21. Excruciating
Excruciating
“Ah!” His mom yelled through the computer as the feedback from her phone screeched. “Make it stop!”
“Mom, turn off your phone. Why do you have both open?”
“It rang on my phone, so I answered!”
“Turn your phone off and use the computer.”
“Stop talking! Your voice is drilling into my brain.”
“You always say the nicest things.”
It was fascinating to watch her stab at the phone from both angles, seeing the fury on her face, but also the tip of her finger smashing into the camera. A few expletives later, she was one person again, breathing deeply on Theo’s screen, her glasses crooked.
Theo stirred the soggy remnants of his cereal. His own phone sat beside the bowl, a blank, joyless reminder that Jordan wasn’t texting him back.
“So,” his mom said, “how are you coping?”
How did she know? Did she have spies in his social circle? Did she finally manage to bug the apartment?
“Hellooooooo,” she said in a sing-song voice, “Dae’s return? You must be nervous about getting your best friend back.”
Ah. That. “So, first you thought I wasn’t coping with Dae being gone, now I’m not coping with Dae returning?”
She gave him a mom-huff and shook her head. “Fine, we won’t talk about Dae. How’s Jordan?” He winced and she threw up her hands. “Throw me a bone here! Who can I talk about? Are you still dating that handsome professor?”
He groaned and bent in half, his head plunking against the table. “Mom, you’re killing me.”
“The feeling’s mutual!”
His aunt’s head appeared in the background. “How’s my favourite nephew?”
Theo sat up, his stomach churning at their expectant faces. “He doesn’t get here until Saturday.”
“Make sure you give him the mug.”
“I will.”
“Don’t forget!”
Theo had never seen his mom and aunt more excited than when he told them Dae was coming back.
Not even when he told them about getting into university or being offered a permanent junior agent position at North Talent.
They were happy for him, of course, but they were unabashedly over the damn moon about Dae’s return.
“What about you guys?” he asked, desperate to shift the conversation away from his disaster of a life. “Anything new?”
His mom pursed her lips and got up, her disembodied voice terse. “Ask your aunt.”
Liana watched her go, then turned back to the camera with barely contained excitement. “I got my motorcycle license.”
“Awesome!”
His mom clanged dishes in the background. “Do not encourage her!”
He leaned in and whispered, even though he knew their speakers would be turned all the way up. “When are you going to get one?”
She leaned in too. “Next week.”
“Let me come!”
“Of course!”
His mom grunted. “You two are exactly the same.”
“I take that as a compliment,” he said.
“Well,” his mom bellowed from the kitchen, a mere few feet away, “I take it as the cause of my ulcer.”
“Wait, do you really have an ulcer?”
His aunt shook her head, rolling her eyes, and his mom yelled, “I will someday, and it’ll be because of you two!”
The front door opened and Jordan walked in rolling a suitcase behind her, stopping when she saw him, her stare apprehensive.
“I have to go. Love you! Bye!” He shut the computer and stood. “I’m sorry. I’m an asshole. Please don’t be mad at me anymore.”
“Ohthankgod.” She dropped the suitcase and almost knocked him over with a hug so tight he stopped breathing. “That was excruciating.”
“Of course I’ll support your relationship…”
“You weren’t wrong that I should be careful…”
“And no matter what happens I’ll be here…”
“I was feeling defensive and…”
“I love you so much.”
“I’m scared, but I’m really happy, Theo.”
“I’m…”—he wanted to say, happy for you, but there were more pressing matters—“about to pass out.”
“Oh!” She backed off, and he sucked in a long breath as she laughed at him. “I’m stronger than I look. You’d do well to remember that.”
“Why didn’t you text me back? I apologized thirty-seven times.” That was not an exaggeration.
Jordan grunted, marching into her room and lifting papers on her desk, then picked up her no-longer-buried phone and held it to her chest.
Theo gasped. “You went a whole forty-eight hours without it?”
“I told you. Excruciating.” The gravitas in her voice was like she’d been through war. “Okay, catch me up. What’d I miss?”
“Well, let’s see.” He didn’t necessarily want to catch her up, but he also really, really needed to.
“I cheated on Nick with a married man. We broke up, and I’ve never felt more like garbage.
Dae said he’ll think about moving in, which makes me worried he doesn’t actually want to.
Oh, and Aunt Liana is buying a motorcycle. ”
Jordan gaped at him. “I’ve been gone for two days.”
“Yeah, well, the cheating stuff happened before you left.”
Her bottom lip stuck out in an empathetic pout. “I knew there was something else behind your mood.”
“How about you?”
Her smile was infectious, even in his current situation. “The apartment is in the Distillery district, I love it, I wrote a new song, and Becks told her parents about us.”
“That’s huge.”
“I know.” Jordan giggled, then covered her mouth with her hands. “Is it rude to be happy when you’ve screwed up your own relationship?”
“Yes, but I’ll allow it.”
She tackled him with another hug, then tossed the suitcase on the bed. He helped her pack the essentials first (her comfy jeans, fall cardigans, her skin-care regimen, and the box of cookies she kept by her bed) then whatever else would fit.
“I’ll make a few trips for the rest.” She flopped on the bed, and he curled up beside her, their legs resting on top of the suitcase. The blanket still smelled like the vanilla latte she’d spilled during one of their particularly heated dance-offs. “So, Dae is thinking about it?”
He showed her the texts.
weird news
Dae
You already showed me the moles on your stomach shaped like Mickey Mouse.
weirder news
jordans moving out
so her room is yours
Jordan tutted. “You really need to start capitalizing proper nouns.”
“Can you focus please?”
“You’re a university graduate, Theo.”
I’ve already responded to a few ads.
so tell them youre spoken for
I don’t know where I’ll be working. It might be far from Kensington.
thought you had a job lined up
It’s not official.
ok keep me posted
If you need to find someone right away, go ahead. I won’t be insulted.
no worries
Ill wait for u
“Um…” Jordan bit her lip. “This seems like he’s trying to politely decline without hurting your feelings.”
“I know.” He took the phone back and reread the conversation, trying not to take it personally. Maybe Dae had gotten used to living on his own and didn’t want to have a roommate again.
“So then put him out of his misery.” She typed out a message and handed it back to him. Hey I found someone to live with. Good luck in your apartment hunt!
Theo deleted it. “I said I’d wait for him. If we’re reading this conversation wrong, I don’t want to take the option away.”
Jordan took a deep breath, then another one. It was rare she had to psych herself up to say things. “About what I said the other day—”
“That was the other day, and now it’s today. Let’s never speak of it again.”
“Theo.”
“Please, Jordan? It makes my stomach hurt.” He knew what road she wanted to go down.
He’d thought about nothing else since she’d left.
But it was fine, because what happened with Nick had been a wakeup call.
He’d been reminded of the disaster he always left in his romantic wake, and he vowed that nothing like that would ever happen again.
He’d be careful. He’d protect…well, anyone who needed to be protected.
“Fine,” Jordan said, sounding too exhausted to argue, “but start searching for a new roommate just in case.”
He helped her lug the suitcase down the stairs, and when she was safely in a cab, he texted Dae.
No pressure about the room whatever you decide is cool
He responded right away, which was strange, considering it was almost midnight there.
I’ll take it.
YES
the boys are back in town
so the job is official
Yes.
then see you sat
See you Saturday, Theo.