A Year Full Of Surprises

A Year Full Of Surprises - Chapter Thirty-Seven.

Chapter Thirty-Seven...

The ride back was in silence and I couldn’t help but nervously twiddle my thumbs. I had never been uncomfortable around Jord, but right now, I didn’t know how to feel. He looked so angry. I hadn’t ever seen him like this and I didn’t ever want to see him like this again.

The worst part was that I was sure he was angry at me. He had barely even looked at me all day. What had I done wrong? Nothing out of the ordinary had happened and I didn’t understand what I’d done that had apparently offended him so much.

When we got back to his apartment, he continued to blank me and got started marking some books. Unlike normal, there was no joke about how he could do with some help and I was surprised to find how much that hurt me.

Dejected, I sat down on the couch opposite him. That might have been a bad idea, because now I had to put up with him clearly ignoring me, but I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. I definitely wasn’t going to head for his bedroom.

“Do you mind if I put the TV on?” I asked timidly.

He just shook his head, still avoiding eye contact. Despite the unbelievable urge to throw a fit and demand to know what was wrong with him, I just didn’t have the courage, so I grabbed the remote and put on some random channel. I hadn’t even really wanted to watch TV; I just needed an excuse to talk to him without looking obvious.

After about 15 minutes of us sitting in silence, me trying and failing to stop my eyes wandering to where he was marking the books, I decided to go and get a drink. I had to avoid all this awkwardness somehow.

Standing in the kitchen, I tried to make my glass of water last as long as I possibly could without it being obvious that I was avoiding him. I didn’t know why I was so bothered though, it wasn’t like he was being overly friendly.

When I couldn’t escape it any further, I returned to my seat. Jord was marking relentlessly and hadn’t even looked up when I came in.

I turned my attention to the TV and noticed that I was in fact watching some kids program. That was definitely not the way to convince him that I was paying attention to anything but him.

After another half an hour of lounging mindlessly on the sofa and trying to pay attention to Hollyoaks, which I had resorted to watching, I finally gave in to temptation.

“What is wrong with you?” I blurted, causing him to look up at me, a glare gracing his face. I blushed slightly at my outburst, but didn’t make any move to apologise. I wanted to know what his problem was.

“Nothing.” He replied simply, before ignoring me again and going back to the book he was marking.

“It is not nothing, you’ve been ignoring me all day and when you have acknowledged me, it’s been with some malicious stare! What have I done?!” I demanded, finally having the confidence to confront him.

His face didn’t even change from the mask of no emotion that he was presenting. “I have not.” He denied, his eyes downcast, but his voice still holding some hostility.

“You have!” I contradicted him my voice raised. “What have I done?” I repeated. “Whatever I did to offend you I didn’t mean to. I don’t remember doing anything out of the ordinary today, what can be that bad?”

Jord raised an eyebrow, the first sign of his normal behaviour coming through. “Nothing out of the ordinary, eh?” He asked sarcastically, making my eyebrows knit together in confusion.

“The only thing different to normal that I can remember is the fact that you’ve been ignoring me.” I exclaimed, trying not to reveal how much that was actually bothering me. It hurt to think that he had fallen out with me for no reason. If I had done something dastardly then it would be understandable, but it had only been a normal day.