Chapter 8

EIGHT

“Jon…” It wasn’t a question, or a demand. She was begging him to let go. She grabbed his hands and peeled them off her arms. As soon as he loosened his grip, she stood up and walked around the couch to give herself some distance. He crawled back up on the couch and she eventually sat down on the table in front of him.

“Why don’t you just give up, I’m sure there are plenty women in this hotel who can satisfy you… I can set you up with someone if you want me to,” she said and looked at him. He sighed and pulled a hand through his hair.

“Because that’s not what I am looking for. You can set me up with twenty of them and I’ll still find myself at your door.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think you would be able to walk after twenty women, Jon. I know your self-esteem is very high and shit but you are fifty years old.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her and smiled despite the fact that she annoyed him because she didn’t take his comment seriously, the one time he tried to be.

“forty-nine, baby” he said. Then he chose to continue because he wanted her to see him point. “I’m not doing this because I even want to, hell I shouldn’t be here at all. It’s fucking ridiculous and you annoy the hell out of me.”

She nodded her head. “Back at ya…”

He sighed again, frustrated and she could see he was losing his patience. It frustrated her that he couldn’t see why she was being like this. She wanted him to know that she only did it because she couldn’t deal with the truth. It scared her what he just said. That he would keep coming back because he was drawn towards her. She felt the exact same thing, but unlike him she still had hope that it would go away if they just didn’t give in to it.

She was so relieved when his phone started ringing that she jumped up from the table. Glad that he had to give attention to something other than her for the first time that morning. But he didn’t move.

“Your phone is ringing,” she therefor told him.

He looked at her. “I know, but it can wait” he said and lifted his hand with his palm towards her before he rubbed his face with both his hands.

She walked over to his phone that laid on one of the chairs and looked at the screen.

“Who’s Paul?”

“Manager.”

“That sounds important, I don’t think it can wait.”

“Yes,” he said raising his voice. “It can w…””

Before he finished his sentence she already picked up his phone.

He stood up quickly and walked around the table with his hand towards her while she spoke to Paul.

“Hello?” the man on the other side was confused that a woman answered Jon’s phone. And it was probably wrong but that made her feel good because that meant it didn’t happen every day.

“Hi,” she said again to let him know she was still there. Meanwhile she was looking at Jon who stood in front of her and was making wild gestures.

“Errr… hi, is Jon… around?”

“Of course he is, hold on…” She handed the phone to Jon theatrically and he gave her a warning look before he turned his back at her and walked towards the windows, away from her.

“Who was that?” Paul asked and Jon could hear suspicion in his voice. He looked over his shoulder to Georgia who was looking back, and was way too pleased with herself.

“Nobody,” he said. He felt guilty even saying it out loud but when he looked at Georgia again she didn’t look hurt.

Paul didn’t seem to have time to ask any further questions because he changed the subject and not so gently reminded him of an interview he was supposed to have in the hotel lounge in fifteen minutes, and where the hell he was.

“Fuck,” he said as he completely forgot about that. He checked his watch and saw it was nearly half past nine. He cursed again and told Paul he was going to be there as soon as he could. “Shit,” he said again as he ended the phone call.

When he tossed his phone back on the chair and sat down to put his socks on he looked at Georgia. “What the hell did you do that for?” he asked.

“Because that is what happens when you stay over at a stranger’s woman’s place. She makes her way in to your life and people start to notice and they will ask questions and judge you and…”

He raised a hand to stop her and to let her know he was not impressed. He put his shoes on and roughly pulled at the laces before he tied them up. “That was weak, I am far from done here, and far from done with you. There is nothing you can do about it and I’m losing patience because we are running out of time.”

He walked to the door and she followed, to make sure he was really leaving.

“So,” she said: “is this were you will go all Terminator on me?”

He turned around, was about to say something, probably the quote she meant, then turned back and shook his head. Even though she did not let him say it, she knew that, no matter what, he would be back.

She rested her head against the door and thought her options through. Maybe she should go out, shopping or even to the gym downstairs. She should at least go to the restaurant to see if she could still get some breakfast. But all she really wanted to do was to spend her day off in bed. She wanted to close her eyes and escape him for a while. So that was exactly what she did, and to her relief she drifted off to a dreamless sleep. Until she woke up from her phone ringing on the empty pillow beside her. Without looking who was calling her she answered.

“Hey recluse!” it was Yasmin. Georgia rolled over to check the time on the nightstand and saw it was nearly four in the afternoon. Well done, she thought to herself. “What the hell have you been doing in your room all day?” her friend said and  Georgia was glad she could give her an honest answer: “sleeping…”

“Was the concert to emotionally draining for you?” Yasmin said and Georgia laughed even though Yasmin couldn’t understand the reason why. “You have no idea…” she said. Then Yasmin told her about her day at the pool, and a young love between a male principal and a soloist that developed there. And suddenly Georgia had another reason to be glad she stayed in bed. When Yasmin was finally done with her gossip update she suggested to grab some dinner at the hotel’s Italian restaurant together and they arranged to meet downstairs in an hour.

Before they even reached the main course Georgia realised it was the best decision she had made that day. They drank a lot of wine and had conversations about anything but ballet and Jon Bon Jovi. Georgia even started to relax and for the first time since she arrived her personal struggles with the rock star didn’t seem so important. It was almost midnight when Georgia and Yasmin said their goodbyes in the elevator and Georgia was still smiling as she headed for her door.

But her smile quickly faded away as she stepped on a piece of paper when she entered her room.. She bend over to pick it up and quickly read it.  

Saw you being beautiful at the restaurant with your girlfriend, now it’s up to you to prove there won’t be another man sleeping on your couch tonight.