My Funny Valentine

Johnny was being drug away from Gum and the cafe in a hurried fashion by Jamie. He was trying to look back at Gum and he sort of knew what was going on, but he thought that maybe the two girls could just act like ... adults. He didn't really know what their beef was or why HE was suddenly in the middle of it but he'd come this way with Jamie. he didn't want to leave her alone until it was time for him to go, but Taylor hadn't buzzed him yet so he continued to be pulled on by the blonde.

"H-Hey, dude..." Johnny said as he staggered behind Jamie. "We didn't have to leave, man. Everything was cool and junk!" He said, turning his head to see Gum yelling and waiving at them.

Jamie would have preferred it if Gum didn't see them. She knew they should've gone out the back door! There were lots of places to get hot chocolate in Tokyo, but there was only one Jamie. She had to take good care of her Jamie.

"There's nothing cool about that chode-smoker!" She shouted while she dragged Johnny along, leaning forward like she was towing a ton of bricks. It was slow going with only a few rubber wheels under her feet. "Don't worry, I'll help you get away. I know where to hide. If she catches us though, you have to help me beat her up!"

Johnny followed reluctantly, looking back every few seconds to see if Gum was chasing while Jamie tugged hard at his wrist. "C'mon, dude." Johnny said, frowning. "She wasn't that bad, man! I dunno why you two couldn't get along!" He insisted.

However, when Jamie said she would need help beating Gum up, Johnny stopped. He grabbed Jamie's arm and held it firmly in place. "Hey, dude, stop." He said and tugged to try and get her to face him. "Listen to me, man." Johnny had about as serious a face as he could put on. "While I'm around, no one's gettin beat up, ok?" He needed her to know that. "Not that other chick but... not you either, ok? I don't let bad shit happen to people, man. I like it when things are cool, so... are you gonna be cool? I know you're cool, dude." He said, smiling widely at her.

Jamie's face changed the instant Johnny grabbed her and turned her around. She fitfully yanked her arm away from him and regarded him with suspicion.

"Like you'd even know!" She petulantly raised her voice. "Things aren't that way just because you say so! I hope she gets run over in the street running around with one rollerblade! What would you do about that!"

Johnny's face frowned and he looked at Jamie. "Are ya gonna run off, dude?" He asked, seeing how tense she was. Johnny sighed. "I don't want anyone to get run over by anything man. You can be chill or you can run off and junk. I ain't the one tellin ya to do anything, man. I keep tellin ya I just want ya to be cool. You seem like it but then you get all paranoid and junk."

Johnny lifted his arms up and then let them flop to his sides. "So... like, what do ya want and junk?" He asked her seriously.

Well, when he put it THAT way...

She didn't appreciate being called paranoid, but... it actually put her at ease. Her suspicion melted away and she was left facing Johnny with a blank stare. People didn't often just give Jamie a choice in what she did. It was always "do this" and "do that" or more frequently "you can't do that". She didn't immediately know what to do.

"Um..." Maybe this was her big chance. She could concoct some scheme like from Sleepless In Seattle or one of those movies and have a real-life version of a movie romance with Johnny, except he didn't look like a beaver like Tom Hanks did. He looked more like...

"I wanna, uh..." She stammered. "Ya know, you're rilly good looking. Like, rilly-rilly... Should we, uhhhhhh..."

How were you supposed to get someone to kiss you, she wondered. Like when the moment was right, how did you know, and what if the other person never caught on? Could she just be all like "hey, the moment is now!" and they would know? The movies never explained this stuff! She was so unprepared! And the longer she struggled with the idea, the redder her cheeks became.

"I really do know good card tricks. That one before was just a trick, not a magic trick. I just put the card on the sign before you guys got there. I'm really good at crossing the street, but people get mad, sooooooo... I can show you a real trick, if you want..."

Johnny raised an eyebrow at Jamie as she stuttered and complimented him. "Uh... thanks?" He muttered awkwardly. He was sort of used to it but it was still weird. He wasn't sure what to do with it. It's not like he could flip out on every girl who called him cute. It's not like just cause a girl thought he was good looking that they wanted to kiss him or something. Jamie was pretty cool and pretty charming. She probably had dudes chasing her all the time. She was probably a real heart breaker.

"Yeah, man." Johnny said with a warm smile. "You can show me any trick you want and junk. But, uh... don't you have anywhere we can go? Since you're worried about that other chick and junk."

Suddenly Johnny realized something. He'd been hanging out with these girls for a while and didn't introduce himself. He stuck out his hand. "Uh, I know this might be kind of weird but... uh... My name's Johnny. Since, like, we didn't introduce ourselves and Junk. What's your name, man?" He grinned. "All i know is that it's not Jamie." He said with a sheepish grin, remembering what she muttered just after she recovered from her near death experience.

"Oh." Jamie froze. She looked at Johnny and his pretty face and his funny feeling-inducing smile, right there in front of her, but suddenly felt her big chance slipping away. Maybe she wasn't cut out to be the Meg Ryan to his way-better-than Tom Hanks. Meg Ryan sucked anyway. What a tool.

"Oh, I'm Sheridan," she said easily, and then jokingly wagged her finger at him. "And don't call me Sherry!"

She managed a weak laugh. Time to go, before more questions.

"Okay, I'll do one trick. It's a special one, just for you. Ready?" She dug out the small pile of cards she had kept. There were only a few, but she fanned them and held them out to Johnny.

She bashfully tucked her chin and looked up at the boy with big, hopeful eyes. "Pick a card."

"Ok, dude!" Johnny said though it was hard to tell if he was talking about calling her Sherry or picking a card. Either way when she fanned out the remains of the deck, he decided to be tricky and take the one all the way to his left. He was pretty sure he had her! Whatever her trick was.

"Now what?" He said, looking at it. It was the King of hearts.

"Remember it."

Jamie slipped Johnny's card back into her miniature deck and thoroughly mixed the cards around. She picked up the top card and flipped it around to show him.

"I know this isn't yours. But you can make any card yours." She held the card up, face-in, over her mouth, against her lips. "Just give it a kiss."