Chapter 24

TWENTY-FOUR

In the week that followed Georgia had more people over at her place than in the last fifteen years all together. Yasmin and Charlie made sure that either of them would stop by every day to check on her and beside that company staff would come by unannounced for no particular reason and the doctor came to examine her twice. The last time he did he brought crutches and encouraged her to go out for a walk on a daily bases. Lodinski in the meantime was too busy at the company to prepare them for the summer season. The last weeks before the premiere were always the most chaotic, yet he made sure he called her every day and though that annoyed her she had to admit that he hadn’t been anything but good to her. And he dismissed all her attempts to change his mind about her taking the summer off before she even brought it up. “You better find yourself a new hobby for the summer Georgia because I don’t want to see you anywhere near Lincoln Center and that’s all I’m going to say about it.” She also learned that she actually only had two true friends, but they were better friends than she ever realised before. It surprised her though that Charlie turned out to be the one she had the best conversations with. That might not be completely fair to Yasmin because she didn’t know about the one thing that was most important in her life at that point, but still Charlie always managed to say the right things.

One night when they talked about Jon again Charlie called it relationship. She thought that was weird, she had never looked at it that way. She didn’t know much about love and successful relationships but she didn’t think this was what one looked like at all. “It’s not a relationship though, is it? I mean… I tried to ignore that I liked him, we fucked, I fell in love and now we are in the phase of getting to know each other. The order it all happened in is so fucked up that it can never become a relationship anyway.” Charlie sighed. “Then what is the right order? What makes a relationship? Going to a club to meet someone and go on a couple dates before you decided whether you even like them or not? That might work for some people but you know as well as I do that you're not like that. Who makes up the rules anyway? He keeps coming back to you, you keep letting him in, I’d say this is as close to a relationship you’ve ever been.” Georgia blinked. “That quite sounds like something Jon said to me as well.” “If the rock star says so, then I guess it must be true.” Georgia sighed. “But he’ll be off for Europe next week anyway.” “Is that already?!” “Yep…” “That sucks,” Charlie said and she could do nothing but agree. She feared the day he would leave, even though she would never admit it to Jon.

So it was true that all the attention was flattering, even for her, but the only thing that really mattered was that Jon kept his word. He came to her house twice, of which he even stayed the night once. It didn’t sound like much but she had learned already to treasure every minute they could spend together. When he left after spending the night he admitted to her that he didn’t know if he would see her again before he would be off to Europe but he also said he would try to come up with something. She could see that he really felt bad about leaving her behind and that meant more to her than his words. She didn’t expect much of it anyway. It was not like he could just postpone his trip to Europe a couple months even if he wanted to and Georgia couldn’t see another way for them to be together. A couple of days after she’d last seen him, just when she came back from the horrific task that going to the supermarket had become, he called her.

“I know what we’re gonna do, Georgia,” he said. He couldn’t even be bothered to greet her properly. Georgia dropped her bag on the kitchen counter and walked to the table. She had a feeling she needed to sit down to hear what he was about to say.

“Spill it,” she said not able to hide her curiosity.

“I’m going to find you a job on tour,” he simply said. Georgia was silent for a few seconds, then she laughed. “You got to be kidding me,” she said. “What? No I’m not.” She could hear the surprise in his voice but what did he expect? That she would drop to her knees and thank him for the opportunity?

“I’m a ballerina, sure i'm an injured one who was forced to stay at home but that doesn't mean you can just decide to give me a job. One you still have to create, even."

“But it would be perfect for us to be together,” he said, disappointed.

“Oh yeah, and what did you have in mind?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. She chuckled, not at all amused. “I could set you up with a job at the Fanclub,” he suggested.

“Brilliant,” she said, “but no thank you.”

“Stylist? You seem to be into fashion…”

“Does that mean I have to dress you? I think I’ve proven to be better at undressing…”

“Jesus Christ George, what do you want then?!” he said losing his temper. Patient and understanding as always.

“What I want from you?” she said as she stood up. No longer able to sit still. “I want for you to take me a bit more serious. I can’t believe you thought I would actually let you give me a non-existing job on your tour so you would have me around in case you’d need a fuck.”

“You know it’s not like that,” he said and she could just picture him pulling a hand through his hair. “But I guess this means you’re not gonna do it.”

“No, Jon,” she said slowly and loudly. “I’m not gonna do it and I’m sure there are easier ways for you to satisfy your needs.”

He sighed. “But I need you, not just for that, I need you around. The thought that I can’t see you for another two months kills me.”

“We’re just gonna have to live with it,” she said but she knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Even the thought of him going all the way to Europe for so long killed her but she wasn’t giving in to it. This time she promised herself not to lose her dignity. She was stronger than that. She wouldn’t just give up her life or what was left of it to follow him around for no reason other than to get a few hours of his time a day, if she was lucky. Because she didn’t expect he would have much free time to spend with her anyway.

“Great,” he said.

“No, not really,” she admitted.

“No, alright…" he sighed. "bye.”

“Bye Jon.” She put the phone down and tossed it on the dining table. The rest of the day had to wait. She needed a shower, she needed to wash away another bad idea, another fight and another disappointment.