The next week flew by. It consisted of a lot of hard days at work, a couple of drinks after work with Ruby and the others, and a very tiring evening of shopping with Noah and Tabs. Shopping with the two of them was absolutely exhausting, because they were so indecisive, and also always had an opinion on what I was choosing, and if I liked it but they didn't, there wasn't a chance in hell I was buying it. Usually they were right though, because whenever I would go back to secretly get it, I would realise it isn't that special at all.

Anyway, that shopping trip had a purpose, and that purpose was outfits for Friday night, which also happened to be when we were going out for mine and Noah's birthday. Usually we try and have this big thing, a big party, or loads of us going out, but this time we decided we just wanted it to be the three of us, and it meant we would, probably, actually spend the night together.

I was actually the first to find an outfit, then Tabs, and finally Noah, who is the worst out of all of us, but he loves to flaunt the fact that he has a degree in Fashion so 'what he says goes, bitch', to quote him word for word.

Just as I was lying on my bed, in my towel, airdrying, with a scented candle lit and a good book in my hands, I heard my phone ping. I usually check when my phone pings just in case it is one of my clients needing an emergency solicitor or something, so I leant over and pulled it from the charger, then rolled to my original position and opened it.

Unknown: Hi, Grace gave me your number, I hope that's okay.

I could only guess it was Jordan, so I quickly messaged him back asking if it was Jordan, just to make sure.

Unknown: Shit, yeah, sorry.

I quickly changed his name in my contacts, and texted back.

Me: don't worry :)

Jordan: I'm sorry I stormed out... are you still up for meeting me for coffee?

Me: yeah sure, when oyu free?

- you*

Jordan: Still can't type I see :P

- Saturday morning?

Me: haha shutup

i will defnitly be hungover. can you do afternoon?

Jordan: Afternoon works. 5pm, Starbucks on the mainstreet?

- What are you doing Friday night to be hungover haha?

Me: mine and noah's bday outing, need I say more? see you then

Jordan: Good luck, you'll need it

- Looking forward to it x

I put my phone back on my bedside table, trying to ignore the stupid fluttering in my stomach. He sent you an 'x', that means fuckall, he probably sends 'x''s to so many people. Shut up. I also tried not to think about the fact he remembered I couldn't type, and my messages were often riddled with spelling errors and random unnecessary letters, or the playful nature of our texts. Friday couldn't come soon enough; I needed to get drunk.

On Friday I finished work slightly earlier, and headed home. It was a fairly short journey, which I was grateful of, because I didn't want to be on the tube much longer than I needed to. I briskly walked in through the door, smiled at the doorman Elvis, and headed upstairs.

It was chaos. Complete and utter chaos. It was a beautiful chaos, because Noah and Tabs had completely covered the apartment head to toe in decorations, banners, lights, posters, feature walls, balloons, confetti, the works, but it was still complete chaos. "Yeah, we aren't doing the intimate night out; we are going all out," announced Tabs, walking into the main room from the corridor where the bedrooms are.

"I can see that. When does everyone arrive?" I asked.

"Pre-drinks start at 9, we go to the club at 12, so leave here like 11.45, it's a fifteen-minute walk. Also, I booked a booth, so we don't have to wait in the queue."

"Sounds good."

"Oh, wait there," Tabs said, quickly going to her room, and coming back out with a neatly wrapped present, and a card. "Happy 22nd birthday." I opened it, and saw it was a picture frame with the three of us in it, and the picture frame was this really cool crystal thing. There was also a really nice set of earrings and a necklace, and a cute purse from Gucci (Tabs was rich like that, from her parents).

"I love it," I hugged her.

"I'm so glad! Oh, by the way, Jordan is coming, sorry, don't kill me!"

"It's fine," I laughed, "you looked scared, it's funny."

"Are you going to get with him tonight?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Absolutely not!" I pushed her lightly, and she laughed.

Tabs and I both happened to be wearing gold dresses, so Noah chose a cool golden and navy shirt, with patterns of lion heads on it. My gold dress was a minidress, with spaghetti straps, a low neckline and it was embellished all over it with little golden pearls. Tabs opted for a wrap minidress that was embellished with golden sequins, with a very low plunging neckline and criss-cross back straps. I decided that I wanted my hair up, so I put it in a high ponytail.

As I was getting ready, I heard my door open, and then I heard a voice saying, "um, hi." I turned around to see Jordan. He did look very dapper, wearing a white shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, and a lot of the top buttons undone, a golden chain around his neck, and black dress trousers.

"Hi Jordan, you okay?" I asked, confused as to why he found himself into my room, remembering back to the last time he was in my room and he flipped my chair and stormed out.

"Yeah, I'm fine, are you?"

"I'm amazing. I'll warn you though, I nailed my chair to the floor," I said in a serious tone, but burst out laughing, and so did he. He actually laughed. I hadn't heard his laugh in so long. Sure, at dinner he was laughing, but it was more polite laughter to other people's jokes, this seemed like genuine laughter.

"I missed your laugh," he said, and my stomach decided to do a double flip. I didn't say anything. "Sorry if that was weird..." he trailed off.

"It's not weird," I smiled reassuringly at him, meeting his gaze. "How come you came by?" I asked turning back around to my dressing table and continuing to apply some makeup. Yes, it was 9.25pm and everyone had pretty much arrived, and I was late, as usual.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay with me coming out. If it's weird for you I can leave, I don't mind, honestly," he admitted. I turned back around on my chair, and looked at him. He looked so vulnerable, and I didn't like it. I didn't want him to be vulnerable around me, I wanted him to be himself, or at least the guy I knew back in high school, the overly confident, slightly cocky, and very flirtatious Jordan. Was it me that was causing this vulnerability?

"Jordan, I am absolutely fine with you being here. It's going to be fun. I mean it."

"You were never good at being on time," he joked, "but how can you be late for 9pm."

"I had a nap, it overran," I grinned at him through the mirror.

"Ah, I should've guessed, you always did love your naps, especially after... ahem," he stopped himself, regretting almost saying what he was going to say.

"Especially after what?" I teased.

"You know..."

"Go on."

"Sex." I gulped, and so did he. It was silent for a second or two, until my stomach rumbled ridiculously loudly, causing Jordan to burst out into laughter. "Avery, you are almost the same person you were four years ago, your stomach is always so loud when you are hungry!"

"It's a curse I have to live with," I joked. "Let's go," I said standing up, "I need food."

***

1326 words

04/01/2021