Fall From Grace

Johnny and I were in the middle of some random zombie movie that he had chosen when we heard noises coming from downstairs.

“What was that?” I asked, sitting up on the bed and looking at Johnny in fear.

He laughed at me and kissed my forehead gently. “It’s probably the wind or something baby. It’s nothing to worry about.”

I listened intently for a moment and didn’t hear anything else so I went back to cuddling with Johnny. I had just gotten comfortable again when I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps downstairs. This time when I quickly sat up, Johnny did the same.

“Why’d you make me watch this movie? Now I’m thinking there’s a zombie looking for brains in the fridge or some shit,” I whined.

Johnny looked at me for a moment before shaking his head. He stood up from the bed and looked down at me since I hadn’t moved.

“I’m going to check it out, you coming?” he asked.

I shook my head and tried to pull him back down on the bed.

“What if there’s someone robbing the house or something, they might kill us!” I whispered.

“Okay then, I’ll leave you up here all by yourself,” he said, shrugging as he headed for the door. I was on my feet in seconds, following him.

“You are not leaving me up here alone!” I said, making him laugh.

As Johnny opened the door, I attached myself to his arm and got as close to him as I could and still be able to walk. We slowly and quietly stepped out into the hallway and made it all the way to the end without seeing anything. The footsteps from downstairs could be heard more clearly now. I looked at him, clearly freaking out. He just mouthed the words ‘It’s okay’ to me and smiled.

We were halfway down the stairs when the footsteps start coming straight towards us. I thought about running back up the stairs but knew I wouldn’t have any time, so I just hid behind Johnny, hoping he could protect me from whoever was coming at us.

“Who are you and why are you in my house?” A female voice shrieked.

I peeked around Johnny to see my mom standing at the bottom of the stairs, glaring up at Johnny. I laughed, all traces of fear leaving me, before stepping around him to greet my mom. Her glare softened once she saw me.

“Mom, this is my boyfriend Johnny. Johnny, this is my mom.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Johnny said politely, extending his hand for my mom to shake. She took his hand briefly before turning back to me.

“Johnny like The Johnny? The one who you’ve been fighting with for years?” she asked.

“That would be me,” Johnny said, slinging an arm around my shoulders as we followed my mom into the living room where all of the luggage was strewn.

“How was the cruise?” I questioned as I plopped down on the couch, pulling Johnny down with me.

“It was fine the second week, once I finally got over the seasickness. Your father wouldn’t stop taking phone calls from work so I had to throw his phone into the ocean. We were at each other’s throats the first week, but he got over it. The second week was a blast.”

Johnny and I laughed as her very condensed version of how their vacation went.

“Where’s dad?” I asked.

“He had to go into the office as soon as he got here,” she told me with an eye roll.

My dad was a lawyer so it wasn’t unusual for him to spend a lot of time at his office. Mom had to practically drag him on the cruise in the first place. As much as I wanted to spend the rest of the day lying in bed with Johnny, I knew I needed to spend some time with my mom and let her know everything that had been going on since they left.

“Johnny, baby, I wish I could spend all day with you like we planned, but I really need to spend some time with my mom. You understand, right?”

“Of course I do,” he said with a smile.

“I’ll walk you out to your car.” I told him.

He nodded and grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together. I was telling him how I was planning on helping my mom unpack and getting her up to date on what I’d been up to lately and going to see my dad at his office if I had time later.

“I love you, baby. Call me before you go to sleep?” he asked.

“You know I will.” I said and he smiled again and pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me tightly. I leaned into him, loving how it felt to be in his arms. Pulling back slightly, he brought his lips to mine and sent chills throughout my body with his kiss.

“Bye,” he said quietly before turning and climbing into his car. I watched as he drove away, thinking of how much I loved that boy.

~x~

About an hour later, my mom and I had all of their luggage unpacked. The clothes that needed washed were in either the washer or dryer and the suitcases were stowed away in their normal places in the back of the hallway closet.

“So tell me about Johnny,” mom said as we finally sank down onto the couch to take a break after all that unpacking.

I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face as I thought about him.

“He’s amazing, mom. I hated him all those years, but once I spent some time with him and got to know him, I realized that he’s really not that bad.”

“How did it happen?” Mom was practically on the edge of her seat wanting details. I shook my head as I laughed at her, she acted like such a teenager sometimes.

“We were spending time together like the judge ordered. Some drama came up one day and I was kind of torn up about it and Johnny was there for me. From there, we became friends and grew closer and closer together. Until one day, he kissed me. And that was that,” I was smiling as I told the story.

“What does Zacky think about it all? He is in love with you, you know,” she said and my jaw dropped. Did everyone but me know?

“Oh my God, mom. Why did everyone think he was in love with and not tell me?” I asked, throwing my hands up in the air as I did so.

A sympathetic look crossed my mom’s face when she realized that she’d hit a nerve.

“He told you,” she said simply.

“More like he got wasted one day because he thought I had a boyfriend and when I drove him home he kissed me.”

“You’re fucking kidding,” my mom gasped.

“I could only wish,” I said with a sigh.

Another hour passed that consisted of the two of us sitting there talking about everything there was to know about Johnny and I. She reminded me that we had to go meet with the judge in just another two weeks. I worried a little about whether that would change anything between Johnny and I, but I shook off that thought. I knew it wouldn’t bother us. As great as our relationship was at that point, it didn't seem like anything could touch us.

~x~

By three o’clock, I was driving the familiar roads across town to my dad’s office. I was kind of upset by the fact that he wouldn’t even bother to come see me before he ran off to his office. Especially since it had been two weeks since I’d seen him.

I put on my blinker and made sure there weren’t any cars around before I turned into the small parking of the building my dad worked at. He probably wouldn’t like the fact that I’d come all the over him just to see him, but he’d get over it. I missed him, and I would hope that he missed me too. I was his only child, after all.

I opened the glass doors that separated the lobby from the outside world. It was a little on the cold side so I zipped up my black hoodie with blue stars all over it and waved at the secretary as I made my way past her to the stairwell that led to the second floor, where my dad’s office was located.

She gave me a warm smile and waved as I passed. She was having an intense conversation with someone on the phone about ink for the printers. Who was I to get in the way of something that important? I laughed to myself at my lame joke and continued on my way.

The door to my dad’s office was closed, but I thought nothing of it. He probably just didn’t want any of the usual workplace noises to disturb him. I grabbed the doorknob and turned it, thinking nothing of it. It wasn’t unusual for me to let myself in. However, it was very unusual to see some blonde skank straddling my dad as they fucked on his desk.

I froze in place as my dad looked up at me in horror. He quickly grabbed his shirt off of the floor and pushed the slut off of him, covering himself up with the piece of cloth.

“Melanie, it’s not what it looks like,” he said quickly.

“Oh bullshit. Do you really think I’m blind or something and can’t see what’s going on here? You should be ashamed of yourself, dad.”

I turned on my heel and had full intentions of slamming the door in anger and storming off, but my dad spoke again. “Melanie, wait a second. We need to talk about this, sweetheart.”

“Don’t ‘sweetheart’ me. And I don’t care if I ever talk to you again,” I spat in his direction.

With that, I finally made my very angry exit, door slam and all. Tears were pouring out of my eyes before I had even made it back to my car. I couldn’t believe this. I thought my dad loved my mom, but obviously I was wrong.

I couldn’t go home because I couldn’t bear to see my mom after seeing what I had just seen, so I went to the one person that I knew would just hold me as I cried. Wiping the tears from my face, I set off for Johnny’s house.