Jordan's Job

Chapter 4: Untimely Intrusion

Finally, Jordan's first day was finished and Eric took him back home
discussing the latter part of his day as they walked up the stairs to
their apartment. "But why didn't you just tell him no?"

"I did. The little shit wouldn't take no for an answer so I told him we
had a date that night."

"Well, what are we doing for our date?" Eric teased.

"I don't know, beer and tv."

"Wow, catch me I may faint."

"We're not actually going on a date."

"Then you better come up with something better, because I would
definitely do a better date than that."

"You have a date?!" Eric stopped when he heard the excited little voice
standing by their door.

"Crap," Eric said under his breath. "Lauren...what are you doing here?"

"What kinda greeting is that?" Lauren looked positively tiny next to
Eric's larger frame, especially when she utterly failed in her attempt to
give him a bear hug. "Ugh, one day." She finally looked past Eric to
Jordan. "Who's this? Your daaaate?" She teased her brown hair dangling in
a high ponytail

"Um, yeah h-she's my, um, well...my-"

Lauren cut him off before he could even think of a lie to finish with.
"She's your girlfriend?!" Not waiting for a response Lauren pushed past
her brother and took Jordan's hands in hers excitedly. "You're so
adorable! How long have you two been dating? What do you do? Is my
brother treating you right? If not I'll kick his butt!"

"Lauren!" Eric shouted.

"What?"

"Come inside, let Jordan breathe."

Jordan watched Lauren in stone silence, the girl couldn't be more than 18
or 19, she was dressed in khaki short shorts and a green button-down top
that put Jordan in the mind of a forest ranger more than a young woman
fresh out of high school.

As soon as Eric opened the door Lauren bounded inside. "Thank God! I
nearly forgot!" Lauren ran into Eric's room slamming his bathroom door in
a violent rush.

"What the hell was that?!" Jordan whispered angrily at Eric.

"You remember my sister?"

"That was her?"

"Yeah."

"Well, how come she didn't recognize me?"

"Cause she was like eight and you were going through that emo scene phase
with all the piercings and multicolored hair. I think you maybe said two
words to her."

"Hey, I looked good!"

"I have a yearbook that begs to differ. But what are we gonna tell her?
She's gonna keep asking until we tell her more about our...relationship."

"Well...just...tell her we started dating when I moved in."

"So about three years."

"Yeah. And-"

Eric's bathroom door opened and a very relieved and cleanly Lauren walked
into the living room. "So...what's with the crime scene?"

Eric struggled for a response to go along with their new story. "A pipe,
it uh, burst," Jordan jumped in. "And now they think there's mold so they
had to seal it off. Our old roommate had to move out. He couldn't even
get his clothes out first, poor guy."

"Oh...so I guess I'll guess the couch it is."

"Yeah...wait, what?" Eric eyed his sister, confused.

"Well I can't stay in the spare room, and I doubt the couch is worse than
the floor."