It’s me,” I said. “Jordan? #3
“I’m still Jordan Burke,” I answered.
Jack’s eyes lifted and he looked at me for a moment before nodding and setting the notepad back onto the kitchen table.
He walked past me into the living room and sat down in the recliner heavily.
Then he grabbed the remote off of the end table and flipped on the T.V.
He looked over and gestured at the sofa, indicating that I should join him.
I really wanted to just excuse myself to my room, but what else did I have going on?
I shuffled over to the sofa and plopped down, pulling one leg up underneath me.
Jack found a marathon of some old sitcom playing on a network channel and we watched in silence.
The minutes turned into hours and we both found ourselves curled up on in our respective seats, not exactly uncomfortable with the silence, but not quite sure what to do with it, either.
Jack didn’t fetch his notepad, and I didn’t really say much other than a random comment here and there about the show.
When night fell and bedtime crept closer, the sitcom marathon ended on the channel he had selected, so he flipped off the T.V.
and reached into the air, stretching for the ceiling.
Jack indicated that he was ready for bed and pointed at the stairs, letting me know he was planning to go up and turn in, so I just gave him a nod.
Sleep sounded good. There was nothing else to do—and neither of us had ever indicated that we had been hungry for dinner when it rolled around, so bed was our best option.
It’s not like we could have stayed up painting each other’s toenails and having a heart-to-heart.
Well, we could’ve, but Jack didn’t seem the type to be interested.
Jack went about making sure everything was in order and the lights were shut off as I made my way to the stairs.
Before I got to the second-floor landing, he was ascending the stairs as well.
As I was making my way up the second flight, Jack had made his way to the second floor, so I gave him a wave over the banister—which he returned—and rushed up the last few steps to my room.
I didn’t bother turning on the light in my room.
I shut the door and immediately stripped down, not caring that I hadn’t washed the sweat off of my body yet.
Over at the desk, I stood there in my boxers, and checked the glowing blue screen of my phone.
No missed calls. No missed texts. I had intended to text Mom to let her know that I had arrived safely.
But she hadn’t bothered to check on me. Pettiness got the best of me, and I decided that she could just worry about me until the next morning.
If she’s even worried.
When I crawled onto the bed, I knelt at the window and swung the drapes open, thinking that sleeping under the stars and moon would be nice.
When the drapes were open, I finally realized that my bedroom faced Possibly, and I could see the whole town from my window.
Although, at night, everything in town was closed.
Not even a streetlight shone in the distance, just black tree-shaped blobs and boxy outlines of buildings met my eyes.
If I squinted hard enough, I could make out the moon shining on the creek surface in the distance.
I had started to pull back the musty blanket so I could crawl into bed, but something caught my eye off in the distance. On the northeast side of town, along the river, my eyes landed on a large boxy black shape in the distance.
Is that the barn I saw earlier?
I watched through the window as what could only be described as laser beams emanated from the roof of the large building. My eyes grew wide with wonder, unsure of what was going on inside of the barn that would produce the colorful lights. Was it a dance club at night?
Gently, I slid the middle window in the dormer up, letting in the fresh night air.
My eyes stayed on the barn in the distance and the laser-like lights shooting out of the roof.
The summer night hadn’t kicked up much of a breeze, but it carried a tune upon it.
Something, way off in the distance, sounded like a song.
Night club. I nodded to myself. Maybe? Levi Lee’s probably there, dancing in his green-screen suit, trying to impress all the ladies with…things.
I listened to the sound for a moment, wondering if I could figure out which song was playing over at the barn, but it was too far away.
Eventually, I gave up and closed the middle dormer.
I pushed back the covers and laid on the stale sheets.
Jack’s washing machine would have to be used the following day, but one night on stale sheets wouldn’t kill me.
Even with the air conditioning doing its best, my room was stuffy.
So, I laid there in my boxers and let the moon shine its cooling blue light down on me through the window as the stars blinked their soundless lullaby.
Before I knew it, everything ceased to be.