When She Remembered |✔️

Five

"Do you remember the time, when we fell in love—"
Michael Jackson

O N W A R D S;

Caleb didn't necessarily like to smoke, but here he was wasting away at his lungs. The toxic fumes he inhaled gave him a peace of mind, that he really needed right now. It was 6 o'clock in the afternoon and Caleb felt as though time was static, unmoving. He was slowly losing himself in his thoughts, thinking was dangerous when it came to thinking about Georgia, so Caleb agreed never to think of her; only, that was inevitable now.

The girl was his every breath.

The next morning Caleb felt like shit, the sour taste of tar was left on his tongue and he scrunched up his nose in disgust. Groggily he got up, showered and changed and left his hotel room. He had a whole day ahead of him, a whole day with her, a whole day to travel down memory lane— please someone shoot him now.

~*~

Caleb definitely didn't expect to see the sight before him as he entered the room. Three pairs of eyes strained on him as he entered and Adrain almost looked relieved at the sight of him, "Caleb call the guards to get Mister Hall out of here!"
Caleb's eyes fixed on the unknown man in the room, he was tall and lanky with springy dark hair and an olive complexion, his eyes burnt with anger as he stared at Adrian.

"I'm not leaving until I see her!" The man boomed.
Richard scoffed, "Like hell you are!"
Caleb leaned back and signaled to a guard who nodded and proceeded towards him, "This is ridiculous! I deserve to see her!"
Adrian shoved his chest, "You lost that right the day you put a hand on her!"
The man shook his head, "That was one time...."

Upon seeing the guard Richard nodded his head and pointed to him, "Please officer take Mister Hall away, he has no right to be in here!"
The guard put his hand on his shoulder forcefully and Hall scoffed, "I'm going,"
Hall walked towards the exit and Caleb moved aside to let him pass before giving him a sideways glance.

Adrian collapsed onto one of the chairs and ran his hand through his hair, "I'm sorry Caleb, he's been demanding see Georgia for the majority of the morning."
Caleb nodded, his eyebrows furrowing, "Who was he?" Caleb asked curious.
"Sloan Hall, her ex-boyfriend."
Boyfriend, sure they had been over but the thought of her and someone else still stung; "They've been over for a few months now but Sloan won't leave her alone."

Caleb stuck his hand in his pocket, "How'd they break up?" His question was innocent, he just wanted to know what she'd been up too in the years after she left him.
"Sloan hit her," Adrian paused, "He was her first actual boyfriend after— but a few months into their relationship she came home crying, black and blues on her cheeks and arms, the asshole hit her. They broke up that same night but he kept calling her, she changed her number and then he went away but he just showed up today out of nowhere."

Caleb nodded as his attention turned to Richard, "Thankfully we were here to stop him from going to talk to her."
Caleb narrowed his eyes, he knew Richard was making a shot at him but chose to ignore it and focused his eyes on Adrian. Then something Adrain had said stood out to him, her first real boyfriend after—
"What did you mean he first real boyfriend after..." he trailed off.

Richard crossed his arms and a frown appeared on his lips and Adrian sighed, "After Greece, Georgia—she, wasn't the same. She didn't really go out and when the baby died, she—"
Richard cut him off, "She started taking antidepressants, she was crying all the time. It took her a years to get back on her feet." His voice held a bit of distaste to it, as if he was indirectly putting the blame on Caleb.

Adrian gave his father a look, "The point was that Sloan was her first boyfriend post depression and he turned out to be a tool."
Caleb stood stoic, Georgia had suffered through the years when Caleb believed him to be the only one in pain. He thought Georgia was living her life without any regret, he thought she was carefree when in truth, she was just like him, but then, why did she leave?

Adrian shook his head, "Anyway it's in the past now,"
Past, there was that word again, nothing is ever just in the past, the past has a way of catching up to you.
Richard scoffed, "Adrian, please Mister Hearst would probably want to do what he came here for, not stand out here talking to us," he was signaling for him to enter her room.
"Right," Adrian looked at him gingerly and nodded.

Caleb nodded, "But thank you, for telling me."
Richard scoffed, "The only reason it was even mentioned to you was because I don't want you to bring it up with my daughter, god knows she doesn't need to remember that asshole!" He spat at him.
Caleb kept his mouth closed as he saw Adrian whisper sorry and Caleb twisted the handle on the door and entered.

She was sitting upright, dressed in one of the hospital gowns and playing with the tray of food set in front of her.
"Yeah I know, the food sucks." His voice seemed to startle her.
Then a small, shy smile appeared on her lips, "They told me you'd be back." Her voice drifted off into a pause.
"Caleb, I'm sorry for all of this, I thought it over and I'm sorry dragging you back into my life after I clearly let you go— it wasn't my intention to inconvenience you or hurt you, I just, I remember you.... and.....I.. um.."

"It's okay." He lied.
"It's really not a problem." He lied again, he paused unsure of what to say next.
"Why don't you sit?" She gestured to the chair.
"Right, right, sit, I should."
Awkwardness filled the room as he took the seat that was near to her bedside.
"How are you?" They both asked in unison, after a long endearing silence.

He could hear her giggle softly, "You first." He shook his head smiling slightly.
She shrugged, "As best I can be, with these circumstances."
"How are you feeling Caleb?"

Good question.