Asylum (Asylum, #1)(19)

“What?” Dan looked back and forth between them.

“I usually meet Jordan after dinner to study. It totally slipped my mind.” Abby squeezed her coffee cup so tightly the Styrofoam creaked. “He’s going to be pissed.”

Dan knew the two of them hung out plenty but he had no idea the study sessions were some kind of hard-and-fast ritual. They slowed down as they approached Jordan looming outside Abby’s door.

“Oh, hello. Do you live here?” he asked.

“Jordan, I’m so sorry.” Spreading her arms wide, Abby went in for a hug that Jordan nimbly sidestepped.

“No, no, I’m fine. Really. Just break plans without letting me know, it’s cool.” He had a disposable cup like Abby’s in his right hand. As he sipped from it, she wrinkled her nose.

“Jordan, is there liquor in that?”

“No.”

“Jordan.”

“Fine! Yes!” He pushed it under her nose. “You’re driving me to drink.”

Abby reached for the cup, but Jordan backed up across the hall. He tilted it back and drank the rest of what was inside.

Abby’s eyes flashed. “I said I was sorry, Jordan. What else do you want me to say?” Dan took her coffee cup while she got her keys and unlocked the door. She gave him a relieved smile. Dan was just happy to be an ally.

“Anyway, why didn’t you just call instead of lurking outside my room?” Abby said.

Jordan shrugged, suddenly engrossed in picking at his fingernails. “Don’t know.”

“I think you do, so spill it,” she said, opening the door. Dan expected Jordan to follow Abby inside and start in on them both, but instead Jordan hesitated, eyeing the door suspiciously, as if he thought Abby was waiting for the right moment to slam it in his face.

“What are you, a vampire?” she asked. “Do I need to invite you across the threshold?”

“Just wasn’t sure I was welcome.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jordan. Get in here, both of you.”

Dan stepped in, admiring how cool her room was, with lots of her own art decorating the walls. Most of it was colorful, exciting, and vivid, so he wasn’t prepared for the one picture that stood out like a dead rose in a bouquet. The hollow-eyed girl. Taped on the wall above the bed, it was drawn exactly like the photograph. Dan stared at the empty eyes and the scar on the little girl’s forehead, wondering why Abby would ever want something that creepy watching over her while she slept. It was hard to look at—and hard to look away.

“Sorry it’s a bit of a mess,” Abby was saying, seeming not to notice what was really bothering him. She swept some clothes off her bed and motioned for Dan and Jordan to sit down. Pulling out her desk chair, she scooted it along the floor until she was right next to them.

“Now spill, Jordan. What’s going on with you?”

Jordan looked only at Abby. “This just . . . being left . . . Well, it hit a nerve,” he said slowly. “I had this friend back home. Blake.” Jordan stumbled over the name as if just saying it had made him choke. “We pretty much did everything together, until a few months ago when I finally came out to him. Although come on, how could anyone be around me for five minutes and not know?” he added bitterly. “Anyway, he made himself scarce. Not like a blowup fight or anything. He just . . . disappeared. One day we’re fine, buddies, whatever, and the next he’s not returning my texts, he’s ignoring me at school. . . . He’d pass me in the halls and just look through me, like I didn’t exist . . . like I was some kind of ghost.”

A long silence followed Jordan’s confession. Abby glanced at Dan.

“That’s not fair,” she finally whispered. “We didn’t disappear. We’re not ignoring you. And I’m sorry, Jordan, we both are, but honestly . . . we were sort of on a date.”

“You were?”

“We were?” He and Jordan spoke at the exact same time. Dan cleared his throat. “I mean, we were.”

“Oh. Good for you . . .” Jordan chewed the inside of his cheek. It didn’t sound like much of a congratulation.

“But next time we’ll call,” Abby said, hurriedly adding, “if we’ve made plans with you or anything. Okay?”

“Okay.” He sounded like a little kid, one who had unexpectedly gotten his way but didn’t want to stop pouting.

“Abby . . .” Dan couldn’t hold back the question any longer. “Why did you do that drawing?” Abby followed his eyes to the picture of the little girl as if she didn’t know immediately which one he meant.

“I don’t know, why not?” she said. “She seemed so sad, I wanted her to feel like she was in a safe place. She was clearly lonely down there in the dark and dust. I thought I would just put her somewhere a bit brighter for a while.” She looked at the drawing. “Wow . . . I guess I didn’t think about how creepy it is.” She paused. “Is it weird?”

“Yes.” Jordan was the first to answer.

“Really? And you think so, too, Dan?”

Think very, very carefully about these next words. . . .

“I just . . . It doesn’t freak you out at all? She’s very . . . unusual, is all.”

Behind Abby’s back, Jordan gave him double thumbs-up, mouthing, “Nice job.”