We Only Breathe For So Long

The faint sunlight creeping out of my beige curtains, and a sudden knock on my bedroom door woke me up. I blinked my eyes restlessly while trying to get rid of the darkness that penetrated my vision. I rose up, a small movement, resting on my elbows and trying to figure out who was entering my room. Her mahogany hair gave it away.

“Morning,” she softly spoke, “how was the show last night?”

My ears captured the sound of her voice yet my brain wasn’t capable of formulating a response quick enough. After a few heartbeats, I managed to gain full control of my vision.

“Um,” I said with a dry voice. “It was amazing, as usual. I’m starting to like their music even more. Thanks to Sophie, I guess.”

I smiled faintly, trying not to look so exhausted.

“That’s great. What time were you back? Sophie came home last night with a guy. Without you.” The tone of her voice showed that she was a little upset about that but she still maintained her sweet, motherly, gaze.

Uh-oh.

“Um…” I trailed off, trying to recall what had happened.

Last time I had seen Sophie was during the show. I remember clearly when Kennedy left the stage and ceased her solitude. She must have been with him the entire evening. If she weren’t, I would be in big trouble. Well, at least he brought her home so it can’t be that much trouble. I couldn’t believe I had completely forgotten about Sophie.

I shut my eyes in desperation, searching for an adequate answer. “I’m so sorry, Ang. I’m even embarrassed to say that I forgot about her, I didn’t even call Ronnie to pick us up. I should’ve, I mean… Argh!”

I covered my face with both hands, sighing in frustration.

Angela walked towards my bed, without making any sound, as if she was levitating. Her arms were crossed against her small frame and she had a mischievous look upon her face.

“Were you with Eric?” asked Angela.

When his name exited her lips, my mind didn’t recognize it. I couldn’t match the name to a face for a couple of seconds. Then the sound of his laughter, minutes before he had kissed me, filled my mind.

I spoke firmly. “No.”

A few days have passed since I last saw Eric. I haven’t figured out yet if that was either a good, or bad thing. The last time we had been together, it didn’t end up very well. I didn’t think I was ready to talk to him again, that’s all. I had no clue of what to say after what had happened. I didn’t know where we stood and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know either.

“Who dropped you off home then?”

“John.”

I tried to hide a smile that wanted to appear. Whenever I said or even thought about saying his name, that happened. I always felt like grabbing a pillow tightly against my chest and smiling like an idiot.

Angela didn’t reply but she was still looking at me, waiting for a further explanation.

“He’s one of the band members. Um, just like that guy that dropped Sophie off. His name is Kennedy, by the way.”

I got out of bed, hoping Angela would leave and drop the matter. I began to make my bed, attempting to look busy and concentrated.

She must have picked it up, or else she wouldn’t have pushed the matter further. Just like I didn’t want her to.

She smiled, almost making it a smirk. “I think it would be lovely to have John and Kennedy over for dinner sometime soon, don’t you?”

Nope. I don’t.

I remained silent, not wanting to throw away my concentration act.

“I know that Sophie likes him. I thought it would be a good idea to get to know the guy. And you, miss…”

She took the pillow I was holding and laughed. Her laughter was so sweet that I couldn’t resist the urge to laugh along with her. I knew exactly what was going through her mind, and I didn’t want her to say it out loud.

“Sophie does like him a lot. I just didn’t tell you because I thought you would, I don’t know, freak out because of their age difference.”

“At first, I did. But… What the hell?” said Angela, smirking.

Angela had such an angelic character to her persona that I never imagined that she would say such an expression. I laughed some more without showing any teeth.

“Sophie will love the dinner thing,” I admitted.

Before I could speak any further, a distant sound coming from the main hall submerged. It had a melodic sound; it could have only been the doorbell.

Angela frowned in confusion. “Ron and Sophie left a few minutes ago, are they back already?”

I looked just as confused as her. She then left my room and disappeared into the hallway.

I continued to make my bed, as slow as a tortoise, not bothered to speed up since I didn’t have any plans for the day. I heard whispers from the hall and both of them were familiar. I froze, trying to listen to the person who had pressed the bell in the first place. Was it John? Or was I so knackered that I was starting to hear voices?

I thought the second option was more suited to my current state. I finished up making my bed and I felt like crawling back under the blankets. As I was about to do so, I heard another knock on my door, followed by footsteps.

I didn’t even bother to get into bed because I wasn’t so knackered after all. John was carefully closing the door behind him, wearing a jacket that could have easily fitted three people inside of it, and he was holding what seemed like his stomach. I never recalled John having an actual stomach. He was the skinniest guy I had ever met and he didn’t have anything to hold on to in that area. He was flat and there was surely no circular shaped lump where his stomach was meant to be.

“Hey,” he smiled half-heartedly.

He had one hand resting by his side while the other supported the lump inside his jacket.

I frowned unintentionally. “Hi, what you’ve been doing? Drinking enough beer to gain a beer belly over night?”

He laughed at my comment but he tried to push the laughter away, turning his head downwards slightly to look at his brand new belly.

“What are you talking about?” he played dumb.

“That small but big lump on your belly. It’s freakin’ alive!” I said, shocked when it had moved.

I sat down on my bed, trying to grasp what was going on or what was happening to John’s stomach. He removed his shoes and tossed them aside. He slowly walked towards the unoccupied side of my bed, lying down comfortably while still holding his bizarre lump.

At all times I kept my gaze at this lump, completely stunned and curious to know if John was pulling a prank on me or if it was a contagious disease that was going to kill us both now that he had touched my clean sheets.

He turned his head to his left and looked at me, observing my expression. He tried to hold his smirk in.

“Am I the only one who thinks you look beautiful when you wake up?” asked John with a hoarse voice.

I smiled and looked down, trying to find the next words to say on my sheets. The lump ascended John’s torso and a small head appeared by his neck, at the very top of the collar of his immensely big jacket.

He had trouble looking down as his smile took up his face from cheek to cheek. “Well, apparently I’m not the only one who thinks so.”

It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. It was a puppy that fit its head perfectly under John’s chin. I didn’t know about dogs much but I knew this one was a Beatle. Its eyes looked down yet filled with energy. It sniffed John’s skin constantly, moving its head from east to west. I covered my nose and mouth, surprised at how adorable this midget being was. I got closer to John, gently, trying not to scare this little thing away with my size or sudden movement. My index finger was stretched out and the puppy changed its attention from John to me. It started smelling my finger viciously, like it never wanted to stop. After a few heartbeats of awe, its almost microscopic tongue licked my finger. I felt like a giant compared to the size of this puppy. John and I both laughed as the puppy licked my finger repeatedly. I ignored it for a while as I set my eyes into the one thing more adorable than this puppy.

“Thank you,” I said. A smile of gratitude was stuck to my lips as I held John’s face and kissed him slowly.

The puppy climbed out of John’s jacket and approximated his face and mine. It started licking his chin and my cheeks contently while it got a good laugh out of us.

“What will you call her?” asked John, excited to hear my reply.

I rested my hand on his chest and lifted my head up. “I don’t know… Um, Joky?”

He laughed at such a lame puppy name. “Are you that bad at creativity?”

“No!” I chuckled, “it’s the first syllables of our names combined together. Isn’t that creative enough for you?”

With no reply from him, I dropped my head to lay it against his heart once more. We remained quiet for a few moments, just in each other’s arms as I listened to his heartbeat, observing the Beatle walk around my bed. Her ears were longer than her head and front paws combined, so whenever she took a step forward, she’d step on her long ears and trip slightly.

“How about Jolie?” he asked.

I thought about it. Jolie. It did sound as sweet as she appeared to be. I smiled contently, hugging John a little tighter.

“Jolie it is.”

“That is creative enough,” he joked through a grin.

I chuckled, trailing off my mind to what was happening so far in this day. It was an amazing day so far until the thought of Angela’s request to have John and Kennedy over for dinner popped up.

“Angela wants you to come over to dinner sometime, along with Kennedy because of Sophie.”

He didn’t even flinch. He wasn’t even surprised with the thought of it. He just agreed with it by nodding his head.

“Just let me know when you’re free, or else Angela will never stop bugging me,” I smiled softly.

“Tonight is good.”

My reaction to his response was a rapid movement of my head, lifting it up as I looked directly at his laser green eyes. When I realized I had been too oblivious about my thoughts, I tried to cover up in a miserable attempt.

“That’s too soon! I mean… Um, isn’t that too soon for you?”

“Not at all,” he casually spoke, as calm as a koala. “I was actually wondering when she’d drop the invitation.”

He grinned so much that I thought his face would disappear through his smile. I couldn’t help but smile myself.

“Why not tonight?” he asked.

“It could be tonight, but y’know…” I quit speaking hoping that he would have understood what I was insinuating.

He looked at me blankly, encouraging me to continue talking with a pause.

“It’s going to be one of those family dinners where the family meets the boyfriend,” I said, burying my face on his chest, trying to hide my frustration.

He embraced me tighter as he played with my hair in a comforting manner. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

I turned my head sideways and my head rested just below his chin. “It is, I just don’t know what to expect from it and I hate being left in the dark.”

“C’mon! First of all, you’re not in the dark. Second, even if you were, I’m in the dark with you too. We can make it work, don’t worry,” he kissed my forehead in an awkward way. “And if it doesn’t work out, we can make out in the dark, deal?”

I threw my head back and laughed. I stared at him for a few seconds, wishing to do that right now and then. I leaned in for a kiss that wasn’t going to end any time soon.

“Deal.”