Chapter 25

TWENTY-FIVE

Georgia’s hand trembled as she held the piece of paper between her fingers. She read it over and over again but the words didn’t change. It was a single plane ticket from JFK to Florence Airport in Italy. Tuscany. She had never been there but she knew it was absolutely beautiful. And did it really matter anyway?

 The date of departure was two days from now, an early morning flight on the 2^nd of July. A day after Jon was supposed to have surgery, she knew that because today was their last show of the first part of the European tour. In Dublin. He injured his knee on stage about two weeks ago and had to perform with a knee brace since. He had a week off from tomorrow on and that week started with surgery so he had the time to recover for the rest of the tour. She stared at the small note he also included. She recognised his handwriting.

“Let’s finally be together, love JB,” was all it said and it said it all.

Over the last month her foot had gotten a lot better. She did no longer need crutches and soon she started to overestimate herself. She had to learn the hard way why there was no way she could return to the ballet already again. She knew she would start therapy with the company physician in early August and that would probably not be a moment too soon, she had to admit that. The fact that she felt too good to stay at home but was not able to do too much at the same time was also slowly killing her. It resulted in her staying inside reading and looking out for phone calls from Jon. She missed him badly and only hearing his voice was comforting at first but stopped doing anything for her very soon after he left. For now it was the only option she had.

“Hi…” she said softly and Jon immediately seemed to know what was going on.  

“So you received your mail.”

“I received my mail,” she confirmed.

“Did you get anything special?” he asked and she sighed.

“Jon…”

“Alright, before you say anything , listen to me… I feel like you’re drifting away Georgia and that is not a good feeling, so I thought that maybe my week off would be the perfect opportunity to be together… to really be together you know, but I understand if you....”

“Jon will you shut the hell up, the only reason I called is to thank you. This last month has been horrible and when I read about your injury I felt so bad that I could not be there for you like you have been for me.”

“Wait so… you are saying you’re coming over?”

She smiled brightly to herself as she realised that was exactly what she was about to say. “Yes, I will meet you in Italy, but is it, you know, safe?”

“Yes, it is. We have the villa all to ourselves. Of course there will be staff around but I’ll make sure they will keep their mouths shut.”

“Alright I guess I’ll better hang up now, it seems like I’ve got some packing to do.”

“I’ll see you in two days baby,” he said.

“Two days…” she repeated while she let that fact sink in. “Thank you.”

“Yeah leave that for when you see me.”

In the next couple of hours she contacted everyone that needed to know she was going out of town for a week. She didn’t even have to lie about the destination, only about the reason why. But she was sure neither her parents, her friends or the ballet would ever find out. Nobody had a reason to doubt her anyway. Except for Charlie, so she told him the truth. And he was even more enthusiastic than she was. The others were just happy that she finally decided to do something other than sit around her house and be depressed.

She knew she would arrive late in the evening on the 2^nd and he had to go back to his tour on the 8^th so she would only be able to spend four whole days with him, but it was still better than another week without.

Georgia had flown first class before when she went to Russia and Amsterdam for workshops and internships at ballet companies over there but it didn’t make her like it more. Even though first class and business class sections in planes could easily make you forget you were flying, it didn’t change the fact that you were and she was afraid to fly. She never let it stop her, but it always did stop her from sleeping the night before. This time the reason why she would have to get on a plane didn't really help her to relax either. She was glad therefore that Charlie offered to come with her to the airport because he talked non-stop and almost managed to get her mind off things. Almost, because the main subject of conversation was Jon. Like it had been since the day he found out. Georgia didn’t really mind, as he was still the only one she could talk to about it, but when he got scarily detailed about her sexlife she remained silent and just let him talk. She laughed and ignored the longing for him that was slowly building up inside of her.

Charlie was long gone now and she sat alone in the luxury club lounge of JFK airport sipping from her mojito. She didn’t know if alcohol would help her relax, but neither would water. It was quiet in the lounge, except for a few businessmen that were working on their laptops and talking in their phones. Such a cliché, she thought, wondering how much of a cliché she had become herself. The pretty, young dancer on her way to meet up with her secret rock star lover. For… yes for what? She asked herself. A fuck? She hoped, knew, it was more than that. But would she had stayed at home even if it was just that? She was afraid of the honest answer. When he was still in the US, she did not see him every day, not even every week. But ever since he left for Europe it had become clearer to her that she really wanted, needed to be able to be with him. More than she was willing to admit to herself.

When she looked up she saw that one of the men in the room was looking at her. He lifted his glass and mouthed: "cheers." She just smiled and looked away. He was about Jon’s age but the difference was that he actually looked like he was and that – of course – he wasn’t Jon. And never would be. She checked her phone for the time and it told her she only had thirty more minutes to kill. She finished her drink and put the empty glass on the bar, dragging the attention of the man towards her again. When Georgia realised he got up from his chair and started to cross the room towards her, she quickly grabbed her bag and left the club to lock herself in the toilet. Ever since she met Jon she didn’t even want other men to show interest in her anymore. They all seemed so desperate, uninteresting – boring. She washed her hands and looked at herself in the mirror. She hadn’t put any make-up on and was wearing a pair of black leggings and an oversized Pearl Jam tour shirt. A comfortable outfit because she hoped to sleep during the long flight. She packed a dress, a hairbrush and mascara in her hand luggage to put on right before they  would land in Italy in about eight hours. If you ever will, she added in her thoughts. She didn’t want to push her luck.