A Beautiful Forever

chapter 30

Elliot

I’m doing my best to fill in my time while I wait for a new visa to be approved. I went for my interview and produced all the necessary

documents to prove my heritage, so I could apply for a five-year visa. My grandmother is English, so I could apply based on my

ancestry. Now I’m in limbo while I wait. It’s already been over a month; I'm hoping it doesn’t take much longer.

Since I’ve been back, I’ve given up my flat, sold most of my furniture and moved in with my mother to help save enough money as a

backup for when I go over there. She’s offered to help me out, but I want to do it on my own.

I also went and visited my father for the first time in over two years. He's married now to a girl who isn’t really that much older than

me, but he seems happy. I realised when I was in the UK that I had no business being angry with him, after hearing what Paige had

gone through in her life, I felt I needed to be happy my dad cared enough to try to steer me in the direction he thought was best for

me.

When I told him I was going back, he also offered to help me out money wise, once again I said no. However, it’s nice to know that I

can count on my parents in an emergency, nonetheless.

I got a new phone to replace the one I smashed and loaded all of my photos onto it, that way I still get to carry her around with me

and see her whenever I want to.

Despite the fact she doesn’t answer, I keep calling her. If I wasn’t so damn sure about our feelings for each other, I’d feel really

pathetic, but I don’t. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind – I know we belong together. So I call her and leave messages. I don’t tell

her much. I just want her to know that I’m not giving up on her.

I’m back working at the same gym I was at before I left, my boss knows that I’m leaving again soon, but some of my old clients want

to train with me while they can, so I’m grateful to be kept on the books.

So right now, I’m in the Botanic Gardens in Sydney, the best outdoor training spot around here, packing up the resistance bands

and mats that I was using with my client, while I contemplate calling Paige again, just to hear her voicemail recording.

“Elliot?” a familiar voice says to me. I turn around to face her, amazed that this time, I’m not plagued with all the emotions I'd had last

time we spoke. “How are you?” Katrina asks me smiling.

“Well thanks,” I reply, returning her smile. It’s so surreal seeing her and not having a desperate need to touch her. I still can’t stop my

hand itching, but it’s because I’m wanting to call Paige.

“I heard you were back. I figured I’d run into you here eventually,” she says.

“Um yeah, I’m not back for long though,” I tell her, as I pull the zip along the bag and sit on the ground.

She sits down next to me, like we’re old friends. “Yeah, I heard. Our mothers have been gas bagging at tennis,” she says.

I shrug my shoulders, not surprised they still talk. “Well, it’s good that their still good friends… So…how’s work? How’s David?”

She leans back on her arms and stretches her long legs out in front of her, crossing them at the ankles.

“Good and good, what about you?”

“Well, works fine, but I haven’t seen David for years,” I joke.

“Har har, very funny,” she says. “I um… heard about the girl in London and was kind of talking about her.”

I think of Paige and give a wry smile, wishing she wasn’t so far away right now, wishing she had just told me about her past early on,

so we could have talked properly instead of leaving it the way we did. I open the gallery on my phone, selecting a picture of Paige

and me when we went away together the weekend before I left.

I hand her my phone to show her the image. “Her name is Paige. I’m just waiting on my Visa, so I can go back to her.”

Katrina studies the picture. “She’s beautiful Elliot,” she says as she swipes at the screen to move on to the next photo. I don’t want

her going through my pictures and reach over, taking it from her hands as she says, “Wow! Is that a tattoo?”

All of a sudden, I bristle as my defences fly up, and I switch of my phone, tucking it away. I know how some people look upon tattoos,

especially massive ones like Paige's, and I don’t want anyone judging her when her tattoo represents so much for her.

Noticing a change in my demeanour Katrina shifts positions. “I’m sorry Elliot. I shouldn’t have done that. The tattoo, well what I saw of

it, is pretty amazing – it must have hurt.”

“Probably,” I say quickly, looking up in the sky as I hear a bird call.

Appearing a little awkward, Katrina stands up and brushes the grass off her running pants. “I guess, I’d better leave you to it then.”

Nodding, I watch her take a couple of steps away. I feel bad for making her feel like she has to leave, “Katrina – ” I start.

She pauses her retreat, “Yes?”

“I don’t know if I’m coming back, so in case I never see you again – have a great wedding, tell David I said ‘hi’ and have a fantastic

life; I mean that.”

“I know you do Elliot, thank you, and I truly hope everything works out with Paige.”

“It will Katrina. It has to.”