Tag - You're It

If there’s anything worse than going to bed angry, it has to be waking up alone after going to bed angry. Ok, maybe he wasn’t completely angry but for sure, he was upset. Not that I didn’t understand why he would be, I just thought that he would be happy that I was getting things straight with Josh before he made a stupid move or thought he had a real chance with me.

Pushing back the mountain of blankets that Jordan piled on his bed every winter, I sat up and quickly pulled a pair of warm fuzzy socks on; I was determined to straighten things out with Jordan before either one of the girls woke up. I didn’t want to leave for work with things out of sorts.

As I made my way down the hallway towards the kitchen, I wondered if he would want to talk to me about it or if he would ignore me. In the past, if he didn’t want to talk about something he wouldn’t but I had hoped that things would be different now, we were in a relationship and knowing how he was feeling was important to me. If it comes down to it, I’ll just call Josh and tell him that I can’t go out to dinner with him. I’m not about to risk my relationship for him.

When I peeked into the kitchen, Jordan was standing with his back towards me as he adjusted the temperature of his grill. Instead of making my presence known right away, I did what I do every time I come upon him without him knowing, I watched him. Call me crazy, I don’t care but there was something about the way he moved when he didn’t think anyone was around. It was almost as if he were dancing, he moved with ease and purpose in the most fluid of motions. Of course, if I was to tell him that, he would roll his eyes and tell me that I was losing my mind. I’m not, well not totally. He’s always moved like that, I should know, I spent many hours watching him when he didn’t know I was around.

And yes, I know that sounds stalkerish of me. No, it IS stalkerish of me but we already knew that I had a thing for him for a long time, it’s only natural. Right?

With his left hand, Jordan reached for the glass bowl he had placed by the sink, while his right hand picked an egg from the opened carton that rested nearby. After a quick glance at the grill, he went to work, cracking eggs off the side of the bowl until half the carton was empty.

And then the music for his ‘breakfast’ dance began. It always starts with random whistling and then, he hums a little, breaking into soft whispered lines from various songs before settling on one. The lucky song that morning, I didn’t know at first, he wasn’t singing loud, it actually sounded like he was talking. I didn’t clue in until he grabbed two wooden spoons and started to play his ‘air’ drums.

“I want to love you but I better not touch. I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop. I want to kiss you but I want it too much. I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison…”

While he sang Alice Cooper’s ‘Poison’, in between the ‘air’ drums, Jordan poured milk into the bowl and whisked. When he was satisfied that it was whisked enough and placed the bowl down again, I thought it was about time I let him know I was there.

“I hear you calling and it’s needles and pins. I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name. Don’t want to touch you….” He paused, chuckled and as he spun around he said, “That’s a lie, I do want touch you, poison or not.”

I froze. He started to walk towards me; a lopsided grin appeared on his face. “You never think I know you are there,” he said when he stood in front of me. “I always know you are around Babe.”

“Uh huh,” I didn’t believe him. “Then how come you didn’t know last night?”

“Oh whatever,” he laughed, his hands slipping around my waist as he drew me near. “Babe,” he nuzzled my neck. “The room temperature shoots up twenty degrees when you are near.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “That’s why I caught you, on camera, shaking your ass to ‘Do you think I’m sexy’ last night!”

“Part of the plan Babe, just part of the plan.”

“Oh?” I grinned as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “What plan is that Babe?”

“The one that makes you all weak kneed when I do this!” His arms tightened around me as he buried his face against my neck, making me laugh and call out his name. “I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name,” he sang as he laughed with me.

****

“Come on, come on, come on.” Jordan yelled from the porch while slapping his hands together. “This train is leaving the station, anyone not out here in two seconds is walking this morning!”

Poking my head into the kitchen, I stuck out my tongue at him. “Lucky thing you aren’t the one driving us this morning!”

He gasped. “Improper tongue use!” He dropped his keys onto the bench, not caring that they fell onto the floor as he came towards me.

“Ah!” I spun around quickly, looking for a place to run but the girls had blocked the hallway with their backpacks and Jenna was sitting in the way to the living room.

“Gotcha!” He yelled in victory as he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me back against him. “Tonight,” he whispered against my ear. “I’ll teach you the proper way to use that tongue.”

Looking back at him, I grinned. “I never heard you complaining about my tongue use before.”

Heat flashed in his eyes. I swear, if Lindsay didn’t pick that moment to come out, see us and say, ‘ewww, in front of Jenna even? Can’t you two control yourselves?’ he would’ve shown me one of the many ways he loved to use his tongue.

“I’ll see you after work,” he murmured.

“I don’t –”

He sighed. “Ok, I’ll see you later tonight. Be good,” he kissed me.

I turned in his arms and kissed him. “I’m saving all my badness for you.”

Reluctantly and with a frustrated groan, Jordan released me and bent to pick up Jenna. “And you, no destroying nanny and poppy’s house.” He hugged her tight. “Give me kisses.” When Jenna gave him slobbery kisses, he grinned and handed her over to me. “I love you both very much.” With another kiss planted on each of our faces, Jordan turned and hurried out the door.

Heading towards the kitchen, I called out to Cassie. Borrowing Jordy’s words, I told her that this train was pulling out and if she didn’t hurry, she would be walking.

“You wouldn’t make me walk Aunt Anna,” she stated when she finally joined us in the car. “It’s almost -30; you wouldn’t want me to freeze to death.”

****

At work that morning, it seemed that I was playing more phone tag than actually working. It all started with me calling Josh to see if he had gotten a reservation at the Grillhouse or not. To be honest, I was hoping for not, even though Jordan told me that morning that he didn’t mind.

“It just took me by surprise that you would be having dinner with him,” he said when I asked him if he was sure. “I guess I thought that you would talk at the school yesterday and that would be the end of it.” I had started to tell him that I could tell Josh that I changed my mind but he wouldn’t hear it. “No, I’m not going to have him thinking that I’m worried about you having a meal with him Anna. I’m not worried about that, I trust you completely, I just don’t want you to be stressed because he’s being a jerk.”

So I called Josh, got his voice mail and left him this message. “Hey Josh, it’s Anna. I was calling to see if you made reservations or not. Call me and let me know what’s going on. Bye.” Nothing too friendly, just straight to the point.

An hour later, I realized that I had a voice mail from Josh. “Hey Beautiful, I’m glad you called. I did make the reservation; it’s for 8 tonight so I’ll pick you up around 7, at home…Zack’s. Can’t wait to see you. Lov – cough – talk to you later.”

There were so many things wrong with his message – too friendly, the fact he was going to say ‘love’, how he assumed that he was picking me up and that I would be at Zack’s.

I called him back. Message again. “Hey, it’s me. I’ll meet you at the Grillhouse by 8; I’m spending time with Jenna and Jordan before I go.”

After I left the message for Josh, I called Jordan’s cell on an unrelated issue. With all the missed messages from his coworkers the day before, Jordan asked me to just call his cell and leave a message. “I’ll get it faster that way,” he said. While I was leaving him a message, Josh called my cell and left me a message.

“Anna I don’t see the point in both of us leaving town in our own cars when we are going to the same place and leaving at the same time. Maybe in the middle of summer it wouldn’t be an issue but it’s the middle of winter honey, I don’t like the idea of you driving at night by yourself; I’d worry too much. I’ll pick you up at 7 from wherever you’ll be.”

I had to get back to work, so I didn’t bother calling him back at that moment. I had a message, from Jordan, waiting for me when I got back to my phone later.

“Hey Babe, so I checked my phone, saw there was a message from you and I got all excited. Of course, I was hoping for a detailed story on how you would use your tongue on me but I suppose knowing that Jenna went with mom and dad without too much trouble was ok. Love you Anna.”

I smiled as I listened to Jordan’s message and was half tempted to call and leave him a steamy voice mail but I saw I had another call from Josh, he didn’t leave a message but it didn’t matter, he ruined the moment.

“Josh, I’m quite capable of driving at night in the winter; I’ve been doing it for almost eight years now and I haven’t had an accident yet. Maybe, if you are so worried, we should just meet somewhere in town and talk.”

“Hey honey, how about I tell you that show tonight – and show you the illustrations?” I chuckled but soon sighed. “I’m starting to regret agreeing to talk to Josh. He’s being too friendly and now he insists that he pick me up. Why can’t it be easier?” Sighing again, I told Jordan I had to get back to work. “Expect lots of hugs and kisses when you get home tonight Jordy.”

Later my cell told me I had two new messages.

Voice mail from Josh: “You said you would go to the Grillhouse Anna and I’ve twisted some arms to get in tonight. What’s so wrong about me picking you up? Is Jordan scared?”

Text from Jordan: “Babe just get it over with.”

My responses, both in text form.

“Jordan has nothing to be scared of Josh.”

“Hey Jordy, you know I can cancel this ‘talk’. It’s not really that big of a deal. Love you.”

Jordan was the first to respond. “Get it over with.”

From Josh: “Then you shouldn’t have a problem riding with me.”

I was getting frustrated by this time so I sent one final text to the two of them. “FINE!”