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

Mind

"ARCHIE??", Sammy asked panicking as she ran into the room and climbed onto his bed, "ARCHIE!!?!?!"
She froze when he wouldn't move.
He wasn't moving at all.
At all.
Tears watered her eyes and she had to take in sharp breaths to keep herself conscious.
"What happened?"
She turned around, now tears streaming all over her face, looking at Jordan and then back at Archie.
"WHAT HAPPENED?? WHY DOESN'T HE BREATHE?", she screamed and gripped the edge of the bed.
Thousands of emotions were rushing through her mind right now.
She was mad, angry, lost, sad, confused.
All that at once.
"He moved... I swear he did.", Jordan paused and looked down, "and then he stopped breathing."
Black.
Everything around her went black.
She tried to catch her breath and hold onto something but she collapsed.
There was movement next to her and just seconds later arms pulled her up again and tried to support her.
Sammy could tell by the smell that it was Johnny.
"Sammy? Sammy breathe. Breathe slowly. In and out. Sammy?"
And then everything was gone.

_______________________

"Uhhh turn off the lights!!"
Sammy tried to open her eyes but there was a glare, very bright light which wouldn't let her.
Sammy
"Who's there?", she asked still trying to make out where the light was coming from.
Sammy it's me
"Archie?"
No answer.
"Archie is that you? Are you okay?"
Of course I am. What do you expect?
He laughed. The typical Archie-laugh.
How she missed that.
"What happend? Where am I?"
You are nowhere. And everywhere.
"What are you talking about? Archie, what happened? Why won't you turn the lights off?"
Sams, you collapsed when you arrived at the hospital.
"Oh... okay but where am I now?"
Again he didn't answer.
"Am I dead?"
No, Smallie.
"But what is this place?"
It's your mind, Sammy. You are not dead. You are alive, just not conscious. But don't worry, everything's gonna be okay.
"My mind? So you are not real?"
I am. But I'm not.
"I don't understand this."
It's all fine, Sammy. I love you.
"Wait! Are you leaving now?"
It's time for you to wake up
"What about you? Are you going to wake up?"
I'll always be there for you, Sammy.
"Archie, wait! Please tell me you are not dead!!"
No answer.
"ARCHIE!?!!?!"

"Sammy shh wake up, it's okay!"
Sweat poured she woke up and sat up jerkily.
"Hey, it's fine. Look at me. You are okay."
Totally ignoring the voice by her side she buried her head in her hands.
What happened?
Was it just a dream?
Is Archie dead?
"Is he alive?", she asked worriedly, now realizing that it has been Johnny who had been speaking.
He sighed and laughed a bit.
"Yes he is alive. Can you just settle down for a moment, you've just screamed your lungs out."
"I have? What did I scream?"
"Archie. What else. Your mind is permanently with him."
Sammy thought for a while? So she actually screamed in real life while she screamed in her dream or whatever it was.
"Have I said anything else?"
Johnny shook his head and left his chair to sit on the bed.
"He is okay, stop worrying."
He stroke her hair behind her ear and bent forward to give her a slight kiss onto her lips.
Sammy wasn't prepared for this at all and backed away without thinking.
Just then she realized that they are actually some kind of couple.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overwhelm you."
"No, I am sorry. I'm just not really in mind right now. I was just not prepared."
He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in an embrace.
"It's fine. Have some rest and then we'll have a Pizza huh?"
"Rest no, Pizza yes."
Leaving Johnny lightly confused she climbed out of the bed and ran out of the room before Johnny could even stop her.
"Hey Sams wait!", he yelled after her but she was long gone.
Running down the hall to Archie's room she caught a few weird looks of strangers.
Especially because Johnny ran after her and kept screaming her name.
She didn't knock, why would she, and cracked the door open.
What she saw inside made her almost collapse again.
"OH MY LORD."
Without any other thoughts she ran towards Archie's bed and jumped right on top of it.
"Easy, easy!", the oh-so-familiar voice said-laughed.
"ARCHIE OH MY GOD YOU ARE ALIVE."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and layed her head down on his shoulder.
"Of course I am. What do you expect?"
"You said that before!", shocked she sat up on top of him.
He just looked at her, confused and also amused that he was once again the center of attention.
"Did I?"
"Uhm... nevermind."
Weird.
"BUT YOU ARE ALIVE HOLY SHIT I WAS SO WORRIED ARCHIE I LOVE YOU DONT EVER DO THAT AGAIN I HAVENT RESTED IN AGES AND I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN..."
"Shh Sammy calm down or you'll collapse again. I'm here, focus on what's right now, okay."
She bent down again and rested on his chest.
She couldn't believe this was real.
After a while Archie tried to make her move a bit but then saw that she fell asleep and just watched her, smiling.
"She looks so done.", he stated.
Not really towards Johnny, who was the only one with him and Sammy in the room, but more to himself.
Johnny replied though.
"Yeah, it wasn't easy for her. It wasn't easy for me either. She refused to come home with me to have some rest. I swear she wanted to stay with you until you wake up. I managed to get her home though."
He smiled thinking about the day at the lake.
"Thank you, Johnny. For taking care of her. She would've been all alone."
Archie smiled at him, proud, to call him his best friend and brother.
"You know I'd always do that."
"I'm so glad you get along with each other. I remember a time when you two wouldn't dare to exchange one single word."
They both laughed at this.
"Yeah.. oh lord we were so young."
"Aw come on, it was the best time of our lives man!"
If only he knew that Johnny had a quite different opinion on that.
He really enjoyed his life right now.
Well apart from Archie being in a coma for the last three weeks.
But the fact that he was happy with Sammy made him feel incredibly good.
He couldn't even remember a time when he felt for a girl that way.
"Johnny? Are you lost in some secret thoughts?", Archie asked and laughed.
"Yeah. Super secret.", he replied and smiled.
"Wow. Did I miss a lot?"
"Not that much, no. But a bit."
"Spill."
"No."
"Oh come on Johnny boi, tell me."
He shook his head and stood up from the chair.
"Not yet. I'll go get some food, Sammy must be hungry. See ya later."
"Really? You leaving me in the dark after telling me I missed something super secret? I hate you Joonas Parkkonen!"
"I love you too!", he laughed, already out of the room.
"Asshole."