Until We Meet Again

The light that bathed the hotel room made Gerard drift out of his sleep. Suddenly England seemed a country with more sun than usual, as the intense sunshine made him blink his eyes several times before he could keep them open for a while.

He sat on the bed. A nasty headache hit him at the base of his skull, spreading up to his forehead. He rubbed his temples with his fingertips. Fuck, had I been drinking again?

He looked around, finding out that he was alone. “Jordan?” Gerard called out, his voice hoarse and his throat dry. Muffled sounds came from the bathroom and the door was opened.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Jordan mumbled, her eyes instantly casting down at the floor.

“Why did I sleep in my jeans?” He looked at his legs and then back at her, who was still wearing the shorts and t-shirt she had slept in.

“Because you fell asleep before taking them off.” She looked back at him, showing a small smile. “You were not in a decent shape last night.”

She was testing the waters with him. She needed to know if he remembered anything of what had happened, without giving too much away.

By the look on his face, Gerard didn’t. His lips were forming a thin line, his brows furrowed as he tried to remember last night’s events.

“It’s alright.” Jordan shrugged. “If you want to know, you didn’t make an ass of yourself.” There was no need for him to know any embarrassing details.

“Are you hungry?” She asked, leaning against the door jamb.

His stomach twisted at the thought of it. “Not really.”
Gerard got up, but the nauseating feeling only got worse. He raised his hand to his mouth, sprinting past Jordan and closing the door on her face before she could speak.

“Gee?” Her face frowned at the sound of him throwing up, her fingers touching the wood paneled door. The toilet was flushed and a second later water started to run. Jordan opened the door, glancing inside before entering. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He splashed his face with cold water. Nothing I hadn’t endured before.

Jordan walked past him and turned the shower on. “Hop in, I’ll go get dressed and find us some coffee.” She left him alone inside the bathroom.

It was just a matter of minutes until he heard the bedroom door open and then the lock click closed. He finally allowed his eyes to drift to the mirror in front of him, cringing at his reflection.

His skin was almost white; the bags under his eyes letting anybody know that his night had been a complete hell. His brain still tried to rake for some answers from the previous night, only to reach a moment where everything had gone blank.

He combed his fingers through his hair, a twinge of regret nagging him. He still couldn’t believe he had gotten that careless around Jordan.

Wind was blowing hard when Jordan stepped out of the small hotel. Although it was summer, that coastal city didn’t offer the heat she was used to receive from the ones in America. The sun was shining effusively, but the intense breeze stole away the warm sensation it could provide her body.

She walked for a few minutes, wandering the already crowded streets, looking for a coffee shop while most people were already having lunch.

Last night events played on her mind over and over again, even without her wanting to, because, no matter how hard she tried, whenever she found herself distracted, they jumped right back into her mind.

The coffee shop doorbell jingled when she entered. Several people glanced at her and the freckled waitress smiled. Jordan smiled back. Yes, she really needed to tell him about Logan.

Gerard heard the room’s door open just moments after he stepped out of the shower. When he opened the door, Jordan’s back was facing him, her originally straightened hair now all disheveled and back to its wavy shape.

“Windy day, huh?”

Jordan nodded and laughed, combing her long hair with both hands, but when she turned to face him, her mouth closed shut.

Gerard faced her sideways, using a towel around his waist as the only thing to cover him, while drying his hair with another. And just like that, bam, a flash of what they had done last night slapped her in the face. Oh great, Gerard, just great. Thank you for reminding me of what we did last night without even knowing it.

“Coffee.” She managed to say, pointing at the two travel cups resting on the table, after turning her back on him again and pretending to busy herself with her shoes.

She only realized she’d been holding her breath when Gerard disappeared into the bathroom, a lungful of hair escaping her lips as soon as the door closed. Now, doubts assaulted her again. Maybe she didn’t need to tell him she had a boyfriend. For him, everything was the same it had always been.

Her lips scrunched up in discontent. But not to her. Suddenly pressure existed where there’d been none before and she couldn’t live with herself that way.



They spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying each other’s presence, knowing that it was going to be a long time before they could ever do such a thing again. Gerard talked about the job he had gotten now that he had finished college, about an idea he had for a song and how he and Matt had been working on it, but Jordan couldn’t really focus on anything of what he said. Her only concern was how he would react to what she wanted to tell him.

The sun had already set down when they decided to pick a restaurant to have dinner. Jordan decided to wait until they were halfway through their meal to interrupt him.

“Gee.” She heard herself saying and he looked at her. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you.” Okay, no turning back now.

Gerard gave her a look that said he was listening. She drummed her fingers on her thigh and chewed her lip. Seconds ticked. It almost seemed like she had dipped into another world.

“What’s wrong?” He finally asked.

“Nothing.” She forced a smile. All that hesitation only made what she had to tell him sound a lot heavier than it really was. “Nothing’s wrong, actually everything’s great.” What was the point of delaying it anymore? “I wanted to tell you that I, I -” What was the best word for it? “I’ve been seeing someone, I’ve been dating -” Ah heck, let’s just use them all. “I have a boyfriend.”

She looked down at her plate and then back at him, waiting for his reaction. But his reaction was not what she had expected, because there was none at all. He stared blankly at her and she wondered if he had listened at all.

“So?” She asked, trying to sound cheerful. In the end, she was sharing good news with a friend. Right? “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“That’s great.” His expression was unreadable.

He proceeded to chow down the food on his plate without sharing another word. Jordan stared at hers, a deep sense of shame washing over her.