“Hi, Darling,” Cory said.
Cory! Jordan thought, wanting nothing more than to see his face.
“They said I can go home in a few days. I’m almost as good as new except for these gray hairs of mine. I don’t think they can fix those,” he chuckled. Then, remembering the predicament of his wife, he sobered. Running his hand through her long dark hair, he continued the stroking motion he knew she loved so much. “But you should know,” he continued softly, “that I don’t care what they tell me. I’m not going anywhere. Just because I can leave doesn’t mean they can make me. It just means I don’t have my own room any more. It’s good news. As soon as they say I can leave, I’ll be all yours. I’ll be by your side for each second of the day. You’ll probably get tired of me and beg them to make me go home.” The smile faded from his face as Cory realized Jordan could not beg anyone for anything.
As he stroked her hair, she listened to the even cadence of his voice. She never wanted that sound to cease. She could no longer hear the steady beep. All she wanted to do was answer her husband and return his loving touch. She pushed the confusion aside and enjoyed his one-sided conversation, trying with all her might to stay with him as the dim light grew brighter and brighter before her. She knew what this meant. She knew that soon she would no longer hear his voice or the beeping. She would be taken back into herself. She wasn’t afraid because she had been through this before. She didn’t know how to stop the warmth except to voice her resistance in her mind. She didn’t like the chill its absence brought, but she just wanted to stay with Cory and enjoy his presence. The light became too bright, the warmth too strong, and she succumbed to their power, falling back into oblivion where there were no beeps.
* * * *
Summer had finally come to a close, but the smell of warmth and perspiration still permeated the air as Jordan entered the high school for the first day of her junior year. This was an important year for Jordan. She was an upper classman and had to start thinking about her future--what she wanted to do with life, where she wanted to go to college. Important questions filled her mind. The answers, after all, would determine her life for years to come.
As the heavy gray metal school door swung open, she entered with a feeling of anticipation. Her khaki colored pants clung to her muscular thighs and calves, and a brown leather belt cinched them at the waist. She had always had problems finding pants that fit her small waist and her muscle-bound legs. Sweeping her shimmering long black hair behind her shoulder, she listened to her shoes squeak on the shining floor which was ready for another year of abuse by various high school foot attire.
Reaching her familiar locker, she dialed the combination and opened the dark green slated door. It smelled a bit like a musty old closet after a summer of being ignored. But Jordan smiled at the familiar pictures of her friends she had left up last year. As Jordan shoved her notebooks and supplies on the top rack, she wondered who would be assigned the locker next to hers, vacant after the senior class departed last spring. Probably a lowly freshman, she thought, remembering when she began her first year in high school. Jordan had always looked young for her age, so when she began high school, she looked as if she belonged in grade school. Her skin was pale and pimple-free, unlike most adolescents who tanned all summer long and gained acne-mottled complexions.
Jordan was glad she had grown up a little and was proud to finally look at least like a freshman. A commotion down the hall interrupted her musing, and she swung her ocean blue eyes back to the front door. A herd of boys entered, all chattering at once and vying for the attention of the one in the middle.
She had heard there would be a new boy at school this year. His family had moved into a neighborhood across town, far away from hers, but right next to her best friend Megan’s. All summer Jordan kept hearing how cute he was and how athletic his legs were. Heaven forbid he take his shirt off to mow the lawn! On those days, Jordan really got an ear full from Megan. She wondered, as she watched curiously from behind her locker door, if he was among the bevy of familiar faces she had known practically since birth.
What do I care? She thought. Jordan had never had much use for boys. The guys her age were immature and petty, and older guys had no interest in her.
Jordan turned back to her locker, organizing the notebooks by color. She bent down to sift through some old papers on the floor as the gaggle of boys parted, and their new leader stepped forward to his locker.
Seeing the sneaker clad feet stop inches from her own, Jordan’s eyes moved from their bright white newness to a pair of perfectly defined legs. She had never been one to notice a boy’s legs, but something about the combination of the black hair and quiet definition intrigued her. Realizing she was staring, she propelled herself upwards, catching a glimpse of his shorts and polo shirt before she reached full height. He was only a small amount taller than her. She liked that. Normally guys towered over her which made her feet small and out of place. Knowing she was his equal, she rustled around in her locker, trying to ignore his arrival.
“Hey Darlin’,” he drawled in a thick southern accent as the herd of boys gathered behind him to talk amongst themselves as they waited for their new best friend. “What do you say you help me with this thing?” He jiggled the combination of the locker next to hers, frustrated with its refusal to admit him. Jordan froze as he leaned against her open door, placing a perfectly tanned arm on its top. The black hair sprouting every which way from his arm only made his tan look darker. “Name’s Cory…Cory James,” Cory said, the southern accent mysteriously vanishing.
“Uh, yeah, you gotta turn it all the way around once to the right before you start your combination,” Jordan started, ducking under his arm and glancing at the combination sheet he held. Right, left, right, left, pop, the locker opened without hesitation.
“Wow!” Cory said, impressed by her expertise. “You look like you’ve done this before.”
Jordan blushed under his praise and turned back to her own locker, hoping the conversation was over.
“Do you have a name?” Cory asked, fixing his tantalizing grey eyes on her.
“What?” Jordan asked, already lost in her locker.
“A name. Do you have one?”
“Well, yeah, sure,” she answered, not offering his desired answer.
Cory smiled. She was cute. Not his normal type--the small stick thin blondes with loads of curled hair and make-up--but she was definitely cute. “If we’re going to be locker neighbors I’d really like to know your name.”
Jordan emerged from her locker, a pencil absent-mindedly stuck behind her ear, “I’m Jordan,” she finally admitted, trying to pry her eyes from his index finger as he wound a curly strand of his hair around its tip.
“Well, Jordan, I expect to see you here after every period, or I may not get into my locker,” Cory chided. Smiling, he closed his extra books into his locker and joined his groupies.
Jordan stared after them in awe. She’d half listened to her friend Megan go on and on all summer long, dismissing her comments as nonsense. She had no idea that every detail of the descriptions she heard was accurate. “Eyes like silver metal,” Megan had said, “and his hair is so soft. Well, I’ve never touched it, but it sure looks soft. And such perfect curls! Any girl would die for curls like that!”
Jordan shook her head. He was just a boy. Probably as immature and petty as the rest of them. She would help him with his locker, and once she got to know his personality, his good looks wouldn’t be so raw. She was impressed only by actions, not by appearances. If he were like nearly every other guy she’d dated, she’d soon see him as revolting. She was usually attracted to the geekier crowd. Those guys were not Mr. America, but they were so sweet and friendly that she’d take a dozen of them over the good looking jocks.
She had nearly forgotten about Cory James after first period when she approached her locker only to find him violently jiggling the lock on his own. Swooping in beside him, she gently took the lock from his hand
, already remembering his combination. Right, left, right, left, pop. The locker opened.
Cory graced her with a perfect smile. “You’re good,” he commented. “I think I’ll keep ya.”
Jordan looked two inches up into his eyes. “I don’t hand out free favors for long,” she challenged.
Surprised at her first full sentence, Cory raised his eyebrows. “Is that right?!” he questioned curiously.
She nodded her head once, thinking of her love sick friend Megan. Megan would owe her for the favor she was formulating in her mind.
Jordan turned up one side of her mouth, giving Cory an impish smile. “You got it,” she said, swiveling on her heel. Boy was Megan ever going to owe her!
After a week of routinely opening his locker during every break, Jordan was tired of hearing her friend Megan rant and rave about Cory. Jordan approached Cory with her plan. They had fallen into a friendly banter, never anything personal, just a quick exchange between classes at their neighboring lockers as she opened his and then her own.
“So, Cory,” she began, “it’s time.”
“Time?” he asked. “It’s 10:30. Is that what you wanted?”
She shook her head. “Nice try,” Jordan said as she exchanged her black notebook for the red one in her locker. “I’m ready to redeem my ‘free favor’ card.”
“Oh,” Cory answered, “it’s that time. Okay, what’ll it be, Darlin’?” he said, dropping back into the southern drawl he used on occasion.
“You see, I have this friend…” Jordan started.
“Good for you!” Cory teased.
Jordan playfully jabbed Cory in the ribs and he grabbed his stomach and bent over as if she had done serious damage.
“Her name is Megan, and she’s really sweet, and I think you two would be good together, so what do you say to taking her out next weekend?” Jordan spit out before she lost her nerve. She had become comfortable with their easy banter, but this was much more personal.
Cory stroked his chin as if he had a beard. “This friend…” he said contemplatively, “she anything like you?”
“Actually, no…” Jordan hesitated.
“Perfect!” Cory exclaimed, exaggerating his gestures, obviously teasing.
As if on cue, Megan appeared at Jordan’s side. “Hey, Jordan, want to walk me to study hall?” She glanced at Cory a few times, recognizing him immediately and batting her eyelashes without a second thought.
“Megan, perfect timing,” Jordan praised. “This is Cory. He’ll be your date next Friday.”
Megan extended her slender hand to Cory, and he enveloped it with his own tanned one. Taking in her big blonde hair, slender build, and heavily done face, Cory glanced past her to watch Jordan slip down the hall, making a clean get away.
Their date had gone perfectly, according to Megan. She was, as usual, in love. At least this time she had more reason to go on and on. She had gone on a real date with the guy. Before she couldn’t even bring herself to ask him his name, but now her mind had them married with three children. She’d spent much of the summer holed up in her house, just watching him. Jordan was the best friend in the entire world if you asked Megan. Even if you didn’t ask Megan, she would probably tell you. Megan raved about how cute she and Cory looked together, and how Jordan would be her maid of honor when they got married since she had set them up. Cory’s exclamations about Megan, however, were non-existent. He went back to his normal witty banter with Jordan, as if the date had never occurred.
After a few days went by without a call from Cory, Megan changed her attitude to near hysterics. “What has he said about me? Why hasn’t he called? You’ve got to talk to him!” Jordan felt as if she was catapulted back into elementary school. They were upper classmen now. Weren’t they supposed to be mature enough to handle their own dating issues? Yet here she was, always the wingman for Megan, about to approach Cory again about the subject of dating.
Right, left, right, left, pop. Jordan opened Cory’s locker without even looking at the combination as she watched for him in the hall. His easy amble caught her eye, and she watched his curls bounce carelessly on his head.
“Hey, Darlin’,” he drawled upon seeing her.
“Cory, hi,” she said, nervously turning away from him. He could sense the tension between them and knew what was coming before she said a word.
“I need to ask you something,” Jordan said, burying her head in her locker as if she were digging for a book.
“I think I know what you’re going to say,” Cory said shamefully, “and I’m really sorry, Jordan, but Megan’s just not the right girl for me.” He shrugged as if that said it all.
But Jordan knew that she would get the third degree from her friend before the day was over, and if all she had to offer was “just not the right girl,” she would never hear the end of it.
“Didn’t the date go well? What’s wrong with Megan?” Jordan questioned in defense of her friend.
Cory closed his locker and leaned on hers as he had the first day of school. He took in her eyes, so different from his own. He took his time perusing her face, its perfect complexion, framed with her dark hair that probably shone even in the dark of night. “Nothing’s wrong with Megan. The date was fine,” Cory stated in a matter-of-fact manner.
Jordan felt her nerves rise, her intuition working a step ahead of her mind.
“What’s the problem then, Cory? Why haven’t you called her?”
“I told you. Megan’s just not the right girl for me.”
Jordan understood that, but she knew she needed more to satisfy her friend, so she pushed on. “What isn’t right about her? She’s beautiful, friendly….” Jordan trailed off as she noticed the intensity of his eyes grow deeper. She felt as if those eyes would bore a hole right through her.
Running his fingers through his dark curls, he sighed, and looked away modestly. “She’s not you, Jordan, okay? She’s just not you.”
With that, he walked passed her, bumping his shoulder against hers as if he hadn’t quite judged the space between them correctly.
Jordan almost had to put a finger beneath her chin to place her lower jaw back with the rest of her face. What was that supposed to mean? And what was she going to tell Megan?
Jordan dodged Megan the rest of the day, but she simply couldn’t avoid seeing her once school was out for the afternoon. Megan had all of her bases covered and knew just where to trap Jordan before she could make a clean escape. She still wasn’t sure what to tell Megan, so she began with the truth. “He said you’re a really nice girl, and you’re beautiful, and he had a great time on your date, but you’re just not the right girl for him,” Jordan rattled the information to Megan, knowing what questions would follow.
“Not the right girl? What’s that supposed to mean?” Megan whined.
Jordan shrugged. She was not going to tell Megan the rest of the story, and she hadn’t yet formulated a better one. “I don’t know, Megan. He seemed upset about the whole thing, but he wouldn’t really tell me much more.”
Jordan tuned out the rest of the conversation as Megan began to analyze every word in the sentence, wondering what she had done wrong and how things could have gone differently. All Jordan could think about was the deeply tanned face next to her locker door saying, “She’s just not you.”
The next morning Jordan feigned ill. She wasn’t entirely faking it. Her stomach was in knots, and she hadn’t been able to eat anything the previous evening. Her mother called the school office to excuse her and then brought Jordan a bowl of crackers to nibble along with a mug of Sprite to sip. Jordan spent the day catching up on the soap operas and talk shows on TV. She enjoyed her day off, but by early afternoon she was bored of the monotonous drone of the television. Flicking it off, she tried to calm the queasy feeling in her tummy as she nibbled a stale cracker.
I’m beginning to sound like Megan, she thought, analyzing the conversation with Cory.
“She’s just not you,” he had said. Decid
ing there was nothing she could do about it, Jordan pulled herself from the couch and slumped into the bathroom to draw a nice, warm bubble bath. The fruity bubbles cleared her mind, and she reverted to her normal attitude--boys were no good. Not even Cory James. Especially Cory James.
Jordan got to school a little early the following day. She pretended she didn’t do that intentionally to avoid Cory, but she knew she had. She opened his locker first, leaving it cracked for him as she wondered what he did yesterday when she was at home. Expertly turning the dial on her own, she slid it open, watching for an avalanche of books that occasionally appeared if she opened it too fast. Instead, a single white sheet of paper fluttered out, landing at her feet. It had been folded and stuffed through the grate at the top of the locker.
“Hey, neighbor,” the scrawled writing read, “sorry if I startled you yesterday, but I’ve decided that honesty is the best policy. You can think whatever you want, but I’m the guy you’re going to marry. Date whomever you please, talk to whomever you’d like, but I’m the one you’ll marry.” The note was signed with a simple “C.” As if it needed a signature. Jordan swallowed harshly.
CHAPTER 10
Jay was exhausted as usual. With as little sleep as he got each night, it was a miracle he was still on his feet by the end of the day. He had spent another day at Jordan’s side, leaving the room only when he was informed her husband was about to visit. He knew it was important for the couple to have time together, and he had been avoiding Cory since their first meeting. He would have to face him eventually, just not yet. Squishing gritty orange Jell-O through his teeth in the cafeteria as he waited for Cory’s visit to conclude, Jay thought about how Madison had looked that morning as she slept with a slight smile on her face. His insides melted every time he thought about her. He never thought he could love this strongly, but she brought out new sides to him.
Someone Always Loved You Page 6
