| Chapter 4
"Maxie!" "Dillon, what are you doing here? Georgie isn't working today, but even if she was I don't think she would want to talk to you." She said with an uneasy stare. "Actually, I didn't come to see Georgie. I knew she wasn't working today, I came to talk to you." I said quietly, not sure of how she would react. "Dillon, I don't know. I don't think..." She started to say, but I cut her off. "Look, I need someone to talk to and I don't know who else to go to." I said as I pleaded with her. "Ok fine, I can take my break now, but it is the only one I get so you'll have to talk while I eat." She said with a slight smile, unsure of how to act around me. "That's fine." I said as she finshed filing the papers in her hand and told another volunteer she was taking her break. After they agreed to cover for her until she got back we headed onto the elevators. The ride to the basement where the cafeteria was, was quiet and tense to say the least. I figured I should be the one to start the conversation. "How is she?" "Georgie? She is doing good, a lot better than she was." She said as she stared down at her hands that were picking at imaginary lint on her uniform. "Good, I am really glad to hear that. So, are her and that guy, ummm Guy really together?" I asked almost afraid of the answer I would get. The elevator door opened and we stepped off and walked the short distance to the cafeteria "Looks that way to me. She doesn't exactly tell me every detail of her life, but they are always together. In fact they are at the movies right now." She said as I winced at the thought of Georgie and another guy at the movie. That was what we used to do. Maxie saw my expression and her eyes softened. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." "No, it's alright. I'm just glad she is happy." I said dejected. We stood in line and once Maxie grabbed a salad, sandwich and a water and paid for it, we found a booth and sat down. "She's doing better but she's not really happy." Maxie said as she looked up at me before she took a bite of her sandwich. "Why are you telling me all of this. I would have thought you hated me after what I did, and that you wouldn't give me the time of day. Let alone actually talk to me." "You were a first grade jerk, and you really hurt my sister. It killed her to see you and Sage in bed together. But you and me are two peas in a pod in this situation. We both gave our first times away carelessly. You weren't thinking straight and I was only thinking about what I would gain by doing it. So in a way I know how you feel. We both made huge mistakes that we can't entirely make up for and we lost something special in pretty much the same way." She said as she looked over at me sympathetically. "There is no excuse for what I did." I said as I sat back and toyed with the tiny salt shaker on the table. "You're right, there isn't." "But I swear, I will do anything to make things right with Georgie. Do you think I still have a chance?" I asked as I silently prayed with every fiber of my being that she would say yes. "Maybe, maybe not. But I think you need to think back to where all of this started." She said as she took a bite of her salad and looked back to me. "What do you mean?" "When did things start to go down hill?" She asked simply. "Sage?" Sage was the reason for all of this. I had known from the beginning and yet I still went on watching her. I never had any type of feelings for her, the one and only reason I kept the job was for the quick money. "Think back farther than that." She said patiently as she sat back against the booth, having just finished what was left of her salad. "She hated it when I ran jobs for Alcazar. She said it was dangerous and that someone would get hurt." I said as all the times Georgie had warned me or pleaded with me not to do the work kept running through my head almost to the point where it was giving me a headache. I rubbed my temples trying to stop the building preasure. "Exactly, and if I remember right, you were hurt a few times. One of those being that you were shot. Do you know how scared Georgie was when she saw you lying on that stretcher. How would you feel if you all of a sudden seen them wheeling Georgie in on a stretcher becuase she had been shot?" She said as she folded her arms over her chest and raised her eye brows in a look that made you feel like you were the lowest person on earth. A look that only she could give you. "I don't know what I would do." If I were ever in that position I honestly don't know how I would react. I'd make sure she was alright and then I would have probably hunt down whoever shot her. Then the reality of it all started to sink in. "It scared her to death, and it was all preventable. You could have stopped working for Alcazar a long time ago. Before Sage came you could have stopped and then you wouldn't be in this position now." She said as she stood up to throw her trash away. "I know but I started working for him and 'babysitting' Sage because I needed the money. That is why I am still doing it." I said as I jumped up out of the booth and ran over to where she was throwing away her trash and grabbed an apple out of a fruit basket. "Last time I checked there were lots of other ways to make money, legally." She said as she spun around and narrowed her eyes at me. "Yea, but not that kind of cash." The whole room felt like it was slowly yet at the same time quickily closing in on me. "Dillon, this is going to take time, reguardless. Why not start over. Prove to Georige that she is more important to you than the mob and the danger and the money." She said as she stopped quickly almost causing me to run into her. "How do I do that?" I asked as she looked at me with both annoyance and understanding in her eyes. "I can't figure out everything for you. You have to make yourself a better person before you can be better for her. I got to go back to work." She said as she grabbed her purse. "As much as you may not believe it, the ball is in your court. You are the only one who can determine where this will all go, but I can guarantee that if you don't change, you will never get Georgie back. She still loves you but she doesn't want to get hurt again and she doesn't want to see you hurt either. She will distance herself from you because that is the only way she will be able to get over you. Keep doing what you are doing and you will never see her again." And with that she turned and walked back towards the elevators that we had just got off of not ten minutes before. I sat in the cafeteria for another five minutes before I got up and left. I drove around aimlessly trying to figure out what I was going to do. Maxie was right, I needed to make myself better for Georgie and for myself. The hard part wasn't realizing it, the hard part was figuring out how I would accomplish that. I needed to start at the bottom and work my way up so to speek. As I thought about it more and more, it seemed like that was what I had to do, and it gave me hope that maybe I still have a chance. I came to a stop and realized where I was. I had absent-mindedly drove here but I think I knew all along that this was something I had to do. I slowly opened the door and got out as a surge of bitterly cold air blew all around me and I almost got back into the warm contents of the car, but I resisted that notion. I had to do this, this would be the first step in winning Georgie's back and showing her that I do love her. My feet seemed to carry me to the door and I hesitated before I knocked. "What?" A voice yelled from the other side seconds before the door opened. I slowly walked into the livingroom, unable to make eye contact. "We need to talk." |