Disclaimer: I do not own American Idiot.
"Shit." Krystina starts, turning her back on Johnny. "Shit, shit, shit. Shit."
"Krystina, what's wrong?" I ask, pulling her into my arms. "Do you know Johnny or something?"
"He's the guy!" She nearly shouts, her eyes watering. "The one I was telling you about last night. Shit. If I had known he was your best friend…" She starts, but I quickly cut her off.
"Krystina, I love you. Please… Please don't." I hesitate, feeling a lump in my throat. "Please don't tell me you'd just give me up like that."
"You don't understand what he did to me, Will." She whispers, staring at my chest. "You know that I love you too. But I never wanted to see him again. You have to understand that."
"We can go. Honestly, Krystina, we can leave right now and go wherever you want. You don't have to see him again. Just please don't cut me out of the picture too."
Her eyes slowly meet mine and she sniffles, pulling me close to her.
"I want to know you. I want to know your friends and your family and your son."
"…Johnny's an asshole. He's an asshole for ever doing anything to hurt you, Krystina." I take her face in my hands gently, pressing my lips to hers.
We melt into each other, letting the world slip away. So what? My girlfriend and my best friend have history. I don't give a shit. I told this girl every single fucked up thing about me, and she never once backed out. She never looked at me like a kicked puppy. She stayed, and I'm going to stay too; I'm going to stay even if that means losing Johnny as a friend. She's worth it.
I run a hand into her hair, and hear a loud scoff. I lift my eyes to see Johnny making his way over to us. Krystina breaks the kiss, turning around to face him. I wrap an arm around her out of habit.
"So, you found a way to ruin my best friend's life too, I see." Johnny says harshly, but I can see his eyes are pleading with her.
It's like he's really saying something like 'Why are you here for him and not me?' I frown, tightening my grip on Krystina.
"Shut the fuck up, Johnny. Honestly. You're full of shit." I say, looking him in the eye. "You made that shit about her up. That's sick. You're sick."
He's quiet for a moment. He takes a deep breath, and it feels like he's the only person in the world who's making any noise. We watch him closely: inhale, exhale, repeat. His eyes flicker over to Krystina's and he straightens up, fixing his jacket.
"I want to talk to her. That's all." Johnny says, keeping his eyes locked with Krystina's.
"Krys, is that-" I start, but she cuts me off.
"Just give us a minute." She whispers, walking a few paces away. Johnny follows after her quickly, like a fucking dog.
I try to take deep breaths and distract myself from watching them. They're talking quietly; Krystina seems calm and Johnny seems like he's about to blow up.
"Are you okay?" Jillian asks, laying a hand on my arm.
"You have to admit, this is kind of funny." Tunny says with a smile, but it falls as soon as Jillian shoots him a glare. "I mean, it's not funny. I'm sorry."
"Don't you fucking see it? This is fate, telling us that we should be together." I hear Johnny nearly yell at Krystina.
Now I'm about to explode.
I ball up my fists and turn around, starting to walk down the sidewalk, away from the mess. This wasn't supposed to happen. Everything was supposed to go perfectly here, and now it's complete shit. Krystina will never want to stay here with me. She probably won't want to stay with me at all. That's fucking terrifying.
"Will!" Krystina says, suddenly appearing beside me. She's panting slightly, and she reaches out to stop me. "Where the fuck are you going?"
"You seemed busy with your fucking soulmate over there." I mumble, tugging a hand through my hair.
"You can't blame this on me, Will. You can't be mad at me for what I can't control." She says, crossing her arms.
"I'm not mad at you. I'm pissed at him. How the hell did he fuck things up with you? …And now he just wants to take you from me like it's nothing?"
"It's not like you own me." She says quietly. "But I love you. And you love me. And that has to count for something. You have to trust me. Please."
"I do." I whisper, biting my lip. "It's him I'm worried about."
"Don't worry. Don't think about it." She says, laying a hand on my cheek. "Why would I choose to run after you if you had anything to worry about?"
"I choose you." I say quickly, pulling her into my arms. "I will always choose you."
"So, you've only known her for a few weeks but you're already in love." Heather says, taking a sip of coffee. "And she's Johnny's infamous ex. Sounds like it's destiny."
"You don't get to say shit like that, Heather. You don't even know her." I say, leaning over the stroller to check on Elton.
"You say shit about Alex all the time!" Heather protests, setting her cup down.
"Yeah, but I know Alex, and he's a dick," I reply, lifting Elton out of his seat. "You haven't even had a conversation with Krystina. How the hell is it even fair for you to make me meet up with you just so you can shit on my girlfriend?"
"It's called an intervention, asshole. You don't know what you're getting into, and I doubt she'll be a good influence on Elton-"
"You're such a hypocrite." I roll my eyes, kissing Elton's forehead. "At least Krystina's not making me pack up and leave last minute with my kid every other week."
"Alex loves what he does, Will. I have to be supportive. At least his job is a little more stable than whatever it is Krystina does. Is there even a name for that?"
"Bull shit," I say, gently setting Elton back down. "I honestly can't stand you, Heather. What the hell happened to you?"
"You happened to me, Will! You always act like the victim. Don't you think it was hard for me, too? I had to go. You were treating me like shit."
"I understand that, and I'm sorry. I was in a bad place then, and if I could change how I acted, I would. But, Heather, you turned around and found someone just as bad. Maybe even worse."
"At least he doesn't ignore me." She says, pulling Elton towards her.
"Oh, he doesn't? The only person he's invested in is himself. Don't you worry about what will happen when he gets bored?"
"Will, you don't understand what it's really like. You're just watching us from the outside."
"Well, isn't that what it's like with Krystina and me?"
Later that day, I'm sitting on the couch at Tunny's, drinking a beer. Jillian took Krystina out for the day, hoping to relieve some of the tension between everyone. We haven't really talked about it. I don't know if we're trying to pretend it didn't happen, or if we just don't know what to say.
It's pretty crazy, though, that out of everyone in the city I could have fallen in love with, it was my best friend's ex girlfriend. Maybe Johnny was right – it's fate. Hopefully just for her and me, though.
But at least she didn't bail as soon as she found out. Not that I would have expected her to. I know that she's in this just as much as I am. No one can come between that.
"So, how do you think this is all going to work out?" Tunny asks, taking a drink. "I mean, now that you have to stay here. Are you just going to do the long distance thing, or…"
"We've only been together for a month." I sigh, closing my eyes. "I want her to stay here with me, but it's only been a month. And she loves the city. That's where she belongs. I don't think she would choose me over it at this point. Maybe one day, though."
"You're not going to ask her or anything?" Tunny lays back, playing with the tub on his beer can.
"…If I was a little more of a dick, I'd just go back to the city until we were ready to settle down. But, I can't do that to Heather, even though she does it to me all the time. I can't lose Elton. It's not fair, but she can take him away from me if I fuck up, but I can't take him away from her. No matter what."
"Maybe you could look into getting a custody agreement. I'm sure your parents would help you out."
"Heather would never go for that. She likes having this power over me. It's fucked up." I shake my head.
We're silent. After a moment, we hear a knock on the door. I really hope it's Krystina, I think, as I sit up. The door swings open, revealing Johnny. I roll my eyes and turn back to the TV.
"Jesus Christ," I say, balling my fists, digging my nails into my palms.
"In the flesh," He replies, walking inside.
He sits on the couch between Tunny and me. I scoot away quickly.
"I don't have cooties." Johnny says plainly. "And if I did, you already would have got them from our girlfriend." He smiles, looking at me. "Your girlfriend. Sorry, I forgot."
"You're being an asshole." Tunny says, keeping his eyes on the TV.
"I just don't get why you're still with her." Johnny says harshly. His voice makes it sound like he's close to tears, but his face gives nothing away. "Are you obsessed with my sloppy seconds?"
"You dated Heather for two days in the fourth grade. That doesn't fucking count."
"It was the best relationship she's ever been in, so it kind of does count." He retorts, running a hand through his hair. "I love her."
"Heather?" I ask hopefully. I don't need this shit. I don't need him ruining what I have with the best person I've ever met.
"Kristy." He says quickly.
"It's Krystina." I get up, walking into the kitchen for another beer. "And you don't love her. Maybe you did once, but you don't get to keep doing it. You've been a dick. She deserves better than you."
"What? And she doesn't deserve better than you?" Johnny asks hotly.
"Of course she fucking does! She deserves everything. But at least I know that. At least I'm trying." I look at the beer in my hand for a second before putting it back in the fridge. "At least I can remember her fucking name."
"Are you cold?" I ask, gently rubbing Krystina's back. "I can find us another blanket."
She shakes her head, laying her cheek against mine.
"Am I crazy? Or do you hear someone screaming too?" She asks, closing her eyes tight.
"It's Tunny." I tell her, slipping my hands under her shirt, laying them on the small of her back. "He has some really intense nightmares."
"About losing his leg?"
I nod slowly, tracing shapes on her skin.
"Jillian will probably get up and get him a glass of milk soon. I think they're both pretty used to it. They don't talk about it or anything."
"I think that's… Romantic." Krystina whispers and I grin, rubbing her back gently.
After a few minutes, the noises coming from their room subside. I watch the light in the kitchen turn on, staying that way for a few minutes. I gently kiss my way across Krystina's temple until the light goes off again. Then, I exhale slowly, removing one of my hands from the place under her shirt so I can stroke her hair.
"I like you." She says with a grin. She looks me deep in the eyes, resting her hands on my cheeks. "I like you a lot."
"I think you're okay." I grin back, stopping to peck her lips. "I love you." I whisper against them, lifting her shirt slightly.
"I love you too, Will." She replies, caressing my cheek with her thumb. "Should we talk about what happens after we're done staying here?"
"Sh," I say, pecking her lips again. "Tomorrow. I don't want to ruin this moment."
"…How did you not realize that I was the person Johnny kept talking about?" She asks, laying her forehead on mine.
"First of all, he couldn't remember your name." I say, lifting her shirt up a little further. "I know that sounds ridiculous. It is. Sometimes we called you "Whatsername." He talked about you a lot."
"Oh." She says, kissing my shoulder. "But I told you stuff about him. Couldn't you have put it together?"
"He lied about you. He said some really shitty things. At the time I just thought they were true and laughed. Now I can't believe he would even think of doing that. You're perfect."
"Nobody's perfect, Will."
"But you are. I'm not trying to pressure you to act a certain why or anything, but everything you do is perfect. And if you really don't like that, that's okay. But you are perfect for me."
"I love you," She whispers, kissing me deeply as soon as the words leave her lips.
I grin, pulling her shirt over her torso. She breaks the kiss to get it off her head, grinning at me. I pull my shirt off as well, leaning forward to kiss her again.
"What if they hear us?" She whispers with a smile playing at her lips.
I kiss down her jawbone and neck, nipping at a few spots. I laugh softly at what she said, unclasping her bra quickly as I kiss along her collar bone.
"I can be quiet."