Ch 3: Words unspoken
Jordan looked around Woody's apartment, how cold it had become, and impersonal, something his apartment had never seemed before. She watched as he slumped into his couch and lay his head in his hands. She wanted to say something, anything to make that look leave his eyes, that look of pure and untarnished grief. She felt a rush of guilt from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. She had pushed him away, and now he didn't trust her. Funny she had always thought she was the one with issues. But now as she watched him unravel she had really begun to notice how close they were, cut from the same cloth.
She looked around the small, studio apartment and saw no pictures on the wall, no sign of childhood memories the only thing that seemed close to letting anyone inside who he was before Boston was the robots that lined his mantle.
"Woody are you okay?" she asked her voice laced with concern, "I mean since Annie Cody came in you've been kind of…" she allowed her voice to trail off when she saw the stunned look upon his face at the sound of Annie's name.
"Annie." He whispered with simple conviction, he opened his mouth like he was going to say more but nothing came out except a bitter chuckle "Annie was…" now was his turn to allow his words to falter.
Jordan sat next to him with a flourish, taking in the warm smell of him so near. She wanted to say something to him, but every time she spoke it seemed like her words escaped her, she found that happening more and more when he came near. She did the only thing she could think of, the one thing she wanted someone to do to her when her mom died. She leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder, totally content with just being there for him.
She could feel him relax against her, as he sighed out in something approaching exhaustion. Everything unspoken between them seemed to well up, bubbling just below the surface of the hard shell they both had tightly locked over them.
"Jordan…" Woody whispered, and all of a sudden it all came rushing back, everything she knew would happen, all the anguish that she had felt in previous relationships, all the fear and disappointment that came with her. It felt like a splash of cold water. She stood, taking three firm steps back, keeping a good distance between them. "Jordan?" Woody look haggard, that's all she could think as he stood to come closer to her. "Jordan please stay." He begged, "I promise I won't… just please stay." She could feel herself trembling inside, upset at the fact she had given him something to build on.
Look at what love had done to him before, what if she left? How could she handle hurting him, her best friend, she was in physical pain watching him go through what he was going through finding Annie. After all these years, after all those words unspoken how could she hurt him.
The truth of it infuriated her, she already had. She had dangled him at arms length for so many years that he had begun to date woman after woman in a vain attempt to fill the bottomless void he felt for her. She stood looking at the shell he had become.
"I'm sorry Woody I can't." she whispered, turning on her heel and running out the door before he could talk her out of it.
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Woody wasn't surprised when Annie had declined his first proposal, she had to think it over and he was willing to wait for her. But as the months went by he became more and more impatient and began to propose to her everyday becoming more and more creative. He always got the same answer.
"Woody, we barely know eachother." He would roll his eyes and kiss her on the cheek.
"We've known each other our whole lives, isn't that long enough?" but she insisted that they wait, until the opportune moment, when both had their lives on the right track.
Then one valentines day morning as he got ready for work. He spotted them, a small box of necco hearts sitting discarded on the kitchen table, he smiled to himself and stuffed them in his pocket.
Annie awoke to the smell of candy and roses, she opened her clover colored eyes to the stunning sight of roses everywhere, all around her light lit room. As she set her feet gingerly down on the hardwood floor she was stunned to see a small trail of Necco sweethearts leading her out of her room down the stairs and to a small note on the kitchen floor it read only
Marry me, please?
She smiled to herself and picked up the phone gently dialing the number to the sheriffs office, her father picked up the phone, she chatted with him for a moment before asking politely for Woody.
"Hey Diva, get my note?" he asked with a hopeful tone.
"Yes." Was all she said, she could almost see the look of confusion on is face.
"Yes you saw the note or your answer is yes." He asked skeptically
"Yes… to both." He didn't speak for a moment, she set the phone down gently with a smile.
