"Are you sure there won't be any problems between you and pagey?" I asked, worried.

"He'll get over. Don't coddle him. He's a man and I'm sure he's dealt with heartbreak before," John replied.

"What about you, John? Have you ever dealt with heartbreak?"

He remained silent.

I asked him again. He then turned away to look out the window.

"Sit down, Louisa. The plane will be taking off soon..." He said in a low voice.

"Don't change the subject on me," I replied, now in a much harsher tone. I was losing my patience.

"Lou, do I really need to answer that? I have you. That's all that matters."

"But John, if you have no idea what he's really going through, how do you expect to mend this friendship? It could tear apart the band if you don't get any closure. You're his friend. You need to talk to him."

"Well, you're his friend, too. And so are Percy and Bonzo. Why don't you guys help him?"

I shook my head in utter disappointment and frustration. How could he do this to his friends? If he acted like that toward his best friends of several years, how was I supposed to trust he wouldn't do the same to me in the future?

"Fine," I blurted out, "I'll talk to him."

John's face looked horrified. He really didn't want me talking to Jimmy. But I went anyways.

---

I knocked on the door leading to the bedroom.

"Go away," Jimmy mumbled.

"It's Lou. I want to talk, Jimmy. It's quite important."

I heard him let out a soft sigh as he opened the door to let me in," Well, step inside. We've got the whole flight to talk. But it'd be nice if you kept it brief."

I gently shut the door behind me as I sat next to Jimmy on the edge of the bed. I took a deep breath and began to speak.

"What's going on between you and Jonesy?" I asked softly, almost in a whisper.

"Boy, wouldn't you really like to know?" He said in a sarcastic tone. "I'll spare you the whiny sob story of poor little James Patrick Page."

"I could do without the sarcasm..."

"Sorry... I just don't know how to tell you. I feel like anything I say or do could be held against me by John."

"Excuse me, I'm sorry, but say or do?"

Jimmy turned away and stared at the patterns on the wall.

"Jimmy...” I placed my hand on his shoulder to turn him around. He looked at me with his dark puppy eyes as he sniffled. Tears started to stream down his face, than he turned away again, cupping his hands over his face and trying to muffle his loud sobbing.

"Jimmy, I-”

"You don't know what it's like being thrown around, feeling like nobody cares for you," he started to raise his voice,"one girl after another, always thinking that 'she's the one; she's perfect'. But after you see the real them you realize that they were just using you to get things they want. Everyone thinks that because you're in a famous rock band that you can get all the girls. It's true but they're never the right ones. I saw the way you treat everyone. You're a saint compared to me. I see the look of pure love in your eyes when you look at John. That's something I never had. I thought you actually liked me though. I mustered up all the courage I could to ask you out. I didn't think John would react like that. And when you came to my rescue behind the building and took me to your house to patch me up? I knew you were different. There will never be another girl like you. I miss you, Lou. I'll do anything to win you back. That's how much you mean to me. That's why John and I haven't been getting along. He knows I still love you. He just hasn't bothered to tell you the important details."

He took a long breath. He'd been ranting for a while. But then he started again.

"Louisa, I don't know how much longer I can take this, ” his voice cracked and started to build up again to a much harsher tone,"you can't just expect me to carry on like everything is completely fine. That's bullshit. Don't try to sugarcoat it. You know the truth now. You can accept it or leave it alone- whatever you would like. But if John ever finds about this and gets angry, tell him I'm not afraid to take him on."

"What do you mean by John finding out abou-”

Before I could finish my question, Jimmy pulled me close and kissed me passionately on the lips. He ran his fingers through my hair and tugged on it a little.

I had no idea what to do. My mind was all over the place, full of jumbled up thoughts all getting mixed and out of order, leaving me totally disoriented and out of control. Jimmy had that kind of power. He could easily make you forget whatever he wanted you to.

He finally pulled away and then quickly walked out of the room leaving me by myself. I began to contemplate the whole situation, relaying the instances in my head over and over. I could barely remember anything except for the fact that Jimmy had kissed me and didn't even care if John found out.

I didn't know what to do so I paid back on the bed and stated at the ceiling. As I dozed off I heard the plane start to pick up speed as it left the ground. I was fully asleep, though, before we were at cruising altitude. It seemed so peaceful- at the moment, at least...

---

I was abruptly woken up by yelling and screaming. I jumped up out of the bed and cracked open the door. Jimmy and John were fighting- and it was getting out of hand.

"What did you do to Louisa? I know something happened with you two in that bedroom. Tell me now," John screamed.

"You know what? Here, I'll tell you. She came to me first when I was in there to see what was wrong, trying to help me and you out. But apparently you don't want anything to do with me or any of the other mates. All you care about is Louisa and when you can finally get her in bed with you."

John only breathed heavily and finally let out a roar of anger,"Th- that's not true. That's you who's always wanting to get into girls' pants. That's not me, that's you."

"Oh, right, you don't have to worry about that anyways because no girl would choose you over me in the first place."

"Louisa did."

"But at a price. I kissed her, John. And she didn't try to stop me."

"You what?" John shrieked as he ran toward Jimmy and punched him square in the face. Jimmy fell straight to the floor as John continued and began kicking him while he was down. Jimmy yelped in pain as John mercilessly continued.

I let out a loud gasp. Tears filled my eyes as I burst through the door. The guys already pulled John off of Jimmy by the time I got over to them.

I knelt down and propped Jimmy up to see the damage. His face was bloodied and he was doubled over in pain from being kicked in the gut one too many times.

I turned to John who was still fighting to get himself free from the grasp of Bonzo and Peter. He immediately seized his thrashing and looked directly at me.

"Lou, I-"

"You're a monster," I cut him off. And that was all I needed to say.

They let John go and he came over to me. But I turned him away to check on Jimmy. John walked away, his head down in shame.

"Louisa, what are you doing?" Jimmy said weakly. 

"That was too far. I- I just-”

I began to get choked up over my tears again. This was all my fault. I'd started so much drama and tension between these two.

"Ssh, Louisa. It'll be okay. But could I ask you one favor?"

I nodded.

"Would you mind carrying me to bed. I really don't weigh that much and-"

Before he could finish I scooped him up and brought him into the bedroom and laid him down. He actually was very light. I had no problem.

As I turned to leave, Jimmy started again.

"Um, Lou?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind, um, keeping me company?" He replied as he softly patted the empty spot next to him.

Why not, I thought.

I made my way over to him and laid down right beside where he was. I turned away from him to examine the patterns on the wall.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw him reach. Then I felt his long bony fingers on my waist as he pulled me close to him and cuddled against me, nuzzling his face into my neck.

"Let's forget everything that happened, at least just now. Let's just enjoy each other's company," he whispered in my ear.

I could feel his smile against my neck, his warm breath against my cool skin. We quickly feel asleep, putting behind us bad memories, at least at that moment we did.