Sequel: Honest
Status: Completed.

Never Crossed My Mind

In the Confusion and the Aftermath, You Are My Signal Fire.

Almost every piece of clothing Olivia had in Los Angeles was on the bed in ‘her’ room at Johnny’s house. She still stayed in his room every night, but it was just easier to keep her things in that room – and she couldn’t complain about having her own bathroom.

“Damn it!” she yelled, falling back on the pile of clothes.

“What’s wrong, pretty girl?” Johnny called from down the hall. He walked into the room almost completely dressed, except for the Converse sneaker he held in one hand. “Uh, Livvy, I think you’re gorgeous in just a bra and panties but that’s not really a sight I’d like to share with, well, anyone.”

She smiled; leave it to Johnny to make her smile at a time like this. “I don’t know what to wear.”

“You didn’t have a problem last week.”

“Last week I was just your date.”

Johnny rolled his eyes as he struggled to get his other shoe on just leaning on the wall. The Jackass 4 premiere had been the week before. They both had fun, even if Johnny was really waiting the whole night to get Olivia home and out of the pretty red dress she wore. He flaunted her down the red carpet as they entered the theater, attempting to avoid as many questions as they could about the shenanigans with Nick. They were hoping to get as many people to the premiere of Olivia’s behind-the-scenes documentary – the same event she was trying to find something to wear to – and hopefully all questions would be answered then.

“Just my date? You’re in the movie. Everyone loved skate ‘n’ swim. And you got to show off your gnarly scar now that the cast is off.”

“You know what I mean,” Olivia groaned. “This is a big deal. This is like, my debut … thing.”
Johnny finally got his shoe tied and walked over to where Olivia was laying on the bed. He climbed on top of her and kissed her sweetly.

“Livvy, just be you. Wear whatever you want.”

“That’s easy for you. You don’t give a shit what the rest of the world thinks about you.”

“Yeah, and neither should you. You did excellent work directing this and working on it … you just did great overall. Not put on some fucking clothes so we can get going.”

He backed away from her, pausing over her stomach just long enough to blow a huge raspberry on her stomach. Olivia squealed and pushed him away, laughing.

“All right, all right. Get out of here.”

Johnny skittered out of the room, cackling all the way down the stairs. In truth, he was a little nervous about how tonight was going to go, too. Not because of Olivia’s work, but because tonight they were showing the whole world, essentially, how things really happened. They all had some not-so-shining moments on there. It was a risky move, but it would get the truth out.

“Does this make me look like I’m batting for the other team?” Olivia asked, coming into the kitchen.

He looked her over. She was in a Dickhouse baseball tee, jeans that were torn at the knee and over the opposite thigh, and a pair of brown Justin boots.

“Well you know I love your usual tank top and flipper-whatever-you-call-‘ems, but if that outfit doesn’t say I’m country and I’m in love with Johnny Knoxville, well, we’re shit outta luck.”

Olivia giggled as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her sweetly once again. In the month since everything had been resolved, work had more or less consumed their lives. They hadn’t had a chance to look for a house back South yet, but they knew the time would come. Another week of filming stunts, then it was down to editing and promotion for the new movie. Once the media had been informed that Olivia was innocent in the whole ordeal, even that part of their lives died down. They were at Dickhouse from morning until well after dark every day – well, Olivia every day. Johnny was there most of the time, even if he wasn’t working. He just wanted to spend as much time with her as he could.

“Come on, fuckers!” Bam yelled from the doorway. “Everyone’s in the van outside. It’s now or look like snobby assholes showing up on your own.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “A simple ‘we’re here’ would have sufficed. And you could have knocked. What if we were naked on the kitchen counter?”

“Yeah, right,” Bam replied. “That shit only happens to Ehren.”

“Not a bad idea though,” Johnny mumbled as he followed Olivia out of the house.

“God, you two fuck like rabbits,” Bam whined. He waited for the two of them to be out of the house then shut the door behind him.

***

“Whose fucking idea was it to all come together in the van? Like, who thought that would be cute?” Preston complained just before they pulled up to the theater. He was squished behind the very back bench seat, and the poor guy looked miserable.

“Tremaine’s,” Dave answered, immediately.

“Thanks for throwing me under the bus, dick,” Jeff growled from the front seat.

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Calm down, kiddies. Preston, he did it so I didn’t have to show up by myself. We’re almost there anyway.”

“Hey, I would have come with you,” Johnny said, jutting out his lip and pretending to pout.
“Here we are,” the driver announced.

“Finally,” Preston sighed.

Jeff and Preston were the first ones out. The driver came around and opened the side doors of the van then, and it was a riot just trying to get everyone out. Dave tried to get out at the same time as Ehren and Wee-Man, which caused the three of them to tumble onto the walkway. Pontius and Bam were next, stepping over the pile of men just outside the van. Steve-O and Johnny waited for the chaos to clear a little bit before stepping out together and offering Olivia a hand on each side as she stepped out the van. Fan and reporters were already cheering, but when she stepped out, the hoots and hollers really erupted.

Olivia laced her fingers through Johnny’s as she walked along, pausing to pose for pictures as they went.

“Olivia! Miss Moore!” her name was being shouted up and down the walkway in front of her; fortunately, Jeff was leading the way and stopped her when brief interviews were necessary.

“Are you excited about the truth finally coming out?” one reporter asked her.

“You know, I really am,” Olivia admitted. “I’ve known it all along, and once everyone got on board, it was just a matter of time before we showed it to the rest of the world.”

“Do you think they’re going to accept you now that this is coming out?”

That sort of caught her off-guard. “Well, I’d hope they already accepted me, I’ve been around for a few months now, but hopefully now they’ll see me as part of the Dickhouse family.”

“So you’re not leaving the company anytime soon?”

“We’re sure as hell not going to let anyone else have her,” Jeff cut in. “Thanks.”

He moved them down the way; a lot of the questions were the same. Near the middle of the line, one reporter brought up Ryan.

“You never worked with him, but I’m told that you mention him here and there in this film. Can you talk to me about that?”

“Um, yeah, I guess,” Olivia replied. “I’ve dreamed of having this job for years, and ... I’ll never know firsthand the struggles and the sadness that the rest of the crew experienced. I do know, though, that when I used to dream about this job – the actuality of it is much different than I ever imagined. It’s because of Ryan. I know it is. At the same time, I know that he’s happy we’re all together.”

“If anybody would have been behind Livvy from the beginning, it would have been Ryan,” Bam added. “I can tell you that much for sure.”

“And your relationship with Johnny, what’s next there?”

Johnny smiled down at her and she shrugged for him to answer. “It certainly hasn’t been without obstacles, but we know we want to be together. She’s stuck with me, however unfortunate that may be for her.”

“Oh, shut up,” Olivia laughed. “Honestly, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I tend to be a workaholic, and all of these boys keep me grounded – I’m really myself when I’m around them. Johnny just happened to get under my skin a little more.”

“Her skin and her skirt,” Ehren joked.

Olivia gave him a playful punch in the shoulder, and Jeff moved them on. Finally they made it inside the doors and into some seats. Olivia took a deep breath as the lights dimmed. Johnny squeezed her hand on one side, and Bam squeezed her other hand.

This was it.

***

Julie let out a deep breath as she pushed open the door of her apartment. She didn’t bother putting things in their proper place; her purse and keys would be fine at one end of the couch and her shoes would be found easily by the front door the next time she needed them. She took her grocery bag to the kitchen, retrieved a particular box, and headed for the bathroom.
She really didn’t want to be doing this. In fact, Julie had never prayed for the flu or cancer until now. The symptoms she had developed over the last few weeks had concerned her, but when her monthly cycle failed to begin, she knew she couldn’t just deal with them anymore.

After doing what she needed to do, she left the pregnancy test on the counter. She padded down the hall to her bedroom to change into her pajamas – scrubs were comfortable enough, but she’d just worked twelve hours in them and really didn’t want to sleep in those same clothes. After she changed, she dug her cell phone out of her purse. There were a couple of missed calls from Olivia, but work had been too busy for Julie to answer or return them until now. Olivia’s big debut had been the night before so Julie knew her cousin was probably sleeping. It would be a while before Olivia was able to come home, although Julie was definitely happy to hear when Olivia accepted Johnny’s offer to find a shared house closer to home for both of them.

Keeping her phone in hand, Julie took a deep breath and returned to the bathroom. She waited until she couldn’t wait anymore and looked down at the digital readout on the plastic stick.

How was it that an object so small could complicate her entire life?

***

The sun wasn’t even up in Los Angeles yet when Olivia reached for her phone. She was snuggled deep under the covers and against Johnny in an attempt to warm herself in the freezing house. She wasn’t sure how it had gotten so cold but whoever had changed the thermostat was going to get one serious ass kicking later on.

“’Livia Moore, what the hell do you want?” she grumbled. Her head was still spinning for the Jack Daniels swimming around in her veins and the last thing she wanted was to be awake, let alone on the phone.

“Liv, it’s me,” a tearful voice on the other end informed her.

That sobered her up and made her more alert. “Jules? What’s wrong?”

“I need you to come home, please. I know that it’s crazy last minute and that you’re super busy, but I need you to come home. I’ll do whatever you want me to do just please –”

“Slow down,” Olivia soothed. “I really want to know what’s going on but I still have a little bit of a whiskey buzz. Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, no one is hurt. I just … I need you here, Liv. I don’t have anyone else.”

“All right, it’s fine. Let me see how soon I can get on a plane and I’ll call you back, okay?”

“Thank you,” Julie cried.

“It’s fine. I’ll call you back.” She disconnected the call and took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be a fun day.

***

Johnny woke to the sound of the shower starting in his bathroom. He groaned at the pounding in his head and rolled over. The green numbers on the alarm clock told him it was much too early for anyone to be in the shower.

Frowning, he reached for Olivia to see if she knew what was going on; he reached the end of the bed and there was no Olivia to be found. His frown deepened and he headed for the shower.

“Livvy?”

“Yeah,” she called back.

He sighed and stepped into the shower with her. The warm water felt good against his skin, but her skin against his felt better. He kissed her slowly and deeply. She accepted the kiss for a few seconds before pulling away.

“I would love to do this with you right now, shug, but I’ve got a plane to catch.”

“A plane?” Johnny questioned. “Are you even sober?”

“Sober enough. Julie called me bawling and begging me to come home.”

“What’s wrong?”

“She wouldn’t tell me. I already roused Jeff. He was super crabby but he said as long as I’m back by Friday, I can go.”

“Are you going to let me go with you?”

“No, probably not. I need to make sure I’m there for Julie, and it’ll just be for a couple of days.”

He sighed. “All right. Finish getting ready, and I’ll take you to the airport.”

Olivia shook her head. “You’re tired. Just rest. I can call a cab.”

“Livvy,” Johnny said, picking up the shampoo bottle and pouring some into his hand before turning her around and lathering it through her locks. “Let me take you to the airport.”

“You keep washing my hair like that, I’m going to fall asleep and be late for my plane.”

Johnny smiled and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “Just let me take you to the airport.”

Olivia gave in, but only if he would wait before getting out of the shower and do the conditioner for her, too. Johnny agreed happily.

A couple of hours later at LAX, they shared a slightly sad see-you-soon. It was only going to be for a couple of days, but it was hard to be apart when things had been going so well.

“Next time you better take me with you,” Johnny told her.

“I promise,” she replied, kissing his cheek. “I love you, Knoxville.”

He smiled. “Love you too, Livvy. Be safe.”

She turned around and smiled at him, waving as she walked. Johnny took a deep breath as he watched her go. Next time they went, he’d have to have that talk with her father. Not in the interest of rushing anything, but there was no sense in delaying what he knew was inevitable.

*****
"The perfect words never crossed my mind, 'cause there was nothing in there but you." – Snow Patrol, ‘Signal Fire’
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Thank you so much for all the reads, subscribers, and comments! It means a lot -- I never thought my fluffy little Jackass story would get the reaction it did, but I appreciate it more than I can say!

Be on the lookout for the sequel Honest in the next couple of days!