Like I Would
12
“Morning,” Jordan was far too chipper as he burst through the doorway, still wearing last night’s clothes, his bag of board games dropped beside his flip flops.
“How’s Carly doing?” Natalie immediately asked, chewing lightly on her lip. It was a terrible habit she’d picked up from Jared and hadn’t been able to kick yet, although she tried very hard to do so.
“She’s okay, I think. She was a little better this morning than last night anyway – she fell asleep while we were watching a movie and she didn’t wake up tossing or turning or anything,” he shrugged, unknowingly causing my entire vision to go red with anger, my stomach roiling with jealousy.
He’d spent the night with her. After what we’d all told him, after everything else, he’d still spent the night with her. Because we all knew he wouldn’t have outright said anything other than what he’d just said coming in the door, always pushing everything off as super casual around our parents, even when we’d all known differently. Some things never changed.
“Why… were you there all night?” Mom stiffened up a little, coming to the same conclusion I had, and soon Jordan was reeling for an explanation.
“Yeah – we fell asleep on the couch mom, watching a movie. Not like that, Jesus. Do you really think I’m that low to do that to someone who just lost their dad? Especially when Marc had her first?”
Dead silence followed his statement, everyone’s eyes wide and soon many were watching me. Carly and I had never been anything even close to romantic, let alone what Jordan had just implied to my entire family. Angie’s jaw was all but hanging open, and I knew she’d be livid as soon as we were alone.
“Excuse me?”
“Well it’s true,” Jordan argued, and I stood up, trying to control myself.
“I didn’t ‘have her first’ – she isn’t some object to be had. We were never anything romantic, Jordan. And I wouldn’t have put it past you,” I growled, shoving past him on my way out the door. It was rude, it was uncalled for, and I wasn’t going to let him talk about Carly that way, like one of his conquests or puck girls back in Pittsburgh.
“Marc! Marc, what the hell is he talking about, you had her first?” Angie called out, following me across the yard and toward my truck.
“He’s just being a dick, Angie. He’s assuming things. Carly and I were never together; we never dated, never hooked up, never slept together. Nothing,” the words were tinged with the slightest bit of regret; because maybe things would have been different if we had experienced some of those things, but maybe it would just hurt worse for her to leave if we had.
“Oh, okay. So where are you going?” she was still confused, and I realized right then I wished she wasn’t here to bombard me with questions or make what I was about to do even more difficult.
“Going to go see her,”
“How’s Carly doing?” Natalie immediately asked, chewing lightly on her lip. It was a terrible habit she’d picked up from Jared and hadn’t been able to kick yet, although she tried very hard to do so.
“She’s okay, I think. She was a little better this morning than last night anyway – she fell asleep while we were watching a movie and she didn’t wake up tossing or turning or anything,” he shrugged, unknowingly causing my entire vision to go red with anger, my stomach roiling with jealousy.
He’d spent the night with her. After what we’d all told him, after everything else, he’d still spent the night with her. Because we all knew he wouldn’t have outright said anything other than what he’d just said coming in the door, always pushing everything off as super casual around our parents, even when we’d all known differently. Some things never changed.
“Why… were you there all night?” Mom stiffened up a little, coming to the same conclusion I had, and soon Jordan was reeling for an explanation.
“Yeah – we fell asleep on the couch mom, watching a movie. Not like that, Jesus. Do you really think I’m that low to do that to someone who just lost their dad? Especially when Marc had her first?”
Dead silence followed his statement, everyone’s eyes wide and soon many were watching me. Carly and I had never been anything even close to romantic, let alone what Jordan had just implied to my entire family. Angie’s jaw was all but hanging open, and I knew she’d be livid as soon as we were alone.
“Excuse me?”
“Well it’s true,” Jordan argued, and I stood up, trying to control myself.
“I didn’t ‘have her first’ – she isn’t some object to be had. We were never anything romantic, Jordan. And I wouldn’t have put it past you,” I growled, shoving past him on my way out the door. It was rude, it was uncalled for, and I wasn’t going to let him talk about Carly that way, like one of his conquests or puck girls back in Pittsburgh.
“Marc! Marc, what the hell is he talking about, you had her first?” Angie called out, following me across the yard and toward my truck.
“He’s just being a dick, Angie. He’s assuming things. Carly and I were never together; we never dated, never hooked up, never slept together. Nothing,” the words were tinged with the slightest bit of regret; because maybe things would have been different if we had experienced some of those things, but maybe it would just hurt worse for her to leave if we had.
“Oh, okay. So where are you going?” she was still confused, and I realized right then I wished she wasn’t here to bombard me with questions or make what I was about to do even more difficult.
“Going to go see her,”