Page 54 of Crossing the Brooklyn Briggs
Micah: I warned him that if he went to a small town like Laketown he was going to run into a woman who’s magically perfect for him and they were going to fall in love!
Hou: You do know life isn’t a Hallmark movie, right? I need to know that you know this.
Hou: I’m turning off my phone now.
Poor Houston. He and I are similar in that neither of us has been in a serious relationship. At least not a good one. And that makes it hard for us to believe in love. Not exactly a trait I want to share with anyone.
He’s probably turned off his phone already, but I send him a text anyway.
Me: Good luck, Hou?
Me: That wasn’t supposed to be a question. *face palm emoji*
“Why is texting so hard?”
Jordan chuckles, his focus on my ankle as he slowly works his magic. “Most people our age find it pretty easy, Queens. I think it’s just a ‘you’ problem.”
“Why did someone think it was a good idea to put the send button right next to the delete button? I can’t be the only one who accidentally sends things when she’s trying to backspace and fix her mistakes, can I?”
He holds out his hand. “Let me see your phone.”
“What? Why?” And why am I cradling it to my chest like I have something to hide? He already knows about my stalker photo of him.
“Just trust me, Queens.”
It probably means something that I do trust him, which is not something I ever thought would happen. Handing over my phone, I hold my breath as he does whatever he’s doing, which seems to be a whole lot of nothing in between a couple of taps.
“What are you—”
“Here.” He hands it back and then hops up, resting the bag of ice on my ankle before heading to the kitchen.
I glance through my phone, but everything looks the same. He didn’t send any texts or delete any photos. I’m too afraid to ask, so I ask a different question.
“Hey, what’s your brother’s name?”
Jordan looks over as he chops something. “Which one?”
“The youngest one.”
“Mateo.”
My heart stutters, though I don’t know why. “Did he just transfer to Sky View?”
Pausing, he loses his smile as he looks over at me again. “Uh, I think so. But how did you know—”
“I think he just got put in one of my classes.”
“Really?” For some reason, he suddenly seems incredibly excited about this topic. “If that’s true, you can…” Then he frowns. “Okay, no, I shouldn’t ask that.”
Now I have to know what he was about to say. “What?”
He folds his arms, hunching his shoulders and giving me a smile that isn’t really a smile at all. “I was going to ask if you could look out for him for me. He’s going through something.”
“What something?”
“I have no idea.” And that seems to bother him as he resumes chopping with a little more vigor. “He won’t talk to anyone lately, and then there were all the fights, and…” I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with such a deep look of worry on his face, and I can practically feel his tension from here as he keeps talking. “If he would just let someone in, maybe he wouldn’t get into trouble, and it’s not doing anything to help my mom’s recovery when she’s stressing over him like she is. And with Alex overseas, she has enough to worry about already, you know?”
Despite my now-frozen foot, I get to my feet and hobble over to him, though he doesn’t even notice me until I’m right next to him and nudge him with my shoulder. “I’ll check up on him as much as I can, Jordan.”
