A Ship in Harbor is Safe

“Athena, this is what I mean about you running!”

Stopping suddenly, Athena turns on her heel to face Jordan as he finishes climbing the stairs. “I’m not running from you,” she says quietly.

“Well, what exactly are you doing?”

She shrugs, “I just can’t… I can’t do this right now.”

“What, you can’t talk to me?”

She shrugs, “I can’t listen to you accuse me of running.”

“Well then, stop running.”

Athena tightens her lips, whispering her response, “stop pushing me.”

“Do you honestly believe that I’m pushing you?”

She shrugs, “I don’t know anymore, Jordan.”

“This,” Jordan says after a long pause, “is exactly why I didn’t want you talking to your mom again. Now you’ve got this idea that I’m the one pushing you away or some shit, when really—”

Athena is unable to stop herself from nearly screaming, “What?! Are you drunk right now? You’re really gonna try and blame this on my mother?”

“Before you started talking to her again in Vegas, you weren’t pushing me away!”

Rolling her neck, Athena resists the urge to pull at her own hair.

“And, if you really did go to California… it all makes sense.”

The blonde woman shakes her head, not saying a word.

“Although, since we’re being honest here... I really don’t think you went to California.” Jordan waits for a reaction, just to get Athena staring at the hardwood floor shaking her head. “Wherever you went, whoever you saw… they’ve got you pushing me away.”

“And what if I didn’t go to California?”

Jordan’s eyebrows rise, as his eyes widen. “So, you weren’t in California?”

“I never said I wasn’t.” Athena shrugs, not looking directly at Jordan.

His tone becomes stern again, “So, where’d you go?”

“Why should I tell you?” Athena shakes her head, feeling her jaw tighten. She wasn’t about to put Sidney out to dry like that, no matter how many times he told her it was okay to do so.

Jordan’s broad shoulders rise and fall with every breath he takes, as his frustration for the woman before him becomes evident in his hard, blue eyes. “Why can’t you just tell me, Athena?”

“Why do you wanna know so bad, Jordan?”

“I just want you to be honest with me,” his voice is quieter this time.

A sad smirk finds its way onto Athena’s tight lips, “you wouldn’t like the truth, Bubba… just trust me on that one, okay?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Jordan’s voice is still soft.

“Can we please just leave it at that?”

Jordan shakes his head, “no.”

“Why not?” Athena asks, shaking her head.

His voice seems to grow almost too quickly, “because I deserve the truth! I’m your best friend, remember?”

“Can’t you just trust me, Jordan?”

“I can’t trust you when you’re not acting like yourself.” He continues to speak, seeing the look on Athena’s face, “before… you would’ve never pushed me away like this. I can tell, something’s changed…”

She blinks rapidly, letting her gaze fall again.

“And I don’t know what the hell is so bad about whatever’s going on that you can’t tell me.”

Athena’s voice cracks, “it’s not that I can’t tell you, I just don’t think you’ll like it. And I’m honestly surprised that my dad hasn’t told you yet.”

“Yeah, he’s not talking, either.”

Athena silently wipes her face, attempting not to sniffle. She can feel Sidney’s presence near, probably right behind her bedroom door – less than five feet away – listening in on she and Jordan’s conversation.

As if on cue, a noise from her bedroom makes Athena look over her shoulder. The door is cracked and Tyson’s upper body is sticking out. A small smirk pulls onto her lips when she sees Sidney’s hand emerge from behind the door, gently pulling the dog back into the room.

Jordan does not look as amused when she turns back to face him, though. “So, I’m guessing you’re not gonna introduce me to your friend, then?”

She shrugs, “I don’t know.”

The look on Jordan’s face makes her stomach tighten. “I don’t think you’d wanna know, Jordan.”

His eyes narrow slightly, “it’s James, isn’t it?”

Athena quickly shakes her head.

Jordan continues to list off her handful of former boyfriends, dating back to middle school, only to receive the same reaction for each name. “Well, I wanna meet him, then.”

She shakes her head, “that’s not a good idea.”

Jordan shakes his head, beginning to walk toward Athena.

The petite blonde moves to block him from getting closer to the room. “I said that I don’t think that’s a good idea, Jordan.” This isn’t the first time she has said this to him – nearly every time he finds out she has even a potential boyfriend, he never fails to show his ass.

“Step out of that room, so we can talk,” Jordan speaks loudly over Athena’s head, “Man to man.”

Feeling her eyes widen, Athena hears footsteps in her room, over the sound of her heart beating in her ears.

Jordan easily sweeps Athena out of his way with the gentle motion of his right arm.

With her back against the wall, Athena’s gaze darts back and forth, from her opening bedroom door, to Jordan standing less than a foot away from her. As badly as she wants to move back in front of him, she can’t move. She can’t tell Sidney to stay in her room and she can’t tell Jordan to leave. All she can do is stand in the middle, off to the side, and watch.