Piercing Hearts (Len & John Pearce/Justice Crew Fanfic)

Chapter 5: Over Again

* Joanna’s POV *

Having John back in my life has been great, especially when our friends have been supportive of us, telling us how they knew at the end of this whole thing, they had hope in their hearts that we’ll still end up together.

And walking hand in hand as we attended a reunion, we heard nothing but squeal as they pointed towards our entwined hands. As much as we were expecting being hated on for actually getting back together, after all the drama, they showed acceptance and we were both grateful for it. Plus, seeing that John’s family has treated me the same meant so much to me.

I guess coming back to Sydney was worth it after all.

As I was shopping for my weekly grocery, a familiar man came into view as I hurriedly went over to him checking out the cheese section.

“Hey Little Lenny.” I called him as he ignored me and continued on looking at different types of cheese. Perhaps, he was just concentrating on what type of cheese he needed as he looked at it one by one. “What type of cheese are you looking for? Maybe I could help you.” I uttered, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he moved towards the next aisle without even acknowledging me.

Following him behind, I checked if he had any headphones on as it was the only reason I could think of why he has been back to being his old self. But after a few check, he didn’t have any. Though I notice, his little blonde streak was back.

Attempting to start another conversation, I hopped my way beside him as I commented on his hair – how nice of it that it was back again. “Hey Len, I see you got your blonde streak back!”

And yet, he didn’t even say anything, and started walking around the grocery, getting whatever he needed. Soon, we bumped into John and Len’s little brother, Colin, all dressed up for work.

“Hey Colin!” I greeted as he waved his hand at me, greeting me back.

For the first time since I’ve seen Len today, he talked, asking Colin where to find some certain things. Colin directed him as I was following behind, and then another girl, who I presume was Colin’s coworker seeing the same uniform, came towards us.

“Hey Colin, have you gotten the box out yet?” She asked as Colin slapped his head, apologizing how he had forgotten to take it out.

“I’ll do it in a bit.” Colin uttered. “No actually, why don’t you show my brother the stuff he needs while I take it out?” The new girl nodded and smiled towards Len. “Oh Len, this is Bailey. Bailey, this is Len.”

“Hi!” She cheered, and by the looks of it, she knew exactly who Len was. “What do you need?” She asked as Len gave her the paper with his list.

After a minute of reading it, she led Len around the grocery as she squealed the whole time, even commenting of how real Len was when she had touch him on the arm accidentally while Len snickered.

“Here you go.” Bailey uttered as she handed him the last item on his list.  “Gummy bears, the last one on your list.”

“Thank you for the help, Bailey.” She smiled widely, waving her hand, like it was nothing. Obviously, it was her job so I don’t get what the big deal was. “Could you please tell my brother I went ahead? I need to drop this off at my mum’s and then, off to work.”

“Sure, no problem.” Bailey smiled. “I’ll just tell him you said bye.” She waved her hand, stepping back and continuing on with her work.

Lenny, however, went towards the cashier and had forgotten that I was still here. Calling him didn’t work again and it was utterly pissing me off now that I know he was doing it on purpose. Grabbing his arm, he stopped, turning his angry eyes on me.

“What did I do? I thought we’re friends now?” I asked as he wasn’t treating me one. “I’m sorry I haven’t been meeting up with you. Things have been-…”

“I don’t care.” He grunted, and to be honest, I was scared at how he was reacting towards me right now. That comfortable feeling I had with him during the first few weeks were now gone and we were back to our old selves, more of being that girl he hated so much.

Frowning didn’t even work as I stood there waiting for him to tell me that it was all a prank he made up, but after a few seconds of not talking, he continued his path out of the place.

“Wait, Len!” I called and stopped him again. “I don’t understand!” I exclaimed, but he just left without uttering a word as I stood there confused of what just happened.

My heart ached knowing I had lost a friend I thought I’d at least be with for the long run. We had amazing hang outs back then, and it sucks how it ended up, though I have no idea what I did wrong. The last time we’ve seen each other was when John invited me over at their house to meet up the family once again, when we told everyone we were back together again.

As if my mind just replayed all the scenes in the past as I remembered Len telling me he liked me that time we had met each other when I just had come back from America.

Could that be the reason why he was avoiding me now since I have gotten back with his twin brother?

Dropping all the items on my hand, I ran out of the grocery, and as if fate was bringing me towards Len, I found him loading his car with the goodies he just bought.

“Len!” I yelled. “Talk to me, please.” I begged as I ran towards him, wanting to explain, to get out that thought in his head of whatever he thinks of me.

But he didn’t allow me to explain. Instead, he motioned for me to get lost or stay away from him. “You won, Joanna.” He uttered, the same way John did when he met me at our secret place. “What else do you want from me when you’ve already gotten the only guy you ever wanted?” He uttered, leaving me glued to one spot as his car drove away.

To be honest, this felt so foreign to me. With one question, my body felt like it wanted to fall over as heart pounded with misery. It was as if it was John breaking up with me the second time around, although it was Lenny to begin with. For all the times he had been mean to me while growing up, this was the worst thing I have ever felt.

Tears erupted as blurry visions greeted me. I didn’t care if I was in the middle of a public parking lot, or how many people were watching an idiot crying her heart out, and only had woken up when I felt someone’s hands on my shoulders, frantically asking me what was going on.

It was then I noticed John appearing in front of me, with a worried expression on his face. “What’s wrong, baby?”

Shaking my head as I wiped the tears from my face, I launched towards him with a hug, only because I have no idea what to say. Every time I wanted to tell him something, my mouth closes the next second.

“Nothing, I just felt dizzy and I just started crying I guess.” I lied, and I hate lying to John. Since when we were younger, I’ve always told him everything. No secrets between us, I guess, until that time I left for America. But still, lying to John made me feel sad.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as it was weird how he just popped out like a mushroom on the ground, and next thing I knew, he was standing right in front of me, making me feel better. If this was his way of making it up to me, then he’d get an A+ for the effort.

“Colin called me up.”

Hearing his name gave me goosebumps as he knows Len was here earlier and that we were together at some point. My heart raced knowing Colin might have said something to John which would create some new issues, and I admit, I was scared of that, of losing him again.

But I have another confession to make – I think I’m scared of losing Lenny too.