Johnny Baby

❤️11❤️

(If you skipped the last chapter, here's the "important" bit you missed! If you already read the last chapter, feel free to skip this part!
In a moment of desperation to stop the negative thoughts that Johnny was experiencing, he chopped off a piece of his hair. His sister offers to fix it for him later, thus being the reason he has a hair cut in this chapter!
That's basically it! Continue on with the chapter!)

Nico

    “Wait, so he really kissed you?” Avery asked, seeming shocked at the idea of that.
    “Yeah.” I can’t help but wince as I speak.
    “Wait, but didn’t you say you thought he was cute? Why would you not kiss him back?” Ray asks, jogging forward a little to walk in front of me, carefully walking backwards to keep her eyes on me.
    “Well, I don’t know! What was I supposed to do? I didn’t expect it.” I groaned.
    I tried to message Johnny a couple times. The only time he replied to me was when Megan messaged our group and asked what we thought for our outfits.
    I felt bad for not kissing back. But, I panicked! I wasn’t sure what to do.
    “Nico, you usually never panicked. What went wrong here?” Avery asks, grabbing my shoulder to stop me in my tracks.
    “I..” I don’t even fully know myself. “I just got scared I guess. I don’t know if these things I’m feeling are actual feelings or just something else. I don’t want to fuck things up between us again.” I sighed, brushing my fingers through my hair.
    “Dude, what are you gonna do?” Anthony asks, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.
    “I...I don’t know.” I sighed.
    My friends looked back and forth at each other before giving me a smile.
    Ray walks over and lightly rubs my arm.
    “Hey, don’t worry about it. You’ll figure it out. You almost always figure this kind of thing out.” She says, tossing her curly hair out of her face.
    “Besides, you got us to help you out if you really need it.” Anthony says, wrapping his arm around my neck and poking my side.
    I chuckle lightly before nodding.
    “You guys are great.” I hum. “Thanks.”
    “Ah, don’t worry about it.” Avery said, walking over and lightly patting my shoulder. “We’ll always be there to help you out.” She says, then pauses. “Or, try to at least.” She winks up at me, making me roll my eyes.
     “Thank you miss bossy I appreciate that.” I laugh, smiling as Anthony ruffles my hair before letting go of me.
    “Well, we’re gonna get going. Good luck.” Avery said, lightly patting my arm before starting to walk out.
    Ray gently punches my arm before jogging after Avery.
    Anthony ruffles my hair and gives me finger guns before following after his sister.
    Then, I stood there in the halls alone.
    I would definitely be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to enter the band room.
    I could hear Megan idley hitting the high-hat on her drum set.
    They were probably waiting for me. I was definitely a little late. I wouldn’t admit it to anyone but my friends but, I really was dreading this.
    Usually, I was super excited to come to band practice. I loved hanging out with Megan and Danny and Johnny. But, after the party, I felt like things were gonna be really awkward or something was gonna go wrong again.
    But, I guess it only makes it worse if I avoid it.
    I took a deep breath before slowly sighing then opening the doors to the band room.
    I walked in, shoving my hands in my pocket as Megan spoke up.
    “There you are.” Megan sighed. “You’re late.”
    “Yeah, sorry. I got a little caught up with my friends. They were talking about something that happened at their dad’s bakery. Let’s just say, it had to do with fire.” I lied easily, smiling at the little chuckle that earned from Megan and the fond eye roll Danny gave in return.
    “Anyways, we should talk about our costumes since you guys never. Responded. To. my. Text.” Megan says, pausing between their words to emphasize their statement.
    “...Whoops.” I said, smiling at the glare she sent me.
    “Anyways, here’s what I was thinking.” She starts, plopping down into her seat at the drums and idly twisting back and forth as she starts to speak.
    I can see Danny listening intently, however, I’m already ignoring whatever she’s talking about.
    I would love to focus on whatever Megan was saying at this exact moment. But, I couldn’t pull my eyes away from Johnny.
    He’s currently sat up on his normal platform, tapping his boots on the carpeted floor, his mic still in his hand but luckily still off as he tapped it against his leg as he listened closely to Megan speak.
    Literally, none of this is new. He sits up there all the time since it’s where he practices and he really doesn't do much out of the ordinary when he’s up there. However, there is something different and it keeps my eyes locked on him for maybe way too long.
    His once long hair has now been chopped off almost completely. His hair used to reach just barely past his shoulders. It was full of big curls and waves so it was constantly really fluffy. Now, it’s suddenly cut up to his ears. It’s still just as fluffy and full but the length difference is so weird to me. Not a bad weird of course. Just new.
    I find myself staring till he looks at me, raising an eyebrow at me.
    The action causes panic to rush through me as I quickly look away and look back at Megan.
    Shit. Way to be smooth, Neeks.
    “Alrighty, so.” Megan starts again, tightening their ponytail before looking at us again.  “We have one week till the talent show. So, basically, this week I say we finalize our sort of look / aesthetic thing we’re going for, I finish adding our name to my drums because all cool bands have personalized drums and we make sure we can run the song everyday perfectly. We don’t necessarily have to win but it would be pretty shitty if we did all this work only to not even win third place at least.” She explains, mindlessly twirling her drumstick between her fingers.
    I glance over and watch as Johnny nods casually, fiddling with one of his short curls. Now that there’s so much hair gone, his hair seems even curlier and fluffier.
    “Sound cool?” Megan asked, smiling as the other two responded with a firm nod before going back to their normal spot.
    I went to walk back over to my spot but hesitated, watching as Johnny shrugged off his denim jacket, starting to hook up the mic to the speaker.
    Before I could actually properly process what might come of this next action, I walked over to Johnny, shoving my hands in my pockets nervously.
    I hesitantly cleared my throat as I stood behind him, watching as his hands stopped working with the cords and large speaker before he turned to me.
    “Hey.” I said to him, slightly rocking back on my heels to seem more casual.
    I watch as he crossed his arms across his chest
    “Hey.” He responded casually, trying to hide just how much he was avoiding eye contact.
    I wanted to be smooth and try to just talk to him but no words were coming out.
    What do I say?
    Should I apologize? If he thinks I don’t like him like that then I really have no reason to apologize. I can’t help my feelings, right?
    The problem is I think I do actually have feelings for him. But, I’m still not sure.
    I don’t wanna jump the gun and get both of us excited only to find out I don’t really have feelings for him and leave him behind.
    Plus, no one outside my friend group and Johnny know I’m bisexual. I can’t just start dating a boy all of a sudden. What’s everyone else gonna say?
    Johnny clears his throat and lightly scratches the back of his neck, about to say something.
    Crap. He’s totally about to try and get rid of me. Say something you fool!
    “Uhm, your hair!” I manage to spit out, watching as he slightly jumps at the way my voice hops up half an octave.
    He stares at me for a second, the faintest of blushes flooding his cheeks.
    “What about it?” He asks, a small hint of a defensive tone slipping into his words.
    “Nothing! I just.” Jesus. I don’t think I’ve ever worried about what I said more than I am currently at this moment.
    “It looks nice.” I finally manage to say, shrugging and rubbing the back of my neck.
    Johnny gives me a tight-lipped smile as he tugs at one of his many curls.
    “Thanks.” He responds with little emotion, letting go of the strand of hair and letting it bounce back to its original place before fiddling with his mic.
    “So, uhm.” I start, trying to think of something to say.
    “Hey are we good?” I asked finally, tilting my head at him. “You know, after the party you kinda left and I was worried about you and stuff.” I rambled, playing with the small tufts of hair at the back of my neck.
    I couldn’t help but instantly notice the way he rolls his eyes.
    “I’m fine, Nico. I’m not a kid. I can survive a little rejection.” He says, blowing a strand of hair out of his face before starting to go back to work on his set up.
    “Well, yeah, I know that. But, still. I just wanna make sure you’re okay, you know?” I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets again as I step a little closer.
    “Again, I’m fine, Nico. Don’t worry about it.” He says, slightly stepping away from me when I stepped closer before he returned back to checking the volume on the speaker.
    “Alright. We’re still friends though, right?” I asked, feeling my body tense as he seems to stay silent for a couple seconds.
    “John?” I ask, stepping closer once again.
    “We really should get to work. We only have so much time before we get booted out of the band room.” Johnny replies, not even sparing me a glance as he flicks on the speaker and taps the mic, checking the volume on it.
    Before I can stop myself, I can hear myself scoffing.
    “What?” He asks, slightly looking over his shoulder at me.
    “You’re really doing this again?” I asked him, crossing my arms over my chest.
    “Doing what?” He asks, turning to face me fully, a slightly defensive tone filling his voice. I notice the way his head slightly twitches to the side as the anger fills his face but it doesn’t even process in my head as I start to talk again.
    “This! You’re running away from me when I’m just trying to help you out!” I can’t help but exclaim.
    I know, I can’t exactly trust him to treat me like the perfect ally when we’ve only been “friends” for a short amount of time, however, I would expect him to at least not run away from me if we’re friends or whatever.
    He glares at me, his nails digging into his arms as he crosses them tighter.
    “I’m not running away from anything.” He says, trying to keep the anger out of his voice, occasionally glancing past my shoulder.
    “That’s funny because that’s literally what you’re doing now.” I state bluntly. “And you’ve done it before!” I point out.
    “When?!” He asks, sounding slightly exasperated.
    “That night I helped you out after your fight!” I tell him, watching as he freezes, his shoulders tensing up.
    “Yeah. You think I didn’t notice?” I ask him, letting out a humorless chuckle when he looks down.
    “I thought you were tough and yet you’re running away?” I asked him.
    “Hey! You don’t get to say shit! I know what you’re hiding.” He growls, making me slightly shrink under his aggressive glare.
    “Woah!” Megan exclaims, rushing over and pushing us apart so we aren’t too close.
    “What the hell is going on over here?” She asks.
    I completely dismiss her and look at Johnny, still glaring at me.
    “You’re right. I do run sometimes. I run from my problems.” He admits then steps closer. “But, at least I’m not running from myself.” He whispers, the words making my blood run cold.
    I wouldn’t have imagined Johnny to be the type to judge me for being closeted.
    Maybe he isn't and I’m just feeling attacked because I’m insecure but that really doesn’t make the situation any better.
    The room feels tense as we stare at each other.
    Johnny’s gaze slightly softens after a couple seconds, seemingly processing whatever he just said.
    Finally, after several moments of tense silence, he grumbles to himself and pulls himself away aggressively.
    “I’m getting out of here.” He groaned, stomping over to his stuff and tugging on his jacket.
    “What?!” Danny and Megan ask in unison.
    “Johnny,” Megan starts, quickly jogging over to John as he pulls on his bag.
    “I’m sorry, Meg. I know this thing means a lot to you but I just.” I watch as his eyes slightly drift away from her face and land on mine for just a split second before looking at Megan.
    “I’m sorry. Good luck finding another singer.” He says, stepping backwards to get away from Megan before just leaving.
    “Johnny!’ Danny calls, hoping out of her seat and jogging out after him, tugging his long coat on over her cardigan as she does so.
    We watch as Danny’s blue hair quickly vanishes behind the band door windows as they chase after Johnny.
    Megan doesn’t hesitate to quickly turn to face me.
    “What the hell happened with you two?!” They asked, looking at me with angry but concerned eyes.
    “I-...I don’t know.”  I sigh, running my hand through my hair, fluffing it up out of frustration.
    Megan groans and pulls her headband off, running her long fingers through her long hair.
    “Neeks, the talent show is Friday!” They exclaim, throwing their hands out in frustration. “What the hell are we gonna do?”
    I sigh and drop down to sit on Johnny’s platform, disconnecting the mic as it gives a small screech of feedback.
    “Honestly?” I ask them, watching as they cross their arms anxiously and stare at me. “I have no clue.”