Era of Ezri

Ultimatums

"Yeah, yeah, yeah that's enough." Jordan rushed out with a hint of embarrassment. Jordan was a fairly good-looking guy but it sounded like he'd never had a girlfriend which was a shame because I'd yet to find a fault in his character.

The room fell into an awkward silence, which I couldn't help but feel responsible for until Rio spoke up.

"Ezri, why don't you come out from behind Jordan so our friends can introduce themselves, I promise they're really sweet."

I heard a scoff followed by a chuckle.

"Neyon, shut up." Rio hissed.

"Sorry," Someone mumbled.

I feel as though I've never been a people person and right now my actions are proof of that. However, if I got nervous introducing myself to two people, I could only imagine how I'd act when faced with a room filled with new faces.

I had to pull myself together.

I slowly peeked half of my face around Jordan's torso and finally faced the strangers. Both of them were light-skinned however, one had shoulder-length locks and the others reached his scapula. And although they both looked similar, I could tell they weren't related, their facial features were everything but identical and one had light blue eyes whilst the other had dark brown.

"Hi," I whispered.

The one with the blue eyes was the first to put his hand out for me to shake.

"Neyon." He said.

I looked at his hand and knew I had to be friendly, I weakly grabbed his fingers and shook them lightly.

Neyon laughed to himself at my poor excuse of a handshake. His chuckles lit up the room and made him appear quite handsome with his low-cut beard, wide nose and thick bushy brows. Even his long black dreads shook as his laughter echoed around the kitchen.

"I like her already," Neyon told Jordan.

Jordan hummed in agreement. "Ezri's great, such a curious thing and quiet the character when she comes out of her shell."

'A curious thing', somehow those were the last words I'd use to describe myself.

I looked at Jordan questioningly but he only smiled down at me.

"We've got to get going." The stranger with brown eyes announced.

"Not before you introduce yourself," Neyon spoke.

Brown eyes glared at his friend before making eye contact with me.

"Octavion." He muttered, sticking his hand out for me to take, unlike Neyon he didn't wait for me to place my hand in his. He snatched my arm by the wrist and shook it roughly (which was definitely not a handshake).

"Introductions over, let's go." Octavion might as well have run out of the kitchen, he was gone within seconds.

"Well, I've got to head out but I'll be back in a couple of days." Neyon then looked at me. "It was nice to meet you Ezri, hopefully, I'll be seeing you soon." Neyon grinned at me and I couldn't help but grin back.

Jordan cleared his throat as though he was telling Neyon to hurry up and follow his buddy, and with that, the friendly stranger took his leave.

"That wasn't that bad," I mumbled.

"No it wasn't, but you weren't supposed to see them, meet them or even know that they were here," Jordan spoke absentmindedly.

"And why's that?" I asked, my voice suddenly filled with agitation as I realised that Jordan was trying to keep as much from me as possible.

"No Ezri, whatever you're thinking-"

"Save it." I spat, feeling my body begin to burn with rage. "I don't know what's going on but something isn't right. All of the whispering and sneaking around doesn't go unnoticed and if this is how it's gonna be then I'm gonna have to leave." I finished, finally expressing my building confusion and frustration.

Jordan wore a downcast expression as he stared into space, his brain likely working overtime to figure out how to fix the situation.

Whilst Jordan had paused, I took the opportunity to begin admiring his features and habits.

He currently had his lips pressed tightly together in concentration, probably not even realising he was doing it and his nostrils flared as he pulled in lungfuls of air which I'm assuming was to prevent him from going into panic mode.

Even though I could watch Jordan's frustrated expressions all day, I couldn't say I was enjoying seeing him conflicted and if I'd known the idea of me leaving had meant anything to him, I wouldn't have been as blunt.

"Jordan?" Rio called out before I could speak to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He insisted, wearing the same look.

"You don't look fine-"

"I am." He butted in, without making eye contact with either of us.

"Jordan-," I started.

"I'm fine, I-"

"Jordan, let me finish." I cut in. "I wasn't trying to hurt you, I'm just tired of the secrecy and feeling like the odd one out when the three of you leave for some 'odd reason' and leave me behind. I also can't deal with strangers coming in and out of the house in the early hours of the morning. I'm sorry for lashing out at you, but you can't keep me in the dark, it's not fair." I huffed, hoping that I didn't sound like a brat.

I waited impatiently for Jordan to say something, anything.

"You're right Ezri, but I need you to understand things are more complicated than what I can tell you in one conversation and the last thing I wanted to do was overwhelm you."

What an excuse, I'm not some simpleton and I wasn't in the mood to take no for an answer.

"I'm old enough to not be overwhelmed by a serious conversation and besides, we still need to finish our discussion from last time."

Jordan could do nothing but nod in acceptance.

He grabbed my hand before leading me to the dining table and pulling a chair out for me before taking a seat himself.

"So, do you remember where we left off..."

Author's note

It looks like Ezri's not playing games and neither would I.

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-Y