It's been a while (Johnny Cruz/Joonas Parkkonen) - Santa Cruz -

Head over heals

beep beep beep
"Ughh no not again!!"
Sammy yawned and rubbed her eyes, reaching out for the annoying alarm clock.
6:00am
"Shut the fuck up!"
She turned it off and turned around again.
It always happened that she forgot to turn it off during holiday.
There was still one week left to sleep in and of course she had to ruin it by setting the alarm clock on school time.
Yesterday she couldn't fall asleep because her mind was still with Rick and what happened.
But also with Johnny.
Johnny who came back to 'save' her.
He was acting kinda weird lately.
Well weirdly nice to be honest.
What if everyone was right about him?
Right about the fact that he liked her more than he admitted?
But why wouldn't he say the truth then?
It was not like she'd shoot him for that.
Sammy knew that she had kinda like a crush on him.
She didn't want it to be true first but after several times of thinking about him she stopped denying it.
Just then her eyes fell on the magazine Johnny gave to her.
Grabbing it from the nightstand she flicked through the magazine until she found the interview.

FJ: Johnny Cruz, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us!
J: It's all my pleasure!
FJ: You've been on tour for almost 3 years now how does it feel to be back home?
J: Great! It's great to finally relax a bit. Well of course I miss touring, it's been amazing. But after 3 years on the road you are happy to take some time off. Just chillin' and especially sleeping.
FJ: Well good to hear that you're enjoying the time. How about new music? We've heard some rumors about a new album?
J: Yes, after taking some time off for a couple of weeks we went back to the studio. But we are currently writing more rather than recording. It's been a while since we've put out something so we try to make that happen in the near future but no hurry because we don't want it to sound forced or rushed.
FJ: Oh I'm pretty sure it's going to be a super dope song or album anyways. But now, I've been interacting with your fans for quite a while now and put together some of the most asked questions.
J: yeah cool ask away!
FJ: alright so this is literally the most asked questions; to you and Archie - well maybe you can answer for Archie - Do you have girlfriends or do you like somebody at the moment?
J: Uhm well neither of us has a girlfriend
FJ: eyes on someone?
J: well.. there is a girl. I really like her but I'm not sure if she feels the same way about me.

Sammy immediately stopped reading.
Johnny liked somebody?
Was he talking about her?
It wouldn't be that erroneous since he's been acting weird towards her lately.
But maybe she was wrong and he actually liked some other girl.
Well whatsoever this was no reason to be awake at 6:15am on the weekend.

"WHAT ARE YOU GIVE IT BACK!!!"
Sammy wasn't sure whether this was in her dreams or reality.
Well at least she wasn't sure until there was another yell.
It was definitely reality.
The boys were over.
What else.
She got up and took a quick shower before she dressed and made her way downstairs to say hi.
None of the boys noticed her first, way too absorbed into the video game.
Tazzy was the first to feel like somebody watched them.
He turned around and said a simple "hi".
This drew the attention of the rest of the boys to her too.
Archie mumbled "Hey Smallie" but turned back towards the TV again same as Middy.
Johnny just looked at her for a few seconds and smiled but Middy bumped him into the side causing him to turn too.
'Don't talk to me then', Sammy thought an went off the room.

"So how's it going with the bassist?", Archie asked concerned as the 4 boys and Sammy sat together and had a coffee.
Sammy searched for Johnny's ensuring smile but he just looked down to his cup.
"Eh.. well..", she tarted but Middy interrupted her telling Archie about the fact that Rick invited them for a pizza.
"Oh so he seems to be a nice guy actually?"
Let it go Archie...
"Yeah...", Sammy murmured, a wonder that Archie heard it, but it seemed to be enough for him.
He shouldn't know what happened.
It was better like this.
Middy seemed to believe the story too since he made no signs of disbelieve.
So Johnny kept it a secret.
Thank Tazzy for changing the topic to something uninteresting so Sammy wouldn't have to make up some stupid excuse for leaving in the middle of a conversation.
Back in her room she sat down to think of what to do but before she could think of something there was a knock on her door.
"Sammy? Can I come in?", Johnny's voiced sounded from the other side of the door.
"Yes sure come in."
As soon as he stepped inside memories came back up in Sammy's mind.
Memories of them laying in her bed together.
"How are you? Did you recover?"
A bit unsure he walked through the room and took a seat next to her on the bed.
"Yeah, I'm fine I guess."
"You guess?"
Actually she was still feeling not very well but she couldn't change the past and neither could Johnny.
"Can I ask you a question?"
Johnny looked up a bit confused by the sudden change of the topic but he nodded.
Sammy still hesitated not sure how to ask.
To avoid his face she got up and looked out of the window.
"I read your interview, well half of it."
Silence.
Neither of them said anything.
Sammy still didn't know how to form the question and Johnny just waited for her to ask.
"Do you have a girlfriend?", she blurted out, not knowing where the self-confidence came from.
"Uh.. no I don't, why?"
He was still sitting on her bed like an abandoned puppy.
"I was just curious because in the interview you said that you like somebody but yeah it's nothing just forget about it."
"Yes I said that indeed. I do like somebody but she's not my girlfriend. Well not yet so I hope."
Now Sammy found the inner strength to turn back towards him.
'He would tell me if I'm the girl he's talking about right? So I guess I'm not.', she thought.
"Good luck then I guess."
"Yeah thanks.. I mean it's a bit complicated but I hope I can work something out."
Again silence.
Why is there always awkward silence?
"Well I think I should go back to the boys."
He got up and walked to the door but stopped for a second and smiled at Sammy before he left.
As soon as he was gone sadness overcame her.
Well it was probably obvious that he would like somebody sooner or later.
But Sammy really thought he liked her.
Yeah, she actually wished it was her.

One week later Sammy went back to school again.
It was great seeing and talking to her friends after another week of being separated because of holiday.
School was always a good way to distract from whatever was going on in Sammy's life.
Last time she saw or talked to any of the boys - except for Archie of course - was the day she asked Johnny about the girlfriend.
But there wasn't anything special going on in her life at the moment.
After school she would hang out with Jordan or other friends or just go home and do homework or study.
Well to be honest she also thought about Johnny quite a lot actually.
She had no idea why she couldn't stop thinking about him recently.
Also she found herself checking her phone for his messages every few seconds.
They had always been something that lighted up her days.
But he somehow stopped texting her.
Probably because of the girl.
"Earth to Sam!!"
Jordan flicked with his fingers in front of her face to get her attention.
"You do realize that school is over don't you?"
"Gosh I don't know what's wrong with my mind lately."
They packed their stuff and left the classroom.
"Well but I do. You are head over heals in love with a boy named Johnny."
Sammy was just about to contradict when Jordan stopped walking and murmured something inaudible.
The reason he stopped was the man who stood right in front of him looking back and forth between him and Sammy.
"Johnny?"