The Great Gatsby, characters, and original concept belong to F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Chapter 6
Jordan and I celebrated the finalization of the divorce by going out to our favorite coffee shop. We pretended that it was a three course meal, picking the menu items with such thoughtfulness and even bringing our own wine glasses for prepackaged beverages. As always, our order came out to be one egg bagel with butter and a banana walnut muffin with two cups of pulp-free orange juice. These were the mornings that I lived for.
Halfway through our meal, my phone began to buzz with messages from Tom. I knew that they would say what he'd been repeating for the past few months: "A few stacks of paper won't keep me from winning you back." I appreciated the sentiment, and his efforts were admirable. Without taking my eyes off my bagel, I reached into my purse and silenced my phone. Jay had been texting me all morning as well; I didn't need both of them to be bothering me. I loved them both, but a girl needed her own space.
"Now we can say that we're single without explaining that you're in the process of divorcing." Jordan bit into the piece of pastry she had cut. "I'm glad I never got deep enough into a relationship for the government to get involved."
I grinned, shrugging. "A white dress and an expensive wedding can fill your head with all sorts of ideas."
"I don't know. Even before we broke up, I can't imagine ever marrying Nick."
Upon hearing his name, I started; it had been a while since I heard from my cousin. Apparently he hadn't been very supportive of me dating two men for long periods of time, especially when his own girlfriend was encouraging it. I hadn't heard from him in a while, not since he moved back west. In the city that never slept, Nick just couldn't keep up. He just didn't appreciate it. I hadn't even known that he felt so strongly about it all until he told me the night before he left.
"I don't know what I would have done if he somehow convinced you to move to the west with him," I remarked, unable to even fathom Jordan returning to some small town after having tasted the rush of Manhattan. "Anyway, marriage doesn't seem to be the best route these days. Civil unions are the way to go. I for one won't be marrying again anytime soon, not even Gatsby. Nick's a good guy; he was just too traditional for you. Incompatible."
To my surprise, she sighed. "Yeah. It was never really serious, but he was cool. I knew he didn't play mind games. His quietness just got to be too disconcerting."
"Men," I said, and the smile returned to her face.
"Yeah," she grinned. "Men."