Moving On

Johnny awoke from his deep sleep to the sound of the door closing and the smell of hot Chinese food. The man holding the food made a face that made Johnny laugh out loud. He realized that there were dried tears on his face when he smiled and quickly tried to wipe them away while his friend had his back turned.

"Thought you might be hungry. Damn people at Chinese restaurants can't speak English," Matt laughed.
Johnny chuckled at Matt while he dished out the food into separate bowls with forks. Clumsily dropping pieces of chicken on the floor and cussing under his breath.
Matt looked up at his friend with glaring eyes and flipped up his middle finger at him, "Fuck you, John boy."
Of course Johnny only laughed harder.

Matt handed Johnny his bowl of food and then sat on his own bed and turned on the hotel's television. He purchased all of the movie channels on the band's tab and then picked up his cell phone and texted Brian and Arin to get the rest of the guys in the room for a movie night. Brian and Zack shared a room so no need to text both of them. Neither Matt nor Johnny felt like going out and drinking tonight. Shortly after the texts were sent, a knock on the door and then Brian, Zacky, and Arin were in their room and trying to arrange themselves and the cases of beer they had brought into their room. Matt moved over to sit with Johnny on his right and Arin on his left. Brian and Zacky shared Matt's bed because they wanted to cuddle.

It was Johnny's turn to choose the flick for the night so he chose the classic action movie, The Punisher. Zacky groaned at the selection while Brian and Matt high-fived each other. Arin had never seen the movie so he smiled as he read what the movie was about online. Zacky passed out the cans of beer to all of them as the opening credits rolled in.

Everyone was so sucked into the movie except for Johnny. All he could think about was how much Jimmy loved this movie and how they would hold each other, much like Zack and Brian were, during this movie. He subconsciously huddled closer to Matt as he pulled the collar of Jimmy's shirt up closer to his face, closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply, imagining he could still smell him on the worn cloth.

Matt looked over to Johnny as he closed his eyes. He swore he saw another tear run down Johnny's cheek. He draped his arm around this small friend and pulled him in close to him and held him. Not quite like Jimmy used to but it was good enough for Johnny.

Close to the end of the movie, Johnny felt his eyelids getting heavy. He discreetly curled up against his insanely muscular friend, blushing as he inhaled his scent deeply and smiled. His heart fluttered as he felt Matt moving to accommodate Johnny and make him comfortable. He closed his eyes and felt one of Matt's large hands stroking through his hair and the other gently gliding up and down his arm.

Notes