Good Love

“So where are we going?” Annie asked that morning, looking out the window of John’s truck. The jerky movements of the car teased her stomach, still upset from last night’s drinking fiasco at 8123.

“Eric’s. I thought we could hang out by the pool and chill,” he answered, his brown hair being pushed back from the rushing air coming in through the window.

“Can we stop at home and get Macy?”

“Sure thing, blondie,” he replied, taking the short drive towards their apartment, with Annie praying that Jared was still at Tessa’s. She had no desire to speak to him. Not now, anyways. John could tell Annie was still mad at her brother -but damn, he kinda was too. How could he talk to his sister like that?

Soon enough, they were parked -with no sign of Jared’s car in the lot, thankfully- and taking the elevator up to their apartment. John unlocked the door, and Annie walked straight to her room, hopping onto the bed and waking her best friend up.

“What the hell? Knock it off,” Macy groaned, pulling a pillow over her head.

“Get up, Mace. We’re going swimming at Halvo’s. You can sleep there, I just want you to come with me.”

“Fine,” she said, grumbling curses under her breath as she dug in her suitcase for her swimsuit. Annie did the same, closing the bathroom door behind her as she changed.

Ten minutes later, the three of them were back in John’s truck, driving towards Halvo’s house.

“So I woke up around midnight last night,” Macy started. “And no one was home. Where’d you two go?”

“We went to this old abandoned parking lot that the guys always hang out at,” Annie answered from the front seat.

“And what were you two doing at this abandoned parking lot?” Macy asked suspiciously, and John felt his cheeks blush at her words.

“I got fucked up,” Annie replied, a bright smile on her face despite the lingering hangover.

“Wait a minute. JohnO, please tell me you weren’t the one to instigate this, or I may kick your ass for fucking up my girl...”

“Oh, chill out, Mace. I was the one who wanted to get drunk, not John. He stayed sober and drove me home.”

“Well then,” the girl said, giving John a funny look. “Guess you’re off the hook this time, buddy.”

“Don’t worry, Macy, I’m sure you could kick my ass anyways,” John teased as he parked in Eric’s driveway. The three of them hopped out of the truck and headed for the backyard, not even bothering to knock or tell Eric they were here.

The girls situated themselves on lawn chairs while John stood around, peeking inside the window to see if Halvo was up. Annie and Macy obviously weren’t going to swim yet, and he didn’t want to swim alone. What fun was that?

Sighing, John plopped down onto the chair next to Annie and pulled his sunglasses over his eyes. Maybe some vitamin D would do him some good, too.

The two girls chatted, catching each other up on things that had happened while they were apart, with John occasionally adding to the conversation. He mainly sat and just felt Annie’s presence next to him; he could feel her. Like there was an electric current running between the two of them. He wanted so badly to reach over and grab her hand, or even pull her over to sit on his lap like she’d done a couple of days ago, when the air conditioning had been broken.

Annie was in the middle of telling the story of how she and John had pranked Austin on tour by putting clothespins all over him, when the back door of Halvo’s house opened and he stepped out.

He paused, looking at them and tilting his head. “Did I invite you guys over today? I can’t remember..”

“Yeah, you did, actually,” Annie answered, smirking.

“Oh, man. Sorry, guys. I’ll go put my swim trunks on,” he replied, disappearing back into the house.

As soon as he was gone, Annie snickered. “The kid’ll fall for anything, I swear.”

Ten minutes later, he was back, shirtless and holding a bag of pretzels. “This was the only food I could find,” Eric said, dropping it onto the outdoor table. “But I called the guys, and they said they’re bringing food over.”

“Wait. You didn’t call my brother, right?” Annie asked quickly.

“Uh, yeah, I did. Why?”

“Dammit it Halvo! I’m pissed at him!” she cried, shooting up from her chair.

“Why?”

“Because he’s being a douchebag!”

“Looks like your little white lie backfired, baby,” Macy snickered, earning a glare.

“Well, sorry, Ann. But he’s coming over,” Eric said.

“You know you would have had to face him anyways. He’s your brother and you live with him,” Macy reasoned.

“But I don’t like him. I don’t wanna hang out with him. John, can we go home?” Annie asked, pouting and giving him the sweetest puppy-dog face she could manage.

He chuckled, grabbing her hands and pulling her to sit down. He sneakily aimed so that she ended up on his chair, her hip against his thigh. “Macy’s right, blondie. But you don’t have to hang out with him, you can hang out with me. I promise I won’t let him be mean to you,” he teased.

“Fine, whatever. But you guys better take my side if there’s a confrontation,” she mumbled lazily, leaning back onto the chair and closing her eyes. She could already feel the lethargy in her bones, tempting her to relax into him. The morning sun was bright on her face, bringing out the freckles below her eyes and forming a permanent blush on her cheeks.

“Don’t I always?” he laughed, letting his arm drape over her bare shoulders. She shivered when his fingertips danced lightly on her skin, the ghost of a touch. No matter what he said, John would always be ghostly to her.

Good thing she’d always been mesmerized by the supernatural.

***

Annie blinked several times, her eyes adjusting to the dim room. She was in Eric’s living room; all the lights were off, the sunlight coming in from the windows serving as the only illumination. There was a blanket draped over her that smelled just like Eric.

She stretched and got off the couch, wondering how she got there. She felt good and rested, like she’d slept off the hangover. She padded into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water, noticing all of her friends sitting and laughing by the pool through the kitchen window.

Annie walked through the house, not making a sound, and stepped out the back door. A couple of heads turned at the sound, seeing her and smiling.

“Hey, there’s my girl!” Austin called, whistling at her as she walked toward him. He had a beer in his hands, naturally.

At the sound of Austin yelling for “his girl,” John’s head turned, noticing that Annie had woken up. He automatically wanted to go to her, but decided to wait and see if she’d drift her way over to him. His feelings couldn’t have come out of nowhere; there had to be some kind of connection, right? What about the electricity between them earlier?

“Hey, good to see ya, Annie. Gibbs never shuts up about you,” Rex said, instantly making John feel jealous. What if there was something going on between her and Austin?

“Gibbs never shuts up in general,” she laughed, earning a playful shove on the shoulders. John began to tune out their conversation as Halvo raised his eyebrows at him, as if he knew what John was feeling. It was like they had some spidey-sense telepathy going on, 24/7.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Rex laughed. “So Dirk told me that you’re gonna start working at his studio?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty excited.”

“I didn’t know you were a photographer?”

“Well, sort of. It was my major, but I dropped out before I graduated.”

“Well that’s professional enough for me!” he laughed, tossing his empty beer into the nearby trash can. “I’m gonna get another drink, you want one?”

Annie nodded, her fingers toying with the hem of her t-shirt as she looked around Halvo’s backyard. At the table was her brother, Tessa, Tim, John, and Max. Austin, her personal security blanket, had already wandered off to god knows where. Pat, Garrett, Kennedy, Joel, Peter, and the Gomez brothers were splashing around in the pool. The sun was still beating down on her forehead, despite the evening sunset, when Rex came back, two beers in hand.

“So, Annie, I was wondering..”

“Yeah, Rex?”

“I was hoping you’d like to go on a date with me sometime?” he asked quickly, squinting his eyes against the sun. “I was thinking we could do something fun, like stereotypical mini-golfing or some shit.”

“That sounds fun, Rex. I’d love to,” she answered before she realized what she was saying. One little date with Rex wouldn’t hurt, right? He was a friend. A nice guy.

“Awesome,” he grinned, spouting out some general plans before Max started whining for him to be his beer-pong partner. Rex reached for her hand before he left, pulling her in and kissing her on the cheek. “I’ll see ya later, okay?”

She nodded again, debating in her head whether she’d play hooky or not.

“So you just scored yourself a date, eh?” the familiar, feminine voice asked in her ear.

“I s’pose so, Mace,” she laughed. “I’m gonna yolo it, I guess.”

“Oh my god, Annie, you’re taking my advice a bit to literal, babe. It’s obvious to everyone that you have zero romantic feelings towards the kid.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t feel like rejecting him. It’s one date, so what?”

“Whatever, baby girl. Now come on, let’s go show those boys how we Chicagoans play beer-pong.”

***

After one win and one loss at the game, Annie and Macy called it quits, both of them nearly fully drunk. Annie was in that dimension where she could see everything happening, but she didn’t really understand what the hell was going on. Two drunken nights in a row, what a role model she was.

She’d already slurred a few curses at Jared, who’d been sober enough to sit and apologize to her for yelling the night before. Of course, Annie -the stubborn bitch she was- refused to accept. He apparently had three more days of relentless apologizing. Annie hiccuped and flipped her brother off with a sweet smile before walking over to the edge of the pool, where John was sitting with his feet in the water and a cigarette in his mouth.

“Hiya,” she grinned, lowering herself.

His hands instinctively reached up to grab her waist to steady her; Annie was already clumsy while un-intoxicated. She was ten times worse under the influence, and John couldn’t bare to see her fall. And so what if he wanted an excuse to touch her? It was a win-win situation. A noble pursuit, in his mind.

“Hey there, blondie. You smell like beer,” he laughed, putting an arm behind her back, resting his hand by her hip.

Annie dipped her feet in the water, just barely; her legs were much shorter than his. “Cause no one’s offered me any liquor yet!” she giggled.

“I think they’re doing that on purpose, Ann.”

“I am not a lightweight!”

“Baby, you barely clear 5”5’. That alcohol’s gotta go somewhere, and you’re so tiny that it goes straight to your head.”

“Man, when did you get so smart, JohnO?” she laughed, her toes kicking up pool water. She was quiet after that, staring into the water, and John knew she was up to something. Just as she was about to slip into the water, he caught her and pulled her away. Drinking and swimming was not a mix you wanted to play with.

“Alrighty, Ann. Let’s go,” he grunted, standing up and hauling her up with him, careful not to slip on the wet concrete.

“I’m sorry that you have to take care of me all the time, John,” she murmured. “I didn’t use to be like this.”

“I like you just the way you are, blondie-”

“HEY! There you are, Annabelle!” Jared suddenly shouted from behind them, pointing a finger at her. He was obviously much, much more drunk than she was. “Now you listen here, little s-sister,” he slurred. “You’re just damn lucky I let you live with me! Especially when you ran away right when life was starting to get good! I mean, ya just left me!”

“Jared, don’t-”

“And now you want some car? What, like a BMW or something? I don’ think so! You’re j-just taking all of my money!”

“I am not,” she screeched, slowly sobering up as she recognized what her own brother was saying to her. “I have a job. I help you out when I can, Jared! I do the laundry, the grocery shopping, the cooking-”

“But then I have to take you to all of these d-doctor’s appointments,” he shouted, not listening to her in his drunken state. John didn’t understand; doctor’s appointments? Annie was fine. She was just fine. Right?

No. Wrong. John knew shit was about to go down when Annie inhaled sharply. A crowd had started to gather around them loosely, holding drinks and wearing concerned faces.

“And half the time ya won’t even TALK to me!” Jared continued. “Why don’t you just go back to Chicago, you ungrateful little bitch!”

John heard another gasp, but it wasn’t Annie’s this time. No, her jaw was clenched and her hands had balled into fists. He could see the tendons on her knuckles turning white from her tight grip.

Sneakily and secretly, John’s hand reached out and pulled her hand loose, relaxing the muscle. Instead of holding her hand, though, in front of all of those people and causing even more issues and gossip for her, he wrapped his pinky finger around hers so that no one would even notice. Like a secret way of saying, it’s gonna be okay.

“You know what, Jared? FUCK YOU. Maybe it’s time I do go back to Chicago, huh?” she screamed, turning around and stalking down the sidewalk, shoving open the gate.

She ran as fast as her feet would take her, not caring where she was going. As long as it was away, it was good enough.

Annie ran, with four of her best friends running behind her. Because they knew that when she said she was leaving, she meant it.