Oxygen

Chapter 4 - Falling for a rose

He catches me swiftly with one arm and grabs my waist with his hand. He gently leans in towards me and smiles.

"You have a beautiful smile, the biggest, most beautiful bottle green eyes and the best styling choices" I look at him oddly. "But your clumsiness, that we need to work on". I laugh at his statement, and he helps me to stand up.

"And how are we gonna do that?" I question, as we stand right in front of each other, chests touching as I speak. I try my best to breath properly. "You'll have to wait and see" he replies, with a twinkle in his eyes.

We make lunch and eat during the movie, and by two o'clock Carol is falling asleep on the couch. We smile to each other as Jordan scoops her small frame into his arms and heads to the door. "I better take her home, I'll see you tomorrow" he whispers, and I wave goodbye as he closes the door behind him.

Why did he bring her over for babysitting when he was going to stay the whole time? It makes me wonder what he's really here for. I wouldn't mind so much if he was here to see me, but I shouldn't get my hopes up.

I head upstairs to get changed, and put on my grey sweatpants, white T-shirt with a yellow F printed on it, and my fluffy pink socks. I suppose you could say I have good styling choices.

After spending the afternoon doing homework, I watch one episode of The Vampire Diaries, and get into bed. Mum arrives home and comes in to say hello. "Hey honey, how are you?" She asks, somberly. "I'm good, just had a babysitting job this morning, and I've been doing homework all afternoon".

"That's great" she says, "I'm going straight to bed, I'll see you tomorrow". "Night, Mum" I answer, as she closes the door on her way out. I close my eyes and roll to the side, falling into a deep sleep.

The waves crash against the yellow sand as I lie on the sunny beach. I roll to the side and smile at a handsome man, and he strokes my hair romantically. He pulls me to my feet, and we run towards the water. He pulls me under the waves, and I emerge completely soaked. We laugh and smile as I splash him with the salty taste, and he pulls me in to his chest. I rest my forehead to his, and he catches my lips with the light of the stars.

I sit up abruptly, opening my eyes with shock. That was a crazy dream, more than I've ever had before. And something's telling me that the guy in the dream was Jordan.

•••

Monday comes around quickly, and I get ready for school like a lightning bolt running from time.

Evelyn isn't there when I leave the house. Just as I decide to text her to see what's going on, I hear an engine, and a silver Jeep comes along the peaceful residential street. Jordan. I walk down the path to the car as it comes to a stop, and Jordan leans to the passenger door and opens it for me.

"Nik is taking Evelyn today, so I've got the job of getting you" he winks when he says this, his amazing, deep blue eyes opening like the Atlantic ocean. "Gee, thanks" I answer, smiling sarcastically. I step in the car trying not to trip. I manage to reach the step with my small legs and successfully get in the car. I put my seatbelt on as he drives away.

"So, can we play twenty questions?" He asks, and I wonder to myself, of all things, why he would want to do that on the way to school. "Alright" I reply, and he gets a piece of paper from his pocket. I unfold the paper and read through it. It's a list of all the twenty questions he wants me to answer.

I snicker as I read them. "What is your shoe size? What has this got to do with anything?" I ask, bursting with laughter. "You have to know these things, alright? A friend is supposed to know every detail about their friend, including shoe size. Keep reading".

Friend. The word makes my heart sink a little bit. "Where're friends?" I ask, hoping for a good answer. "Well, yea. I think we are, don't you?" He replies.

"Yea, of course" I say in a whisper. I decide to continue reading the list. There is quite a lot there; 1: What's your favourite colour, 2: What's the last picture you took with your phone, 3: Have you ever danced in the rain, 4: What's the weirdest prank call you've ever made, and 5: Have you ever been in a car accident. I stare at the paper before willing myself to answer the questions.

"One, my favourite colour is blue, two, the last picture is of a Christmas patterned Starbucks cup, three, I don't think so, four, I've never prankcalled, and five..." I stammer for a second, partly afraid of Jordans reaction, and also unsure of how to say it.

"And five?" He asks, trying to push me gently into answering. I take a deep breath, as the car slows in the parking lot. "Two years ago I was going to the mall with my parents, and we were driving across the Auckland bridge, when another car collided with ours. A Subaru, I think. We were rescued from the river, but I was the only one who made it". There. Now I can relax, whatever happens happens.

"Wow" he stutters. "I'm so sorry, if I had known I wouldn't have asked". When I turn to look at him, he's looking straight into my eyes.

"It's ok" I reply, smiling, but not quite reaching my eyes. "So, who is it you live with now?" He asks. "Her names Bonnie Clark, I call her my Mum because ever since the accident she's been by my side, and when she adopted me she did her best to make me happy. I can't thank her enough for that".

It's silent for a minute. I wipe a single tear from my face as he brings me to him for a hug. "Come on, let's go in" he suggests, and I nod, checking my face in the mirror. No redness. I follow him out of the car and into the building. It feels good telling someone I trust exactly what I need to say.

The rest of the day goes well. Third period I had English with Mrs Olsen, and I sat with Evelyn in our usual spot. She handed us our test results from the comprehension segment, and Kyle had a tantrum about his low score. It cracked us up, Evelyn and I were seconds from getting detentions thanks to the hilarious outburst.

Nik put glue on Mr Cedar's chair is science, and the class were talking about it all lesson. It's great being friends with Nik, Kyle and Jordan, it feels so relaxing hanging around them. No wonder so many girls are 'in love' with them.

Jordan drops me home after school, but not before going to Starbucks to buy me a strawberry smoothie. "I'm a great friend, aren't I?" He says, proudly. "Yea, maybe even a better friend than Evelyn" he pretends to blush at that, and fans his face with his hands dramatically.

I laugh at his act as he pulls over outside my house. He waves goodbye and promises to see me tomorrow. I hope he does.

I also decide when I get home to get Snapchat, after being harrased by Kyle about it all lunch. I add Ev and Nik, Kyle, and Jordan, before getting into bed and going to sleep.

I can't take my mind off Jordan. It's like he's imbedded into my brain, unable to be removed. It takes me what feels like hours to fall asleep, and even then he's still on my mind.