Page 9 of Crossing the Brooklyn Briggs
“I would,” she admits. “But only because I know for a fact that I don’t have any crab so I would actually think you’re full of it.”
I chuckle. She thinks she knows me so well. “You would be right. I’m making alfredo. Just wanted to make sure your brain was still functioning right.”
Well, the girl can still roll her eyes like a pro. “I don’t have a concussion, Jordan. You don’t have to stay with me.”
Number three.Shereallydoesn’t want me here. Or, at least, she’s reallypretendingshe doesn’t.
“While I accept your authority in your home and will listen to you if you tell me to do something, I respect Houston more than I’m afraid of you.” Easy to do, considering her overall sweetness. Though, there is that feisty Briggs stubbornness that I know better than to underestimate. I can’t let myself forget some of the pranks she pulled to get back at me. I’m pretty sure I still find glitter on my person from one of them. “I’m going to proceed unless you tell me otherwise.”
“So, if I told you to go home and leave me here on my own because I don’t need any help?”
“Then you would be lying.” I pause, narrowing my eyes as I wait for her to argue with me. She’s barely touching the ice to her ankle—I’ll probably need to force that one if she wants to get the swelling down—and hasn’t once made an attempt to move from the couch. Plus, she keeps rubbing her temples, so I know her head’s bothering her.
I hate that I caused that, even unintentionally. Note to self: don’t jump into unfamiliar window wells without full reconnaissance first.
“I guess you can stay,” she says eventually.
I duck my head into the fridge so she doesn’t see my grin.
Chapter Four
Brooklyn
There’s something about the wayJordan moves that has me fascinated. It’s more than just the shift and flex of his muscles, which are many. There’s a confidence about him that I’ve never seen before, and I wish I knew what it was so I could try to emulate it. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve seen plenty of confidence in my life. My brother Chad has never once questioned who he is, and Houston is basically the king of confidence to the point of almost being arrogant sometimes. But with Jordan, it’s a very…calm confidence. Self-assurance might be a better word for it. It’s so much better than the cocky kid who was always hanging around my stepdad’s house and driving me crazy.
Though I’m still getting high school flashbacks, I can’t help but wonder what he’s been up to over the last decade. I was so glad to be rid of him that I never put a lot of effort into thinking about what happened to him. I know he and Houston went to the same college together, but Houston got drafted two years in. What about Jordan? Did he keep playing baseball? Did he stay in California? Has he been single this whole time?
That last one I can probably answer on my own: definitely not single. Jordan was the biggest flirt I knew back in the day, always with a girl on his arm. I’m pretty sure he worked his way through the entire cheerleader squad at one point. It’s a trait he shares with Houston, who hasn’t been without a girlfriend since the day he turned fifteen.
Except now, I guess. My brother has been single for two months at this point, which is weird for him.
“Why aren’t you at work today, anyway?” Jordan asks after a while.
He’s been humming or singing to himself for the last little while, which has weirdly made my little basement apartment feel less gloomy. Hearing him talk to me returns the claustrophobia that has been creeping in since the moment we came out into my living room, though. I’m so used to being alone down here that sharing the space feels a bit overwhelming. Plus, I’m in my pajamas with a purple foot and a head that won’t stop throbbing, so I’m feeling a bit self-conscious.
Unlike Jordan, who isn’t self-conscious in the least. He doesn’t seem to care that I can definitely hear everything he’s been singing. He doesn’t have a bad voice, but neither is it going to win him any votes on American Idol.
“I had a migraine this morning,” I say. As always, I feel pathetic for admitting that a headache was enough to incapacitate me.
Jordan winces as he picks up two plates and brings them over. “And then I went and made it worse,” he says, handing me a plate. “Sorry again. I’ve added it to my mental list of things to tell my guys; look before leaping.”
“You have some employees who work for you too?” I take a reluctant bite of food and nearly groan because it tastes so good. This might be the best alfredo I’ve ever tasted, and I have no idea how he could have made this from ingredients in my kitchen. I’m almost convinced he somehow conjured it like some sort of wizard.
Jordan twists up his mouth and nods toward my plate. “You like it? And yes, I have four guys under me. I’m hoping to get a few more if—when—business picks up in the spring.”
“It’s a good thing you don’t have to worry about snow getting in your way,” I say without mentioning how hard it is to not devour this entire plate of pasta in one bite. I would like to havesomedignity left over, and shoveling noodles into my mouth like a starving raccoon is not going to do me any favors.
I don’t know why I care. Jordan has seen me at my worst, taking part in all my awkward teenage years. But adult Jordan looks a whole lot different from adolescent Jordan. He acts differently too, almost to the point where he feels like a different person, and that makes me nervous. I don’t do well with strangers.
As he settles on the other side of my couch by my feet since I don’t have any other seating in here, Jordan smiles and takes a bite of his own food. “What got you into teaching?” he asks. “I thought you wanted to go into research or something.”
“You remember that?” My heart throbs in my chest.
He shrugs, like it’s no big deal.
I think it’s a big deal, considering he and I never really had a civil conversation. Especially not about the future. But I’m not sure I want Jordan to know about the complete one-eighty turn my career took a few years ago, so I give him the watered-down version. The version that feels like a lie.
“Um, yeah,” I say. “Teaching felt like a safe option. And I really like it.”
