“Thanks,” she said tightly, but Alex only nodded at her and smiled. He had carried Evelyn to the nurse after she had come to Jordyn crying and holding her leg, a bee’s stinger firmly lodged in her skin. Jordyn looked at him now, wishing he would go away, but he didn’t. He just helped her get Evelyn back to her room and then hovered in the hallway just behind her as she closed the door to Evelyn’s room.
“Is there anything I can help you with, Alex?” Jordyn asked, frowning at him. She was always frowning at him now, and she wondered why her constant negative expression wasn’t more of a deterrent. This much frowning was not natural. Why was he not getting it?
“Can I take you out for coffee when we get back?” Alex asked, and she sighed.
Jordyn immediately shook her head no. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said, quietly. “We should...we should leave things the way they are now.” She met his eyes and tried to get him to understand. “I can talk to you now. I can look at you and not want to scream. Can’t we just leave it like that for the sake of all the years we had together?”
He was quiet for a second and then nodded at her. “I understand,” he said and left without a second glance behind him. She let out the breath that she’d been holding, gratefully leaning against the wall as she watched him walk away. The camp could not end a minute sooner, so when they rounded everyone up and got them all back on the bus, she was elated.
“You did it,” she told herself with a grin, packing up her room. She’d made it and hadn’t even pushed Yvonne down a hill like she’d been tempted to on day two. She’d been the grown up and managed to stay cordial. This was major growth, and she was damn proud of herself for it. Jordyn was still smiling as they all piled into the bus and made for home. It didn’t even matter that Alex was across the aisle from her. She was happy to be done with it, or at least until the charter bus broke down, and they were stranded, waiting for help to arrive.
“How long do you think it’ll take?” Yvonne asked, coming up to stand between where Alex and Jordyn were talking with the bus driver.
“Couple of hours until we can get a new bus here, but it should be all right until then,” the bus driver answered, getting a nod from all three counselors.
“That’s fine, we can just...tell stories and extend camp a little, right?” Jordyn supplied, opting to focus on the fact that it was still over...technically, anyway. She would still be going home that day and getting space. This was just a little set back.
After enough stories and a newly dispatched charter bus that arrived three hours later, they were on their way, and thankfully, there were no more hold ups. When they arrived, Jordyn made sure to see all her girls off to their anxious parents. When it was all over and the last camper was on their way, she stood sleepily in the church parking lot. It was nearly midnight. She walked slowly to her car, her head down, and gratefully slid into it. With a sigh, she stretched and turned her key in the ignition. She was done with the weekend, and that meant she wouldn’t have to deal with Alex again.
But the fates it seemed were not quite done with fucking her over. When she turned her key in the ignition, there was only a clicking sound, but that was it. Her car was dead, and she wasn't going anywhere.
“No, no, nooooo,” she said, trying again, and banged her forehead against the steering wheel. She yanked her phone out of her pocket and debated the list of names in her contacts. It was Monday night, and she didn’t want to wake anyone up, especially since they’d all probably turned in for bed already. She finally noticed the seven text messages sitting in her inbox. Without reception at the camp and the bus breaking down, she hadn't had the chance to check her phone.
Jordyn scrolled through them. Two were run-of-the-mill messages from Dora about a reality show they followed, and one was from her parents, asking her how the weekend was going. The other four, however, were from Steve. She hadn’t expected that. Jordyn stared at the unread messages next to Steve’s name with her finger hovering over the little blinking mail icon, but a rap at her window made her look up away from her phone.
It was Alex.
“Hey, you all right?” he asked her, leaning against her car when Jordyn opened the door.
“My car won’t start,” she sighed, too tired to even sound upset.
“Want a ride? We can fix it in the morning.”
“Sure.” Jordyn was past caring that she would have to ride with Alex to her apartment. She locked her car and trudged after him, careful to maintain her distance when he opened the door for her. They were completely silent on the way to her apartment, and Jordyn had to pinch herself to stop from nodding off in the car.
“Exhausted from the weekend, huh?” Alex asked.
Jordyn nodded and pulled her phone out again, her eyes on the unopened messages from Steve. She was still looking at them, debating on opening them now or just deleting them, when Alex let out a shocked sound.
“What the hell?”
“Hmm?” Jordyn looked up to see what had caught Alex’s attention. They were pulling into her parking lot, and she now had a clear view of exactly what Alex was looking at the second she looked up.
“Steve?” Jordyn cocked her head to the side, not quite sure she was seeing things correctly. Steve was in her apartment parking lot with his arms over his head, and he was standing on the roof of a car, Jamie’s car, to be exact, if the mortified looking Jamie was anything to go by. He was standing off to the side of the car, gesturing for Steve to come down, but Steve wasn’t listening. His eyes were looking up at her apartment with his arms raised over his head, and even though she was still in the car, Jordyn heard her name being yelled.
“Stevie,” she whispered, her hands going to open the door, but the sudden clicking of the door’s lock stopped her. “Unlock it.” Jordyn tugged on the handle and shot a desperate look at Alex. “What are you doing? Unlock this door right now!”
“Are you serious, Jordyn? Look at him! He’s drunk.” Alex gestured toward Steve and kept the car moving.
“Yeah, I know!” she said, taking in the sway of Steve’s stand, the glassy-eyed look on his face, and especially the way his movements had none of the athletic grace she knew he normally moved with. Even without seeing any of that, Jamie’s wild grab for Steve’s ankle told her all she needed to know. She had to help Jamie get Steve down off the car and help get him quiet before anyone notified the police.
“Open it, Alex.” Jordyn gave her door another jerk and gasped when she realized that he was now starting to reverse to leave the parking lot. “Alex, no! I said open the door! You have to let me out!” she cried, seeing that he wasn’t listening to her.
“I’m not letting you out of the car with him. He’s drunk.”
“It’s fine! I have to help Jamie.”
Alex only shook his head, and Jordyn let out a frustrated sigh before she leaned over and slammed her hand on the horn. She honked it as hard as she could and was satisfied when Jamie’s head jerked over to see her. When he did, she rolled down the window. “Jamie!” she yelled, waving a hand.
