Dangerous Light

For the first time, in a good handful of years, Athena wakes up with a weight on her chest. It is not a weight of guilt, but a much more literal weight. Slowly, she opens one of her eyes and looks down to her chest.

The room is still considerably dark, but enough light creeps in from the cracks in the curtains to see outlines of a majority of the room.

A head of light – surely blonde – hair is all that Athena sees. Closing her eyes again, Athena’s hands move to Jordan’s large, hard shoulder blades.

In his sleep, Jordan shifts slightly, squeezing Athena’s waist.

How in the hell is he even comfortable right now? Athena sighs gently, barely allowing herself to drift into a slumber again.

“Phone,” Jordan mumbles into Athena’s chest.

Athena does not even open her eyes, “huh?”

“Please turn that phone off.” Jordan whispers.

Wiggling as far as she can toward the nightstand with some of Jordan’s weight anchoring her down to the bed, Athena barely grabs her ringing phone from the nightstand. Without looking at it, she answers, “yes?”

“You having fun, party animal?”

Opening her eyes slightly, Athena pulls the phone away to glimpse at the screen. “Jesus, Mom. What time is it?”

“It’s noon, Athena. What in the hell are you doing?”

“Sleeping,” the single word is barely audible coming from the young woman’s dry mouth.

Athena’s mother makes a noise, “well, in case you’re wondering, I’ve gotten everything arranged pertaining to Gram.”

Nodding, Athena keeps her eyes closed. “Thank you. I really appreciate you doing this, Mom.”

Silence on her mother’s end lulls Athena’s mind into a half-sleep state. When she breaks the silence, Athena’s eyes shoot open, “what are your plans for today?”

“Right now? Sleep.”

“God Almighty, Athena. Call me when you get up, then, I guess. Maybe I can take you and Jordan to lunch, but it sounds like it’ll be dinner as of right now.”

“Sounds great,” Athena mumbles unenthusiastically.

A chuckle comes from her mother’s side. “Call me when you’re awake.”

“Mhm,” Athena nods, slowly hanging the phone up and dropping it next to her pillow.

After a few moments, the weight on Athena’s chest shifts.

Reluctantly, Athena tiredly opens her eyes. “Go to sleep, Jord.”

“Who was that?” Jordan sounds just as tired.

After a moment, Athena’s eyes shoot open. Shit, her mind groans.



Pacing the length of the bathroom, Athena shakes her head. After about ten rounds, she stops in front of the vanity mirror with her hands braced on the counter. The woman staring her back in the mirror is blanched and clearly not happy. Staring into the reflection’s blue eyes, Athena nods, you knew you’d have to deal with this sometime. It’s just sooner than expected. No big deal. What’s the worst that could happen?

Walking over the toilet, Athena flushes it and goes back to the sink to splash some water on her face. Casually, she walks back out into the room where Jordan is still in bed.

“You drooled on my shirt,” she smirks as she crawls into the bed, slipping under the covers.

“Did not,” Jordan says.

Athena pulls the neckline of her shirt up some, revealing a small wet stain on the chest.

“That wasn’t me,” Jordan smirks.

Smiling and scrunching her nose, Athena puts her fingers in Jordan’s hair and ruffles it. “Your hair is getting long.”

“I’m thinking about growing it out for a while.”

“Do it,” Athena laughs, ruffling his hair more.

Jordan smirks, “those nails feel good.”

“Oh,” Athena stops, taking her hands back and shaking her head. “They’re claws.”

Smiling, Jordan buries the side of his face into the pillow. “You know I didn’t mean that.”

“You did, too.” Athena accuses playfully. “Before you felt their magic.”

For a good amount of the time, the two lay in silence.

“Hey,” Athena whispers, looking at Jordan.

He smirks, “what’s up?”

“You wanna go to lunch?”

Jordan nods, “I’m starving.”



Watching the waitress walk away, Athena leans her head onto Jordan’s shoulder and reads off of his menu.

“What’re you doing?” He smiles, resting his head on hers.

“Looking at what I’m gonna get, duh.”

Jordan flips the page of the menu.

“I wasn’t done reading.”

He smiles, “you have your own menu.”

Pouting, Athena goes to her menu. “Can I ask you something, Jordan?”

“No,” Jordan says, shooting a look in her direction.

Smiling, Athena bites her lip. “What would it take for you to ever be mad at me? Like, never talk to me again, mad at me?”

Slowly, Jordan turns his head away from his menu and looks directly into Athena’s eyes. “Why would you ask me that?”

Athena does not break the eye contact, not even blinking, “just out of curiosity.”

“Why, though?” Jordan whispers, furrowing his eyebrows.

She shrugs, “no reason.”

Jordan watches Athena turn to her menu and bite her lip. A feeling similar to the one at the hospital rises in his chest – the panic of knowing something is wrong and not being able to fix it. This time, however, it is because he does not know the problem.

“What happened, Athena?”

The young woman shakes her head, gently bumping her shoulder into his arm. “Nothing.”

Jordan decides to question her again, “what would it take for you to be mad enough at me to never talk to me again?”

Athena shakes her head, in the same fashion she did before. The look on her face is best described as a look of melancholy and dread. “I don’t know if there’s anything you could do, Jordan.”

Jordan watches Athena stare across the booth for a moment, a depression look on her face.

She finally shakes her head, “you couldn’t.”

Slipping his arm around Athena’s shoulders, Jordan smiles and gently kisses the top of her head. “Don’t cry,” he whispers.

Athena smiles, “I’m not gonna cry.”

They both lean into each other comfortably and Athena rests her head on Jordan’s shoulder.

“I feel like I’m 15 again,” Jordan mumbles with a smirk on his face.

Keeping her eyes closed, Athena nods with a smile on her face and a much simpler time on her mind. “You have no idea.”

“There’s a lady over there,” Jordan whispers, “who’s been staring at us for a few minutes.”

Athena subtlety looks up to see a middle aged woman sitting across the restaurant. The look on her face is not jealousy, but more of an admiration. Like those old people that stare at teenagers holding hands because they wish they could be that young again. A man approaches her table, pecks her lips with a kiss and takes his seat, stealing all of her attention back.

“She’s not looking over here anymore,” Athena says quietly. “I really have to use the bathroom, though.”

Jordan looks at her, “are you serious?”

“What? I’ve got to go,” she says quietly.

“You’re just gonna leave me here?”

Narrowing her eyes, Athena shrugs, “you’re more than welcome to tag along, but I don’t think anyone else would really appreciate you loitering in the women’s restroom.”

Jordan stands up, freeing Athena from the booth and takes his seat again as he watches her walk across the restaurant toward the bathroom.

A buzzing on the table interrupts Jordan’s whirlpool of thoughts and daydreams, making him take his arms off of the table and look around it.

Athena’s cellphone is dancing around the table, illuminated.

Jordan quickly picks it up to stop the noise and looks toward the bathroom, finding no sign of Athena. To decide whether the call is an urgent one or not, Jordan glances at the screen and his eyebrows furrow instantaneously. Don’t do it, a part of his brain says, but the other half overrides its logical counterpart and lets him press the green button to accept the phone call.