Jordan was best friends with JC. She saw something in him that she loved. It wasn’t just a friend love though. It was a feeling of real love. They did everything together. The only bad thing was that there was no way that JC would ever think of Jordan more than a friend.
Jordan was at home now. School had ended and it was summer. Her favorite time of the entire year. I wasn’t just that there was no school but it was the time where both JC and her had their birthdays. Also that their parents always went on vacation for a month together, leaving them and their siblings to fend for themselves.
Usually, Jordan and JC would hang out after school but turns out as just a recent development, JC decided to go out and get himself a girlfriend to take up all of his time. Sure, he had other girlfriends but JC always made sure that he always had time for Jordan. Now, all he did was go out with Adrian. If he did get any time with Jordan, he was talking about her or she was there with them. Adrian wasn’t very fond of Jordan because she thought that Jordan was going to try to steal him away from her. Jordan wouldn’t do that though. Yeah, she liked him enough to think of doing that but it wouldn’t benefit her. It would make JC mad.
They had a bunch of classes together and they hung out all the time but Adrian was in most of his classes too. Jordan would get jealous of her because Adrian was getting the attention that she wanted to get. All of the sweet things he did for her only made Jordan want him more. She didn’t like lying about it anymore. Adrian would try to make conversation with her saying things like who she was dating or what sports she was in to or even what music did she like but Jordan just found her annoying. When they were around JC they were pretty kind to each other, well, they weren’t shooting rude comments to each other that were including words like, slut, whore, bitch, you get the picture. But they always did find a way to say something rude.
Sometimes JC would get really mad at Jordan for saying mean things about Adrian or he would get angry at Adrian for calling Jordan a whore. When that happened he would cut the date short and go to Jordan’s house and hang out. Times when it would be so easy to totally spill her heart to him were really hard. Even since Adrian, she had built up a wall that kept secrets from him and he was beginning to feel that wall getting stronger. She wasn’t the same Jordan that he told everything to and confided in. He would still confide in her but she wouldn’t tell him things and she wouldn’t always confide in him like they used to.
It was the first day of summer vacation and Jordan decided she would call JC and see if he wanted to do something with her. She dialed his phone number. “Adrian?” He said.
“No,” Jordan said. He heart was sinking slowly. “Sorry to burst your bubble but it’s just me.”
“Oh Jor! I thought you were Adrian!” He told her. She guessed he had smacked himself on the forehead when he said that. “See, we were gonna go to the beach today.”
“Oh,” she said glumly. Her heart sank even more. “Isn’t that nice.”
“Do you wanna come with us?” He asked.
“No!” She said enthusiastically. There was no way in hell that she was going to spend the first day of vacation at the beach with Adrian. No way! She would find someone else to do something with today. “No, I wouldn’t want to interfere.”
“Oh, ok,” he said. “Well, I have to call Adrian so I’ll talk to ya later. Bye.”
“Yeah, later. Bye.” She hung up the phone and dropped on the couch. She had to think what she was going to do today. She wasn’t getting any good ideas so she decided to take a shower and maybe when she was in the shower she would think of something good. She didn’t.
She then decided to get dressed. She went to her closet and looked through all of her clothes. She finally decided on khaki shorts and a pink shirt with the strawberry shortcake girl on the front. She turned the radio on while she did her hair and make up. When she was finally done, the phone rang. She had to push all of the clothes that she had tried on earlier before she decided on the outfit she was wearing to find her phone. When she found it she turned it on and talked loudly over the music. “Hello?” She said.
She walked over to turn off the radio. “Hey,” It was JC. He didn’t sound too happy though.
“Hi,” she said. “What’s up?”
“Nothing.” He said still sounding unhappy. “I just found out that Adrian doesn’t feel like going to the beach today. So I’m not doing anything today. Do you wanna do something?”
Jordan felt like she could fly. This was what she was hoping for. This day was turning out good. It wasn’t going to go down in history as one of the most boring days of her life. “Sure,” she tried to sound casual. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.” He still wasn’t sounding happy. Jordan didn’t care. Today was her day with him and just him. “I was hoping that you would come up with something.”
“Oh,” she said. She thought for a minute and then came up with something. “Oh! Um, do you want to go to the beach with me?”
“Uh,” he hesitated. “Sure, why not.”
“Great!” She smiled. “Um, can you come pick me up in a few minutes?”
“Uh huh, yeah. I’ll be right over. Bye.”
“Bye.” She hung up the phone and now was a time where she was grateful that no one was home right now. She squealed with joy. This day was gonna rock! “Yes!”
¤*¤
She ran upstairs to her room and opened the top drawer to her dresser. She pulled out every single bathing suit she owned. ‘Which one to wear?’ She thought to herself. She chose her newest bikini. It was a pink triangle top bathing suit.
She went to the bathroom and put it on and then put her clothes over it. When she was done she hurried to the door to answer it. “Hi,” she said letting him in.
“Hi.”
“Come on in.” She said moving aside so he could get in. “I just have to grab a few more things and then we can go.”
“Ok.” JC said, sitting on the couch. He watched her run up the stairs to her room and watched her walk up and down the hallway from the bathroom to her room. “What are you looking for?”
“I don’t know. I just feel like I’m forgetting something.” She said loud enough so he could hear her. She was in her parents’ room now. She found the sunscreen.
“You say that every time we go somewhere.” He said standing up and climbing the stairs to find her. “You always have way too much stuff.”
“Ok! I have everything...I think.” She said stopping in the middle of the hallway. “Sunscreen,” she said looking through the bag in her hands. “Towel, sandals, hair ties, brush. Yup. That’s everything.”
JC smiled at her. He was laughing how much of a paranoid freak she was. She did this every time they went somewhere. “You are such a sped.”
“Shut up! I am not.” She pouted and went in her room to turn off the bathroom and closet light. JC followed her.
“Are too.” She walked out of the room and down the stairs and JC followed her.
“Am not!” She said. She could do it forever and he knew it. “Should we bring a picnic?” She asked, changing the subject.
“If you want.” He told her.
They packed lunches and put them in a cooler. They drove to the beach and talked the whole way there. The Adrian subject hadn’t come up yet either. This was a great day so far.
When they got there they found a sunny spot and set their stuff down.
“Will you put this on my back please?” Jordan motioned toward sunscreen. She burned like nothing else but when she did get a tan she tanned very nicely.
“Uh, sure.” He said. He took the sunscreen from her as she pulled her shirt off. His eyes widened. Her body looked different now. It wasn’t like he had never seen her in a two piece; it was just that this one in particular accentuated her body and curves.
Her shirt was off now and she was sitting in front of him with her back to him now, waiting. He was just staring at her. “Any day now,” she said with a joking tone.
“Oh, uh,” he stammered. “Yeah, just a sec.” He said, finally moving quickly. He squirted the white lotion in the palm of his hand and rubbed his hands on her back.
“Thanks,” she smiled and turned around and took the bottle from him. She continued the put the sunscreen on and he watched her closely. As much as she liked this attention she felt guilty too. Today, he wanted to spend time with Adrian but instead, he was here with her... rubbing sun tan lotion on her back. It made her heart and body want more but there wouldn’t be another chance like this. She also knew that he missed Adrian and he would be lonely because she was leaving soon. Jordan felt empty. She wanted him to feel the way he felt about Adrian about her. It wasn’t fair.
For the past week Jordan tried to get together with JC to do something, but unfortunately, he was always with Adrian. She would call his house and always have the same conversation with his sister Heather or brother Tyler. “Hello?” They would ask.
“Hey, it’s Jordan,” she would say. “Is Josh there?”
“Sorry Jor,” they would tell her. “He’s out with Adrian.”
“Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“No I don’t know. He came home really late last night so he could be out late tonight. I’ll tell him you called though.”
“Ok,” she would say with the disappointment audible. “Thank you. Bye.”
“Bye.”
So finally when Adrian went to where ever it was she was going... JC told Jordan but it really wasn’t a priority to remember where Adrian was going...But when she finally did leave JC and Jordan got to spend some time together. He really did miss Adrian. But sometimes Jordan would get him to stop dwelling that she was gone and have some fun. They went to the beach a lot. They were both getting very good tans.
JC didn’t need Jordan as more than a friend and that would have to be OK. But as the summer went on Adrian had been gone for a long time. And Adrian started coming up less and less. JC eventually stopped dwelling and never thought twice about spending his day with the one and only, Jordan. It was 11 o’clock when JC woke up. Jordan would probably be up by now. He called her house. “Hello?”
“Who is this?” JC asked.
“Liz,” she said groggily. “What do you want? You woke me up.”
“Um, is Jordan around?”
“Yeah,” she said annoyed. “Why don’t you ever call her phone? Why do you always call the everybody phone? She has her own phone line! Why don’t you call that!?”
“Can I talk to her please?”
“Yeah, just a second.” JC heard her yell for Jordan. “Here she is.”
“Thanks Liz.” He said. “Oh and yeah, I’ll try to work on calling her phone.”
“Thanks Josh, you’re just so sweet.” Liz told him sarcastically. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
“Hey,” Jordan said.
“Wanna go somewhere today?”
“Sure.” She said not so enthused. “Where?”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m sick.”
“Oh, um so you can’t do anything today?”
“Not really, all I wanna do today is sleep and watch TV.”
“Then I’ll come over and watch you sleep. I will take care of you.”
“You don’t have to. I don’t want you to get sick too. That would not be good. Two sick kids. I don’t think our parents would like that.”
“No, it’s ok. It would be better then staying home.” He told her. “I’ll be right over.”
A little bit later JC got there and saw her on the couch in many layers of clothes and walked in. “How are you feeling?” He asked sympathetically.
“Cold.” She said simply. “Come sit down. I’m watching a really cool movie.”
“What is it?” He asked sitting down and pulling her feet on his lap. “Why are you watching this?”
“Because this is a great movie!” She said defending the movie on the TV. “Sleeping Beauty Rocks!” She smiled at him.
JC shook his head, smiling. “You are such a dork.”
“Shut up,” she pouted. She started laughing. “Stop touching my feet. That tickles!” She said, wiggling her feet away from him.
JC stopped playing with her feet. “Sorry, I didn’t know I was doing it.”
“It’s ok.” She put her feet back on his lap. Jordan wanted to say something but decided not to. There was a long pause. Neither of them were watching the movie, it was just something to do in the awkward silence.
“Josh, do you-”
“Jor,” Liz interrupted. “Have you see that one bathing suit that I really like? I’m going to the beach with Conner today so I was wondering if I could maybe wear it.” She said using her hands while she talked. “Ya know that cute new pink one.”
“That’s mine!” Jordan said to her sister. “You can’t-”
“Thanks! You’re such a doll!” Liz said running up the stairs into Jordan’s room. When she got it she yelled to Jordan. “Thanks!”
“That right there,” Jordan said, pointing up the stairs. “She’s a dip-shit!” JC just smiled.
“What were you going to say?” He asked Jordan.
As awful as it sounded, what she was going to say she now didn’t really want the answer. “Oh, it’s nothing.” She said. As JC tried to open his mouth she put her hands over it. “Really, it’s ok. No big deal.”
This was a perfect moment without the interruptions. Them, there together, watching a movie. Even though she was sick. Actually, she was feeling better now. “Are you feeling better?” JC asked.
“Yeah actually, I am.” She said. “Thank you for coming. It was really sweet.” She didn’t know why what she was saying sounded like she was dismissing him because the truth was; she didn’t want him to go. Ever. “You can go if you want. I’ll understand.”
“No, I’ll stay. This is fun.”
Jordan had been better for a few days now. Adrian had stopped writing and calling. That was OK though. JC didn’t seem to mind. Maybe he did. If he did, then he was sure good at hiding it.
Last night Jordan had a dream. It wasn’t just some crazy pop stars coming in your house dinking tea and having fudge stripe cookies or having all 5 guys in *NSYNC in your guest room with Britney Spears and Lance dancing on the bed with a cowboy hat, a play horse, and in his underwear. Or Britney and Justin in the corner doing bad things. Or even Chris and Joey laughing at them and JC throwing things at Lance. It was a real dream. One of her favorites to date. It was JC and her finally together and no Adrian, no annoying siblings making jokes, no stupid parents telling when and where they can go and do. None of it. Everyone understood and people were happy.
Why couldn’t her dreams come true? Everything would be perfect that way.
It was 2:29 in the morning when Jordan rolled over and looked at the clock. Those stupid, glowing, red numbers were shining and time seemed to go by so slowly. She had just been up for an hour and finally went back to sleep when she woke up an hour later. Why wasn’t she sleeping? “Man!” She whispered.
Jordan rolled over in bed, away from the numbers, and shut her eyes tight. She soon fell back asleep. It was the dream from the night before, only it was being continued. But, as all good things have to come to an end, it was morning. The dreaded light from when her little brother of 6, came in her room and pulled up her blinds. The light woke her up at 7:30 in the morning. What an ungodly hour. How Jake did it was a mystery.
“JACOB!” Jordan yelled. “What are you doing!?”
“Lizzie locked her door. Mommy and Daddy are gone and your door was open. I’m hungry!”
“Get a freaking bowl and eat some cereal.” She said covering her head with the blanket. “Get out!”
“No! Get up!” He climbed on the bed and she clutched the covers harder. She was pulling and when it wasn’t working, he bit her finger.
“Jacob! Shit! That hurt!” She said pushing him off her and getting out of bed. “You are in big trouble. Don’t EVER come near me again.”
Jacob climbed off of her bed and followed her down the long hallway, down the stairs, into the kitchen and took the bowl from her.
Days later, JC had said something then stopped. Just like Jordan had done.
“Jor,” he said. “Do you-” Then he stopped. No one had cut him off. He just stopped.
“Do I what?” She asked, hoping that it was what she wanted it to be.
“Do you love me?”
“Yeah.” She said. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“No,” he said. “Do you love me love me?”
‘YES!’ her entire being screamed. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” He asked. “How can you not know? Either you do or you don’t.”
She opened her mouth to say something but then she shut it again. JC stood up and walked to the door. He walked out.
“Josh,” she whispered. She watched as he sat in his car and drove down the street. “Why didn’t I just say it?” She said to herself quietly.
“Jor?” Liz said sitting next to her. “Are you ok?”
Jordan nodded but soon a tear feel from her eye. “I heard you guys.” She said. “Why didn’t you tell him?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to. I really did. I guess, I guess I was, I was too afraid that it, that it would ruin every, everything. I love him.”
“Jor.” She said. “I’m so sorry. I know you love him but he asked. Maybe he feels the same way. Maybe he wanted to know what you were feeling first so he could say it back.”
“He probably hates me now.” She said.
“I’ll get it.” The phone rang and Liz stood up. “Hello?” She said. “Yeah, hold on.” She walked back into the living room and handed Jordan the phone. “Its Josh.”
“Hello?” Jordan said, wiping tears away. “Hi.” He said. No one spoke for a while. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you didn’t do anything. It was my fault.” She said. ‘I should’ve told you but I’m too much of a freak.’ her brain said. “You shouldn’t be sorry.
“No, what I said was totally out of the blue.” He told her. “Are we still friends?”
“The best.” she said.
It never came up again. It was left at she didn’t know if she loved him. She knew she did but he didn’t. He loved her and he knew it but she didn’t know that he loved her the way she loved him. Summer was ending and Adrian was home again. He was spending time with her again and Jordan was alone. Her feelings hadn’t changed.
School had started. This year Jordan and JC had only 2 classes together. That was ok though. That was still more than Adrian had. On a break Jordan and JC were walking to class when Adrian stopped them.
“Hey Sweetie.” She said then kissed him on the cheek. “Oh, hi,” she said to Jordan then rolled her eyes.
“Josh,” Jordan said. “I guess I’m just gonna go then. I was supposed to find Devon anyway.”
“Bye,” Adrian teased.
“Oh, ok.” JC said.
¤*¤
Jordan walked away. Far, far away from her. Jordan went down the hall and looked for a tall dark haired guy. “Devon!” She yelled.
“Jor!” He yelled back and walked through the people. He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around his waist and lifted her off the ground.
“Devon,” she laughed as she was being lifted up.
“What’s up baby?” He asked.
“Not too much. I was on my way to chem.”
“Yeah, I was heading that way, I was just talkin’ to Dylan. Let’s go. Don’t want you to end up being late do we?”
“Oh my God Dev, you are such a dork.” She smiled and poked his stomach.
¤*¤
“So, what do you think about Jordan having a boyfriend?”
“Josh,” Adrian looked at him. “Why the hell would I care? At least she’s far away from us...”
“Adrian, what the hell?”
“Josh, you can’t be mad at me.” She whined. “It was just a joke. God.”
“Not funny.” He snapped. “Bye Adrian, go to class.”
¤*¤
JC got to the Chem. Lab before Jordan did. “Bye Dev. Don’t Leave! Wait for me. Ok?”
“I will.” He kissed her on her cheek and smiled. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
“Hey Jor,” he said.
“Oh, hey.” She said dropping her backpack on the floor. “Are we still going to do the project for Brit Lit together?”
“Yeah, I was planning on it.”
“Ok.” She sat in her seat. “So after school, at my house? Sound good?”
“Yup.”
¤*¤
JC and Jordan drove over to her house together and as they were talking, right out of the blue, JC told her that he wanted to break up with Adrian.
“You’re what?” She asked very surprised.
“Yeah, I want to break up with her.”
“I heard you but why?!”
“I don’t know. I guess I don’t like her enough anymore.”
“Oh.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. “Do you love Devon?”
“I don’t think I love him, but its nice to have someone around that feels the way you do.” She said still looking out he window.
“He doesn’t love you?”
“I don’t think so.” She looked at him, “is everything OK? What’s with the questions?”
He pulled into her driveway. He didn’t say anything. “I don’t know.” He opened the door and got out then went to the back seat and got his backpack. Jordan followed suit.
When they sat at the table and started working on the project JC got back to the questioning.
“Why don’t you love him?”
“Why don’t you like Adrian?”
“She got old. I just don’t.”
Jordan was quiet for a minute. It wasn’t what she thought was going to happen. She thought that maybe he would stop asking strange questions and get back on track. Ever since she left him in the hall to find Devon he had been acting weird. What was going on with him? She wondered.
“Why don’t you love him?” He asked again.
“I don’t know. Josh, what is wrong with you?”
“I love you.”
She stared at him in shock for a few seconds before it registered in her mind. “You what?” No way was this happening. It was just happening because those were the words she wanted to hear so bad.
“I love you,” he said again.
“No you don’t.”
“No Jor, I really, really do.” He said honestly. “Ever since this summer... when you were sick... remember?”
She looked dazed and shocked at the same time. She nodded her head. “Uh huh.”
“Josh,” she said a little shakily. “Can we work on this tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” He said and stood up.. He walked to the door with her behind him. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
¤*¤
“Devon? It’s Jordan.”
“I know. What’s up baby?”
She really did care about him. Honest. Why was she doing this? She liked him a lot but she Loved Josh. And he Loved her back.
“Dev, we care about each other a lot, right?”
“Right?” He nodded. Where was she going with this? What was she doing?
“Ok, that’s what I thought. But,” She said dramatically. “But I think that-”
“That you want to break up?”
“Yeah?” She said weakly. “I’m sorry.”
“Its ok.” He said. “Josh is going to break up with Adrian isn’t he?”
“How’d you know?”
“Jor, I’ve seen the way that you look at each other. He loves you.”
“Yeah. He told me just a few minutes ago.”
“Hey, if it doesn’t work out, give me a call ok?”
“I promise.” She smiled. Thank you. She whispered to herself. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Bye Jor.”
“Bye Dev.”
Thank goodness that went well.
¤*¤
The next day at school JC found Adrian early and ended it. He then went to find Jordan to ask her out this time. He didn’t even think about whether she broke up with Devon or not. When he found her, she told him that she loved him too and that she did break up with Devon. He asked her out and the rest is history...
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Send 'em my way!