“Yeah,” I say.
She snorts.
“I’m surprised you remember it,” she grins.
She’s laughing and smiling as though it’s all a big joke. It should make me feel more comfortable, because she’s obviously not angry at me. In fact, she’s smiling more today than she has in a while. But, instead, I just feel worse. I think part of me wants her to blame me.
“Bits and pieces,” I admit. “It’s all a little blurry. But I think I was the one that kissed you first.”
“Yeah, you did,” Georgia says simply.
“I’m sorry,” I sigh.
“Why?” Georgia counters. “Come on, Ethan, we’re both adults, you know. Last time, we were both really young. And pretty stupid. This time we’re a lot older. We can handle this.”
I frown. Why is she being so blasé about this? Regardless of anything else, I got drunk and took advantage of her.
“Stop that,” Georgia says, and I start. She rolls her eyes. “I can almost see what you’re thinking. Look, you might have been drunk, but you definitely didn’t take advantage of me, alright? I participated in that, too. I could have pushed you away and I didn’t. You definitely didn’t coerce me into anything.”
Actually…she’s right. She threw herself just as eagerly into having sex as I did.
“Why…?” I ask, confused.
“It’s been a long time,” she says with a shrug. “I guess, like you, I just let lust take over. It happened, we can’t take it back, so let’s just forget about it.”
“I still feel bad,” I say. “And I don’t want this to get awkward.”
“Then don’t let it be awkward,” Georgia says, rolling her eyes at me. I’m still confused by how blunt she’s being. But it also settles some of the fear I felt about having finally driven her away after last night. “Look, you and I have been friends for a long time, Ethan. A bit of sex isn’t going to kill that friendship.”
I snort.
“When you put it that way,” I say. “I guess you’re right.”
“Exactly,” Georgia says with a nod. “I’m not going to let things be awkward between us, and neither are you, okay? As I said, it happened. We can just pretend it didn’t.” She winks at me. “Unless you want to keep remembering it. Good dream material?”
I burst out laughing. It’s a little hysterical, though, because it covers the very sudden and unwelcome flash of lust that went through me at her joke. What the hell is that?
“Thanks, Georgia,” I say, grinning at her. “You’re right, I’m just being stupid. We can forget all about it and concentrate on other things, like Polly coming tomorrow.”
“Now you’re talking sense,” Georgia laughs. “So, just drop it. And go make us more coffee so we can plan.”
It occurs to me, as I get up to go to the kitchen, jokingly saluting my friend, that Georgia is awfully quick to cut the conversation off, as though she doesn’t want to talk too much about it. Though, I guess I can’t blame her.
After the odd reaction I had, as well as the flashes of memory that won’t leave my mind, I don’t really want to concentrate too much on what happened, either. Georgia is far too important to me, after all, to ruin this with odd feelings and uncontrollable lust.
Chapter Ten
Ethan
“I’m sorry for the late notice,” I apologize into the phone. “A lot happened over the weekend.”
“It’s fine,” my boss, Greg Hayward, says instantly. “I completely understand. We all know your situation. Is it just for today?”
“Just today,” I assure him. “I’ll be back at work first thing tomorrow. I can put in some overtime to make up for it, if you want.”
“Nah, don’t bother,” Greg says. He laughs. “If you do overtime, it means I have to do overtime too. We’ll just call this a sick day. We can deal without you for a day.”
“Thanks, Greg,” I say. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”