Okay...so I don't think much has changed here. Some re-wording and fixing of things, but its all pretty much the same.
Chapter 3: How Do You Know Each Other?
"Sorry," Jorden said as she released her arms from around Michael's neck. "It's just really good to see you," she said with a very embarrassed look on her face.
"Not to worry," Michael said putting his hands on her shoulders and leaning down so that his eyes met hers. "There is no need to be embarrassed. It is really good to see you too." He followed her lead and wrapped her up in a hug. It was a strange feeling. A feeling she only got when Michael or his brother gave her a hug. It was a hug of security or safety. She wasn't really sure but for one thing, she needed these hugs more often than she got them. "When did you change your hair? And how many hair styles did I miss?" Michael asked as he released the hug and stepped back placing his hand on her upper arm taking in her new look.
"You didn't miss anything. This is actually only a few days old. Do you like?" she asked and stepped back in various cheesy modeling poses flipping her newly permed hair around.
"Curls are for you. Straight is so boring anyway," Michael said teasingly. Sara huffed a little folding her arms pretending to pout. Her hair was straighter than the new perm, but not completely straight. "But of course," Michael started moving toward Sara taking notice of her act, "waves are much nicer and classier."
"Thank you," Sara responded with a satisfied grin on her face.
"I should have known! I must be blind, or my radar is off," Jorden said in amazement at herself. She usually picked up on this stuff with no problem. Maybe she was off.
"What are you talking about?" Michael asked acting like he had no idea what she meant by her previous comment. Jorden knew otherwise.
"The two of you, you're together. It's actually quite obvious; I'm just not sure why I didn't pick up on it before."
"It's that easy to tell, huh?" Sara asked rather embarrassed.
"Yeah, it is. No, there's no need to get embarrassed or anything. Actually, it makes sense. At least to me it does. No worries. Secret safe," Jorden mocked locking her mouth with a key and throwing it away.
"Thanks, Jorden," Michael said giving her a look like what she had just done wasn't necessary. "Where is he? He should have been here by now unless he got lost or distracted. Either one of those possibilities is viable," Michael was looking worried checking his watch and the door. Jorden soon adopted the same demeanor and ran into her room to check her phone. There were no missed calls so maybe Michael was right; he had gotten distracted.
"You don't think he would have abandoned the plan. Michael, you know him better than that don't you?" Sara asked with concern but with certainty that Michael was wrong.
"That's what worries me. I do know my brother and I wouldn't put it past him if something comes along that looks better than what he already has planned. It's happened before Sara," Michael was looking more and more concerned. "Ask Jorden, she knows."
"It has happened before," Jorden replied wishing that her answer was different and that Michael was wrong. But she couldn't deny the past and it would not be the first time they, or she herself, had been passed up for something that looked better at the time.
"He isn't the same guy anymore, Michael," Sara was determined to change his perspective on his brother's whereabouts. "You saw him with LJ, at least for a little while. After everything the two of you have been through, what he's been through on his own, you are honestly going to tell me that he is the same man?" Sara was now looking at Michael in way that told him that he knew she was right.
"For his sake I hope you are right. I want to believe you, but the past has been repeated too often."
"I know where you're coming from, Michael. I do. But maybe Sara is right. He has been through some life changing stuff, and so have you. Would you say you are the exact same man you were before this fiasco? You've been here ten minutes and I know you're different. Not in every way, but you are not the exact same. Maybe the same is true for him," Jorden was trying to sound as reassuring as she could, but she knew Michael had a point as well.
"How much trouble could he have found in ten minutes, Michael?" Sara asked.
"You don't know him," Michael and Jorden answered in unison.
"I thought you agreed with me?" Sara said turning toward Jorden.
"I do, but Michael has a point. The past kinda overrides at this point. I hope that he is a better man for what he has gone through. I would think he would be, considering, but he's been through life changing things before. Fast forward to a year ago and you can see that it didn't last. Right now, I'm torn between what I know and what I hope is true. Knowledge keeps looking more and more like the truth at this point. I just hope I'm terribly wrong," Jorden was very calm on the outside, but very busy on the inside attempting to prove herself wrong.
"We all do," Michael said, checking his watch again.
"We gave him your number so that if something came up he could call," Sara said to Jorden, noticing Jorden's constant checking of her phone.
"So the fact that he hasn't called means no trouble, right? No trouble from those people after you guys?" Jorden said, suddenly sounding like a very worried child.
"Yeah, that's what it means. He'll be here, Jorden. He'll be fine, until I kill him for being late like this," Michael said. He was trying to reassure himself too. He hoped with everything that was within him that Sara was right and his brother would be there any minute.
"So how do you guys know each other? Michael just said you were a person we could trust. He didn't tell me much more than your name," Sara asked, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Michael has always been one for little detail. Little shared detail at any rate," Jorden shot a teasing grin at Michael. She knew full well that Michael put a lot of detailed thought into things. "We met a long time ago, years and years ago," Jorden answered redirecting her attention to Sara. "Let's see I was 15 or 16. I lived up the street from him."
"But didn't you move around a lot being in foster care?" Sara asked, redirecting her question to Michael.
"We both did," Jorden answered seeing that Michael looked uneasy. "I was in the system too. I wasn't at that particular place for very long though. I was there and gone before he left. From then on, we sent letters and updated pictures to each other all the time, letting the other know as soon as possible when our address changed. I think he was the first real friend I made after the accident that killed my adoptive parents..."
"Your adoptive parents?" Sara asked. She was very confused, Jorden could tell. This wasn't anything new.
"Jorden was adopted as a baby. Her mother died during birth and her father disappeared before that," Michael jumped in.
"So you've never had your real parents? Have you ever wondered about your father?" Sara asked. She looked like she was looking at a helpless child.
"I've wondered, sure. I think everyone in that situation does. I haven't gone looking for him though, if that's what you mean. I got along without him for years, and I'm getting along without him now. It doesn't bother me though, really Sara. Don't feel sorry for me, please. I've moved on and I'm fine."
"I just can't help it," Sara said. She looked like she was about to cry. "You probably don't like it when people feel sorry for you," she tried very hard to change her expression but to no avail. "I'm sorry, really. That's just ridiculous that someone as great as you are had to go through all of that. It just isn't fair," Sara said giving up on hiding her emotions.
"I gave up on fair a long time ago. No, it probably isn't fair but I decided that fair was something that just wasn't for me, so I made my own way. I'm proud of what I've accomplished and nothing anyone says or does to me, fair or not, will change that," Jorden said flatly. This had been her philosophy for years and had worked out well for her in the end. She had a degree, a job, an apartment, and a life she could enjoy without guilt. She had done well considering the circumstances of her childhood, and there was no reason she shouldn't be proud of that.
"Wow," was all Sara could say. "No wonder Michael thinks so highly of you. You are one amazing person. I don't know what I would do if I had been in your shoes. I know for certain that I would not have done all that you have, that's for sure," Sara said after a small moment of silence.
"Thank you for the compliment, but really there is no need," Jorden said.
"Jorden has never been good with compliments. She gets embarrassed like she doesn't deserve them when we all know she does," Michael chimed in again returning the teasing grin she had shot at him earlier.
"Well, you do deserve them. You've done what some may say is the impossible," Sara told Jorden in a very positive tone.
"Stop, really. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Look at Michael. He did the same thing," Jorden said attempting to change the subject slightly.
"Yes, I did do the same thing. But I had help through it all. You did it alone," Michael said once again using the same tone Sara had.
"I did not. I had you. And I had other friends who helped," Jorden said trying to push down the very high esteem Michael seemed to have for her. An esteem that seemed to be rubbing off on Sara.
"Ok, you had me. Other than sending you a letter about once every two weeks, what help did I give you?"
"You helped," Jorden was desperately trying to find something.
"If I helped, it wasn't much. You know that," Michael was not helping her efforts.
"So I didn't do exactly what you did, but I'm sure there is someone out there who did what I did."
"I doubt that seriously," Michael said in his voice of high esteem again. Jorden didn't like when he used that voice. She despised the attention she got when he used that tone.
"I just did what I had to do," Jorden said finally, hoping it would end their conversation.
"Whatever you say, Jorden," Michael said. He checked his watch again. His brother was now twenty minutes late. "Where is he?"
Jorden checked her phone again. Nothing, not a single missed call.
Just then, the doorknob turned and the door cracked open slightly. "Hello," came from the shadow. "Michael? Sara?"
"Get in here. Where have you been? What took you so long?" Michael marched across the room to the door, closing it behind his brother.
"Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've been on this end of town? Plus, the L was packed. Is there like a concert going on tonight or something. I couldn't even find an empty bus."
"So you walked all the way here? No wonder it took you so long, sorry bro," Michael said as Sara got up to give him her seat. He looked exhausted.
"So where's Jorden?" he asked Michael. "She's probably still partying with that Lena friend of hers, hooking up with every guy in sight and..."
"Ah hem," Michael cut his brother off before he could finish the thought.
"What?"
"You might want to keep it down bro. She's right there," Michael said with a rather amused smile on his face.
He whipped his head to his left as his eyes fell upon his best friend in the whole world. Jorden was sitting right there, and inevitably had heard everything he had just said. Never in his whole life had he ever felt this awful.
"Hi Jorden," he said shyly and stood up in what he hoped she took as respect and esteem.
She took her cue and stood up too. She took a few steps toward the light, casting off some of the shadow that had prevented him from seeing her in the first place. Finally, he was here. Relief swept over her the same way it had when Michael came out of the spare room. He was safe now, and that was the best feeling in the world. She couldn't help it. That strange urge came over her again. She flew across the room and flung her arms around the back of his neck. She was finally in the warm and strong embrace of the only other true friend she ever had in the world, Lincoln Burrows.