Blast From The Past- Out of Washington Part 1

I've shard this story once long ago but figured it was time to post it on the new blog and give you a little info about how my hubby and I came to be. I'll post this in a series as it's kind of a long story. Happy reading.

Out of Washington Part 1

Jordan crawled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to wake herself up. She forced her lethargic body to get ready for another day of dance classes at that infamous Ryerson Theatre School.

Theatre schools have this reputation of being old, run down buildings with lots of history behind them. Theatre students never get the bright new facilities they deserve, because there is never enough funding for the arts, or maybe the artists never give them any money because the worse the conditions of the training facilities the more inspiration the students will have. Anyway, that’s a tangent in itself. But the Ryerson Theatre School is just like all those other theatre schools, and old, run down building that happens to be haunted…but that’s a story for another day.

After Jordan’s long day at school she came home and signed onto msn. Msn- the haven and saviour for all those millions of people who are too lazy or too poor to pick up the telephone (but still an incredibly brilliant invention.) On msn Jordan started to talk to Kevin. She had a favour to ask of him, but quickly learned that he wouldn’t’t be able to help her out because he was going to the airport to welcome home his friend Dan. Dan had been in France for the past two year serving a religious mission, and now he was coming home.

Jordan was excited to hear that Dan was coming back. Before his mission she had the chance to hang out with him a few times (in large group settings) and from what she could remember he had been a lot of fun. He had once even stayed at her and her roommates apartment in a strange circumstance when he found himself stranded in Toronto, but once again that’s another story.

Kevin who seemed eager that Jordan and Dan should talk sent Jordan Dan’s e-mail and left it at that. Jordan decided that it would be a nice gesture to welcome Dan home. So she sent him an e-mail not knowing that this would set into motion a tornado of events.

That e-mail could now be seen as the initiator of all things. Shortly after it was sent Dan and Jordan began conversing on that, “brilliant,” msn.

And, yes, at this point I’d like to send out a sincere thanks to the inventor of msn. But, back to our story.

* * * * * *

Jordan suddenly found the week was not nearly as unbearable as it had been in previous months. It seems silly to say that talking to someone on msn, whom she barely even knew, could make a difference, but it did. To make things even better Dan told Jordan that he would be coming to Toronto the upcoming weekend to help his friend Kevin move. She told him that it would be great if they could get hang out, in the interest of seeing an old face and finding out how his mission had been.

(A side note: Jordan had always thought Dan was quite the looker. Dating back to her early teenaged days she remembered seeing him at church dances and whispering with her friends about how, “hot,” he was. Needless to say this did play a part in her interest in seeing him again.)

Well the week sped onward and on Friday night, despite feeling exhausted and ready for bed, Jordan trekked out to the church for institute (scripture study) class. This was where Dan and Jordan re-met again for the first time. After class Jordan went in search of Dan and Kevin only to find them standing out in the hallway. Feeling a little nervous about re-introducing herself she went over and said hi. Then Dan and Jordan talked about the plans for Saturday evening.

Bright and early Saturday morning Jordan made the long trip to Mississauga to teach dance. Normally she found this quite enjoyable, however on this particular Saturday she found that all she could do was think about hanging out with Dan. Finally at 1:15 when the classes were done Jordan bounded out of the studio to go home and get ready to see Dan.

Well, Dan didn’t come until later than expected. But he came, and that’s what’s important. When he arrived Jordan found herself with little butterflies in her stomach- nervous anticipation I suppose. Jordan decided to take Dan out to her favourite Japanese restaurant, a great little spot on Queen St. West called HoShu. 

On their way there Jordan was gabbing at a mile a minute and hardly gave Dan a chance to get a word in. She had always been a chatterbox, however when you go out with someone for the first time there is usually a certain level of hesitation and always an awkward moment. 

Perhaps it was just because Jordan was talking so ridiculously fast that she didn’t notice an awkward moment, but she was pretty certain that she hadn’t felt this comfortable with somebody since meeting her new roommate Leah. Conversation just seemed to flow with Dan, and Jordan developed an immediate trust in him- also something she did not typically experience, having the tendency to be a somewhat guarded person.

Well I can’t conclude the dinner portion of the story without making mention of Jordan’s utterly embarrassing moment in which, while Dan was in the bathroom (thank goodness) she managed to knock over a full glass of freshly poured water. Water sprayed absolutely everywhere and about four waiters came to the rescue mopping up the splash with hundreds of napkins. Dan returned to the table beholding the sight with a somewhat perplexed expression on his face and Jordan was forced to explain her rather graceful qualities!

* * * *

The next portion of the night was a drive to Kitchener with good old Kevin and his girlfriend Nat. Jordan assumed that once they arrived at the dance Dan would want to socialize with other people (as he had already been with her for a few hours), however she quickly realized, as Dan followed her around like a little puppy dog, that he was not going to leave her side. 

Dan’s discomfort at the dance was of course understandable as he had not been exposed to, “regular,” life, people, music or girls over the past two years. He was definitely shell shocked and when Jordan was enjoying herself on the dance floor and saw Dan sitting across the room with an expression of bewilderment in his eyes she knew that she had to go to his rescue. Funny, because there was a bit of role reversal going on, however, Jordan knew if she did not act she would not be fulfilling her duties as a friend, and so to his side she flew. 

She took Dan out of the dance, where there was a little more breathing space, and just sat there with him. She kept talking nonsense really, asking if he was all right. She felt totally annoying but didn’t know what else to do. Thankfully Dan seemed to relax a little and that was all Jordan needed to know to feel that she had helped. In a way she felt like his knight in shining armour that Saturday night. He had needed her at that exact moment, and she had been there. She had been the one person who could rescue Dan from the lion’s den. 

In a moment as such, when you need someone and they come to your rescue, a certain boundary is crossed. Suddenly you share with your rescuer a special bond that no one else can touch. This is what happened between Dan and Jordan, or so Jordan believed. She felt as though she had been there at a crucial moment as Dan was falling between two worlds, she the reflexively reached out her arms and caught him. 

* * * *

After the rescue Jordan went home with all kinds of thoughts running through her head. She decided that it would be appropriate to e-mail Dan and thank him for an enjoyable weekend. This e-mail set into motion a series of e-mails and by Wednesday Jordan had casually invited herself along on a road trip to Washington D.C. with Dan his older sister and her husband. While Jordan considered the possibility of seeming too aggressive in, “letting Dan know she was available to travel,” after consultation with a few very trustworthy sources (who suggested to her that Dan wanted her to go but was too afraid to ask) she went ahead and told him she would love to accompany him on his trip. 

Jordan had in her character a tendency to be too aggressive but at this exact moment she felt that she had nothing to loose. Dan had sparked her interest and this would be the prime opportunity to find out just how cool Dan Fuller was.