Chapter 3

"John?"

"Hi, Gill. It's been awhile, hasn't it?" John chuckled at the look of pure shock on Gillian's face.

"I just…how are you…what?" Gillian couldn't seem to form a complete sentence. Standing before her was one of her closest friends from her childhood. A time she'd spent nearly her entire adult life trying to forget. He looked the same, the same carefree glint in his eyes, the same endearing little half smile and the same tousled hair. God, he even smelled the same.

Seeming to sense her difficulty at gathering her thoughts, John spoke again. "I must say, I still enjoy rendering you speechless. It doesn't happen often. Makes me feel powerful."

"John. What in the world are you doing here? I mean, not that I'm not glad to see you, but it's been, what? Ten years since I last saw you?"

John smiled. "Yeah, that's about right. It was your wedding to that jerk. What was his name? Alan? Alex? Something like that?

"Alec." Gillian smirked. The look of contempt on John's face hadn't been concealed at all.

"Alec. Hmm. That's right." John let the man's name drop from his mouth as if it disgusted him to say it. Gillian watched as his entire body seemed to tense and anger flared in his eyes. She thought it best to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"You know, I never knew how you found out about the wedding. Your invitation was returned to me. I couldn't ever find your current address."

The anger on John's face was replaced by playfulness. "It's not every day that the love of your life gets married to another man. Alarm bells were ringing in my subconscious." He grinned as he watched the blush that crept over Gillian's face. "Seriously, though, I ran into Richard when I was visiting my mom. He told me."

"Oh." Gillian quickly turned back to pick up her coffee cup. John didn't miss how her face visibly paled. He mentally kicked himself.

"Gill, are you ok? I thought you and your dad worked things out? He told me you've been talking again." John was afraid he'd said something he shouldn't. He hadn't wanted to start his visit off on the wrong foot.

Gillian pushed pass John to exit the coffee shop without answering his question. John quickly turned to follow her.

"Gill! Gill, wait!" He grabbed her arm to stop her and winced as she visibly flinched at the contact. "Look Gill. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"Since when were you so buddy-buddy with my father?" Gillian spun around to face him.

"I'm not. God, Gill. I'm not. You know my mom is getting older. I don't like her being alone, so I drop by more now. Our parents do still live next door to each other and he helps her out some when I'm not there. I see him sometimes. You're about the only thing we have in common."

Gillian scoffed. "Oh, so you stand around talking about me over the fence? That's just great. That's good to know." She tried to wrestle her arm out of his grip.

"Why are you being like this? Of course not. You know it's not like that." John pled with her to understand.

Gillian looked up at him. Something about him had changed. There was an urgency in his eyes that she'd never seen there before. She sighed. "I know. I'm sorry for overreacting. It's just…I didn't sleep well last night. I'm probably just tired and emotional from seeing you."

"Look. I was actually planning on dropping in on you at work and inviting you to lunch, but seeing as I've got you here now; would you do me the pleasure of joining me for lunch?" He released her arm; assured that she wasn't going to make a run for it.

A part of Gillian wanted to decline his offer. A cold weight had settled into her stomach ever since she'd woken up from her nightmare. It seemed to be spreading now. How was it possible that she had had that nightmare again and then John had shown up out of nowhere to take her out to lunch? None of this made any sense. Somehow, despite something inside screaming not to, she heard herself agree to meet him.

"Sure, I'll meet you down in the lobby?" She glanced towards the entrance of the building across the street.

John followed her eyes and then turned back to her with a huge grin on his face. "Sounds great? Noon?"

"Perfect," she agreed. "I'll see you then."

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John was carrying her downstairs. Every step he took hurt her and she wasn't able to completely get her crying under control. Everything seemed to be spinning. Thankfully no one in the living room was paying attention to them and they were able to slip into the kitchen without anyone noticing.

"Jake! Jake! I need to you drive us to the hospital!" John was yelling at his older friend that had driven them to the party.

"Shit man! What happened to her?" Gillian could hear Jake's voice coming closer. She suddenly felt vulnerable; naked under his gaze.

"No, John, no. I don't want to go to the hospital. Just take me home. Please just take me home." Gillian could feel herself begin to sob again. She just wanted to get away from everyone. Away from their eyes, their voices, their smell.

John turned his head to whisper in her ear. "Gill, you need to go the hospital. He hurt you. He was…"

"No!" Gillian cut him off. "No! They'll have to call my dad. Just take me home, please. I can sneak in without him knowing. Please. I don't want him to know. He'll kill me."

"Gill."

"No!"

Jake grabbed his keys. "You heard the girl, John. She wants to go home. Let's get her out of here."


A/N: Sorry it's been so long! Classes have been kicking my butt! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint! Please review!