A Fine Line

Don't Say Anything.

Cecilia's POV

All of this, was something deeper than just a troubled young man with a troubled little brother. There were lies told, secrets held, and people murdered to keep those secrets, secrets. What I didn't know, was that I had fallen dead smack in the middle of it. The problems I thought were big, were literally just the tip of the iceberg. And lord knows, after what just happened, in wherever the we are, I was praying our ship didn't crash and sink, and Jordan and I wouldn't drown... but to no avale, it crashed.. It sunk... And Jordan and my lungs were beginning to fill with water.

SEVENTY-TWO HOURS EARLIER-

So we drove. And we drove. And kept driving. It had been the longest two days of my life. The whole drive was, is full of whatever music Jordan listens to, and the faint smell of cigarettes and cheeseburgers. I've only known him a few months, but I've never laid eyes on a single cigarette in his mouth.

"Do you smoke, Jordan?" I asked him, and all he did was turn his face up in disgust.

"What?" He asked, "Why in hell would I smoke." I could tell by the tone in his voice he was appalled by the thought.

"Well, I'm only asking because your car... It-it reeks of smoke." I stutter, looking up through my lashes. He furrows his eyebrows as if he doesn't know what I'm talking about, but soon he realizes, and his face relaxes and he sighs.

"It, it's my mothers car." He struggles to say. "I begged my dad to keep it." Jordan's face is blank without emotion and I feel bad immediately.

"Oh." I say looking down at the cars carpet. The car goes silent before I speak again, attempting to calm him. "And my mother wasn't all bad. She would sing me a song she wrote when I had a sad heart, and it still calms me to sing it to this day." I tell him.

"Oh yeah?" He says curiously. "So did mine." He chuckles a little, and that surprises me.

"Wanna sing them at the same time?" I ask him with a slight upcoming grin, he surprises me yet again by smiling back, and nodding. "Okay... 1, 2, 3..." And as if it was planned we both started singing... The same song.

"Notice who you are, a lovely shining star.
Even when the world gets you down.
You have all the materials, just feel your way around.
You're scared of messing up, with a face set in a frown,
Don't be so hard on yourself, my love.
And let me tell you why,
You're a wonderful, beautiful, star up in the sky."

Did we just sing the same song?

"Strange." I said quietly.

"Yeah. Strange." He repeats the word.

After this, we just sit in silence until Jordan pulls up to a bar. I have no clue where we are, so without hesitating, I ask.

"Where are we?" I ask him. He looks over at me but doesn't say a word until he turns back in the direction of the bar. He looks at the dirt covered bar and I noticed the way he goes dead behind the eyes.

"California... And this, Is the strip club that my family owns." He almost growls out the last part, and I'm sure my eyes are falling out of my head. I guess I was wrong. This isn't just any bar... It's a strip club. Jordan's family's strip club. Oh.