Author's Note: Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing! Makes me feel gooood)))
The chapter results pretty long, so I decided to break it down in two. Hope you like it)
ps. And yes, he will do the whiny thing about pizza, but in his own "Cal" way.
Love
A.
The chapter comprising apple cobbler, lightman group internal affairs and Emily deciding to leave her boyfriend. (Part 1.)
"Ok, here it comes", Cal thought happily, looking at two guys about to start fighting in the hall of the Lightman Group. Several days passed after Carla's case has been closed and nothing new has come up yet. Well, nothing except for a simple case of two rich guys who wanted the same girl and wanted to know which one of them she was in love with. Of course Gillian insisted they take it, she loved those cases, the ones that didn't ask for much work and offered lots of money. She called it "covering costs." The costs to cover were different every time, for example in this case she simply shrugged her shoulders and said:
"Well, we have to cover insurance costs... Also, I want a new car." Taking in Cal's surprise she chuckled "Just kidding. Still lets take it, it's gonna be fine." Cal knew it was gonna be fine, but he had some plans of his own.
He held a few short one-on-one conversations with both guys, feeding a little into their suspicions and fears, and the girl who proved to be unwilling to choose between them did it: now the two were fuming with anger and ready to tear each other apart.
"Good boys" Cal thought as he watched them launch at each other, Reynolds hurrying to separate them and escort them out of the building. Cal smiled inwardly and hurried into Gillian's office.
She pretended to be surfing the internet, looking thoughtfully at the monitor. She greeted Cal with a light nod as if she didn't know why he was there.
"That's good. Much better then "Oh, hi! Something happened?" people usually use. But I can read you, luv"
"That wasn't fine." he stated, standing in the doorway. Gillian didn't answer him, sighing and looking up at him. Cal was waiting for her excuses, but none came so he went on.
"The guys were fighting in the hall." he added, trying his best to keep the angry boss attitude. Gillian answered calmly:
"For two minutes, Cal. Reynolds handled it just fine."
"Yes, but what if he hadn't been there? Someone could get hurt." Cal said pointedly and with a sly grin added "You owe me."
Gillian smiled, tilting her head a tittle. "You're impossible. What do you want?"
Cal frowned his eyebrows, lost in thought. "A pepperoni would probably make it up to me." he admitted finally. "And since you never buy me pizza when you get me in trouble it will have to be a big one."
A momentary lack of understanding on her face changed into a genuine amusement. "Are you jealous of Rodrigo's pizza?" When she received no answer but for his childish smile, she got up slowly. "How about..." She took her purse, "... I treat you..." Gillian approached him, taking her time and moving purposely slow. "...to a full healthy lunch?" She winked at him and moved past, leaving the office as he stood there dumfounded for a second. Then he snapped back to reality and followed her into the hall.
"Since when do you eat healthy?" he demanded, catching up with her.
"I don't. We're going to a place where they cook the best apple cobbler in the world." Before Cal could answer his cell rang. He picked it up with a muffled "sorry".
"hey Em... Fine.... Ok, no problem," he glanced at Gillian "actually, we were just going to have lunch with Gillian, but... " Gillian smiled and said:
"Would she like to join us?" Cal smiled gratefully.
"You wanna come? Ok, Gillian will pick you up in about 15 minutes. See you... Bye, luv." he hang up, facing Gillian.
"You go I'll join you girls in half an hour." he said, "Could I ask you to do something for me?"
"Ok" Gillian answered unsure of what was going to come next. "You want me to talk to Emily?" Cal averted her eyes, searching for words when she suddenly knew what he wanted of her. "You want me to talk to her about sex? Cal, she'll be uncomfortable talking to me. It's better if Zoe..."
"Zoe and I are the parents. No one listens to their parents when it comes to sex. I didn't. You on the other hand..." he paused "she likes you Foster. Maybe if you tried talking to her as a friend, told her all those wild years are overrated" he looked at her pleadingly.
"I don't think all those wild years are overrated, Cal. Experimenting is an important process in..." she started, but seeing his pained expression Gillian fell silent. "Well, I could try" Gillian gave up. "See you in half an hour."
"Thanks" Cal nodded to her and left her standing alone in the hall.
"Thank you too, I guess" Gillian muttered unenthusiastically.
***
In the car they talked about every day stuff like school, work, favorite music bands. As they drove up to the restaurant and walked to their table, Gillian decided it was time to change the subject of the conversation.
"So Emily, your dad asked me to talk to you about sex." Gillian said blatantly.
"What?" Emily was clearly shocked, but recovered quickly. "Aren't you supposed to dance around the subject and try to persuade me it was your own idea?"
Gillian smirked. "Well, that's the normal game plan. But I'd rather be honest with you and get it over with quickly."
"Ok, I guess, I don't really have a choice." Emily said hesitantly.
"Believe me, neither do I. Your dad..." Gillian sighed, trying to lower the psychological barrier between them. She succeeded - Emily smiled openly, "Yeah, he can do that."
They exchanged understanding glances and the waiter chose exactly that moment to approach their table.
"What would you like to drink?" he asked politely.
Gillian looked up at the plump red-headed young man and cursed him inwardly. However she mastered a polite smile and ordered fresh orange juice, while Emily went for a coke with lemon. When the waiter left to get the drinks Gillian picked up where they left off.
"I gave this a thought and... I'm not going to talk to you about contraceptives, diseases and what all guys want. Not because all those things aren't important, but because I'm sure you've heard it all a thousand times." Gillian used her best soothing voice.
"Yeah, that's about all I hear lately. Like, I get a boyfriend and the next day I'm in some kind of risk group, you know?" Emily answered, clearly relieved by Gillian's words. Gillian couldn't help but smile at the girl's comment:
"Well, believe me, every girl goes through that."
"Did you?" Emily asked her, her eyes twinkling with curiosity.
"To be honest, my dad didn't care that much, but my mom really gave me a hard time, you see, I was going out with a rebel - he had long hair and his own car and played guitar like a god." Gillian flashed Emily a dreamy smile. "For my mom it was a nightmare."
Emily giggled "I can imagine. Was it worth it?"
"Oh yes." The both laughed and Gillian went on. "So I decided I would talk to you about other things." She was silent for a moment, trying to find the right words. "Things like what is important to know about sex. It can be incredible, but it can also be a disaster. There are two main things that can lead to a disaster and believe me you don't want to be there when it happens." Emily was listening to her attentively. "The first thing is the motivation. Any other motivation that passion is unacceptable. Curiosity, desire to experiment, even tenderness are not enough. You have to physically want that person, want to tear their clothes off, to be as close to them as possible." Gillian decided to add some scientific facts to make it sound more neutral and abstract. " Usually passion is almost tangible between the two, people try to get closer physically so they touch each other constantly, share food, even take small things from each other and keep them, like notes or items of clothes, that serve as physical reminders. Passion is a basic instinct, it's simple and very strong. It is the only thing that kills the embarrassment and awkwardness between two people and without it believe me, it just will never work. But if you feel intense desire for someone... He will make your bones melt."
"Your orange juice and coke" the cheery waiter interrupted them again and Gillian shot him a dirty look accompanied by a curt "Thank You". He got the hint and disappeared immediately.
Emily took a big gulp of coke and looked up at Gillian.
"You ok?" Gillian asked her, worried, but Emily gave her a small smile.
"Yeah, it's a little weird, but you know, you somehow make it impersonal. Like it's not about me so it's not as embarrassing as I thought it would be."
"Thank you. By the way jealousy also comes from passion - the desire to own the other person triggers it." Gillian added, happy that Emily was willing to participate in the discussion and was not shutting her out.
"To be honest, I expected you to talk about love, romance and all that stuff", Emily said, shrugging her shoulders a little.
"That's the other factor. But lets call it closure. What I mean now is the emotional compound. It may not matter as much in the process, but... Raw passion will result in awesome sex and feeling bad after it, especially for women. Most men consider sex out of pure passion as proof of their masculinity so the wrongness is veiled by pride. But most women are by nature more emotional, so that kind of sex makes us feel like we did something wrong. For a girl it's important to trust her partner, to have an emotional attachment to him. That way you won't feel dirty afterwards. And now I'll be straight with you. You're fifteen and your body is ready. You can experience passion, desire, longing, it's perfectly natural. However, psychologically you are by no means ready for that level of closure and openness. You are in the process of forming your identity, and you haven't developed the self-awareness, confidence and maturity required for that kind of relationship. Do you understand me?"
"Yes. Gillian, I wasn't actually going to..." Emily tried to explain her position, but Gillian interrupted her with a comforting smile:
"You don't have to explain anything to me. You make your own choices, I just wanted to help you avoid some mistakes girls your age usually make."
"Thanks, Gillian." Emily smiled back and Gillian felt a wave of relief wash over her - she had been worrying Emily would never look at her the same way again, but the girl proved to be quite resilient. Emily fiddled with her straw and came up with a new question. "What is love than? From scientific point of view? I mean you called emotional attachment "closure" instead of love."
"Love is a complex subject. The traditional definition of romantic love is that it is an interception of both physical and emotional aspects in their strongest phase." Gillian smiled innocently looking at Emily trying to process her words.
"Wow, you guys really know how to complicate things." Emily stated and they both laughed again, just as Cal arrived at the restaurant.
***
Next up: The chapter comprising apple cobbler, lightman group internal affairs and Emily deciding to leave her boyfriend. (Part 2)