Wormed Into my Heart

Chapter One: John Quinones

She felt sick. Why would her best friend, Charli D’Amelio betray her like that? With someone like him? How many followers does he even have? She ignored his outstretched hand. With all of these feelings in her head, she wanted to clear her mind to figure out what to do. She went and swam in the pool, just like she used to.

 All of her feelings and thoughts didn’t go away as they usually did. What could she do? John Quinones came to the backyard and looked at her. He asked what was wrong as you could see the dismay in her face. 

It was in that moment that she saw a different person than she saw earlier. his kind eyes stared at her with conviction, needng to know if he were the cause of her apprehension. His pronounced nose and tan skin made him look like a work of art one might find in a gallery. She caught herself and her thoughts by the wrist, snapping herself back to reality.

She finally replies,  “I’ve known Charli for so long. I leave for a day, and I get replaced.” John simply replies, “I’m not replacing you. I’m simply here to meet you. I would be honored to take you for dinner.” Sarah was dumbfounded. She hesitantly nodded her head, saying, "Dinner sounds nice."

                                                         
Sarah found her nicest dress, made from a delicate, green silk, hugged her body, and then cascaded to the floor. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to wear such a thing to a date that she didn't care for. However, it felt right. Comfortable, even.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by a knock on her bedroom door. She put on her shoes, and grabbed her purse as she opened the door to a finely-dressed John, who had an almost nervous expression plastered on his face.

His expression would completely change as he saw Sarah standing in the doorway. His jaw dropped, his usual kind smile was nowhere to be seen as a wolfish grin crawled onto his features. "You look lovely tonight, dear." The term of endearment made the hairs on the back of Sarah's neck stand up.

She hurriedly thanked him, as he interlocked his arm with hers, leading her down the stairs.

His car pulled up to the nicest restaurant Sarah had ever seen. It was late in LA, the lighting of the restaurant contrasted heavily with the cloudless night sky. Distracted with the glamourous sight before her, Sarah didn't notice the car door being opened, until she looked and saw John with his hand extended to help her out of the car. The grin on his face remained as she took his hand and he pulled her up.

They walked into the restaurant together, and the waitress brought the pair to a table, with a wonderful view of the sprawling city below them.

"You seem distracted dear. Want to fill me in?" John said, interupting her thoughts.

"Oh, I've never been in a place as nice as this, how did you get reservations?"
Sarah asked.

"This is an Olive Garden, dear." He quipped back.

Sarah wasn't sure what that meant, or why that would mean it wasn't fancy, but she would no longer care about his remark as a waiter came over to the table, and placed a basket of bread on top of it.

Sarah entirely ignored the waiter speaking to the two of them as she stared at the bread. Was it garlic bread? She couldn't tell. She looked up, and John had ordered for her. He smirked, and commented, "Don't tell me you've never had breadsticks before."

The smile quirked on his face got her attention. She started letting her mind wander as she thought about kissing that smile that was always planted on his face. John must have caught her staring, and his eyebrows shot up inquisitively.

Sarah recognized she had been staring for far too long, and immediately apologized, "I'm so sorry, I'm just feeling a little out of it today."

His expression softened, if it had even been possible to soften more than it was. "Is this restaurant too loud?" he asked rather genuenly. Sarah nodded.

He flagged down a waiter and cancelled their orders, as he walked Sarah out the door. Once they were outside, he looked down at Sarah lovingly as she continued her apology.

"I'm so sorry that we had to leave early, we can go somewhere else? Or we could..."

John shook his head at her persistence. "I didn't need a date with you to know my attraction was real, sweetheart." He said.

He continued, "Even so, I just wanted to ask you to be my girlfriend."

Sarah was in shock. She didn’t know what to say. Why so fast? She knew that he wanted something permanent, but with her kidney disease, she would leave him alone in this desolate world. She said, “John, there’s something I haven’t told you yet.” She hesitated. “I have kidney disease. I will die soon. My kidneys are failing. I have a couple more days to live.”

She had been on dialysis for a while, on and off. She needed a new kidney. John was taken aback. He had no idea this was happening. Sarah began to do a sad renegade.