Blooming Passion •• Ryan Tedder {1}

A Taped Photograph

Ramona's P.O.V.

The next morning, Ramona's eyes fluttered open as she awoke. She then sat up, stretching her arms out wide as her mouth opened into a drawn-out yawn. She looked over to her left, hoping to then see her fiance. He was not there. She felt that side of the bed with her left hand and observed that it was cold.

He hadn't been there for a while, surely.

The ring on Ramona's fourth finger suddenly glistened as it caught the natural light flowing in from the window. Ramona gazed at it for quite a while, the diamond not striking pride in her, oddly enough, but a shrill voice from downstairs yelled out, "FUCKING---JOHANA!"

Ramona furrowed her eyebrows. Was that Lynn? She asked herself in her mind. With navy blue pajama shorts and a plain black tank top on, Ramona made her way downstairs, scratching her head covered in knotted, messy dark red hair.

It seemed there was a tangle of the black-haired, tough woman and the sweet little redhead. They were wrestling on the floor beside the couch and on the TV was a paused game of Mario Kart. On the top screen was Luigi, who had won the race on Rainbow Road, and on the bottom, Princess Peach in last place, having struggled against several bananas and a red cube right in her way. Ramona could only assume Luigi had been played by Johana.

"Guys!" Ramona yelled. Johana and Lynn both looked up in surprise. Yet either way, Lynn had been pinned down by Johana and was struggling against her strong grip.

"Hi!" Johana smiled. Lynn's bottom lip was curled as she gave puppy dog eyes.

"Help me..." She squeaked at Ramona. Ramona raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell happened?"

"Did she wake you??" Johana asked, disregarding the question. Lynn briefly glared at her before actually answering the inquiry.

"She keeps winning at Mario Kart and putting a bunch of shit in front of me to stop me!" She whined. Johana laughed, not letting go of Lynn's arms. It seemed she held on tighter and Lynn wrestled in strain to escape her grasp.

"You see, Ramona, Lynn thought she was amazing at Mario Kart until she raced me." Johana grinned widely. Ramona gave a weird, almost judgmental look.

"That's why you're wrestling??"

Lynn and Johana nodded. Ramona rolled her eyes.

"Oh, get a grip."

Then she moved on to the kitchen to grab food as she heard Lynn and Johana returning to their places on the couch to continue playing the video game. She had jumped in great shock when she saw Addie there beside one bit of the counter, leaning against it ever so casually.

"You're here too?" She asked. Addie smiled after she swallowed the bit of doughnut she was eating.

"We let ourselves in a lot, you know. Get used to it," She claimed. Then she began to walk into the living room past Ramona as she took a big bite of the glazed pastry, "Besides, be grateful. We got you doughnuts on the way here."

All too soon, the front door opened. From the living room, Ramona heard Addie greet, "Hey, Shawn."

Ramona didn't know what she felt, but she found herself racing to the living room to finally see the man she was engaged to. She smiled when she saw him; muscular build and a strong jawline supporting a five o' clock shadow, one that oddly complimented his somewhat neat brown hair. His dark gray eyes locked onto Ramona and even as she smiled, he still had a very serious look on him, no emotion replying to her perky greeting: "Hey!"