Thank God. I didn’t know how much more I could bear. When I finish up with dinner, I head back to my and Jordan’s place. He’s stretched out on the couch, his laptop on his thighs as he types away. He has his glasses on, which he typically only wears when he’s actually working on something and never when we go out. He’s types quickly. As cool as he always acts, I don’t imagine people who didn’t know him well would realize just how dedicated he is to what he does and his continuing education. He has a similar attitude as Mikey. They act too cool for the world but then are still totally successful within it. I envy their attitude towards life.
“How’s the fam?” he asks, not letting up on the keyboard.
“Fine.”
He shifts his attention to me. “How about you?”
“That’s a whole other thing. For some reason. They’re all trying to get on to me about getting a real job right now more than usual. I don’t know if Dad had a talk with them or what, but I kind of snapped.”
“You snapped? Oh, I’d like to see that.”
“Shut up. How’s your day? Working on your thesis for a change?”
“When am I not working on it? I’m trying to knock out some ideas I got while I was in Belize. It gave me time to put together some chapters I hadn’t really figured out how to go about. This gets the structure down, but I’m going to have to go back and add citations and some more research, but from what I’ve done, I know it’ll all come together pretty well.”
“Cool, cool.” I head into the kitchen, carrying a plastic container Dad gave me with some leftovers. “There’s some chicken and mashed potatoes in here if you want any,” I tell Jordan.
“Ooh. Fried chicken.”
“Does Dad make any other kind?”
“God, you know I’ll be stealing all of that in the middle of the night. Nothing like his homemade fried chicken. You manage to sneak me any cornbread?”
I chuckle. “You should have come with me. Didn’t have anything left to steal by the end.”
“I should have. Hell, I fucking owe you after that clusterfuck dinner you came to with me the other week. Oh, speaking of which, Kate had some good news today.”
“Really?”
“Evidently she found a house that she might be getting a good deal on. She’ll need Mikey to front her some money, but it sounds really promising. She just went out there today, and she loves it. They’re working something out with the real estate agent who’s repping the clients who own the place.”
Hope rises within me. “Would he come back to help her move in?”
I did my best—summoned every bit of self-restraint within me to make that sound casual, but I could tell that my tone was strange, because secretly, I want him to come back, even if only for a few days.
It’s not just the sex, either.
That was fucking unbelievably amazing. But also, behind that chill, cool attitude, there was something more, something I caught a glimpse of that night when he revealed the truth about the burden his father and mother forced upon him. But it only made me want to get to know him better.
Although, maybe it’s for the best that I didn’t get the chance because I was starting to develop a little bit of a crush, but considering our lives are so far apart, there was no point in exploring each other any further when there wasn’t really a chance anything could ever come of it.
“He mentioned coming back for a few days,” Jordan says, “just so we can get that stuff out of storage. I keep telling him we need to hire movers, but he was saying it’s more about being there for Kate, and I agree. She really needs us right now. Why you asking about my bro? You digging seeing him prancing around here half-naked again?”
“Whatever,” I say, trying to play it off. “I’m glad he’ll be here for Kate.”
But really, as glad as I am that he’ll be here for her, there’s a selfish part of me that just wants to have more sexy-time with Jordan’s brother.
It’s kind of nice, even if there isn’t anything more to it than that.
“But we’ll see if it really pans out,” Jordan adds. “She has to close on it quickly, and there are a lot of people looking at this place. It’s a good deal, so if she doesn’t get it soon, it’s liable to get snatched up. But if she does, you mind helping us out again? I know that’s a lot to ask, but I don’t think that we could have done it without you last time.”
“Oh, absolutely. I really don’t mind helping out. Anything I can do to help your sister, I’m in. I’m impressed with how she’s getting back out there and trying to find a new place as quickly as she can. I can’t imagine that it’s easy with everything she’s been through to just dive right back into trying to create a new life, but she’s not afraid of anything, which is nice. She keeps saying that she wants to hang with me in town, but I’ve been so busy trying to get some of these projects out that I haven’t really had time.”
“Yeah. Kate’s a fighter. Always has been. And she sure as fuck won’t let this keep her down for long. I’ll keep you posted about what happens with this lead.”
“That’d be really great.”
“For sure. Oh, and about my bro…”
