December 24th [COMPLETED]

19. Brooklyn

A/N: This is the first pass at what would become the first half of Chapter 9 of Dec 24th.

It was weird, being alone in New York. George couldn't remember the last time she had ever been alone in the city, let alone in her parent's apartment.

Sydney was gone. George had threatened to fire her if she didn't keep her word to her sister and make it upstate for Christmas. Sydney only left once George agreed to answer her calls, no matter what. George reluctantly agreed and took comfort in the fact that she could avoid everyone else's calls. Including Julien's.

He hadn't stopped calling ever since she had left LA. There was too much to think about in LA, was George's reasoning. However, she didn't notice that her thought had gotten packed up with the rest of her luggage and taken with her back to New York.

At least she was in New York.
Julien didn't believe her when she had first answered his daily calls and reassured him she was fine. He was right to. George wasn't fine. But that didn't mean she wanted to continually lie to her father. Not picking up was easier.

Avoiding Anton on the other hand, was a different matter. Julien knew what was going on with George. Anton did not. He had found out she was in the city and kept reaching out to meet up. George kept coming up with lame excuses not to see him.

She had to buy a Christmas tree. She didn't.

She had to get settled into the apartment. She couldn't.

She had to rearrange the furniture. That she did do. But it was more in a vain attempt to make the renovated and redecorated apartment look something like she remembered it being when she was a kid. The new bright white walls and sleek furniture were as unwelcoming as LA had always been and George hated it just as much.

She settled for pulling the only comfortable sitting chair to the corner of the windows and watching the Village exist in front of her with her back to the ghost of her childhood home.

George finally picked up on Anton's fourth call when the din of the city became too loud.

There was something so depressing about the sun in the wintertime. Gray was much more suitable for a city when half its sidewalks were filled with dirty snow and piles of garbage. All the light did was expose just how disgusting the city could really get. At least the gray skies were forgiving and gave the streets a sense of mystery and ambiance.

The sun was too bright, George decided, as she rode across the bridge and over the river. It reflected off the water and seemed to aim right for her eyes. Even behind her sunglasses, she had to look away and turn to her only other view: the traffic laid out in front of the taxi cab.

When they reached the other side of the river, George waited to breathe until the driver turned away from the main thoroughfares and headed for the warehouse district. She was already heartbroken over her career, she didn't need any more reminders of all that she had lost. Even the thought of passing through the neighborhood where she had stayed with Felix and his family all those years ago made her stomach hurt.

Anton's studio, George's final destination, was tucked into an industrial neighborhood, the last stretch of waterfront in Brooklyn the long arm of New York real estate had yet to grab hold of and convert to condos. There were a few shops, hardware stores, repair shops, and the like. George got out of the cab in front of a familiar woodworking shop and entered the building through a narrow door just to the left of the shop's entrance.

The stairway seemed narrower than she remembered, the dark brick walls dirtier than the last time she had been here. It had been almost four years, so that was understandable. But when she knocked on that door, on the frosted glass, right below the black vinyl stickers that read 'Trick Studios', George found sunlight waiting for her when she answered the call to 'Come in!'