Choices

1.
Just lying there was enough, she wanted to do no more but lay there and soak up the solitary perks of an empty room. She took off her glasses and was amused at how the room became a blur; amused because that was how life felt to her... blurry. As Georgia slipped into yet another nap she wished for the life that she had planned for, the one that made her heart skip a beat, the one that resulted in success.

As she slumbered she watched the real her – happy and fulfilled. She was proud of her efforts and saw a future that she had always wished for. The man, the house, the career… it all seemed so perfect. As she came to she was reminded that those dreams had little chance of happening if she spent all her time in bed or at the job she detested, she turned over, buried her head in the pillow and sobbed.

Days of nothing had to come to an end and, as usual, Georgia's friends had staged their own intervention. Arriving en masse and demanding that she ‘gets on with life’, ‘look on the bright side’ and a host of other clichés that set her teeth on edge. They came because they love her, worry about her, know she can do something with her life. The only thing they couldn't do was make life what she wanted. The result of this intervention required movement and engagement with the world - exactly the opposite of Georgia's own desires.

The phone rang and Georgia was tempted to ignore it but she guessed it was Lola checking up on her and the thought of ignoring Lola scared her more than anything.

“Hello?” Georgia tried to sound upbeat and happy in order to fool her friend.

“What took so long? You were in bed weren't you? I knew it!”

Georgia took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, she was not a fan of lying “I was in the shower Lola, I’ve been up and out all day and wanted to freshen up”

“Oh, hmmm… well I have news for you! Enzo is back in town and he’s agreed to take you out tonight to talk about your plans. We promised you that if you got up and got on we’d help and this is a perfect start!”

An awkward silence threatened to fill the air and Georgia had to act quickly so her friend wouldn’t sense the dread that had just engulfed her. “Enzo? Wow, um thanks Lola but he doesn’t need to do that!” The idea of dinner with Enzo was more than Georgia could take, dinner with anyone was too much but Enzo? What was Lola thinking?

“Don’t argue or fuss, it’s all sorted and reservations have been made. He’ll pick you up at 7. Love you lady, hope it is everything you need” Lola laughed with pleasure at her ingenious work and hung up the phone, leaving Georgia in a state of absolute shock.

Slowly, but surely, panic started to drift in. There was no way out of this without offending her best friend… Georgia knew that she had to go, end of story.

2.
It was a warm evening, Georgia was preparing. Her long dark hair fell about her shoulders in waves as she leant forward to put her lipstick on. She was dreaming about what he would be like, would this one be the right one? Would he be the game changer?

The doorbell buzzed violently and Georgia snapped back into reality - rushing to the door she collected her belongings along the way and ended up gracefully slipping her heels on via a hopping motion whilst cursing his early arrival under her breath.

"Enzo, how good to see you!" Georgia had her best dress on and knew she was looking good but she hadn't expected him to look like that, in fact she had imagined something much less.

He purred in her direction "Georgia you look wonderful as usual, let’s get going or we will be late".

She sank into the comfy leather seats of the car and contemplated the situation. She had agreed to a dinner to discuss her latest career ideas with Lola's older brother. Lola had promised that he knew everything there was to know about her chosen path, and, being Georgia's oldest friend it would not have been right to have refused the offer and so she agreed to dinner. What Lola had failed to tell her was how much Enzo had changed since she last saw him!