After The Ending (John Frusciante)

Chapter 33

2001

Amaya didn't want to be bothered by the sound of soft, yet persistant knocking on her door, not wanting to leave the comfort of this warm couch and the feeling of sensing a body by her side. She was still too tired, too sleepy, even too dreamy to wake up just yet, drifting inbetween conciousness while feeling so safe and so comfortable, relaxed even, at least as much as it was possible while the relentless knocking only continued.

She hoped that perhaps the person behind the door would just go away if she ignored it long enough, almost drifting back to sleep when she suddenly realized..

Knocking, couch..

She was definitely not in her bedroom, because had she been in her bedroom she wouldn't have heard this knocking so clearly and she was definitely not in her bedroom, because then she would have been in her bed and if she had been in her bed, then there wouldn't be someone lying next to her on this living room couch.

She opened her eyes and shot up from the sofa, John still sound asleep despite of the continuous knocking and rustling behind the door.

"John, John.." she nudged him lightly, "Johnny? Wake up."

"Hmm?" he only hummed for a moment, then slowly opened his eyes as a look of surprise washed over his face, realizing his whereabouts, "Oh, morning?"

"Jesus, what is this knocking?" he then noted as he slowly pushed himself up.

"I.." Amaya took a deep and nervous breath, "I think it's Olivia and Ryan."

Along with the knocking, she could clearly hear her daughter's happy chatter along with her father's voice, making Amaya freeze in her spot. She knew that this was going to look like absolutely everything it wasn't, if not to Olivia, then at least definitely to Ryan and that was something she really didn't feel like dealing with.

"What?" John breathed in disbelief and jumped up from the couch, throwing aside the day blanket that had been covering him, "I thought you said they wouldn't be here until lunch. It's like 9 AM."

He too knew that this was going to look like absolutely everything it wasn't and the last thing he wanted was to make the little girl uncomfortable or confused over his relationship with her mother. Not to mention the fact that the possibility of encountering Ryan was the last thing he imagined would happen once he made the last minute decision of crashing on Amaya's couch last night, exhausted by the jetlag and their spontaneous night of dancing.

He wanted to go home as soon as they made it back from the club, but the moment he took a seat on Amaya's couch even for a split second, he was already dozing off. And Amaya found it adorable and didn't mind one bit that he was there, half asleep on her couch.

So she took a blanket and covered him with it, the tired guitarist quickly drifiting back to conciousness and apologizing, promising that he would be on his way in a moment, but Amaya told him that he didn't have to and he could just crash there if he was too tired, reassuring that Olivia wouldn't be back until lunchtime the next day. And he thought that maybe it was okay and once Amaya had finished shuffling and cleaning around her kitchen, his sleep had suddenly disappeared.

And then Amaya made the both of them a cup of chamomile tea and ended up right next to him on that couch, the pair of them chatting the night away as if there was no tomorrow. It was almost the same as if when they were kids, the pair of them just lying on that couch, talking about whatever came up, both of them feeling so comfortable and at ease. And once they had been there already for hours, Amaya ended up being the one falling asleep, John only covering her with that same blanket that was already covering him, thinking how happy he was in that moment.