“I don’t like this any more than you do, Mia. I pleaded with the school every time they came to me with a warning about your grades. I held them back as long as I could. We can talk about this, but I’ll need you to calm down first,” Jordan said in a hushed tone, reaching a hand out to stabilize a trembling hand of Mia’s. “We’ll work something out, alright? I’ll get a word in with the teachers; something. We’ll take care of it.”
Mia made an exaggerated sigh and breathed deeply before delicately placing the letter on the table. She wiped the corner of her eyes. The upper rim of her graphic, teal colored t-shirt was smothered in tears. She put on a smile, wiggling her fingers playfully in Jordan’s grasp.
“Yeah. We’ll have to pay out of pocket, but I guess we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing?” Mia said.
“Yeah. Just be careful, alright?” Jordan said, still having no idea how a nineteen-year-old girl made one-thousand dollars in less time than it took for him to even finish grading exams.
“Of course,” she said with a smile, relaxed at the fact Jordan finally agreed to let her take care of herself. “Dad never let me do things on my own. I finally feel like a woman now.”
Mia snatched the cup of coffee from Jordan right after he took a sip, and took a long couple of gulps. She winked while the bridge of her small throat bounced as she drank, leaving a small trail of sweat down her neck.
“I’m guessing ‘women’ take what they want?” Jordan sighed.
Mia took a double slurp which sounded like confirmation.
**
After sweeping up the remnants of Mia’s breakdown, which was well called for, Jordan tugged a large bag of trash along the ground in the backyard. It was night time, but luckily, he knew the broken stone path well enough not to trip. As he neared the trashcan, he lifted the bottom of the bag and leaned it into the trashcan over the rim. As he did, the broken pieces of ceramic from earlier tore through the bag and allowed half of its foul-smelling contents to spill out and onto the lawn. Jordan jumped back to avoid the storm of garbage.
“Shit!” he whispered.
He shook his head, knowing there was no one else to clean that up but him. He was about to kneel and get to work when he heard music playing. Either he had some very talented trash or the sound was coming from somewhere else. He stood up and looked around, knowing the neighbors were way too old to play any sort of infectious pop music. It was upbeat, yet had a soothing baseline that blended both a mellow and happy vibe.
It almost sounds; seductive? Jordan thought.
He walked within the small space behind the house. It was near midnight and the only light on was coming from Mia’s room.
“Leave it to her to exercise at this hour,” he mumbled.
Jordan playfully crept up to the window, hoping to look through and startle Mia when she noticed him there. The shadow of her curtains and the small gap between them was glazed on the backyard and up the nearby wooden fence. Jordan rose from beneath the sill slowly and looked through the gap of the curtains with a playful smile. What he saw loosened that crescent-shaped smile into an ‘O’ of surprise.