**Hi everyone! Here it is as promised. A story with John as the main character. Please read and review! And remember, I do not own John…although that would sure make life interesting. Again, please read and review!**
John had flown into Los Angeles. He hadn't been to his California townhome in quite awhile. He usually only used this house when he had to be in California for various filming, or if there was a West coast run. It was faster than flying all the way back to Florida, where his main residence was.
As he pulled into the driveway, there was a U-Haul half blocking the street. Someone was finally moving into the vacant townhome across the street.
John parked and headed inside. Then he peeked out the window.
There was a beautiful brunette wearing short, denim cut-offs with a little, red tank-top. She had her wavy, brown hair pulled into a messy bun and she was wearing large, black sunglasses. She had a very cute smile for whoever was inside the U-Haul and was laughing a lot.
"Hello gorgeous." John said quietly. She was hot. And John wanted to get to know her better.
John made a quick grocery list of things he needed and then jotted down the ingredients for his mom's spaghetti and meatballs. He figured he'd make up a batch and bring it over as a "Welcome to the neighborhood" meal.
He headed off to the store. By the time he came back home, the U-Haul was gone. The driveway was completely empty.
John made a mental note that he'd be gone all day tomorrow filming, so the meal would have to wait another day.
The next morning, John was pulling out of his driveway to head to the set when he happened to spot someone jogging. "It was 5:30am, who would be out jogging this early?" He pondered. He knew the neighbors and none of them would be.
As John drove, he faced the jogger. It looked like the girl across the street. John smiled and waved.
The girl's face lit up. Her eyes were still masked by the large, black sunglasses, but she had such a great smile. She waved back and mouthed "hi".
John smiled to himself and continued on his way, but now he had something to smile about. In his wallet was a phone number to his buddy Randy's wife's best friend's friend in Florida, but right now he wanted to focus on the mystery girl.
Melody got home and walked in. She headed inside and went right for the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water and continued into the shower. She was very excited that one of her neighbors had smiled and waved at her. "Maybe moving here for a little while from New York wasn't such a bad idea." She thought to herself.
John arrived home late that night, and there were a few lights on inside her house, but he knew it was far too late to make a full meal and bring it over. It would just have to wait till tomorrow.
The next morning, John awoke and looked out his window. There was his new, beautiful neighbor hanging up flower baskets and planting in the window boxes.
John took care of a few business calls he had to make and ran a few errands. Once he got back home, he got to work in the kitchen.
He had fixed up a batch of his mom's spaghetti and meatballs like he planned. But while he was out, he also picked up a loaf of garlic bread and a bottle of red wine.
John looked out the window and saw that the garage door was now open and a very sweet, black Ford Mustang was parked inside and was up on ramps.
John packed everything up and and took a deep breath. He walked outside and crossed the street. He was definitely nervous.
As he walked up her driveway, he could hear the loud music playing in the garage. The closer he got, he was able to see that there was also a nice Triumph motorcycle parked in the garage as well. "Shit…she's married." He thought to himself.
Suddenly the door leading into the house from the garage opened and out stepped a very eccentric-looking older man.
The man was wearing all black clothes and black leather gloves, along with a black leather jacket…even though it was in the eighties and a bit muggy out. He had long, frizzy, gray hair and aviator sunglasses on. "Can I help you?" The man asked gruffly.
John tried hard not to looked shocked, this was NOT the pretty girl he had a crush on. "Hi, I happened to notice that you're new to the neighborhood so I thought I'd bring over a spaghetti dinner to welcome you."
"Thanks, that's thoughtful of you. But I didn't move in, my daughter did. She's under the car." The man said as he pointed.
"There's someone under there?" John replied.
"Yeah, don't mind her, she's deaf." The man said shaking his head as he knocked on the car.
Suddenly a dolly rolled out from under the car revealing his brunette mystery woman. This time she didn't have sunglasses on. She had big, beautiful, captivating brown eyes with long, flowing eyelashes. She had oil and grease smudges all over, but that didn't hide her beautiful skin. When she smiled, it revealed her dimples. She was wearing little denim cutoffs again, and this time a black tank-top. She looked up at her dad first, then over at the very handsome man who had waved to her a couple mornings ago. "Oh my, I'm such a mess. I'm so sorry." She said as she stood up.
Melody quickly grabbed a rag and wiped off her hands, then reached out to John, "Hi, I'm Melody."
John smiled, "Nice to meet you Melody, I'm John. I live across the street sometimes."
Melody looked over him, she loved his dimples and his beautiful eyes. "It's very nice to meet you. You'll have to excuse me, I was giving her an oil change and a new air filter after driving here."
As he spoke, she studied his mouth very intently. "Where did you drive here from?" He asked.
"New York City. I thought I'd take the scenic route." She said with a smile.
"No kidding! Well, to welcome you to the neighborhood, I made up a batch of my mom's spaghetti and meatballs." John said as he handed it over to her.
"Aww…that's really sweet, thank you!" She exclaimed. "Did you get the chance to meet my father?" She asked as she headed inside the house.
The man cleared his throat and answered before John could. "Not officially." He held out his hand, "I'm Jim."
"Hi Jim, I'm John. It's nice to meet you as well." John replied as he shook his gloved hand.
Melody came back outside and looked over at her dad, "Are you going to stick around?"
Jim shook his head no, "Nope, I'm heading over to Meat's to work out the details. I won't be back till late, I want to make the most out of my time today and tomorrow before my flight."
Melody looked back at John, "Would you like to have dinner with me? You made more than plenty."
John smiled, "Sure, if you're sure you wouldn't mind the company."
Melody laughed, "It'll be nice. Then I won't look like a dirtball. How about 5:30pm?"
"Sounds great. I'll see you then." John replied. He turned to Jim, "It was very nice to meet you."
"You too." Jim said as he got on his bike.
John headed back to his house. As he walked away, Melody looked over at her dad and signed "Wow, he's hot. Do you think he's single?"
Jim laughed, "Maybe, He did bring wine. Don't do anything stupid. Be safe." He signed back to her.
"Dad, we're from New York, I think I have careful down." Melody replied in sign.
"Alright, I'm leaving. No sleepovers." Jimmy replied out loud.
Melody burst into laughter, "Wow dad. Tell Uncle Meat I said hi and I'll see him tomorrow."
Jim backed out of the garage and took off.
Melody quickly slid back under the car and finished. Then she bounced inside for a shower. "Tonight could be fun." She thought to herself.
John returned to his house with a smile on his face. His mystery woman's name was Melody and she was absolutely beautiful. She even worked on cars, could she get anymore perfect? She had a very odd father, but hey, that's ok. She was perfect. He couldn't wait to get to know her better. And those cutoffs she wore were enough to drive him crazy.
He thought about her laughter and their brief conversation. She was definitely excitable. One minute she spoke soft and the next she was bursting with excitement.
The time passed quickly. Melody got out of the shower and picked out a pair of nice jeans and a red v-neck sweater. She used some product to tame her wild hair a bit and wrapped it in extra large rollers so it would fall nicely in waves around her shoulders. She put on some light make-up. Melody made her eyes a little smoky and applied a pretty red lip gloss. She slipped on some black sandals that had a bit of a heel to them since he was so much taller than she was. She slipped on her black, wire-rim glasses.
A flashing light up in the corner of the room caught her eye, the doorbell was ringing. He was here. She quickly ran her hand through her hair and shook it a bit. She walked down the stairs and answered the door.
"Hi John! I hope you're hungry." Melody replied with a smile.
"Hi Melody, I sure am. It smells great in here." John said with a big smile.
"Thanks, I thought I'd heat up the bread too." Melody said. She stood there for a moment to make sure that he wasn't going to say anything else. "Well c'mon in. I'll give you a little tour, but please forgive the mess. I'm still not fully unpacked."
John answered, but she didn't fully catch what he had said. The couple words she did pick up made it seem as if he made a comment about being unpacked, so she laughed carefully.
She turned to walk him around. When she turned to tell him this was the dining room she noticed he had just finished saying something. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that." Melody said sheepishly. No matter how hard she tried to fit in, she knew she never would. And she also knew that she was about to turn her fun night into a big, nightmare.
"I was asking what the lights in the corner of the rooms are for." John repeated as he pointed to her doorbell lights.
"Oh, those. Well, they light up when the doorbell goes off."
"Wow, I've never heard of that before. That would be good if you're engrossed in your iPod and not paying attention." John said with a laugh.
"This is true. I use them because I'm deaf and I can't hear the doorbell ring." Melody responded cautiously.
John looked over at her, "What?"
Melody took a deep breath, "John, I'm deaf."
They both just stood there looking at each other for a minute. Suddenly Melody jumped, her watch was vibrating. It was time to take the bread out of the oven. "Dinner's ready." She said quietly as she turned to walk into the kitchen.
Melody mentally kicked her own butt the walk to the kitchen. She had rehearsed how she was planning on telling him in her head a hundred times, it wasn't like that.
John, not thinking, began to talk to her on the walk to the kitchen, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to seem so shocked." He said to her back. Her silence reminded him of what she just told him.
"Go ahead and sit down, I'll bring everything out. Do you like butter or margarine?" She offered.
"Margarine please." He said.
She returned with the bottle of wine and the two wine glasses first. She smiled as she poured them both a glass. Then she came back with the spaghetti and the bread.
John smiled across the table at her. "Can I ask you a question without crossing my boundaries?"
"Of course, ask away." She replied as she dished him up.
"Why is it that you talk so clear and you don't sign?" John asked.
Melody grinned wickedly and signed back her response. "Because if I signed to you then you wouldn't understand what I was saying."
His blank stare made her laugh, "I signed because then you wouldn't understand what I was saying. And I talk clearly because I was in speech therapy for many, many years and I wasn't always deaf. I started off just hard-of-hearing and it's just gotten worse."
"Wow. Ok. Well, in that case." John said. Then he pointed to his chest and fingerspelled "J-O-H-N."
Melody grinned and clapped.
"That's all I've got for ya, a kid taught me awhile ago." John said holding up his glass. "Welcome to the neighborhood Melody. I look forward to getting to know you better."
Melody smiled, "Thank you John, I look forward to getting to know you better too." They clinked glasses and took a drink.
"Ok, so speech therapy helped you to talk to well?" John asked.
Melody nodded, "Yes, basically I was raised hearing even though I was always going deaf. My childhood is a bit complicated, and maybe one day I'll enlighten you. But, for now, let's just say that my dad was NOT raising a deaf daughter. It took a long time for his acceptance of my condition."
"Why is that? Just denial?" He asked confused.
"Well, my dad is a songwriter and composer and music is his life. I was raised in music so music was my life too. From singing, to playing piano and guitar to dancing, I was fully submersed in it. And he knew how to make me happy with it. But as I lost my hearing, he didn't want that to mean that I would lose my music too. I don't know if you noticed or not, but my dad isn't exactly the most normal individual you encounter on a daily basis. He never has been, never will be. But with music we were on the same page." Melody recounted. "And he refused to learn sign language for a very long time. Everyone I was around all could hear and speak. He originally didn't even want me learning how, but as my hearing got worse, he realized I'd have to."
"So do you normally talk or sign?" John asked.
"Both. It depends on who I'm around. I work with all hearing people, I was raised with hearing people, I went to regular schools, my dad refused to send me to a deaf school because of the lack of the arts. But I have a lot of deaf friends now because of college. I work my ass off to lip read, and it's exhausting. But I do it so I can blend in. But because I could hear and now I can't, and with my involvement in music, I'm not deaf enough for the deaf community and because I'm deaf I'm not hearing enough for everyone else." Melody replied honestly. She didn't want to go into too many details because she was sure that he wouldn't be around for long and because her dad was famous she didn't like to divulge.
"Wow. That's crazy. No one is willing to accept you because you're different and unique. They ought to feel blessed that they've met you." John replied. "May I ask who your dad is? Maybe I've heard of him. I'm really into music also."
"Jim Steinman. He's written for Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler and Celine Dion and Air Supply and many others. He's worked on and off Broadway also." Melody confessed.
"That's impressive. I have to be honest, I haven't heard of him, but my buddy is a HUGE Meat Loaf fan." John replied with a smile. "So, we got that out of the way. Now tell me about you."
Melody smiled with a surprised look on her face. But was he still interested in getting to know her for real, or out of sympathy? Oh well, she decided she was going to let her guard down and just have a good time tonight…even if she never heard from him again.
"Let's see…about me. Well, I'm turning thirty soon. I'm here to work on a tv show for a little while and because I'm starring in a cover act for a deaf variety club in Los Angeles. I grew up all over, but mainly on the East coast. I went between New York City, Upstate New York and Connecticut. I spent summers over in England sometimes. I love cars, I love the outdoors, I like to work out, I like movies and concerts. I also like tv shows and photography. I like to go dancing and go to karaoke. I've done a little modeling, but nothing I would ever lay claim to. And I volunteer at the children's hospital when I can." Melody replied. "What about you?"
"Well, I mainly live in Florida, but I spend a fair amount of time here. I'm a professional wrestler so I'm on the road a lot. I've also been in a few movies and I have a rap cd out also. I grew up in West Newbury, Massachusetts. I've worked with Make-A-Wish, and I like the same things as you do honestly." John said with a laugh. He couldn't believe how perfect she was, she was everything he had ever hoped for in a woman….except she was deaf. "If you like cars, I have a few that would probably knock your socks off. Back home in Florida."
"Really? I LOVE cars. I could go to car shows every weekend and never get bored. It drives my dad nuts." Melody said with a laugh.
They ate for a bit, and they talked about their interests. John could tell what Melody meant by it was work to read lips, he could tell when she couldn't keep up. John looked across the table at her, "So if someone was to spend a lot of time with you, would it be easier if they signed?"
"Kind of. The more time I spend with someone, the more I get used to how they talk and how their mouth forms words. But honestly, yeah it is a little easier, but I'm usually around hearing people that don't sign so I'm used to it." Melody responded cautiously. It killed her that the two of them had so much in common, but with her being deaf, he was probably ready to head for the hills.
"So I know you fix cars and you like cars, but do you drive?" John asked.
Melody laughed and nodded, "Yup, cars, trucks and motorcycles."
"Oooh, you're well-versed in transportation aren't you?" John laughed. "After dinner, are you up for an adventure?"
Melody leaned in and winked at John, "I'm always up for an adventure."
John took a breath, man she was sexy. "Ok, we're going to take the crotch rocket out for a joyride when we're done."
Melody grinned happily, "Ok, just remember I can't hear you so I won't be able to talk to you while we're on the bike because I'll be behind you."
"Got it."
They finished up dinner and Melody cleared the plates. John helped her load the dishwasher. Then she grabbed her black leather jacket and put her wallet in the inside pocket of the jacket. She changed into her black motorcycle boots. Just to be a shit she signed "Ok, I'm ready" to John.
John laughed, "If that means you're ready, then I say let's go."
And they headed across the street to his garage.
John entered his code and the garage opened and revealed a neon green and orange Kawasaki Ninja and a 2007 Dodge Charger SR8 Super Bee.
"Wow! You've got a Super Bee! I love these!" Melody exclaimed.
"Honey, you ain't seen nothing yet." John said to her. He grabbed a helmet off the shelf for her and grabbed one for him.
The clouds were rolling in, and definitely looked like they were in for a storm, but the two were too busy getting ready to go on their adventure to even think to look at the sky.
John climbed on and Melody climbed on right behind him. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. "Ok, I'm ready."
"Alright, hold on tight." John said as he revved the engine. He totally spaced that she couldn't hear him. Then they peeled out and headed off for the bluffs. He was going to show her the scenic places that they could go hiking sometime. He still liked her. Deaf or not, there was just something about her that he couldn't shake.
She held on tight and looked around. She was having a great time. It was so beautiful and there were many areas she would love to photograph.
John drove her up to a tall, rocky, steep bluff. They parked the bike and they walked the walking path. He decided to be brave and he reached out and took her hand.
Melody looked over at him and smiled, "This area is so beautiful! I want to come back sometime with my camera and take pictures, especially during sunrise and sunset."
John nodded, "I bet you'd get some really sweet pictures."
The ride over to the bluffs had been filled with some low, deep rumbles of thunder. But John was too caught up with everything to even give it a second thought.
As Melody and John were there standing on the bluff staring into each others' eyes with the intensity of the volatile atmosphere around them, a very LOUD crack of lightning hit and thunder rolled. Melody wanted to kiss John so bad. There was just something very kissable about him, but she didn't want to move too fast, plus she didn't know where his head was at.
Even the crack of lightning made Melody jump. She nervously looked up at the sky. "I think the storm is here." She said to John.
John squeezed her hand, he looked at the sky, and the color of the clouds were black with a tint of green. The wind had all but stopped. It was the calm before the storm. "There's gonna be a helluva storm. God, I wish we were back. We're going to be stuck in it." He looked into her eyes, "We should have been home by now."
Melody didn't mean to but she burst into laughter.
John looked at her like she was crazy, "Why are you laughing? I'm serious, this storm is going to be ugly." He asked as the lightning seized the sky.
Melody bit her bottom lip embarrassed. But the look was driving John wild. It was a very sexy look on her. "Well, because my dad wrote a song lyric that goes like that. And it's funny because you've never even heard of him. You guys are in sync."
John looked at her funny and laughed. "You make me smile."
Melody squeezed his hand, "Well, I guess we should saddle up and ride home then."
John nodded. They were looking into each others' eyes and searching deep for something…neither knew for what. But they were searching. Would it be wise to fall for one another? Could the hearing vs. non-hearing worlds collide and succeed?
Slowly the two began to lean into each other. The moment had returned. Just as their lips were about to connect the sky opened up and the rain poured down upon them.
Melody shrieked and John wrapped his arms around her.
Melody grinned wickedly, "So, are you gonna kiss me or not?"
John chuckled and happily obliged her. The two stood there getting soaked in the rain but there they shared their first kiss. It felt so good and so right….yet so confusing all at the same time.
**What will happen next? Will they decide to pursue something? Or will John cut his loss and try the phone number in his wallet? What is Melody's father going to think? There's a whole lot of mystery surrounding Melody, will she open up to John? Please read and review!**