Johnny Baby

❤️7❤️

Nico

I twist the small knob next to my radio listening to the somewhat obnoxious sounds of white noise coming from empty radio stations as I switch through them.
Lights from open shops and restaurants shine down on my car dash as I drive through the mostly empty roads.
On most days, I'd be driving around on my motorcycle considering how much money I spent on it, but, it was a little too cold for me. I'm not really a fan of winter for that reason. But, I can't complain. It reminds me to drive my truck around sometimes. I can't just leave it without driving it or the battery might die. Don't wanna deal with that.
I settle on a random station and focus on the road again.
The lights of the city slowly start to fade as I reach the less busy streets around the highschool.
When the skies start to get darker around winter, the city seems to be even less active. Guess that's what happens when you're in a small city. We're more like a town than a city.
A figure standing near a fence catches my attention as I drive past the school. I slow down to watch it a little bit closer in my rearview mirror.
The figure just seems like a black, shadowy figure for a moment. That is until I turn and my headlights shine on none other than Johnny Rosales himself.
I chuckle and do a quick u-turn on the street before another car comes and I can't before slowly driving up to the sidewalk.
"We keep running into each other it seems." I say to him as I roll down my window.
"No, I think you're just following me." He states bluntly, barely glancing at me before continuing to walk down the sidewalk. That small glance is enough for me to spot the gnarly bruises on his face.
"Woah!" I exclaim, quickly stopping my car next to the sidewalk. "Hold up." I tell him, quickly jumping out of my seat and walking over to him.
"What do you want? I really have to get home." He groans, keeping his eyes on the ground.
"Wait, I said wait." I said firmly, grabbing his shoulders and stopping in front of him.
The contact makes him jump and almost pull away from me. I paid it no mind though as I examined his fucked up face.
He looked about as bad as I did when I stumbled over to his house. His face is all bruised up and covered in dust. His hair is tangled and just like face and clothes, are dusty and dirty. His shirt and jeans even have faint blood stains.
"What the hell happened to you?" I asked, tilting my head to look at him better.
He stares at me silently for a minute before grunting and aggressively pulling away from me, giving me a chance to see his bruised knuckles.
"None of your fucking business. Now just, leave me alone." He spat, giving me a harsh glare before trying to walk past me.
"Dude, what is your problem?" I asked, bouncing over to walk beside him.
"My problem is you won't leave me the fuck alone!" He shouts, turning to me for a moment, his faintly teary eyes filling with anger. "I don't need your help okay? So could you just back off?" He asks, his face full of rage before turning and continuing his walk.
The response takes me by surprise.
Sure, Johnny and I have never been buddies before. We joke about how we hate each other sometimes, but we've never actually hated each other. Or, that's what I thought till he snapped at me like that.
Johnny may be an asshole sometimes, but this is just so out of character for him. He's usually mean in the way where his words and jokes and threats come out in a monotone voice with sarcasm dripping into it. I've never heard him snap at anyone ever.
Without thinking, I grabbed his arms and pulled him back.
"Hey!" He shouts, trying to pull away but stopping after letting out a small pained wince.
"Woah, hey. Settle down." I tell him, loosening my grip on his arms, watching as he takes a deep, shaky breath and sighs.
"Look, if you really want me to leave you alone, I will. But, just let me help you first. Then, I'll leave you alone." I tell him.
Johnny looks up at me. His anger filled eyes seemed to soften as he stared at me.
There's a tense silence between us as I waited for him to say something. He looked like he was spacing out a bit so I stayed quiet, not wanting to provoke him again.
Finally, he blinks a couple times and sighs.
"Fine. Whatever."
I can't stop myself from smiling at that.
"Great. C'mon." I tell him, grabbing his arm again and leading him to my car.
"Wait, where are we going?" He asks, digging his heels into the ground to stop me from dragging him.
"Uh, to my house so I can fix you up?" I say, tilting my head at him. I could feel him shaking a bit. I wasn't sure if it was from the cold or from whatever had happened to him, but I didn't bother asking.
He looked somewhat like a scared dog. The way he stares at me like I'm a threat.
After another moment of hesitation, he slowly shifts his feet so his heels aren't digging into the cold grass and he lets me lead him to my car.
To be polite, I open the door for him but he gives me a raised eyebrow look before hopping in, crossing his arms over his chest tightly.
After shutting his door and quickly going to my side, I start the car.
The simple sound of the car starting up is enough to make him jump. It wasn't a big jump, but in the quiet car, it seemed pretty obvious to me.
He seemed pretty set on staying quiet during the drive so I didn't say anything. I turned on the radio, turned the volume to a good middle ground between quiet and medium before driving away from the school.
The quiet music along with the slowly fading city lights gave the car a nice, calming vibe. It was always nice to drive around at this time. Right when the sun has set so there's just barely a tint of blue in the sky. The city lights, although they were slowly starting to disappear as we drove away from the main part of town, still made it feel as though we were somewhere other than our small, dinky town.
I glanced over at Johnny as I drove. The faint lights made his already light skin look even lighter. The lighting also made the scar next to his eye look pretty cool though.
He sat leaning against the door, his eyes closed. It was obvious he wasn't sleeping, but I wasn't gonna disturb him either way.
His arms were still crossed over his chest, but he seemed a little bit more relaxed then earlier. His shoulders weren't as tense and his shaking has mostly stopped other than in his hands.
I watched as his lashes lightly fluttered against his cheeks and his fingers twitched. He could probably tell I was staring so I quickly focused back on the road.
The rest of the drive was quiet other than the faint radio music.
Finally, we arrived at my house.
I pulled into the driveway and glanced around, seeing that my dad was already gone.
I hummed and turned off my car, watching as Johnny lightly jumped when the lights in the car turned on before sitting up in his seat and hopping out.
I lead him up to my door, quickly unlocking it and letting him in.
He doesn't wander around much. He stays in his place as I turn on the lights and shrug off my jacket. He really only moves when I motion for him to follow me.
He doesn't get too close and he doesn't speak.
It's, once again, very out of character for him to be acting like that. Then again, who am I to judge his character? I honestly don't know anything about him. I know his name, last name and what grade he's in. I know his main friend group but, other than that I don't really know anything. I don't know his hobbies or his favorite classes. His family, his personality, anything. I don't know jack shit about Johnny and that really bugs me for some reason.
I lead him upstairs to where the bathroom is and have him sit down on the edge of the bathtub.
He seems rather fidgety, but I try to ignore it as I dig around for a first aid kit.
I for one have never gotten a first aid kit for myself. I only have one because Anthony got me one after noticing how often I get myself into fights.
That thought makes me realize something: I don't know if I know how to patch somebody up.
It doesn't seem like it'd be anything hard, but what if I accidentally hurt him more or somehow poison him? I don't know how strong certain medicines can be?
Maybe I should ask Anthony.
After a short moment of thinking I quickly grabbed my phone from my back pocket and quickly messaged him.