54. Basement

As promised. Couldn't stop writing this one, plenty more to come...

Ingrid Michaelson - Maybe


JORDAN'S POV


When I had caught sight of her I hadn’t known what to do, so I discreetly tried to make myself as inconspicuous as possible by leaning against the wall, hoping she wouldn’t see me in the darkened room. I watched Tanger approach her, throwing his stupid arm around her shoulders and plying her with alcohol. I watched her chat to him in French, my blood boiling as he led her out of the room and out of sight. Tanger had always had a bit of a thing for her and I didn’t trust him with her, not one bit.

On the other side of the large living room I could see Eric eyeing me with caution as he chatted to Flower and Véro. Marc was on the dancefloor with Geno and a couple of girls that had been following him all night.

As curiosity got the better of me, I decided to go and see what Tanger and Ella were upto. Trying to get through the crowd of people was one thing, but as I reached the busy hallway, they were nowhere to be seen.

“Jordy!” Max said, slapping me on the shoulder as I whirled around. “Can you go grab me some cups from the basement? There’s a chick over there and I don’t wanna wait,” he said motioning to the bottom of the stairs. I was tempted to say the words ‘Gina’ and ‘too soon’ but decided against it. Who am I to cockblock him right now?

Grumbling I walked through to the kitchen and the closed door to the cellar. Opening the lock and the huge wooden door, I noticed that the lights were already on and I could hear somebody or something down here. I walked down the stairs only to be greeted with Ella holding said cups in her arms.

“Hi,” she said silkily, her voice sounding like honey on my ears. “What are you doing down here?”

“Max asked me to fetch some cups,” I said, pointing at the cups covering her chest. Her little mouth formed into a cute little ‘o’ as she stumbled over what she was going to say next. “Well, I found the cups, let’s just get going,” she said brushing past me as I caught a dizzying waft of her floral perfume. God she smelt incredible. I swallowed quickly, following her up the steps to the door which was locked. She bent down, putting the cups on the ground and I had to swallow as I checked her ass in those shorts.

She turned the handle of the door and pushed. Nothing. The door didn’t budge. I watched as she tried again. The wooden door must have gotten a little sticky in the heat, I thought as I reached past her to the door. “Here, let me,” I said, giving it a good push. It didn’t move an inch either. Ella sighed, turning to me and rolling her huge, green eyes.

“Gonna have to knock,” I suppose she said, looking at me as she started hammering loudly on the door. “Let us out!” she screamed over her incessant knocking. She stopped as she heard what sounded like Max’s laugh. “Maxxx!” she cried through the door. “Not fair. Let us out.”

“Only when you kiss and make up! You both still love each other, you can stay there until you admit it.”

Admit what, I thought, not hearing Max, as I hammered on the door, only hearing another laugh in return before all we could hear was music.
“I’m sorry,” Ella said, sitting down on the step facing me.

“About?” I pressed, she was going to have to be a little clearer than that if she wanted me to know what she was apologising for.

“Being stuck down here,” she continued, not looking at me, instead fiddling with the plastic bag the cups were encased in. I tried to suppress a smile. It definitely wasn’t her fault for being stuck down here. I could think of worse people to be stuck down here with, like Marc or Max or even Tanger.

“There are worse people to be stuck down here with,” I admitted as I stood in front of her at the bottom of the steps. “C’mon, those steps are cold, let’s sit in the warmth until we’re let out.” I offered my hand which she declined as she pulled herself to her feet, bringing the large bag of cups with me and following me into the room straight ahead, Max’s games room.

Ella took a seat on one sofa, and wrapped herself up in a blanket. I didn’t want to tell her where those blankets had been although part of me was tempted when she covered up her tanned legs. I took a seat on the floor, my back leaning against the other sofa. Sitting on the sofa seemed too far away and I wanted to be as close to her as possible.

“Max usually has some drinks down here, want anything?” I said, getting to my feet. I have no idea how long Max plans on keeping us hostage, but we might as well be comfortable, seeing as we’re missing out on the party.

“Yeah, whatever’s easiest,” Ella said not bothering to move as she opened her purse and flicked out her phone. Maybe she could call someone who could let us out, though I didn’t want my chances ruined by her phone.

“Battery’s dead,” she said flinging it back into her purse as she pulled the blanket a little tighter. My phone was upstairs with my wallet, packed away in my bag. There was no way I could call anyone, like my brothers, even if I had wanted to. No one upstairs would hear their phones over the music. I didn’t know what to say so I went into the other room and opened the fridge. I brought back a couple of beers for myself and the choice of a bottle of red or some Smirnoff ices for Ella. I wasn’t sure how much she could drink with her epilepsy medication or what she preferred.

“Thanks,” she said as she unscrewed the Smirnoff ice and putting it to her lips. I tried not to look as she took a sip, trying not to look at the way her lips looked on the bottle, or at the way her tongue licked her wet lips afterwards, removing any trace of the drink.

“So, how’s your summer been?” I said as awkward silence began to fill the air. I didn’t want this to be awkward, we’ve never had those moments where we didn’t know what to say or do to each other and I didn’t those moments to start now. Not now when all I want to do is screw her on that sofa.

“Summer has been, different,” Ella began, her eyes flicking across to look at me. I didn’t know how long was too long to hold her gaze but I was disappointed when her eyes were drawn to something else. “It’s the first time I’ve ever worked during the summer, so that’s different, nice different though.”

“Really?” I asked. Ever since I can remember I’ve helped Dad out on the farm. We all have, it’s just I don’t know anything else. It was always school and hockey or summer and sod farm. I know Ella’s had a privileged upbringing, but I didn’t know this was the first time she had ever had a job.

“Yeah, it is. I’m hoping they’ll take me on at the end of the placement. It’d be nice to be in the company, the opportunities, a foot in the door…” her eyes glazed over at the thought. I was really happy for her, she sounded really content with the internship and she knew what she wanted to do. I couldn’t help but admire her ambition even though one percent of me realised how happy she was without me.

“Oh yeah,” I took a swig of my beer, letting the liquid wash over my tongue and down my throat, swallowing what I was so eager to say. “Do you think you’ll stay in Quebec?”

“Who knows? I don’t even know if I’m in with a chance of getting the position,” she said, nursing her drink and looking at the end of the blanket.

“Well I hope you get it.”

“Thanks Jordan, that means a lot to me.” She fidgeted with the edge of the blanket, as if she didn’t know what to say. I’ve never seen Ella tongue-tied or nervous so this was a first. I smiled back at her, wistfully thinking it would be nice if Ella didn’t get the job, maybe she would move back to Pittsburgh and work there. Wistful thinking, Jordy, I told myself. It’s more likely that she’ll move somewhere else. She speaks fluent English, French and Arabic; she can go anywhere she wants.

“So what’s new with you?” Ella asked, positioning herself more comfortably on the old sofa. She turned her face to look at mine. I couldn’t read her face, wishing I could. I so desperately wanted to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling.

“Well, season finished, that was a killer. God damn Habs, sorry Félix…” Ella smiled, nodding for me to continue. “My foot’s better, I was having some physio on it for a while but should be fine for preseason training. Oh Jarhead got traded to Carolina so he’s on the same team as Eric now. Kind of nice that they’re together. One less phone call to make. Umm..” I tried to think about other news. There wasn’t much. Life on the sod farm was pretty boring compared to life in Pittsburgh, or Montreal I assumed. “I missed you,” I blurted out. Smooth, Jordan, verrry smooth.

I glanced across at Ella to see how she had responded. She blinked a few times before she took another sip of her drink, swallowing hard.
It felt like time was standing still, every second seemed one hundred times as long, and I could feel my heart racing in my chest. Slowly she turned her face to look at mine, her eyes searching my face as if she would find the answer written on them. Just as she opened her mouth, about to speak, I heard the rough opening of the door followed by Max’s voice.

“In case ya get hungry,” then the door was quickly closed as I heard something thud onto the basement floor. Ella got to her feet, as curious as I was to hear what had fallen. She retreated back into Max’s den with a white bag, pulling out a large bag of Sun Chips, two condoms and a couple of apples. Ella quickly tossed the condoms to the bin, clearly spelling out that make up sex wasn’t on the menu tonight.

“Want some?” Ella said as she opened the huge bag of chips, offering me some. I nodded, taking a step towards her and putting my hand into the open bag. I was hungry but I shouldn't eat crap like this even in the off-season. It all has to go somewhere, I thought, as I took a handful.

"I forgot how good these were," Ella said as she crunched on the cheesy chips.

"Mmm.. me too," I said as she grinned back at me. I wanted to know the answer to my question that was rudely interrupted by Max, but it was going to sound arrogant if I pushed it further. 'Hey Ella, so did you miss me?' - I wasn't going to blow my chance. I thought back to what Eric had said when we were back in Thunder Bay. "Just talk to her."

"Would you go back to Pittsburgh if you didn't get the place?" I asked wondering about her attachments to the steel city. Ella paused on her munching, her eyes flickering towards the ceiling as she thought about it.

"If I got a really good offer. But I need to keep my Arabic up, that's the thing. There aren't many jobs in North America where I can do that," she continued still thinking about it, drink in her right hand, chip in the other as she sat cross legged against the sofa.

"Middle East?" I suggested, dreading the thought of her going there. It's so far away. I knew that whatever the outcome of us being in the basement, I didn't want her to go without her knowing how I felt.

"Maybe. Again, job offers, opportunities. I have to make companies be aware of who I am and what I can offer them," she said with all seriousness. "And certain places aren't exactly female territory out there." I didn't want to sound ignorant, but I didn't pay too much attention to the Middle East or anything really outside of North America, so I didn't push the conversation. I didn't want her to be aware of how ignorant I was on a topic on which she was so passionate about.

"When does the season begin?" she asked as her eyes fell back to room level and onto my face.

"Three weeks, looking forward to it. Thunder Bay gets a little quiet after a while," I said.

"I bet. Who did you come with?" Ella asked. Was she asking if I brought a date here tonight to Talbie's party.

"Just my brothers. Actually just Eric and Marc. Jarhead's helping Dad out on the farm and his girlfriend's pretty clingy."

Ella laughed and I smiled, listening to her laugh which sounded like bells pealing and summer all at the same time. "Why do you call him Jarhead?" she asked in obvious amusement. The more we drank, the funnier things were going to become, but I had to make sure I kept to the same level as she did - I didn't want to pass out down here. That would ruin everything.

"Because, he got more penalty minutes last year in Juniors than Eric, Marc or me combined. He's a fighter," I said. There wasn't much to it. Jared and his red hair (which must explain it) was always dropping the gloves, giving bad checks and arguing with the refs. He had always been like it, ever since we were little and used to play outside on our makeshift rink. It was his way of taking us down when he lacked Eric's skill, or Marc's gritty determination and my, well my general awesomeness.

"That's funny. He must really appreciate it," Ella said as she put the bottle aside and cracked opened her second. "I only ever had Félix, and you know how close we are, so I never know what it's like to have that fierce sibling rivalry," she said. "But being a twin is cool, you always have a best friend."

"Ha, you should come and spend two nights at our house with all of us there," I said as I thought about the general craziness that ensued when all of us were together.

"Is that an invitation?" Ella asked, grinning.

What does she want it to be? "Er, do you want it to be?" I shot back, trying to suppress the fact my stomach was flipping and flopping like mad. Please say yes, I silently begged looking back at her.