Born to Please - Chapter LVIII

Chapter LVIII

  I shift from crab leg to crab leg as I wait uncomfortably for Johnny’s response to my knock.  I really hope that he’s in his room still!  What if he slipped out of it earlier and I’m waiting for a nonexistent monster inside of the room to open the door?  Chip did say that he hadn’t seen Johnny leave his room all day, but Chip could be wrong!  Starting to panic, I begin clicking my right claw very loudly, trying to think up a quick solution to my problem.

  I think that maybe my claw clicking is what got Johnny’s attention because I hear a familiar smooth, deep voice call from inside of the room, “Come in.”

  Relieved that Johnny is inside of the room after all, I burst through the doorway and take a look around Johnny’s enormous bedroom.  Even though I was here just last night, I never really got a good look at the bedroom.  Now, I take the time to look around myself and take in my surroundings.  The walls of Johnny’s room are painted a shade of muted yellow and the fluffy comforter on his bed is a dark burgundy color.  Actually, most of the other accents in the room are burgundy.  Hey, those are the ROR colors!

  Temporarily forgetting about my discomfort, I point out this new piece of information and exclaim to Johnny, “Your room is painted the ROR colors!”

  “Yes, I had that done on purpose,” Johnny points out dryly as I continue looking around the room.  It’s a very clean room compared to Reggie’s room.  I don’t see even the slightest bit of trash anywhere.  Across the room from the bed is a large wooden desk that Johnny is sitting at.  The desk has a large pile of books placed on one corner of it and contains paperwork, pencils, and folders on the other corner of it.  Next to the desk is a bookshelf containing thick, dusty volumes that cause me to cringe just from imagining reading them.  Opposite the bookshelf is a very long shelf which contains Johnny’s brilliantly shining trophies, all of which are gold.

  It would be very easy to get distracted and spend all day in a room like this, but I really have to go to the bathroom like right now.  It really can’t wait!  Feeling embarrassed, I scuttle up to where Johnny is sitting behind his desk, writing on a piece of paper placed in front of him with long, fancy penmanship.  Not sure what to say, I give Johnny a pleading look and wait for him to notice me.

  After finishing his sentence with a rather impressive flourish, Johnny looks up at me.  For the first time, I notice that he’s wearing silver-framed glasses.  They’re not all that noticeable, but I’m guessing that Johnny uses them to help him with reading.  Personally, I think that he looks very handsome in them.  Speaking of which, the Johnny that I see today doesn’t look anything like the Johnny I saw last night.  His fur is just as sleek and glossy as usual and he’s wearing his typical yellow collared shirt with the red Roar Omega Roar shirt over it.  He looks every bit the preppy leader that he should be, yet, I know that underneath all of those layers, Johnny is a lot more than “preppy”.

  “Did you need something or did you just come in here to watch me work?” Johnny asks me when I don’t say anything, a slight bit of irritation in his voice as he taps his pencil against his desk.

  “Um, yes, boss,” I mumble, continuing to shift from leg to leg and continuing to click my crab claw together before I admit, “I have to pee.”

  For the first time today, Johnny looks like he’s going to smile.  He stops his lips from curving upward at the last moment and replies as stately as he can, “I see.  Is there a reason that you’re telling me this?”

  “Yes!” I reply emphatically, not wanting Johnny to think that I’m stupid enough to tell him this for no reason at all.  Since this whole thing is starting to get sort of painful, I explain as quickly as I can, “Reggie and Javier are in the bathroom down the hall, and anyway, it smells like puke, so I can’t go in there!  I searched the rest of the ROR house, but I can’t find any other bathrooms!”

  “Well, in this case, you’re in luck because my bathroom is just through that door,” Johnny says in dry amusement as he points a black-nailed finger toward a door behind his desk that I didn’t notice until now.  Wow, maybe I really am going blind!  As I blink in confusion at the door, Johnny goes on, “You can go in there, Chet.”

  I start forward and then hesitate, not sure that I want to go in Johnny’s bathroom.  Frowning, I point out, “But boss, that’s your bathroom!  I don’t want to get your toilet dirty or-“

  “Chet, that’s what a toilet is for!  You’re supposed to piss in it!” Johnny sighs in exasperation, giving me a light shove toward the door behind his desk.

  Figuring that Johnny is right, I scuttle forward since I can’t hold it any longer and kick the door shut behind me before going to the toilet.  Looking around myself, I realize that Johnny even has a fancy bathroom!  The walls are painted gold again and the rug and shower curtain are dark burgundy.  I notice a bottle of shampoo sitting next to the shower curtain and suddenly get the urge to smell it.  Johnny always smells so good!

  Feeling better now that I’ve used the bathroom, I hesitate between going to the door or to Johnny’s shampoo.  I don’t know if Johnny would mind if I sniffed his shampoo or not, but the temptation is just too strong!  It’s like the shampoo bottle is calling my name!  Unable to help myself, I go over to the shampoo bottle and flick it open to try and sniff it.  Unfortunately, I can’t smell anything!  Deciding to take matters into my own claws, I twist off the top of the shampoo bottle and take a deep sniff.  Oh my god, this stuff smells amazing!

  Suddenly, without any warning at all, one of my crab legs slips in a small puddle of water just outside of the shower.  Oopsy!  I try to save the shampoo bottle, but it flies up into the air and lands an inch to my right, leaving a large puddle of shampoo on the floor.  I stand rooted to the spot, completely horrified.  Johnny’s going to kill me!

  As if right on cue, the door to the bathroom pops open and the leader of Roar Omega Roar steps inside the room with an irked look on his face.  His sharp violet eyes go from my sheepish expression to the spilled shampoo across the room from me.  Sighing, Johnny asks me, “Really, Chet?  Did you really have to smell my shampoo?”

  I hang my head and apologize, “I’m sowwy, boss, it just smelled so good and I thought that I heard it calling my name!”

  “Wait a second,” Johnny says, holding up a hand and giving me an incredulous look as he repeats my question with emphasis, “You thought that you heard my shampoo calling your name?”  Since this is all very true, I look up at Johnny earnestly and nod my head up and down.  Johnny decides not to comment on this further and motions me out of the bathroom, saying, “Well, let’s get you out of here before I have to start calling you ‘mess maker’, hm?”

  I nod guiltily and scuttle after Johnny as he strides out of the bathroom and back into his bedroom.  Without another glance in my direction, the horned monster takes a seat behind his desk once again, adjusts his glasses, and starts writing in his fancy handwriting once again.  I know that I should leave, but I don’t really want to.  I hesitate in the center of Johnny’s bedroom, trying to think up a reason to stay.

  Finally, I decide not to make up an excuse and ask simply, “Johnny?  Can I stay in here and watch you work?”

  “I suppose so as long as you don’t make any noise and keep that big mouth of yours shut,” Johnny shrugs his shoulders absentmindedly, never once lifting his pen from his paper.  With his free hand, he motions to a wooden chair sitting a few feet next to his desk and says, “You can sit there if you like.”

  “Thank you!  Thank you so much!” I exclaim, feeling honored that Johnny is going to allow me to sit next to him.  Forgetting all about the fact that I’m supposed to be getting over Johnny and focusing on Nancy instead, I practically run to the chair sitting next to Johnny and plop down on it happily.  The chair is high and so my crab legs are a few inches off of the floor when I sit on it.  I don’t care though – I’m just happy to be sitting next to Johnny!

  The violet-eyed monster continues to work dutifully on whatever it is that he’s working on while I stare at him through heart-shaped glasses.  Everything about Johnny is so perfect from the spikes running down the back of his tail to his brawny arms to the glossy horns framing either side of his head.  He’s the perfect scarer!  If only I could be more like Johnny.  If I was better and more talented like him, would Johnny notice me more?  I feel like I can call out Johnny’s name and bounce up and down in front of him all day long, but even if I do this, he won’t ever really notice me.

  Apparently, I’m wrong through because after five minutes pass, Johnny pushes his sheet of paper aside and gives me a look from out of the corners of his eyes, saying, “Forget what I said earlier.  You’re extremely distracting with the way you sit there and ogle me.  I thought that maybe you’d want to look at my trophies or my books instead.”

  “Oh, I’m sowwy!” I quickly apologize before pointing out truthfully, “It’s just that you’re a look more interesting to look at than the books or the trophies.  Besides, I don’t like reading so much.  It strains my eye.”

  “Hm,” Johnny says, seeming to soften slightly at my immediate apology.  He thinks for a moment before glancing to his right at the shelf of trophies and adding, “Well, if you’re going to sit there, you might as well do something useful.  What do you say to cleaning my trophies for me?  I see that they’re acquiring a layer of dust.”

  “I’d love to clean your trophies for you, boss!  I’ll get to it right away,” I promise Johnny as I jump to my feet and start toward the trophies before pausing and asking, “What do you want me to use to clean the trophies with?”

  “Oh, just wet a towel from the bathroom counter.  I’m sure that I set one out there earlier,” Johnny tells me.  I nod and remember to look on the bathroom counter for a towel as I turn and scurry in the opposite direction that I was traveling in earlier.  Johnny brings me to a halt as he adds with a ghost of a smile flickering across his face, “And Chet?  No stopping to smell my shampoo, alright?”

  “Right,” I nod, blushing a deep shade of maroon as I disappear inside of the bathroom.  I’m so embarrassed that I’ve forgotten where to look for the towel already.  Not wanting to look stupid in front of Johnny, I tap my head with a crab claw and decide to go ahead and search around for it.  I scuttle over to the shower and peer behind the shower curtain for it.  Hm, no towel there…

  Johnny somehow seems to know that I’ve forgotten where he put the towel because I hear him calling into the bathroom a moment later, “It’s on the counter, Chet.”

  Looking across the room at the counter, I realize that Johnny is right!  A gold towel that has a burgundy “W” embroidered onto it is lying across the counter.  I hurry over to it and wet just the edge of it under the sink before stepping out of the bathroom again.  Dumping the towel on my wooden chair, I scuttle over to the shelf of trophies and carefully place three in my arms before carrying them over to my chair to clean.  Plopping down onto the chair, I pick up the fluffy towel and a trophy before I begin to wipe the outside of it off.  I don’t see any dust on it, but then again my vision isn’t very good.

  As I work, I notice Johnny start working on another assignment.  He works constantly for the most part, but I notice him glance over at me a few times.  He doesn’t really look annoyed with me, but he doesn’t exactly look happy with me either.

  Wanting to sit closer to Johnny and also wanting to know if I’m doing something to displease him because of all of the looks that he’s giving me, I scoot my chair closer to Johnny’s chair inconspicuously and ask, “Am I cleaning these trophies the right way or do you want me to clean them differently?”

  “You’re doing fine,” Johnny says before turning his eyes back to the piece of paper on his desk.  Once again, he begins to write with fancy handwriting with lots of added flourishes.  Watching Johnny write is very distracting and I have to remind myself more often than not to keep cleaning off the trophies because Johnny is so distracting.

  Since the boss seems to be caught up in his own work, I dare to move my chair a little closer to his in a sneaky manner when he’s not moving.  Johnny doesn’t catch me in the act, so I risk moving my chair a little closer to his again in another few minutes.  Soon, my chair is right up against Johnny’s and I feel like I’m in heaven.  Unable to help myself, I end up leaning my head against Johnny’s side as I continue cleaning trophies, very satisfied to be sitting here by Johnny in his beautiful room.  At this point, my crab claw is just a few inches away from Johnny’s hand.  I know that Johnny is trying to write, but I would really like to touch his hand.  It would make me very happy.

  I’m debating about whether or not I can risk touching Johnny’s hand or not when the gray-furred monster decides that I’ve already taken this a little too far.  Twisting around in his chair to figure out what I’m doing, Johnny looks down at me with his sharp eyes, his hand accidentally knocking into my crab claw that has been slowly inching toward Johnny’s hand.  Frowning, Johnny seizes my wrist and gives me a very irritated look, asking, “Chet, what are you doing?!”

Review please!