XXXII
“The amazing Keelan Mason Mars has arrived!” the familiar voice of the seemingly unyielding pest – aka Jordan Kale's best friend – resonated round the eerily silent and gloomy office.
Like always, the thick black curtains that shielded the floor to ceiling windows in his office, were drawn together to keep every ray of sunlight from entering, as well as to prevent any of the thick and heavy atmosphere of the room to seep out through the glass and affect the hustle and bustle of the busy streets of the great Manhattan below.
“Oh my goodness! Why is it so stuffy and freezing in here?” The slam of the door coupled with his unnecessarily exorbitant voice were the only sounds perceived in the otherwise, mum room.
As expected, the lone figure in the dark corner of the room paid no heed to his best friend's presence; not even a slight movement was made by him where he sat still in his chair, his head resting against the headrest with his eyes closed as his inked arms remained folded across his broad expanse of a chest.
His suit jacket had been completely discarded and the first four buttons of his grey shirt had been loosened with his long sleeves rolled up to his elbows, as though he had been feeling suffocated in the room.
Keelan shook his head as he made his way further into the office, deliberately making noises with his shoes in order to get his friend's attention but still to no avail. He dropped his light backpack on the visitor's seat before moving behind the motionless figure of his friend towards the shielded view of the aglow city.
Dramatically, he pressed – more like slammed – the button responsible for drawing the curtains automatically and with a smile on his face, he watched the dark curtains part, giving way to the beautiful, sunny city which had been held captive behind the inane yet powerful fabric. It was surprising how much a really thick curtain could hide and unveil at the same time.
Having enough of the view, Keelan turned back towards his friend and saw that he still hadn't moved one bit. The back of his head was still to Keelan and the tempting urge to hit him upside his head bit continuously at Keelan but his life was way more important than temporary pleasure.
Jordan wouldn't hesitate to break his arm permanently or worse, kill him. He still wasn't sure what mood his friend was in this time around but he could tell by how he completely ignored him that he wasn't in a good mood. With a deep breath, he prepared himself for the interrogation he was about to give before moving towards the mute and immobile elephant in the room.
“J,” he called out as he reached for the A.C. remote control, turning up the heat to lower the chances of an impending blizzard ever happening. “Of all the liable things that I know could or would kill you, I would never believe it if I were told your cause of death was by suffocation, freezing to death or by the dangerous rays emitted from an air conditioner.”
Silence was all he got in return. He groaned loudly as he settled into the next seat beside the one occupied by his backpack. “Let's not do this today, J. I have somewhere I need to be. I only came here to inform you of my trip and to say goodbye.”
Silence, once again.
“Come on, J! Don't make me call mama Carol,” he teased and successfully, he got Jordan to open his eyes to pass him one of his infamous scorching glares. “Perfect! I got you to open your eyes. . . No! Don't you dare close them again!” He shouted when Jordan proceeded to shut his eyes again.
“I will call Carol, J! Don't you underestimate me!” He threatened, pulling out his phone from his pocket. Jordan let out a frustrated groan as his eyes snapped open again but the death glare he shot at Keelan this time – let's just say if looks could kill, Keelan would be dining with the devil by now.
“What the fuck is it with you and calling Carol? And stop shouting. Your voice sounds so high-pitched and squeaky,” he insulted, making Keelan's jaw drop at his words. Jordan smirked at his reaction.
“First of all, my voice is not squeaky,” he narrowed his eyes with a grimace, “it's deep and manly. Even more so than yours.” Jordan snorted in mockery. “Secondly, it seems Carol is the only one who has a leash on you. Mama's boy.” It was Keelan's turn to smirk while Jordan glared.
“What are you doing here, Mars? You said you were going on a trip.” Jordan asked with distaste.
“Oh my goodness! Stop it, J! You're killing me with how much you're gonna miss me!” He enthused sarcastically with a deadpanned expression.
Jordan smirked, “Oh, I wouldn't mind killing you though,” he tilted his head with a sadistic smile on his face, momentarily scaring Keelan who hurriedly grabbed his backpack and held it to his chest as a shield.
Despite his disturbing thoughts that had been gnawing at his insides all week, Jordan chuckled, grateful to have such a friend as Keelan by his side. No matter how much he had pushed him away or even threatened his life, Keelan still stood by him solidly. He couldn't be more grateful.
“J?” Keelan called cautiously with his eyes widened as he looked extremely freaked out about something. “Are you alright?” He asked tentatively.
“Yes, I am,” Jordan frowned. “Why? Is something wrong? You look like you're freaking out.”
“Of course, I am! You were just staring at me with a smile on your face. It was creepy.” Keelan shuddered and rubbed his arms to prove his point.
Jordan rolled his eyes and rested his back against his seat again. “To the point, Mars, why are you here?” He was now serious.
Keelan sighed, fixing himself. “Like I said earlier, I'm going on a trip. I have to be in Wyoming this evening and I'll be staying there for a few days for some business issues.”
“Wyoming?”
“Yep. Laramie, precisely.” He confirmed.
“Oh, ok. Is everything alright, though?”
“Yeah, everything's fine. I just need to handle some things.” Jordan nodded in understanding. “But when I had gotten here to say goodbye, you were being your glum ole self again. What's the matter?” Keelan asked with a frown.
“Nothing is wrong,” he responded flatly with a stoic expression now etched on his face. Keelan narrowed his eyes and watched his friend's every move.
“I was serious about calling Carol, y'know?” He reminded, watching as Jordan's visage hardened even more, but his stubborn self refused to back down.
Keelan didn't need to know what he was bothered about. He could handle it alone perfectly. Besides, it was his personal matter.
Both men refused to cower away from each other's death glares as they engaged in an epic stare down until Keelan blinked and raised his hands in mock surrender, a mischievous smirk playing on his lips.
“Alright, alright. You leave me with no choice. Only Mater Carol seems to be capable of handling your intransigent ass,” he muttered as he pulled out his mobile device and began dialing a number, making sure the dial pad tones were loud enough for Jordan to hear.
He slowly tilted the phone so Jordan could watch vividly as his thumb crawled towards the call icon, purposely taunting him. His smirk further widened when he noticed Jordan's jaw tick painfully.
Raising his eyebrows slightly, he shrugged and as his thumb moved to touch the screen, Jordan snapped and lurched forward to grab the phone like a predator but Keelan was too fast for him as he immediately jerked back and pulled his hand further back from his body with his lips turned down as he shook his head in disapproval.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Jordy,” he tutted, “that's not playing fair, you know?” he smirked, watching as Jordan's nose flared up in anger. “You could just make this easier for the both of us by telling me what the problem is, ya know?” he wiggled his eyebrows.
Jordan glared at him but conceded nonetheless. “Fine, I'll tell you but only because I need some advice,” he mumbled. Keelan raised a surprised brow.
▬▬▬▬▬
Lying on his back as he stared up at the starless night sky, Jordan heaved a sigh for the umpteenth time tonight, feeling as though the weight of the entire universe rested on his shoulders.
He was currently seated in his car, parked outside Emerald's resident as he rested in the driver seat, which was positioned in an inclined angle so he could settle in comfortably as the sunroof of his cabriolet was left open to let in the cool night breeze in order to drive away the foreboding quietude that wound tightly like a serpent around his neck, suffocating him.
He didn't know how he was going to face her tonight after spending almost two weeks avoiding her existence. His earlier conversation with Keelan in the office flitted across his mind as he heaved a sigh. His friend might be dumb most times, probably for the majority of his life, but Jordan couldn't deny the fact that there had actually been gruesomely bitter truth in what Keelan had spouted and that was what nipped unyieldingly at the back of Jordan's mind.
When he had begun his explanation at first, Keelan had been dumbstruck and stunned into silence at the unbelievable words that had left Jordan's mouth in a tumble. “I kissed a woman,” he had voiced out.
With his eyebrows drawn tautly together in perplexity, Keelan had said, “so?” asking him what was the problem about kissing a woman as a full grown man.
Jordan had groaned in annoyance before begrudgingly mumbling out the words, “You should know I never do kisses, Keel. She was my first kiss,” Keelan's jaw had fallen right to the floor at his words. “And I actually. . . enjoyed it,” he had whispered, leaving Keelan to collapse in his seat.
Sighing against the freezing night air, Jordan shut his eyes as his mind immediately wandered off to the kiss in the garden. The kiss had been the epitome of the term, ‘out of this world’, as cliche as that sounded.
Maybe because it had been his first kiss? It had been so amazing that if he had gotten his way, he would've remained glued to her lips for the rest of the day, but sadly, duty had to call.
Jordan opened his eyes and looked towards the quiet house. Through the upper windows, he could see that no lights were on; the entire house was completely enshrouded by darkness, making Jordan sigh again. She seemed to have already fallen asleep.
His fists clenched in anger as he thought of how he had been avoiding her like she was a plague when all he wanted to do was have a taste of those pink thin lips of hers every time he set his eyes on her frame.
Keelan had really opened his eyes to his mistakes, unbelievably so. He had made him understand his feelings better. He felt something for the beautiful and pneumatic shrink – that fact was undoubtedly established, but most importantly, Keelan had helped him to truly appreciate and accept these strange feelings of his.
A particular question which his friend had voiced had been so powerful enough to drive away all the insecurity that had been drowning him since the day of the kiss. He had asked him, “whenever you see her, how do you feel?”
Not having to think too much about it, Jordan had immediately answered, “happy. A strange sense of happiness always fills me every time I see her. This may sound really cheesy but somehow, I don't know how, my heart starts beating faster at the sight of her. Really fast, it's like it wants to leap out of the impoundment of my chest,” he had chuckled, “I know it's weird, right?”
After that moment of confession, Jordan had looked up to meet Keelan's gaze and the look of surprise that had been on his friend's face would have been Guinness book of records worthy. It was until he had fully digested the astronomical amount of sentimental words Jordan had thrown at him before he had spoken.
“J! You're falling in love!” Keelan had exclaimed with eyes wide as he had flailed his arms about the air, startling Jordan.
“No, that can't be possible. I don't do feelings, Keel, especially love and you know that.”
In confusion yet with slight panic, Jordan had vehemently denied that assumption. The word, ‘Love’ was never destined to exist in Jordan's dictionary. He was a ruthless Don of a Mafia empire, happiness and love weren't entitled to someone as broken and desensitized as him.
Therefore, he had immediately shunned Keelan's thesis but somehow, Keelan had managed to make Jordan see through his own eyes. He had ultimately manoeuvred his way through the cold maze of apathy and obstinateness with which Jordan had surrounded his heart.
He had come to discover the nature of his true feelings for the green eyed goddess. He had also finally come to terms with them, embracing them and letting them fuel his actions. They had come to terms that although, it may not be love, these feelings were still very evident and existent and they were undeniable.
Keelan had made him rethink his decision of choosing to stay away from her because of the constant insecurity and fear that ate deep into his soul. He had made him regret neglecting her all this while, even more than he had regretted it before.
With eyes filled with compunction and a heart as heavy as a rock, Jordan stepped out of his car, not forgetting to close the sunroof before heading for the front door. With his hand placed on the doorknob, he inhaled deep breaths, mentally preparing himself for the encounter he was about to have with Emerald, which could either end well or badly.
Finally turning the knob and pushing the door open, even after being given a century, Jordan could've never been prepared for what awaited him on the other side of the door.
“Emerald,” he whispered in shock as he stood frozen at the threshold of the entrance.
