Telling Him

“Take his keys,” I whispered to Cassie before Jordan joined us. She shot me a questioning look and I smiled, “If I tell him Wade is here, the first thing he’s going to want to do is leave.”

She clued in, “But if I have his keys, he can’t leave.”

“Exactly!”

“Exactly what?” Jordan asked as he rested his chin on my shoulder and I felt his hand on my waist. “What are you two planning?”

“To get you drunk and take advantage of you?” I replied jokingly.

He laughed and whispered, “We’ll see who is taking who,” in my ear before pulling away from me.

From the look on Cassie’s face, he didn’t whisper low enough; I thought her eyes were going to bug out of her head. “Close your mouth,” I hissed. “Get the keys.”

“Oh, oh!” Cassie looked at Jordan who was bouncing Jenna in his arms, laughing as she cracked up. “Jordan, I’ll need your keys.” Jordan raised a brow, “It’s a requirement to come into daddy’s party,” she reminded him.

“Yes, I remember,” he smiled. “Did you know your Aunt Anna and I used to do this when we were your age too? Stand out here, goofing off, in between stealing keys from partygoers and then driving said partygoers home after they got shitfaced.”

“It sucks,” Cassie pouted.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “It does but think of all the cool cars you get to drive!”

“Ben won’t let me drive the cars,” she told him and I started to laugh.

“Wow, that sounds just like you!” I slapped my hand on Jordan’s shoulder and gave him a little push. “I recall being told a girl doesn’t know how to handle a car, let alone one with a stick.” And before I could stop myself I added, “I’ll have you know Jordy, I’m very capable of handling a stick.”

Without missing a beat, he replied, “I guess you’ll have to take me out for a spin, then, Babe.”
Cassie gasped.

Jordan slowly turned his gaze in her direction, “I…umm…” he stammered as he turned a little red. “Cassie! What do you think about Jenna’s dress?” He asked to change the subject.

“It’s very pretty,” Cassie said in a child-like voice as she poked at Jenna; Jenna didn’t like that, she pulled away from Cassie to bury her face against Jordan’s shoulder.

“Jenna!” Jordan tried to pull her away from him but she wouldn’t let go. “Now I know you aren’t that shy. Say hello to Cassie.” Jenna shook her head, “No? Oh ok, do you want to dance with daddy?” She looked up. “Yeah,” He smiled, “I knew you’d go for that.”

“Well ladies,” Jordan pulled out his keys. “It was a slice but I have a date to impress.”
He started to walk away and Cassie jabbed me in the ribs, “Aunt Anna! Wade!”

“Damn!” I took off after him. “Jordy wait up!” When I caught up with him, he asked what was up. “Well, see, I have something to tell you.”

“You want to run away with me?”

“Ha ha,” I rolled my eyes. “No, I ran into someone today at the liquor store and they showed up here tonight.”

“What?” He looked pissed, “You think I want to know that you are inviting strange men here when…oh forget it.”

“Jordan!” I grabbed his arm before he could turn away. “I didn’t run into some strange man and invite him here! I ran into Wade, and apparently he knows Chad because Chad invited him here.”

“Wait,” he waved his hand at me. “Are you telling me that that fu -” he bit his lip when he realized he was still holding Jenna. “No,” he shook his head, “I’m not staying here, not with that.” But he didn’t move.

“Look Jordan, he said that you jumped to the wrong -”

“Oh did he?” Jordan chuckled. “Cozied up to him, did you? Let him whisper in your ear? Tell you how wrong I am?”

“Grrr!” I threw my hands up in the air. “Jordy for the love of God! Is it possible that you were wrong? That you wanted to believe it because you weren’t happy with Bella?”

For the longest time he just stood there staring at me, his jaw twitching. When he finally spoke, he took his time. “Of course I wanted to believe that Anna; how could I not? I was fooling myself, thinking that Bella and I would work. How could we work when I didn’t love her?” He snorted, “The woman I love isn’t in love with me.”

I knew he felt that way about me, and to be honest, I thought that it was a phase and that he would get over it. It’s been six months since he first told me that he loved me and despite all that has happened between us - the fights, the ‘break up’ of our friendship and everything else - he still insists that he loves me.

“Jordy,” I sighed.

“Hey Uncle Jordy!” Lindsay came running up, slightly out of breath. “All the little kids are playing down by the play gym,” she gently stroked Jenna’s head. “Do you want to come play with Conner and Jesse and the others Jenna?”

Jenna glanced at Jordan, “Sweetheart, if you want to go play, you can.” With the biggest grin I ever saw, Jenna slid out of her daddy’s arms and right into Lindsay’s arms. “Have fun baby!” Jordan called as Lindsay walked away with her.

Once they were gone, Jordan and I stood there in an awkward silence, something that barely ever happened to us. After a few minutes, I figured it would be best if I excused myself, so I told him I would see him a little later.

“Hey Anna?” Jordan called out to me as I walked away.

“Yeah?” I spun around to find him right behind me. “Hey,” I chuckled nervously.

He didn’t say anything; he took my face in his hands. I froze, my heart was beating really fast, I swear everyone around us could hear it. I knew that he as thinking, his green eyes told it all as they darkened.

I had a split second to think this whole thing through, if I kissed him it could open up a whole can of worms that I knew I wasn't ready for, especially with my feeling being all over the place because of Josh. If I didn't kiss him, he would get upset and...

"Anna," he sighed as his thumb rubbed over my bottom lip. "I want to kiss you so badly," he admitted. Resting his forehead against mine, he wrapped his arms around my waist. "I can't get you out of my head - I can't. I don't know what I'm going to do, I really don't. I mean," he sighed heavily. "You are in love with Josh."

"Jordan," I shook my head, "About that..."