Jordan gave him a look of doubt, a look of disappointment. It was apparent that she wanted more than anything to blurt out, “Do you think I’m stupid? Do you think you can tell me anything?” and go off on a rant. However, she just communicated her thoughts through the look on her face.
“What?” Jayon asked with a smirk.
“Nothing, Jayon. You’re making it a joke, and it’s not funny,” Jordan said as she stood up and went to grab the remote off the entertainment center.
“What’s not funny?”
“Nothing, Jayon. Forget it. Play stupid. That’s fine.”
Jordan sat down and pushed POWER on the remote.
“What? You in here sulking like I did something to you.”
Jordan was kind of upset that Jayon found her like that. She hated to look weak.
“I wasn’t sulking, Jayon. Don’t flatter yourself,” Jordan said with conviction, knowing dang well she was just sulking.
“Whatever, J,” he said as he walked upstairs.
Jordan sat there frustrated as hell. A piece of her wanted to just break, say everything that was on her mind, including the not-so-nice stuff. But she also didn’t want the drama or the argument, and she knew Jayon would say she was looking for the negative because he would think he had done nothing wrong. Jordan sat on the edge of the couch, staring at the television but paying attention to nothing on the screen. Her thoughts were all over the place, beginning with the curiosity of how she ever became so accepting of her and Jayon’s situation.
Jordan could hear footsteps coming back down the stairs. She pretended that the television had her attention and that she was relaxing. Jayon came into the living room dressed in a white sleeveless T-shirt and black sweat shorts; he apparently got comfortable since he assumed their plans were shot. Jordan had assumed that he was upstairs changing. She was tempted to ask him who said their plans were cancelled, but she was aware that her attitude probably said it. After Jayon walked around for a bit doing whatever he was doing, he eventually sat beside Jordan on the couch.
“Want to watch a movie?” he asked.
Jordan paused before she answered. She wanted to say “not really,” but instead she calmly answered, “OK.”
Jayon put his hand out for the remote, and she handed it to him. Jayon turned to the movies on demand channel and began looking for a movie to watch.
“See anything you want to see?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Jordan replied.
Jayon kept channel surfing.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to change while you find something,” Jordan said as she stood up from the couch.
Jayon didn’t reply, he just steadily moved through the movie listings as Jordan headed up the stairs. Jordan was trying to remain calm and put aside all of her emotions. Jayon had the ability to suppress all drama even when there was a need to address it. Jordan could admit that it helped their overall relationship from being filled with drama, but Jordan also knew that a lot of things festered between them, and that wasn’t healthy. She also knew it didn’t make sense to bother to bring up how late he was now that she had agreed to watch a movie with him.
Jordan opened one of the drawers to her pajama dresser and pulled out her Victoria’s Secret pink boxer pajama set. She started taking off her clothes and began to genuinely calm down. Usually, changing out of clothes that she had put on to go somewhere without having gone to that place would be enough to upset her. She was feeling that way too, until she realized it could have been worse. He could’ve come even later or not at all. She tried to look at the bright side—they were going to spend a quiet evening at home.
Jordan hung her dress back up in the closet for another night, since it didn’t get its night out. As she closed the closet door, Jayon’s jeans fell to the floor. Jordan bent over to pick them up, and a piece of paper fell out along with some money. Jordan started picking the items up when she noticed handwriting on the paper. The investigator in her instantly glanced over it. Written on it was “Nicole” and a phone number. Jordan looked at the paper a few seconds longer for any clues as to where it came from. It was on a torn piece of plain white paper, and there was nothing else written on it. Jordan proceeded to return the items to his pocket while she felt herself begin to boil with anger. She knew that it seemed as if Jayon had gotten some girl’s number in an attempt to “get to know her better.” Just the mere thought of addressing him over this number felt so high school. Besides, she knew there were a million legit excuses that Jayon could give, like it was a business colleague or an old friend. So Jordan decided to choose her battles and let this one go, or at least save it for a later date.
Jordan made her way back downstairs, the whole time telling herself repetitively to let it go. By the time she made it to the couch where Jayon was sitting, she hadn’t completely erased the negative thoughts from her head, but she was still trying.
“You ready?” Jayon said as he pointed the remote at the television to unpause the movie on the screen.
“Mm-hmm,” Jordan responded.
Jayon hit the PAUSE button. “This is that movie I was telling you about with the clones. It’s called The Island,” Jayon said as he scooted back to get comfortable on the couch. “Want to make some popcorn?”
“Not really,” Jordan answered.
She had been silently wishing that Jayon would stop talking to her so she wouldn’t have to struggle to hide her anger.
“You don’t want popcorn while watching a movie? OK, that’s a first,” Jayon said.
Jordan didn’t reply. She just kept looking at the television screen, which was showing the opening credits. She watched the boat ride across the water on the screen, and then all of a sudden the screen froze. Jordan looked over at Jayon, and he had the remote in his hand, pointing it at the television.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.
“Nothing, Jayon. Turn it back on.”
“You are acting mad funny, and you’re saying nothing is wrong.”
“Jayon, nothing’s wrong. I am just tired.”
“Tired?”
“Yes, tired.”
“OK, if you want me to believe that, I’ll let it go.”
Something snapped in Jordan’s mind. She was tired of being nice and holding her tongue, and since he insisted, she figured she’d let him know.
“Who is Nicole?” Jordan blurted out.
“What?” Jayon asked, looking totally confused.
“Who is Nicole?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know what, Jayon, I don’t even want to talk about it. Because in all honesty, I don’t know if I can trust whatever you tell me anyway.”
“Where is all this coming from?”
“You show up hours after you were supposed to, acting like it’s nothing, having no regard for the fact that I was here dressed and waiting for you; then I go upstairs to change and a phone number falls out of your pocket. I just don’t even know what to think anymore,” Jordan rambled on.
“That was a client,” Jayon said.
Jordan giggled. She laughed because she was expecting something like that.
“What is so funny?”
“I just thought you would say something like that, that’s all.”
“Well, Jordan, how can I win then? Why’d you ask?”
“I tried not to, but you insisted on asking me what was wrong.”
“Well, I’m sorry for being concerned.”
“I wish you were concerned with keeping me waiting for hours.”
“Jordan, I said sorry. I was held up at work. What do you want me to do?”
“Call, e-mail, something. You come in late, I couldn’t get a hold of you, you didn’t try to contact me, and then you have numbers in your pocket. Really, Jay—what do you want me to think?”
“It’s not about what I want you to think. I can only tell you what I’ve told you. What you choose to think is your own decision,” Jayon said as he hit the PA
USE button and the movie started again.
“It’s that very nonchalance that makes me think the way I do even more.”
“Whatever,” Jayon responded.
Now Jordan was pissed. She hated when Jayon just shut down, when he decided that he was done talking about something. She was upset that she even broke her silence, because now she was more upset than she had been from the start, and Jayon’s attitude was only going to make it harder to calm down.
The opening scene of the movie started, and Jayon was sitting with his feet kicked up on the ottoman, while Jordan had one foot up on the couch and the other on the floor. They were sitting at opposite ends of the couch, both watching the movie.
Jordan was tempted to stop faking the funk and walk her black butt upstairs. She was barely paying attention to the movie anyway, because she was still trying to lower her blood pressure. When she thought about it more, she realized that it was possible that going upstairs was only going to make it a bigger deal. She told herself not to even stress it. Jayon wanted to play innocent and play little games; two could play at that.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
DAFINA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2009 by Janine A. Morris
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
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ISBN: 0-7582-4976-4
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