Revealing Discussions

Who: Jordan and Chance
Where: Mya's Diner/Jordan's House
When: 5:15

Chance was thankful Jordan had agreed to meet him at Mya's. He had a feeling if he had to have dinner with his mom, he would have gone crazy, especially after she had met Kaysen. Too many questions he wouldn't want to answer, then they'd end up bickering, then fighting, and he wasn't in the mood for it again. So he waited in an empty booth, occasionally taking a drink from his soda as he waited for Jordan. His knee bobbed up and down restlessly as he poured over the menu. He was fucking hungry, but he felt it was only good manners to wait for her before ordering. His stomach growling, he glanced out the window impatiently.

Jordan hurried up the steps to the diner, still wearing the white button up blouse and black slacks she wore under her apron at work. Thankfully she'd already taken off her apron, which was stowed under her arm. Jordan hated to run late, but she'd gotten off late and then had to run to catch the bus, which she almost missed. Running her hand through her hair she glanced around the diner for Chance and upon spotting him she hurried over. 'Sorry.' She signed, one of the easy ones to remember, and one she used quite a bit too.

Chance straightened up in his seat, smiling as she slid into the booth, looking windswept. "It's okay, I haven't been waiting long." The loud rumbling in his stomach begged to differ. He shut his menu and waited until she was situated across from him before motioning for the waitress to come over. "Are you hungry? I can order for you if want."

Jordan reached down into her pocket and pulled out her notepad. She scribbled down her order and passed it to the waitress, she'd been here enough to know what she wanted without looking at the menu. Sometimes she'd stop off at Mya's and grab dinner before going home, or grab lunch before going to work.

The waitress took Jordan's order and nodded before looking expectantly at him. He ordered quickly, hamburger, well done and extra greasy, and extra fries. Healthy shit wasn't for him, and at least he didn't need to worry about dying from a heart attack. The waitress disappeared and he shot Jordan a look. "Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you couldn't order for yourself...just thought it might be easier."

She shook her head, and waved her hand signifying that it wasn't a problem. The waitress was back quickly with her soda and Jordan signed 'thank you' to her, not expecting her to understand. Jordan wrote in her notepad and passed it to Chance. 'Nice idea to do this. Good to get out of the house.'

Glancing at the note, Chance nodded. "No, shit. Mom's driving me crazy." He forced his knee to stop bouncing around and looked at her, wanting to make sure she was okay before he dumped anything on her. Not that he intended to dump anything on her, but things were starting to drive him crazy and if he didn't tell someone about them, he was going to go mental again. "You all right? Did you see Devon today?"

She shook her head. 'Work.' She signed to him. Jordan hated not being able to visit Devon every day, but she'd not done so since she started her summer job. Some days she just couldn't do that many things.

He nodded in understanding, tapping his fingers on the table top. "I think I might go tomorrow morning." Best to do something to get out of the house that didn't include riding his skateboard past Kaysen's house. "I need to get out of the house and do some shit. Preferably not alone. I know you're working, and there's Devon, but if you can come out with me a few times...movies, bowling, I don't know..." He ran his hands through his hair. "I just need someone around so I don't do anything stupid."

'Love to.' Jordan needed to get out too, and with people she knew and trusted, she wasn't normally a social person so going out on her own isn't something she normally did. Going out with Chance was different though. It would be close to being like old times.

He smiled at her, relieved. Placing his palms down on the table, he could feel some of his restlessness dulling. "Good. It's pretty bad when I'm ready for school to start just to have something to occupy my time. I seem to fuck everything up when I'm on my own, and I know if you're there you can just stomp on my foot if I start."

She silently laughed and nodded, she kinda felt the same way. Once school started she didn't have to work (her mom didn't want her school work to suffer) and right now she'd give anything to not have to go back to work. So she sympathized with Chance.

Silent for several moments, Chance looked up when the waitress brought their food and set it in front of them. When she walked away, he pulled his fork and knife from the napkin and set them next to his plate. Glancing at her, he looked back down at his foot before grabbing the ketchup bottle. "You don't think I'm insane, do you?"

Jordan looked at him for a moment before pulling her notepad to her and writing. After a moment she slid it back to him. 'Only as insane as I am. Only as insane as any high school teenager.'

His smile was tense. "How many fucking high school teenagers have to see a therapist in order to go to school? How many get called stalkers because they're talking to a girl they like?" He was getting agitated again so he fell silent and took a drink of his soda. "You know what it's like to be different, J. We're not 'any high school' teenagers."

She reached out quickly and took his hand. Frowning, she looked at him, she wished she could tell him just how right he was. 'we're outcasts, we have problems... but you're not INSANE... you're just different.' She wrote with one hand, keeping ahold of his other and sliding the paper for him to read.

"If I wasn't crazy, I wouldn't have to take medication, or talk to some overpaid doctor," he replied, wanting to shake her hand off, but instead he turned it around, palm up to wrap his hand around her wrist. He squeezed gently, his heart pounding in his chest. He closed his eyes and inhaled before looking at her.

"Stuff happened this summer...and I'm going crazy not telling anyone. And I know you probably don't remember her, but I've been talking to Kaysen St. James, and yeah, she thinks I'm like, a freakshow, or something, and it just reminds me that, yeah, I am. If another fucking outcast can't understand me, then what does that mean?" His fingers tightened a bit as ranted, and realized that it might be easier to just vent to his therapist rather than Jordan. She had enough issues to deal with.

Jordan stared at him, she didn't let her eyes move from his face, trying to let him know without writing it down that she was there for him. She squeezed his wrist a little to show her support for him. She'd listen, and not judge him. After all, she had her own secrets, her own problems that no one would understand.

Lowering his voice, he leaned forward just enough, his gaze locked onto hers. "I can do...it's hard to explain. I can do a lot of shit I couldn't before." His appetite was suddenly non-existent. "I want to show you, but I want, I need you to trust me. And I need to trust you, Jordan. Just...I need you to believe me when I say I'm not psycho."

Jordan nodded, and looked down just to write him a simple note. 'I trust you.' After all she didn't have anyone else left. Her mother knew everything, but just never understood her since Devon, and Devon was... well, gone. Chance was all she had left. The only question was, could she trust him enough with her -own- secret?

His jaw clenched tightly after he read the note and he kept a hold of her wrist before grabbing the knife next to his plate. "I won't hurt you," he promised, keeping his voice low before he poked the tip of the knife into her palm, immediately drawing blood. He knew she wouldn't cry out and he held onto her wrist tightly even as she instinctively drew back.

Jordan made a face and squirmed. She trusted him, but what the hell? She'd kept from feeding from him, she'd been good, even though they'd been holding hands so close to a chakra point she was itching for it. And what had he done? Cut her! A small tear trickled from her eye as the pain from the cut hit her. She closed her eyes tightly for a moment before looking back to him with a 'what the fuck' look.

He was breathing heavily as she shot him the look and he felt guilty, but he had to do it. Dropping the knife to the table, he took his free hand and clamped it on top of the injury, his eyes never leaving hers. Chance focused, feeling sick at what he'd done, and hoping she'd understand when he was finished. He felt the blood smearing between their palms and then the sting of his own skin. Releasing her, he grabbed his napkin and wiped off her hand. The small wound was gone, her palm healed. Frowning, his eyes red, he lifted his palm to show her where the knife wound was now torn through his own hand.

Jordan took in a breath and looked from her hand to his. God now she felt bad on many levels. For doubting her trust in him, and for not thinking she could trust him with her strangeness when he trusted her with his. She looked at his hand for a moment before remembering something. Quickly she reached into her apron and dug in the pockets before pulling out a clean rag, she'd had it if she needed it at work but hadn't and forgot to put it back. She took his hand and pressed the cloth to the wound that was now his.

Chance wrapped the rag around his hand, relieved, yet surprised by her reaction. He'd expected digust, or shock, or for her to be horrified. "I haven't told anyone." Obviously. "Kind of goes with that whole insane thing, you know? And that's not all there is to it...I almost did it to Kaysen today but I stopped. I know she'd run screaming, but it's like, I can't stop it. I'm a fucking freak, and I don't know what to do about it."

It was Jordan's knee that was bouncing now. What could she say? I know what you mean, I'm a freak too. I'm a vampire!- of sorts. She'd be the one locked up for being crazy. She did admit what he did kinda did freak her out, but not in any way that she'd leave him sitting there. She'd learned to take a lot of stuff in that was out there and then deal with it later, when she had time to freak out alone. She sat there for a while picking at her salad, only half eating it half pensivly staring at it.

"I'm sorry," Chance said finally, clutching his hand in his lap. "You're the only one I felt I could tell who wouldn't run away from me screaming. I wanted to tell you because, I don't know...I thought, maybe I could help Devon, but I don't know how works completely. My mom..." His mom and given him some details, but even Chance was reluctant to believe them all, considering how far fetched and impossible they seemed. "I know you can't tell me what to do, but at least tell me you're not afraid of me."

'Never' she signed to him- a little to hastily, she almost flung food off her fork (having forgotten to set it down). Blushing she set it carefully on her plate and looked back to him. 'I want to tell you something too, but not here.' She scribbled down for him. She'd actually written it all out months ago. She'd meant to give it to Devon in a letter, not sure she could just tell him without being too nervous. She still had the letter.

Curious now, Chance cocked an eyebrow and looked at her. He felt relieved now, almost wishing she had some freakish ailment as well. At least they could bond over something other than being outcasts at school. He nodded. "Whenever you're ready, Jordan. You know I'm not going to judge you."

She nodded. 'A-f-t-e-r dinner.' She signed, having to spell the first word. Jordan reached down to her fork and picked it up, gathering some lettuce and eating some more of her salad.

Chance leaned back against the chair, wondering how she could be so calm, considering. And then he laughed, sliding his hands over his face, rag and all. "You constantly surprise me, do you know that." He reached into his pocket for his wallet and pulled out a wad of cash. "You better hurry up and eat that or I'm going to have to drag you out of here."

She finished what she would of her salad and took the last two sips from her soda before nodding to him. She was ready and slid from the booth. 'My h-o-m-e.' Jordan signed to him.

He set enough cash on the table to pay for their meals and got up, following her from the diner. He slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him as they walked. "You know, you don't have to tell me anything, if you don't want too. This isn't like a I show you mine, you show me yours thing."

'I know.' She nodded, pulling her arms around him. Jordan didn't want to be rude and shrug him off, but she wasn't used to being touched. 'I want to.'

They walked in silence, as Chance didn't want to push anything. He could feel she was tense under his arm, so he let her go and slipped his hands into his pockets. He wasn't sure what to expect from her, given he was still unsure if he even believed what had happened to him even though his hand was proof enough.

Jordan half wondered if he remembered where she lived as they walked to his car. She relaxed when he took his arm off her shoulder, feeling very guilty about it. She didn't want to shun him away, but it took everything in her to just take his hand in the diner, touching just made her feel... weak. She only touched other people when she needed to, and even then she didn't always do it if she didn't have to.

They got into his car, well, his mom's car, and he turned the engine, looking pointedly at her. "Seatbelt," he told her, not bothering with his own. Pulling away from the diner, he headed toward her house. "You can tell me to fuck off if you want, but do you not like being touched because of Devon?"

Jordan put on her seatbelt and leaned against the window. She shook her head in response to his question. She wasn't really because of him, it was because she was worried she wouldn't be able to control herself and someone she cared about would end up like Devon.

Chance didn't pursue the line of questioning and instead waited until they reached her house. He turned off his car and looked toward her. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She nodded, writing down, 'I think i need to.' Jordan passed it to him getting out of the car and starting up to the door. She turned and signaled for him to wait here and she hurried inside to find the letter in her room. It was under her sparsely used journal in her night table. Once she had it in her hands she hurried downstairs and back to Chance.

Chance took the letter, confusion etched upon his face. He didn't open it, but held it in his hands and looked at her. "Is this...I mean, is this for me?"

It took her a while to actually give it to him, but she did. The letter basically explained -what- she is and what she can do, about how her mother'd passed it down to her. She nodded to him, 'You can r-e-a-d it.'

Still confused, but curious, he opened the letter and leaned against his car door, taking his time to read it. It seemed like a story, almost, and he lifted an eyebrow at the content, unsure whether or now to believe it. But he had to believe it, and in a sick way, he did. Especially after what had happened to him this year. It also explained why she didn't like being touched. Finishing the letter, he folded it up and handed it back to her, staring at her for a few moments. Finally he licked his dry lips. "I'd hug you right now, but...why didn't you tell me?"

Jordan curled up against the railing on a step of her porch, hugging her knees. She was crying softly. When he spoke she shook her head slowly. How could she have told him? He would have thought her a freak last year. She sniffed and looked up at him for only a moment before she couldn't anymore. Jordan felt a great weight lifted from her shoulders, but there was still a bit of dread left over. 'I'm... c-o-m-a... D-e-v-o-n' Jordan fumbled, not having any idea how to sign the thing she'd never told anyone.

Chance sat next to her, reaching out to touch her knee. He considered her words for a moment before realization hit. Devon was in a coma because of Jordan. Because of this psychic vampire stuff she had written in the letter. He paled and simply sat there, staring out into the night. "Does anyone else know? Other than your mom?"

Jordan shook her head quickly, not looking up from the ground before her. Her heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest, why had she told him the part about Devon? God he was going to hate her now. He knew she was responsible now, how could he still like her after finding that out?

It was a lot of information to digest. Devon had been his only friend, before Jordan. Now he was in a coma, and would probably never wake up, no matter how optimistic Chance tried to be about it. But he didn't blame Jordan. He couldn't, not after what he knew now, and what he was. Reaching out, he hugged her again, briefly, knowing that it bothered her. "It's going to be okay. I know it's hard to believe it now, but you have to. I have to. Otherwise I think we'd both go insane."

She cried in his arms, letting him hold her, right now her body needed it. 'I'm so sorry.' She weakly signed as she cried. So they both had secrets, huge ones, and ones that not many other people would understand. Suddenly the world felt a little bigger now that she wasn't alone, it wasn't as scary. At least she wasn't going to go crazy alone.

"Don't apologize to me," Chance told her. "I'm glad you told me. I needed to hear it. I was starting to think I was really insane for awhile. After what happened to Devon, and shit at school." Chance's eyes burned as he pulled back from Jordan. As much as he hated it, he felt better knowing she could understand. Part of his problem had been holding everything in, afraid to tell anyone how he was feeling. No one would have believed him. "You're not alone, all right? If you need to talk, or anything, you come find me or I'll come to you."

Jordan nodded slowly. They sat there for another ten minutes or so in silence. It was like they both just needed to have someone there for a moment, no need to exchange forms of communication. After a while Jordan looked up at him, her eyes had stopped crying a few minutes previous, but were red from the tears. 'I should...' she pointed to her house, her mother would be worrying soon.

Chance nodded and stood, taking her hand to help her up. "It'll be okay," he told her again, not tearing his gaze away from hers. "If you trust me, I promise I'll make things better for everyone. You will call me if you need me, right?"

Jordan nodded again and walked up the steps to her door. She looked back at him and gave him a small wave before opening the door and going inside, she had a lot she had to think about and deal with tonight. She needed a long hot shower.

Chance waited until she was inside before he turned and got back into the car. He took a few moments to compose himself before he turned on the car and backed out of the driveway. It was going to take awhile for everything to digest, but it was just...fucking crazy. Sighing, he headed home, determined now, to make things better for Jordan. Devon. Everyone. He had the means to do it. He would just have to figure out how.