A Pair of Spares

Jordan felt sick to her stomach the next morning.

She slunk her way to the bathroom clutching her stomach. Something wasn’t sitting right. Her hand turned the hot water on in the sink and she splashed herself in the face. It felt like she was in that purgatory where you thought you were going throw up but your body wasn’t giving it up.

Jordan looked at the bag resting on the corner of the sink. It was the one she’d been handed at the hospital for Lethenine. She pulled the bottle out of the bag, seeing a mess of blue gel pills rattling around inside behind the label.

That was when she realized she’d missed a dose. It was once every morning and evening. Did her medication have withdrawal symptoms?

She pulled out a pill, pooled some water in her spare hand, and swallowed.

----

Jordan’s stomach calmed down once her shower was finished and she got dressed. This stuff must have been fast acting. Fast acting enough that she didn’t bother bringing it up to the family. They were giving her enough grief over how long a shower she’d taken.

She also decided not to mention what she saw last night. Maybe it was all a medicine withdrawal induced dream. There was no sign of the crashed van she saw or any debris in the street so maybe it was.

Just as her father had suggested during dinner, the family went to go bowling. They got there by lunch time. The alley was jarring, with décor that belonged closer to classic Americana and score displays straight out of the nineties. Even the rundown arcade machines felt like they belonged in another era.

But the combination of limp and just-shitty-enough fries with some soda and family kept Jordan centered in the moment. Everyone was taking turns bowling and having a good time.

It came grinding to a halt when Stewart turned from the scoring chair to her. “You’re up, J – why aren’t you wearing bowling shoes? You have to wear bowling shoes if you’re going bowling.”

Jordan blinked. “I wasn’t sure I was going to bowl.”

“Nonsense!” Debra waved her hand. “Be a good girl and go get some shoes. We’ll wait.”

Jordan felt like she should say something about being called a ‘good girl’, but decided not to fight the family on this. She turned around and went for the shoe counter.

Something bumped into her, knocking her into said counter.

“Sorry!”

There was a man there, about her age. He had light blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, with a little scar running through his right eyebrow. And surprisingly well built too. He was looking at her in a familiar way.

“Have we met?” asked Jordan.

The man laughed. “How can you not remember me? We were in the same class. You sat a row ahead of me.”

She had? Best not to lay out her memory problems to him. “Oh! Right. Sorry, it’s just been a while. I’m Jordan.” She held out her hand.

The man took it and shook. “Lyre.” He smiled. “You always were cute when you got flustered.”

Jordan was ready to ask after that when she heard her father call out. “Jordan! If you’re going to flirt with a boy, at least bring him over here with your shoes!”

----

The rest of her time at the alley was strange.

Lyre filled in Jordan on how he knew her as the game developed. They’d been in the same graduating class, and they were in the same social studies class in senior year. He said he stuck around town after graduation.

What was strange was how forward he was being. Flirtatious in front of her entire family, and no one batting an eye. Hell, her grandmother was borderline encouraging it.

For Jordan, the mix of it was setting her off. She didn’t like her family’s insistence on encouraging her to reciprocate. And Lyre, she did think he was cute. But every time she thought that she felt herself want to scream.

Not that it mattered but it really impacted her ability to bowl or have fun.

----

The strangeness didn’t stop when they left the bowling alley.

Throughout the entire ride home, Jordan’s family was needling her about Lyre. Some of it were light-hearted jabs about getting a boy’s interest. But some of those jokes were a bit too much. Like they were total jokes, unless…..

Even when she tried to say that it was making her uncomfortable they didn’t let up.

It was enough to make her get out of the car in a huff when they got home. Everyone told her she was overreacting, that it wasn’t worth throwing a fit over.

Everyone else went back inside while she tried to cool off. Jordan didn’t think she was overreacting. Was she? Jordan paced around the yard, taking slow and deep breaths.

“Problem?” A man from the next house over asked.

Jordan stopped pacing and leaned against the car. She banged her head against it lightly and stared at the sky. “It’s just my family. They’re driving me up the wall and I don’t know why.”

“Falling back into old habits already.” He sighed. “I was shocked when Elijah told me you were back in town. He said you got your head rattled in a car crash. Having trouble with your memory.”

“That’s what I told him.”

The man grunted. “Alright. Then maybe I should reintroduce myself. Name’s Frank. I’ve been your neighbor since you were in grade school.”

Jordan finally looked at Frank and nearly bit her own tongue. There was no mistaking that slicked back black hair for anything else. He was the man she saw run out towards the van that crashed last night.

“If you’ve got a moment, I’d like to introduce you to someone. Don’t worry.” Frank held up a hand. “I’m not going to pretend it’s someone you know.”

Jordan followed Frank to the next house over, which looked much the same as every other house around except this one was a pale orange. Frank walked up to the door and knocked to a rhythm that Jordan recognized. Maybe it was from a cartoon or a movie she’d seen.

After a few moments, the door swung open. Jordan’s heart raced at the sight of the grey-haired girl Frank had helped the night before. She looked in much better shape than she had then, with her arms bandaged up from those apparent animal attacks.

“This is my niece,” Frank stressed. “She’s from out of town and won’t be staying too long. Would you mind helping me keep her company for a bit?”