A Drop in the Ocean

Chapter 25 - Luke

I had just finished dinner with my family.  My brothers had come over tonight, and it was nice to catch up.  It was New Year's Eve after all.  I was sitting on the couch, waiting for one of my family members to tell us what was going to happen next.  Before I had a chance to be forced into some crazy group activity, I discovered I had a text from Jordan.

Gingy:  sometimes when i jump into a pool i feel like im falling from the eiffel tower.

There are so many sketchy things about this entire text.  First of all, when does she not use proper capitalization and punctuation?  Second, why would she be telling me this?  I felt as though something was terribly wrong.

Lukey:  What do you mean?

Gingy:  i wonder wat its like to fall from the eiffel tower and hit the bottom

This made me super panicked.  Especially knowing that she was home alone.  There was only one thing I could do right now.

"Hey, Mum?" I called out, getting up from the couch to go find her.

"Yeah, Luke?" she said, coming around the corner from the kitchen.  She was wiping her hands off on a towel and looking at me expectantly.

"Something's up with Jordan.  Can one of you take me to go check up on her?" I asked.  She furrowed her brow in confusion.  

"What do you mean?" she inquired, my dad coming up behind her.  It was better to show her than explain, so I took out my phone and showed her the two messages.  Her eyes widened as she read, and she looked up at my dad.

"I can take him over," he told her, cupping my mum's shoulder in reassurance.  He looked back at me, gesturing me to follow him.  I did just that, slipping on a pair of shoes once we got to the garage door.  I stumbled town the steps, trying really hard to slip on my other shoe.  I quickly got in the passenger side and buckled my seat belt.  I was anxious about what I would find when I got to Jordan's house.  My legs were shaking in anticipation throughout the entire car ride.

"Do you think she's okay, Dad?" I asked my dad, looking out the window and fiddling with my fingers.  He sighed.

"I think she'll be fine.  She's a strong girl," he told me after a pause.  I nodded, satisfied with his answer.  After a little bit longer ride, we were at Jordan's house, and I practically jumped from my dad's car. 

"Thanks!" I told him, bolting up the front porch to the door.  Hardly any lights were on, and I slowly opened the door.  It revealed an empty living room and kitchen, but I noticed the door to the patio was slightly ajar, so I snuck my way over.  I slowly opened to patio door, but it creaked.  I waited for Jordan to say something, since she was sitting in a patio chair, but she simply sat.  I noticed a lit cigarette leaving a trail of smoke from in between her fingers, and a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels sat on the small table next to her chair.  The chair pointed perpendicularly away from the house, so she didn't see me come out.  But she still knew it was me.

"Hi there, Luke," she told me, her voice much deeper.  I could sense that she was upset about something.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, taking a couple steps closer.  She looked over at me, her eyes half-lidded with sorrow and drunkenness.  She held her half empty glass in the air.  

"Drinking away my sorrows," she chuckled.  I didn't.  She gave me an over exaggerated pout.  "Is Lukey disappointed in me?" she whined sarcastically.  I sighed and sat down in the chair on the other side of the whiskey-ridden table.  She let back her head and laughed.

"What happened?" I asked her.  Her face turned to a grimace as she began to remember why she was drunk.

"I was flipping through an old album and then I realized how much of an asshole my father was," she said in a monotonous tone.  My head spun over to her.