Until We Meet Again

February 24th 1999

That noise. The first thing Jordan heard every day was that noise, that dissonant alarm clock, pushing her out of bed. Instinctively, her hand pressed the snooze button, not even caring to open her eyes. She just wanted stay in the comfort of her dreams.

A ring came from her nightstand a few minutes later.

“Hello?” Her voice sounded groggy and was barely inaudible.

“Hey Jordan, guess what? You’ve got to wake up.” Her eyes fluttered open once she heard Gerard’s voice on the other side of the phone.

“I know…” She exhaled deeply. She felt like she hadn’t slept at all, like her body had just been laid on her soft mattress five minutes before the alarm went off.

“What are you doing?” She closed her eyes once again. Having classes all day and working all night was slowly killing her.

“Me? I’m going to sleep now.”

“This is not fair…” She whined. “You’re going to bed and I have to get up.”

“That’s because here it’s five hours earlier then there. Come on, you asked me to phone you so you wouldn’t fall asleep like yesterday.”

She glanced at her alarm clock. It was almost seven in the morning and she had classes at eight. Besides, the first course was Criticism, the same one she had missed yesterday, so she couldn’t miss it again. “Okay, I’m up.”

“No, you’re not.”

“How do you know that?”

Gerard laughed. “Because your voice sounds as if you are falling asleep.”

“Oh, you’re so funny,” she scoffed. She got up slowly and stretched her arms. “Okay, now I’m up. Thanks for waking me up.”

“Anytime.”

Jordan hung up, taking another deep sigh. Ever since the kiss had happened, she had tried hard to distance herself from Gerard, but even if they were in different continents, she couldn’t. It was hard to resist the urge of calling him every day, to talk to him for hours and she relied on him for everything. Even for waking up.

Jordan looked around her still dark room, hoping to find the books she needed for the morning classes. She was too tired to clean up that place, or to even think about doing it.

It was five minutes before eight when Jordan arrived at the lecture hall, peeking through the door before entering and smiling once she recognized one of the girls inside.

“Well, good morning Jordan.” A brunette with chin-length hair smiled as Jordan sat next to her.

“Hi Amy.” She tried to sound as cheerful as her.

Amy was about to speak when the professor, a woman in her late thirties, walked in and instantly began to speak.

Jordan started to take a few notes, her mind quickly drifting off to the last time she had seen Gerard.

They had never shared another word about the New Year’s night. They didn’t need to. It was simple; it had been something done without thinking, in the spur of the moment. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling something between them had changed.

Jordan felt a presence next to her and, looking up, she saw Johanna, a girl with freckles and one year older than she.

“You’re late,” Jordan calmly stated.

“Well, you look like crap,” Johanna bit back.

“Thank you,” she mouthed, not really bothered by her observation. It was true, she had been feeling and looking terrible lately.

Class almost made Jordan fall asleep twice, if it wasn’t for Johanna soft nudges. The two girls she was in between found it amusing, but she didn’t. She cursed internally for having decided to take the late shift last night at the diner she worked part-time. Today’s classes were going to be painful.

After leaving the lecture hall, Jordan and Johanna walked to the room where they would have their next class, while Amy went to meet her boyfriend.

A tall guy stood by the room’s door, his light brown hair hitting his eyes as he watched the two girls arrive.

“Logan!” The girls greeted him with a smile.

“Ladies.” His smile had a hint of seduction as he gestured them to walk into the room first.

Tutorial classes were more dynamic than lectures. Students were allowed to talk and debate with each other and having Logan by Jordan’s side, talking with his charming accent, was enough to make her not want to fall asleep.

“By the way Jordan, I’ve wanted to ask you something for a while now,” he started once the professor addressed to the class, making everyone turn their attention to him.

Jordan’s eyes darted in his direction, in a sign she was listening.

“I was thinking that maybe… maybe we could, huh, go out one of these days.”

“As in a date?” Her eyes were back on the professor.

“Huh, yes.”

Jordan felt a tug in her heart. Logan was a nice guy, she enjoyed his company, but there was something that made her doubt if she really wanted to go out with him. And she knew that it was Gerard.

She gave Logan as small smile, his dark eyes still analyzing her and waiting for an answer. Maybe she just needed to have a good time with someone else other than Gerard. Maybe she needed this to forget what had happened between them.

She finally nodded. “Yeah… That would be nice.”

March 18th 1999

Johanna watched their professor intently. Jordan couldn’t understand how she found his lectures so interesting, she tried, but she always ended up scribbling or making some silly drawings.

“So how was your date with Logan last weekend?” Johanna spoke for the first since the lecture had started, but her eyes still didn’t leave the professor.

Jordan shrugged. “It was fine. He took me to a nice restaurant.”

“Fine?” Johanna’s eyes finally moved to meet Jordan’s. “It’s the second time you’ve went out on a date with him and that’s how you describe it?”

She shrugged again.

“He’s head over heels for you, girl.”

Jordan giggled, but Johanna’s face didn’t show any hint of amusement. “I’m serious, Jordan. I hope you don’t break his heart, because he doesn’t deserve to.” She decided to turn her attention back to their professor, leaving Jordan with a question on her mind.

Did she like Logan the way he liked her? Or, more importantly, was she willing to like him the way he did?

The rest of the lecture passed by in silence. Both girls walked to the main hall and then out of the large limestone building, meeting Amy and his boyfriend just as they were about to enter it.

“Hey, I was looking for you!” Amy shouted and waved at them. “We’re going to a party tonight; I wanted you two to come with us. It will be fun!”

Johanna nodded enthusiastically, but Jordan didn’t budge.

“I’m not sure I can, I’ve got the night shift today at work.”

“Oh come on Jordan, I’m sure you can call in sick or something.” Amy winked at her.

“I don’t know. Why don’t we go to a party tomorrow? I only work afternoons on weekends.”

“Because weekday parties are a lot more fun.” Amy laughed. “Just take a day off or call in sick. I know Logan’s going to be there.” She winked.



As always, Amy was right. The party was a huge success, the house was crowded and she was really decided to have fun. Then why did she keep on glancing at her cell phone?

Logan waved at her from afar. She waved back and nodded once he pointed at one of the beers stuffed inside a bucket of ice. She smiled once he handed her the beer.

They had been talking for the last hour, sitting in a corner of a crowded room, having to lean against each other in order to understand the words they spoke, when Jordan’s cell phone started to ring.

“I’m sorry, I have to take this call,” she mumbled quickly before jumping out of her seat and heading to the outside of the house.

“Gerard.” She smiled at the phone.

“Hey Jordan, how are you doing?”

“Great, I’m actually at a party.” She laughed. “I decided not to go work tonight.”

Gerard laughed too. “I think you should do that more often.” His tone quickly changed to a more sober one. “You work too hard.”

“I have to.”

“I know, but sometimes it looks like it’s all you do. You should ditch work more often.”

“Yes, daddy.” She teased, only realizing the double meaning of what she had said when she heard his gruff laughter. A hand raised to cover her mouth, the awkwardness she felt making her look from side to side, as if he was there in front of her and she was trying to avoid her look. Thankfully he wasn’t there, or else he would have seen the flustered look on her face.

Jordan’s eyes widened when she saw Logan walk through the sliding door and approaching her, a sweet smile plastered on his face. “Well, I’ve got to… I need -”

“Of course, have fun.” His voice still showed some amusement, which only made Jordan’s cheeks turn into a darker shade of red.

She hung up without another word and shoved her cell phone on her back pocket.

“Is everything okay?” Logan asked, his eyebrows furrowing. He had obviously noticed the uncomfortable look on her face.

“Yes, yes, everything’s fine. I was just talking to a friend.” She smiled. “One of the few I still keep in touch back in New Jersey.”

Logan smiled, taking slow steps in her direction. “I thought you had decided to leave the party.”

“Why would I?”

“Maybe you had gotten tired of me.”

Jordan placed a strand of her long hair behind her ear. “That’s impossible.”

He closed the distance between them, his seductive smile making her heart beat a little faster. “Is that your way of saying that you like me?”

She looked up into his eyes. “Maybe.”

His fingers entwined in her hair, pushing her face closer to his and finally kissing her smiling lips.

Jordan wrapped her arms around his neck. For the first time she didn’t think about Gerard.