Chapter Fifteen

"So, before we actually get deep into all this, you wanna drink something? I'll get you something if you want-"

"No, no I'm fine." He took off his t-shirt, leaving his blue tank top underneath. God, his muscles...no. This wasn't the time to have thoughts like that.

I nodded. "Okay. So...babe, when did all this start?"

Johnny sighed and bit his lip. "Well...see the thing is, when I met Joey...before the Ramones, I mean, I don't know. He was really weird."

"Hm, alright. In what way?"

"Like the dude smoked and said weird shit that freaked me out. Joey's like one of those hippie dudes, ya know? He was hard to understand, so for that I didn't like him."

"Well, John. I don't think that's the entire reason why you both hate eachother."

He looked away. "Actually, something else did happen. With a girl."

I remembered he said something about a girl named Linda two years ago. "Was she called Linda?"

He looked surprised. "How'd ya know? You weren't supposed to know that."

"I remember you mentioned her before. When we first met, you and Joey got into a fight that night at the hotel, and you said her name. I had to tell you to stop because it was getting out of hand."

Johnny's face turned shameful. "Yeah, well...there was a girl named Linda that Joey was dating a long time ago. And what happened was I..."

"You...?" I could tell he didn't want to say it. "John, what happened?"

"I...may have stole her from him?"

"WHAT?" I stood up in front of him. I couldn't believe this! "John! Why would you do something like that?"

"See? This is why I didn't wanna talk about it. I knew you'd judge me." He got up from the dining room chair and got ready to go upstairs.

I sighed. "Wait...look, I'm sorry. Just...here, explain to me then. I'm sorry I did that."

"It wasn't intentional. I didn't do it just because we didn't like eachother...I really loved Linda. And she loved me."

Hearing this was making me insanely jealous, and I wanted him to stop. I didn't want to feel that way, but I couldn't help it. When you only have eyes for one guy, and he starts talking about his ex-girlfriend, you cant help but to want to gouge her eyes out. At least that's how I felt. "Oh..."

Johnny was staring at me. "Angie? You...you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Nah, I'm fine." I pulled on my hair and fidgeted with my clothes.

"Alright. So, anyway...see, one night, Joey went out to buy somethin'. Guess he trusted me not to make any moves on Linda while he was gone. I didn't. Even though I didn't like Joey, I respected 'im enough not to do that. But the thing is...me and Linda talked for a while. And then all of a sudden she kissed me. So then of course, me bein' the kinda guy that I am, I let 'er do it. Course that led to other shit and when Joey got back..." He waved off his hand dismissively. "Well, there ya have it."

"What about Joey? What'd he do when he saw you guys?"

Johnny chuckled. "Aw man, it wasn't pretty. He yelled and cursed and nearly choked me to death. We ended up getting in a fight, and I beat him up pretty badly. He got sent to the hospital, and I did too."

I was trying. I was trying so hard not to judge Johnny. But it was hard, when I heard something like this. Still...I tried to keep an open mind. I was-after all- in love with this man. And there was always two sides to a story. Always. "Wow, that's pretty bad."

"Me and Linda didn't stay together, though. We lasted a couple months, and finally we just broke it off. She told me she felt too guilty for what happened, so I said 'Okay'. And that was that...as a result, well, me and Joey never really liked eachother, but after that happened..."

I sighed and looked down, not really knowing what to say. What was there to talk about? I was completely speechless. Then, after a couple of long, horrific minutes, Johnny broke the silence.

"Angela...you don't hate me, do you?"

"Oh, John." I moved closer to him. "How could you say something like that? You know that's not true. I love you, darling." I lightly kissed his nose. "I guess I'm just thinking about how to take all this in. It's alot of information, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

After a moment of processing my response, there was nothing else I could do. I had to say what was on my mind. "Look...I understand that crap happens in the worst kind of timing and in the wrong circumstances. I get that. So...I know this might be hard, but I really think you guys should talk about this. I mean, when did this even happen?"

"Like, back in '80 or '81. Not sure, around there."

"Aw John, come on. That's like five years of you guys acting like this. Okay, you know what? You need to talk to Joey."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Angie-"

"Don't 'Angie' me. I'm serious, honey. This has to be resolved."

He didn't respond, just bit his nails.

"Will you at least think about it? Please?"

His eyes darted towards mine. It was almost as if they read guilt, but he just wasn't admitting it.

"Why cant you just tell him that you're sorry?" I put my hand on his cheek. "Hm? What's the harm in that? You know, I'm sure Joey'd appreciate it. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to not accept it."

He shrugged. "'Kay, fine. I'll think about it."

The phone suddenly rang, and I got up to get it. "Hello?"

"Hey, uh, who's this?"

"Well who's this?"

"It's Mark, I'm calling for a guy named John. Do you happen to know 'im?"

"Oh. Marky?"

"Yeah, who's this?"

"It's me, Angela."

"Angela? Oh my gawd, damn! Really? What...how ya been?"

I laughed. "Good, and yourself?"

"Pretty good. Wait, but how did-"

"It's a long story, I can explain later. You want John now?"

"Sure, put 'im on the line."

I looked back at Johnny who was looking out the window. "Baby, it's for you." He walked up to the phone and took it from me.

"Yeah. Oh...oh hey Mark...what? Oh, shit. Really?" He sucked his teeth and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Alright, alright yeah. Okay, fine. 'Kay, I'll let you know what time then." He hung up.

"Everything okay?"

"Angela...sweetie, I gotta leave tomorrow."

His words hit me like an unexpected slap. "What? But, why?"

"Well Mark told me that we have to do a fanmeet in a couple of days, and were also gonna do a couple of interviews for some people."

That feeling started to come back to me. The feeling of when he left, and the life I lived without him. My heart began to beat faster, and it wasn't long before I went into a huge panic attack. The tears gradually formed. "No. Please..." I think he sensed the fear in my eyes, because he held me closer.

"Angela, babe I don't wanna leave you here by yourself. But ya gotta make a decision."

I broke down in that moment. I just couldn't think. My knees were about to give in, and Johnny caught me just in time.

"Okay, just calm down. Calm down." He kissed my forehead. I couldn't stop crying. "We're gonna talk about this okay? It's gonna be okay. I'm here." He rubbed my back, trying desperately to placate me. That was when my mom came through the front door looking surprised at the both of us. Goddamn, why was my life such a fucking movie...

FOOTNOTE: CBGB'S-Located in Manhattan, New York. First place the Ramones played in 1976.