Chapter 1 – The Call
The ringing echoed through the whole Buxter Building on early Wednesday morning.
"Can somebody, please, answer that!" Sue screamed from the shower.
"I'm busy!" Reed was at the lab, so no-one could bother him.
"THAT'S ABOUT THE CEREMONY! YOU'D BETTER GET THAT!" He heard his fiancé from the shower and decided to take the phone before she would kill him. When wedding was the deal, future Mrs. Richards started getting really annoyed.
"Ok!" He said and took the receiver. "Hello."
"Hi, can I talk to Johnny." The voice said, somewhat fast and…scared.
"Oh, wait a minuet. Johnny! And how's asking? Johnny!" Reed called for Johnny, who was still peacefully asleep in his room.
"Am…tell him…tell him it's Carmen…" The girl on the other line was definitely frustrated and became more and more quiet with every word.
"Are you ok?" Reed asked uncertainly, hearing the tone of her voice.
"Just call Johnny!" It was an angry whisper now. "Please…"
"Hold on."
Mr. Fantastic quickly made his way to the room on the far left from the lab and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so he knocked again.
"Johnny!"
"Five more minuets…" He heard a voice from the inside.
"Now! There's a girl on the phone for you." He explained.
"Tell her to call back! I'm asleep…"
"She sounds upset. Said her name was Carmen and I thought…" He didn't get to finish the sentence because Johnny stormed out of his room and ran to the phone, hanging from the table.
"Hello! Carmen? You hear me? Are you ok? Is he ok?" asked Johnny even before the receiver touched his face. "What? Are you sure?"
Reed couldn't get what Carmen was saying, but could figure out her cries once in a while. His soon-to-be-brother-in-law, and for now just one of his best friends, was very upset, talked very fast, and for the first time in his life Reed could swear, that he was totally serious.
"I'll be there in the evening or tomorrow morning." He hung up after that and, putting his hands on the table in front of him, closed his eyes to overcome the starting headache.
"What's wrong?" Reed came closer and put a hand on Johnny's shoulder.
"I…can…can you get me a ticket to London today?" He finally spoke.
That was definitely the first time anyone saw Jonathan Storm in a condition like this. Reed knew better then to ask any kind of questions right now:
"Of course." He took the phone again. "But if you need to talk about it, I'm here."
"Thanks, Reed." Younger man whispered and started at the direction of his room to change.
In a couple of minuets, after Reed made some calls and ordered Johnny a ticket for this evening in first class, he saw Sue running out of the shower in only a towel.
"So? Was it Ms. Torn?" She asked.
"No. It was for Johnny. Do you know Carmen?" Reed wrote something in his notebook.
"Carmen?" Sue thought about it for a second. "Never heard of her. Who is she?"
"I don't know, but Johnny was very upset. In fact, I'm sure I've never seen him like that…Maybe you should talk to him…"
"Yeah…Sure." She nodded and headed to her brother's room.
"You might want to put something on at first." Sue heard Reed behind her and at the same second turned invisible probably ashamed.
Johnny was packing some stuff in his trip bag when he heard a soft knock on the door.
"Come in, sis." He answered without turning to meet her gaze.
"Hey…"
"Hi."
"How did you know it was me?"
"It couldn't be Pebbles, that's for sure and I figured that wouldn't be Reed right now…"
"You wanna tell what's going on?" She took a place on the edge of the bed.
Johnny sighed and stopped packing. He then took a glass of water and took a sip. Then he kneeled in front of his sister on the floor:
"Look, I'll be honest. I can't tell you for now. And I don't want to ruin your wedding, it's just four days left. I have to go to London for a couple days. I'll be back soon and then I'll tell you everything. Promise."
"Who are you?" Sue asked softly with a hint of smile. "And what have you done with my brother?"
He smirked and took her hands in his:
"You ok with it?"
"As long as you'll make it on my wedding." She smiled.
He smiled in return, and Sue took one of his T-shirts and put it in his bag.
"Sorry." They heard Reed from the door. "Johnny, your tickets will be here in 40 minuets."
"Thanks again."
TBC…
