Rough Hands and Kind Eyes

Jordan stayed awake all night with Ellie getting her anything and everything she wanted. He watched all the movies that she wanted to watch. When a good amount of time had gone by, Jordan finally let her go to sleep. He didn't sleep at all. Jordan stayed awake and thought of what had happened that night.

1. His girlfriend and his "ex" had finally met. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but it wasn't smooth sailing.

2. He shouldn't drive when he's upset, considering he gave his girlfriend a concussion and had to do some work on his car.

3. He was done with living separately. He wanted to live with Ellie.

The accident made Jordan realize that he wanted them to be together all the time. He wanted to be there for her when there was a crisis or when something good happened. He was done living apart and wanted a life together. He knew they'd only been together for barely half of a year, but he wanted this.

After he let her sleep for five hours he woke her up again so he could get her something to eat.

"Baby," She whined. "Let me sleep longer."

"Have a little breakfast, take some pain medication and you can go back to bed," Jordan smiled, rubbing her back.

"But I'm comfy," She mumbled into his chest.

"Come on," Jordan laughed. "No negotiating."

Ellie groaned and sat up. Jordan gave her a sympathetic smile and kissed her forehead gently. He helped her out of bed and carried her down to her kitchen. He sat her on the counter and looked through her fridge.

"Are you hungry at all?" He asked.

"Kind of," Ellie nodded, bringing her feet up on the counter. She tugged the Nike Bauer sweater of his she had on over her knees. "But not for much, I don't think I could stomach it."

"Soup?" Jordan asked, pulling out a Ziploc container of her mom's carrot soup.

"Yes," Ellie smiled up at him.

Jordan put the container in the microwave and stood in front of where she sat on the counter. He gently brushed his fingertips over her bruise, feeling a tug at his heart.

"I'm so sorry," Jordan repeated for the billionth time.

"I forgive you," Ellie smiled. "I told you that. Things happen, Jordan. You were upset and no serious damage was done."

Jordan nodded and didn't argue. He pulled her soup of our of the microwave and held onto it waiting for it to cool.

"Have some of it with me," Ellie stated softly, holding onto his large biceps. "You'll love it. My mom is the best cook in the entire world."

"In the world, eh?" Jordan smiled. "I think my mom could give her a run for her money."

"I think this calls for an old fashioned mom cook off," Ellie smiled. "Winner takes all."

"Sounds good," Jordan laughed, giving her the soup.

"Have you seen my phone, baby?" Jordan asked once he got her back into bed.

"Have you checked your pants?" Ellie asked, laying in bed and watching him from her side.

Jordan looked in his front pocket and found his phone.

"Oh," He said out loud, surprised at what was in front of him.

"What?"

"I have a message from Tess," He stated.

"What does it say?" Ellie asked, sitting up.

"Lay back down," Jordan ordered.

"It says 'lay back down'?" Ellie asked.

"Not the message," Jordan laughed. "You. I'm telling you to lay back down."

"Oh," Ellie laughed, doing as told. "What does it say?"

"It says, ' Jordan, tell Ellie I'm sorry for the way that I acted in the bar tonight and every other time. Most of all I'm sorry to you for being how I was. I never appreciated you. I'm leaving Pittsburgh and not sure when I'll be back. I wanted to make amends before I left, but showing my face isn't an option. I'm too much of a coward for that. Love each other, you deserve one another- Tess'," Jordan read. He was stunned.

"She's leaving," Jordan reread the message over a few times.

"That's good, isn't it? Isn't that what you wanted?" Ellie asked. She couldn't deny that she was nervous. The look on Jordan's face and the way that he reread the text over and over again made her nervous. Would he miss Tess? Would he follow her? Was Ellie really just his in-between girl while Tess got her shit together?

"Yeah, it is." Jordan nodded. "I just never thought she'd actually go through with it."

"Jordan?" Ellie asked when he didn't speak or look up from his phone for a few minutes.

"What? Sorry, baby." He replied, shaking his head. He tossed his phone to the floor and crawled into bed with her.

"Are you all right?" She asked, crawling closer to him.

"Yeah, I'm great." Jordan nodded. "Babe, I want to move in together."

"You do?" She asked. "Is this about Tess?"

"No, I wanted to do this before I even saw that text," Jordan replied. "I'm just sick of traveling between our places to be together. I want to be here for when things go right and wrong. I want us to be together. All the time."

"Okay," Ellie nodded. "I'm in."

Ellie couldn't deny that she was scared. She couldn't shake the feeling that Jordan was lying. She told herself not to think like that. This man loved her and wanted a life with her and she was letting some girl ruin it for her.

"I love you," Ellie stated.

"I love you, too." Jordan smiled, kissing her forehead gently. "I love you so much."

Ellie held him close. He was hers and she wouldn't let some stranger bitch that never cared about Jordan rip him away from her. She would fight anyone and everything to keep Jordan. She deserved him. He deserved her.