when we come to it

Chapter 5: 2008 (4 of 4)

Friday, 12.05.08

The cab ride from PHL was far shorter that Rory had expected, having searched up the exact distance on Google Maps before she even left for her plane. The way she was obsessively reading and re-reading article she had had to write for her interview was most definitely the reason that it took the cab driver telling her they were there for her to notice they weren't moving.

She typed out a text:

[to Jess]: I'm outside.

After forking over the twenty-odd dollars she owed the driver, Rory slid her article back into the special folder and climbed out of the car to grab her suitcase from the trunk. That suitcase was all Rory had needed to bring for the weekend trip, making this the first time in eighteen months that she'd taken a plane with luggage that weighed less than she did. After nearly losing half her clothes in an Iowa airport, Rory was a massive fan of packing light.

Situated on the sidewalk with her bag, Rory took the time to slide her folder into a suitcase pocket before pulling her cellphone out of her jeans and checking if Jess had responded. No such luck.

Rory rolled her bag to the end of the metal green staircase, hesitant to climb to the door of the offices. It had been years since her heels were planted on the same sidewalk, at the end of the same stairs. The ghost of her past was reminding her of feelings she had already abandoned. Her vision blurred by tears, she had stared at the door, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to walk away again if he came after her. Rory had never felt so small as when he didn't.

The memory was enough to bring her to a nervous halt at the bottom step, wondering if it would be too extremely weird to stand in the place where he'd last kissed her. When they talked before, Jess had told her that he would come down to meet her. Maybe he wasn't looking at his phone. In the end, it was the forty degree wind and errant snowflakes managing to sneak past her layers that drove her to walk up the first few steps.

Before she had even made it to the first landing, the door at the top of the staircase flew open to show Jess, calling back to whoever was still inside.

"Just have her email me the poems... No, I can get to them tonight. No big deal. Yeah. Alright, bye!" He let the door shut behind him, zipping his coat while he turned to walk down the staircase.

Rory was surprised to by the warmth in the way he said her name, more surprised by on the way it spread through her frozen finger tips. His voice was nicer than she'd remembered, it sparked a nostalgic fondness that she couldn't get around. It wasn't that she had expected him to be less than pleased to see her, but it was startling to see the change in his body language that came with lending her his focus.

"Hey," Rory breathed, very aware of the sudden smile on her face. It would be believable that the color in her face came from wintry chill. "I didn't know if you got my text."

"Oh, yeah, I got it," Jess nodded, walking down to meet her on the stairs. "Let's throw your stuff in my car," he suggested, bending down to pick Rory's suitcase out of her hand.

"You really don't have to carry it; it isn't that heavy," Rory insisted, watching him hoist the luggage over his shoulder.

"I'll be fine. My car's just down the street," he shrugged, gesturing so that she would walk back down to the street. Rory relented and turned, waiting for him once she got to the sidewalk so that she could follow him to his car.

"How was your flight?" Jess steered Rory to the left.

"It was only an hour long, but I got to see the last twenty minutes of A Few Good Men. Then I got to see the first half of Speed, so all in all: pretty good," she shrugged, watching Jess scan the street for his car. He didn't have any of the wrappings that Rory came prepared with. She was currently wearing her winter coat, a thick scarf and matching hat, and a pair of gaudy pink cat-themed mittens that her mother had gotten her when she was feeling particularly funny. Jess, on the other hand, was wearing a thin-looking quilted jacket.