Running Away Into You (John Frusciante Fanfic)

Chapter 4

Thank you to my new followers and to everyone who has voted/commented!! There aren't a ton of you so far but I appreciate everyone who has done this so far! I love you all :)

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" He asks as he eats his burger. You guys are sitting in a dirty plastic booth at the McDonalds down the street from Las Encinas.

"I already ate" You say pushing away the fries he offers you.

"If you were going to sneak me out to lunch why did you eat beforehand?" He asks as he sips his soda.

"Because I didn't know I would be sneaking you out. It was a spur of the moment decision. I felt bad for you" You shrug, trying and failing to rationalize your decision.

You're trying not to think too much about what you did or why you did it. John had some sort of power over you, without even trying too hard he could make you do something that could risk your job and his sobriety.You didn't want to explore why this was the case because it couldn't lead anywhere positive.

"Hmmm, the softer side of rehab" He says looking thoughtful, which makes you snort "So tell me about you; who is Samantha Skinner?" He says leaning back in his booth.

"Well what do you want to know? That question is very vague."

"Why did you decide to be a rehab nurse? Why would you want to work with scum like me everyday?" He asks with a smirk.

"You are not scum John" You reply, looking down at the table.

He isn't fazed by your reply, "Don't avoid the question"

"My parents were drug addicts, so I sort of was always interested in it, but I didn't seek it out or anything. And then when I was in nursing school the opportunity to work in a rehab just fell into my lap, I had a professor who recommended me for an internship and one thing led to another." You shrug.

"I'm sorry about your parents" He says and you shrug again, "Does your past affect the way you do this job?"

"I think my experience with my parents helps me because I can come at it from the one end, by understand what its like to be the friends and family of an addict. At the same time though,  because I spent so much time around addicts at a young age, I sort of understand what makes most of them tick too. My past definitely helped me, but I didn't choose this job because of my past, if that makes any sense."

"It does." He answers and you don't know what to say next. Luckily, John fills the silence with more questions for you.

 "Are you from LA originally?" He asks, curiously.

"Yeah I am"

"Where in the city?" He follows up. 

 "Um...not really any one spot—from what I know my parents moved around a lot because they didn't have much money. My first memories are of us living in downtown LA and when they died we had been living in Venice for a few years so I would say I'm probably from there." You respond.

"Where are you from originally?" You ask. You can't stop yourself from prying into his life as well.

"I was born in New York but we moved to California when I was really young, so I spent most of my life in Santa Monica." He responds.

"Ah not to far from me, or at least me when I was ten" You say with a laugh.

"You were that young when they died?!" He asked incredulously, "Do you mind me asking how it happened?"

"I don't mind. My dad was killed by his dealer because he was so deep in debt, and then less than 6 weeks later my mom overdosed." You say, emotionlessly. You'd told this story to so many therapists by now it barely affected you anymore to relay it to people.