Until We Meet Again

If there was a look able to evoke surprise, anger and pain, all at the same time, Gerard had just given it.

Katherine, who was by his side, started talking, the words leaving her mouth but not reaching Jordan’s ears. She was still too busy studying Gerard’s reaction.

“What are you doing here?” His voice did reach her ears.

“Well, hello to you too.” Jordan offered him a snarl.

Mikey meddled in. “She’s having dinner with us; she arrived from London yesterday, right?”

She nodded. The tension in the room was palpable and thickening by the second and he was visibly uncomfortable with it, while Katherine was still completely clueless. She wondered if Gerard had ever told her how close they were. Or used to be.

“It’s nice to see you, Jordan.” Katherine took a step forward, probably in an attempt to look friendly and give her a hug, but Jordan didn’t move.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming home.” Gerard crossed his arms.

There are a lot of things you don’t tell me either, Jordan bit her tongue, allowing his remark to go unanswered. Her anger had already started to seethe.

Just on cue, their grandmother appeared from the kitchen, her voice loud and laced with excitement as she greeted Gerard and Katherine. The tension was slowly dissipated as their parents joined them and everybody sat at the table.

Jordan tried hard to seem unfazed by Gerard’s attitude; all she wanted was for that dinner to end as smoothly as possible, so that she could talk to him in private afterward.

But that was something Gerard didn’t seem to be interest in. After taking the seat right in front of Jordan, the first ten minutes of the meal seemed to be spent with him giving her death glares and ignoring every attempt Jordan did to participate in the casual conversation that flowed around the table.

Mikey, who was sitting by her side, was now not the only one who realized that something between them was wrong. His mother glanced at Gerard, than at Jordan, before holding up her hand to interrupt Katherine mid sentence.

“What’s wrong with you two?”

Blood reached Jordan’s cheeks faster than she expected. She didn’t want anyone else to know that things weren’t as they used to be between them, but her mother had seemed to catch it right away.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Jordan didn’t say another word about it and expected Gerard to do the same, but of course he didn’t.

“Yes, everything’s great actually.” He suddenly turned to his brother. “Thanks for inviting her for dinner, Mikes. If it wasn’t for that I might have never found out she was back from London.” His unusually calm tone ignited fury in Jordan’s gut.

Every single person at the table stared at him. The heat that crept up Jordan’s face was starting to become visible on her cheeks. Suddenly, she just wanted to get up and leave that house, but still she took a breath and kept on enjoying the meal. Or at least trying to.

No one else said a word either, only the looks on their faces giving proof of how uncomfortable things had become.

There was this turmoil of emotions inside of her. On one hand she wanted to slap him again, she wanted to scream at him and most of all she wanted to ask why was he being so immature around her. But then there was this other side of her, that couldn’t help but miss him and wanted to forget everything, even what was happening just now, so that everything could be perfect between them once again.

After dinner was over, Jordan offered their mother her help to clean up, but she refused, giving Jordan a worried look before walking into the kitchen. Their grandmother followed her and soon so did their father, leaving the four of them alone.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t -” Mikey sighed desperately once Gerard and Katherine walked out of the room. “I thought everything was okay between you two.”

Jordan was sorry too. “I don’t know how things got this way, everything has changed so much that he doesn’t even seems like the person I’ve met two years ago. I think I should go now, I’m going to say goodbye to your parents and your grandmother.”

After a couple of minutes she was by the front door, about to leave when Gerard decided to appear.

“Leaving already?” He crossed her arms and studied her, as if trying to pry into her brain. “Were you planning on disappearing just like you’ve appeared, without saying a word?”

“Gerard,” Katherine hissed, now standing behind him. Even she was starting to get annoyed by his childish attitude.

“That’s okay.” Jordan finally decided to give him what he deserved. “I know I didn’t tell him I was coming home, but why would I?” This time she faced Gerard. “It’s not like he would tell me anything about his life either. I didn’t even know he had moved out of his parents’ house.” She let out a dry laugh, her eyes swinging back to Katherine. “And guess what? Remember when we first met in December? He had never told me about you before that. During all those phone conversations we had, I don’t know why, but he never mentioned you, not even once.” She gave Gerard a once over before turning to face Mikey. “Thanks for inviting me.”



Jordan woke up the next day feeling more tired than when she had fallen asleep. Gerard was taking away her ability to have a nice night’s rest, mainly because her mind kept on wondering why he was being so immature and stupid.

When she left her bedroom and went downstairs, her parents had already left for work. She was back at being alone at home without a thing to do and no one to talk to.

She watched cartoons for a while, switching then to a documentary and after a while, back to the cartoons. Those were the times when she missed the days she and Gerard used to hang out together. She hated being alone.

Jordan was engrossed in a show that was premiering on tv, when she heard someone knock at the door. Her face frowned, part of her already knowing who was at the door and not wanting to answer it.

“Hey Jordan.” Gerard showed her a half smile when the white door opened. Jordan didn’t reply. The look on her face only showed boredom. “I wanted to talk to you, I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I shouldn’t -”

“Is this going to be a thing now?” Jordan interrupted him, crossing her arms.

He was taken aback by the way she spoke to him. “What?”

“This. Fighting and getting mad at each other so that you can come to my house and apologize for something you’re clearly not sorry of?”

“Do you think I want to fight with you? I wasn’t the only one at fault.”

“Sorry? I don’t owe you any kind of explanation. You’re not my father, my brother or my boyfriend.” The last word she spoke made her avoid his eyes. “We’re just friends. I’m not obliged to tell you everything about my life and neither are you.”

He stood in silence for a while, maybe taking in what she had just said, maybe trying to figure out what to say. Either way, she didn’t want to find out.

“Goodbye, Gerard.” The words left her mouth slowly, before she turned around and disappeared into her house, closing the door on his face.