the girl on the bench

Chapter 23

I can't go back to sleep so I put on my workout gear and headphones and head out to my bench. I take the shortest path possible to get there quickly. I'm desperate for the fresh air and sea breeze to clear my head and hopefully my hangover. I sit on the bench with my knees pulled in to my chest and I lay my head on my knees. I close my eyes and take in the sounds of the waves crashing, birds squawking and... footsteps. Footsteps getting louder. For once, I hope that it's a tourist who simply got lost looking for the beach. I feel someone sit down beside me. "I thought I'd find you here" G's voice says. I look over at her and can see she looks rough. Her eyes are red behind her glasses and her hair is a mess under a baseball cap and hood. All I want to do is comfort her and make this whole thing go away but there's something else stopping me. "Sophie..." she starts while looking at her hands in her lap. "I can explain everything" she says. "There's a lot to explain, G" I say sharply lifting my head but looking straight ahead. "I know. But trust me, it's not how it looks" she says longing for me to believe her. I raise my eyebrows but don't say anything. "I didn't know she was even in town" she starts. I go to say something but stop myself knowing it's just prolonging the inevitable. "And Char didn't know either. It was a shock to see her. I haven't seen her in almost a year but we've only been broken up for 6 months. She wanted to talk and I thought I could just get it over and done with so that's why we went outside but when she started talking it was like she wanted to get back together. I didn't want to bring you into it so I just kept trying to brush her off. Next thing I know she's kissing me" she said looking down. I think she was waiting for me to say something so she didn't continue.

"I saw you holding her" I said. With this she looked at me. "To push her away..." she looked down again "She trapped me against the wall. She told me she still loved me and she wanted me back" she said. "I told her I had feelings for someone else" she looked back at me to gauge my reaction. I sigh but kept looking at the ocean ahead of me. "I saw your Instagram stories, she went back to your house" I said to her. "When you left everyone was buying me shots and drinks so I was plastered. I didn't invite anyone back, Shelley and Dave did. I fell asleep on the couch and Char ended up taking me to bed. I woke up this morning and only knew she was there because she was asleep on my couch with her friend" she said. I take a deep breath and try to think of something to say. I feel numb. "It doesn't look good, Georgia" I explain to her. "I know it doesn't but you've got to trust me. Nothing happened with her and I. All I wanted was you" she says. "I can't lose you" she says quietly. I lean my head back on the bench. "G..." I stop myself not knowing what to say to her.

"You left and all I could think about was you. I was waiting all night for you to get there and then you left so quickly after getting there" she says. "Sorry but I don't want to spend the night seeing the girl I slept with that morning hook up with her ex" I said sharply. She stays quiet for a moment. "I get it" she finally says and rubs her hands over her face. "I really didn't mean for you to have a shit night" I say meaning every word. "I told her about you and us. She wasn't too happy about it but..." she shrugs. "Char was worried about you" she says. Now that I feel guilty about. Charlotte was caught in the middle. "I'll text her later" I say and she nods. I start to get cold so I suggest we go back to mine and she agrees. Once we get up, she holds her hand out to me. I look her in the eyes and can see her pleading with me to take it. I do and she briefly smiles. We walk to mine without saying too much.