The Forbidden Howl

38. Want Coffee?

Sarah's POV.

Me and Jasmine make use of the cool breeze and sunshine, and relax outside in the garden. The lounge chairs we are reclined in are under a big tree, giving us the right amount of shade without blocking the wind.

Jasmine says, "I'm so glad you came back. Jordan looks better these days."

"What do you mean?" I ask her.

Jasmine sighs and says, "I know what happened to you was not fair. Jordan shouldn't have done that to you. But he was devastated, you know. After you left, he barely talked to anyone and got into fights whenever he could. He didn't even want to hangout with me and pushed everyone away."

That sounded like me after I left here.

Jasmine says, "he loves you the most, Sarah. More than his parents, me or Tim, you mean so much to him. Seeing you leave almost drove him crazy. But these past few days, he's back to his old self. He's happy, because of you."

I smile at her, thinking how much she cares and looks out for my brother. "I know," I tell her. "It wasn't easy for me, either. Or for Dane. First few months were hard. I missed home and everyone here. I fought with Dane, a lot. Blamed him for everything.

Told him things would've been better if he'd just listened to me and stayed away from me. I was angry, you know. I was angry at my brothers for not accepting me and Dane, and I was angry at Dane for not listening to me. I felt like I was being pushed around by everyone, they didn't care about what I wanted."

Jasmine nods. "I understand. It was a tough time. But I'm glad everything is fine now."

"Is it?" I ask her. "Jordan hasn't talked to me yet."

She smiles. "Trust me, he's over the moon about you being here. He'll talk to you soon, before you return. He won't let you go otherwise."

I laugh at that and grab the cold lemonade from the round table between us. I drink it and feel the instant refreshment.

----

After dinner, I go to the kitchen to do the dishes. My mom tells me not to, but I've to do something, so I tell her I want to and she leaves me to it. For the past few days, all I've been doing is talk, eat and sleep, which was great for a while, but now I want to move around a bit before my muscles disappear from remaining unused.

As I rinse the big glass bowl and place it on the rack, I see two hands reaching for it with a dishtowel and start wiping it.

I move onto the next utensil, a ceramic plate, and start rinsing it under the running tap water. I put it on the rack and after Jordan was done wiping the bowl, he picks up the plate. We rinse and dry the dishes silently. The only sound I hear is that of the water flowing, dishes touching each other and the dishtowel rubbing against crockery.

After I'd rinsed the last plate and placed it on the rack, I turn off the tap and wipe my hands in the hand towel hanging over the oven handle.

"Want coffee?" asks Jordan who has finished drying the dishes and is now putting away the stack of plates on the top left cupboard.

"Yeah," I tell him.

"Me too, make some," says Jordan while closing the cupboard.

I laugh. I laugh for about a solid ten seconds, and then start crying, hiding my eyes with my right hand. Laughing and then crying is something I've been doing a lot these days – I still think it's the hormones.

Jordan hugs me, causing me to cry even more. I hold my brother's arms and press my face against his chest and let it all out. 

"I'm sorry," whispers Jordan and I hug him tighter, muffling my cries. "I'm sorry," he repeats.

I needed this. I needed this hug from my brother and somewhere in me, I needed him to say he's sorry.

We remain like that for a while and my crying is beginning to die down when a pair of hands wraps us both. I start laughing and Tim squeezes us tight, causing everyone to laugh.

After we all had done laughing, I slide out of my brothers' arms and turn to the coffee maker, craving that bitter sweet beverage more than ever before.

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