She was making muffins the next morning, when he came up behind her, kissing and biting playfully at her neck, making her laugh. Making herhappy. That’s all he’s ever done. Saved her from herself.
He had her pressed against the counter, kissing lazily, giggling happily into each other’s mouths, muffins long forgotten when Jessica came back in the room from the shower she was taking.
“I see those muffins are baking quite nicely” she said. It was supposed to be teasing, but Charlie caught the edge to her voice.
“I’ll go.. get dressed..” Jordan said, obviously having heard it too. He pressed one last kiss to Charlie’s lips and disappeared down the hall.
“Is that how you pay rent for this place?” Jess asked, picking up an apple from the basket on the island.
“what?”
“I know what you make Charlie, you could barely afford your half on that shit hole you shared with Roxi. Are you making up for the lack of funds with sex? Do you submit payments daily or weekly?” this was malicious, and out of character, even for Jess, who could play mean girl pretty well when she wanted something.
“Jess!” “Oh come ON Charlie. You can’t expect me to believe that he’s letting you live here because he likes having you around. Guys want one thing, and one thing only.”
“This is low Jess. Even for you.”
“What makes you think Jordan is any better than any other guy out there Charlie? All Guys want is sex, they don’t even care who it’s with”
“How dare you. How dare you talk about him like that. After he let you stay here for a week. He took you in, let you stay on his sofa, let you watch his TV, and use his shower and eat his food, and didn’t ask a single question. Didn’t ask for a reason why, didn’t ask how long you’d be here, didn’t ask for anything in return. How DARE you. And how dare you think so low of me. After all I’ve done for you, after all I’ve been through, after knowing me for 23 years, how dare you think that I’d ever use sex to get anything” Jess looked a little ashamed, but Charlie wasn’t done yet. “All week.. all my life, I have taken care of you. I clean up your messes, I cook your meals, I hide in the shadows so that the spotlight only shines on you. I’ve kept secrets, I’ve supported ridiculous decisions, I’ve taken your side, even when you were wrong, and I’ve allowed you to walk all over me. My ENTIRE LIFE Jessica!” she threw the dish rag she’d been holding onto the counter, “Is this how you’re thanking me for that? Make your own damn muffins. Don’t burn down my kitchen.”
She stormed out of the apartment, grabbing Jordan’s keys off the counter. She didn’t have shoes on.
She was wearing her pj pants, and a long sleeve white tee shirt she’d had on underneath the sweatshirt last night. She did have socks on at least, seeing how it was snowing outside.
She climbed into his SUV, but she didn’t have anywhere to go. She put the keys in the ignition but didn’t turn the car on, she just pulled her knees up to her chest, and hugged her legs, burying her face to hide her tears. It was less than a minute before the passenger door opened, and then closed and familiar warm arms wrapped around her, lips pressing into her hair.
She leaned into his touch.
“I’m really proud of you Charlie” he said, keeping his voice low, as if talking too loud would break her, “I know how hard that was for you, to stand up to her. To defend yourself. I’m so proud of you”
She hadn’t meant to was the thing. She was just going to defend him, but she was so angry, so frustrated, so offended.
“I couldn’t let her say those things about you. Not after everything you’ve done for her, not after everything you’ve done for me. And you were nothing but nice to her, even after what she did to your brother. You could’ve told her to suck it up and face her friends but you didn’t”
