(A/N) so the idea for this story was basically that Johnny has a big long list of girls he's "assosiated" with. This story about #17 is basically the one that got away.

I might continue and do all 16 girls before 17 but then again I might not. It depends on how inspired I feel.

Number 17

The thing about #17 was that she wouldn't have usually been my type. She was shorter than me by a head, and slim, but her hips held the perfect curve as if to tell you where to put your paw. She had a long tail and fur the colour of the sky at night, but eyes the colour of the sunset in the morning.

Her ears were like piggy tails, fluffy and hanging at her shoulder - even tied with blue ribbons at the end where her fur was longer than the ear itself. She was not scary. Not in the slightest. The only thing that could have been considered scary about her were the fangs that she bore when she smiled that were squeezed between otherwise blunt teeth.

We met in the Autumn at M.U when a storm - which was more like a hurricane - blew in. The town was under lock down, and those of us at the University who could not return home were forced to stay in the common room, sleeping with nothing but a blanket and a pillow

My parents had organised for me to be picked up and taken home before the storm, but the weather had grown worse sooner than anyone could have anticipated. I ended up sharing a space of floor next to a grisly monster with grabby tentacles and #17, who had been asleep before I had found my place next to her.

Over two hundred students were crammed into one room like fleas on a feral dogs back. I had hardly enough room to roll over.

By midnight most students were either asleep or laying awake listening to the howl of the storm as it shook the building and revenged our campus. I, unfortunately, was one of the awake. The noise and the hard floor beneath my back proved to be my worst enemies in by battle for sleep.

#17, or Miss Illamay Perks as I later came to know her as, rolled over next to me. She was close enough that when she took a deep breath and hummed in contentment, her breath ran over my fur like a warm summer breeze.

I didn't dare move away. The monster behind me had almost ensnared me with his tentacles an hour before and if I moved closer I had feared he'd get me.

She was wearing a thin, white, cotton blouse with the logo of the local shopping centre on it and a collar. I assumed - which, at the time, was all I could do - that she had come straight from work.

I gave her one last glance before rolling over to continue my crusade for sleep.

I woke up at 1 that morning after dozing off to find Illamay cuddled into my back, her long tail coiled around my leg. I grew agitated and cleared my throat, shimmying alway from the girls grasp. As I did, her tired voice slipped from her lips:

"Joseph, stop moving. I'm freezing," she whined, nuzzling into my fur.

"My name isn't Joseph, and I don't care if you're cold. Could you please remove your tail from my leg," I answered bluntly, feeling as if I was caught in the coils of a python.

Her deep, lazy breaths stopped and the girl rolled off, suddenly awake.

I too rolled over, looking at her with dismay.

"You are not Joeseph," she stated, her hands covering her eyes as she lay on her back.

"No..." I replied.

"You're fur is just soft like his was, and I... I must have thought... I'm so sorry. This is so embarrassing," she groaned.

Suddenly, the incident was less annoying to me. She looked sweet as she hid herself from me, embarrassed and flustered, and she thought I was soft.

"You think I'm soft?" I asked smugly, feeling my ego puff up as a grin found its way to my lips.

She peaked from behind her hands. "I said that out loud, didn't I?" She asked with a grimace.

I smirked and nodded.

"Oh god!" She said as she hid again.

I chuckled as I watched her. What kind of monster was she that she was that cute?

"So is Joseph your boyfriend?" I teased, luring her out of her shell.

An exasperated sigh escaped her lips as her hands fell away from her face and rested on her stomach.

"No, he was, but not anymore."

"So the cuddler is single?" I was purely toying with her at this point, using her awkwardness to my advantage to cease my boredom.

"Yes - wait, the cuddler?" She questioned, amusement soaking her voice as she rolled onto her side.

"Well yeah," I said, shuffling closer, "since you nuzzled into my back, it only seems appropriate."

She laughed, and for the first time looked me in the eye. Hers were the colour of ripe peaches - psychedelic rings of gold and pink that made me forget my words for a moment. "I did apologise for that," she said with a smile.

"Got a name, cuddler?"

"Illamay," she answered, "and the monster with the soft fur, does he have a name?"

I laughed. "Johnny Worthington, the third."

"There's three other people in the world named Johnny Worthington?"

"Yeah?" I said, questioning the her misunderstanding.

"Okay then," she said, suddenly accepting the fact, "well what is Johnny Worthington the third majoring in here at M U?"

"Scaring Major," I said with a smirk, titling my chin up in pride. "And the cuddler?"

"Psychology Major."

"You want to be a psychologist?"

"Yeah," she said with a titter, shuffling closer as if to tell me a secret, "I want to help monsters, scarers, who have been traumatised by their work get back on their feet and into society."

"Well, that's quite noble of you." She blushed and looked away, suddenly bashful and unable to look me in the eye. "I can only hope that if I ever need to get back on my feet that I have someone like you to help me."

"I hope not, Johnny, monsters who need that kind of help have usually had near death experiences on the other side of a door and barely come out without being caught or touched, I wouldn't wish that for you," she said with a level of sincerity that made my words catch in my throat.

My smile melted from my lips and I found myself feeling the weight of her words. "Let's hope not then," I said, forcing charm back onto my features.

We spoke in whispers for most of the night. No subject was untouchable. Illamay had an opinion on everything - mostly scaring and the human world. She had theories that children were not actually poisonous, that it was all a lie. I'll admit that I laughed, but I'll also admit that she could have been right.

By 6 we both decided that we should sleep - mostly because Illamay's every second word was replaced with a yawn.

"Still cold?" I asked her as we lay side by side with our eyes closed, biting our tongues as we had so much more to say that night but knew sleep was more important.

I felt her move at my side as she nodded. "It's actually colder now."

"Y'know, I don't mind if I need to keep you warm," I said in a whisper, a smirk tugging at my lips as playfulness entered my tone.

"Really?" She asked.

I nodded, "I'd hate for you to freeze."

She rolled on to her side as I did, allowing herself to rest against my chest. I put my arm around her waist and pulled her closer, hearing her purr in my arms.

I hummed in reply. "Warm enough now?"

She nodded against me.

That was how we fell asleep. The next morning we were a few of the last to wake up. We gathered our blankets and bid each other goodbye. At that time there was nothing between us - not really - so goodbye seemed like the best option.

But as I walked away, Illamay caught up to me. As I turned around she pressed her lips against mine.

The kiss lasted for a moment and she ran her fingers through my fur as I pulled her flush against me.

"See ya 'round, Johnny the third," she said breathlessly as she pulled away, sauntering off as if I was as much her conquest as she was mine.

I went to ask her out the next day after having her stuck on my mind since she'd left me. But once she saw me in my red and yellow RORs sweater something in her sunset eyes changed. At first she didn't believe that I was a ROR, or that I was leader of the fraternity, and when she finally accepted it, she told me she couldn't date me.

She said she wouldn't date someone that everyone was throwing themselves at, that she refused to be another number or another girl to brag about while going behind her back with a million sorority girls.

She kissed my cheek and told me she'd see me around.

I hadn't known her ex was a Fraternity monster. It turned out he'd wronged her in more ways that I could have thought, with more girls that I could have counted. She didn't want to risk it again.

God I wished she had.