Hell & Half of Georgia

3

Flashback - The Valley, 2020

Tory was alone. Her mom had died, her brother had been taken into care and Robby had just left for basic training in the army.

She hated it.

But right now as she waited on the toilet seat to check the result of the pregnancy test, she hoped she was still alone.

Tory sniffled as the timer rang and slowly reached for the plastic stick which read 'Pregnant'

"Oh my God."

And suddenly, Tory wasn't alone in the world.

/ /

Sometimes Tory still wished she was alone in the world. Specifically at times like this when she couldn't find her clothes and knew roughly where they would be.

"Did you borrow my green top?" She shouted through Georgia's door before opening it; only to find her daughter scrambling for cover while the camera shutter clicked. "Mom! Hi. No, I don't have it." Tory looked between the phone and Georgia in her bra and backed out of the room slowly, closing the door and thinking 'What the fuck'.

/ /

Having had time to collect herself and her thoughts, Tory arranged a gynaecologist appointment for Georgia the next day and took her out of school for it, much to her daughter's annoyance.

As they pulled back into their driveway, Georgia was still complaining. "Really, Mom? Taking me to the gyno? Putting me on the pill? Did you really need to do that in the middle of a school day?"
"Sure did. You have a boyfriend you're sending topless photos to."
"Mom. Oh my God." Georgia slammed the door shut.
"Which tells me two things. One, you make stupid decisions when it comes to men, and two, you're gonna have sex soon."
"Don't I get to decide if I go on birth control?"
"Sure don't."
"You're such a bad feminist."
"Yeah, that's me." Tory chuckled. "Back to the kitchen. She was askin' for it. Tramp, whore, nag, bitch. Get in the house, please."
"Hunter and I aren't having sex because I'm disgusting."
"What?"
"How do you do it? How do you always know what to say, and what to wear, and how to do the cleavage thing?"
"The cleavage thing?" Tory chuckled at the young teen. "You mean, have cleavage?" Georgia rolled her eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm 30 and single, with two kids from the same guy I've been completely unable to work out a relationship with for the past 16 years and now he spends most of his time on the other side of the world. Does that look like the ideal, picture-perfect picket fence to you? You think I know what I'm doin'? Nobody knows what they're doin'. You are not disgusting. You are..." she chuckled softly "...beautiful." She finished stroking Georgia's cheek.

/ /

Georgia was thinking about what her mom had said earlier. She used to think her mom was an expert at men, but now she thought that Tory might not know how to love. The only man Georgia had ever seen her mom truly love is my her dad, which never ended well for any of them. But you can't fall in love if you always have your guard up, which Tory always did. Because if you let your guard down anyone can get it, Georgia was suddenly realising as she found herself in a love triangle.