Everything Changes

Chapter Twenty-Six: Jordan Evans

Jordan was very young when he decided that he didn't like Florida.

He wasn't exactly sure how old he was. Maybe it was when he was three years old, when his father left one night and never came back. Or maybe it was in elementary school, when his mother would always bring home random men. He wondered when he would call one of them his new father. Or maybe it was when he was ten years old, when his mother turned to drugs and gambling to patch the wound of her failed relationships and her husband leaving their family. Or maybe it was when he was eleven years old, when he and his siblings moved in with their grandparents because their mother had to stay at a rehabilitation center. Or maybe it was all of those troubling memories that made Florida the last place he wanted to attend college, start a career, and raise a family.

But even after his mother got clean, Florida still never stood out to him. He was thankful he was able to live a somewhat normal teenage life despite his childhood, such as making the varsity football team as a freshman with his best friend Jake, getting cheated on, falling in love, and such. But maybe it was West Coral that he hated the most.

Growing up without a father, with a mother in rehab, and living off the support of his grandparents' retirement funds didn't exactly fit the country club lifestyle that West Coral represented.

Knowing his life could have been much worse, he was thankful to live under a roof with food, hot water, and his family - but the very evident comparison between him and his schoolmates haunted him. They lived in mansions, their parents made more than six figures a year, were members of the country club, could afford going on lavish vacations... and the list continued. He always felt like an outsider compared to them, which also showed through their contrasting personalities. His schoolmates were extremely entitled and snotty - but it made sense. They didn't have to worry about scrounging around for money. They had more than enough of it.

Maybe that was why he had a history of going for pretty rich girls - like Margot Darnell, Brittany Rivera, and Ella Mae Ayers. They made him feel like he was a part of the country club lifestyle, like he belonged, even if it were just a temporary feeling. It felt good in the moment to be a part of something.

But it was better that it was just a temporary feeling, because he needed a new start. He needed to create his own identity without living through someone else's. He was so excited to discover who he really was, and leaving West Coral was a step in the right direction. He was thrilled to move to Los Angeles - the city where he had been longing to live for his entire life.

But for the past two years he had lived in Los Angeles, it wasn't exactly living up to his expectations. Sure - he was playing for one of the best football programs in the country, met some of his best friends, created some of the best memories, befriended Instagram influencers - but that was all. For a city he thought would give him everything he'd ever dreamed, he really had received so little.

And like the saying goes - running away is easy... but it's the leaving that's hard. To Jordan, the thought of leaving the country club lifestyle for Los Angeles had been his plan since he was a child - but it was always just a thought. A dream, more specifically. But when it became a reality, he realized how much he missed West Coral - something he never imagined would be the case.

And visiting home only made things worse. After starting to make things right with his friends, seeing his extended family, seeing Cassie, seeing his old house, visiting the places he used to go to - like the beach, his uncle's boat rental shop, his favorite restaurants... made him upset that he once wanted to wish this place goodbye. It also frustrated him that he couldn't move on, because he knew Los Angeles was his new home. Why couldn't he just accept that?