Superhero

Chapter 111

Giuseppe was acting more and more suspicious, at least that's what Jordan made it seem like. Although, Addison did start to keep a closer eye on him and didn't see why the redhead could be wrong.
Giuseppe came home so late, way after classes, and was always making loud noises in his room, and then silence. It almost sounded like he was exercising, lifting weights and then dropping them hard onto the floor.
"Seriously, we need to spy on him!" Jordan suggested for the thousandth time.
"Ain't nobody got time for that," Addison said as she wrote something down on her book.
They both had more than an hour before their next class and decided to perch themselves in the library. Usually, Addison would be sitting here alone, but she made the grave mistake of being discovered by Jordan. Here she was, sacrificing her time of peace for his jabbering.
"Come on, you have time, don't you?" Jordan piped up. "Your work only starts at three! Mine starts at two-thirty."
Addison dropped her mechanical pencil and looked at him. "So, I don't need the time to get to work and grab something to eat? So, you want me to work for six hours on an empty stomach?"
Jordan shrugged. "I mean, you did have a hearty breakfast and you look like you can use a diet plan."
Addison stared at him in disbelief as the comment slowly sank in. "Why are you here?" She finally snapped. "You just appeared and invaded my free time to say I'm fat?" She got up, shaking her head as she collected her things. "You know what, I'm going to the silent area."
"What?" Jordan watched her leave in surprise.
Addison scowled to herself as she walked towards a carrel and sat herself on the chair, taking her book out yet again to continue writing. Her phone buzzed with a message from Jordan, but Addison ignored it and continued to write.

Like always, Addison was the last to leave the classroom because of how long she took to pack her things. She thanked the lecturer and adjusted the straps of her bag as she walked out of the lecture theatre.
Jordan ambushed her as soon as she stepped out.
"What do you want?" Addison barked when Jordan continued to persistently follow her.
"I want to apologise," Jordan said.
Addison started walking a little faster. It still stung how she had received such a comment from Jordan after all that she went through because of him. How much she looked out for him, how she even tried to cheer him up when he was down, and here he was.
Somehow, she managed to lose Jordan and went to the bus stop. She couldn't help but cry a little, thinking of the insensitiveness of the mean comment. Addison stood up when the free bus arrived and got on to go straight to work.

When Addison stepped into the shop, Jeff was nowhere to be seen.
"I'll be over in a second!" Jeff called from the back of the shop.
"What are you doing?" Addison asked as she placed her bag down on the table and made her way to see what he was up to.
Jeff was sitting on the ground, surrounded by cans and bottles of soda, while trying to fix one of the fridge shelves that had come down. "This stuff gave way." He held up a screw. "The older screw broke off, but for some reason, I can't put the new one in."
Addison sat herself down beside him. "Here, let me hold it up for you."
Jeff moved slightly and gently adjusted the shelf to the right level so that the holes matched, then placed the screw in the hole before tightening it with a screwdriver. When it seemed sturdy enough, the two of them rearranged all of the cans and bottles onto the shelf in neat rows.
"Thanks, I was taking some time to work on that," Jeff sighed as he leaned back, hands pressed to the ground behind him. He turned to Addison. "Good thing you came up."
Addison got up. "Yeah, I gotta get something to eat."
Jeff nodded and made his way back to the counter, watching as she grabbed a single sausage and some yoghurt before making her way to the counter. He looked at the sausage and frowned. "Hey, you sure this will last you till the end of your shift?"
"I don't feel like eating much," Addison said, her gaze elsewhere.
"Oh, so you grabbed something before getting here?" Jeff slowly picked up the yoghurt and scanned the barcode. To his surprise, Addison shook her head. "Then how will you survive on one sausage, Addie?"
"I'm not that hungry," Addison tried hard to fight the urge to break down.
Jeff looked at her intently. She didn't seem all that happy or excited as she usually was whenever she met him. He glanced behind her to see if she had brought a drink from Sundeer, which usually indicated some conflict going on with Jordan, but there wasn't any.
"Addie, is everything okay?"
Addison scanned the card onto the reader and said nothing as she went back to her table, not even bothering to collect her receipt. Jeff looked at her in surprise. This wasn't like her, she knew the importance of eating a full meal, especially before work. But she wasn't even hungry? The Addison he knew had a good appetite.
Jeff sighed and tore the receipt off before going over to the table, seating himself in front of her. Addison silently nibbled on her sausage, sneaky drops of tears escaping from the corners of her eyes.
"What happened in school today?" Jeff asked.
Addison shook her head, more tears streaming out of her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Is it that bad?" Jeff thumbed the corner of the receipt he was holding.
"Imagine supporting someone and doing nothing short of encouraging them, only to receive a mean comment from them," Addison tried to hold back a sob, but it still came out. "Not only did he invade my free time in the library, my alone time of peace, he also had the nerve to say I look like I need a diet and should skip lunch."
Jeff frowned and shook his head. "Skipping lunch will only result in you gaining more weight since your metabolism would function at a slower rate."
Addison nodded, using the back of her hand to wipe off some of her tears. "Yes, I took Bio back in high school too." She scratched her eye. "It just hurts, Jeff, seeing how much I supported him and I get this in return. I don't care if I seem like a crybaby to you now."
Jeff shook his head. "No, it's okay. Was this Jordan?"
"Yeah," Addison nodded again. "He invaded me in the library and tried to apologise after class just now. I just fled since I didn't want to deal with it now. I'll see what happens when I get home."
Jeff grimaced. "He's such a baby, what does your friend even see in him?"
Addison shrugged. "She doesn't have to deal with him at home. After all, it is the sibling who knows someone's flaws before their partner does."
"You're right about that," Jeff nodded. "Hey, don't think too much about him, okay? You do you, and be yourself. Don't take criticism from someone who has half a brain." He frowned slightly as his gaze fell on her sausage. "I still think you should get something heavier. That sausage may be large, but it's definitely not gonna last you through your shift."
"I will get a sandwich later," Addison smiled. "Thanks, Jeff. Feels nice to not be the only therapist around. My friends usually come to me whenever they're down, but I don't always have someone to go to when I'm down. That's besides my parents, but they can get a little unruly."
Jeff smiled, his little dimple showing. "Yeah. You're welcome." He got up from his chair and went back to his post behind the counter.