Resilient

Chapter Nine

The morning comes way too early for my liking. I groan and put the pillow over my head. Stone laughs at me.

"You can't stay in bed forever," he says.

"You see that's where you're wrong," I say.

"Georgette, we gotta go deal with the very drunk ex-best friend of our's on the lawn," Stone says annoyed.

I sigh in annoyance. Of course he passed out on the lawn, instead of leaving. I mean why would he do the smart thing, right?

"Hey JJ," Stone says nudging him with his shoe. "Get up."

Joey rolls over with a groan, and shields his eyes from the sun. "What the hell?" He asks, his voice hoarse.

"Get off of Wendy's lawn, before she finds out you're here and comes back from the hospital to personally kick your ass," I tell him.

He gets up and rubs the back of his head. "Do you have to be so loud?" He complains.

"Leave," Stone demands.

"Is there a problem here?" Bradley asks as him and his son Cody walk towards us.

"He was just leaving," I say.

"Oh c'mon Georgie don't be like that," Joey says with a smile.

"The lady said you're leaving, now leave," Cody says walking towards Joey.

Joey sighs. "Fine," he says and walks down the sidewalk.

"Everything okay?" Bradley asks.

"Yeah, thanks Bradley," I say.

"So Colt is a father," Cody says.

"Yeah I'm in disbelief too," I joke.

"Did you wanna come train today? Amber's got Ponyboy ready," Cody says.

"That sounds amazing right now actually," I say with a laugh.

"Can we talk first?" Stone asks.

"Sure," I say.

We walk inside so I can get my stuff and Stone looks at me. "Georgette, you know I want to be with you, I have for a very long time, but I feel guilty almost," he explains.

"Because of Joey?" I ask.

"I know it's stupid, but I think we should just take it slow. See if anything comes of it," he says.

"Is this about what I told him?" I ask.

"Kind of yeah, I don't want to be a rebound or anything, so I just want you to have time to figure things out for yourself," he says.

"That's understandable," I say with a sigh.

"Okay you should get going," he says.

I ride with Bradley and Cody over to the ranch and meet AJ at the barn when we get there. "Hey are you ready?" She asks me.

"Yeah," I say and nod my head.

"Everything okay?" She asks.

"Just, I have a lot going on," I tell her.

"You can tell me if you want," she says.

"I'm trying to move on, but it's hard. It's shouldn't be, but it is," I tell her.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about the mall. I didn't realize about you and Joey," she says.

I chuckle. "It's okay AJ," I say and give her a genuine smile.

She smiles back. "Lets get started."

We train for a few hours, then head inside for some lunch. "So I've been talking to Lena," she tells me.

"Eileen?" I question.

"Yeah, she uh wants all of us to go out," she says.

"Okay," I say.

"They'll be here in a few," she says.

The whole gang walks in and we order in some pizza. "So what's this little meeting about?" Carmen asks.

"Yeah I was uh in the middle of something," Andy says. He's a little fidgety and it seems really weird, but I'll ask him about it later. Stone just sits there silently which has me concerned. He's never this quiet.

"There's something I need to tell you guys," Eileen says.

"Yeah?" Tommy asks.

"Me and AJ are dating," she says. We all just look at each other and start to smile. AJ and Lena stare at us with confused expressions.

"Lena, we already knew you were into girls," I tell her.

"Why didn't anyone say anything?" She asks.

"Because we knew you would tell us when you were ready. It wasn't our place to force you to come out," Andy says.

"When did you know?" She asks.

"When we first met Beatrice," Stone says.

"You may have mentioned she was hot," Tommy says.

"And everyone's okay with this?" She asks.

"You're our friend, why wouldn't we be?" Carmen says with a smile.

"AJ does your dad know?" I ask.

"Yeah my parents know," she says looking at Lena with a smile.

"Well if y'all are happy, that's all that matters," Stone says.

Me and Stone walk outside and sit on the porch. I sigh and give him a smile.

"What?" He asks, smiling back at me.

"Why were you so quiet in there?" I ask.

"Are you still in love with him?" He asks me.

I sigh. "Yeah I still love him, but I'm not what he wants anymore," I say simply. There's no way I couldn't love him in some form. He's Joey.

"I'm sorry," he says.

"It's okay," I tell him.

"We've had this discussion Georgette. Don't say that unless you mean it," he tells me with a chuckle.

"But I do Stone. I really do. It's okay. I'm not mad or upset about it anymore. Yes, I love him, and maybe we'll be together again one day, but that day isn't today. Today I'm not what he wants. It's time to live my life," I say.

Stone smiles. "I'm happy to hear you finally say that," he tells me.

"Yeah," I say and smile. "I should probably go home and check on things at the house." That's the first time I've realized that I felt that way and said it out loud. It feels good to finally have it out.

"Yeah, I'll drive you," he says.

"Thanks," I say and give him a smile.

We get in the van and he starts to drive. "You're the toughest cookie I know Georgia Collins," he says.

I know he's serious because he never calls me Georgia. I smile. "Thank you."

"And if you're ready, and if you want, I would love to take you on a date," he says.

I think about it for a minute. With everything that happened between me and Joey, I couldn't bear it if that happened between me and Stone. But like Wendy told me, Stone Keller isn't Joey Carter.

"You know that sounds like fun, yeah," I reply.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this Georgette," he says as the biggest smile I've ever seen, spreads across his face.