We're going to need more than five minutes

Will you give me a second chance?

Not much later, they sat in the backseat of an Uber on their way home to her place. They didn't talk much, whatever they had to say to each other wasn't best discussed in front of a random stranger in his car.

She was wearing her mask again, and every few seconds he looked over at her to check on whether she was still breathing normally, and more often than not he would find himself looking straight into her eyes whenever he did so because she kept on looking over at him too. All while he was still holding onto her hand, gently stroking her skin with his thumb every once in a while.

It was the strangest feeling, sitting right next to her right now. How often had he dreamt of this moment... but now that they were here, it felt oddly unfamiliar, and he had no idea what to do with himself. Somehow, their breakup... HER breakup, had turned this person who he thought he knew so well, whom he had shared so many intense and personal moments with – good, bad, happy, sad, desperate, passionate – into a stranger he couldn't read at all. And right now, he wasn't even sure whether he wanted to...

"So", eventually he cleared his throat to break the silence when he realized that she wasn't going to, "What happened exactly? With Donovan?"

"Ugh", she sighed, "I don't really want to think about it anymore, to be honest. I just... I came running down the hall because I was looking for you. I was searching, I mean, I still had no idea whether you'd actually be there at all, right? But then I ran into him, he must have just come back from the restrooms or something, and I was so THRILLED to see him because that meant that you'd be there too. But then, he wouldn't let me pass to talk to you! He said, he couldn't let me anywhere near you because of how much I hurt you... and that he was going to protect you. From me. And, well... he did! He wasn't like, super violent, of course. But he pushed me and pulled me back and blocked my path and grabbed and held me... stuff like that. He was dead serious! And then, I don't know... I mean, it was super hot in there, at least it felt like it to me, and under the mask I couldn't breathe well, you know, I had been running and the entire situation was, like, super stressful! So I got an asthma attack. And on top of that, like I said, I'm not in the best shape right now, I... have some issues with blood circulation and low blood pressure, so I got dizzy and must have fainted. So yes, the interaction with your brother certainly intensified the situation, but I don't know... I wouldn't say it was HIS fault per se. He apologized, and I can kind of understand him too..."

"Well, you're an actress, it's your job to understand even the strangest of behaviors."

"Right, maybe that's why. But also, I mean, he's your big brother! My big sister would probably have done the same for me. I most certainly would do the same for anyone in my family. Considering all that he told me", she had to swallow to suppress the tears welling up in her eyes again, she had no intention to start crying in this Uber, "... about how much I hurt you and... broke you."

Jordane nodded and looked away, and she could see that his eyes had become suspiciously shiny too. Now was a good time to not go any further into this topic until they were home.

"And", he continued, "how did you even know, or suspect, that I was at the airport?"

"Someone told me that you wanted to fly back to Atlanta with your family tonight. Not more than that."

"BK?"

She didn't answer. She didn't want to get her young colleague into trouble with her friend, but there was no need for any further confirmation anyway.

"Why did you block me? And... even my mom?", she asked eventually.

He looked at her with big eyes and almost scoffed. "I? Why did YOU block ME?"

She looked down onto their hands that were still holding each other, and she had the urge to tighten her grip on his.

"I tried calling you, I kept texting you... but... you know that. I just had the feeling that we weren't done talking. I mean, how could we? After everything we've been through, and with everything we had still planned. And it's not even that I desperately wanted to change your mind, you know. I'm a strong believer in letting a woman choose for herself and for her own heart, mind and body what she would want to be doing with a man – or stop doing with him. I just didn't understand, you know? I think that was the hardest part. You know, about being an actor, and being able to understand even those behaviors and reactions that seem strange and foreign to us? Usually I'd like to think I'm pretty good at that too, but this... I don't know I just... the more and more I went over it in my head, the less I could understand it. But well, I couldn't reach you, and eventually I stopped trying. But then, I noticed how I still kept hoping that YOU would call me. I did nothing but sit next to my phone all day, I barely even took a shower because I was afraid to miss your call! At the same time, another part of me knew that you wouldn't call, and that I was just hurting myself and wasting my time waiting for you. So eventually, I decided to block you. Everywhere. Of course, like that I would never know whether you'd ACTUALLY call me, but at least I knew that I wouldn't need to wait any longer. And then", he even chuckled softly to himself and shrugged, "then I realized that I started waiting for your mother to call! Or rather you from her number. So I blocked her too. It was really nothing against her, I'm really sorry, she was such a sweetheart the whole time and she was really there for me! I'll apologize to her. But yeah, well... that's why. And eventually I even managed to tell myself that I was happy I didn't need to talk to you anymore. Donovan's right, I AM hurt. And angry."