Desolate

“I don’t know where your head’s gone Charlie,” Jordan muttered as her and Charlie got out of the van. She snatched the keys from Charlie and put them back in her pocket, “I’m keeping these.”

Charlie rolled her eyes and went into the house. They all sat together in silence and the tension hung above them like a dark rain cloud. Oliver stared at Charlie, who ignored him as she headed up the stairs, as if he wasn’t there.

Jordan walked past Zakk, who stood up and held out a plate of food and smiled, “I saved some food for you.”

“I’m not feeling well right now,” she answered softly, putting her hand on her stomach, “I haven’t really been able to keep food down lately.”

He gave her a small nod and sat back down awkwardly. She gave him a faint smile and walked up the stairs. She opened the door of her bedroom and flopped onto her bed.

“Jordan,” she heard Charlie say.

“Go away…” Jordan moaned.

“Are you still mad at me for throwing you into the van?” Charlie sighed, rolling her eyes.

“No,” Jordan said, still muffled by her pillow, “I’m mad because you threw me into the van when you knew I wasn’t feeling well and you scared all of us for nothing.”

Charlie folded her arms and rolled her head back, “I came back though didn’t I?”

Jordan raised her head with a grimace on her face that let Charlie know that nothing she could say would convince her, “that’s not the point Charlie.”

Charlie rolled her eyes again and Jordan stood up. She took the keys from her pocket and displayed them to Charlie before she put them back in.

“I’m giving these to Oliver,” she muttered, “that way if you pull a stunt like that again, you won’t go so far.”

“What makes you think I wouldn’t do it again just because the keys are in Oliver’s pocket?” Charlie asked smugly.

“Because I don’t think he’d let you put your hand in his pants,” she replied with just as much smug in her voice, “and I doubt you’ll want to anyways.”

Charlie pressed her lips together and stared at Jordan, trying to find the right comeback, but her brain just couldn’t come up with one. She scoffed and pushed past Jordan.

“You can’t just run away from your problems you know!” Jordan called. Charlie flipped her off as she headed down the stairs. Jordan scoffed and went back into her room. She flopped face first onto her bed again and moaned sickly. She heard a tap at her door and she lifted her head to see Paige with a tray of food. She sat up with a smile and shook her head, “you didn’t have to.”

She set the tray down on the computer desk next to her bed and stirred the bowl of soup, “Zakk said you weren’t feeling too good so I made you some food that might be good for your stomach.”

Jordan took the spoon and stirred the soup some more before she finally took a bite of the soup and sighed contently. She gave Paige a thank you nod and Paige smiled as she grabbed a piece of toast and began scraping the burnt top layer.

“You really don’t have to do all of this for me Paige,” Jordan said gently. Paige shook her head with a smile as she grabbed the second piece of toast and began scraping.

“I enjoy doing this,” she replied. She dropped the toast, grabbed the sweetener, and put it into her tea. Jordan set down her bowl, suddenly feeling the soup hitting her stomach, and her stomach was not agreeing with the soup. She laid off the soup and took deep breaths to avoid the soup coming back up.

“Just take a nap,” Paige said softly. Jordan shook her head without hesitation. Sleeping would do no good. Her stress and anxiety would just wake up her after five minutes of any real sleep.

“Trust me Jordan, I know what I’m talking about,” Paige said, “when I first got pregnant, I was feeling terrible nausea and surprisingly, sleeping helped.”

Jordan rubbed her temples and sighed, “I’m not pregnant Paige. This situation is screwing with my sleeping patterns and my eating habits and my peace of mind. If I were pregnant, I would sure as hell have realized it by now.”

Paige paused for a second, shocked that Jordan had actually spoken that way to her. Jordan was full aware that Paige was waiting for an apology but ignored it as she continued rubbing her temples. Giving up, Paige scowled and left Jordan alone in her room. Just as she left, Oliver came in.

“What are you doing in here?” she asked softly. Oliver shrugged a shoulder and sat on her desk chair.

“Charlie is giving me dirty looks and everyone is awkward downstairs,” he mumbled, “so I decided to come up here.”

“Why my room of all rooms?” she asked. Oliver again shrugged a shoulder, but without an answer. Jordan moaned and laid down on her. Oliver pointed to the toast, silently asking if he could have it. Jordan nodded and he grabbed the toast. There was more silence except for the slight crunch of the toast.

“We’re going to have to head out soon,” Oliver said after another few minutes of silence. Jordan moaned again and sat up.

“Where do you suggest we go?” she snapped, “there is nowhere for us to go!”

“I know, but staying in one place for too long isn’t a good idea,” he said softly.

“Who told you that? Charlie?” Jordan said, “Not everything Charlie says is the right thing to do.”

“She’s been right about everything else,” Oliver said defensively.

“But her idea of leaving an area that we’ve stayed in for maybe a week is ridiculous,” she retaliated, “especially since the past few places we’ve been are completely empty except for one or two events in the past few days.”

Oliver considered Jordan’s words as he continued munching on the piece of toast. Jordan rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Listen Oliver, I’m not trying to turn you against Charlie, but come on, you know it’s true.” Jordan said. Oliver continued to eat in silence and Jordan grew bored of him as she stood up and began walking out.

Charlie was leaning against the wall next to the door, having heard what Jordan had said, “So you think I’m stupid?”

“Did I say you were stupid?” Jordan retorted, “No, I didn’t.”

“You were basically implying it,” Charlie snarled, “I’ve done everything with good intentions.”

“Whatever,” Jordan scoffed, “you’re hearing only what you want to hear.”

“No I’m not Jordan,” she said harshly, “I’m reading in between the lines.”

Jordan ignored her as she moved past her. She heard Charlie scoff at her and she whipped her body around, “how mature of you Charlie. Really, wonderful job.”

“Oh, I’m the immature one?! You’re the one talking crap about people behind their backs!” she yelled.

“I’m not the one listening in on conversations!” she shot back, “Oliver walks into my room and you just so happened to end up there?!”

Charlie glared at her, “I’m not the one having a pity party! ‘Oh, poor me. I’m sick, I’m going crazy, I’m all stressed out.” Get over it you pansy! We’re all stressed!”

Jordan glared at her as she shoved Charlie, causing Charlie to hit the wall, hard. Charlie narrowed her eyes and shoved Jordan back. Jordan tried her best to catch her balance, but slipped on the stairs. Jordan fell onto the stairs and did a back flip down the rest of the stairs.

“Charlie, what did you do?!” Zakk yelled, running to Jordan’s side. Charlie covered her open mouth with her hand and looked around, as if the answer to her problems were around her. She didn’t mean to shove her as hard as she did. She just wanted her to stumble a little and maybe fall onto her ass. Not down the stairs.

Charlie ran down the stairs and helped Zakk with getting Jordan onto her feet. She swatted Charlie’s hands away and sat down on the couch with John and Paige.

“Is she going to be ok?” Charlie asked, hoping for an answer.

“I didn’t feel anything break,” Jordan muttered, “I’m just a little banged up.”

Charlie looked at Alex, who looked completely neutral. She raised her hands, not wanting to be a part of anything Charlie had done. Or just any of the recent drama in general.

“It was an accident!” Charlie exclaimed.

“You don’t shove someone by the stairs ‘on accident’ Charlie,” Jordan retorted. Charlie threw her arms in the air and stomped up the stairs. Everything was getting worse. They were all hanging by such a thin thread that was on the verge of breaking and they didn’t have anything down below to break their fall.