Almost Easy-Johnny Christ (Avenged Sevenfold)

17- The call

Joenna's POV

I sat in the couch and cuddled with Toby, Peanut was running around annoying the shit out of Johnny. I tried to take all this in; the record deal offers, meeting with bands, Johnny...yes, he always seemed to sneak into my mind somehow.

What were we? It's not like we ever had gone out on a date, so we couldn't be dating. Therefore, we couldn't be a couple, right? I suppose we were just friends. With benefits.

"Fuck, mom, I need you right now" I whispered, my voice muffled as I kissed the top of Toby's head. Everything would have been so much easier with my parents here. Not only discussing boy troubles with my mother, but also showing them what happened. What Johnny had done for me. It would make them so freaking proud if they could just see that this dream was going somewhere..

I felt an itching sensation on my arms, my wrists to be exact. My heart was screaming and I took a deep breath to calm down. No, Joenna. No cutting.

Damn it, I was crying. Why did I always have to handle my feelings like this? It was annoying how weak I was. Pathetic.

"Joenna?" Johnny's voice came from the kitchen. I didn't answer, I didn't trust my voice. I heard footsteps, him walking to the living room.

"I ordered vegetarian for you since-" he stopped mid-sentence, probably noticing I was crying. "Jo? Time to talk?" he asked, sitting down next to me. He pushed Toby down and instead let my head rest on his shoulder.

"I miss them" I whispered, attempting to wipe away a few of the tears. "I miss my parents"

Johnny wrapped me in a comforting hug and let his head rest on top of mine. The position was kind of awkward, since we were sitting next to each other on a couch, but it worked. In a way.

"Shh..I know you do" he whispered calmly. "In fact, I've thought about this. Tristan...no, wait..Trevor, was it? He must've given up on trying to find you now, right?" he asked and I just tried to shrug.

"Dunno. Probably" I answered.

"Then, why haven't you called your parents? If they're safe, if you're safe, then I don't see why you can't call them?" he then said and I pulled away, looking him in the eyes. They showed concern, confusion, care and..well, Johnny?

"I'm scared" I whispered, my voice so tiny that I barely could hear myself. I was scared. Scared of what they would say when I finally contacted them after all these months. Scared of what had happened since I left. Scared if Trevor might have done something to them. Scared of everything.

Johnny smiled sadly at me, then looking down at our hands. I hadn't noticed that he had taken a hold of mine, and he was now just fiddling with our fingers (if that doesn't sound too wrong). "Want me to call them for you?" he asked after a moment of silence.

He would do that? He would call my parents, explain this for me? I smiled, another tear escaping my eye. "I love you" I said honestly. It meant something different than the other times I had told him I loved him, but I don't think he realized that.

He kissed my forehead and hugged me once more, before he took out his phone. "Now?" he asked, to check if I was OK with it. I nodded, taking the phone from him to dial the number. I still remembered mom's number by heart. Some times I would dial it and just sit and stare at my phone, pondering whether I should call her or not. But I had always chickened out.

As I handed Johnny the phone again, I lifted my knees up to rest my chin on them, watching Johnny. He held the gadget to his ear, reaching out his hand. I took it mine and squeezed it. I understood if he was nervous as well, my parents hadn't talked to him since high school for crying out loud! And they also took a dislike towards him after he went to tour with the band. Not that Johnny knew that, but I was kind of scared of how mom would react when Johnny called.

Great. One more thing I was scared of. Brilliant.

Johnny's POV

"Hello, this is mrs. Johnson?" the familiar voice of Claire said through the phone.

"Uhm, hi. I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Johnny Seward, friend of Joenna?". It went quiet for a minute on the other line, a bit shuffling around, and then a man's voice was heard.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Johnson?" I didn't know if I should call him by his first name after all these years, so I stuck to Mr. Johnson.

"Yes?" he answered.

"Hey, it's me, Johnny Seward" I introduced myself once again.

"The kid that dropped out of school?". Oh. Great. This was what I was known for now.

"That would be me, yes. Listen, I'm calling because of Joenna-"

"Joenna isn't at home" he cut me off. Wow, now I guess I understood why I had been so polite to him before. If he disliked you, he wasn't afraid to show it. I guess I kind of deserved it though, I left Joenna just like that.

"I know she isn't. Hasn't been for, what, 6 months now?" I asked, looking at Joenna. She was staring at me with concerned eyes, and gripping my hand tightly. She nodded her head shamefully, and I shot her a smile to tell her it was ok.

"How do you know about that?" Mr. Johnson asked, his voice sad but angry at the same time.

"Because she's sitting right next to me, sir"

Silence. A deafening silence. Did he hang up, or something?

"Mr. Johnson?" I tried.

"You're lying" he stated, but I noticed his voice broke.

"I'm a man of truth. Or something along those lines. Look, I know that you probably don't like me as much as you used to after I left your daughter like that, but she's here with me right now. And she's terrified and really needs her parents" I explained, hoping he would understand. I heard him call for his wife and then mumble something to her. I assume the phone was put on speaker after that.

"Can we talk to her?" Jo's mom asked, and I could hear she was almost crying already.

"I'm sorry, she's..she asked me to do it for you". I looked over at Joenna and covered the phone with my hand. "Should I tell them where you are?" I whispered. Joenna nodded.

"We're in Los Angeles. I'm sure that Joenna will explain everything for you if you are willing to come and visit" I said, and I heard both of them burst into tears on the other end.

"Oh my god, is she ok?" mrs. Johnson asked. I smiled, now they finally believed me.

"She's fine. Well, it could have been better, but she's ok" I said with a smile. Joenna smiled at me, thankful for not telling them anything about the reason she ran away. I knew that was something personal that she needed to bring up herself.

"Pack your bags, Don, we're going to LA"

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ARE YOU HAPPY? CAUSE I AM!

I have so many plans for this story, but I don't know how to put them into decent chapters xD

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