If I Die Young

When we got home, all I wanted to do was slather aloe over my sun burn. The whole way home, Johnny was telling m about some of the ‘untold stories’ of the road. I swear, these guys could get so crazy!

“Well, I’m going to go shower and put some aloe on this burn before it gets any more worse,” I said once we got home. Johnny smiled and nodded, while Brian didn’t say anything. Odd…

After I showered, I threw on a pair of shorts. I kept the towel wrapped around the upper part of my body as I walked downstairs with alone in hand.

“Johnny,” I said, smiling innocently and giving him the puppy eyes.

He laughed, shaking his head. “Come here, girly.” He pat his lap and I smiled. I walked over and sat between his legs on the couch so he could reach my shoulders.

“I can do it for you, Soph,” Brian said, coming into the living room.

“It’s okay, man. I’ve got it,” Johnny said, reassuring him.

By the look on Brian’s face, I don’t think he liked it very much. But it made no sense to why he would be against it. It was Johnny for cryin’ out loud!

When Johnny started to smooth the aloe over my shoulders and back, little goose bumps popped up. “Is it cold?” He asked, laughing.

“Just a bit,” I said sarcastically.

“Well maybe if you would have put on sunscreen, you wouldn’t need to be putting on the aloe,” Matt teased.

I tried coming up with a come back, but ended up failing. “Oh, shut up.”

The guys laughed. “Someone’s lost her touch,” Zacky laughed.

“Just you wait,” I said, shaking my finger at Matt.

“Wait for what? For you to fail again?”

I glared at him before standing up. “Thank you, Johnny.”

“No problem, Soph.”

“Oh, come on, Soph! You know I’m just messing with you!” Matt called after me. “Soph!”

I continued to ignore him and went up to my room. I put on a tank top, tucking the straps into the tank so they wouldn’t rub against my shoulders. After grabbing a blanket, I went back downstairs.

I was ambushed on my way into the living room by Matt. He had me wrapped in a hug, showing no sign of letting go. “Matt….”

“Yes…”

“Can I help you?” I asked in a bored tone.

“I looove you,” he said, smiling goofily. I started laughing hysterically.

“You worry me, Sanders,” I said, untangling myself to go sit by Johnny and Zacky.

“So what’re we doing tomorrow?” I asked, trying to get comfortable.

They were all kind of quiet when Matt finally said something. “Well, Val kinda wanted to do wedding stuff tomorrow…” Damn, sometimes I forget their engaged. So weird…

“I have VU stuff to do tomorrow. Sorry, toots,” Zacky said, giving me a sad look. The nickname he always used for me made me smile a little.

“Bri and I were going to head down to Santa Monica to take care of something,” Jimmy said.

“Damn… You’re killin’ me guys,” I said, messing around with them.

“It’s okay, Soph. We can hang out tomorrow,” Johnny said, patting my knee.

“Yay! Someone hasn’t given up on me!”

“Hey! We haven’t given up on you. We just have lives,” Zacky said, shrugging.

“Ouch, that hurt right here,” I said, pointing to my heard, and pouted. “I can’t help that I’m not in school right now and have nothing to do.”

“That’s why you have me! To wreck havoc with,” Johnny cackled.

“I don’t know if we should leave these two alone…” Matt said, giving the two of us a skeptical look.

“Oh, whatever, we’ll be fine,” I said, waving him off. “So, what do you and Jimmy have to go to Santa Monica for?” I asked Brian.

“Just going to check something out,” he shrugged.

Okay… He’s acting a bit off… “Alrighty then.”

“So, what do you want to do tomorrow, Shorty?” Johnny asked.

“You’re one to talk!” I scoffed.