Stubborn

“I’ll have some of the wedding cake.” The burly lady with too much blush smiled at me as she held out her plate. I gave a tight smile back and cut a piece out of the white tower on the table in front of me. Business conventions were okay. Hell, even the hockey function was bearable, minus the whole Jordan thing. But weddings were like torture. It was like reliving the same thing over and over again. None had any variations that would truly make me say I had fun serving chatty relatives and annoying little kids. “It looks delicious.” The woman licked her lips, leaving a small stain of red on her two front teeth before moving down to the other end of the desert table.

Is it cynical to say that I was sick of this whole scene – the happily married couple dancing and laughing at the head table? I continued serving guests until the only people left lurking around the table were the creepy uncle that no one liked and a few other servers. After desert was finished, I was allowed to go home...at last. The college dorm room was far from the perfect home, but I had grown used to it and right now, nothing looked better than taking off the stupid black vest they made us wear. It itched in strange and hard to reach places as I grabbed my bag from the back room and made my way to my car.

Another good thing about going to my room was that Emma had to work tonight too. Not that she would have ruined everything if she was home, but it felt good knowing I could just sit by myself for a bit and not have to worry about talking. I didn’t like talking after work. Finally reaching the college dorms I practically ran through the quad and to the front steps in order to get to my room faster. Pyjamas and TV; more desirable than sex at this particular moment. I stuck my key into the door and jiggled it a bit before opening it. There, on Emma’s desk chair, was Jordan. His long legs were stretched out in front of him and he was twirling his thumbs in his lap absentmindedly. As soon as the door flew open, revealing me, he looked up.

“Don’t you look handsome,” he said, eyeing my uniform. I grunted and tossed my bag onto the floor next to my bed. No one was supposed to be here. I was supposed to have the entire room to myself until Emma came back.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded. My head pounded from a long night of listening to music on giant speakers and the unnaturally tight ponytail they required us to wear. How did he know where I lived? How had he even gotten in? This was a dream, I concluded. More like a nightmare where I would be waking up any minute.

Jordan pulled back his legs and leaned forward. I noticed that he was relatively dressed up with nice shoes, black dress pants, and a navy long sleeved shirt that was bunched up at his elbows. “I was supposed to go out with Aaron tonight, but he’s been here the whole day so I’m waiting for him to get ready.” Figures Aaron would be the one to give Jordan directions to my room – my haven. I heard a shuffling coming from behind the washroom door and I sighed. I didn’t understand why Aaron had his own dorm just a few blocks from mine and Emma’s; most of his stuff was here anyway. Drawers filled with his clothes, a shelf in the washroom medicine cabinet with his razor and shaving cream.

I turned back to Jordan who had his legs spread apart and his hands folded loosely in his lap. “Aaron’s still here?” I knew the answer. My question came more from disbelief that he and Emma couldn’t go a day without fooling around. Jordan nodded. I sighed again and began taking off my vest. I didn’t care at this point; all I wanted to do was be free of the polyester confines. I tossed it over the back of my chair and pulled my hair out of its ponytail, feeling the relief in the roots as it cascaded down my shoulders.

I heard Jordan laugh next to me. “I didn’t think I’d be getting a free show tonight.” I let a deep, aggravated breath roll from my mouth as I unbuttoned my dress shirt to reveal the purple t-shirt beneath. Did he really think I would just get undressed with him there?

I turned to him. “Don’t you have a car or something you can wait in?”

He smiled. “You wanna come with us?”

“No,” I said blatantly and he chuckled. “I refuse to go anywhere with you.”

He began spinning back and forth in the chair like an impatient child. “You have nothing to complain about,” he said. “At least with me you’ll be getting some action. I’m the one being sucked dry of any pleasure whatsoever. Especially now that Max is involved.” I smiled as Jordan picked at the arm of the chair. “You know, yesterday, he wouldn’t even let me look at two girls in the arena.” I laughed and ran a hand through my hair, feeling it move back into its naturally free position. Sitting down on the end of my bed, I closed my eyes for a moment. Besides the light overhead, all I could see was black. It felt good. “Is that yours?” Jordan’s husky voice brought me back to here and now. I snapped my eyes opened and looked at him only to have him point me in the direction of the acoustic guitar sitting proudly on its stand next to my bed.

Decorated with band stickers here and there, the guitar seemed more experienced than I was. A few chips rimmed the edge from the bonfire at the beach and the back had begun fading in color from the countless times my sweater zipper rubbed against it. That guitar had been through a lot more with me than I could even remember.

“No, I just have it there for decoration,” I replied sarcastically as I turned back to him. Catching on, Jordan smiled as he stared at my face. His light eyes flickered from mine to the guitar then back again, and then he leaned back with that placid expression as though he had come to some sort of conclusion.

“You have to play for me some time,” he said and for once, there was no underlying snarky tone or cockiness to his words.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at his strange genuineness. “We’ll see.”

The washroom door finally opened and Aaron stepped out, dressed in his usual bar-hopping clothes. My chest eased with the thought that soon I’d have the room to myself. Jordan stood up, towering over me and stopping four inches above Aaron’s head.

“See you around,” Jordan said with a lopsided smile and ruffle of his hair.

“Mhmm,” I replied indignantly as the strong smell of Aaron’s cologne began enveloping the room.

~

I took a step into the familiarly scented book store only to see a hand furiously waving at me from behind the front counter. It was Casey with his sincere smile and child-like eyes. Was it bad to say that I just wanted to be left alone today? No school, not work; all I wanted was to pick up an interesting book and sit with a nice hot cup of coffee for a little while. Once I was inside the literary world, nothing on the outside mattered.

“Hey, Alex!” he called over, gaining a few stares from the people scattered about. I waved a hand in reciprocation as I approached him, making sure not to drop any books from the short shelves leading to the front counter. I had a tendency to make things like that happen in peaceful places.

“Hey, Case,” I said, leaning forward on the counter. “How’s it going?”

He nodded slowly, looking around. “Pretty good. Can’t complain. Dragon Lady hasn’t come yet, so everything’s been pretty under control.” The lady he was referring to was a regular customer at the bookshop that always found the need to make a scene. She must have been an actress in her early years, Casey and I concluded, why else would she thrive off of attention? She was, primarily, the reason Casey and I started talking in the first place. I, being the easily annoyed and sometimes awkward girl that I am, never really got to know anyone at the bookstore before Casey.

I chuckled. “Well, that’s good.” At least his problem of an unwanted visitor was going well. That was more than I could say for myself. “Just came by to grab a new book and relax for a bit.”

Casey nodded again in understanding. “Okay. I won’t keep you any longer.” I smiled as he gave a small salute then made a motion to turn around and cautiously as I could. “Oh, wait,” he said before I walked away. I turned back to him and waited as he reached under the counter and pulled out a book. It was nice that he kept so many books on hold for me, but the way things were going, I’d finish them all in my late thirties. “This was left for you.” He slid the book towards me.

I furrowed my brow. “By who?” But, as soon as I saw the cover, I knew exactly who had left it.

“Uh,” Casey began, tapping his chin in thought, “tall guy – really tall guy – with blonde hair.” I clicked my tongue against the top of my mouth in annoyance. “He looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite figure it out.” Understandable considering Casey wasn’t so much the sports fan as one would assume by looking at his relatively built physique. In a way, he was exactly what every girl wanted – the educated reader type with a light sense of humour and modest disposition. The complete opposite of Jordan Staal.

I smiled tightly, not really happy at that particular moment. “Thanks. I’ll see you around.” Casey waved and I spun around aggressively, marching to the farthest table in the store, away from anyone. I sat down and looked at the book again. Rolling Stone Selections from the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. I flipped open the flimsy cover to see a yellow sticky note. Scribbled on it was: