The space between us

Aftermath

Birds chirping by the window signaled it was dawn. Isaac and Liam were jerked fully awake and were trying to put things together as they got ready for the morning class. Meanwhile, Jordan was still in bed as he barely got any sleep last night. "Yo buddy, you have to wake up," Isaac said with a tap on Jordan's arm. Jordan reflexively sprung up looking dazed, he was hyperventilating as if he had a nightmare and felt relieved when he saw that it was Isaac. "You scared the s**t out of me, rough night, huh?" Isaac asked. You could say that, Jordan calmly responded. I just wanted to remind you we have got a class in an hour. You looked like you weren't waking up anytime soon, so I had to......... you know. Isaac said. Thanks man. Jordan acknowledged his consideration.

Over to Nathan Jacobs' apartment, the place was trashed with food and beer cups all over. Audrey stayed the night with Nate. He insisted she did, his body was still sprawled over in bed, while Audrey lying opposite him, sat up right and reached for her clothes, which was further than she expected really. She didn't recall swinging them that far off. She quickly got dressed and went into the bathroom to properly adjust her clothing and makeup. Nate got up as well just a few minutes after she did, and for a second, he was worried she'd already left like a hooker after a one-night stand , just to see her come out of the bathroom with a smirk on her face when their eyes met. " I thought you left" Nate said in his cool deep voice that stimulated his masculinity. "I'm about to, I have class. Audrey responded. " Last night was fun," Nate said. "Yeah....... it was. Audrey hesitantly responded. "You down tonight?" I have somewhere in mind. Nate asked. " I... can't." Sorry, I have homework. Maybe some other time, Audrey responded. Sure, um , see you around. Nate said. "You too," Audrey responded as she reached for her heels by the door before making an exit.

The hall was filled up as the majority of the students were offering the course, Audrey came in a bit late and the only seat available was the one next to Jordan Bartel. She stealthily walked in to avoid contact with the lecturer. She found the closest available seat and settled there. Obviously, Jordan was sitting next to her and so was Jordan. He was feeling gloomy, indifferent about everything that was happening around him. He paid some attention to the lectures, but he was mostly thinking about how Rachel was doing and just couldn't wait for it to be over so he could give her a call. "Hey, ...... I .... didn't know you were here this whole time," Audrey whispered with a smile as she caught a glimpse of Jordan when she rotated her head. He turned to her, responding with," Yeah... same, didn't see you, "before immediately turning his head back to face the lecturer. Audrey felt bothered by the guilt of leaving him hanging the day before and decided to speak up: "I'm sorry about last night, I....." (Jordan cuts in). Can we..... not talk about that right now? Save it for after. Oh.... sure, Audrey responded, sensing he wasn't really in a positive mood and went back to listening to the lecture.

After an exhausting 3 hours of what the students would call blabbering, the lecture ended for the day. As everyone was making their way to the exit, Audrey stuck with Jordan, trying to converse and resolve any misunderstanding they might be having. Jordan, impatient, but still willing to have the conversation, walked around the campus with Audrey. " Are you mad at me or something?" Audrey asked. "No... no, why would I be mad?" Jordan said. You don't seem intrigued as before to have a conversation with me anymore, and I was thinking maybe it's because I ghosted the night at the party...... I'm sorry I did that. I was just, erh...... upstairs, the music was pretty loud, didn't hear my phone ring. Audrey responded with an obvious lie. She did see the calls but decided to ignore them and rather get steamy with THE Nathan Jacobs. Jordan chuckled before proceeding to say," I'm not mad at you Audrey, i was a bit disappointed the night at the party, but nothing really to hold a grudge or something." I'm just having a really shitty day. " What's up, did something bad happen? Audrey asked, "ermm, something like that, it's .......fucked up," Jordan responded. "Want to grab a bite at the cafeteria?" Audrey asked. "I'm not really.....hungry, maybe some other time. Text you later? Jordan politely declined her offer. "Sure," Audrey said with a bit of embarrassment, as nobody had ever turned out a chance to go out with her, even if it wasn't an ideal date. She caught up with her friends who just happened to be around that area as well. Jordan got to his dorm and Liam was around. " Hey man wassup" Liam said. "I'm cool," Jordan responded," I heard what happened last night, it's rough man, it's... it's f*****g shitty, how's she holding up? Liam said. "I didn't....... I thought you were asleep, you were kinda snoring, were you faking that? Jordan said. " Yeah, but that's irrelevant." Listen dude...... ermm, sorry for your girlfriend's loss, it sucks, it really does. Send my condolences. Liam said with a gentle tap onto Jordan's shoulder before making his way to his desk to hop on Fortnite. " Want to team up?" Was supposed to with Isaac, but he's been MIA the entire day. Liam twirled his chair over to Jordan as he said. "Maybe later, I promised to give Rachel a call, I want to do that now," Jordan said. "Right bet," Liam softly responded before grabbing his headphones and spinning his desk back to face the computer.