Until We Meet Again

October 10th 1998

Jordan took in the surroundings. The sound of cars honking and speeding mingled with the rain. The day was cloudy and grey, but nothing could alter her mood.

She dragged her luggage out of the Heathrow airport, with Gerard following her close by and also carrying some of her bags.

“I’m so glad you could come with me,” she couldn’t help but smile at him and at everything around them.

“Well, since your parents couldn’t come with you I was not going to let you come on your own.”

“But you had to skip college.”

Gerard shrugged. “I’m a senior. I can do whatever I want to.”

They took a cab to the hotel where they were going to stay for the night. Gerard would leave in the next afternoon and Jordan hopped that by that time she would have already managed to get a room in one of the college residences. If she didn’t, she would have to search for an apartment and that would cost more money than what she could spend.

“Your stuff is so damn heavy,” Gerard breathed out as they checked into their room with separate beds. Jordan dropped her body on the first bed, deciding that that would be hers, and watched him carry all of her stuff inside. “You didn’t have to bring your whole house with you.”

“Hey, I’m moving here! What would you expect?” Jordan shrugged off her coat.

“I would expect you to help me,” his remark made her laugh.

Almost an hour later, they had left the hotel and headed toward what was going to be now Jordan’s college. The uneasiness deep in her stomach increased once she saw they were getting closer to the campus.

The taxi stopped in front of a two story limestone building, which seemed to extend for the whole street in which the car had stopped. The entrance in from of them showed a sign with the acronym ‘UCL’ meaning that they were in the right place. A mix of anticipation and nervousness flooded her thoughts.

Once they got inside Jordan couldn’t hide her enthusiasm anymore. They were surrounded on all sides by the limestone buildings and ahead of them, there was a large garden area filled with trees, students, benches and bicycles.

“That must be the main building,” she mumbled in an almost imperceptible way, staring at the impressive temple-fronted building, with clear influences of the Roman Empire, in front of them.

She glanced at Gerard, finding him in a state of absolute awe. “This is… so fucking… amazing. You’re going to be living in the middle of these museum-like buildings and all this art, I really do envy you.”

“Well you can come and visit me as many times as you want.” She hugged his arm and pulled him toward the main building.



It had been raining all evening, causing Jordan’s plans of spending time exploring the city with Gerard to fall through. Thankfully she had gotten the luck of getting a room, one of the last three that weren’t rented, in one of the residences right in the middle of the campus.
They now sat at a Starbucks, sheltered from the bad weather outside and warming themselves up with a cup of coffee.

“Are you okay?” Gerard asked to a distracted Jordan. She played with her almost empty cup, mindlessly swirling the black liquid inside of it.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She took the last sip of her coffee. “I’m just tired from the flight. It was a long one.”

The deluge of rain slowed. Streets glistened with rain, raindrops shining on pristine park benches and tree-lined jog paths. Street lamps flickered to life as the night approached.

A sudden weight pressed against her chest. Tomorrow would be the last day she would get to spend with him, at least for a while. If she would have guessed that this would be so hard for her, she probably wouldn’t have accepted the scholarship. But then again, they were just friends; there was no reason for her to give up on her dream just because of him. And she knew she didn’t have to, because he would always be there for her no matter what.

“Maybe we should go back to the hotel.” She suggested and Gerard nodded.

The ride to the hotel was fairly silent. Gerard did most of the talking; something that wasn’t that common and it made him realize that Jordan was not in her normal self. Yet, he did say a word about it. If she didn’t want to talk about it, he was not going to push her. But he had the feeling that what tormented her was the same thing that tormented him, he was just better at hiding his emotions.

“What are you doing?” Jordan asked, now that they were inside their room and she walked out the bathroom wearing her pajama pants and a worn out t-shirt.

“Reading.” Gerard glanced at her as she sat on his bed, next to where his body laid.

“Comic books? Isn’t that for kids?” She laughed. Jordan knew how much he loved comic books, but she loved to tease him about it.

“Whatever, I’m not forcing you to read it.” He pushed himself away from her and closed the comic book.

“Hey, come on! Let me see what that’s about.” She nudged him so that he could make room for her to lie next to him on his bed, both sharing the comics.

Not even ten minutes later, they were both asleep, with Gerard making the comics issue his pillow and Jordan’s, his arm.



Gerard woke up with the sunlight hitting his eyes. He looked to his side, not finding Jordan next to him, or in her bed. Rubbing his eyes vigorously, he sat in his bed and got ready to stand up when something suddenly grabbed his ankle.

“What the fuck?!” He screamed, stumbling into the empty bed in front of him. Laughter emerged from under his bed.

“Jordan!” He couldn’t help but laugh once he saw her slide from underneath the bed. “You scared the living shit out of me!”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it. You’re a heavy sleeper and I was bored.” She snickered.

Gerard shook his head, now sitting on her bed. “What time is it?”

“We still have a couple of hours and it’s time to leave, but we should get ready and find a nice place to get some breakfast.”



Breakfast had been cheerful; given the fact that it would be the last time they would see each other until Christmas. Jordan tried to focus on the pancakes they had eaten, jokingly criticizing how British couldn’t make them like the Americans.

“They tasted pretty good to me,” Gerard mumbled when they got into the taxi.

“Not as good as the ones I do,” Jordan shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips. “You’ve got to try mines one of these days.”

They arrived at the airport sooner than they expected, and hoped. The crowds of people made conversation for them quite hard so, after doing his flight check-in, they strode to one of the many cafes inside the airport.

“This seems weird,” Jordan laughed, a hint of nervousness hidden behind it. “You’re leaving and I’m not. I’m going to be here on my own.”

“You’ll be fine.” He leaned on the table, shortening the distance between them. “This is what you wanted.”

“I know.” She stared directly into his hazel eyes. They were lighter today, making them almost as green as hers.

Jordan put her hair in a ponytail, using the elastic band she always used on her wrist. Gerard smiled. He liked how she looked when she used her hair up, revealing her high cheekbones and making her big eyes stand out.

“What?” She asked, amused by the expression on his face.

“Nothing.” He glanced at one of the many clocks on the airport. His darks brows lifted. “I think I should get going.” He got up and she mimicked him. “I guess this a goodbye, then.”

“Oh come on, it’s not a goodbye,” she kept her tone gentle. “It’s a see you later.”