Georgie shifted in her bed. She slowly woke up when she heard Ryan walk into their dorm room. It was almost four in the morning. She instantly sat up in their bed and turned the lamp on. She looked closely at Ryan. He looked drunk. His eyes were slightly red and had dark bags under them.
He sat down on the bed in front of her. Georgie put her hand on his shoulder. "Ryan…" She started. He looked at her with sadness in his eyes. "Why are we doing this?"
He looked away from her. "I can't lose you Georgie."
"I know. I love you so much. But this, us, it's not working. All we do now is fight. They're not even arguments anymore. Real fights." Georgie said softly caressing his shoulder.
"We can make it work." Ryan said looking at her with much determination. "I know we can. Georgie we've been together for so long now. We can't just end it now. We're supposed to be together for the rest of our lives. We promised each other."
"Sometimes relationships don't work out Ryan. It's normal. That's life. It doesn't mean I'm gonna stop loving you. You were my first love. My first real love. Nothing's gonna change that."
"Are you saying you don't want to be with me anymore?" Ryan asked her.
Georgie looked away and moved his hand away from him. She didn't know what else to say. Ryan got up from the bed and went over to the desk. Angrily, he pushed everything that was on the desk to the floor.
"I am not gonna lose you. Not now, not ever. Especially not to someone else." He said angrily.
Georgie tried swallowing back tears. "You're not losing me to anyone Ryan. And it's not like we'll never talk to each other again."
"Why don't you wanna be with me anymore?"
"Ryan all we do is fight now. We never have a peaceful conversation. A loving conversation. I mean don't you remember how it was in the beginning? How we used to just sit around talking about nothing? How we would just make love for the sake of making love not because we had to? When both of actually wanted to do it?" Georgie said crying now. "How about all those times we went out rather than just sitting in this small room? Or-or when we used to go on long walks almost every night? Does any of this happen anymore? Ryan we're just here, stuck in this mess we're calling a relationship."
"We can fix it thought Georgie." Ryan sat down again in front of her, facing her this time. "We can fix it."
"Ryan, you're hurting me." She looked down and wiped the tears from her face.
Ryan laughed. "I'm hurting you?" He stood up. "Go to sleep Georgie. We're done talking about this."
"Ryan, you think I'm joking around? I'm serious. We really need solve this." Georgie said looking up at him. "Can you please for once not think about yourself? Look at what's happening here." Georgie said.
Ryan grabbed her and pushed her against the headboard of their bed. "I know exactly what's going on here okay?" He yelled. He pushed her again harder and this time her head banged against the headboard. "I know exactly what's going on in our fucking relationship. I know what the fuck we need to do to get past this. You need to listen to me." He pushed her one last time and got up. "Go to sleep."
Georgie sobbed quietly and lied down on the bed. She pulled the covers all the way up to her head and closed her eyes tight shut to stop from crying. But right now anything she tried wouldn't stop the tears from flowing.
---
Dillon finally reached his lecture hall for Psychology. He didn't want to face Georgie but he knew he wouldn't be able to avoid her. He entered the classroom and saw her sitting in her usual seat. He decided he would sit away from her. It would be the easiest way to stay away from her. He knew she wouldn't be talking to him either because the way he walked away from her the night before.
He found a seat in front of her, not directly. He sat down without saying anything to her. She was looking down. When he saw her though, it didn't seem like she was ignoring him. It seemed like she didn't even know that he had just walked past her. The professor started class and without even knowing, it was over. Dillon turned around to see if Georgie was there but she was gone. He didn't want to be, but he was really disappointed. He got up and left the hall. He went outside on the campus and made his way to the PCU lounge. He went inside to the cafeteria and got himself a latte. He went back out to the lounge and placed his books on a table. He sat down and took a sip from his drink. Dillon looked around the room and saw Georgie sitting there with her head in a book. She looked completely lost in the story she was reading. He smiled to himself. He noticed the guy sitting behind her. He was watching Dillon very closely. Dillon sat back in his seat. This must be the guy that was following Georgie, he thought to himself. The guy kept looking back and forth between Georgie and Dillon. Dillon decided it would be best to stay away from Georgie to keep her out of trouble. He took out his cell phone and flipped it open. He dug out Georgie's cell phone number. He looked up to see the guy. Hopefully he wouldn't notice that he was about to text Georgie.
He texted, "Hey, look up." Dillon sent the message. He looked up to see Georgie. She heard her phone buzz from the vibration. She took her phone out of her messenger bag and flipped it open. She read the message and looked up to see Dillon. She gave him a small smile. His phone buzzed this time and it read, "Hey." He texted her back, "Meet me at Ricardo's in a half hour. We really need to talk." He sent the message and looked up to see her answer. She got the message and slowly nodded at him. Dillon got up and left the lounge. He really wanted to pound the guy that was watching Georgie but controlled himself. Hopefully he wouldn't follow her to the café.
---
Georgie finally reached the café. It seemed like she had been on the road forever. She went inside and saw Dillon sitting a table staring at his phone. She smiled to herself and walked over to him.
"Hey." She said sitting down.
"I thought you weren't gonna show." Dillon smirked.
"I had to get rid of Greg, Ryan's friend. He was driving right behind me so I had to dodge him around a little until I lost him."
"Ryan's gonna find out isn't he?"
"I can deal with him." Georgie said looking out the window. "What did you wanna talk about?"
"I'm sorry about walking away from you last night."
"You've been saying sorry a lot lately Dillon." Georgie laughed.
"I'm worried about you." Dillon said. Every time he looked into Georgie's eyes, all he could see was pain. He wanted to make that go away.
"Don't be. I can take care of myself. I have been for quite some time now." Georgie said. Dillon sat back against his chair looking disappointed. He looked away from her unable to take all the hurt in her eyes. "What?"
"I know he's hurting you." He said looking back at her.
"I'm fine Dillon."
"Why are you letting him do this?"
"He's not doing anything. Stuff like this happens in every relationship. Ryan and I love each other. He only wants what's best for me. And that means we can't see each other anymore. I know we're just friends and-" Georgie looked into his eyes. "I care about you…a lot. But I can't keep doing this anymore. I can't keep going behind his back."
"You're scared." Dillon concluded. "You're scared of him."
Georgie shook her head. "I'm not scared of him. He won't hurt me."
"He's already hurting you Georgie. Why are you in denial? You told me yourself that he was grabbing you."
"And that's it Dillon. He hasn't done anything else."
"You're lying. I can see it Georgie." Dillon said. "Please let me help you."
"What are you gonna do?" She shot back at him. "Huh? What are you gonna do Dillon? Beat him up? Go tell on him? You don't know the things he's capable of."
"Why are you still with him Georgie? If you're having such a hard time with him, why are you with him?"
"I've tried okay? I've tried." Georgie said. Tears started welling up in her eyes. She looked away from Dillon. "Last night, when he came home, I tried talking to him about us and he-he just—he didn't want to talk about it. He thinks we're fine. And maybe we are. Maybe it's just me."
"It's not you. Don't ever blame yourself for the way he is."
"Look Dillon. I can't leave him. He needs me. You don't understand what he'll do if I ever leave him. If he finds out that I'm with you right now Dillon, then…"
"Then what?"
"Then…I don't know. I need to go. I'm very sorry about all this." Georgie got up and started to walk away. Dillon got up and called after. She turned around to face him.
"Bye." He said in a whisper. Georgie turned and left the café.