I do not own Johnny Maxwell or anything else in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy.
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Johnny sighed. It had been another long day. Not the kind of long day where he sat around and waited for it to end, and that's why it was long. No, it had been the kind of long day where he had to go and mediate a conflict between two robot races on a distant planet. And he couldn't even tell them apart. Of course, in a strange way, that had actually helped.
Johnny turned a knob on his radio. It was a present from his grandfather. For some reason listening to it seemed to calm him down after episodes like that. Not that he minded the actual mediation, but the part where they had to escape the laser fire of destructobots kind of scared him.
The radio crackled for a while and finally came to life, playing a gooey love song. Johnny sat back and just listened, not really paying attention. After a while, he found his thoughts drifting to Kirsty.
Johnny sat up suddenly. Why would a love song make him think of Kirsty? He turned the radio off, threw open a window and let the cold air hit him. This bore some thinking about. He didn't love Kirsty. Did he? No, she was just his friend.
He thought about Kirsty some more. He remembered the first time he saw her. Standing in J&J Software, making Mr. Patel overturn a long-standing no-returns policy by mentioning federal acts and pronouncing italics. Not to mention brackets. Her ability to do that was still one of Johnny's favorite things about her.
Wait a minute. He had favorite things about Kirsty? Since when? But when he thought about it, there were certainly things he admired about her. Like how Kirsty instantly took control of any situation. No matter how weird things got, she always stayed on top of them-in her own way. Of course, sometimes that way wasn't the right way. Even someone as brilliant as Kirsty could do something stupid. Sometimes she got a bit too violent or too logical for her own good. Usually that's when Johnny's personality balanced her out. They actually made a pretty good team.
Another interesting thing about Kirsty was that she could actually follow him through whatever passages his mind wrought in the fabric of reality. His other friends would sometimes join him, but never fully. They wouldn't exactly understand what's going on, or they'd be scared, or they'd forget it afterward. But Kirsty always followed him, determinedly. Sometimes even eagerly. She seemed to think all the weird stuff was exciting, though to Johnny it always seemed like a nuisance. And she remembered it better than he did. Sometimes she took notes. He knew for a fact she had a timeline of all the occurrences hidden in her desk drawer.
Overall, if Johnny had to choose his best friend, or his closest one, he would probably select Kirsty. Though being around her could sometimes feel like handling a bomb, she was always reliable, and when he was around her they actually did things, not just hung around. Still, he didn't love her. Did he?
Johnny thought even harder, letting the night air wash over him. Perhaps if he approached it from a different perspective...for instance, did he think Kirsty was pretty? Well...kind of. Probably not in the traditional way. She was a bit too scary for that. Kirsty didn't go in for long eyelashes and lipstick. But she had a sort of a fit look that Johnny couldn't help but admire.
Johnny closed the window and sat back down, sighing. He was even more confused than usual. At least he could talk to aliens and ghosts. Sorting out his own feelings was much harder.
But even if he did like Kirsty that way, what could he possibly do about it? He tried to imagine asking Kirsty on a date. His brain refused to process it. Some things could not be thought about. Should not be thought about.
Johnny sighed again and went downstairs to watch TV and drive these strange thoughts out of his mind. They could wait for a while.