George - Chapter Three: The Past, Present, and Future - Part One

So sorry! This is out later than I planned. I've been sick the last four days and today is the first day I've had the energy to get this chapter posted. I'm honestly surprised it's ready...

A couple notes:

- This chapter is long, so I broke it up into two parts.

- If you've read any of my other two parters, you'll know that they have a TON of pictures. Same thing with this one. :)

- Lots of swearing!!! George swears, Trevor swears, and a couple other people do too.

- There is a situation that George encounters that some may be distressed reading about. It's not graphic but some may find reading about a woman being hit, is too much. So, I'm warning you.

 

 ******

As I saw the bridge that led into the city, I started to feel my heart race a little. I was a little nervous about seeing Trev and I of course was nervous about seeing Charlotte after this many years. It had been at least a year since I had last been to Trev’s apartment; partly because of his schedule with games, practices, and workouts, and also partly because of his stint in rehab. He never would have gone in to rehab but the owner of the team he played for told him to either get cleaned up or he was off the team. From our phone conversation last night, it didn’t sound like he had stayed clean for long once he had gotten out of rehab. I had tried several times before that to get through to him about the fact that he was using drinking as a coping mechanism to dull the pain of dad’s death but it was like talking to a brick wall. He would always roll his eyes and start poking fun at me for being Mr. Psychologist.

As worried as I was about Trev, I was more concerned right now with meeting with Charlotte after not seeing her for six and a half years. My feelings were all over the place. One minute I was relieved to know she was okay, hell, that she was even alive because there were moments through the years that I had started to doubt that she was. Then another minute I would be so flippin mad at her for leaving and letting us think that she was dead that I would feel the need to punch something. Then the very next minute I would feel the pain of the void that had been created from her leaving. We had all been what most would consider close since all four of us were close in age but Charlotte and I had always shared that special bond that only twins share. When she had left, it was like someone had ripped a part of me away and for the first time, I had to figure out who I was without my twin. My feelings kept going around and around, being an intertwined confusing mess and I hated feeling that way. I was the one that was supposed to know how to properly express their feelings and as I drove across the bridge, I wasn’t sure that was going to happen when I saw Charlotte.

Once crossing over the bridge, it wouldn’t take long to arrive at Trev’s place. He didn’t live that far into the city and had a large penthouse suite in one of the largest buildings; one of the perks of being a superstar athlete. Walking into his apartment always felt like you were stepping into a different world. I always imagined Robin Leach announcing “Lifestyles of the rich and famous” whenever I walked into Trev’s apartment. It had fabulous views of the city and the river and he had spared no expense when he had paid someone to decorate the apartment. 

As I thought about the first time I had seen his apartment, I started wondering what Charlotte’s reaction would be; which then again led me to wonder what did the place Charlotte had been living in look like. Trev had said it was in a decent area of the city but how nice of a place could it be with money she made from serving at a bar and occasionally singing. That was one of my goals while I was here; to find out how she was living and to make sure she was getting on okay. I knew I was probably being a little too over protective and that if she had survived all these years on her own that she was doing fine but I just had to know she was okay. If not for me, for Mom.

I spotted Trev’s building and pulled up to the valet parking. The first time I had visited him I had tried to park the car myself and I had found that in the city, if there was valet parking, it was just easier to pay someone to park the car then to try to do it yourself. I gave the guy my keys and walked up to the doors. A doorman opened the doors and wished me a good evening as I continued walking to the front desk. 

“Good evening sir. How may I help you?” 

“I’m here to see Trevor Davila.”

“Your name, sir?”

“George Davila”

“One moment please.” I watched as he picked up the phone and then told Trev that I was downstairs. He hung up and smiled at me. “If you’ll step onto the elevator sir, I’ll have Steven here take you up to Mr. Davila’s apartment.”

“Thank you.” I couldn’t help but slightly chuckle at the pageantry one had to go through to see Trev. It was even more so if someone wanted to see him at a football game.  I stepped onto the elevator and once the doors closed I could feel the anxiety moving through my body. This was one of those days that a run would have done me wonders but that just hadn’t been possible. I tried to take some deep breaths as the elevator continued to climb. It wasn’t doing any good, though; I was still a ball of nerves. I slightly chuckled again thinking how I was so nervous about seeing my own sister.

I felt the elevator slow down and then stop. The bell dinged and the elevator doors opened. “Penthouse, sir.” The elevator operator announced and I thanked him as I got off. I walked up to the door and before knocking, I squared my shoulders, lifted my head, and took a cleansing breath. Here it was; the moment I had waited six and a half years for. There was no turning back now. I lifted my hand and knocked on the door and then waited for the door to open.

I could hear talking coming from the other side of the door and I had time to take in one more deep breath before the door was opening and I was face to face with Trev. Before I could even get a word out he was hugging me and patting me on the back. “Baby bro! Damn! Look at you! Grew some facial hair since I last saw you. Looks good! Looks like you’ve put on some muscle too! Guys on the team better look out! Dr. George might make them look bad!” Everything Trev did was full blast and loud. He was always acting like he was schmoozing someone, including our family.

“Hey Trev. You’re looking good yourself.” He definitely looked better than he did before he went into rehab. He motioned for me to step inside the apartment and once we were both inside he closed the door. 

“So, let me take your bag. The same room okay?” I nodded and watched as he disappeared to take my bags into one of the spare bedrooms. 

 I looked out at the city and took a minute to admire the view. I was watching a boat out on the river when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and I figured it was Trev coming back into the room. I started talking to him as I turned my head. “So, when do you expect Char. . .” Once I turned completely around, I realized that the person who was moving toward me was Charlotte.

We stood there for what felt like an eternity just looking at each other. I hadn’t know what she would  look like but she looked almost the same, just older and taller. I thought back to the last time I remembered seeing her. It was the night we graduated high school and we were talking in her room about college; which at that point she had sounded like she was going. Little did I know that the next morning Mom and I would wake up to her being gone. 

I pushed those memories away and tried to bring myself back to the present moment. It was like all either of us could do was stand there and stare at each other.  I was starting to wonder what was taking Trev so long with my bags. I wished he would hurry up so he could help us with this awkward silence. I kept telling myself that I was a psychologist, I should be the one to know what to do or say; and yet here I was, acting like it was just as awkward and uncomfortable as it would be for anyone else.

“You look older.” She said and it shocked me for a moment. 

“So do you.”

“And taller.”

“You too.”

She smirked. “You have facial hair.”

I chuckled a little. “Yup.” I looked down at the ground for a second and when I looked back up at her, she had a look on her face that didn’t make sense to me. “Look, Charlotte, I . . .” I was about to tell her how I knew it was awkward for both of us but before I could finish she rushed over to me and started hugging me, hard. 

I stood there frozen at first, not really comprehending what was happening. I soon came to my senses and started hugging her back. In all the scenarios that had played out in my head I had never once thought that we would hug within minutes of first seeing each other. I always envisioned yelling or just silence from not knowing what to say. She started to pull away and we stood there looking at each other again.

“I missed you.” She said and just like that, the warm fuzzy feelings were gone and were replaced with pain. If she missed me so much, why didn’t she call, write, anything to let me or anyone know she was okay. I didn’t want to say anything for fear of blowing up at her. I had a bad feeling that once I started telling her how I felt, it would be a snowball effect. She looked at me like she was hurt. “Didn’t you miss me.”

“Of course.” Was she kidding?! It wasn’t my fault that we hadn’t had any contact for the past six years. I bit my bottom lip. I kept telling myself that getting angry wasn’t going to make this any better but as she kept looking at me with an annoyed look, I could feel my temper rising.

“You don’t really act like it.” That was when the switch flipped.

“I don’t act like it? It’s not my fault that we haven’t seen, talked, or had any contact for the last six and a half years!  You made that decision! I don’t act like I missed you?! For six years you’ve acted like you didn’t care about us! We had no idea if you were okay, alive, dead, living on the street. . .!” She turned away from me but I wasn’t done. “Damn it, Charlotte! What the hell were you thinking?! I mean it’s one thing to take time for yourself and to sort through your feelings, but SIX AND A HALF YEARS?!!! Who the hell does that to their family?! And you have the audacity to ask me if I missed you?! Do you know how many nights I’ve laid awake worried about you?! Hell forget me! Do you know how much Mom has worried about you?!”

At that moment Trev walked in and was trying to calm me down. “Whoa, George. Maybe we should calm down for a moment. . .”

“Don’t’ tell me to calm down! I may not get another chance to say this so I’m just going to say it. How could you? How could you do that to Mom after all she went through?”

When I mentioned Mom, she turned around and glared at me. “You act like she was the only one that went through losing Dad! We all did!”

“No shit, Charlotte.” I sarcastically replied. “Here’s what I want to know. In the past six years have you had access to a phone, paper, pencil, computer, email, a post office, or any other form of communication?!”

She glared at me. “Of course I have.”

“If you really missed us, if you really gave a shit about us, then why didn’t you at least let us know you were okay?!”

She looked down at the floor and I let out a sigh. I had finally gotten to let her have it, let it out and now I felt like a complete ass for doing it. Was everything I said true? Yes. Was it everything I had always envisioned saying? Yes. But instead of feeling some kind of relief, I still felt a void; a void that had been in my life since the day Charlotte ran away. I looked over at Trev and he was giving me a look like “Dude, do something.” The only thing I could think of to do was to walk away and clear my head.

“I’m. . .sorry. I shouldn’t have gone off like that.” I sighed and then continued. “I’m going to go for a walk and clear my head.

“No, come on George.” Trev tried to argue with me.

 

“No, I really think some time away will do us some good. I’ll be back in a little while.” I walked out the door and waited for the elevator. I had tried so hard to not lose my temper but all the years of pent up frustration and hurt had come spilling out. I hoped that Charlotte would still be there when I got back so we could try to have a civil conversation.

As I exited the building, I felt the cool air on my face and I took a deep breath in. Just being outside was helping me to calm down. I didn’t plan on walking far but I knew being outside would help.  I walked down the street and looked around at all the buildings. It was hard to imagine that both Grandma and Grandpa were both originally from the city. They swore that they were but they were such experienced ranchers that it was hard to envision them living anywhere but Appaloosa.

I had walked four blocks down from Trev’s apartment when I started to pass an alleyway. Something made me slow down as I walked past it and I heard a noise that made me stop and listen. For a split second, I thought I heard someone crying but after several moments I decided that the noise must have been the wind. Giving up, I decided to turn around and head back towards Trev’s. I had taken two steps when I heard another noise, but this time it didn’t sound like crying or the wind, it sounded like someone yelling. I peeked back down the alleyway and saw a guy yelling.

“What the hell was that?! You were flirting with that guy! Don’t try to deny it! I saw you! Is that what you do whenever you think I’m not around?! You’re just a little whore, aren’t you?” It was dark in the alleyway and at first was hard to see who he was yelling at but when he called the person a whore, I figured it had to be a woman. 

“Shut up Tony! I wasn’t flirting with him! He was just being nice!” The voice of the person was definitely a woman. I knew it was none of my business but I couldn’t just walk away before knowing if she was going to be okay.

I heard him chuckle. “Of course he was being nice! He saw how you were flaunting yourself at him and thought that if he was “friendly” he’d get into your pants.” The more I listened to their conversation, the more I really wanted to deck the guy, even though I didn’t know what they were talking about.

“I’m so sick of this, Tony! I can’t help it if customers are nice to me and it’s part of my job to at least act nice to them! You want me to get fired? Quit? Shitfire! All I have to do is look in the direction of another guy and you’re in my face telling me what a whore or slut I am! Just leave me alone!” I had to give the woman credit, she at least had the courage to stick up for herself. I saw her try to walk past him but he grabbed her and threw her down on the ground.

“Listen, bitch! You don’t walk away from me!” He lifted his hand and slapped her and that’s when I had seen and heard enough.

“Hey!” I called out as I walked down the alleyway. They both turned to look at me and as I got closer I got a better look at the guy. He was scruffy looking and there wasn’t anything friendly looking about him. He looked as big a jerk as I figured he’d look.

“Who the hell are you and what business is this of yours?” Tony asked me.

“I’m just a guy passing by who’s not about to let you hit a lady.”

Tony laughed. “She’s no lady. She’s a fucking whore! She flirts with any guy that even looks her way and she needs to learn that acting that way is unacceptable.”

“The only person who’s acting unacceptable is you.” I challenged him. At this point I was standing between him and the girl.

“Again, who are you to tell me how to talk to my girlfriend?!”

Girlfriend?! Wow! I didn’t know who this girl was but I did know she could do a hell of a lot better than this guy. Any girl deserved better than this piece of shit standing in front of me. “You may think it’s acceptable to talk to her that way, and she might even think it’s okay; but raising a hand to a woman, that’s not okay. Whatever happened before that, not really my business. The second you hit her, then it became my business.”

“So what. . .are you threatening me?”

“No, I’m just saying I’m not going to let you hit her anymore.”

He squinted his eyes at me. “You gonna follow me home? I mean what’s to stop me from doing what I want later when you’re not around.” Man this guy was an asshole! 

“Look, I can’t follow you home and I can’t stop you or her from doing whatever later, but at this moment, I’m telling you. You aren’t going to do anything to her.” I heard a noise behind me and I noticed the girl stand up.  Tony looked at her and started going off on her.

“So is this one of your “customers?” Some guy you were nice to at work and now he’s going to play hero?! Maybe get in your pants later?”

“I swear Tony, I’ve never seen him before!”

“Whatever, I’m done having this conversation with you.” He then turned and looked at me. “You can have this whore if you want mister.” I watched as he walked down the alleyway and then turned to look at the girl who looked completely stunned as she watched her boyfriend walk down the alley.

“I’m sorry if I caused trouble between you and your boyfriend.” I admitted to her. I really wanted to tell her how I thought she could do better than that piece of shit but I figured I’d caused enough problems. She turned around and looked at me and it was the first time I had actually seen what she looked like. Although the light was minimal in the alleyway, I could tell she had long dark hair and even though I couldn’t see what color her eyes were, I noticed they had an intensity to them that I hadn’t really expected them to have. I looked at where it looked like Tony had hit her and I noticed she had a bruise forming.

“Well that’s just great! Now what the hell am I supposed to do?!” She complained as she started hobbling away.

I stood there confused for a moment. In all the previous times I had tried to help someone, they had been grateful. I had just stopped her “boyfriend” from probably beating her and she just starts walking away. “Hey!” I yelled after her.

She stopped walking and swung around. “What?”

I walked up to her and at this point I could see her better from the street lights. I was stunned for a moment. She was younger than I originally thought she was. She was wearing an outfit that left little to the imagination and even I had to admit, she looked good in it.  She had freckles that stretched from one cheek to the other, which added to her looking even younger, but what once again got me were her eyes. They were a shade of hazel that I had never seen before and they were once again intensely looking into mine.

“What?! I mean, I’m not trying to pat myself on the back here, but I would think most people would be somewhat grateful for having someone step in and stop another person from using their face as a punching bag.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Is this a habit of yours? Are you trying to be a superhero? Lurking in the dark alleyways of Bridgeport waiting to help girls that you think are damsels in distress?”

Her reaction was interesting to me. I started wondering what was causing it. Was she embarrassed and was trying to hide it by getting mad at me? Was she so self-absorbed that all she really cared about was how what happened affected her? Or did she have such a low opinion of herself that she really didn’t think that she deserved someone better than Tony.

“What are you doing?” Her question snapped me out of my thoughts.

“What?”

“That, what you were just doing. It was freaky. You were looking right at me but it was like you were. . .analyzing me. Who the hell are you? Really, are you some deranged guy who thinks they’re a superhero who can read thoughts?” She started to back up a little from me and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“No. I’m just some guy, who’s trying to figure out why you would let someone like Tony treat you that way; and why you’re reacting to me the way you are.”

She looked skeptical but stopped backing away. “You’re not from here, are you?”

What was with her and all the questions? “No. Why?”

“For one, you don’t understand why a girl would be somewhat fearful of a guy who just appears in alleyways who acts like they’re some guy out of a superhero comic. And second, you’re too nice to be from here. I mean obviously since you stopped to help someone.”

“I would hope that anyone would stop a guy from hitting a girl.” 

She got a disgusted look on her face and huffed. “That’s the first time anyone did for me. Thanks.” She turned around and started hobbling away.

“Wait!” I yelled after her again. She turned around.

“Look, I appreciate the fact that you stopped Tony from hitting me again, but what do you want?”

“You’re limping. At least let me help you get home.” At the thought of her going home I started wondering if home was somewhere with Tony. “You can go home, can’t you?”

“I have my own place, although now that I think about it I’ve some things at Tony’s place and I have no idea how I’m going to get those back. . .Anyway, I’m fine.”

“I insist.”

“Are you for real? You really do have a superhero complex, don’t you?” She smiled at me for the first time and shook her head.

I smiled back. “Do you live far from here?”

“No, it’s about three blocks, that way.” She pointed down the street.

I hailed a cab and she started protesting but there was no way I was going to let her walk with her limping so bad. A cab pulled up and I held the door open for her. She gave me a strange look before she got into the cab. I sat down next to her as she gave the driver her address.  She acted like she didn’t want to talk although we wouldn’t have been able to say much since it didn’t take long to go the three blocks.  Soon we were pulling up to an apartment building and I paid and tipped the driver. We both got out of the cab.

“Well, thanks.” She said and started walking toward the building.

What was her deal with walking away? “Can I at least walk you up to your apartment to make sure you make it okay?”

She stopped and turned around. “Really? You think that a girl who lives on her own in the city is just going to take some guy she met in an alleyway up to her apartment? I don’t know where you’re from but that’s just not a smart thing to do in the city. I don’t even know your name.”

“It’s George.” I said and waited for her to tell me her name but she didn’t.

“George. . .Yeah, you look like a George. Well, George, thanks for your help. You’ve done your superhero duty and saw me to my apartment building so I guess this is goodbye.” She said and started walking away again.

Once again I called after her. “Hey!” I watched as she turned around, yet again. “What’s your name?”

She kept walking backwards and smiled. “Stephanie.” she answered, turned back around and disappeared around the corner of the apartment building.

I stood there for several minutes replaying the last thirty minutes in my head. That had to have been one of the strangest encounters I had ever had. I had stopped several guys in the past from hitting woman but her reaction was interesting. She obviously had trust issues that went beyond being a girl living on her own in the city. I shook my head and turned to walk to the intersection where I hailed a cab. I needed to head back to Trev’s place and see if I could sort out this mess with Charlotte. As I rode the cab back to Trev’s I couldn’t stop thinking about the girl I had just met. I hoped that she would be okay. I was worried that Tony would go to her apartment and would finish what he started. There wasn’t much stopping him. Then I began worrying that she might take him back. There wasn’t anything I could do about it but I still couldn’t help but worry about it. 

The cab pulled up to Trev’s apartment and I went through the process of getting back up to Trev’s place. When I got out of the elevator I saw that the door to the apartment was already open and he was standing in the doorway.

“Man, where did you go?” Trev asked.

“I went for a walk.” I really didn’t want to go into how I had also helped some girl get away from her asshole of a boyfriend. “Is Charlotte still here?” He nodded and pointed to one of the windows.

“Try not to blow up this time. . .” He suggested.

“I hadn’t planned on it the first time.” I admitted and walked over to where she was standing. I stood behind her and talked to her back.

“Charlotte, I’m sorry. I’ve been mad, upset, hurt, and confused the last six years. I may not agree with what you did or even why you did it but that doesn’t mean that I should have gone off on you.” I finished and hoped that she would turn around but she just kept looking out at the city. After a minute I figured she wasn’t going to say anything so I turned to walk away.

“Wait.” I heard her say softly. I turned around and she was still facing out towards the city. “I really can’t blame you for being mad. Hell, I’d be mad at me too. I don’t know what happened. I mean, yeah, I left but I didn’t plan on it being so long or having no contact with anyone.” She stopped and sighed.

“What happened then?” I asked her.

She turned around and looked at me. “I really felt like I needed time to think, to get away from everything that reminded me of Dad; and everything did, George. Just living in that house was painful enough. I don’t know how Mom has lived there all this time. His pictures are everywhere, we would eat dinner and his chair would be empty, I would look out the back window and see the swing set he used to push us on; everywhere were reminders that he wasn’t there anymore. And after a year and a half I couldn’t take it anymore. And I knew that if I told you and especially Mom what I wanted to do, leave and make it on my own, that you would both try to convince me to stay. I couldn’t stay anymore, George. I couldn’t! I felt like I was suffocating!” She was crying hard at this point and I moved toward her to try to hug her but she put up her hand. “No, I want to get all of this out. So I ran away. I got a bus ticket and came here to Bridgeport. I had planned on contacting everyone once I got settled here but after several months, I was still living in a crummy apartment and I knew if you all saw where and how I was living, you would be dragging me back to Appaloosa. So I didn’t call, or write, or anything. And the more time that went by, the more ashamed I was by how long it had been since I had run away. Eventually, I convinced myself that it was just better to not contact anyone. I know that’s stupid, but that’s what I thought. I’m sorry you all thought I might have been dead. I’m sorry that I hurt you and everyone! I’m sorry for all the pain I caused. I’m just so flippin sorry about everything!” She started sobbing and I ran over to her and started hugging her. We stayed like that for several minutes while she continued to cry. Once her crying slowed down I let go of her.

“Charlotte, honestly, I was furious that you left the way you did. I felt like Mom and I deserved better than that. But now that we’re here, face to face, all I really care about is that this is even happening. I had started to wonder if I would ever see you again. Just promise me, that no matter what happens, that you won’t run away again. That if you go somewhere you’ll let us know and if you want us to leave you alone, we will, but just tell us you’re okay.”

She sniffled and nodded. “I won’t run away again. I was just so stupid, George.” She got a worried look on her face. “What do you think Mom will do?”

“Well, the first time she sees you she’ll probably hug you, then yell at you, then hug you again. But she’ll probably come to the same realization I did, that she’s just happy that you’re there.”

She smiled and chuckled. “What?” I asked her.

“Trev said you were a psychologist and that you were pretty good at it. You sounded like one just now.”

I laughed. “He didn’t tell you his nickname for me, did he?” 

“He might have mentioned something about calling you Mister Psychologist. . .”

“Wonderful.” I said sarcastically. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t call you that.”

“Thank you.”

“So, I suppose we should call Mom now.” She said nervously.

“That’s up to you. I lied to her about why I was coming here but I won’t lie again. When I go back, I’ll tell her I saw you; but when you talk to her, that’s up to you.”

“I think I’m ready.”

“Trev and I will give you moral support.”

She gave me another hug. “Thanks, George.”  

"Hey, that's what big brothers are for."

Credits:
Poses:
Spladoum's - Bully - 9 fighting poses
IMHO's - Do not be sad, baby
Mypalsims - Jesse Pack