The Garden of Eden || Canis Canem Edit / Bully [ #WATTYS2018 ]

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Downtime

"Oh, mama ain't home," Johnny commented absentmindedly, leaving a shy Eden sitting in his living room as he went to explore the kitchen fridge.

His unit in New Coventry was surprisingly clean and pristine, despite the derelict and poverty-stricken area. The tiny apartment was situated on the bottom floor, earning the Vincent family a neat little side entrance only accessible to them, which the two teenagers had only moments ago entered through. The house smelt strongly of cinnamon sticks and a faint tinge of cigarettes, thanks to Johnny's habitual smoking habit. She crossed her legs in a ladylike manner, her navy skirt fanning out across the sun-kissed skin of her thick legs. The summer heat added to the butterflies fluttering about in her stomach, her skin sticking to the black leather couches.

The living room was small and quaint in matching chocolate and caramel tones, reminiscent of a cute cottage. The relatively small television was positioned on top of a wooden coffee-stained unit, wherein three photo frames sat proudly. One of them was of baby Johnny greedily devouring a chocolate bar, a wide grin presenting the bits of chewed up marshmallows stuck in his pearly whites. The second was of a beautiful mid-twenty-year-old woman sitting on a park bench at a playground, coddling an adorable irritated toddler Johnny Vincent. It sent Eden into a set of hushed giggles at the sight of 'bad boy Johnny Vincent' being babied by his mum. On the other end of the deep-set coffee unit was a frame, seemingly purposefully separated from the other two. It was of the same woman, a few years shaven off, with a striking man beside her as they both held a bundle of joy in their arms. Who else would that be, but Johnny Vincent. The man struck Eden as odd and she presumed he must have been Johnny's dad, indicated by the strapping leather jacket he wore in the hospital room image. 'He's never mentioned his dad before...'

"Havin' fun snoopin', angel?" Johnny's deep voice questioned, soon followed by a chuckle as he emerged from the kitchen with two glasses of soda.

"You were a cute baby," She comments, eyeing the first frame she studied earlier.

"Still am... right?" He huffed out, his bare feet padding noiselessly on the fine Persian rug beneath them.

"Yes Johnny, you're still handsome,"

"Good, good. Now don't go tellin' nobody you saw my baby photos, that'll ruin my rep with the boys,"

She visibly rolled her eyes playfully at him before being passed a chill glass of Beam Cola. "Thank you."

"Let's head upstairs, where there ain't no baby photos,"

A light taffy pink colour dusted her cheeks shyly as Johnny strode lazily out of the room, not bothering to hear a word of resistance from the shorter girl. Eden was nervous beyond belief, anxiety gnawing and prodding at her insides. Her past with Johnny sent her heart into a frenzied mess, especially considering that she had to deliver the news to him that her relationship with Gary was over. She silently trailed behind his tall and careening figure as they treaded down a short hallway, the door on the right being Johnny's room. His name was scribbled messily on a piece of paper and taped with layers upon layers of duct tape onto the wooden door.

"Cute sign,"

"I made it when I was like six or somethin'."

She raised an eyebrow at this as he jiggled the door handle, trying to lodge his door open. "Ah, so you've lived in Bullworth for all of your life?"

"All of my life," He repeated, forcing his door open with a creak.

His room was surprisingly clean, everything was neat and in order. Her mind immediately flickered back to Jimmy's room at the boy's dorm, the two rooms sharing a similar layout. A bed, two bedside tables, a wardrobe, a bookshelf, wardrobe and a desk all in the same chocolate shade of wood stain. Of course, it had Johnny's own little personal touches in there with posters on the walls of sleek cars and motorbikes, a few shirts on a pile in the corner of the room and a mess of papers scattered all over his desk. Johnny immediately made a beeline for his wardrobe, ripping open the doors and shuffling around for something comfortable to wear. Meanwhile, Eden propped down her ice-cold glass of Beam Cola beside his on the bedside table, right next to a magazine about cars. Johnny on the other hand had already wordlessly slipped off his hospital gown, leaving him in nothing more than an ivory singlet and matching pair of boxers.