When The Rain Washes You Clean. (You'll Know.)

Chapter Twelve.

There's a moment where Leland fears that his heart had stopped beating, and it was when Johnny looked at him with such a simple look - that made him feel even smaller than usual. His eyes only widened for just a split moment when Johnny said they needed to talk, and even though he wanted to jump at that opportunity; something was keeping his feet glued to the spot. He fears it might be the cause of the unknown, not knowing what Johnny wants to say to him - and what was to come out of this, if he entered the room. There's a small bead of sweat dripping down the back of his neck, the more he stares at Johnny. And he can tell that the man is starting to become annoyed with the silence, as he raises one eyebrow towards Leland before letting a hefty sigh out.

"If you're not going to come in and talk with me," Johnny says, his voice a tiny bit rough, "Then why the fuck are you still standing outside my door and what was all of this about?"

"I-" Leland finally manages to find his voice, coughing just a little bit to clear his airway, "It's almost four in the morning. Is this the right time to talk?"

"You're the one who wanted to, why else are you standing outside my door?" Johnny says, his tone now sounding a little bit annoyed.

"I just didn't think you wanted to actually talk to me," Leland says fast, his heart beating a bit faster, "I heard that you were listening to the music, and I guess, my feet just led me here?"

"A bigger part of me really doesn't want to talk to you," He says honestly, his face not faulting at all, "But," Johnny lets out a sigh, running his fingers through his hair, "You left me flowers and music. You're trying to show that you're sorry in a way that I don't fully understand. The best I can do right now, is hear you out. I'm not happy with you, but this is your chance."

Leland needs to make his mind up now, he can't keep hovering in the hallway like this. One foot inside Johnny's room, while the other is ready to make the run. He needs to decide on if this will be the right thing to do, go inside this man's bedroom once more - talk to him, and hope to rekindle the friendship they lost. Or if he should just walk away from it, call it a lost cause and just give up. The more he thinks on it, the more stupid it sounds to just give up on it all - he went to extreme lengths to have a moment like this. And even though his heart wants to break out and run, this really will be the last time he gets to make it up to Johnny. And he knows that if he was to turn this away, then he would be walking away from yet another big mistake.

"Okay," Leland says, with a small nod - biting his bottom lip briefly, "Lets go inside your room and talk."

Johnny doesn't say another word to him, instead he moves to the side and Leland takes that step inside. He can still hear the beat of the music drifting through the room, and a part of him wonders if any of the other family members can hear this. And if they can, would they come to Johnny's room to tell him to turn it off? He doesn't need to think a bit too much on it, it seems Johnny already had a plan in mind; and that was to turn the music down just enough that you can hear the beat - but not loud enough to drown out whatever they have to talk about. He watches with a small shy look, as Johnny takes a seat at the edge of his bed - and he pats the corner near him for Leland to sit. Which is what he does without a second guess, he takes that seat next to Johnny - while he racks his brain on what to say.

There's a million and one things he wants to spurt out straight away, but even he knows that it wasn't smart to play it that way. He needed to be careful, watch exactly what he says; because he knows that if he says even the slightest thing wrong - then Johnny won't hesitate to kick him straight back out. It was already made clear that Johnny wasn't happy with him, and he can feel how tense it is inside this room as well; but he needed to swallow down those fears, and tackle this head on. It's the only shot he has right now for this.