Status: Complete
Turning A Page
-12-
"Hey guys! Did you enjoy your day by yourselves?" Eve greeted as she let herself into our house, followed by her boyfriend Jimmy.
Johnny and I had managed to bumble our way through a tense, largely quiet evening and were now being invaded by 'our' friends who wanted to know all the details since we last saw each other. I'm assuming that was somewhere in the vicinity of 32 hours.
So far Matt and Val had arrived, being the first visitors, and succeeding in waking us up with their banging on the bedroom door. Despite our awkwardness we'd still fallen asleep together in Johnny's bed while watching yet another movie. Johnny's awakening hadn't been as pleasant as mine, having had Matt launch himself onto the bed, landing right on top of the much smaller bassist. Val had kindly warned me of the impending action by her boyfriend and I had rolled out of the bed just in time to not be flattened. I still ended up sprawled out on the floor however, not having the best coordination first thing.
After much 'aww-ing' and 'ahh-ing' about how cute we looked sleeping with our arms around each other, they finally left the room and allowed us some time and space to get showered and dressed. I returned to my room to do so, meeting Johnny in the hallway as we exited our rooms in unison, and walked down the stairs together, being met by our newest guests as we reached the entrance.
Eve was the most energetic of the girls and we had quickly become friends. She was quite random and had a wicked sense of humour; it was easy to tell that she fit well with Jimmy. They were a cute couple, not overly clingy but you could see the love that flowed between them easily.
"Yea, it was fun, wasn't it JC?" I answered, poking Johnny in the ribs as I mentioned his name. He had begun talking to Jimmy about some band thing, so glared at me in slight pain. "We had fun right?" I prompted.
"Oh yea, it was cool. Dude, she made me watch All Excess!" he exclaimed, turning back to Jimmy as we walked through the house and out to the back yard, finding Brian and Michelle had joined the party.
"If you were any kind of real friend I would have already known about your band and how amazing you all are. I wouldn't need to watch a DVD to find out what was going on in your life while I was missing from it." I had meant for that to be a joking comment, but it came out a lot harsher than I had intended it to. It was only then that I realised I had been holding back a fair amount of resentment towards the small angry man in front of me.
"Like you can talk!" he exploded. "How long had you been with Steve before you told me? If I remember correctly it was over a year! You only told me because you were scared you might be pregnant! You wanna know the real reason I didn't tell you about the band?" Before I could even think about forming an answer in the affirmative he was yelling again, "I didn't tell you because I didn't want things to change between us. I didn't want you to think I'd forget about you if I became famous. I wanted there to be a real reason for you to come back, not because I was 'Johnny Christ - Rock Star' but because you wanted to be with your best friend."
Johnny's tone had softened considerably since the start of his rant, and though his head was hung I could tell there were tears threatening to fall down his pale cheeks. I was shocked, pure and simple. Looking around the assembled group of people I saw that I wasn't the only one. Everyone had varying looks of shock, concern and amazement while they pretended they hadn't really been listening to our bickering.
"It's nice to know what you really think of me JC," I forced out, quickly turning and rushing back to my room. I could hear Val and Eve calling to me as I dashed through the doorway into the house, bumping into a body that was trying to come through from the other direction. "Sorry," was mumbled with a wavering voice, trying not to let the quickly forming tears cascade in a river of doubt and loathing. At last I reached my safe haven, slamming the door closed and flopping face down on the soft mattress to let my emotions run free. Sobs wracked my body as I screamed into my tear-soaked pillow, welcoming the release of tension but at the same time hating myself for being so vulnerable and weak.
Johnny and I had managed to bumble our way through a tense, largely quiet evening and were now being invaded by 'our' friends who wanted to know all the details since we last saw each other. I'm assuming that was somewhere in the vicinity of 32 hours.
So far Matt and Val had arrived, being the first visitors, and succeeding in waking us up with their banging on the bedroom door. Despite our awkwardness we'd still fallen asleep together in Johnny's bed while watching yet another movie. Johnny's awakening hadn't been as pleasant as mine, having had Matt launch himself onto the bed, landing right on top of the much smaller bassist. Val had kindly warned me of the impending action by her boyfriend and I had rolled out of the bed just in time to not be flattened. I still ended up sprawled out on the floor however, not having the best coordination first thing.
After much 'aww-ing' and 'ahh-ing' about how cute we looked sleeping with our arms around each other, they finally left the room and allowed us some time and space to get showered and dressed. I returned to my room to do so, meeting Johnny in the hallway as we exited our rooms in unison, and walked down the stairs together, being met by our newest guests as we reached the entrance.
Eve was the most energetic of the girls and we had quickly become friends. She was quite random and had a wicked sense of humour; it was easy to tell that she fit well with Jimmy. They were a cute couple, not overly clingy but you could see the love that flowed between them easily.
"Yea, it was fun, wasn't it JC?" I answered, poking Johnny in the ribs as I mentioned his name. He had begun talking to Jimmy about some band thing, so glared at me in slight pain. "We had fun right?" I prompted.
"Oh yea, it was cool. Dude, she made me watch All Excess!" he exclaimed, turning back to Jimmy as we walked through the house and out to the back yard, finding Brian and Michelle had joined the party.
"If you were any kind of real friend I would have already known about your band and how amazing you all are. I wouldn't need to watch a DVD to find out what was going on in your life while I was missing from it." I had meant for that to be a joking comment, but it came out a lot harsher than I had intended it to. It was only then that I realised I had been holding back a fair amount of resentment towards the small angry man in front of me.
"Like you can talk!" he exploded. "How long had you been with Steve before you told me? If I remember correctly it was over a year! You only told me because you were scared you might be pregnant! You wanna know the real reason I didn't tell you about the band?" Before I could even think about forming an answer in the affirmative he was yelling again, "I didn't tell you because I didn't want things to change between us. I didn't want you to think I'd forget about you if I became famous. I wanted there to be a real reason for you to come back, not because I was 'Johnny Christ - Rock Star' but because you wanted to be with your best friend."
Johnny's tone had softened considerably since the start of his rant, and though his head was hung I could tell there were tears threatening to fall down his pale cheeks. I was shocked, pure and simple. Looking around the assembled group of people I saw that I wasn't the only one. Everyone had varying looks of shock, concern and amazement while they pretended they hadn't really been listening to our bickering.
"It's nice to know what you really think of me JC," I forced out, quickly turning and rushing back to my room. I could hear Val and Eve calling to me as I dashed through the doorway into the house, bumping into a body that was trying to come through from the other direction. "Sorry," was mumbled with a wavering voice, trying not to let the quickly forming tears cascade in a river of doubt and loathing. At last I reached my safe haven, slamming the door closed and flopping face down on the soft mattress to let my emotions run free. Sobs wracked my body as I screamed into my tear-soaked pillow, welcoming the release of tension but at the same time hating myself for being so vulnerable and weak.