"I see the drugs are starting to take effect," I teased, going to his side. I took his hand and sat beside him for the next half hour. He wouldn't show it, but Johnny was terrified. This was something huge for him, and there were lots of things that could go wrong.
"Will you be here when I get back?" he asked, as he glanced at the clock, knowing it was almost time.
"Of course." I squeezed his hand. "I'll stay as long as you need me. Hours, days, weeks. Whatever you need, Johnny."
"You're a good friend, Domino. You know that, right? This has nothing to do with this." He motioned to his torso. "But this." He pointed to his heart. "You've always had a good heart."
My chin trembled, and a solitary tear slid down my cheek. "Don't give me a goodbye speech. There's no reason to."
"I know, but my heart aches for you. You went back to that hellhole for me and all the others you want to help. I'm sure you already have a list." He chuckled.
I grinned. I did.
"You're the only person I know who would do that for someone. I hope you don't lose your beautiful heart by going back."
"I won't," I promised. "I'm not going to let them change me. And who knows, maybe after this summer, I'll have had my fill and go back out onto the road."
"You won't." He shook his head. "I can see it already. Your hair, your makeup. Your clothes! You are gorgeous, honey, and you deserve that rich bitch life more than anyone."
A pair of nurses came in and smiled politely at us. "Are we ready, Johnny?"
Johnny wasn't his legal name yet, and I appreciated that they didn't use his dead name. Johnny was beaming too, having caught that too. "Yes. I am." He squeezed my hand one last time before I stepped back to let them unlock the wheels and push him out of the room. Reflexively, I lifted my camera and snapped a photo of him with his hands in the air and the largest smile on his face.
"Don't lose your beauty, baby!" he called to me right before being wheeled into the operating room.
I returned to the waiting room, where Swayze sat, buried in his phone. "You okay?" He looked up curiously.
I wiped my eyes and looked the other way. "I'm fine. It's gonna be awhile."
He held up his watch. "You want to grab lunch then?"
I wasn't hungry, but I knew I had to do something.
"Let's walk," I suggested.
Swayze stood, still looking at his phone, and we left the building. The energy between us was tense and uncomfortable.
"Did I do something to make you mad at me?" I blurted. I needed to figure this out. Yesterday, he was friendly and flirty. And then, like a light switch, he was mean again, but he'd ramped it up. It was almost like he and Koi were determined to run me off.
"Mad? No. Jealous, on the other hand…"
"Jealous?" I looked up at him.
"Don't play innocent. I know Koi felt you up under the ice water. Can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing had it been me."
I raised my camera and looked for something to distract me.
"I didn't tell him to do that." I snapped a photo of a man playing the guitar on the street corner.
"You didn't push him away either."
"You're jealous?" I smirked as we walked right past all the food places and started down a path through a park.
"You have no fucking clue. Watching you two together had my dick insanely hard."
"Swayze!" I screeched.
"What? I figured if I'm going to shoot my shot, I gotta do it while he's not around. He's got more game than I do." His eyes raised to the sky.
