You Stole My Heart

It was that day, the next day. As amusing as that may sound Johnny was anything but laughing. He felt butterflies in his stomach. It was like he was asking out a girl for the first time. He let out a sigh as he headed down the stairs. Peeking into the living room he saw Marco sitting on the couch watching Spongebob. They had already eaten breakfast and now Johnny was just waiting for Jimmy, who had offered to help, show up.

“Honey, I’m home!” Jimmy shouted, running into the house with Rain following at a casual walk. Rain had come over to hangout with Marco since she seemed to like her the most out of the girls. Besides, she refused to let Jimmy leave her at home.

“Jimmy, we went over this yesterday. This isn’t your house and I’m not your honey,” Johnny reminded.

“You always will be to me!” Jimmy yelled dramatically, hugging the younger man to his chest. Johnny tried to squirm his way out of the drummer’s arms, but the grip was too strong for him.

“Ahem!” Both looked towards Rain who stood half in the hall and half in the living room. “Jimmy, didn’t we come here so you two could do something?”

“Oh, right. C’mon Johnny,” Jimmy stated, letting go of the bassist and starting up the stairs. Johnny huffed, running a hand through his hair before obliging to Jimmy’s words. Rain shook her head before walking into the living room fully. Marco, who had been watching the adults a moment ago, was once again contently watching the yellow sponge.

“Hiya Marco,” she greeted, sitting next to Marco on the couch.

“Hey,” Marco said simply, nodding in a sign of acknowledgment. As Marco and Rain continued to watch the cartoon, Rain unconsciously began to braid her hair that was in a high ponytail. Marco suddenly turned to Rain with a determined look. “What are they doing?”

“What?” This question caught Rain off guard and she turned to the young girl, eyes wide. Had no one told her anything? “I mean - didn’t Johnny tell you anything?”

“No,” Marco whined. “All he told me was that you two were coming over and you were going to stay with me so I won’t be bored while him and Jimmy did something that he refused to tell me.”

Rain raised an eyebrow as the girl took a deep breath from saying everything without a pause. “It’s probably not important.”

“You know and I want you to tell me,” Marco demanded. Rain sighed and brought her lip ring into her mouth so she could chew on it.

“I can’t Marco. It’s not my place,” Rain said sternly.

“Then I’ll ask Johnny,” Marco stated, jumping off the couch. Rain quickly grabbed her waist and pulled her back onto the couch. “Hey!”

“Look Marco, you can’t just storm in there - ”

“Watch me.” Marco jumped off again but this time Rain grabbed her wrist.

“What I meant was it wouldn’t be smart to just storm in there.” A light bulb went off over Rain’s head. “Hey, how about some ice cream?”

After searching her face for a moment, Marco huffed. “Fine. But I haven’t forgotten this argument.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Rain commented, standing to her feet. She flipped off the television before tossing the remote onto the coffee table. She held out her hand for Marco who took it a little hesitantly. Rain led them to the door before turning around just to shout, “We’re going to get ice cream!”

“So where are we going?” Marco asked curiously as Rain avoided the vehicle and headed down the sidewalk.

“The pier of course! I know this great ice cream parlor. My uncle owns it,” Rain replied with a grin. “Ready for some absolutely free ice cream?”

“That’s the best!” Marco laughed.

- Time Lapse -

Johnny sighed, leaning back in his computer chair. He had looked at every missing child report in the eastern half of the United States. Him and Jimmy had flipped a coin for west or east half of the country. Johnny got suck with the side with more populated states and he was exhausted.

“Any luck over there Jimmy?” Johnny looked over to where he saw Jimmy had taken the spot behind his desktop computer. Behind the desk Jimmy had taped a picture of the United States on the wall, X’s on the states they’d had already looked at. He marked off New Mexico with a thick, red marker.

“Nope. Only Arizona left,” Jimmy called, settling back into his chair. They had evenly split the states so each man had twenty-five, but yet Jimmy was still taking forever while Johnny was already done. Johnny sighed, putting the laptop to the side of his other desk, placing his feet on the top next to it.

“It’s hopeless,” Johnny sighed. In reality he was happy yet disappointed. Happy because now Marco could stay, but disappointed because that means this girl had no one to care for her before him and everyone else in Huntington. Either her parents just didn’t feel like filing a report, didn’t care enough to do it, or they were dead. Any of the three were bad.

“Well with that attitude it is,” Jimmy joked, eyes scrolling over the words on the screen in front of him. Johnny rolled his eyes before covering them with an arm.

“Shut up Jimmy,” Johnny muttered.

“Hey Johnny. Johnny!” Johnny felt something hit him in the head a few minutes later, making him groan. He forced his eyes open to see a heavy pen resting on his stomach and a throbbing point on his temple. He glared over at Jimmy who’s eyes were trained on the computer monitor.

“What?” Johnny snapped.

“Get over here you cocksucker.” Johnny pushed his chair back and stood to his feet. He crossed the room to lean over and hover next to Jimmy. His eyes scrolled over the words on the screen. Girl missing, ten years old, brown hair, hazel eyes.

“There’s no way,” Johnny whispered.

“That’s what I thought until I saw this,” Jimmy said quietly, scrolling down to show a picture. It was Marco, there was no doubt. Her hair was about two inches shorter, but that was it. “It’s her, dude.”

“What’s her full name?”

“Marco Lovelace,” Jimmy replied.

“What did you just say?” Both men’s heads snapped up to see Marco standing in the doorway. The ice cream cones she had been holding fell to the floor as Marco looked at them with wide eyes. “How did you find out my name?”

“We had to find your parents Marco,” Jimmy explained. Johnny could have slapped him. Marco’s eyes went from Jimmy to Johnny in a heartbeat. Well, a dying heartbeat for Johnny.

“I can’t go back,” Marco shouted, sniffling at the end.

“Marco we - “ Johnny couldn’t finish before Marco ran from the room. Johnny groaned, perching himself on the edge of the desk with his face in his hands. “Great. Now I’m the bad guy.”

“It had to be done Johnny,” Jimmy said gently, patting his friend on the shoulder. Johnny just nodded, not looking up. “Look, me and Rain are gunna go. You should probably clean things up with Marco.”

“Thanks, bro.” Johnny waited until he heard the front door shut before he raised his head. He looked on the screen to see Jimmy had left it up. He bookmarked the report before shutting the screen and flipping off the monitor. Now to talk to Marco.