DARLING ➶ JOHNNY C. DEPP II

IV

Erela was simply in heaven, there was no other alternative for the way he made her feel. The perfect gentleman had never existed until this day, and that position had been taken by Johnny.

He'd taken her to a book store, where they argued relentlessly on reading and why it's important.

"I'm telling you, Johnny. Of Mice and Men is the best book to ever be written, there's no way around it!"

"Erela, listen to me. Reading is practically bullshit! And it's boring, why do you waste your time with books?" He asked, almost disgustedly.

She giggled at his wrinkled nose, grabbing a random book from a shelf. She decided not to answer, leaving him to think for himself.

"I was going to take you somewhere else, but you just dragged me in here when you saw this store. Do you come here often?" He asked, changing the subject.

"I honestly never even knew this store existed until today, I usually just get books from my school library."

"I really can't believe you enjoy reading." He uttered.

"Books can take you to a whole new world - if that makes sense. I'm not sure how to describe it. You just have to find the right one, you know? Not the boring ones. I just love how they can all be interpreted differently by everyone, and it's up to you to imagine and decide how you want characters or sets to look. Do you get me?" She asked, not realizing that she was rambling on.

He smiled, admiring the way her hands gestured towards her happiness and love towards books, and her eyebrows furrowed when looking for the right words to use.

She put the book she was holding back into the shelf, finally facing fully towards him.

"I'm sorry I dragged you in here, we can go wherever you wanted to take me now." She smiled apologetically.

He suddenly felt guilty, "We can stay here if you want. I didn't mean to make you think I wanted to leave."

"It's okay, you didn't make me feel that way."

He nodded, leaning against a shelf. He dropped a few books onto the ground from pressing all of his body weight onto them, causing his cheeks to redden, and Erela to chuckle at his clumsiness.

"Are you normally clumsy?" She asked, helping him to pick up the books he dropped.

"I guess so, a lot of people say I'm really funny. I'm not sure if that contributes to it." He rubbed his ear awkwardly.

"Oh, I see." She grinned. "How's filming going?"

"How's what going?" He asked confusedly.

"Filming, you know, for 21 Jump Street?" She asked mockingly.

"Oh!" His eyebrows raised as he realized what she was referring to. "It's going great, it's really a great cast to work with."

She smiled. "Have you gotten any jobs for any more movies or anything? Or for now you're just sticking to the show?"

"I've gotten a few emails, and read a few scripts, of course. None of them really interested me." He shrugged.

"You should do something crazy, like a musical. No one would expect that." She suggested.

"I'll look into it." He smiled.

"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry. You probably don't want to talk about your jobs or anything." She blushed embarrassedly.

"It's alright. It's only normal to ask." He consoled.

After about another hour, she decided against buying any books, motioning him to follow her outside of the store.

"What now, Mr. Depp?" She snickered.

"Well, actually, I have to go." He frowned.

Erela's heart dropped, she figured this would be the last time she'd ever see him.

"Oh, okay." She tried to sound as understanding as possible.

"I'll give you a ride home." He smiled warmly at her, opening the door to his car as he waved his hand inside for her to get in.

She stepped inside, allowing him to finally get into the drivers seat and take her home.

It was a silent ride, she admired the scenery outside the window, until he finally spoke up.

"I have to visit my uncle every time I come back here, I hope you can understand that that's the reason why I have to leave."

"Yeah, It's fine. I know family is super important." She simpered.

"Well, he's not actually blood-related to me, I just call him my uncle, I've known him since I was a kid."

"That's nice." She responded awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.

She gave him directions on which streets to turn on, and soon they pulled up in front of her house.

He opened her door for her, walking her to the front of the house.

"Thank you for the best two hours of my life, Johnny. I hope I'll see you soon, if not, you better remember me." She grinned.

"Well, actually, I was wondering if maybe we could hang out again tomorrow?" He asked shyly. His hands were latched behind his back as he rocked back and forth on his heels and toes.

Her stomach felt as if it flipped over, she couldn't suppress her smile. "Of course." She said, almost a little too enthusiastically.

He beamed, regaining his confidence as she agreed to meet him again

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at four, alright?"

"Okay, see you then." She laughed excitedly.

"I'll see you tomorrow, darling."

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I'M TRYING REALLY HARD NOT TO MAKE THEIR RELATIONSHIP PROGRESS TOO FAST !! I PROMIse i'm using every ounce of my being attempting not to turn this into a cringy fanfic, because we all know those are horrible to read. hopefully this is going by well enough that it doesn't physically and emotionally hurt to read, so please comment or give feedback if you feel that something's off. also not everything in this story will be completely accurate, so bare with me please (: