Someone To Run To

23

Maggie woke Gina up at 6 pm on the dot. She thought 6:30 was too late. She wanted to make sure Gina had plenty of time to get ready. Gina was a little slow to rise, but once she was up out of the bed she could finally open her eyes. Her dreams had been filled with happy things, so she had rested quite well for the two hours she had been sleeping. She was surprised she could sleep at all considering how excited she was about tonight. Maggie hardly spoke a word at all for some time. Gina thought maybe that she was upset about something, but there was no indication she was right.

She went into the bathroom, took a shower, and dried her hair and body. When she came back out, Maggie had hung her dress on the closet door. The sequins glinted in the light of the room. It was beautiful. She admired it for a little bit before putting on her underwear and bra, while Maggie turned her back. Then she put on a robe.

"You can turn around now, Maggie," Gina told her.

Maggie turned around. "Alright, we'll do your make-up first. Where is it?"

Gina frowned. Maggie wasn't herself. Usually, she would have said something to her by now about something other than what they were doing. She walked over and grabbed the make-up bag she had bought out of the top drawer of her dresser. She handed it to Maggie.

"Is anything wrong, Maggie?" Gina asked concerned.

Maggie raised an eyebrow at her. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You haven't said two words to me since you got in here about anything other than make-up just a minute ago."

She flashed a reassuring smile. "I'm just trying to detach myself. It will be easier when you leave if I don't get used to you."

"Leave?" Gina said. "Who's leaving?"

Maggie stopped. She shouldn't have said anything, but she could not help it. "I figured you would be. Jack is in jail now and Ron is in police custody. There's nothing for you to worry about anymore. You're free to flee like most of the others."

She stared at her incredulously. "Do you think Alan's protection is the only reason I'm here?"

Maggie shrugged. "I don't know. You left before when Jack was still out there. What's keeping you here?"

Gina could not believe what she was hearing. Did she think she was so shallow she would use Alan that way?

"Alan is keeping me here," she said a bit defensively. "I love him. We're dating now."

"I know. He told me." She got out the contents of the bag and started putting her make-up on. "I just don't understand why you're staying now if you left before. You loved Alan then, didn't you?"

"Of course I did. How could I know him even for a second and not love him?" She smiled sadly. "I left before to protect him."

Maggie nearly dropped the brush she was powdering Gina's face with. "Protect him?"

Gina's cheeks grew red. She had not told anyone what she was about to divulge to Maggie, not even Alan. "I was so scared Jack was going to come and shoot everyone here. I didn't want to be responsible for something so tragic. I knew the shooter from the diner, who I thought was Jack at the time, had seen me get into the limousine with Alan. His association with me put him directly in the line of fire. I thought my being here was putting all of you in danger. It's why I left. If Jack was going to find me and kill me, it would just be me he hurt and no innocent bystanders would get caught in the crossfire."

"My apologies, Gina," Maggie told her. She was so surprised. "I never in a million years thought you would have such a...noble reason for leaving us. I thought- Well, it doesn't matter what I thought. The point is you came back."