Far From Perfect

Chapter 23

"I can't believe you showed girls your...," I start but refuse to finish my sentence and instead point to Johnny's crotch.

"Say it," he dares me and I shake my head.

"Nope. You will always have a wee-wee to me," I respond with a laugh, making him grin.

"I can assure you, it's no longer a wee-wee," he says with a wink and I shake my head at him.

"I don't want to know that, Johnny. You and I have known each other since we were practically babies," I say and he arches his eyebrow. "Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but you know what I mean."

"And now we're adults and I have a pe-" he starts and I quickly cover his mouth with my hand.

"Stop right there, mister. I know the name of the male anatomy, but I don't want to hear it from you of all people, so zip it," I tell him, making him chuckle. "Now if you promise not to say it, I will remove my hand. Do you promise?" I ask him and he nods.

I slowly lower my hand from his mouth and he stays quiet. "Good. Now let's move on from your manhood," I tell him just as he yells, "penis." I reach out to smack him on the arm, but he quickly jumps out of the driver's seat, leaving me no choice but to follow after him.

"Too slow," he taunts me as he walks around to the passenger side but stays out of reach.

"You got lucky this time, but next time you won't be so lucky."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a promise," I tell him and walk past him, bumping his arm with my shoulder.

"Oh, I see how it is," he responds clearly amused.

"Don't test me because you will regret it, Mr. Hardy," I threaten him as I look him dead in the eyes, but he knows as well as I do that it's all in good fun.

"You can call me Mr. Hardy in the classroom, but outside I'm just Johnny to you."

"Perhaps I'll sit in on one of your classes just so I can call you Mr. Hardy," I tell him with a wink and he smiles.

"You're always welcome to visit me. You can even be my assistant for the day if you want to go all out."

"I'd much rather make you nervous in front of your students. I bet none of your students have ever seen the shy and nervous, Mr. Hardy."

"That's it. I rescind your invitation," he tells me with a chortle and I gasp.

"How dare you!" I respond, placing my hand over my heart. "I am hurt. Deeply hurt."

"You really need to brush up on your acting skills," he insults me with a chuckle.

"As if you are any better."

"Hey at least I took drama classes in high school," he reminds me.

"You still suck though."

"And I can't even deny it," he admits with a shrug. "It was fun though. Acting just wasn't my forte. Do you ever wish you could go back to high school?"

"Hell no! I hated high school," I admit truthfully. "Being bullied on a daily basis was awful. I never want to go back to that."

"About that...," he stammers. "I'm sorry I was never there to stand up for you," he tells me, stopping me in my tracks.

"You have nothing to apologize for. You had your own group of friends and I had mine. At school, we were just neighbors"

"We were not just neighbors. We were friends. We are friends," he reiterates. "And I should have been there for you."