Chapter Forty Two
POV Baby
In The Still Of The Night
As Johnny and I lie wrapped up together in his bedsheets, in the blissful aftermath of lovemaking, the song on his record changed to In The Still Of The Night.
In the still of the night,
I held you, held you tight,
Cause I love, love you so,
Promise I'll never let you go,
In the still of the night,
"You wanna hear something crazy?" Johnny asked. His voice was about the only thing that I was aware of now. The words to the song all blurred together. The only other thing I cared about then was his fingers, deftly stroking the skin over my neck and collar bone, a motion I never wanted to stop.
I want to give him an answer he deserves, one that was as dignified as he was. I care deeply about what Johnny had to say. But I'm only about breath away from falling asleep, so my answer is a glorified "Hmm,"
I remember that night in May,
The stars were bright above,
I'll hope, and I'll pray,
To keep your precious love,
Johnny hesitates before telling me, seeming afraid of his own words. "Last night I... I dreamt we were walking along, and... we met your Father. And he said come on, and he put his arm around me. Just like he did with Robbie,"
Well before the light,
I roll over to face Johnny. Right now was one of the very few times I'd ever seen vulnerability in his eyes, but I saw it now. His walls were down. Johnny turned his head to face me, blue eyes looking straight into mine. "Is that crazy, Baby?" He questioned, "For me to want that?"
"No," I assure him softly. I place my hand on the side of his face, the pad of my thumb resting across his cheekbone. Johnny was the most beautiful man I'd ever met. Right now, beautiful was the word for it, not handsome, because in these moments, I could really see him. All of him. "No, Johnny, that's not crazy." I learnt my forehead into his. "In fact, it's probably one of the sanest things I've heard you say since we met."
I felt his palm press into my shoulder, and a gentle rise of his chest as Johnny took in a long breath, eyes closed. "It feels crazy," He admitted in the still darkness if his room. I don't know why we whisper when we're the only ones around, but it feels right. The dark was a place for whispers.
Hold me again, with all of your might,
"Crazy like how I, the Daddy's girl, ended up sneaking off for trysts with a secret boyfriend that just so happens to be a Dancer?" I ask him with a small smile. Everything around us was crazy right now. In fact, the only place I felt sure of where I stood anymore was with Johnny.
"Yeah," Johnny chuckled in aggreance, fingers fondly stroking hair behind my neck. "Crazy like how I've been spending my day's with the stunningly beautiful Daughter of my boss's Doctor, a thing that would get me fired faster than you could say 'pink slip' if anybody else knew about it."
In the still of the night,
Hearing Johnny call me beautiful makes me want to grin and shriek and kiss him all at once. A strange sensation, but not altogether unpleasant. Unfortunately, it still doesn't address something I had been wondering about since yesterday. Why Johnny had beat up Robbie.
It wasn't as simple as what he said to me. Johnny had a cooler head than that, it couldn't be as simple as that. When I first came here, I'd seen Robbie give a similar slight to Johnny, and he just took it, leaving with a snide comment and a few knocked over forks. "Crazy like you beating up Robbie the other day, because of what he said to me?" I asked quietly.
"He called you a whore, Baby." Johnny answered flatly, cut and dried, simple. But this was anything but. I think Johnny knew why, I think he just didn't want to admit it. And I had a hunch that this dream he'd had involving Robbie and my father had a lot more to do with it than he was letting on.
I firmly retort, "He did not," And brush some hair from my forehead. I felt Johnny's arms pull me just a little bit closer. I know how that conclusion was reached, and God knows how protective of me Johnny was, but Robbie never actually called me a whore. That is, not straight out.
"He may as well have, and you can't tell me he didn't deserve it, " The Dance Instructor argued, like deserve was an automatic okay to beat somebody up. But it wasn't,and both Johnny and I knew that.
"If we want to play the deserve game, that should've happened weeks ago," I tell him, looking to those eyes of his that were always so clear about showing what he was thinking, now unreadable. "When he was being an ass to Penny. You wouldn't have done that under normal circumstances. So why?"
"Because right then, I hated him," Johnny answered, deep voice a steely calm of bottled anger. "And it wasn't for Penny, it wasn't for what he said, it was because Robbie can be a complete ass to everyone else, and your Father will still think he's great." The Dancer explained, frustration lining the undertones of his voice. "And it doesn't matter how much I care about you, or how good I am," He continued, "Because he's never going to accept me. When we saw them walking along... I was just so angry, because I knew I wouldn't ever be good enough for him, and Robbie was, without even caring."
My heart goes out to him, to this man who cared so much that he wanted my Father's approval. Who hurt at the fact that he didn't have it. I didn't give a dime how my Father felt about Johnny. It had nothing to do with my feelings. "You shouldn't be jealous of Robbie. He's nothing next to you,"
Johnny's blue eyes, the ones that I loved so, are filled with pain. "But I am jealous, Baby. He's certainly not nothing in they eyes of your Father. I just want him to accept me, you know? Could you imagine if we could be together and not have to hide? If your father accepted that we lo- care about each other?"
So before the light,
Hold me again, with all of your might,
In the still of the night,
I was so tired that it didn't register that he'd almost told me he loved me. I could feel sleep taking me, so I tried to use my time. "I wish that could happen, Johnny. One day soon, I will tell him. I know you want him to like you, to not wish I was dating someone else. But even if he doesn't accept it, I am still going to be with you. I will not stop feeling the way I do. I'm not going to let him control my life," I promise him. My Father made no decisions about who I loved. "You're the one I want to be with, Johnny. Nothing he can do is ever going to change that,"
In the still of the the night,
My words were true. What I felt for Johnny, it could be love. And I was completely unafraid of wanting such things with him. I could feel his grin at my words. "You sure? You really want the poor Dancer boy who grew up on the streets?"
I pressed a kiss to his lips. "Absolutely. Are you sure you want someone like me? The naive daughter of a Doctor who won't accept our relationship?"
"Are you supposed to start on the two in Mambo?" I know I should answer, know there is more to be said. But as I feel Johnny's lips on mine, that blissful sensation, I let sleep take me.
In the still of the night,
Oh my God, guys, I am so sorry!
So first off, I no longer have the problem with access to the internet on the device that has the stories on them. I transferred the documents to a google docs, and I can work on them from there.
Second of all, three reason it took so long to get this up is
1. I had to write in some parts I added, and
2. I went through the chapters I'd posted to edit them, and I realized just now that I posted the non Exerts version of Hula Hana in this. I had them both in the doc manager here, but I must have mixed them up when posting because both of them are titled Hula Hana. This is what I'm sorry about. The actual version of that chapter is now up and edited to perfection.
So, now, my hosting should return to normal. Thank you to all my readers. I hope you haven't lost too much faith in me.
TheLovelyBallroomGeek
