-ＤＡＵＮＴＬＥＳＳ- 𝑗𝑜ℎ𝑛𝑛𝑦 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒

𝟏𝟒 • 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃

"Since you've been around me so much." He corrects and I tilt my head to the side signaling that he wasn't so off from the truth.

"I just need to get my mind off of it." I scan the area around us for something to do and Johnny does the same.

"Hey, what about that?" He points across the room, practically referencing everything in that area.

"Which one?" I scrunch my eyebrows and suddenly, I feel his hand on my waist, yanking me to the inflatables. He pulls me into a bouncy house and I stumble behind him.

"It's fourteen and under in here, Lawrence."

"I don't see anyone stopping me." He throws his hands up in confidence. "You said you could beat me the next time we spar, prove it."

"You're insane." I laugh,

"Come on, you'll feel better. Take your anger out." I debate for a second while he drops into a ready position. "Stall all you want, but I'm not letting you leave until you beat me."

"You're kidding," I complain playfully, but I do as he says, taking the space in front of him to mirror his position.

His strong suit is attacking and mine is defending so the cycle continues for a minute or so until I finally decide to punch, but he catches it with ease and flips me around, tapping my back for what would be considered a point.

It goes on somewhat like that for a couple more rounds until I'm basking on the neon orange surface of the bouncy house with my limbs spread out in defeat. Johnny towers above me, flashing a smile that never fails to make my stomach flip, and offers me his hand.

I take it, but instead of getting pulled to my feet, I yank him down just as I sweep his leg. He tosses me over him and rolls to hover above me, his heavy breathing fanning a minty aroma into my face as his hair falls into his eyes.

"Not bad," He exhales and I attempt to slow my racing heartbeat that I was almost certain was noticeable from his point of view just by how hard it was pounding. "Just not good enough." He smirks and I narrow my eyes at the dig. "You feel better though, don't you?" He asks and I nod after a second, our eyes not leaving each other until he flickers across my features, taking the sight of me in.

"Yeah, I'd say so," I mutter in response, being sucked into the moment.

"Good," He pulls away and abruptly hops to his feet. "That's good." He swallows, collecting himself at the same time.

Throughout the next few hours we kind of just wander, once in a while picking an activity to partake in, but I guess we both felt that talking was more than enough to keep us busy. Believe it or not, Johnny's actually fun when he wants to be.

As he sits across from me in a metallic booth behind the food court, I lean my chin against my palm and listen to whatever he wants to talk about. I found it adorable how his face lit up anytime he spoke about anything karate-related or his friends, Bobby and Tommy more specifically. He explained how the three of them had been friends almost their whole lives and how he had been the one to convince the other two to try karate after he'd been training for a while.

I think it was at that moment that I finally realized what Ali really saw in him, but more at the same time. He wasn't always the jealous prick trying to pick fights, but rather, once in a while he'd get comfortable and allow that subconscious filter to fade. It's one that I wish wouldn't revert once we left here because I could actually see myself enjoying the company of this version of him.

Eventually, we finish our slurpees and manage to avoid Ali and Daniel all night, occasionally spotting them through the crowds of people and intentionally turning the other way.