The Hourglass

Chapter 4/6

Later that week, Jordan sat inside McDonald's. He enjoyed his Quarter Pounder just the way he liked it, without cheese or pickles, but with bacon as well as extra ketchup and mustard. As he ate his sandwich, he looked at his laptop, hoping to finish with his lyrics to his most recent rap. Desperate to finish within the next hour, he paid no attention to his surroundings. Eventually, a woman spotted Jordan and eagerly walked over to him. She was quite attractive: roughly 30 years old with stunning blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her glasses gave her an innocent but seductive look. Jordan failed to see her standing near him, so she spoke. "Hey, Jordan! How are you?" Jordan glanced up from his laptop and immediately took note of her physical appearance. "Hey, what's going on?" The woman sat down across from Jordan. "I haven't seen you in forever!" Jordan promptly shut his laptop. "Yeah, I know, I've had severe writer's block for a long time now!" The woman briefly seemed puzzled, but then she appeared excited as she had before. "Oh... well I'm sure you'll figure out it! You were my favorite rapper when I was just a kid, by the way!" "Wow, I appreciate it! Not a lot of people recognize me nowadays, so I thought I fell off!" The woman deliberately pressed her arms into her sides; her low-cut shirt made it virtually impossible to ignore her large cleavage. "Come on, you know you're better than that!" "I know; it's just I feel like no one cares about my art". The woman cocked her head to one side and thoughtfully looked into Jordan's eyes. "Well, I do; I think your art is amazing!" "Thank you so much; that means a lot to me!" The woman smiled and nervously bit her fingernail. "Yeah, definitely! Hey, um... I know this is really random, but... can I ask you a personal question? You don't have to answer if you don't want to".

There was a hint of apprehension in Jordan's eyes, but he decided to answer the question. "What's up?" "You said you feel like no one likes your art. Doesn't Chloe like it?" Jordan looked down at the floor as he pondered how to respond. "Um... she doesn't personally care for some of the stuff I do, but she can respect the effort I put into it. Maybe it's not something she always understands, but she knows critics usually give it favorable reviews". Emboldened by this answered, the woman indulged her curiosities. "Are you sure? You don't sound like you mean it". Jordan paused. "I dunno. I mean, you probably know we're like polar opposites. Chloe's very conservative. She doesn't like to rock the boat. We argue a lot about stuff" ... "But you love each other, don't you?" "I guess, but it's different now. She just doesn't seem like the same person she was anymore. Perhaps I don't resemble the same person to her either". "I know you'll figure it one day. You wouldn't have married her if there wasn't something that made you love her to begin with". "I suppose you're right, but a lot of things happen in twenty years". "I see" ...

Jordan drank his soda for a moment and then looked into the woman's eyes. "Sorry for ranting so much about myself; I'm sure you didn't sit down to be my therapist". "Oh, that's OK; I wanted to give you a chance to open up!" "Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" "OK!" Jordan's face became red as he pondered what to say. "Uh... so what's your name?" "Alexandra... or just Alex". "Nice to meet you, Alex; I'm assuming you recently moved here?" "Yeah, straight out of Pittsburgh; I've been there since I moved out of my parents' house". Intrigued about Alex's life and interested in learning more, Jordan put away his laptop. "So do you do anything fun, or are you a loser like me?" "I'm actually a competitive swimmer, but that's about it". "Ah yes, competitive swimmer... is it cut-throat?" "Not really, although I'm used to seeing crazy parents!" Feeling more daring than he had from the beginning, Jordan persisted. "I bet your boyfriend doesn't appreciate older men like myself gawking at you swimming around the pool!" "If I wasn't single, that'd probably be true!" "Well, you're hot, so I doubt you'll be alone much longer!" "Yeah, I bet so!"

Unsure of how to proceed, Jordan fiddled with his empty ketchup packets on his tray. "So, uh... I wonder whether we could hang out sometime soon, I mean, if you're not too busy" ... "How about right now?" "Well, I guess I don't have to be home until later... but you shouldn't come to my place, cuz I don't think Chloe would be thrilled". "Why don't we go to my place?" Jordan hesitated for a moment, but he couldn't resist Alex's intoxicating charm. "Let's do it!" "Cool!" Jordan followed Alex to her apartment, but he felt quite nervous. He worried Chloe would eventually learn about Alex and freak out, but he rationalized his actions by recalling meets and greets that he used to do. Alex was just another fan; Chloe never baulked at him for talking to people who admired him. There was no harm in talking to another woman, at least not to him. Jordan walked into Alex's apartment and barely closed the door before she pulled him towards her and kissed his lips. This sudden advance shocked him, yet he did nothing to stop her. He felt like no one connected with him like Alex did, certainly not in recent times. She looked into his eyes and smiled mischievously. "We're gonna have fun tonight" Alex whispered. "Hold on... this doesn't feel right" Jordan said. Alex tilted her head to one side as she spoke to Jordan. "What doesn't feel right? Chloe not loving you?" "I dunno... I've never done anything like this before". "Oh, come on, don't be a pussy; you deserve to have a woman in your life to make you feel good!" "Yeah, but" ... Alex slightly lifted the edge of her shirt. "But what? You don't wanna get a piece of this?" "I mean I do; it's just – "Then come and get it; you know you want it!" "You know what? I gotta do what feels right for me".