Johnny's POV:

I woke up around 10am and the guys were back in the living room playing Call of Duty, or maybe they haven’t been to bed yet. I wasn’t up for gaming right now so I sat on the back porch and lit a cigarette. It was getting chilly, it was December and there haven’t been many days like this yet. Christmas would be in a two weeks and we usually never decorated or anything. A house filled with guys decking the halls and hanging garland? Not our thing. But now that Shannon was here I knew she would want us to, it was always her favorite holiday besides Halloween.

I heard someone moving around in the kitchen and figured it was one of the guys so I didn’t bother looking. The sliding glass doors opened and I looked over and Shannon was standing there.

“You still smoke those nasty things.” She asked making a disgusted face and leaning against the door frame.

“Yeah, tried to quit but I don’t see that working.” I said and took another drag from the cigarette.

“You’ll quit, I’ll get you to.” She said and took the last bit I had left of the cigarette and put it out.

“Good luck with that one.” I said with a laugh.

She sat in the chair next to me and pulled her hood over her head. She looked worn out, almost defeated. I wanted to ask her what was up but decided against it, I knew she would talk when she was ready to.

“So hey, Christmas is coming up. You gonna decorate the house for us?” I asked her as I poked her in the side a few times, forcing a smile out of her.

“Only if you guys help me.” She smiled more and slapped my hand away.

“I’ll think about it.” I told her and poked her again. “But we gotta buy some decorations because all we have is a box of smashed ornaments and some tinsel.” I told her.

“I don’t know about you guys.” She said and shook her head. “You guys always break everything.”

SHANNON’S POV:

Brian, Zacky and Jimmy came out on the back porch then and sat with us.

“So, what are you girls talking about?” Brian asked and sat on my lap.

“OUCH, you heffer.” I cried out. “Get off of me with your boney ass.” Brian laughed and sat on the arm of the chair instead and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“Better princess?” He asked.

“Yes!” I said and put my head against his side.

“You guys need to get dressed and ready!” I stated.

“And why is that?” Jimmy wondered.

“Because Christmas is in two weeks and there’s no Christmas spirit in the house. So, we are going shopping for ornaments. Then in a few days we can get a tree.” I told them.

“And then we can bake cookies, lite a fire and snuggle.” Jimmy said mocking me.

“Watch it or you’ll get coal mister.” I pointed at him.

“So, coal can be fun. Especially if someone pisses you off then you can throw it at them.” Jimmy said with a laugh.

“Come on, it’s my first Christmas with you guys in 11 years.” I told them.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get the stuff.” Johnny assured me.

"What the fuck Johnny? Can't just play along? Just because you like her and all..." Brian began.

“Fuck you man.” Johnny said as he leaned back in his chair, taking one of the cigarettes out of the pack and lighting it. I always had a feeling that Johnny liked me. Or maybe Zacky was just being mean and joking around with him like he always does.

“We’re only joking with you half pint, you know we will get stuff.” Jimmy told me.

“Really?” I asked and smiled.

“Yeah, under one condition though.” Brian told me and stood up. “Johnny has to dress as an elf while we decorate.

I looked over at Johnny and he was giving Brian an evil glare. The guys always picked on him because of his height. They picked on me too because of the same thing. To us we were normal height and they were the freakishly tall ones.

“So, how about it short shit?” Brian asked and folded his arms across his chest. “You gonna dress as an elf so Shannon can get her winter wonderland?

“I’ll do it!” Johnny said and took another pull from his cigarette. Jimmy, Zacky and Brian laughed.

“Hat, tights, pointy shoes… the whole nine yards.” Jimmy told him.

“I told you that I’ll do it.” Johnny told them.

“So it’s settled then. Johnny is going to be our Christmas elf.” Zacky said and laughed.

“I can’t wait to see this one! What a nice Christmas card we are going to have this year.” Jimmy said and laughed.

“What the fuck are you talking about Jimmy? We never have Christmas cards.” Brian told him

“And what a great way to start a new tradition. A picture of Johnny plastered smack dab on the front of the card, flipping the camera off with one hand and holding a beer with the other.” Jimmy continued to laugh. We couldn’t help but to join in.

They were always coming up this these bizarre ideas. And most of them involved Johnny being the bait and getting hurt in some way. But Johnny didn’t seem to care at all, he mostly did it to make people laugh. The guys headed back in the house and left Johnny and I on the back porch still.

“Oh, one more thing.” Zacky said and peaked his head back out the door again. “We’re going out tonight, and you’re going with us.” He pointed to me.

“Should I be scared?” I asked with a laugh.

“Very.” He smiled and winked.

The guys pulled Matt away from his video game long enough for us to head to the store for Christmas decorations. By time we got back from running around town it was already 7pm. This just might be a new world record for the guys being out shopping. We left at noon, a whole 7 hours… I’m surprised that they lasted that long without complaining.

We headed back out around 9:30 and went to a club called The Upper Deck. There wasn’t too many people here. Or at least not enough to fill the place. I grabbed Jimmy’s hand and pulled him towards the dance floor and started to dance with him. Well, dance as much as we could. We are two very uncoordinated people with what seems like two left feet. But either way we were having fun. The rest of the guys came and joined us. I think we were making fools out of ourselves by the way people were looking at us. But we weren’t about to let that affect us any.

We danced to about 5 or 6 songs till we decided to stop and get some drinks. The guys got their drinks and stood around talking to some people that they knew, but all I could hear was Brian yelling at people to take the shot. While they did that I found my way over to the bar and took a seat in an empty stool next to some guy.

JOHNNY’S POV:

We’ve been at the club for a few hours now. Just goofing off and having fun. Which everyone needed. I looked around for Shannon and found her sitting at the bar talking to some guy. He was tall, muscular and a few scattered tattoos here and there. I could tell by the way she was leaning in to talk to him that she was into this guy. Or maybe I’m just letting it all get to me. FUCK, I know it was getting to me, I wanted her to myself. Besides, she’s my best friend she has been for the longest time. I’ve had a crush on her since we were 13 and the guys would kill me if anything ever happened between us and she ended up getting hurt. And that’s the reason why I keep it to myself. Why I torture myself like this.

I watched her as she got up from the bar and started to walk away. But just as she was about to, the guy grabbed her by her wrist. She tried to pull away from him but he just kept holding on.

“I’ll be right back guys. Here, hold my drink Brian.” I said as I shoved past the guys and headed over to where Shannon and the guy were. “Is there a problem here?” I asked the guy.

“No, everything’s ok Johnny.” She said to me with kind of a weak smile. She managed to pull her arm away from the guy.

“Like she said, everything is fine here. Now run along.” The big burly guy said as he stood up from his stool.

“Come on Johnny, let’s go.” She said and grabbed my hand. I gave her hand a little squeeze and turned around to walk away and find the other guys.

“That’s right, just turn and walk away. You’re not man enough to do anything anyways.” The guy said with a laugh. I stopped dead in my tracks and let go of Shannon’s hand.

“Johnny please, just let it go. Never mind him ok.” She said pleading with me.

“Listen to your little bitch and get the fuck out of here already you pussy boy.”

That’s when I lost it. I swung around and punched the guy right in the face. Before I knew it we were rolling on the floor swinging and punching at each other.

SHANNON’S POV:

Matt, Brian and Zacky were trying to pull the guys apart as Jimmy held me back so I didn’t get involved. I didn’t want any of this to happen. It seemed like forever till they finally pulled them apart. They were holding Johnny back so he didn’t go after Adam (that’s the name of the guy I was talking to) again. I could tell Johnny was pissed as he was trying his hardest to break loose of the guys grip on him. They led Johnny out of the bar and Jimmy and I followed behind.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ Johnny, what the fuck is wrong with you? You could have gotten yourself killed!” Zacky yelled at him as we got outside. “That guy was like 50 times your size and height.”

“Shut up Zacky. Mind your own business ok. I don’t want to talk about it” Johnny yelled as he pushed past the guys and headed for the cars. We followed behind him but Zacky wasn’t going to let it go.

“Yeah, you never want to talk about it Johnny! Fuckin' little shit head.” Zacky said following him

“Just drop it Zacky, it’s no use!” Brain said as he reached the two.

“Can we just go home guys? I don’t want to be here anymore!” I said wrapping my arms around myself and trying not to make eye contact with any of them. I didn’t want them to see the tears that were slowly forming.

“Yeah, come on babe.” Brian said and wrapped his arm around me, leading me to his car and opening the door for me. I got in and he shut the door behind me.

“I’m just going to walk home.” I heard Johnny say from outside of the car.

“Oh no you don’t.” Jimmy said and grabbed Johnny by the collar. “I don’t think so!” He said and opened the passenger side door and shoved him in. “Sit! Stay!” He shut the door and climbed in the back of the car with me as the rest of the guys piled in separate cars.

No one talked the rest of the way home. I guess that’s a good thing since I was still trying to wrap my head around what happened.

~~~~~~~

Most of the guys settled in for the night while washed up and changed into pajamas. After I was done I walked into the living room to see Johnny lying on the couch watching TV.

“Hey.” I said as I walked past him.

“Hey yourself.” He said and turned the TV down a bit.

I went to the freezer to get an ice pack and wrapped a towel around it then walked back to the living room and over to where Johnny was lying.

“Here, put this on your lip.” I said as I kneeled on the floor next to the couch where he was lying.

“I’m fine!” He said and turned his head away from me, shutting his eyes and folding his arms across his chest.

“Stop being stubborn Johnny. Your lip is split and you have a bruised cheek. Just let me help you ok?” I said and gently turned his face towards me. I lightly placed the cold pack against his lip and he cringed a bit. “Thank you… for helping me tonight.”

“You don’t have to thank me! He said to me, still avoiding eye contact.

“Yes I do. You didn’t have to do any of that, but you did. Now I feel bad that you’re hurt.” I said lightly touching his cheek where the bruise was.

As I touched his cheek he opened his eyes and looked at me. This was the first time that he’s looked at me since we left the club.

JOHNNY’S POV:

I looked at her as she touched my cheek. She looked like she wanted to cry. God Johnny, why do you always have to fuck things up?

“You don’t have to feel bad. I’ve had much worse than this! Trust me on that!” I told her and gave her a little smile. Yeah, because that was going to help the matter any. “Don’t be upset ok?” I said as I sat up and pulled her up so she was sitting next to me.

“Will you promise me something?” She asked quietly.

“I’ll try my best to keep it.” I said with a laugh.

“Don’t do that again, you scared me tonight!” She said as she played with one of the little strings that were on my pant leg. I couldn’t help but smile as she did it.

“You promise me something too then.” I said and took her hand in mine. She looked up at me then. “Promise me that you’ll talk to one of us about what you’re feeling instead of keeping it bottled up all the time.”

She didn’t say anything at first. She just looked at me like she was trying to get out of answering my question. Like she was trying to figure out a way around it.

“Look, never mind… just forget I said it ok?” I said and let go of her hand.

“If you keep your promise then I’ll keep mine!” She said with a smile and grabbed my hand again.

“I promise then.” I said and traced little circles on her hand with my thumb as I held it again.

“You should get some sleep, you look exhausted!”

“I’m going to! I just wanted to make sure you were ok first.” She said and gave my hand a squeeze.

“I’m better now!” I reassured her.

“Good.” She leaned over and gently kissed me on the cheek. “Goodnight Johnny.” She said as she let go of my hand and stood up.

“Goodnight babe.” I said and couldn’t help but smile as she walked away.

I turned the TV off and headed to my room. I needed sleep, and holy fuck was I in pain. Guess it was a bad idea to get in a fight with a guy that was twice my size. But fuck, I’d do it again if I had to.

~~~~~~~

Morning came and I found everyone in the kitchen sitting around the table. When I walked in Shannon looked at me and smiled.

“Good morning sleepy head. I made breakfast if you’re hungry” She said and pulled out the chair that was next to her. I took the seat without hesitating. “Help yourself, there’s so much food here.”

I gave her a smile and helped myself to the breakfast that she made for us. It was quiet for a while. I’m assuming no one wanted to talk about what happened last night. I don’t mind it though because I didn’t want to either.