Coffee

23

I didn't think about what would probably happen if I got home and my father was there, waiting up for me. He wouldn't be expecting my eyes to be red, or for a defeated-looking Jordan to be there either. His car was in its rightful place, so I prepared for the onslaught of questions awaiting me. To my surprise, Darcy had gone to bed; he wasn't waiting by the door barking at me. He didn't like to be awake alone, which I hoped meant that my father was asleep too. Jordan and I crept to the back of the apartment where my room was and were my father was sleeping, undisturbed.

"You can take a shower if you want. I'll get you towels and something to sleep in."

"That sounds great right now," she said quietly.

She never moved past the entrance of my room. I handed her the towels and clothes and she tiptoed across the hall. I gathered things for my own shower as she took hers. My lamp was on, instead of the ones on the wall, so it was a shock to see my dad in the frame of the door.

"You're home," he commented.

"Yeah. Didn't expect the drive back to take so long. I hope it's okay if Jordan stays over."

"Not a problem at all," he said.

I waited for him to say goodnight and go to bed but he stopped for too long, looking at me. I was hoping it was dark enough to not see my eyes. The shower shut off, which took his eyes away from mine. I shifted, picking up the clothes from my bed.

"Goodnight Parker," he said.

"Goodnight," I got out before he closed his door.

The bathroom door opened a few minutes later, and Jordan soon appeared. Her hair was being dried with the towel. It distracted me from being able to really look at her face and tell if she was okay. Whether she was or not, she wouldn't want to talk about it. I gave her a kiss on the cheek as I passed. Hopefully that pushed a smile onto her face. I had no clue how long I was in the shower. Every time I thought about what Rebecca did it added about five minutes to the length of my shower. I finally shook it off and turned off the water.

I looked at myself in the mirror after I was done changing. The steam was mostly gone but tear shaped droplets remained. My eyes weren't as red as I was expecting, so it's possible he hadn't seen anything at all. Jordan was still awake but laying in my bed. Her hair was mostly dry. I still couldn't see her eyes, but I was sure she wasn't high either. I just wanted to see how upset she was. She heard my footsteps and peeked up at me.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey. Good shower?"

"Yeah, yours?" I asked as I crossed the room and sat in my bed as well.

She shrugged, which didn't change the vibe in the room. I sat down next to her and neither of us spoke, nor were looks exchanged. Twitter held most of her attention for the better part of the 20 minutes. I found my own social amusement, unsure of what to do.

"I think we should talk," she said.

She finally locked her phone and turned to face me.

"Okay," I said, turning to face her also.

"So this is the first time I've told anyone this stuff out loud, other than my... psychiatrist."

I had no response to that, so I waited until she said more. I wasn't here to judge her, only to listen. I could see that it was going to be hard for her to tell me what she'd gone through. It was hard enough for me to even want to talk about Amanda. She didn't speak again for a few minutes.

"Is it bad that I want to smoke again before I tell you?" she asked.

"No. I'm okay with that if you want to," I said,