More Than A Friend

Chapter Seven: Five Shades Of Blue

A/N: WOW. I haven't updated in FOREVER. But, I've revised the whole fic and added this new chapter, because I'm trying to clean up all my fics and make them look nicer. Call it spring cleaning lol. I think you'll be happy with this chapter. Quite happy. Yes indeedy. .

Disclaimer: I don't own John or Maria.

Chapter Summary: John gets a surprise at his bedroom door. Is it good or bad?

!#$&()+

John heaved a sigh at his door. He really didn't feel like getting up to open it.

"Come in!" He decided to yell, to save himself some trouble. John recognized the hand of dark red fingernails that snaked around the door.

"John?" He heard a small voice say.

"Hey, Maria. What's wrong?" John asked, ignoring his fatigue and walking closer to her. Maria shifted her eyes uncomfortably and tucked some stray hair behind her ear, as if she were embarrassed. John loved it when she acted this way. He thought it was cute. He noticed she was in her pajamas, which were about five different shades of blue.

"What is it?" He asked her, becoming dangerously closer. Maria noted this, and felt heat on the surface of her skin, which turned into icy chills, that sank deeply into her.

"Uh," Maria breathed, unable to speak at the time.

"You can tell me. Is something wrong?" John continued questioning her, hoping she would say something soon.

"I'm..um..I'm afraid to sleep in that room..." She began, "...by myself."

John felt sympathy, as he knew she was embarrassed and scared.

"It's fine. You can sleep in here with me," he said quickly, moving to retrieve more blankets from the closet, to make his normal bed on the floor.

"Stop!" Maria exclaimed, a bit louder than she'd intended. John stopped abruptly, and turned to look at her.

"You don't have to do that..." She trailed off, receiving an odd look from him.

"In fact, I think I'd feel much more comfortable if... if you slept in the bed, too," Maria said, getting a sudden boost of confidence from somewhere. John looked shocked.

"Ar-are you...sure? I mean, sl-sleeping on the floor is no problem," John stammered, obviously floored by her suggestion. Maria felt the urge to laugh at the incredibly awkward situation, which showed as she tried to stifle her laughter.

"It's fine," she replied, keeping her eyes focused on the floor. John nodded, and the two of them just stood there, looking everywhere but each other.

"Um," Maria mumbled. Suddenly, they both moved to walk over to the bed. At catching each other's eye, they both stopped short.

"Ugh, this is stupid," Maria spoke up. John smiled at her and nodded.

"I mean, we're both adults. Let's be mature about this. Let's not act childish. It's not a big deal..." Maria said, trailing off. John nodded, and without another word, climbed in bed. Maria frowned at the abruptness of his actions, but climbed in beside him nonetheless.

Maria noted the way he took up most of the bed, which put them awfully close together. The contact created one hell of a distraction for Maria, as she struggled to get to sleep. Her feelings for John were becoming ultimately deeper, as well as her physical attraction to him. Once she finally got comfortable, she nodded off to a deep, refreshing slumber.

But, John remained awake. He could feel Maria's petite frame breathing deeply next to him. He rolled over gently to gaze at her. She was on her back, with her head to her right, in his direction. Her bright green eyes were now closed, with her eyelashes pressed against her cheek. John smiled at her slightly parted lips, which were still slightly glossy.

He noted she hadn't removed her make-up. She must've been too tired.

He watch her like this for quite a while. He forgot about his own fatigue and focused on Maria's face. She made funny little noises. Sometimes she would mumble something, and other times she would make barely audible moans. John had the urge to chuckle at her, but didn't so she wouldn't wake up.

He hesitated for a moment before reaching out and placing his hand on the side of her cheek. He traced his finger from her temple all the way to her chin just to experience the silkiness of her porcelain skin. He ran his thumb across her slightly damp lips only to feel as if he were touching rose petals.

He jerked his hand back as she stirred slightly, but remained sleeping, a smile appearing on her face. John turned over onto his side fully now.

This time, he moved his hand to her hair, which still had a bit of curl to it. He ran his fingers through the soft waves, creating an effect of a golden river, ebbing harmoniously.

His attention fell back on her lips, as he wondered what it would be like to kiss her. He thought about just kissing her right there, on the spot, but he knew it wasn't right. If that would ever happen, they would both be awake, and she'd want to kiss him, too.

"Fat chance," John whispered to himself. He settled on her hand, which was lying in front of her face. He entangled her fingers with his and kissed the tips of them, not letting go of her hand. Finally, he found the incentive to go to sleep and did so, still holding her hand.

The Next Morning

John awoke the next morning alone, frantically searching for Maria. He threw the covers off of him and ran downstairs. His heart was pounding in his ears. His fears were laid to rest as he found her in the living room with Beverly, chatting away about a magazine. When he barged in, they greeted him with confused looks.

"Girl, don't do that to me. I couldn't find you," John said, collapsing on the couch next to her, trying to catch his breath.

"Oh! I'm sorry. Beverly asked me to go shopping with her," Maria replied, looking genuinely regretful.

"Oh. It's okay. I'll go with you if you want," John offered, just wanting to spend time with Maria. Maria bit her lip and her eyes dropped to the floor.

"Actually, we already went," Maria said warily. John cocked an eyebrow and glanced at his watch. He widened his eyes as he read 1:34 pm.

"You must've been up late last night," Beverly commented, obviously having the same thought as John.

"Damn," John said. He was mostly disappointed because he would've liked to spend the day with Maria.

"Well, we could go outside and explore, if you;re still looking for something fun to do," Maria suggested with great enthusiasm. John laughed at her childlike giggles.

"Sure," John said, with a grin.

The backyard of the house was one of the most amazing things Maria had ever seen. There was an enormous garden with roses, sunflowers, and many other kinds of flowers and crops Maria had never even seen before. Of course, John had been there a hundred times. He knew everything about the backyard, but still was amused by Maria's excitement, so he acted like it was all new to him too.

"John look!" Maria gasped, pointing down the hill to a grove of apple trees. There were hundreds of them.

"Wow," John said, trying to act surprised. Maria glanced back at him with a frown.

"I must sound like an idiot," she said, adding a slight giggle.

"No. I was surprised too, when I saw it for the first time," John said amusedly.

"Can we go down there?" Maria asked blissfully. John glanced up at the sky at the dark gray clouds gathering. He knew it would probably start raining while they were down there.

"Please?" Maria asked, noticing John wasn't paying attention to her. John suddenly had an idea.

"Sure," he said, not wanting to disappoint her. He had this one chance, and he was going to seize it.

"Yay!" She squealed, as wind whipped through her hair. She grabbed his hand and pretty much dragged him down the hill at a running pace.

When they finally got to the apple trees, there was absolutely no sun out. John realized, that even though the sun wasn't shining on her, Maria was omitting a glowing light, which radiated from her smile. The dark clouds were hovering over them dangerously, and Maria hadn't even noticed them yet.

"Hey. It's starting to rain," Maria said quietly. Oh. The rain was only a drizzle at first, then it turned into soaking wet rain. Maria hastily tried to cover herself, but her attempts failed. She suddenly felt arms around her waist, and turned to be face to face with John. Face to face was a good description, as their faces were mere inches apart.

Even with dripping wet hair and soaked, skin tight clothing, she was still beautiful. They simply stared at each other for a few moments. Maria was expecting to be kissed, but nothing ever came, so she took it upon herself.

She closed the gap between them briskly, pressing her lips against his. The rain became a fading memory, as he deepened the kiss almost as soon as it had started. She parted her lips slightly, and placed her arms around his neck.

Right now, their only goal was to be as close to each other as possible. Stumbling backwards a bit, John fell on his back, Maria landing on top of him. It didn't distract them too much...

A/N: Yay. They made out...FINALLY. Took 'em long enough, damn it. What? My fault you say? Damn, what the hell was I thinking? But, they did the deed, so now you can all be happy for a while. At least until my next update. -evillaughter- Ciao!