During yet another very dry and bleak holiday season, Simone Evans, a high school English teacher, finds herself in the most unlikely friendship with Jordan Jackson- an ex con.
**Mature Content**
More mature chapters will be marked with a (⚠︎︎) bef...
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Campus Martius Park Detroit, Michigan
"Jordan," Simone couldn't even hide the big smile on her face if she tried to. "You didn't have to bring me anything."
He was standing at the entrance of the park holding a single red rose in his hands.
"I know I ain't have to," he gave her a little friendly greeting hug. "But I wanted to."
"You're so sweet," she accepted the rose from him. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome," Jordan awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets now that his hands were empty again. "You look real nice."
He was trying to play it cool, but Simone makes him nervous. Very nervous.
"Oh," she looked down at her outfit like she didn't already know what she was wearing. "Thank you. And Uh— you look nice too. Really nice."
And she meant it. He had a fresh cut (she could just tell even though he had a hat on) and his beard was nice and lined up, unlike the first time she'd seen him. He was wearing an all black outfit— black jeans, black turtleneck, and a black Columbia jacket— with a pair of dark grey timberlands and a grey beenie to match.
"Thanks," he smiled at her, not really knowing what else to say.
"Maybe we should go in now?" Simone said after a moment of silence between them.
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, we should," he held his hand out towards her, but immediately pulled it back, not wanting to touch her without her permission first.
"It's okay," she took his hand and wrapped it around her shoulder.
"So it's cool if I do this?" He asked her, just to make sure he wasn't making her uncomfortable.
"Yeah," she nodded her head, leaning more into his side as they walked into the park and over to the large group of people standing around the biggest tree in the entire city of Detroit.
There was Christmas music playing throughout the park as they waited for the lights to turn on for the tree. And the specific song playing at the moment was "SomeDay at Christmas" by The Jackson 5.
"Okay then," Simone laughed when she heard Jordan quietly singing along to the music, surprised at how good he actually sounds. "You got a lil voice on you I see."
"Don't gas me now," he chuckled.
"I'm not. You sound really good," she got even closer to him, pulling herself into his chest as masses of people crowded around them.
Neither of them are fans of large crowds— hence why Simone stopped coming to these types of events after her parents stop taking her as a child— but they were both doing a really good job taking a risk to step out of their comfort zones.
