Tempting /A Jordan Knight fanfic ✔️

34

Chapter Chapter 34: Third Wheelin' Road Trip

The passing of trees, grey-dull highways, and road signs all twisted into one unending, insignificant blur as we drove to my parents.

Jordan was driving, Mel next to him in the passenger seat. and I was stuck in the back, forehead against the window as I wondered how badly it would hurt if I threw myself from a moving car.

We'd been on the road for just over three hours, and no one had said one word the entire time.

Mel had been typing away on her phone most of the trip, presumably answering work emails and putting out holiday fires. Meanwhile, Jordan barely looked like he was breathing or even alive. More like a statue chiseled out of stress.

And me, I'd spent the three hours silently debating where I should move next and how soon, what a non-suspicious strategy would be for when I cut myself from Jordan and Mel's life, and of course, Jordan's last three words to me.

'Don't forget Slim.'

He could have been just a bit more specific about what he meant by that.

Another forty or so minutes went by before Mel uttered the first words in hours.

"Do you want to listen to any of your music, Amber? I'm pretty over the radio and the same twenty pop songs on repeat."

"Oh, no that's okay. I'm actually gonna try to nap for a bit."

"Now that's an idea." Mel turned around to face me. "You nap now, and when we get to a rest stop, we're trading places."

Please don't make me sit up there.

"Deal," I responded, forcing a rise in my lips. "Wake me if I start snoring, okay?"

"No deal. You snoring is rare and hilarious. You sound like a drunk kitten."

Huffing and too exhausted to be embarrassed, I balled my jacket up and shoved it underneath my head.

"I do not."

"Yes, you do. Now shut up and go to sleep."

Knowing there was no point in arguing with her, I did as she said and shut my eyes—

But I didn't fall asleep.

Not even as much as I tried for the next many minutes, my mind wouldn't press pause on all the open-ended conversations I'd begun with myself. Great. Now I'd have to spend the next couple hours pretending to be asleep if I wanted to keep my coveted backseat position. Any movement or peep from me, and Mel would snap her fingers and demand to switch seats.

Not long passed by before Mel's hushed voice pulled my attention, picking my heartbeat up with it.

"Can we talk?"

"Your sister is three feet away, Mel."

"She's sleeping," Mel argued. "She's a heavy sleeper."

Even with my eyes closed, I could picture so perfectly the look on Jordan's face. Lips thinned, cheeks dented in from where he was chewing on them, eyes a flurry with upset.

"Like I said last night, I would prefer to wait to talk again until we got back tomorrow night."

"Well, I can't wait till then. You know me, I'll be all hyper-panicky and paranoid during dinner and my mom will know something is up."

She had a point there. Our mom was creepily in-tune to anyone's emotions. It was like her sixth sense.

"Mel-"