Chapter Twelve

"I'll be back, John."

"Sure, no problem." He turned his face back to the television set, stuffing his face with potato chips contentedly. I found it a bit weird that he didn't gain weight from some of the crap he ate. I didn't really mind, though. Whatever made him happy, I guess. Johnny had some meat on his bones, but was still pretty skinny.

I walked over to the telephone and placed a call to Mayra's house. "Hello, is Mayra there?"

"Yes, hold on a second." The other line rustled for a bit, then..."Hello?"

"Hi, May. Listen...I need to talk to you."

"Uh-oh." Mayra cleared her throat. "What happened?"

I laughed. "Nothing bad, if that's what you're thinking. But it might come off as a bit of a shock to you."

"Hm, okay. I see. So what is it?"

"Well...May, remember two years ago when we went to that Ramones concert?"

"Yeah, the night we didn't see eachother after like five minutes of the show?" She chuckled. "I remember."

"Well, you know, I have a reason why we didn't see eachother after the show ended."

"Oh?" There was interest in her voice. "And what's that?"

"Oh god, May. I met the Ramones that night!"

"WHAAAT!" Ow. I thought I lost a bit of my hearing just then. "Omaigodomaigodomaigod!" She squealed on the other line. "Girl, why didn't you tell me?"

"I had my reasons before, but see...I'm telling you now because-"

"Oh my Jesus, how was Joey in person? Did you tell him about me?"

I sighed. "No, May. I didn't talk to Joey all that much to be honest. I...spent most of my time with another member of the band. I think you can guess who it was."

She gasped. "Mhm. I sure can. It was that no good Johnny, wasn't it?"

"Mayra, he's a good guy." I rolled my eyes. "Listen. I want..." I saw Johnny walk over to me, worry on his face. He knew what I was doing. I did a hush sign to him so he'd keep quiet. The last thing I needed was for him to start yelling while I was on the phone with Mayra. She'd go crazy. "I want you, Jessica and Ann to meet him."

"Whoa, whoa. What the hell are you talking about?"

"What I mean is...we both realized we had a thing for eachother and we're in love. He came back to Baltimore yesterday to visit me."

Mayra gasped. "Oh my lord, I don't believe what I'm hearing! This cant be true."

"Well, you better believe it, and yes, it's true alright." I looked over at Johnny, who had his hand over his mouth, laughing like crazy. "So gather up everyone and try to be here by around six."

"Alright, but I cant lie, I'm in serious shock right now."

I chuckled. "Imagine how I felt the night we met. I thought I was imagining things!"

"Well, let me give the girls a call. We'll be over later, okay?"

"Sure, no problem."

"You know, I have to admit to you...Johnny was never my favorite Ramone, but I'm kinda excited to meet him."

"You should be. Anyways, talk to you later."

"Alright, bye-bye."

I hung up the phone and turned to Johnny smiling. "Oh man, I cant wait to see the looks on all their faces when they see you."

He said nothing.

"What's the matter, baby?" I put my arm around his shoulders and played with his eyebrows. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just kinda nervous."

"Why? Ah, you think they'll tell, huh?"

He nodded. "I'm just not comfortable with this, Angela. I just-"

"John. I told you before, they're not going to say anything. I don't stay close to people who blabber their mouths all the time." I laughed. "Alright? Nothing to worry about. Relax." I kissed his cheek. "Now lets go watch some TV, okay?"

"Sure. Oh, wait a sec."

"What's the problem?"

"You know Tommy, our old drummer from our first couple albums?"

"Oh yeah, Tommy. What about him?"

"Well, he told me to give him a call after a couple days just to make sure I was okay."

"Oh sure, no problem. Go ahead and use the telephone."

We walked our separate ways. I glanced at the clock, which read 4:09. Two hours...until total chaos. I dreaded when him and Jessica got into contact. She seriously liked him the least. But I'd make sure to keep the peace in the house. Poor Jessica believed too many lies. But I bet my entire life savings that the minute she saw him in the flesh, that would shut her up completely. Johnny was pretty gorgeous. He'd probably swoon her or something.

"Breaking News: New wave punk band the Ramones will be releasing their new album 'Too Tough Too Die' in a couple of months. The exact date is not certain as of right now, but the band will soon be doing a press conference to discuss the new album furthermore and other feelings towards their future..."

My eyes widened in surprise. "John! Oh my god, you didn't tell me!" I turned my head over to him. He was still on the phone. He turned to me when he heard me shout, and a smile broke out across his face.

"Yeah. Tommy listen, I gotta go, okay? Yeah, I'll call ya later. Bye." He hung up the phone. "So I guess you heard the news, huh?" He laughed.

"How come you didn't tell me?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise." He walked over to his bag on the floor and pulled out a blue album with the band's silhouettes on it. It was by far the best album cover I'd ever seen the Ramones do.

"But...how-"

"I knew that when you heard about our new album, you'd wanna be the first one to get it."

I chuckled. "Well...whether or not we're together, I'm still just as much of a fan girl over you guys as I was two years ago." I took the album from his hand. "Oh man, this is so cool! Thanks, baby."

"No problem." He kissed me passionately for a while, and I ended up dropping the album and putting my hands on his cheeks. Johnny had the sweetest mouth I'd ever felt.

"God, I think I'm in heaven," I said. Johnny laughed.

"Is that how you really feel when you kiss me?"

I nodded. "That, and...a bunch of other feelings. " I winked at him.

"Oh, oh I see where you're goin' with this." He raised a brow and I laughed. "I think I'm in for a little surprise later on tonight."

"Well, you're gonna have to work for it, you know. I'm not gonna let you get me in bed that easily." I teased him by walking away and looking back at him, winking seductively. Just when he was about to run over and put his big hands all over my body, the doorbell rang. We stopped dead in our tracks...

"You should wait here, okay? I'm gonna try to calm them down before...well, you know."

"Yeah, sure." Johnny nodded. "Go ahead."

I walked over to the door and opened it. And all in a couple seconds, I was drenched with comments and questions.

"Where is he? Is he here now?"

"I wanna see him too-"

"Okay, alright. Calm down guys, you're gonna scare him. I don't want him to start thinking I'm friends with a bunch of lunatics," I said and laughed.

"Okay, fine," said Mayra. "So is he really in there?"

"Yeah, and listen guys...don't ask him really dumb stuff, like if he goes to the bathroom. Try to act intelligent, please."

Jessica, Mayra and Ann all burst into laughter. I started laughing with them.

"I'm serious. He's gonna think that you all are crazy, so no stupid questions, okay?"

"Alright, no problem." Mayra fixed her hair. "Ooh, I'm so excited!"

"Okay, come on, guys."

I led them inside the house. Johnny walked over to us. "Hi."

All three girls screamed, and I held my ears.

"Oh my god, you weren't lying, Angela!" Jessica screamed out.

"Of course I wasn't. Why would I?"

Suddenly, all three girls attacked Johnny and surrounded him with hugs, kisses and telling him about how much they loved him and the Ramones. Psh, my friends were such hypocrites...but I couldn't help but to laugh at them and enjoy the time they were spending with him. Johnny just stood there smiling like an idiot. But so would any other man who was getting this much attention from girls. Ah, the life of a musician...