Title: A Mess To Be Made
Author: Jess (Penname: Jess Rae; Formally: Jessica-Rae Szmanda)
Genre: CSI
Summary: When Greg meets up with an old crush, what feelings--and secrets--will be revealed?
Main Characters: Greg Sanders, Luca Newman, Natalee Bartlet, Nick Stokes
Author's Note: So, I haven't written an fan fiction in…forever. Literally. But, I've been pretty bored and my friend from home Kayla (Penname: jocelynrose) suggested I start a new one. So…here I am! Inspiration from the music of The Format (Borrowed the title from them!) and Kayla, of course. R & R & all that good stuff. New chapter posted every Wednesday by midnight, yeah.
Chapter One:
Not Sure Yet
When Luca left she didn't know what was going to happen. But, when did happen wasn't expected at all.
"Luca?"
She didn't stop because she was sure whoever it was, they weren't looking for her. She didn't know anyone in Las Vegas. She kept walking and she heard someone running towards her now.
"Luca Newman!"
She spun around. A man stopped in front of her.
"Luca, it's me!"
Luca looked at him, confused. "I'm sorry?"
"Greg Sanders, Livingston High's Science Club…."
"Greg! Greg! Oh, my gosh! How have you been?"
"I'm good. You--you look great," he said.
She paused a second. "Well, thanks. I guess I'll see you later?" Luca started to walk away.
"Luca, wait."
She turned around again. "Yeah?"
"Would you like to do something--tomorrow, maybe? Catch up, you know?"
"Um…."
Greg looked at her, hopefully.
"Yeah, okay. I think I should have a gap in my schedule," she announced.
"Great! Just give me a call, okay?" He wrote his number on a piece of paper from her purse and they both went their separate ways.
Luca sat at the end of the hotel room bed. Silence filled the bright room as she fiddled with her cell phone. She tossed it towards the head board and grabbed a pillow, chickening out. She turned on the television and flipped through the channels. She wasn't sure if she wanted to answer any questions about why she was in Las Vegas, what had she been doing since high school. Blah blah blah.
Unfortunately, try as she might, avoiding Greg was nearly impossible.
The room phone rang half way through a movie which Luca wasn't really all that interested in. She hadn't given her number out to anyone; she moved cautiously toward it.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Miss Newman," the desk clerk said. "There's a man on the phone for you, a Greg Sanders?"
She was so shocked, she couldn't say anything.
"Miss?"
"Okay, put him through," Luca said. "Hello?"
"Luca, hi," he said. "I don't mean to stalk you, but…there's this thing going on and I wanted to know if you wanted to go. And it's kind of important if I know you're coming right away."
"Okay?"
He paused.
"What's the thing?"
"Okay, actually, I'm stalking you. I'm really sorry."
She laughed a little. "Well, how about dinner tomorrow night?"
"Yeah," he said. "Sounds great. I'll pick you up around six."
"Okay," she agreed. "I'm at the--" she stopped short. "How did you know where I was staying?"
"I can explain tomorrow."
"Maybe I should walk to this dinner," she suggested, laughing.
"I promise I'm safe."
"I bet."
Luca eased herself into the passenger side of Greg's sedan and shut the door.
"Hey," she said. "So, where are we going?"
"Do you like Italian?"
She nodded.
"So, what have you been doing since high school?"
She didn't want to tell the truth, that she had gotten a bachelors degree at UCLA in astrophysics but didn't have a steady job and her parents reluctantly paid for her apartment. She told him about the degree and lied saying she worked for the government.
"Why are you in Vegas?"
"What's with all the questions!" She laughed. "What are you doing now?"
"I work in the city; I'm a crime scene investigator."
"No kidding," she said, impressed.
Her phone rang suddenly. She looked at it, he looked at her. She silenced it. "Sorry about that."
"Are you on the run from the law?" he asked with a laugh.
"Something like that."
"How did you find where I was staying anyway?"
Greg explained something about her social class and calling every hotel he thought Luca would be able to afford until he found the right one. She was a little freaked out.
"This is basically my job," he said, chuckling a little.
"So, how is that anyway? Your job."
"It's interesting. I love it." He smiled. She did as well until he asked about her job.
"It's…you know, it's good," Luca told him, nodding.
"Do you still live in California?"
She nodded. "For now, anyway."
"Oh?"
"Well, I don't know. I'm just kind of…." she trailed off as the waiter passed out their food. "But, how's your mom and dad?"
"They're great," Greg said. "Your sister?"
She shrugged. Luca and her sister never talked anymore. "Good. Why? You got a crush on her still?" She laughed half-heartedly.
He blushed a little and laughed, too. "No, I--I was just wondering."
It was silent for a while.
"You know, you really do look great," he said. "Different, but so much the same."
She gave him a half-smile. "You look the same."
He laughed. "Well, thanks. I still look like that nerd in high school?"
Luca corrected herself and smiled, "The same…in a good way."
"Where the fuck are you, Lu?" Luca's roommate Natalee asked on one of the twenty messages she'd left on Luca's voicemail while she and Greg were out.
Luca considered calling back, but was too tired.
"Do I need to fucking tag you with a tracking anklet to know where you are?" Luca finally got to the end of the messages and shut her phone off for the night. Afraid someone else would find her, she took the room phone off the hook as well. She laid down and waited to fall asleep but it never came so she called Natalee back instead.
"Luca!"
"Nat," she said.
"Where are you!"
"Calm down, Natalee. I'm in Las Vegas," Luca told her.
"You just woke up and decided you needed to go to Nevada?"
She thought about it for a second. "Pretty much."
"You--you're fucking nuts, Luca."
"This is true."
"I'm driving down to get you," Natalee announced.
Luca sighed. "Nat, please don't, okay?"
"Well, what are you going to do in Las Vegas?"
"I'm not sure yet."