Disclaimers: I don't own the F4 characters.
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Johnny was sitting on the balcony outside Maria's room that overlooked the city. He thought maybe if he stayed in her room she might come back somehow. He remembered when he was little, he used to sit in his mother's study waiting for her to come back, only she never did. He wiped away a tear from his eye, Maria was coming home, he needn't worry.
The sky was dark, yet the city lights made it hazy. He wondered where abouts she was, not in the city. He knew that, the train station had told them a girl matching her description had bought a one way ticket to New Jersey. The station in New Jersey said many girls matching her description had bought a ticket to various destinations. Johnny wandered if maybe they were hookers, Maria certainly didn't look like one, but tonight she was wearing her 'going out' clothes. Then again, they were hardly 'hooker-ish,' tight jeans and halter neck. 'She did look good though', Johnny physically slapped himself, he was not to have thoughts like that about his friend
He thought back to when they first met, it was at some kind of dinner. Ben was there, as was Reed and Sue. Ben had bought a twelve-year-old girl with him, she'd been introduced as Ben's daughter. It had to be explained to Johnny that she was his adopted daughter. He was only thirteen himself, and got confused easily.
Her hair was longer then, it was before the dreaded haircut, which after she tugged at her hair constantly hoping it would grow. She only went in for a trim, but the scissors 'slipped'. Her hair was longer now, not as long as when she was thirteen before she cut it. 'Can't handle the up-keep' she'd smile, and have it trimmed now and again, by a different hair dresser (the same one as Sue to be exact).
He and Maria had bonded quickly, they related easily to each other because they had both lost a mother. Although, Maria had lost both her parents. They liked the same games and both read action books, and both shared a love of Power Rangers. Each were also a little nervous at admitting that due to them being older than most children who liked them. They agreed Tommy was better as the White Ranger than the Green. And what was up with the Alien Rangers?
They were pretty close when they grew up, not in distance, but emotionally. Ben wasn't too keen on Johnny, but he made Maria smile and laugh, and seeing that was good enough for any father.
Johnny smiled to himself thinking about the things they used to do together, then his smile faded as his thoughts drifted to what happened six months ago, when he'd had his DNA 'fundamentally altered.'
He'd let the popularity go to his head for a while, but Maria bought him down to Earth. "They don't care about Johnny Storm," she'd told him, "They only see the Human Torch." He'd asked her "Who do you see?" she'd just smiled at this question, but never answered it.
Maria was weird after that, she avoided him a lot. He didn't know why, but he was slowly beginning to suspect a reason behind it.
He inhaled the cool air, and blew out. He could see his breath in the air. Maria had pointed out you could even see his breath on a hot day, it was one of the few comments she ever made about him. This made him think maybe their friendship wasn't entirely doomed.
His pocket began to vibrate, and then a 'Power Ranger's' theme started playing. It was a little joke the two had, he had 'Lost Galaxy' as his ring tone, and she had 'Wild Force' as hers, yet they had programmed their phones so the theme only played when either one of them phoned.
He quickly grabbed for his phone, "Maria?" he said down the receiver, waiting for her voice to answer.
"No, it's not Maria, it's Maddie," came a different girl's voice.
"Maddie?" Johnny asked confused. He knew who Maddie was, he'd met her a few times with Maria, but why would she have Maria's phone? Then it dawned on him, "Is Maria with you?" he asked.
There was silence on the other end, "Yes," came a voice finally. "Umm… I think you should be here," she said to him.
"Where?" he asked urgently. "Is she ok?" he asked struggling to hide the panic in his voice.
"Just outside New Orleans," she replied, "and yes, she's ok. Well as ok as one can be after being made a fool of…" she said bitterly.
Johnny ignored this, "Just give me the directions and I'll be there," he said.
"'Cape Café'," came the answer, "The first café on the freeway on the Western road… can't miss it," she said.
"Thanks," Johnny said hanging up. He considered telling the others, but realised he could be there in a flash, and bring her home quicker before the others had even arrived. He ran to his room to write a note, and made sure his 'uniform' was properly zipped, before he exited on the balcony and 'Flamed On' on his way to Maria.
