Another Heart Calls

By: IsisIzabel

Chapter 3

"You are my Manhattan from the sky

You look so neat and tidy when I'm way up high,

But I know your streets are lined with a fine mess inside

I want to come down and walk around your mind"

~ "Manhattan from the Sky" by Kate Voegele

The next few days bled together. Without the benefit of a clock, the days slid effortless into the next. The only way they knew a day had passed was when the sun set, darkening their cramped room. Time was meaningless. The minutes of each hour seemed to drag, but they were both astonished every time the sun rose on another day of their captivity. The monotony was broken up by a few sporadic visits from their captors—or Heckle and Jeckle, as Maxie had taken to referring to them.

They brought food three times a day. On the third day, they were each blessed with a change of clothes. Granted, they were only light gray sweatpants and sweatshirts, but it was something. Maxie bitched for two hours about the itchy polyester blend, but it didn't stop her from cuddling into the clean fabric and inhaling the store-fresh smell.

On the fifth day, the older of the two tossed a plastic bag into the room along with their morning breakfast. Johnny opened the bag and pulled out several back issues of random magazines and a battered deck of cards that was missing the eight of spades. Maxie's grin had lit up like it was Christmas morning until the reality of what was happening set in.

"Guess this means we're not getting out anytime soon if they're giving us entertainment," Maxie said slowly, lifting up a June 2003 copy of Good Housekeeping.

Johnny tried to give her an encouraging smile, but it fell short. Instead he picked up a two year old copy of Sport Fishing and started reading.

Most of the time was passed with talking. Maxie could say, with a significant amount of confidence, that Johnny Zacchara now knew her better than anyone else, and she was fairly certain he could say the same about her. She knew his favorite color was blue, he had been tossed out of no less than nine boarding schools in Europe during his childhood, and he was afraid of June beetles thanks in large part to Claudia.

Johnny had been seven and was caught spying on Claudia making out with the gardener's son in one of the rare times Anthony had allowed Claudia to visit them in the States. Claudia's retaliation had been coercing the gardener's son to gather up as many June beetles as he could collect which she then dumped into her little brother's bed that night. Anthony had sent Claudia back to Italy and bought Johnny a new bed, but not before making sure every last beetle made it to the incinerator.

God forbid those little bugs get to his roses.

After seven days of being alone together, they had yet to run out of topics. Hardly anything was taboo, save for the unmentioned topic of Lulu. They both gave that particular subject a wide berth.

Maxie sighed and set down the battered copy of Ladies Home Journal she had just read cover to cover. Johnny was across the room, his back leaned against the wall opposite her. His eyes were closed and he was tapping out a rhythm with his fingertips on the floor.

"Want to play cards?" she offered, anxious to do something.

His eyes opened slowly and he nodded, stretching his arms in front of him. "Sure. What game?"

"I picked last time," she reminded him.

He smirked, remembering. "Yeah. I forgot how much fun Go Fish can be."

"This from the guy who had us playing War for hours," she retorted good-naturedly. She tossed the magazine into the corner with the others they had read.

He snorted, shaking his head. "Poker?"

"Not much fun with two people," Maxie hedged.

His grin widened, knowing. "We could play strip poker. Win-win."

Her gaze narrowed and she pointed a finger at the camera lens that always watched. "I'm not going to have Heckle and Jeckle getting off on me stripping."

A look darkened his face for a fraction of a second. Anger? Annoyance? It was hard to place, and gone as soon as it appeared.

"Regular poker it is," she said with forced brightness, overcompensating for the moment. She wiped her palms on the front of her sweatpants and stood to pick up the deck of cards.

"You're bleeding."

He spoke so quietly she almost wasn't sure she heard him. Maxie turned, looking down at him. "What?"

Johnny cleared his throat, looking discreetly away. "You're bleeding, Maxie," he said gently.

She glanced down at herself and her heart plummeted as she saw the bloodstain on her pants. Great. Just freaking great. She had gotten her period, and in full view of Johnny.

To his credit, Johnny didn't seem phased in the least.

"Oh, shit," she muttered, horrified. She walked as fast as she could to the bathroom. Well, that explained why she had felt queasy earlier that morning. And here she thought it was the reheated breakfast burrito.

She shut the door and stripped off the pants, desperately wishing she had a clean pair of underwear. Instead she folded up several sheets of toilet paper and shoved them into her underwear. She washed her hands and stared at herself in the mirror.

Could this get any more embarrassing?

She turned sharply at a knock on the bathroom door.

"Here's your other pair of pants," Johnny called to her, his voice muffled.

She cracked the door open enough to grab the pants and slammed it just as quickly. She yanked them one, grimacing as she buttoned the tight pants. God, she needed Midol.

She contemplated staying in the bathroom the rest of the day, the idea of going back out to face Johnny was almost too mortifying to contemplate. In the end, she squared her shoulders and opened the door.

He was kneeling in front of the magazine stack, holding two different ones in his hands when she came out. He turned, his expression concerned.

"You OK?"

"You mean other than being totally embarrassed?" She walked to the mattress and sank down. "I'm fine."

He dropped both magazines and walked over to her, sitting down next to her, his knee bumping her leg. "Did I ever tell you about the first time I had sex?"

Startled, her mouth dropped open. "No…" She tucked a lock of hair behind one ear, turning her attention to him.

Johnny smiled wryly, rolling his eyes. "I was thirteen."

"Wow," Maxie said slowly, blinking. "That's so … young."

"She was twenty-two," he added, shaking his head. He sighed loudly. "And my father paid her."

"Oh, no," Maxie moaned, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, yeah," he replied, smiling at her. "Here I thought I was pretty suave, right? I managed to seduce one of the maids—"

"The maid?" she interrupted, laughing now.

Johnny glared at her, but his eyes were bright with amusement. "Yes. But in my defense, she was hot."

"Well, I would hope so."

"Anyway," he said loudly, over her giggles, "here I am thinking I'm this great seducer, and my dad calls me into the dining room where he gathered my uncles, several of his business contacts in Europe, and my grandfather. He has this whole elaborate dinner laid out, and in the middle he stands up to make a toast."

Maxie closed her eyes, wincing. "Oh, no."

Johnny nodded slowly as if confirming her fears. "He announces to everyone that Little Johnny is now a man—even if he had to pay for it."

She clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. "Oh, my God. That's so…"

"Embarrassing?" he supplied, nudging her shoulder.

A slow smile spread across her face. "You think this is my most embarrassing moment?"

Johnny kept smiling, but didn't answer.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Please. At least your first time wasn't webcast for the entire school to see."

His eyes rounded, amazed. "What?"

"I liked this guy, Kyle," she started, grimacing as she remembered. "He was the most popular guy in high school. Captain of everything. Every girl wanted to date him. So, you can imagine how happy I was when he asked me out."

"He'd be an idiot not to," Johnny added supportively.

Maxie beamed up at him. "Thank you. But it turns out the whole thing was a dare his friends came up with. They bet him he couldn't get me into bed. And to prove he did, he had to videotape the whole thing and upload it to the internet for everyone to see."

"Tell me you're joking." Johnny looked absolutely disgusted. "What's this kid's name? Kyle what?"

She laughed, shaking her head. "It's really OK, Johnny. We actually wound up dating for a while after it."

"You dated a guy who…" He trailed off, looking like he had sucked on a ripe lemon.

"Well, he did apologize. There was a lot of groveling involved," she added for good measure with a quick grin.

He rolled his eyes, briefly wondering why anything she said or did surprised him anymore. Maxie was unlike any other woman he had ever met.

They both tensed as the deadbolts started unlocking. Johnny stayed seated, having learned his lesson the first day when he tried to charge their captors. He had managed to pin the younger one, but turned to see the other had Maxie with a gun pointed at her head.

The older of the two—Jeckle, as Maxie referred to him—dropped a bag inside the door, presumably with their lunch in it.

Johnny fixed the man with a level glare. "Maxie started her period."

Maxie cringed and watched as Jeckle balked, his eyes going wide and swinging down to her. He swallowed hard and nodded, backing away. "I'll get you … something." He shut the door, sliding the locks back into place.

"I could've said something," she told him, her tone clipped.

"But you weren't going to," he answered calmly. "You were too embarrassed."

She flushed and looked away. "You don't seem embarrassed at all."

He shrugged. "It's biology. Besides, Claudia used to send me out regularly to buy her tampons when I was a kid, and I did live with you and Lulu."

"Thank you," she said after a moment, "for being so understanding."

He smiled warmly at her. "You're welcome."