Love Song

Amy

-Earlier that day (still at the funeral)-

“I feel terrible for Jordan,” Peter said.

“Yeah. Aria was like a sister to everyone,” I said. After I said it, I scrunched my face, feeling stupid for saying something so cheesy.

“Why don’t you say that?” Peter suggested, “you know at that little get-together the family is going to have…so they can share their memories of her.”

He gestured to Jordan’s family walking to their cars. I ran over to Jordan, who hadn’t said anything since her flip-out at the funeral.

“Jordan! Can Peter and I come with you? We have things to say about Aria,” I said, smiling, hoping that my smile would make her smile. But she didn’t. She got into the backseat of her step-dad’s truck and scooted over so Peter and I would fit.

Everyone walked into Jordan’s house with slumped shoulders and their heads looking down at their feet. Some people had red eyes from crying, except for the boys. They had this emotionless look on their face. Jordan had that same expression and it surprised me that she still wasn’t sobbing like Tia, who was the only person that was even making a noise.

We all walked into the living room and sat down in a circle. Jordan sat in the middle next to Josh and Tia. Her mom, dad, and step-dad sat on the couch across from them. Everyone else either sat on the floor or found a chair to sit on. Peter and I sat on the floor.

“So…I’ll go first.” Jordan’s cousin, Alex, who was the same age as Aria said. He ran his fingers through his dirty blonde hair.

“Aria and I had pretty much the same relationship that Jordan and Josh have.” He glanced at Jordan and Josh, who refused to have any eye contact with anyone.

“We were closer to each other than to anyone. And even though we lived so far away, we still managed to stay close.” he finished. He looked his lap and we saw a tear drop run down his face. Alex’s mom, Mackenzie, patted his back, then turned to us.

“Aria was always willing to help me out when it came to helping with Alex’s little brother.” she looked at Jordan’s twelve year old cousin, Lance, then continued.

“She was like a daughter to me and she had this energy that filled the room whenever she walked in.” she said, smiling a little. “I miss her.”

It was silent for a moment when Peter nudged me. I stood up and cleared my throat.

“I’m not related to this family. I’m Jordan’s best friend. But whenever I’d come over here and we would talk to Aria, she made me feel like I was a part of the family, ya know? She makes you feel comfortable.” I said, tears gathering in my eye. Wiping away the tear, I continued, “she made bad things better. And I wish that all of us could’ve told her all this while she was still alive.”

I sat back down and listened to the other relatives saying their speech about Aria. I would glance at Jordan every now and then to see what she would do. But her expression didn’t change. Her eyes stared straight ahead.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen Jordan sad before. I’ve seen her sad tons of times. But there are two things I’ve never seen of Jordan. I’ve never seen her break down in tears and I’ve never seen her give that kind of expression. And the only movement I was seeing was her chest move as she breathed and her eyes blink.

After everyone left it was just me, Peter, Jordan, Josh, and Tia. Josh was walking Peter to the door, Tia and I following them, since Jordan refused to stand up.

“Where are you guys going?” I asked.

“We’re going with my parents and step-dad. Jordan is taking this worse than any of us so we’re going to leave her alone.” Josh explained, Tia standing next to him, nodding in agreement. I hugged Tia as Peter gave Josh a handshake. The two of them got into their step-dad’s truck, backed out of the driveway and drove off down the street.

“Crap I forgot my bag in the house. I’ll be right back.” I said. I walked into the house and into the living room.

“Sorry Jordan I forgot my-”

Jordan looked at me. Her eyes were red and tears were falling down her cheeks like a waterfall. She looked away from me and wiped her face with her palm.

“Oh my god. Jordan!” I ran to her and wrapped her into a hug.

“I just feel so lonely and empty now that she’s gone. And I feel so f-ing angry that she died because some idiot wanted to drive eighty miles an hour.” she sobbed.

“I know Jordan. I know.” I whispered. “But she didn’t feel any pain and she didn’t linger. She’s in a better place.”

“But it wasn’t her time Amy. It wasn’t.” she whimpered.

“I know. She was taken too soon,” I said, patting her shoulder.

“Amy…thank you.” she mumbled. She moved away from me and walked silently to her room without another word.

I grabbed my bag and stared at her closed bedroom door, thinking she may come back out, but she never did.

A couple days later, Tia had told me that she rarely ever came out of her room, only for dinner or to go to school. She wouldn’t let anyone try to talk her out of this depression. Not even Zakk, who Jordan had fallen for in the past two years. He always cheered her up when she needed it. Now, she needed it more than ever, and she wasn’t accepting his help.

I woke up at around 1:00 on a Saturday morning and I decided to call Jordan to get her out of this. Tia answered the phone.

“Hello?” she whimpered.

“Tia? Are you ok?” I asked.

“No.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Jordan.”

My hands started to shake and my heart began to pound. “What happened to her?”

“She’s in the hospital.”