Strangetown: Chapter Twenty-Five - part two

[strangetomato]

In Part One, Johnny Smith was abducted, and Ripp spent the night in Ophelia's bed. The next part begins as the sun rises the next day.

Warnings: language, sexual situations



Chapter Twenty-Five

Part Two





Johnny lay face down in the sand. He ran his hands over the ground. He kissed it. He'd heard of people doing that when they returned home, but he would never have imagined that it came so naturally. The sand felt welcoming. Home. It was such a complicated thing.




He thought about what had just happened to him, he thought about his family, he thought about Ripp and Ophelia, and he thought about Oscar Wilde. He had been reading a lot of Oscar Wilde lately. Not just the novel, but the plays too. Johnny didn't do things halfway.

One quote had really stuck in his mind. It was one of those things that gets quoted again and again, and not always in context.




"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

Now he was applying it out of context too, but he thought that his context might be better than the original. They were in the gutter. Very much so. They were looking at the possibility of ruin. Could he blame his parents for what they wanted for him? Could he blame the Curious family for looking to the stars for answers?

Could he accept the offer that had been presented to him?




Johnny picked himself up off the ground. The sun had just risen.




He wanted a lot of things from life. He had ambitions, and he strived to achieve them. The chance to do something significant appealed to him. Something heroic and noble. Something right. But that wasn't the only thing he wanted. It wasn't even what he wanted most of all. He wanted to belong somewhere. To be welcomed unquestionably. To have a home. If that meant hanging out in the gutter, achieving nothing, with people who had no greater purpose in life than to just live it, would it be so bad? Was it so wrong for him to want nothing to change?




Johnny knew that curling up in ball and shutting the blinds wouldn't make his problems go away. He needed to deal with it. He couldn't run from what he was, but did that mean that he had to give up his happiness? There was duty, on one hand, but there was also love. His father was right. Love was something that you had to grow.

He had grown it, and he was growing it still.




Johnny Smith walked home.






He woke up next to a woman. That was nothing new.




Ripp was about to rouse her with his morning glory, but then realized where he was and who he was with. He sheepishly retracted his offering, curling back on himself, to avoid waking her that way. He tried to will it to go away, but failed. It was persistent on the best of days, and here he had Ophelia next to him, who basically rendered him a hopeless teenager again, ready for action at a moment's notice. He'd have to slip away and take care of it in his own room.




Then he realized what had happened.








It was morning, and his own room was where he should already be. If Johnny was home, he might come into Ophelia's room at any minute.

Ripp had to get out.




"Good morning, Ripp."

"Johnny." He was already there, waiting for him.




Ripp moved his hands in an attempt to shield the tent he was pitching, Or had been, since all of his blood was now draining from his body.

"Have a good night?" There was tone of forced cheerfulness in his voice, and it made the hairs on Ripp's arms stand up. If Johnny was mad enough to put on an act, he was mad enough to fear.

"I can explain..."




"Save it."

"It's not what you think."

"Don't tell me what I think. I'll judge that for myself, okay?"

"But, Johnny..."




"Let's continue this discussion outside, okay, Ripp? I wouldn't want to wake Ophelia."

"Okay." He didn't have much choice but to go along with him.

Once outside, Johnny got right to the point.




"Ripp, you can't sleep with my girlfriend."

"Oh, so suddenly Phi is 'your girlfriend', is she?"

"Well, do you think she's your girlfriend too?! She isn't!"




"She's Ophelia, Johnny! And she's just as much my friend as she is yours! I don't give a fuck what you say!"

"So, you're going to just move in on her with no regard for my feelings?"

"I'm not moving in on her, Johnny! I didn't do anything!"




"You slept with her!"

"Yes. We slept! That's all!"

"I don't believe you."

"You don't trust me? I'm telling you the truth."

"How can I trust you, Ripp? I know what you're like..."




"I wouldn't do that! I didn't."

"Then why are you in your underwear?"

"I'm always in my underwear. I sleep like this." Johnny knew that already. It would have been hard not to notice the fact that Ripp seemed to only get dressed to actually leave the house.

"So, you really didn't touch her?" Ripp said nothing. "Ripp?!"




"Well, I touched her, but not like that..."

"What?"

"She was cold."




"You just have no idea where to draw the line, do you?"

"Listen, Johnny. Ophelia asked me to do it, and if Phi wants me to do something, I'm going to do it. I'd jump in front of a bus for her. I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"So, if she asked you to..."




"What? Fuck her? Is that what you're trying to say?"

"You'd do it, wouldn't you?!"

"Well, one of us ought to, don't you think?" Johnny just glared at him, in enraged silence. "Besides, I really doubt that she'd do that, Johnny. Get a clue. Despite what you may suspect, it isn't like that. Phi wouldn't do that, and you know it."

"Yeah, PHI wouldn't do that. Ripp, however..."




"Yes, I'm such a terrible person, aren't I?"

"Well, you seem to think -"

"This is Ophelia we're talking about, Johnny! I'm sorry, but if Phi comes to me, lonely and afraid in the middle of the night, what you expect me to do? Tell her to fuck off and send her on her merry way? Well keep dreaming, because that will NEVER happen!"




"She was afraid?"

"She IS afraid, Johnny. She's always afraid. Don't you know that? Do you even care?"

"Of course I care! ... I know that..."

"Well, then I might ask you where you were when she needed someone to be there for her. Don't you think that if you'd been there, she would have needed to come looking for me? If you're so determined to keep Phi all to yourself, then I suggest that you take better care of her."




"I'm not about to take dating advice from you."

"Well, then where were you?"

"None of your business! I don't know every detail of your comings and goings."




"It's not like you, Johnny. That's all." Johnny said nothing, but he was obviously upset. Ripp tried to change the tone of the conversation. "Is everything okay?"




"I was abducted."

"What?! By aliens?"

"Yes, abducted by aliens."




"YOU were abducted by aliens?" It wasn't that Ripp didn't understand him, but the concept was impossible for him to grasp. Why would the aliens abduct Johnny? It didn't make any sense.

"Yeah."

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Then it dawned on him. "They didn't... pollinate you, did they?"




"No. It wasn't like that."

"Then what?"

"It's a long story."

"Okay, well let's get a coffee or something..." There was no question of whether he wanted to hear it.




Johnny felt bad for doubting Ripp's loyalty to him, since it was clear that he was the always there, ready to support him. He was just waiting for the word, any sign that Johnny needed help. Johnny didn't often let on that he needed anyone's help, stubbornly insisting on doing things for himself. Johnny didn't call on Ripp's help as often as he could. He probably didn't lean on him nearly as much as he should. He needed someone to hold him up, especially now.

Ripp noticed that Johnny hadn't moved, and instead continued to slump in the same spot. "Johnny, are you sure you're okay?"

"Not the best night of my life."

"I'm so sorry, John. Come here..." Ripp engulfed him in a hug.




Ripp was the only person who ever called him John like that, unless they were saying his full name in a formal setting. Even his mother preferred to use Johnny Smith when she was chastising him. The way Ripp said it, it wasn't formal at all. It was somehow even more casual than saying Johnny, and more intimate. He liked it. It was like proof that Ripp knew something about him that nobody else did, or that he saw something different. Something more.

Really, Ripp was just lazy, and reduced everyone's name to one syllable, or maybe it was just what he was used to with his own family. Yes, family. They were like family. All three there, like one happy family. Johnny wanted that to be true. He wanted that family, desperately. Not a family that he had been born into, but one that he had chosen for himself. One that had chosen him.




He hugged him, and Johnny found himself buried in the curtain of Ripp's hair. It smelled nice. Like oils, and sleep, and faintly of some fruit-scented conditioner that was Ripp's sole cosmetic enhancement.

He kept expecting Ripp to say something, but he didn't. He just ran his fingers through the short hair at the back of Johnny's head. It sent a tingling feeling down his neck.




Johnny felt his body relax with Ripp's familiar touch. For a brief moment, the worries of his life were forgotten.




As he held him, Ripp felt the need to come clean. He couldn't keep the truth from Johnny. It was Johnny. His Johnny. Maybe he would understand. It wouldn't be so hard for him the understand that, right? They were all so close. All three of them, so intertwined. Johnny deserved to know the truth.

"Johnny, I kissed Ophelia."




"What?!"




"I didn't mean to, but I couldn't help it."




"You kissed her?"

"Yeah, I -"




"I'm going to kill you!"




Johnny was on him before he even had a chance to worry about it, and Ripp was somewhat surprised to find himself fighting back.






It wasn't so much a fist fight as a grappling match, with them rolling around on the ground, twisting each other's limbs into odd angles, like an angry pretzel.

It ended, predictably, with Johnny on top.




Ripp was pressed into the floorboards, with all of Johnny's weight bearing down on him, and Johnny staring defiantly into his eyes. Ripp hadn't had a prayer of a chance against him. His lithe, compact body was designed for that very purpose: to win. Johnny had put a lot of effort into it, but he was working with the right materials. His size was deceiving. Tall and thin, like a gangly teenager, but no part of Johnny's body was wasted. Compared to him, Ripp felt like a sack of shit.




Ripp just looked up at him, ready to take whatever he'd get.

"How could you do that?"

"Easy. How could I not do it?"

"Phi isn't just one of your conquests, Ripp."

"I know. She isn't... She's special. She's Ophelia."

"Well, you can't have her. I won't give her up."

"Well, no... I know that."

"Then what?"

"I don't know."




"I'm not going to just step aside and let you have her, okay?"

"I don't want you to do that. She loves you. You love her. You're happy. Why would I want to fuck that up?"

"Then what? What else did you expect to happen?"

"I don't know, Johnny. I didn't think. I just wanted to kiss her."

"Well, we can't both have her."

"I don't know... Why not? Why couldn't we just share her?"




"You're out of your fucking mind."

"Am I?" He asked it like a real question, since he wasn't entirely sure himself. "You want her to be happy, don't you?"

"I don't see how that has anything to do with this. She is happy - she's happy with me."

"But she wants me too."

"That isn't true." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"




"Why don't you get the fuck out of my sight?" Johnny said, with pure menace. "I want you out of here."

"But Johnny..."

"I don't want to look at you anymore. I don't ever want to see you here again."

"John..." Ripp was pleading, sobbing the word.

"Just. Get. Out." Johnny gave Ripp one last little push to the boards, as he launched himself to his feet. He left him there on the balcony, unable to find the strength to pull himself up.

"Johnny," he moaned, "Johnny, no... please..."






Johnny walked into Ophelia's room. She was still sleeping.




He took off his clothing and crawled in next to her, spooning into her back, and kissing her neck.




"Ripp..." She began, then paused, waking up. She reached her hand back to feel his smooth face, and ran her finger along the tip of his nose. "Johnny?"




"Yeah. It's me."

"Oh. I..."

"Shhh... just lie here for now, okay? We can talk about it later." She silently agreed, and he moved closer.




She knew that they would have to deal with this, now that it was obvious that something had happened, but she wanted to have another few moments to collect her thoughts, and to feel Johnny's body next to hers.

She drank in the sensation of him, hoping her body would find the answer that her mind could not. She hoped for a sign, some leap of the heart or yearning in her limbs that would signal her choice, but none came. There was a fire burning inside her, but the flames leapt at both sources of fuel. She burned just as brightly for both of them.




Ripp had gone downstairs, but he hadn't left the apartment. Instead, he wandered aimlessly through the rooms, touching things, and sitting on chairs, then standing up again.




He went into Johnny's bedroom and looked around. It was tidy and efficient. It was just like Johnny. Straight-laced, purposeful, perfect Johnny Smith.




His attention turned to the framed photo on the wall. All three of them, crammed together in a photo booth, somehow finding a way to share a space that was meant to accommodate no more than two. It was ironic, right? No, perhaps not. Johnny always told him that he used that word incorrectly, and it made him sound stupid. It wasn't irony, it was just typical. It was the story of their life together. It was a symbol of their greater challenge.

They were three people, and there was only enough room for two.

But why not? Why couldn't they make do with the room they had? There was Ophelia, who had enough room in her heart to accommodate both, and they would see to it that she was never alone again. She would never again feel the pain of abandonment. They both cared for her with dogged devotion, and she deserved that. And they, him and Johnny, well, they cared for each other too. In many ways, Ripp cared for Johnny most of all. Couldn't Johnny see all of this? They had fit into that photo booth, hadn't they?




Johnny would never understand what had happened between him and Ophelia. It was his own fault. Johnny had seen what he was like with other women, so how could he believe him when he said that it wasn't like that this time? But it wasn't like that. It wasn't about sex with Ophelia. Not that he'd turn her away if she wanted that, but he'd be happy enough to just hold her, and be close to her. If he could have that, it would be enough.

Okay, so he did want to fuck her too. He couldn't deny that. He'd ravage her like a wild animal if he could. He wanted to see her face, so beautiful, twisted in an expression of frenzy and bliss. Her skin glistening with sweat. He wanted all that. Fuck, did he ever. He wanted it badly, but he also wanted to slowly, elegantly make love to her. He wanted to kiss her deeply and endlessly. He wanted to do it all day, every day. Just soaking in her radiance.




It was different with her. Very different. With Ophelia, he felt like he might actually be a good person. Like he wasn't lacking anything. The space in his heart that felt empty was filled, and for longer than the usual ecstatic ten seconds.

There was a word that described what Ripp was feeling almost perfectly, but it wasn't something that he was ready to apply to himself. He had only just let himself even think it.

That word was love.




"Do you love him?"

"Johnny..."

"Well, do you?" She could see that the real question was who she loved more.

"Johnny, you know that I love you more than anything."




"But do you love him? Just answer my question."

"Of course I love him. Don't you? It's Ripp. He loves us too."

"That's not what I meant."

"That's love, Johnny. That's what we're talking about, isn't it?"

"That's different."




"Is it?" She looked at him. "When you really look closely at it, isn't it much the same? It can be hard to see where one might end and another begins, don't you think?"

"Then it's true?"

"What's true?"

"That you're in love with him too? You love Ripp?"

"I didn't say that."




"Not in as many words, no..." He turned to look at her. "But you meant it, didn't you?"

"Johnny..."

"Just tell me."




"I don't know."

Johnny looked at her, but said nothing. He was expectant, waiting.




"Maybe I do. I don't know. I do love you, Johnny. That's something I do know."

Johnny remained silent, and she could see his thought reflected in his face. A shifting plain of emotions, all very difficult to read. Finally, he spoke.

"How did you kiss him?"




"What do you mean?"

"How did you do it? Did you kiss him the same way you kiss me, or was it different?"

"I don't know. I guess it was different."

"Better?"

"Oh, Johnny... no. Not better, just different."




"I want to know. I want to know how you did it."

"I don't understand..."

"Show me."

"What?"

"Kiss me the way you kissed him."




She kissed him, as if it were the first time she'd ever done so. She tried to imagine that their roles were reversed, that it was Johnny who she'd finally been able to know intimately for the first time, and Johnny kissed her back with an intensity that she hadn't seen in him in a long time. He kissed her as if he had something to prove, but there was also something else. The thought of her with Ripp was making him erratic, but he didn't seem angry with her. Quite the opposite, he seemed excited. He seemed to be seeing her in a new light.

He began to remove her clothes.




Ripp entered the bathroom, and heard them through the wall. He wasn't trying to listen in, but it was unavoidable.




"I'm done with waiting," Johnny said. "I want to be with you, Phi. I want to be with you right now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Very sure."

"Johnny..." As their lips met, her voice trailed off into a utterance of pleasure.




Ripp quietly stepped out of the bathroom, and walked to his bedroom. He wouldn't listen to them. He couldn't intrude on something like that.




But even in his own bedroom, he could hear them. He stepped out onto the balcony, but he could still hear them.




Breathing, panting, murmuring, the sound of flesh on flesh. Whispered admissions of love, and then louder statements of the same thing. Louder proof of the physical manifestation of that love.




How was it possible that he could still hear them? Even with his hands over his ears, he could still hear them. Faintly, but still there.




As much as he would have liked to be part of it, and had even been an unseen witness to their moment, he wasn't a part of it.




He was standing there, alone, feeling sorry and embarrassed for himself.






Their first time. Together.




For the first time in his life, Ripp envied that moment, and how beautiful it would have to be, and how he would never know.




Ripp soon found himself in Jaxy's kitchen.






"God, Ripp. You look like shit."

"I feel like shit."

"What's is going on?"

"I fucked up. Really bad."

"How so?"




"I kissed Ophelia. And then I told Johnny all about it, like the fucking idiot that I am. Now he hates me."

"Oh, honey. That's not good. Well, it was only a matter of time, really. Any asshole could see that you're madly in love with her. At least you were fucking honest about it."

"Like that matters. Like Johnny will thank me for being honest. My life is going to hell."




"Join the club." She walked to the sink and washed a couple of dishes, and then continued. "I think that Zoe might be fucking Gunnar."

"What?!"

"I know. Makes me want to fucking hurl my guts up."

"Wow... Gunnar? Really?!"




"Well, I don't know, but it's very suspicious. Ever since he moved out. She's been sneaking around. I don't know. It's weird."

"Yeah..."

"That's not the worst of it either."

"What?"




"Well, he's fucked off and left the band too."

"What?!"

"Yeah, he fucked us over big time."




"What about our big break?"

"It's over. We're done. He fucked us sideways up the ass."

"What are we going to do?"

"What can we do? Tell them we're up shit creek without a paddle, and apologize, I guess. Look for a new drummer..."




"Fuck. We're never going to find anyone as good as Gunnar. It made everything else about him almost worth it."

"Almost, but not quite."

"Yeah, he was a fucking tool."

"Never trust a man without a chin, Ripp. Never fucking trust him."




"I just can't believe he'd do that!"

"Really?" Jaxy walked to the other side of the room. "Now, see... I can easily believe it. He's the world's biggest douchebag."

"It's just... God! Why does everything have to have to be shit?"

"Facts of life, honey. It's ALL shit. Life sucks, and then you die."




Jaxy approached the bar and picked up a bottle.

"Look, Ripp. There's only one thing to do at a time like this."




She opened the whiskey, took a mouthful straight from the bottle, and then handed it to him. "We'll start with this. Then we'll figure out where to go from here."

Ripp said nothing. His actions spoke his agreement.








Ophelia took a bath.

She wondered where Ripp had gone. She worried about him. She hoped that Johnny hadn't been too harsh with him. If anyone should take the blame, it should be her. She was the one who invited it. Ripp wouldn't have done that if she hadn't wanted him to. Surely, Johnny knew that as well.

She thought about what she had just done with Johnny. It had been wonderful. She had known and loved Johnny as much as she possibly could, with both her mind and her body. He had come undone, and she had been the subject of his mad, reckless lust. The act was both tender and violent. The centre of all life and death.




She did worry, though. How much of Johnny's decision had been determined by Ripp? And why, after doing something so intimate with Johnny, was she still wondering what it would be like to do the same with Ripp?

Maybe Olive had been right about her. Maybe she really was just a whore.




In a way, Ripp had also been there, with them. In what Johnny had said, and in how they had acted, Ripp's presence had been very much felt. Even then, in such a personal moment between the two of them, the third had been there.

The door creaked as it slowly opened, and Johnny poked his head into the bathroom.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all. If you can find enough space..."




She watched as he removed his clothes without a hint of insecurity. Each article dropped to the floor, one by one, revealing his pale green skin. It was beautiful. She realized that she had never really looked at him like that before that moment. She had seen him without clothes, a little here and there, but he had never stood before her like that, with all of his body on display as a single entity. His greenness fully revealed. It was really something to behold.




He noticed her looking him over and he smiled. "Are you checking me out, Phi?"

"Maybe."

"What's the verdict?"

"A+"

His smiled widened, and he lowered himself into the water.




"Well, you're not so bad yourself." He settled himself, trying to avoid the tap and still leave Ophelia enough room. "How do you feel?"

"Very well. You?"

"Great. I feel great."

"Any regrets?"

"Not one. I'd do it again."




"So soon?"

"No, I mean I'd do it again for the first time. No hesitation."

She smiled and said nothing. She looked at him for a while, with a thoughtful expression. He could tell that she had something on her mind, and he knew what it was.

"Johnny, we need to talk about Ripp."

"I know."

---

A/N: This chapter was only meant to have two parts, but this section outgrew the maximum size allowed for a livejournal post, so I had to add a third part. This sort of leaves you hanging, but the next part shouldn't be too long coming. This seemed like the best place to make the break, before things started to pick up, and it leaves a couple of characters to be contained in the final section.

Comments

[xel-squirgle-ox.livejournal.com]

I was just reading this again and saw your comment. Anyway, you're not the only one who wants them to be a threesome. ;)

There was a line somewhere that made me think Johnny might like it too in fact. Hmm... "The thought of her with Ripp was making him erratic, but he didn't seem angry with her. Quite the opposite, he seemed excited." The thought of her with Ripp made him EXCITED?! Oh man, that's great.