Hello :P It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter! As of next week I will begin uploading some chapters about Justin that show some sides to him that he doesn't really share with people for various reasons. But before we have all of that, here is one that is slightly about him but a lot about Katie and Jordan also. I've written a lot about how she struggles with her stammer but this chapter goes into some of the other emotions involved. Thankfully, her Grandad Jordan is there to help her through that. And he has a secret surprise for her also! I hope you enjoy :3
Ages:
Katie: 13
Jordan: 32
Justin: 19
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!
I smiled to myself when I heard a knock at the bedroom door and Katie did as well. I hopped down from the window sill in pleasant anticipation. Though I had been enjoying basking in the sunlight by the window and feeling the warmth run its fingertips down my spine and I listened to Katie while she practiced reading, as soon as I heard that noise, I prepared myself for the next segment of the day.
The orange haired teenage girl was no longer just going to be practicing her reading and reciting a story to herself and myself too. She was going to practice for someone else. And because it had become such a routine and her growing confidence made her enjoy it more and more, she simply could not wait.
The eldest Ketchum daughter almost scrambled to her feet when she heard that knock on her bedroom door and in her haste, she dropped her book to the floor. But she didn't care. The book didn't care either. Well, Katie did care a little bit and she showed this by her eyes glancing sideways towards her discarded friend on the floor as she clambered up to her full height.
With a simple glance and no words at all, she reassured her book that it would only be for a moment or two. She would only leave it lying there for a little bit. And then not only would they be reunited but it would be read aloud for all to enjoy.
Katie darted over to the door to answer it and I smiled as she prepared to see her Uncle James' face on the other side of it. And then barely even a couple of seconds after she had turned the doorknob and she had opened the door, her expression was suddenly decorated with something I had never would have expected. When Katie answered the door, her face fell down with disappointment – even harder than her book had hit the ground moments before.
Her Uncle James was not standing there like both she and I had been anticipating. Her Uncle James was not there to practice her reading with her and enjoy quality time with her. The lavender haired male that was James Morgan was not there at all. Instead, a yellow haired male stood where we were both expecting a longer haired and slimmer male to be.
It was Katie's Grandad Jordan. And the way that he grinned like we were both expecting him to be standing there filled me with confusion. The orange haired female was too busy showing utter disappointment.
"Hello there, you." Jordan beamed down at his granddaughter with a happy-go-lucky air about him that he was often known to possess and before the orange haired female could protest, he reached down to squeeze her in his muscular arms. But he did not linger. Almost as if he knew that she didn't like to be smothered too much without her actively having to tell him, Jordan then pulled away. But he still didn't stop himself from barging into her room, proving that he didn't always catch on to everything. He continued merrily, pushing past Katie. "I am utterly ready. I am absolutely ready."
Jordan continued his words, with a gesture of his head flicking his curtain-like bangs from his eyes and cupping his hands together to form the shape of a book. After he did this, his meadow orbs wandered down to where Katie's book laid flat out but he didn't make a grab for it. I didn't either. Like the eldest Ketchum female, I just stood there, staring.
However, unlike her, my expression was still plain old bewilderment. Katie's was fixed at complete dismay which grew all the more as she started to piece together what was going on – and why her Uncle James was not standing there.
Jordan finally stopped beaming and being airy and though he continued being himself, he nodded his head in response to Katie's regrettably knowing looks, trying to stand a bit straighter up and attempting to quieten down to convey sincerity. He continued nodding his head in between flicking his locks from his eyes as he spoke words.
"Yeah. Yeah. It's me again this week, I'm sorry. James couldn't get away from little Jorgie. But it's me again this week." The yellow haired male made his way through these words in a restrained and level tone that was vastly different from the way that he could boom when he was being friendly. But despite this, he rambled just a little bit to prove that he was still Jordan and also perhaps that he felt a little uneasy towards how Katie might react further. He added. "But that's okay, isn't it? That's okay. It's all good. We have good times too."
Jordan nodded his head just one more time and offered Katie a smile and then with that, he finally bent down to pick up her discarded book on the floor and made his way to sit on the end of her bed – ready for reading time.
I shook off all of my prior expressions and resisted protectively and worriedly glancing over at the teenage girl for a couple of moments and glanced Jordan's way to discover that I couldn't help but notice how he didn't meet her eyes as soon as he said his last few words. And despite it all, I felt a little bit curious as to why!
I soon supposed that it was because he never really got to experience a close relationship with proper teenage girls. It was all new territory for him. And what was absolutely new territory for him when it came to Katie was how she reacted next.
The orange haired female was absolutely a wonderful girl with amazing qualities and a strong yet gentle personality who could be composed even during the toughest times. But in that moment, all of that seemed to fade away. Not that anybody was judging her. It was just fact.
For when Katie heard her Grandad Jordan's words and she realised that for yet another week, her Uncle James had bailed on their reading time to spend time with his orange haired daughter – the orange haired teenager appeared to be unable to fit that piece of information in her head.
At first it made her wince. And then it made her frown. And before she knew it, tears had bubbled and brewed in her eyes and she had flopped down towards the floor, her body threatening to girl up and rock. Jordan simply guffawed. He was expecting many possible reactions, I think, mostly along the lines of an attitude and some silent treatment. But he was not prepared for a display of vulnerability.
I was partially worried how he was going to react. But before I could worry about that too much or push my thoughts aside and dart to either one of their sides, the yellow haired male snapped into action. He was a nurturer despite his clumsy and uncertain and blunt persona. He really didn't hesitate to get down on the floor with Katie, tucking his legs under her body like she was doing. Jordan wrapped a strong arm around his granddaughter.
"Hey. Hey. C'mon, it's okay. It really is okay." He began and his natural instinct was to comfort her but I could see from the way that his eyes were flickering towards her and the floor while she buried her face in her hands and her shoulders shook that he didn't have a single clue about what he needed to soothe her over. It didn't stop him from trying though. Jordan bit his lip. "Your Uncle James still adores you, Katie. It's not his fault that his little baby was under the weather and finally fell asleep on him."
As I moved closer to the two relatives and intended on squeezing between them both to mainly comfort the orange haired teenage girl, I saw the way that her body subtly jolted and her shoulders lightly heaved upwards. She missed just a single beat and then she replied, breaking her face away from her hands.
"It… It's n-not tha-at…" Katie found herself insisting with a red flushed face as well as one that was tear stained, fiercely sniffing and wiping the wetness with the back of her hand. Jordan didn't dare glance at me for help and continued looking right at his granddaughter, his eyes widening further with every second that passed. Among the things that I said about Katie previously that were very true, she was also an intelligent and observing human being. And she was selfless too. The last thing she wanted was to anybody to think that she was in competition with a seven month old baby. The orange haired teenage girl gulped and buried her face back in her hands but she persisted. "It's… It's not that at all… It… It… It's j-just… A-Again…?"
Katie mumbled these words and spoke against the clamminess of the palms of her hands and then she revealed her face to her Grandad Jordan and me for the last word that she spoke. And even though the yellow haired male had finally been looking at me for assistance before that was going on, he looked back at her as she concluded her sentence. And the way that she met his gaze helplessly and gulped all over again gave Jordan just a little bit of a clue as to what was going on and how she was feeling.
Though he sighed, it was not in an impatient way. I believed that it was merely to gather just a split second more before he knew he needed to have a worded answer for Katie. The yellow haired male reached out and brushed her locks from her eyes and then spoke to her, trying not to shrug but his large and solid shoulders did indeed move a fraction. I moved closer to Katie.
"Well… Well yeah, it is again because I had to fill in for him last week." Jordan uttered matter-of-factly and I heard my breath from the way that I could feel Katie's body shivering and crumpling against me as I tried to offer some wordless, touch comfort. I prayed that Misty's father wasn't going to put his foot in it and make things worse during a sensitive time for the orange haired teenage girl. I just had to have faith that his honesty would be enough – as well as gentle. "But… But that really isn't so bad, is it? Just one more time. One more week. And you know James. He will make it up to you. He adores these times as much as you do and you know it."
And with that, Jordan didn't brush his fingers clumsily but caringly through Katie's orange locks a second time but he used those fingers of his to lift her chin up lightly instead. And although I got the impression that the orange haired teenage girl and her introverted self probably didn't wholeheartedly know her Grandad's words, even she in the middle of all of her emotions could grasp a tiny fraction of Jordan's sincerity.
And in addition to this, she also had enough knowledge to travel back and understand that her Grandad Jordan could be the bluntest person ever! He didn't say anything just for the sake of it.
Both the yellow haired male and I pulled away and gave Katie just a little bit of space and watched as her thirteen year old brain wrapped its way around this information. But first and foremost, we gave her space to think and feel in general, no matter how miniscule or blown out of proportion it seemed to anybody else.
Katie was disappointed and let down by the fact that for a second week in a row, her Uncle James couldn't make their weekly routine of reading together and after a difficult week facing up to her stammer – it was something that she wholeheartedly needed.
But the truth was she wasn't just disappointed. She was hurt. She was frustrated. She was annoyed. She was bewildered. And it wasn't just towards that situation and that instance either. Like it was for many people and not just teenagers or teenage girls, one simple emotion and one simple change of plans caused feelings that she had been buried or had been quietly dealing with came to the surface when one single thing went slightly wrong.
As the orange haired female considered this in her own mind and she felt both her Grandad Jordan and I giving her the space that she deserved, her own emotions paired with the patience felt a little too much for her. Tears bubbled and brewed in her eyes all over again. But that time she didn't hide her face away again – at least not for the time being.
With a shaky hand, she reached her fingers out to brush my cheek while tears pooled in her eyes and she confessed towards the yellow haired male, beginning to understand that not only was he second best to her uncle because he wasn't, but he was the best for her there and then. Katie tried not to gulp a third time.
"I… I'm so sick of change… I-I… I'm so sick of things going wrong…" the orange haired teenage girl confessed and her eyes screwed up after she briefly met her relatives meadow green gaze, her legs still tucked underneath her and her spine curving as though she longed to properly curl up. I didn't know if she could sense Jordan not understanding or she just assumed that he didn't because she felt like nobody did. She spluttered as she very nearly gripped onto my red cheek. "I don't… I d-don't want it to be you…"
There and then and in that moment, a white hot flash coursed through my body before it cooled down dramatically and turned to ice in the pit of my stomach. And despite what you're thinking, it wasn't because I thought those words were directed at me!
No, I knew very much that they were directed towards Jordan. And it was in that instant also that I wished that his brutally honest streak had not been passed on to Katie. I did not know if the yellow haired male could handle it. I just had to wait and see. So I waited and saw.
Jordan barely seemed to react at all! It was like those words hadn't even been said. Though they absolutely had from the way that I had heard them and the orange haired teenage girl really did curl up that time after saying them, bawling her closed fists around her t shirt, Jordan barely reacted at all. His pupils in his eyes shimmied and shifted just a little but apart from that, he didn't seem to absorb those straight-up words much at all.
Instead the yellow haired male simply edged closer to his teenage granddaughter, nudging his shoulder against her as he sat next to her, almost sending her flying with his unaccounted for strength. He placed her book in his lap and shrugged, his hand reaching out again to poke the backs of her fingers as she hid her face as he couldn't get to her chin to lift it a second time.
"Well… You're entitled. But you can't banish change, Katie. If someone like me can adapt eventually then you can as well." Jordan uttered with a shrug and I was engulfed with a new-discovered feeling of respect for him when his happy-go-lucky streak appeared all over again and he smiled at Katie even though she was not looking at him. She sniffed from behind her hands. The yellow haired male stretched out his legs from underneath him and added. "Just forget all that for a minute. Just forget all that and pretend I'm meant to be here. Let's just read together. I'm sure you'll feel much better."
I wondered if the orange haired teenage girl like myself found herself engulfed in feelings but her ones were heartbroken fondness when she realised that despite her potential rudeness towards her Grandad, he was still sitting there and being patient and trying to get her to feel better. Even if he didn't understand much of all of her emotions at all.
I got the feeling that I was right from the way that she very quietly whimpered from behind her hands, not moving them away even when Jordan poked her fingers all the more. She still didn't move her hands away from her face when Jordan spoke some more words still. He had a new addition of seriousness paired with a level tone.
"I know that you might be feeling embarrassed but there's really no need to with me… I mean… You're not the only one who has gone through speech things in your lifetime." The yellow haired male reminded her and then and there like I had been worried that Jordan would not be able to handle Katie's raw honesty, I had a wave of concern that Katie would think that Jordan was trying to make things about him.
But because that simply was not the case then that was not conveyed at all. Like her grandfather most of the time, the orange haired teenage girl caught on to everything that Jordan wasn't saying and remembered how he had once opened up to her about also being selectively mute after his little sister's passing way back during his youth.
Though I took a step backwards, I breathed a sigh of relief when Katie's fingers began to slide down and away from her face. I imagined that her tears staining both her cheeks and her hands helped with this process and it made me want to dart closer to her all over again. But I resisted. I resisted and I focused and then I heard the eldest Ketchum daughter utter in almost a whisper.
"I don't… I don't want to read…" the orange haired female started her sentence and after my own eyes flickered to where Jordan was as his meadow orbs did the same towards me, I figured that the thirteen year old girl's stubborn streak was making a comeback. But I was stood correct. I always needed to remember that patience was a virtue. Katie swallowed softly and closed her eyes, revealing spiky, wet eyelashes as she added. "I-I don't want to read… I want… I want to talk… I want to remember…"
"What do you want to remember?" Jordan questioned and it was in that moment that I was reminded as to why the yellow haired male shared his name with a body of water. I was reminded as to why he could be described as ever-changing and multi-qualitied as the sea. He showed another part of his self, there and then and that was an utter rarely found innocence and purity by the way that as he asked his granddaughter this question, he simply leaned and rested his cheek on her shoulder.
And I knew that it was certainly that comfortable companionship even in the midst of quite tricky emotions that caused Katie to feel at least some comfort already. Despite the fact that she moved her hands to tug on her t shirt all over again and she continued bending her body like she wanted to curl up and her eyes remained shut too – she confessed to her grandfather. She confessed to her Grandad Jordan. She confessed to the man who perhaps would understand her more than anyone.
"It… It's just… B-Been a hard week…" Katie started and straight away, we both nodded our heads. Jordan had a quality of remaining innocence in his eyeballs while I imagined that my eyes were going to be filled with sadness and concern. I understood that what she was saying was true because I had seen most of it myself. The orange haired female had indeed been very insecure of her stammer during that week and very doubtful that it would ever be easy for her. The orange haired teenage girl's eyes creaked open and she saw and sensed Jordan's no judgement and it made her able to elaborate. "I don't know… S-Sometimes I get so in my head about h-h-how I speak… And it makes me forget other things… Im… Im…portant things…"
"Important things like what, Katie…?" Jordan replied back in that same slow and simple tone that he had quickly responded with before and as I watched the scene unfold I observed that, although it could at times be very much a tragedy that Jordan kept his emotions in, it also could serve him brilliantly when it came to other people unloading their burdens. When people can feel a comfortable distance, they seem to share all their secrets of their minds and hearts.
I saw the way that the orange haired teenage girl pawed at her own t shirt further as she inwardly debated whether or not she was going to reveal everything or not and I saw the way that the yellow haired male gently waited too. And there and then even though I was stood away from the two of them, I never felt closer to them both. And when I pondered this closeness to both of those people that I held dear thanks to my best friends Ash and Misty, Katie responded hurriedly. She responded hurriedly to show her deep attachment to those feelings.
"Important things…" she insisted without hesitation and she didn't need to feel Jordan nor I nodding to understand that we would have accepted that answer without having to hear every little detail. But she unloaded it onto us soon enough. Most importantly, she unloaded it onto Jordan. I wondered if she had ever been that raw with him before. I made a silent note to remind her that unexpected changes evidently could be a good thing. Or maybe I would be content with the knowledge that I knew it myself. "J-Just… It makes me focus on me and what's wrong with me… R-Rather than nice things… Like how my… my dad always kisses mom when he gets back from work no matter w-what… And… And the smell of a library and the nice people running it letting me take books out for longer… A-A-And Justin…"
"Justin? What about Justin?" Jordan responded back and for the first time since he had entered the bedroom, the yellow haired male's bordering on booming voice came back. At least, I think it did. To be honest with you, I can't be sure if I was just imagining it so vividly because when I really focused on everything that was happening - the yellow haired male still had his cheek on his granddaughters shoulder and he was leaning against her companionably.
But I got the impression that I was right from the way that Katie suddenly sat up after she let these words out and her pale and drying tear stained cheeks went slightly rosy pink. The orange haired female furrowed her brow and Jordan just suddenly blinked at her change in demeanour and was encouraged to continuously focus along with me as Katie seemed to defend herself.
"Well… W-Well yeah… He's my friend… A-And I think I'm his…" the orange haired teenage girl muttered and it was shown to me that she could have ever-changing and ever-expanding qualities like her grandfather also. Or perhaps that was simply just being a teenager! That was possible from the way that her eyebrows knotted. Maybe she was tired of people being taken by surprise at her friendship with the older male. Or maybe she was tired of telling herself that she didn't cross his mind like she crossed his. Katie finally sat up for good but then hugged her legs to her chest. "H-He wouldn't cancel on reading time with me… He never did…"
Jordan missed a beat when he heard these words. At first I thought it was because he didn't quite hear them from the way that Katie exhaled them through pursed lips. I tilted my head and quirked my ear. But I was soon proven that he did indeed hear and the yellow haired male knew that it was time to do something that he had intended to do from the beginning.
"Hm, Katie… Don't think of it as a cancellation. It's just been postponed most likely." Jordan began and he was almost at risk of being at the receiving end of either a teenage death stare or a watery eyed young lady look but he dodged both. He had time to reach into his pocket and the crinkling noise saved him from either of these responses from Katie. He continued responding himself as he tugged a crumpled note from his chinos. "Your Uncle James wrote you a note. He would never forget about you. Read it. To yourself or aloud – either way. And knowing him, he probably has some wisdom in there that will help soothe everything."
Protecting herself from the vulnerability that she often felt as well as the realisation that she had opened up to Jordan a lot about it, Katie did then shoot the yellow haired male a bit of a look then. But she didn't have much time to let it linger because the note was pressed into her hand and then Jordan moved away from her. Misty's father moved away from his granddaughter and intended to look at all the décor around the room.
My own gaze looked between Katie softly relenting and beginning to read her Uncle's careful and precise and loving handwriting on the crumpled page and Jordan briefly moving away from the situation. To tell you the truth I was more intrigued by what the yellow haired male was doing and softened by it far more also.
It was a shame that he never really got a chance to be a father to teenage girl's the age that Katie was because despite the uncertainty and chaos, he really was very good at it! His multiple sided personalities certainly helped. He could be serious and a listening ear. He could be an encourager and an action taker. And he could just be a shoulder to lean on or to cry on. He never got a chance to do that with Misty that age nor Daisy or Violet or Lily too. But he was there for his granddaughters. He was one of the examples of a person who got there in the end. And attained everything that he was destined to hold dear. And Katie would experience that too.
I finally edged nearer to the orange haired female all over again and nuzzled her foot tentatively as she read the lavender haired male's note – slightly to herself and slightly aloud. She was only just whispering the words quietly to herself. And she did this while the yellow haired male glanced around the room.
I got the feeling that he always found it curious how his grandchildren chose to decorate their personal space. And Katie was no different. She had bits and pieces of herself lying about everywhere. Needless to say she had her book cases and her movie posters and pictures in frames of times she'd been lucky enough to meet her heroes. There was everything that Jordan knew or at least suspected of her and her interests.
There were maps of the world and places ticked that she hoped to go to. There were posters of all parts of a ship and every name right down to the last one. There were calendars – calendars of years gone by and years far in the future because she was always curious about that sort of thing. And then there was a time map that piqued his interest most of all. I looked up at him at the same time to see it.
This one was different from the rest. While the others were used to plot future moon phases and planet alignments, the one that caught his attention most seemed to be a regular one. And not only that but it was the only one with Katie's handwriting on. Throughout the month of May and up until that moment in time, there were days crossed off. The days in the future were empty. And then marking a day towards the end of the month was a little hat drawing.
I saw the way that the yellow haired male looked utterly blank at first and from the way that he merely turned his head with his mouth open lead me to believe that he was going to ask Katie what it meant outright because he didn't have a clue. And like it often was when you were not only related but shared vast similarities also, Katie looked up at the same time that Jordan looked over at her.
And because that contact was made – while no sound left either of their mouths – even Jordan's blunt and down to earth and sometimes naïve self, put two and two together.
He smiled. He showed off a smile that I hadn't ever really seen before. He nodded his head, his curtain like locks flopping over his face. As he did this and came to sit back next to Katie, the teenage girl's demeanour changed all over again. Not only did it change to qualities of seriousness but her cheeks went pink also. She blushed. She blurted out.
"I… I don't want to forget… A-And that's what I'm most afraid of… I don't want to get caught up…" the orange haired female rambled her way through these words much like Jordan had done earlier on in the day and after the yellow haired male seated himself properly and tilted his head, Katie concluded what she really wanted to say with a question. She exhaled. "That… That is what happens is… isn't it…? It must have been like that for you… Bet… Between everything in your life a-and Nanny not being around anymore, you must have forgotten important things…?"
I was continuing to sit next to Katie and tickle my cheek against her foot but I felt a strange urge to do that to Jordan after the orange haired female's words sunk further in. Paired with the question that she asked and the way that their discussions had been rather emotionally involved, I wondered if it was all going to be too much for Jordan and I should step in.
I moved away from Katie but I didn't move closer to Jordan. Not yet. I waited. I waited patiently. I waited to see what happened next. I shouldn't have doubted the yellow haired male. Not that I did – not really. But I should have known him better.
I should have known that he believed that he was weak but he was actually sturdy. And it was his weaknesses in life that made him stronger than almost anyone I knew.
I felt a lump take up most of the inside of my throat and tears prick the corners of my eyes when Jordan smiled and he smiled a soft smile that was full of wisdom. It was full of honesty. It was full of reflection. Katie held her breath as I got the impression that she knew that her Grandad Jordan was going to share with her.
"No… No, Katie. I didn't actually stop remembering. I didn't stop remembering at all. And that kept me going far longer than just one lifetime." The yellow haired male informed his granddaughter and it was so level and real that Katie nodded her head, her own eyes filling up and shuffling closer to her granddad. Jordan chuckled just a little bit but then he continued. He had more to say. Or rather, he had more to question. He tilted his head a little more. "Do… Do you feel like you forget?"
It was a sweet moment when I witnessed Katie's chin puckering upon hearing these words – this question – and then her lips pursed and her eyes pooled with all the more tears. Jordan didn't wipe them. He smiled at them. They were very telling. They told him everything and then Katie did too. She sniffed and nodded, not bothering to wipe her eyes even though they had grown very blurry.
"Yes! Y-Yes and I don't want to forget… And… And I feel like everybody else forgets too… They… They have forgotten…" Katie began telling her truth and I was the one who was listening to her words. Jordan had figured most of them out. He was listening to everything that she was not saying too. And in addition to this, he was listening to her heart. He enjoyed connecting with her on a grown up level. The orange haired female shook her head, her insistent tear filled eyes drying up and then pooling with disappointment as she confessed. "W-With… With the craziness of life and everyt-thing that has happened s-since, people forget that it wasn't even a year ago that… that Justin and I grew closer over that summer… And… And now he's always away… I… I don't w-wait for him… Like I don't w…wait for James… I just… I just like it when h-he-s back… He reminds me of things being a lot easier… And he makes me laugh… So… So he makes them that way too…"
Jordan could boom. Jordan could quieten. Jordan could listen. Jordan could reflect. Jordan could be blunt. But in that moment he did not really know what to say. So he nodded and he hoped that that would be enough. And it was. Because it was his sincere response.
It was true that Katie had never really opened up to him about that sort of thing before. The orange haired female was usually far keener to talk about characters and whole other worlds and scenarios and pairings than she was her real life companions that she kept near and dear to her heart. But it was lovely to see. Two people who were continuously learning that their experiences and their voices mattered, even if other people in small ways made them feel otherwise.
The yellow haired male didn't smile. He merely nodded. And then he felt as though Katie was waiting for words from him because she was biting her lip, he delivered them to her. Not because it was as she wished. But because he conjured them up oddly effortlessly.
"Well… Why don't you tell me all that you remember then? And I'll tell you what I remember from Lynne from way back. That's a fantastic idea. You give me three. I'll give you three. And we'll remember. People can be in your minds and your hearts and that's enough even if it feels like it's not. You're lucky that your person is in your mind and your heart and will be around very soon too if you're patient. And it's that way for me too. We must remember that as well as who they are."
Truthfully, I had never heard Jordan speak so much as when he spoke there and then! And I had never heard him express himself so eloquently too. I guessed it was because it was straight from the heart. And because it had come from there and it resonated so strongly with Katie – almost as much as some of her favourite story books – she had a smile on her face and she didn't hesitate to nod her head. The carefree version of the teenage girl was slowly coming back. And this was proven by the way that she began to clamber on Jordan's lap as she prepared to discuss with him.
The look in her eyes and the bashful yet determined smile on her face made it obvious that she wanted him to go first. And the yellow haired male complied after he caught on, and he grinned.
"Okay, okay, let me remember what I remember." He uttered almost as bashfully as Katie was smiling while he grinned and in response, the orange haired female rolled her eyes. But she prepared to listen. She knew that the boundless energy that Jordan was also known to have made it certain that he'd soon enough had wonderful things to share. And he did. "I remember… The way that she used to sing wherever she went no matter the day and no matter the weather… I remember exactly what she looked like when I first laid eyes upon her, walking on the pier and her hair blowing in the wind. And I remember… I remember her strength. Her strength that never ceased no matter what and no matter what happened. And it's still here during this present day. Our other lifetime."
I smiled as I listened and for a moment, I could tell that Katie got swept away with her grandfather's words and the heart of them and the imagery and she forgot that she was meant to be thinking of things as well!
At first she just thought of the love that her grandparents shared and believed that she was incredibly lucky to be in the midst of it. She felt as though it was a miracle. And it was those lucky feelings that lead her to open up about the deep purple haired male who often occupied her thoughts, not that anyone at that point really suspected it.
"There's… There's a lot for me to remember…" Katie started differently from her grandfather to make a point and after Jordan heartily laughed after sharing his memories as he understood why his granddaughter had done this, he settled down to listen also. He looked as though he was being shared with a magnificent story and it was certainly a wonderful experience for Katie. "I remember… How he was jet lagged but still came to sit next to me when I wasn't feeling great… I'll never… never forget that… I remember his creativity… I guess it would be annoying for some to suddenly start scribbling in the middle of watching a film but I like it… I remember that I like that his brain is always working towards something new and good… And… And I remember… I've just remembered now… Being little and at the lake with mom and dad and Justin was there too and I lost my shoe in the water… He… He didn't hesitate to wade right in there even though he had just dried off… He jumped at the chance, quicker than anybody… Now I won't ever forget that…"
Some moments then passed after both grandfather and granddaughter shared moments that were very different from one and other but heartfelt all the same. And I reflected on my own memories – ones that I shared with them both and ones that I kept just for myself. But one thing was for certain was that I was lucky to have those in my heart and continue making those sort of days a part of my life. And not only that but I was wholeheartedly lucky to know and witness the relationship between Jordan and Katie. It had come along way.
In fact, Jordan had come along way. And it was evident from the way that he leaned in and planted a kiss on his grand-daughter's forehead before stroking it away lightly after they had shared. He jiggled his legs as the thirteen year old girl perched on his knee and he reminded her after everything was said and done.
"So remember, yeah? In your mind. In your heart. And soon to be around you if you're patient enough." The yellow haired male instilled in his granddaughter just one more time and Katie smiled genuinely and nodded her head just once, giggling too. Her eyes fluttered shut as she nodded and because of this, she didn't catch the way that Jordan's own eyes began to glint. He jiggled his legs underneath her all the more enthusiastically. "And actually… Right this very minute if you go and see if there's someone waiting for you by the front door. I'm sure that there is."
And with that while I was left blinking curiously and quirking my other ear, the yellow haired male jiggled his legs one final time and tipped Katie off them! The orange haired teenage girl landed with a thud and a gasp. She narrowed her eyes over at her grandfather and then she twigged onto what he was saying. She furrowed her brow all the more at them as she brushed herself off. She put her hands back on the front of her t shirt.
"Must… Must I go to the door? If it's U-Uncle James then I really might give him the silent treatment." The orange haired eldest Ketchum daughter tried to insist and even though neither of us showed this expression at all, even her stubborn self then showed that she could never be mad at her lavender haired uncle for even a second!
Jordan's eyes resisted twinkling as he observed this. Instead he flopped on the floor with me and before I headed down with Katie, he rubbed his knuckles against my spine.
"Just goooo! Please." the yellow haired male insisted and after he did this with his knuckle against my back, he playfully head-butted his head against Katie's shins and it prompted her into action! She gasped. She rolled her eyes. But she complied. I followed after her.
She trotted along the hall and shimmied down the stairs and thought about what Jordan said. Not just his last words but everything that he had uttered to her.
She knew that he was right that she had people like Justin in her mind and her heart and soon enough would be in person but she couldn't help but feel that sometimes that that wasn't good enough. Waiting became boring. Time without loved ones wasn't as good as it was when they were around.
But in time she would understand that waiting was underrated and people like the deep purple haired male would instil that within her. She would learn that those quiet and perhaps even mundane times made her a better daughter and granddaughter and friend and person for all of those people that would be around her – and all of those relationships that she would be a part of.
However there and then and as I trotted along the hall with her and finally starting to get an idea why there was a twinkle in the yellow haired male's eye – it soon would be apparent that Katie having time alone and appreciating being alone would be the thing that had to wait. Jordan was right in that someone would be in her mind and heart and midst soon enough.
Katie fiddled with the lock, her eyes filled with curiosity even though she was expecting her Uncle James all over again. And all over again too, she was left being stood corrected. But that time she didn't have an ounce of disappointment in her body. What was on her face and coursing through her veins when she answered the door to the person on the other side could only be described as utter surprise mixed with the most indescribable joy and contentment.
The orange haired female stared at Justin on the other side of the door as he held his backpack over his shoulder and something else in his other hand. His hat was a little uneven on his head. His hair was tousled and he was in his loungewear – he had most definitely come off of a long flight. He didn't beam at the eldest Ketchum daughter. He didn't grin either. He just simply smiled. But it was the most telling and uplifting smile in the world as his lips pressed together and his dimple appeared.
Before the orange haired female could say a word following a gasp – not even utter his name – the deep purple haired male spoke.
"Hey Katie. I came as soon as I could. I've been reading the book that you gave to me on the plane but I've got one chapter left. Shall we read it together?" Justin offered with a remaining friendly smile on his face before he came bustling into the house with Katie, his hand bending backwards as he held his backpack off his shoulder and his other hand holding the book that had indeed been leant to him.
And needless to say, the orange haired female didn't need to say with words how surprised she was to see the deep purple haired male multiple days early – let alone how touched she felt that he had some all this way and intended on reading with her first and foremost.
Katie didn't say anything other than having glowing eyes back at Justin in return and then after she took the book from him and he lightly patted her at the top of her back, the two of them headed to a quiet space to read – just the two of them.
And soon enough they were sat side by side and enjoying a whole other world of the book and they were sharing details of their worlds and what had gone on since they had been apart.
And Katie's smile towards the deep purple haired male when he was in the middle of explaining a story and finally grinning widely and his hands gesturing said everything without having to say anything at all. He really did make things easier for her. Because she liked the person that she was when he was around. And he felt the same way.
She didn't really have to worry at all. She would always remember the things closest to her no matter how crazy and hectic and untouchable life sometimes felt and it would be the same exact way for Justin as well. And Jordan too.
Those three were bind by life and experience but they were attached by inner emotions too. They all had a wonderful, quiet sort of strength. But their encouragement for each other shouted above the rooftops. And thanks to them, I learned more about love. I learned that that was exactly what love was all about.
It was quiet and it was delicate and it was hushed and soft. But it was raucous too! All three of them made my life so unbalanced in the most balanced way. And I treasured every minute of it with them. And remembered almost every detail too.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 This chapter was based on Spirited Away. With going inside her own head and struggling with her stammer, Katie really does worry that she'll put so much focus on that and forget about the things that make her happy. It's kind of bittersweet how Jordan is the one to help her find strength in that, after everything he's been through in his own life. Katie's relationship with Justin is a bit of a coming of age moment for her and I think it's the same way with Justin. Being a quiet person and a twin also, I think people figured that they knew who she was and what she liked. But before that age and definitely at the age of thirteen, she starts to figure out things for her and her alone. Her friendship with Justin certainly is one of those things. They're a bit of an eye at the centre of a storm for each other - Justin with Katie's speech insecurities and Katie with his whirlwind musical life :) Thanks again and I will be back on Wednesday with another chapter so see you then!
AmyBieberKetchum signing out :3