Hi everyone, I don't know if anyone is reading this anymore but I have been short on both time and inspiration. I started this chapter months ago but couldn't finish it until now. I'm obviously not updating as often but I still want to finish this story so thanks for reading! I own nothing.

Chapter 25

"Hi Jordan," Patti greeted him. "I don't think Angela's going to school today. She isn't feeling well."

"Oh," Jordan said, standing in the doorway.

"But you're welcome to come in and have some coffee, if you want."

"Um, sure," he said, never one to turn down food. "Is Angela alright?"

"This has all been very hard on all of us, but especially her, I think - with her dad, you know," Patti whispered, as she opened the door wider to let him in. Jordan nodded, not sure what to say, since he didn't really know what she was talking about.

"Wait – I don't know what you're talking about," he admitted quietly. "Angela never told me."

"I guess she wouldn't have had the chance…" Patti sighed. "Well, her dad's gone to stay with his brother."

"Oh," Jordan managed to get out. "Like, for now?" He regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth, cursing the fact that he never seemed to be able to think quickly enough to say the right thing. Patti didn't seem to notice.

"I guess," she shrugged. "We're still talking, of course, but we just need some space. Anyway, you don't need to hear about this boring adult stuff." She steered him towards the kitchen.

"Why does Angela get to stay home from school and I have to go?" Danielle was complaining loudly in the kitchen where she was fussing with her breakfast, saving Jordan from further conversation.

"Angela isn't feeling well, sweetie," Patti said quietly to her.

"Does she have her period?" Danielle said loudly.

"No, and use your inside voice please," Patti said irritably, gesturing that he should take a seat. She poured coffee into a mug as he sat down at the table. "Your sister isn't feeling well and that's that." She mouthed "Sorry" at Jordan over Danielle's head and nudged the sugar bowl towards him.

"Well, I'd rather we told the truth around here instead of covering things up," Danielle said.

"Who's covering things up?" Patti asked, with the faintest of eye-rolls.

"Where's Daddy?"

"At Uncle Neil's. We already went through this."

"Are you getting a divorce?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nobody's getting a divorce," Patti said firmly. "Now go and get ready. The school bus is coming."

"Sorry," Patti sighed as Danielle grudgingly left for school. "This has been hard on everyone. Danielle just shows it differently than Angela."

"Are you doing okay?" Jordan asked.

Patti looked touched for a moment, and he worried that she might cry, then she seemed to pull herself out of it. "Yeah, I'm okay. Maybe it hasn't hit me yet, but I'm just trying to stay busy, which isn't hard." She slid a plate of untouched toaster waffles in front of him. "Breakfast isn't up to its usual standards in the Chase household these days, I'm afraid."

"I'll eat anything," Jordan said with a shrug.

Patti smiled, acknowledging to herself that she was grateful that Angela had him while the family went through this. She was starting to realize that beneath the surface, he was nothing like Tony Poole at all, and that was a good thing.

"I'm sure Angela will be glad to see you before you head off to school," Patti said after he silently demolished all the food in sight. "It might cheer her up a little."

"Are you sure?" he asked, feeling uncomfortable. Crying girls - if she were crying - were not his domain at all.

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll make an exception this time. I have to get ready for work. Life goes on, I suppose."

It felt weird going up the stairs in broad daylight.

"Hey," he stood in her doorway. "Can I come in?"

"I can't believe she let you come up here."

He lingered in the doorway. "She said it was an exception."

"I look like crap," Angela said. She was sitting on the windowseat facing the window, wearing an old sweatshirt and a pair of what looked like pajama bottoms. She was also playing the most depressing-sounding music he'd ever heard in his life.

"I thought I'd take you to school, but I guess you're not going. So I thought I'd say hi."

"Hi," she said morosely.

"Hi," he said, coming in. He sat on the unmade bed, waiting, although he wasn't sure what for.

She turned to face him. There were dark circles under her eyes and her eyes were red, as if from crying, although she wasn't crying then. He thought about the first time she had sought him out when she was upset about something – she had been crying then, and he'd been curious about the source of her tears. This was different though – more personal, somehow, and rather than feeling curious, he felt... understanding maybe.

"I told you I looked like crap."

"Not crap," he said. "Unhappy, yeah. What's up?"

"I'm assuming Patti told you."

He shrugged. "A little."

"I knew it was coming, but it still like, stunned me with how badly it hurt when he finally told me he was going to stay with his brother, you know? It's like, you prepare yourself for bad news to the point that when it comes, you're not ready for it. That doesn't make sense, but it's how I feel."

"It doesn't not make sense." He hoped that sentence was coherent.

"Look, if you don't want to be around all this doom and gloom, I understand." She looked down and fidgeted with a loose thread on her sleeve. "I'm probably not going to be myself for a while."

He got up from the bed and went to where she was. He put his arms around her and she buried her face into his shoulder.

"You don't have to stay, you know," she whispered. "This – I – can get a little… stuck in my head."

"I know," he said.

"So if you want to bail, you can, or whatever. I don't expect – "

"I know," he cut her off. "Just stop."

"Stop what?" she asked, surprised.

"Trying to like, think for me. You think too much."

"I can't stop it," she admitted. "I know it doesn't help anything, but…"

"Just try. You'll feel better," he said. "I have to go to first but I can come back after and pick you up."

"Sick of me already, right?" she said morosely.

"I'm coming back," he said.

"Well I guess if school isn't as captivating as usual, come on back," she said.

"I'm coming right back, Ange," he said. He had no idea what he was doing, but it felt right – it felt like what he wanted.

"You blinked! I win!" Angela exclaimed, pointing at Jordan and laughing for the first time in what seemed like days, as they both lay on the hood of his car, facing each other. "What do I win?"

"A big kiss from me."

"I think you lost on purpose," she complained good-naturedly as he brought his face closer to hers. They kissed for a few moments, before she seemed to come back to herself and pulled away.

"I just never saw this coming," she said, rolling onto her back and looking up at the sky. "Is it wrong that we're sitting here and I'm enjoying myself while my family is like falling apart?" She wondered aloud. "Obviously my family is far from perfect, but I never thought my dad would like, give up on their marriage and walk out on all of us." She paused and pulled her sweater closer to herself. "Am I boring you? I'm sorry if I keep talking about this."

Jordan shrugged. "It's okay."

"Yeah. I guess that I'm still like, shocked. I know that I shouldn't be, and things between them probably haven't been great for a while, but it doesn't help that there is potentially another woman in the picture."

"Do you know that?" he asked, lazily lighting a cigarette and watching smoke trail off the end of it.

"No, but it wouldn't surprise me. There have been other incidences, I think…" she trailed off and closed her eyes. "I should stop thinking about this, it's starting to make me feel sick."

"Your dad's a good guy. It could – he could be worse."

"I know…" she looked at him and wished he would elaborate – there was still so much she didn't know. But a part of her thought sometimes, what would be different if she knew… more than she knew? She could tell they both had an idea what the other was thinking but steadfastly refused to acknowledge it.

"I'm sorry I keep talking about this," she said again. "I know that he loves us, and I know that it could be worse."

"Trust me, it could be worse," he said.

They looked at each other silently for a moment.

"Your sister's going to be home soon, let's get out of here," he said finally. "She'll freak if she finds out you left the house."

"Were you guys alone here, like all day making out?" Danielle asked suspiciously.

"Jordan went to school," Angela rolled her eyes. "I was stuck here by myself."

"Is it okay with my mom that you're here when she's not home?" Danielle asked Jordan, her tone skeptical. The two of them were sitting at the kitchen table while Angela rummaged through the refrigerator looking for something edible.

"Danielle, it's fine," Angela said with more confidence than she felt. "Now stop interrogating everyone."

"Why wouldn't it be okay?" Jordan asked.

"You know… because of what happened with Sharon," Danielle said coyly.

"What do you know about Sharon?" Angela asked, slamming the fridge door in shock.

"Everything," Danielle smiled proudly.

"You do not," Angela narrowed her eyes, hands on her hips.

"Do too," her sister countered.

"I don't believe it," Angela said to no one in particular.

"I know she got pregnant and it was by accident, and she had an operation because she got sick," Danielle blurted out.

"Wow, nothing gets by you, does it?" Jordan said. "I used to be totally… what's that word – it's like obvious?"

"Oblivious," Angela said. "Clearly someone is listening when they shouldn't be." She gave Danielle a pointed glare.

"Yeah I was like oblivious. But then I realized that I was missing out on things around me." He looked at her and smiled.

"Adults forget I'm around, or they think I'm too young to understand," Danielle said confidingly. "But I'm really a lot more grown-up than they think."

"Don't grow up too fast," Angela said. "Seriously. And don't let Mom know how much you know about Sharon. I can't believe you eavesdropped."

"Nobody told me anything and bad things were obviously happening," Danielle said. "Wouldn't you want to know?"

"I don't know anymore," Angela said, closing her eyes. "Sometimes it's better not to know."

"Are your parents divorced?" Danielle suddenly asked Jordan.

"Well technically they were never married, so… no."

I didn't know that. At least, I don't think I did.

"Are they still together?" she persisted.

"No, not really," he said.

"Danielle, stop being nosy."

"I'm never going to get married," Danielle said solemnly.

"You don't know that," Angela chided her. "Quit being so serious."

"Do you ever want to get married?" Danielle asked Jordan. "Because Angela probably wants to know."

"If she wants to know, she'll ask me," he grinned, looking pointedly at her.

She could feel her cheeks flushing under both their gazes. He hadn't reacted in the way she expected.

"Trust me, if I wanted to know, I would ask," she said, looking away in an attempt to hide the smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth.

"Ooh burn," Danielle said, giggling. "You're not going to let her get away with that, are you Jordan?"

Jordan smiled and shrugged. His eyes caught hers and she found herself smiling back. She had no idea what he was thinking but for once, she figured it was okay.

"I should get going," he said. "Band practice."

"I'll walk you out," she said. He took her hand as they walked to the door together.

"I apologize for my sister again," she said when they were outside.

"It's cool," he said. "She's not shy, that's for sure. So are you going to school tomorrow?"

"Probably. Patti won't see any reason for me to skip another day. So I guess I'll se you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he kissed her, his hands against the small of her back. "I think things will be okay."

"I wish I had your confidence," she said in a low voice.

"Look, I'm not just saying that. I really think that you, no matter what, will always be okay."

It was a strange thing to say, especially coming from Jordan, but it made her feel a little bit better.