Never had I ever done that in a hospital bed. I lay there with my head on John's chest listening to his heartbeat.
"What if a nurse comes in and sees us like this?"
John twirled a strand of my hair around his finger. "Well, then we're outta here. I really need a smoke anyway."
I looked up to see him smirking.
"Tut tut, John. Still a smoker?"
"Jeez, no judging! Let's get my life back and then we can think about the menial stuff, huh?"
"We? What makes you think I'm in?" I taunted him.
"Because I love you and I kinda have a feeling you love me too."
"Yeah... guess I have for a few years now. Crazy how time flies huh?"
A kiss on the top of my head and then we fell asleep.
"Mr. Frusciante, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You don't need to stay here any longer and having broken several regulations, you can't stay here a patient."
I opened my eyes slightly to see a nurse standing at the door. It took me a second to remember everything - I guess I'd really needed that sleep, especially in John's arms.
John's voice was all groggy when he sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Y-yeah miss, we'll be outta your hair shortly."
I managed to apologize hastily before the distressed nurse closed the door behind her.
"Told you. Now let's go get some smoke into your lungs."
John rushed out of the hospital bed and started getting dressed. "You're great. You know that?"
"Shit, fuck!!"
"Out of cigarettes?"
"Yeah."
After getting a pack of cigarettes at a nearby minimart, John and I took a cab to Ella's apartment. The apartment had been rented by her after her and Anthony's failed wedding and she'd gotten used to it very quickly given that she'd been living in their shared mansion before that.
The elevator dinged but the door never opened so we opted to walk all the way up to the 6th floor. Out of breath, I opened the door and yelled out "I'm home! John's here too." No response. I peeked into the living room.
"Ella?" I called out and noticed the bathroom light was on. I knocked on the door.
"Ella, you in there?"
The door opened a crack as Ella peeked out.
"Hey girl, sorry I didn't, uh, hear you. I'll be out in a sec."
I was giving John a bit of a house tour when the bathroom door opened and I saw Ella out of the corner of my eye. "Oh hey sis", I greeted when I turned to face her.
Instead I found myself looking at Mr. Anthony Kiedis standing there with but a towel around his waist. "Hey.. uh, welcome home." Then he snuck into Ella's room, Ella following him and throwing me an apologetic glance.
John and I looked at each other and just shook our heads disapprovingly.
Within 10 minutes or so the pair had gotten dressed and said their surprisingly casual goodbyes at the front door. When the door closed, I raised my brow at Ella. She glanced at John, seemingly noticing him just now and clapping back with "Oh, you're one to talk."
I told John I'd be right back as I followed Ella into the kitchen. She just covered her face in embarrassment. "Eva, what is wrong with the two of us? Why do we keep—"
"I truly don't know, sis. I truly don't."
Our unreasonably hysterical laughter must've attracted John's attention as he'd suddenly appeared in the doorway.
"Hi Ella. Uh, sorry for showing up so unannounced, Eva just invited me up for a bit, we-uh, we didn't know—"
"Look, it's fine, it's good to see you John. I guess we all got some catching up to do?"
