Chapter Twenty-Four

"Dee Dee, I swear to god I'm gonna knock down this door if you two don't keep the goddamn noise down." Johnny's voice echoed all around the place and vibrated. He sure could be loud, I'll give him that. I mean, it wouldn't hurt to have a quieter voice, but when he did yell, it sure got people's attention quickly. He turned to me. "I'm sure we're not this loud when we...you know."

I chuckled. "Well, don't forget the first time we did it together. Remember how much I screamed? I probably sounded just like Rosy does right now."

Johnny's face slightly changed to a bright pink. "Yeah, I remember that alright." He laughed. "I was tryin' to shut you up but you wouldn't." He walked back over to the couch and sat down next to me again. He rubbed his arms. "Damn, it's really cold in here. Arturo!"

Arturo came rushing out from his room. "Yeah, John."

"What's with the fuckin' temperature, man? It's freezing in here!"

"Oh! Oh, I forgot to turn it back up. I kept it cool in the house 'cause I was waiting for my new painting to dry."

"Well, can ya turn it back up? Like, I'm dyin' here." Johnny's face for a split second looked really blank, then he sneezed.

"Bless you," I said and laughed. Then I couldn't stop laughing. What was wrong with me? All of the guys (excluding Dee Dee, who was currently fucking the brains out of Rosy in the other room) looked at me with weird looks on their faces. Joey stopped drinking and put his beer glass on the counter, and Marky froze from making his sandwich to look up at me. Johnny's face was the funniest of all. I laughed harder. "Oh god, I'm sorry." My giggles I was sure could've been heard by Arturo too, who was in the other room probably shaking his head at my stupidity.

"Uh...Angie?" Johnny raised an eyebrow. "You alright babe?"

I laughed harder for no reason at all. God, I had to be the weirdest girlfriend he ever had. I bet Linda never acted like this.

"Ya know, I only sneezed," he said and chuckled. "I don't see how that's funny, but-" He stopped mid-sentence and sniffed the air. "Ah shit. Now I know why you're actin' so fuckin' weird...you're high."

"Whaaaaat..." I giggled again and fell backwards yelling obscenities. Wow, my head felt light...

"DEE DEE! You motherfucker..." Johnny mumbled under his breath, then sucked his teeth. "I told 'im not to smoke that shit around here. Now you're fuckin' high. Great."

I sat up and squeezed Johnny's cheeks. "Aw, baby it's alright. I'm fine, I'm fine." Then I got up from the couch and twirled around in circles, just like Dee Dee did earlier that day in that other apartment we were in. I felt a pair of hands hold me steady.

"Okay Angie, alright. Come on, cut it out. You need some sleep."

I giggled and turned around to see Johnny putting his hand on my calves, then swinging me off my feet and carrying me. "Oh John, you're so fuuuuuny!"

He sighed and carried me to another room, then carefully placed me on the bed. He brought the sheets to my torso, and tucked me in. Even though my head felt light, and I wasn't too aware of what was happening around me, I was aware enough to know what he was doing. Johnny was taking care of me. No one had ever really done the things he did for me. Suddenly, I began to cry. I was beginning to feel better, and I was more alert now.

"Hey, hey." Johnny sat beside me on the bed and stroked my hair. "What's the matter?"

"Thank you," I whispered to him and sat up, wrapping my arm around his shoulder, then putting my head on his chest.

"Babe, what'ya talkin' about?"

"Thanks for just being there, you know?" Why in the world was I crying? There was nothing to be sad about. Man, I was really such a baby. It was amazing that Johnny could stand all of my incessant blubbering.

"Well of course I'm always gonna be here for ya, Angie. I love you."

That just made the tears in my eyes well up even more.

"Angela, what the heck are ya cryin' about?" He held me closer and kissed my lips. His lips were so soft. I kept his face close to mine. I liked the way Johnny breathed on my nose. It comforted me. Actually, everything about him was comforting to me.

I calmed down and sighed. "I'm sorry, baby. I don't mean to be so moody. I think I might have my period tomorrow. Maybe that's why I've been so...just-"'

"Completely outta whack?" Johnny laughed and kissed my temple. "It's alright, I understand." He wiped the final tears from my face and forced me to lie down. "Get some sleep, sweetie. I'll see you in the morning."

"Wait, aren't you gonna sleep too?"

"Not yet, I have some things to take care of."

I raised an eyebrow at him. Something didn't sound right to me. "Like...?"

"Uh...ya know...stuff."

"John William Cummings, tell me the truth."

"I'm..." he started to whisper. "I'm gonna try to talk to Joey."

I gasped. "Tonight?" I felt my face breaking into a huge smile. "Honey, that's great! It's about time you two had some closure."

He sighed. "Can I be honest with ya, Angie?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I'm actually kinda nervous about this...I mean, we never had an actual conversation. Just small talk, ya know?"

"Well John, nows your chance to make everything better. Go ahead, I'm gonna get some sleep. I'm seriously exhausted."

He gave me a half smile. "Wish me luck."

I chuckled and kissed his nose. "Good luck. 'Night."

Johnny kissed me, then turned the light out and closed the door. if he thought I wasn't going to watch this moment in Ramones history happen, he was dead wrong. I HAD to see this. So when he closed the door, I got out of the bed, and creaked it slightly, just enough so that I could see what was going on. Oh man, this was going to be exciting!

Johnny walked into the kitchen, where Joey sat gulping his beer and reading a magazine. Dee Dee was in the other room with Rosy, the other girl, Josephina, had already gone home, and Marky was passed out on one of the sofas, snoring away.

"Hey." Johnny looked down at his pockets, probably not sure where to look.

Joey looked up, confused. "Uh...hey John. You...okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Listen, uh...can I grab a beer?"

"Sure, ya wanna talk about somethin'?"

"Actually, yeah I do." Johnny went into the fridge and grabbed a beer bottle, then sat down next to Joey. He used the bottle opener beside him to loosen the cap, then sat back and took a swig, directing his attention to Joey. "What's that?"

"Nothin' just a magazine. They're talkin' about the Dead Kennedys and their live show the other night."

It seemed like forever that the two said anything else to eachother, then Johnny suddenly said, "Listen, Joey. I think it's time you and me had a talk. You alright with that?"

"Talk about what, John?"

"Ya know, all that shit that happened years ago with Linda and other crap like that."

Joey sighed and pushed the magazine away. "Ah, that." I could already tell by his face that he was getting uncomfortable. I hoped they didn't end up fighting again. This really needed to get resolved. "I mean honestly, there ain't much to talk about John. What's done is done, ya know?"

"I know, but...I mean, I know before Linda came into the picture we never liked eachother that much, but it just got worse afterwards. And...ya know Joey, she hit on me, man."

"Well, you could'a told 'er no." Joey was beginning to get angry. Oh god, I dreaded this would happen. "But ya didn't. You slept with 'er anyway."

Johnny sighed. "Yeah...I know. I'm sorry, man. I...look, I wasn't trying to get back at you or anything. I promise. But...man, that night...I'd had a couple drinks and she did too. And that was it. I just...fell in love with her."

"With my girlfriend."

"I know Joey, I feel bad about it now. But I swear to god it wasn't intentional. I mean it, 'kay? It wasn't. And you know me and her didn't last long anyway. So...I just want us both to forget about all that and just move on."

"John, you don't get it man, do ya?" Joey shook his head in disbelief. "Linda was the first girl I ever fell in love with. She was my first girl...and you took her. It's easy for you to get girls, but I cant do that man. I don't have good looks like you. Fuck, you really could get any bitch you wanted. But you had to take Linda. And why? 'Cause I was with 'er."

"Joey look dude, I already told ya it wasn't intentional. It just happened." Johnny sighed and took another drink of his beer. "Listen, it really doesn't fuckin' matter now. I'm sorry Joey. Okay?"

Joey said nothing.

"I was wrong for doing that. That was a dick move, but I didn't mean anything by it. And besides...you get all the girls, not me."

"John, what the fuck are you talkin' about, man? You know that's not true!"

"Yeah it fuckin' is! Everywhere we go, girls are callin' your name. Trust me, you shouldn't look up to me when it comes to shit like that. I got the looks, yeah, but that don't mean anything. For some reason, they all like you." He paused before speaking again. "Ya know, I really hate to fucking admit this but...I guess you're right. I am a little jealous of you."

Oh my god. He actually finally admitted it. I knew for Johnny this seriously couldn't be easy. His pride literally just died on him. I listened more to where the conversation was going. I'd predicted earlier that this night was going to be pretty long. And I was right.