my hand up to my chest. “A party for me?”

Chelsea nudged me with her elbow and I laughed. “Yeah, just because you’re an asshole we decided to throw you a party.” The Rev yelled out and everyone started to laugh. Once again, Gates brought me over a beer and I accepted.

“Don’t fuck it up.” He said as he leaned forward for only me to hear. Kristina came to my rescue and dragged Brian away.

The party went on and there wasn’t any more drama to be had. Shadows and Izzy were making out on the couch as if there were no one else in the room. Mari and London sat with Vengeance and The Rev talking about the house that Marco gave Mari and how she and Vengeance planned to use it as a private get away.

Kristina and Gates were sitting by the fireplace holding hands. I was so proud of Kristina. She came such a long way since she’s been here.

“What’s this?” I asked as Chelsea set a small box in my lap.

“It’s a present. You can’t have a party without a present!”

“You didn’t have to do that.” I smiled and took the lid off the box. “A medal?” I laughed and took it out of the box. It was a toy medal and in the center of the fake gold medallion it said “My Hero.”

I leaned over and kissed Chelsea on her lips. “I think you should wear it. You’re my hero.” I smiled at her and she put her arm around my shoulder. “Are we being dorks?” I asked.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “We’re about as dorky as they come right now.” Chelsea put her head on my shoulder and I laughed.

“Lets play naked twister!” The Rev yelled out and I looked at Chelsea and she just laughed at me. I’m not playing naked anything unless I’m alone with Chelsea.