Growing Apart

Who: Chance and Jordan
Where: Phone
When: Afternoon

After Hannah had left to take a walk and get some fresh air, Chance got to cleaning up some of the worst parts of the house. The glass and some broken wood. The better the house looked, the less likely his mom would freak out later, when Hannah was gone. He was tired, more than a little scratched up, and hungry. Only he wasn't really hungry for food which sort of threw him, but it wasn't like he could go out and seek out someone with a cloud of negative energy around him. That just felt a bit too weird at that moment.

Once the floors were swept and some broken items tossed, Chance picked up his phone, scrolled through the names quickly and landed on Jordan. He hit the button to call her and flopped onto the couch, rubbing once hand over his face while it rang.

"Hey Chance." Jordan said after a few rings, and checking the caller ID before answering. There were certain people she did not want to talk to right then

Well at least she answered. That was a good sign. "Hey." He paused. "I'm guessing you're doing okay, right?" He knew he should have called earlier, but between dealing with the shadows, Hannah and Kaysen, it'd been difficult to find the energy. "You're safe and everything?"

"Yea." She replied. "I'm cool. Should there be something wrong?" Jordan sat down and ran her fingers through the grass. She'd been a little bit in her own world the past week and was unaware of the attacking shadows- having not been around anyone who was being attacked.

"No," he answered simply. "There's just some weird stuff going on in town. I wanted to make sure you were all right since I haven't heard from you." He knew she hadn't heard from either, but he sort of had an excuse for it. Which made him wonder if she was still upset with him. "What've you been doing the last couple of days?"

Ditching class to gather excess energy and then learn how to use it. She wasn't sure how Chance would take that. "You know… the normal stuff." Jordan felt a little bad about lying to her friend, but it… was to protect him.

He was silent for a moment. "What's the normal stuff, exactly?" He got that she wasn't being overly talkative, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try.

"Well it is a school day." Still wasn't a real answer. "Trying to keep my head down, deal, there's band practice after school today." All where truths, she was keeping her head down, trying to deal and there was band practice- didn't mean she was going but it was still happening.

"Okay." That sounded normal enough, he supposed. Chance sighed and leaned forward, rubbing his finger against his eye. "Are you avoiding me, or something? Haven't heard from you since you were here and unless I'm just incredibly paranoid, it doesn't sound like you really want to talk to me."

"Well you haven't call either." She commented with no anger in her tone. "I guess I've just been busy that's all. Didn't wanna bring you down or anything as I deal with my own shit." Jordan also didn't want him judging her.

He had a feeling she'd say that. "You wouldn't be bringing me down. Thought we agreed we'd deal with this shit together, right?" He didn't buy that she'd been busy. Chance was fairly confident that she'd just been avoiding him.

“This is my stuff.” She told him. “I’m just trying to figure what I am, trying to accept it.” Trying to figure out how to do the fireworks thing again. “I didn’t wanna bog you down with that on top of the other shit.” Which is why she was skipping class, which she should have gone to a couple minutes ago, and was at the park away from other people.

"So what if it's your stuff? It's not like we're in completely different boats here, Jac. Maybe I could help you." He didn't know how, but it never hurt to offer and at least try. "You're not bogging me down with anything. We decided to help each other, so that's what we ought to be doing."

Jordan felt bad. “I just- I know. I should have looked for you.” She relented after a moment’s silence. “I just don’t know… I mean it’s not like it was anymore, and I don’t always know how to go to you.” This probably wasn’t a conversation they should be having over the phone, but Jordan preferred it rather than having to confront her friend.

"You pick up the phone and call, or you can find me at school, or come over... " He knew that wasn't exactly how she meant it, but he didn't like that she didn't feel she could come to him with stuff. Sure, he wasn't the easiest person to deal with all the time, but with everything they'd been through together, he would have hoped they could try and work at remaining close. "Things aren't like they were before because we're allowing things to change, don't you think?"

But it wasn’t as simple as that. Chance had managed to break out and find other people-person. Sure Jordan could confide in Herbert, but there was no real risk in her being with him when Chance was looking for her- and even if there was, he wouldn’t be interrupting anything. Chance, on the other hand, had Kaysen. “Yea…” She kinda knew how Chance must have felt when she started to see Devon. Though Devon had been totally understanding and was always there for Chance when needed. “We are.”

Chance sighed and rubbed his forehead, his head falling back against the cushions. "I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me. Because you can. I don't care when, or why, or where. Unless it's just easier for you to cut me out right now and not have to worry about it."

“No, Chance I-.” Jordan sighed. “I don’t want to cut you out… I just think I have to deal with us not being… the three amigos anymore. Not even the two…” Jordan pulled out a bit of grass and threw it into the wind. “We’re becoming our own people- which is a good thing- and while that means less phone calls and hanging out, it doesn’t mean we need to completely abandon each other… right?”

"What does that mean then?" he asked with a frown. "That we're just casual friends then? If we see each other in the halls, we say hey, but that's it? You deal with your shit, I deal with mine and we both dump it on each other?"

“No, I mean… I don’t know.” Jordan bit on her lip. “But I know that I can’t expect you to always be available when I call- because you think you can, but you can’t. And I can’t keep using you as a crutch to support my own issues. I shouldn’t have been anyhow.”

He shook his head and straightened. "Maybe I can't always be there, but I could at least try. It's not like I'd completely abandon you. And I sure as hell wouldn't make you deal with this shit on your own if you needed me. You can't just... assume I would. And I never thought you were using me as a crutch. I mean, shit, you've been dealing with my issues since you've known me."

God Damn it, keep it together J. Jordan swallowed hard and spoke slowly, trying to keep her voice from wavering. “I know you’re not going to abandon me.” She told him. “And I know you wouldn’t think I was using you… you’re too good a friend to think that. But Chance, -I- don’t even know what I’m dealing with right now. Things have been so fucked up recently, and unless you can tell me more about what I am, I don’t think you can help.”

Chance was silent for several long moments, trying to think of a decent response to make everything okay. He couldn't come up with anything. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he finally said. She probably didn't have a Hannah to help with all of her question. He didn't know of any other psychic vampires himself. "You know I love you, right?"

-That- almost made her tear up. “I know, I love you to.” Jordan frowned, kicking herself. “I’ll see you around… maybe I’ll try to swing by when things are less crazy on your end.” That was an idea. “Zombie movie marathon?”

"Yeah, definitely. And don't be afraid to call me if you need to," he told her, hoping that 'less crazy' would be appearing any day now. "Be careful, okay?"

“I will, promise. Stay safe.” She told him before letting him go. There was a lot going on in both of their lives and it was good to have a friend, even if their calls weren’t always full of ‘happy fluffy’.