Lost In Purple

Chapter 40: Last Night Of Calm

Melanie's POV

"Go sit with Jav. I'll come get you in a minute," Johnny whispers as he shuts the front door to the house.

He kisses my forehead and pushes me further forward into the hallway, revealing Javier and Bruiser chilling out in front of the fire. Before I saunter over to them, I take a quick peek back, seeing that Johnny is gone. I feel a sudden strike of fear hit my chest since I heard quite literally nothing after just a few steps into the house. I also assumed that since he's such a big guy, he'd be somewhat noisy, but I was grossly incorrect. Apparently he's a literal phantom when he wants to be.

After sending myself to the fireplace, and feeling the warmth of it plaster my scaly body, I find myself in between Javier and Bruiser who have coincidentally left a big enough space for me to invade. I lower myself onto the sides of my legs, and sit on the floor as if I were some princess wearing a huge, poufy skirt.

"Ah, Melanie. Did everything go alright?" Javier asks before taking a sip out of a small tea cup.

"Oh, yeah. Johnny just took me to a restaurant that I haven't been to since I was a kid," I reply while embracing the heat.

"THEY GOT FOOOOD WITHOUT ME?!" Bruiser wails.

His eyes are flooding with tears and are drooping a noticeable amount. He sits almost like a droopy stuffed animal does while it's up against the wall…it's kind of creepy now that I think about it.

Javier sets his tea cup down. "Stop screaming. Por favor, mi cabeza no puede soportar mucho más," He groans before rubbing his temples.

I put my arms around Bruisers bulbous head while rubbing his back. "What happened," I ask.

Javier sighs, closing his eyes and looking like he's entering some astral plane. "His favorite professional football team didn't win the Monster Bowl today, and he's devastated. And now he's hungry and jealous that you didn't take him with."

"SO HUNGRYYYYY!" Bruiser weeps.

"Awwwww. Poor baby," I fake whine. I tighten my hold on Bruiser and sway left to right in order to provide him some sort of comfort. He throws his arms around my sides, fighting back his tears.

"I've tried my best to calm him down, but I'm a Scarer, not a therapist," Javier sighs, "Or a babysitter."

I reach over and pat Javier's arm. "Thanks for trying, you do so much for everyone," I praise. He gives me a tired smile. It's still weird to see him possess any emotion other than carelessness, so it makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I guess that will take me a little while longer to get used to.

"Why are you upset about them losing though, Bruiser?" I ask.

"Th-their winning pass g-got intercepted, and then-and then-and then-and then they lost," He bawls.

I have to keep myself from laughing because he totally sounds like my cousins when they don't get what they want. I also never thought I would see Bruiser have a literal mental breakdown over something that he doesn't even aspire doing. "Ok ok, let's just breathe. While winning is the name of the game, the more admirable part is how well the game was played," I comfort.

"But-but-but," Bruiser says in heavy and periodic breaths.

"Did they play well? Were they continuously encapsulating you as you watched them play?" I interrupt.

Bruiser sniffles and wipe his nose with his forearm, eventually nodding as he turns his eye stocks to stare into my eyes.

"And what about the other team? Did they by chance play worse and get lucky? Did they get more penalties, or did they exhibit bad sportsmanship?" I continue asking.

Bruiser nods again, and listens intently. I'm honestly shocked to see him be this calm while I explain something. He's usually bouncing off the walls, ignoring every word anyone says. I'm starting to slightly understand how Javier has been feeling tonight, because I couldn't possibly imagine trying to be there for someone only for them to just wipe your advice off their shoulder like it's useless information.

"Then you should be happy that they were the better team. They have leverage over the other team, and in reality, they won because of their fairness and warrior spirit. Be proud that your supporting a team like them, not sad because you didn't get the outcome you expected from them," I explain.

Bruiser sniffles again, and runs his ripped up and rugged jersey across his nose. He wipes his eyes and begins to feel a little bit better.

"Please don't wipe your nose with your clothes. That jersey was expensive and we're already not pleased with you tearing it up," Javier says rolling his eyes.

"…Sorry," Bruiser coughs.

Javier pushes himself to his feet, and walks over to grab underneath Bruisers arm. He pulls him upwards with the intent to get him away from me. "Let's get you something to eat. Maybe that will make you feel better," Javier states.

I watch as Bruiser's expression switches to happiness as he follows Javier into the kitchen, disappearing behind the wall and drowned out by the crackling of the flames. A couple embers float within the small cubicle, flying in various directions and igniting small portions of the firewood at the floor. It's a sea of flames that continuously roars to life, and a peace that rivals nothing else. For some reason I start thinking about my experience as ROR so far, and appreciate it for what it has been. I haven't really done anything worth noting so far, but it's been worth every minute spending my time with these boys. They're the first group to ever actually consider me as a part of them and I couldn't possibly thank them enough for that.

It only takes a couple more seconds before I feel a presence reveal itself before me.

"You ready Mel?" Johnny asks, scaring me as he kneels down next to me.

I grab one of the red blankets that Johnny got me for Christmas and wrap it around me, leaving no room for any air to invade. I already feel warm once it wraps around my legs, and I know that I will actively refuse to let it go. I'm hoping Johnny won't have me do something that requires me to sacrifice the generation of my body heat, but it doesn't seem like he will because Johnny walks over to my window and opens it. He then reaches behind him and grabs the underside of my legs, pulling me onto his back as he stands on all four.

"Arms around me," He instructs.

I follow his directions out of panic and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling my blanket over his shoulders as well.

"Hang on tight," He says.

I can't even say a word before he pushes himself up onto the windowsill and climbs out of it. I instantly begin hyperventilating because it feels like I'm about to slide off of him and fall onto the frigid ground below. I yelp in terror, but find that he swiftly climbs up a rain gutter and pulls the both of us up to the roof. He carries me towards the back of the house where there's a somewhat flat roof top we can easily stand or rest on, switching back to his normal upright position.

"You alright?" He asks as turns his body to talk to me.

"Y-yeah," I reply feeling dazed while pulling my blanket even closer to me.

After looking around the rooftop, Johnny turns around to face me, smiling down at me which makes my knees feel a little wobbly. "Good, because I don't know what I would have done if you splattered all over my lawn."

"Wh-John!" I gasp, trying to keep myself from punching him in the back of the head.

He reaches around his back and pulls me off of him with ease. He then embraces me like a child does to their favorite stuffed animal. "It's a jooooooke!" He exclaims, "You know I wouldn't let that happen!"

I feel the cold breeze blast against my blanket, making me wish I had another layer to counteract it. I would rather take Johnny as my second layer than a second blanket though, so I curl up into him while constricting myself with the red blanket. The sun has finally gone down, and the sky is drenched in black, showing off the millions of balls of gas in the sky. It's a perfect winters night. Johnny sets me down in his lap, refusing to let me go. I hate how I'm starting to feel nervous being around him again, it's almost like I'm falling in love with him all over again. He shifts a little bit to the side, and wraps his hand around me, trying to give me a warm cup that emits a sweet smelling aroma.

"Hot chocolate," Johnny whispers while swirling the contents around with a circular motion.

I slowly take it and give it a couple more good whiffs. It smells way better than the Hot Chocolate I've usually had. I can tell Johnny's having a good time watching me wiggle my nostrils to because he smiles as if he heard the funniest joke in the world. "Oh come on Mel, it's not going to kill you," He chuckles.

I take a quick gulp in order to spite him. It's thick and creamy, and the sweetness dances around my taste buds before sliding down my throat smoothly. It's the most ambrosial cup of hot chocolate I've ever had.

"I hope it's to your liking. I worked very hard to make it perfect," Johnny says before taking a sip from his cup, "Ooo, that's smooth."

I laugh and push my head into his chest. "Did you not know how to make hot chocolate or something?"

"No. I just didn't use pre-packaged powder or cheap chocolate to make it. I think you deserve to have the best food and drink available, so it's the freshest cup you will ever have in your life," Johnny answers.

The breeze picks up again, prompting me to chug a little bit more down. No matter what I do, I can't seem to keep myself from tasting it. It's almost addicting, like caffeine or some illegal drug that you can only find in the deepest and darkest of areas. I guess the ROR house is where you need to go to find the best Hot Chocolate drugs that monster-kind has ever seen.

"While the drink is good, I brought you up here because of that," Johnny points.

I turn my head and look up into the sky to see the moon illuminating the city in front of us with its silvery glow. It radiantly shines across the streets of Monstropolis, lighting up the dark times in peoples lives, and symbolically representing the change within people's strenuous lives. Even though spending time with Johnny is pretty soothing, spending time with him and staring at the moon is even more soothing.

"Don't think that I forgot about your love for the moon," Johnny mumbles.

A couple of tears try to find their ways out of my eyes, but I'm able to hold them back a little bit. I wasn't expecting to have such an amazing day. A date at a restaurant that I considered to be a distant memory, and a comforting beginning to the evening with someone who has the goal to simply make me feel happy. I can't take my eyes off of the sky above, and neither can Johnny. It's an almost identical situation to when we did this at that party at the beginning of the semester, but this time I don't have an excruciating headache. It also reminds me of the time we sat with each other along the riverside on campus. I can't help but pull his head down and give him the best kiss I can muster. I close my eyes out of pure pleasure, feeling his soft lips slide against mine as I lightly brush my claws against his horns. He traps me within his arms, placing is left arm on my left hip and his right arm underneath my legs, and keeping me from turning my head so that ours lips lock effortlessly. He moves his left hand up to my head, pushing me further into kiss. I can't help but become breathless, feeling too weak to move when all my energy drains. By continuing to satisfy my desires, all I can do is wish for time to stop entirely and stay like this for the rest of eternity, melting into his embrace. I put my hands underneath his sweater, feeling the many different muscles that line his body as if he were a god, and complete our act of affection.

He eventually pulls away, giving me a gratified smirk. "I'm guessing I did a good job surprising you tonight."

I nod, unable to maintain eye contact for more than a couple seconds due to embarrassment.

"Hmm, then I might have to do this more often if it means I get to have some alone time with you," Johnny mumbles.

"B-but you can have that anytime you want," I state weakly.

"Oh can I now? I'll be sure to keep that in mind," He replies with an ominous smile, and then continuing to kiss me relentlessly.

Another hour or two passes by, and we don't say a word to each other. Johnny and I got little exhausted after the first hour and switched to just enjoying being out here with each other. He's been holding me closely and rubbing his forehead against the side of my head, causing him to purr uncontrollably. I almost fall asleep hearing him do that but I have to promise myself to stay awake so that I can have the energy to watch the first scare event later tonight. Oh wait…the Scare Games!

"J-John, what time is it!?" I ask with worry.

I feel Johnny's heartbeat rise, pounding against his chest as if it were trying to escape from it's prison of marrow, and he scrambles to take out his phone. The brightness lights up his face, reflecting a bit of it off of his eye. "Phew… 8:30. We should probably go back down though, I'm guessing the guys are wondering where we are," Johnny sighs.

I sit up slowly and stretch my muscles a little bit. "Ok. How much time until the event starts?" I question.

"Half an hour. Are you worried that we won't make it in order to show off how amazing we are?" Johnny counters.

Normally I would feel a little irritated at that remark, but it doesn't faze me now. I'm guessing I've become used to his seemingly incorrigible teasing, and can only feel love when he does that. The last thing I say before I get carried back into the house is, "…Maybe a little."