[Rory] Jump Then Fall

[JoHanna K Roberts]

Jo was literally gnawing at her thumb, ignoring the blistering pain that was coming from chewing so roughly at the side of her nail. It was a little later in the morning than she liked, but Rory was probably still tired from finally getting a chance to skype with Ethan last night. Their time zones didn’t match up and it was hard enough trying to pin him down in a conversation. Which was good, because Rory was crazy busy with focusing on school right now. But as far as Saturday mornings went, this one sure as hell was beautiful. And she had called in to work – again. But now she was standing here in the kitchen, wondering if she was supposed to text Kelin that she wasn’t coming. After a moment she took a deep breath in, picking up her phone as her thumbs hovered over the screen in a frozen state before she placed her phone back down. No. Not texting him to tell him that she wasn’t going to be there. Because that would be a girlfriend thing. And now, Kelin had gone and ruined everything because he kissed her, which left a whole flood of other things to be decided and answered and questioned and figured out. And she just didn’t think that it was smart to be doing any of that. Any of it. At all. Cause now she didn’t even know if she was allowed to text him, he’d defined it. But the thing was, neither of them had defined it. Everyone knows where the meat comes from when you eat a hamburger, but people rarely have to make the decision of chopping the cows head off. Jo narrowed her eyes for a moment, the logic made sense in her head.

But for now, she was hiding. Because hiding from having to define them felt… smartest. She’d kissed him, so at least he had some sort of inkling that she liked him. Right? Except now she was hiding. Because he was an idiot and had to just lay it all out there, but only sort of. Jo glared at her phone, as though it was the phones fault that she knew that sooner or later she was either going to put a few more bricks in the wall, or have to face the fact of lowering it a little. Jo pushed her hair behind her ear before walking over to pick up some of the banana nut muffins she had made for breakfast, as well as the aluminium coffee traveler mug she’d filled to the brim with hot tea for Rory. “Rory!” she called out, locking Liam in her room. “Antique shopping, let’s go lady,” she said , picking the coffee and muffin back up before knocing on Rory’s door with her foot.



Outfit

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rory could hear Jo moving things around in the kitchen but opening her eyes was physically taxing.  Waking up was so hard.  And Milo was sound asleep on her chest and she didn't know how she managed to stay breathing all night with him there.  Rory wrapped her arms around the cat and he immediately began to purr loudly and then stretch, sliding off her chest and onto the bed beside her.  Rory rolled over, pulling him back in where he nuzzled into her neck, Rory thinking she could stay like this forever.  In the dark, all warm under the blankets, in a state of only half wakefulness.  She had been up late skyping with Ethan.  She hadn't spoken to him much since he'd left and talking to him even through skype felt a little better.  Going from seeing each other all the time to not at all and hardly talking much due to different time zones and schedules was a little hard to get used to.  Doable, but difficult.  She wondered if they would continue whatever it was they were doing or  if time and distance would put a wedge into the situation.  Maybe she'd wake up one morning and not immediately think of him.  It was weird that she even did that now, considering she hadn't known him very long.  Guess that's what a crush did to people.  

Milo was trying to climb passed the curtains and blinds to get onto the window sill and Rory pulled herself up to open them for him before climbing out of bed and pulling on a pair of dark wash jeans and some socks.  She knew Jo was being nice but eventually would threaten to drag her out.  Better to be prepared.  She pulled her hair into a ponytail, making a face at the way her ears stuck out slightly and pulled on a jacket.  Just as Jo was banging on the door, Rory was digging a boot out from under the bed and pulled the door open, yanking both shoes on.  "Is it before noon?" she asked, rubbing her eye and followed Jo on their way out,  noting the muffins and the tea, smiling.  Jo thought of everything.  "I take it you are skipping work today."  Rory had today off, too.  Rory sipped her tea, glancing over at Jo, "Does Kelin know you're skipping out, or are you withholding that info..." she mused, generally thinking Jo had probably neglected to mention  it to him.  

[JoHanna K Roberts]

Jo smiled when Rory opened the door and held the tea and muffin out toward her immediately. “ It’s a personal day….” she said decisively before taking a step away from the door and made her way back toward the living room. She pulled her hoodie on, zipping it up at the sideways seam before pulling on her half-assed gloves and picking up her own container of tea before heading for the door. She narrowed her eyebrows in response to whether or not Kelin knew she was skipping today, but instead of focusing on that, she lift her eyebrows, placing her cross-body bag over her shoulder. “How’s Ethan?” she questioned in genuine curiosity and not just a means of trying to escape her own thoughts. “You two figured that out yet? Renamed you ‘girlfriend’ in his phone?” she questioned before taking a sip of her tea. “ Though, he did buy you that necklace,” she said quietly while walking.

[Aurora Jane Bates]

A personal day.  Rory didn't mind, she liked when Jo took personal days.  Rory shrugged when Jo asked how Ethan was, "Fine.  He's good." She nodded, feeling the cool wind brush past as they left the building, laughing slightly, "I wouldn't say girlfriend is a thing just yet," she paused, feeling her heart skip a beat.  Yet.  She wasn't sure 'yet' was the correct way to put it.  Maybe.  The truth was his going to Australia was all kinds of inconvenient.  Worst timing, and it wasn't like either of them could do anything about it.  Rory just wished they'd had a little more time to figure things out.  Rory stopped, taking a bite of her muffin while waiting for a crosswalk and then turned to look at Jo, "Wait what?  What are you talking about..." she asked, taking a drink of tea.  Ethan hadn't given her a necklace, Jo must have had a weird dream and was confusing it with reality.  


Outfit

[JoHanna K Roberts]

Jo stepped outside, scrunching her nose at the cool weather. If she had her choice, it would be about a hundred degrees outside each day. She frowned, looking down at the braid in her hair and the rest of her outfit. “ I think I look like Lara Croft,” she muttered, mainly to herself, in frustration before she sighed and looked back up in the direction they were walking. Jo took a slow sip of her tea as she realized that she had spilled the beans about the necklace. “Huh?” she said, looking in Rory’s direction in hopes that she would just forget about it. Jo rolled her eyes, “He got you some necklace thing in Australia. It’s some stone crap that’s supposed to “bring you love”. Keep it away from me. And I mean what is that anyway…. Here’s a rock. But I’ll pretend it’s something by better by having meaning behind it? Dude. It’s a rock.” she said, shaking her head, thinking back to Kelin’s ring that she had stolen and unfortunately had to return. “You guys are definitely more of a thing.” she said, narrowing her eyebrows as she tried to think of how she wanted to word what she was going to say. “ You guys don’t.. overthink things. Should I text that person, should I not? What does this mean, but why did he say that? Am I supposed to say hi? I said hi first last time. “ Jo looked in Rory’s direction, making a serious face. “ Your naïve approach to relationships is probably helping you a lot here. Plus the fact that Ethan seems so…” she mused, trying to think of a way to describe him as quiet, blunt. “ Dickish.”