I do not own Dirty Dancing.

Chapter Thirty One

POV Baby

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

Hoping for an answer, I knock on Johnny's door. He was probably home, with it being raining at all, but some of the guests here were just unpredictable. For all I knew, he could be working on something in the studio. But I had come here with only one thing on my mind. It had been far too long since I'd seen him.

The door creaked open to reveal Johnny, looking surprised to see me. Wordlessly, I pull him into a kiss, gripping the lapels of his shirt. I cling to him, burning with a fierce hunger to do things only he had taught me.

I pull a ways, sucking in a breath of the warm air between us. Johnny pulled me inside and closed the door. He pushed my raincoat from my shoulders. "I don't have long," I mutter, pressing another kiss to his lips. Johnny moaned at the pressure of my lips on his. I pull his shirt over his head and toss it to the floor. "My family was being mind numbingly boring," I kiss him again. Johnny tugged the hem of my shirt, which soon lays abandoned on the floor with his shirt. "I couldn't stand it," I say, giving him yet another kiss. "So I left."

Johnny pressed his lips to the soft skin on my neck, kissing every inch. I fingered his belt, undoing it. "What did you tell them?" He asks. I slip my arms around my neck.

Coyly, I grin at my answer. "That I was going to do Charades,"

"Charades. Is that my new nickname?" Johnny asks jokingly. With a gentle smile, I close the space between us, and my bra fell to the floor.

I listened to the pounding of the rain again the roof. So many sounds to listen to. The rain, the music, a soft rendition of Kiss Me Goodbye, and Johnny's heartbeat. His heartbeat was my favorite. Just the sound made me feel safe. But the rain was what I would remember most.

100 years from now, when I thought about the rain, I would remember being seventeen, lying warm and safe in Johnny Castle's arms. I would remember the feel of his skin, and the sheets, how content I was to spend my time with him. And I would remember the music, and his deep voice. I would remember his heartbeat, and blue eyes.

I sighed as I lay against his chest, Johnny's hand tracing up and down my spine. I could never remember being this happy before. "I'll never forget the rain," I tell him.

"Never?" He inquired. "Not even when you're 99 years old?"

"Never," I answer. Next, I say what I think are the most idiotic words a person has ever said in a time like this, "You're a good teacher,"

A fit of giggles burst from my stomach. "What?" He laughs. Johnny pulled his head back to face me properly, a slightly alarmed, slightly confused and amused expression crossing his handsome face. I giggled.

I knew what he thought I meant, which wasn't what I really meant. He was good at both, but in this case, I was referring to the first thing he had taught me. "I mean dancing,"

"Oh..." Johnny laughed, rolling his eyes a bit. "You know it's nice. It's like, when people don't think that they can do something, and... and I show them, and... they can?"

"Mhmm,"

"I don't know. It's like something goes from me to them, and back again. It's like... personal, or something," He says. I don't really understand the point of his words, but I think that is the beauty of them. That here, conversation doesn't need a point, it can just be. Here we can talk about the most ridiculous things in the world, and no one will think us fools.

There is a moment of silence as the song on the record changed to Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Johnny looked at me. I knew that soon, I would have to go. I always hated having to leave him. But my Parents didn't know about us. They couldn't know. They would think he was using me for sex, which wasn't true. Thinking this made me want to know just how many others there had been, before me. I adjust my position to be further on top of him, and lean my head on my elbow. "Have you had many women?

"What?" Johnny laughed. It is an alarmed laughter, like he is afraid of my question.

"Have you had many women?" I repeat.

"Baby, come on," Johnny responded in his deep voice. Those words meant he didn't want me to know, which meant he was afraid of what I would think of him if I did. I should've realized then that that meant the answer was something I wouldn't like.

Persisting, I say, "Tell me, I want to know,"

"No, no," He esponded, almost laughingly, nonchalantly. It is not an answer so much as a plea telling me that I really didn't want to know. He is still avoiding the question. Johnny climbed out from the sheets, and put on his pants. Thunder boomed outside.

Johnny turned back to face me, expression grim. "Well, you gotta understand what it's like, Baby. You come from the streets, and suddenly you're up here, and these women, they are throwing themselves at you, and they smell so good," I just sit and listen to Johnny, though I don't like where this is going. I had asked. And he told me that I didn't want to know. After a breath, Johnny continued, "And they really take care of themselves. I mean, I never knew women could be like that, you know? And they're so rich, they're so goddamn rich, you think they must know about everything."

Johnny bent down and picked up his shirt, roughly putting it on. "And they're slipping their room keys in my hands, two and three times a day, different women. So here I think I'm scoring big, right? And for a while, you think, hey, they wouldn't be doing this, if they didn't care about me, right?"

I look around the room, unable to look at him. I remember what he'd said the night of the Sheldrake. He had women shoving diamonds in his pockets. This hurt, but I still couldn't help but have feelings for him. This did not change how I felt about Johnny. It made me wish that I had never asked. I didn't understand how I could still want this with him after he'd admitted something like this. "That- that's alright. I understand, you were just using them, that's all,"

At my response, Johnny shook his head. "No, no. That's not it." Johnny sat down on the bed. In this moment, he looked almost as vulnerable as the night I came to see him after the Sheldrake. "That's the thing, Baby, see it- it wasn't like that. They were using me,"

He could so very easily be lying to me. But then I thought about how he'd said it, that for a while, he'd thought he was scoring big. For a while. He hadn't asked to sleep with them, they had wanted it. It is difficult to believe that once, Johnny was just as naive as I was.

But he had been. We all were at one point. This would explain the scorn with which he treated the guests. The Bungalow Bunnies had hurt Johnny, and he had learned from his mistakes. He had learned that all they wanted was sex, even if they acted like they cared.

Johnny was not perfect, but I loved him all the more for it. I loved his flaws, loved that he wanted to be better for me. He was not perfect, but he was mine.

I sit up, and put an arm around Johnny's neck, letting the sheet fall from my breasts. Gently, I kiss him. He kissed back hungrily, and I felt his hands pressing into the skin of my back. Johnny pushed me into the mattress, kissing me roughly.

Johnny pulled away, a look of confusion on his face. "What's you're real name, Baby?" He asks.

My real name. So few people outside my family knew it, and I hated being called by it. My Parents only used it when I was in trouble, a rare occurrence, and when I was little, Lisa used to call me by it to annoy me. But no one had actually called me by my real name in years. And I certainly didn't want Johnny to call me by it. That name made me sound like a stuffy old lady. No matter what happened to our relationship when I left Kellerman's, I never wanted him to stop thinking of me as Baby. It wasn't a nickname with Johnny, it was a term of endearment. Something whispered from one partner to another as they made love in the darkness of a hot Summer night.

"Frances," I answer, and then, in a fit of giggles, explain, "For the first woman in the cabinet,"

"Frances," Johnny laughed, looking down at me with a loving expression in his eyes. "That's a- that's a real grown up name," He decided.

Gently, Johnny kisses me again, and I know, I am a hair a way from being completely in love with him.