fade into you |jordan li|

fourteen. the after party

Again. Flashes of the past played back like movies in Ari's head. She had been in what felt like this moment before. She was feeling everything at once, even a sense of déjà vu.

   Jordan, and her were nothing new. It was a secret, due to her brother, but innocent relationship of her high school years spent talking about their different experiences, and about every one of each other's interests and dislikes.

Ari knew about Jordan's secret love for the show friends , their love for video games and about their favorite hair products while they knew about her love for cats, reality tv shows she wished she could be on, and many more facts about her.

One thing Ari didn't know was how she kept her hatred for them for almost two years, how she would avoid looking at them, how she would avoid speaking, or how she could even avoid kissing them.

She was sick of it. She couldn't do it for any longer. Jordan was the one part of her life that she wanted to keep. The one person she knew cared about her even when they claimed they didn't, the one person who would still like her despite the stupid insults, and the one person she would ever go back to.

Though they had a grade gap, they were only a year and one month apart, Jordan being the older of the two. The gap wasn't as bad, but taking a gap year to fix her social rating had them as a freshman and a junior.

She still never minded it all. That gap year gave her the confidence to try to use her powers again, the confidence Jordan once gave her.

Jordan was the first person to understand her, to truly understand her, and though she had done it before, she knew when Jordan said that they wanted to try again, that she would never. Ever. Let them go again.

   She kissed them, a soft kiss. It was different than all the other kisses, as it was genuine, and not filled with much desperation. She had them now and she wasn't going to let them go anywhere else, if she could somehow help it.

   "I feel like something's off." She held their hand in hers even though it felt weird, like it was moving too quickly, and like the old them.

   "What do you mean?"

   She looked at them, look as if that was obvious.

   "Okay well I know what you mean, we just chased someone through the courtyard , but any specifics?"

   "I didn't think Rufus's powers lasted this long, I didn't even know he could do it to this many people at once." She started, walking with them back to her dorm room.

   "So you don't think it was him?" Jordan asked, worried about the possibility that it wasn't Rufus.

    "I mean he was probably involved in it, but I feel like Dean Shetty helped him. Either way something happened that someone doesn't want us to know about."

  "I didn't think about it that way."

   "It just feels like the only logical explanation. Why would Rufus make all of us forget about the party and the events leading up to it?"

    "We're going to figure out why soon. We just have to wait to see if the others could find him."

   "I doubt it, Andre's going to kill his ass." She might have disliked him, but her brother knew how to fight.

   "And that I wish I could see." They stopped at her door.

   "I'll see you later, okay?" She looked worried they would say that they wouldn't want to, but of course they didn't.

   "Okay. And Ari everything's going to be fine. I know you like to worry about shit, but things are under control."

   "Thanks Jordan." She kissed them with gratitude, and shut the door so she could think about everything.