A Foreign Love Song (Jake Bateman x Johnnie Guilbert)

2: Jake

Johnnie looked down and chuckled. "Alright, you can come in. " He stepped out of the doorway to let me inside. 

I looked down at my container of cookies. "Where should I put these? " I asked. 

Johnnie thought for a second while he closed the door. "You can just put them on the kitchen counter." He led me to the kitchen, where I found a bucket filled with red water next to a mop. 

"What happened in here? A murder?" I asked. Though the question was humorous, I was really worried. That's a lot of blood. 

"I told you I cut my hand," He grumbled. I put the container down and popped the lid off. "Do you wanna just Skype your mom for her birthday?"

"Probably should. At least then she wouldn't think I completely forgot." I looked around for a moment. "Do you have candles?"

Johnnie nodded and started to go through a junk drawer. He pulled out one red balloon and one yellow balloon, and one blue and white striped birthday candle. "Will that work?" He asked. 

"Yes," I replied. He continued to dig through the drawer until he found a matchbox and some matches. I put the candle into the center of one of the cookies. "I can use your computer, right?"

"In my room," He told me, taking the blue balloon into his fingers. 

I sat there in an awkward set up with a 'birthday cookie' and two balloons next to me. My mother was already on the line, but then Johnnie came bounding into the room with a lit match. "I forgot to light the candle!" He said, touching the flame to the wick and then blowing out the match, leaving the room. My mother laughed at his antics. Thank God. "Sorry I couldn't be there," I told her. 

She shrugged. "It is what it is." 

I held up the cookie with its lit candle. It was beginning to fall apart. "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you," I sang. As the cookie crumbled a little bit more, I sang faster. "Happy birthday dear Mo-om. Happy birthday to you." She smiled and blew at the screen. To humor her, I blew the candle out as though she'd done it herself. It was then that the cookie broke in half. The wax that was dripping off of the candle fell onto my hand. I winced as it burned me, biting my lip to refrain from screaming in agony. "Johnnie," I whispered. "Johnnie!" I whispered shouted a little louder. He came into the room with a confused look on his face. I pointed to the wax on my hand, which he squinted to see. Once he could see it, he nodded and left the room.

Johnnie came running back while I was in the middle of a conversation with my mother with a wet paper towel in his hands. He gave it to me, and I was happy to feel that it was ice water. Not only could I get the wax off, but my skin wasn't burning so badly. 'Thank you,' I mouthed to him. He gave me a thumbs up and left the room once more. "I'll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing, " My mother sighed. 

"Okay," I nodded. 

"Bye, " She told me. She hung up after that. I  closed out of Skype and then put Johnnie's laptop to sleep. I looked at the crumbled remains of the birthday cookie, which I ate. It's too bad my mom couldn't have these, they're actually not that bad. I dusted my fingers of the remaining crumbs to the floor and went to go find Johnnie. 

"Where are you?" I asked him. When I received no response, I grew worried. Had he just up and left me without any warning? I wandered into the kitchen and found the container of cookies had been opened. Two had been taken out and, judging by the crumbs, eaten. The rest were left untouched. Where could he have gone so fast? "Johnnie?" I called again. "Johnnie?"

I started to venture outside. I found him sitting on the porch with Creature in his lap. The two of them looked still and peaceful. "You scared me," I told him, putting my hand to my chest. 

"Sorry," He apologized quietly. I sat next to him and Creature got excited. He started jumping around at the sight of more company. He settled after a quick lap around the yard. My eyes went down to the bandage around Johnnie's palm. 

"Are you sure you don't need stitches?" I asked. "That was a lot of blood for a shallow cut."

"I'm fine," He assured me. There was ice in his voice. Perhaps I'd crossed a line. He returned to stroking the fur of his dog. His porch was a small section consisting of cheap, lightly-colored wood planks. I ran my fingers on it, finding that it was poorly sanded. I received a small splinter. I poked at it, finding that it was shallowly imbedded into my skin. I simply pulled it out with my fingers. "So when's your car gonna be fixed?" Johnnie asked. 

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. The guy who's doing it said it would depend on how busted it is." I looked at the sky. "It could take either one day or a week."

"I could drive you back to your place if you want," He offered. 

"Sure, sure," I nodded. He stood up. "You meant right now?" I looked up at him, confused. 

"Unless there's something that you wanted to do, I think I'd rather be alone."

This was an outright lie. He's alone so much that sometimes he calls me at three in the morning just to have someone to talk to. It's depressing, in all honesty. There's no way he's not lonely even now. Then again, I had shown up uninvited. It's possible that he could be overwhelmed by the nature of the day, and I'm just adding to that. "Alright, let's go," I sighed.