This is the only chapter not to be in Steph or Charlie's POV

"You and your habit of showing up unannounced," Harry sighed when he opened the door to see Gia standing there, rolling her eyes at him. "Have you no common decency-sure, just come on it."

Gia slid past him, ignoring him completely.

Harry's mom poked her head in the hallway, hearing the commotion. "Who's there, Harry?"

"Just Gia, Mom," Harry told her.

"Hi, Mrs. Takayama," Gia gave her that smile she usually gave to adults. The one of seemingly sweet innocence, none of which could correctly refer to Gia. "I just wanted to talk to Harry for a bit. Is that okay?"

Harry hoped she'd say no. Gia had that look in her eyes. The one that spelled trouble from a mile away. He'd seen that look before and it never ended well for anyone.

Per usual, the universe was not on his side today. His mom smiled at her. "Of course, dear. Just keep the door open."

Harry grimaced a little at that. As if he would ever think of doing anything remotely sexual with Gia. She must have had something along the same thoughts, for there was a hint of disgust on her face.

"No problem, Mrs. Takayama," Gia's smile dropped once his mom returned to the kitchen. She yanked him by the sleeve of his shirt, pulling him upstairs. He protested this, not that she listened to him.

He was taken to his bedroom where she deliberately disobeyed his mom and shut the door.

"What now?" He groaned.

She gave him a sharp look. "What's your problem?"

"Besides you barging into the house, disobeying my mom and potentially getting us into trouble?" He said sarcastically.

"You're so dramatic," she flipped some hair over her shoulder. "Besides, you should be happy, it's not for me. I'm doing this for someone else."

"Without any grain to you?"

"Yes," she scoffed. "I'm capable of being nice."

"I know you're capable, but that doesn't answer my question."

"It's for Steph, you dweeb," Gia told him.

This piqued his interest. Arching his brow, he asked, "What about Steph?"

"Don't tell me you're blind," Gia sighed.

"Do you have to insult me all the time?" Harry retorted.

"That was hardly an insult," Gia said dismissively.

"Regardless," Harry said, "what are you doing for Stephanie?"

"Anything to get her to admit her feelings for Charlie," she said matter-of-factly. He seemed doubtful. "Come on; it's obvious. He even called her babe, remember?"

"I'll admit they seemed to have something going on," he started off cautiously-giving into Gia's thoughts could have consequences. "But is it really any of your business? Let them figure it out themselves."
It was like he hadn't spoken. "Not just my business. Our business. Why do you think I came over here?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he interjected. "I never agreed-"

"I'm not asking," she glared at him.

"No," he said firmly. "This is a bad idea."

"I didn't ask your opinion on it," she shrugged.

"Are you even listening?" He demanded. "It's never good to intervene in someone's love life, much less on someone who hasn't explicitly come out and said they have feelings for the person."

She rolled her eyes. "They'll never admit anything if someone doesn't do anything about it."

"It doesn't mean that has to be us," he protested.

"Who else?" She gave him another look.

He didn't have an answer for her.

Harry wasn't blind, thank you very much. Watching the two of them interact together, he'd wondered if something was going on. Something was slightly off, but he wasn't about to stick his nose into anything. He couldn't see Stephanie being okay with this.

"Don't you want Steph to be happy?" Gia asked.

That was emotional blackmail.

"Of course I do," he said calmly. "But on her own. Not because we pushed her into anything."

"We're not pushing her. We're...giving her a nudge," Gia said, satisfied with her own logic.

"What if she doesn't need a nudge?"

"She needs a nudge," Gia disagreed. "She won't do anything on her own. She probably thinks he doesn't feel the same way."

"You're assuming," Harry pointed out. "You don't know how she feels."

"Harry, Harry, Harry," she drawled. "I know relationships. I know how they work. Trust me."

He'd rather not. Too often, trust me were her famous last words.

"You don't know everything," he muttered.

"I know more than you," she said. "You've never had a girlfriend, have you?"

"I'm not answering that."

"Aha!" She looked victorious. "I knew it!"

It was his turn to give her a look.

"Alright, alright," she conceded, "maybe that was a little mean."

"Did that hurt to say?"

She mumbled incoherently.

"I still don't think we should do this," Harry didn't like it. Not one bit. "Why can't they figure this out on their own?"

"They'll just mess up," Gia said. "I'm doing this because I care."

"You could care from a distance. Silently care. Care in spirit! But this is a bad, bad idea, Gia."

"Hey, I got Lily Caruso and John Garcia together last year."

"And she cheated on him a week into their relationship," he said flatly.

Obviously she'd forgotten about that. "Okay, so that didn't work about-"

"Broken up," he cut her off.

"There's also-"

"They didn't even like each other. You thought they did," he said, exasperated.

"Okay, but if they did, they would have been a good couple," she argued.

He groaned loudly.

"What makes you possibly think things will work out for Steph and Charlie? You don't have the best track record."

"They're different," Gia said. "You haven't seen the way they look at each other-"

"You've been watching those movies too much," he said.

"The day you came, I was braiding Steph's hair and she asked him what he thought of it. He clearly liked it on her but didn't want to say it."

"Are you sure you're not overthinking this just a little bit?" he said skeptically.

"No. You're the one under thinking this!" Gia threw her hands up in the air to convey her annoyance.

There was really no getting out of it. Until Gia saw for herself that this was a bad idea or was told by Stephanie that such feelings for Charlie didn't exist, she would not back down. Which meant he was stuck.

Sometimes he wondered what he'd ever done to end up in these situations.

"How would you even go about this?" Harry asked, resignedly.

Gia was pleased he'd asked. "Finally getting on board?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No," she said resolutely.

"There you have it."

"I haven't decided yet," Gia said, which was all too predictable. "We could lock them in a room."

"Lock them in a room?" Harry echoed. "What's that supposed to do?"

"Force them to confront their feelings, duh."

Is this really my life? Harry thought.

"I think we need something better than that."

"Do you have any ideas?" Gia said.

"None that will satisfy you, no."

"Exactly," she said. "We could send Steph flowers and say it was from Charlie."

"What good would that do?" Harry frowned. "He'd just tell her he didn't and Steph would be weirded out."

"Do you have to say something about every idea I have?"

"When you have a good one, I won't," he said.

She huffed again. "We could all agree to hangout but me and you won't show up and it'll be the two of them."

"How will that be different than when they hang out like usual?" Harry raised his brow.

She collapsed on his bed dramatically, messing it up completely. "I don't know."

"Maybe you're not as good of a matchmaker as you think you are-oof!" He was smacked with a pillow.

"I am good. I just need a better idea," she said. "I'll get one eventually."

"Mhm..."

"They'll be a couple soon," she said determinedly. "Before school starts, I bet."

"I wouldn't count on it," Harry tried to be the voice of reason, not that he thought she would take any advice.

He jumped when the door burst open.

"Harry! What did I tell you about this door? You're supposed to keep it open!"

He didn't get a chance to say anything.

"That's what I told him, Mrs. Takayama," Gia lied. "I told him you wouldn't like it but he said you wouldn't notice."

When his mom wasn't looking-after she chewed him out some more-he glared at her, not amused in the slightest.

She grinned.