8/2506 some editing and revamping.
There was a knock on the door of Charlie's office. He didn't seem to hear the person right away.
"Hey Charlie. Earth to Charlie, come in Charlie." Gia waved her hand in front of Charlie's face.
"Oh huh? Hey Gia. Sorry, I was just thinking."
Gia snorted. "Ha! You're always thinking. I was having lunch over with Dean Waters and we talked about doing a second lecture. I figured I would stop in for a quick hello before I went back to my office and I wanted to return your book on Origami. Thanks for lending it to me,"
Charlie grinned back at Gia. "You are most welcome. Any luck?"
"Um no. I tried for the last 2 weeks and I couldn't do it. For someone with an Art Degree I'm bit inept at Origami. Oh well, I tried"
Charlie laughed. "Are you sure you have an Art degree?"
"Yea, yeah laugh it up. We can't all be real geniuses. Some of us have to be psuedo ones."
Charlie grinned back at his friend. "Hey, you still coming over for dinner on Friday? My dad wants you to redeem the rain check you gave him last week."
"Yup, I'm going to run home from the office and then I'll come over. Can I bring anything?"
"Nah, my dad wouldn't want you to. He likes having people over."
"Well if you're sure that I can't." She shrugged. "I'm Italian and it's an innate quality to want to bring food. Ok well I will talk to you later I have a stack of reports to write. Bye Charlie"
"Bye Gia" Charlie said as he turned back to the blackboard.
Gia stepped out of Charlie's office, put her IPOD ear buds on and walked down the hall.
At the same time a dark hair man turned the corner where they slammed into each other. The man was knocked to the ground.
"Oh my God! I am so sorry," Gia said as she scrambled to help the stranger up.
"Argh, no problem," the man said as he got off the floor.
Gia muttered, "I wasn't paying attention. Are you hurt?"
"Nah, I'm fine. Are you ok?"
Gia's looked the stranger straight in his dark smoldering eyes and was taken a back. Her breath was momentarily caught in her chest as they held each other's gaze for a moment.
Gia was lost for words and was unable to stop staring at the handsome stranger.
"Miss? You okay? Your lip is bleeding."
"Oh, huh? My lip?" She put her hand to her lip. She looked down at her finger and saw a small drop of blood. "Um, yes I'm fine. I only bit it."
"Okay good. Well, take care." he continued to walk down the hall. She heard him open a door and say, "Hey buddy."
She escaped down the hallway, her face all flushed and embarrassed. She sank to the floor and put her hands to her face. She thought, 'I am such a spaz. I just totally mowed down a totally hot guy."
It was Friday evening and Gia was on her way over to Charlie's for supper and a movie. She stopped at the liquor store to pick up a bottle of wine. As she was headed up to the check out counter, she spied the man she ran into the other day. She quickly turned in the other direction and hid in one of the isle. She really didn't feel like reliving the events of earlier. It had been embarressing enough that she had stared at him.
She watched him from her hiding spot in the wine isle. There was something vaguly familiar about his face but she couldn't place it.
She saw him check out with a six-pack and heard him thank the clerk. Gia saw that the coast was clear and went up to the counter to make her purchase. She was relieved at not being spotted. She walked to the door and hoped that the gorgeous stranger had left the parking lot. She hopped in her car and headed over to Charlie's.
At the Eppes' house, Don walked into the kitchen. "Hey Dad" He put the six-pack that he had just bought in the fridge.
"Donnie my boy so good of you to join us. You're just in time to meet a friend of Charlie's from when he was at Princeton."
They heard the doorbell ring. "Don would you mind getting the door and then telling your brother dinner is ready."
"Okay, Dad, will do." He walked to the front door to greet his brother's friend. He opened the door and stared in disbelief at the woman who had knocked him over earlier in the week. He saw her face flush bright red.
Gia muttered, "Oh my gawd. Could this week be getting any worse?" Gia felt her face flush with embarrassment.
Don noticed the woman's obvious embarrassment and said, "Hi, I'm Don Eppes. You must be Charlie's friend."
Gia regained her composure and said, "Uh, Hi. I'm Giada Conti. Please to meet you. Your brother talks about you all the time."
"Really? Well don't believe anything he tells you 'cause it is either untrue or worse than what he said," Don said.
She gave him a smile back and replied, "Nah, he hasn't said anything that is too unflattering."
"That's good. Come on in. We can go grab Charlie from the garage since my dad said dinner was ready."
"Yeah sure. Thanks. Sorry about the other day."
"Don't worry about it."
At that very moment Charlie walks in. "Giada. Hey so glad that you made it"
"Hey Charlie."
"I see you met my brother. Let me introduce you to my dad."
Alan Eppes stepped out of the kitchen to see his son's friend. "Welcome Giada. I'm glad that you could finally come over."
"Hello Mr. Eppes. Thanks again for inviting me."
"Please, call me Alan and you are always welcome at here."
They sat down to a nice meal and chatted about Charlie's time at Princeton.
Alan regaled their guest with stories of when Charlie was a kid.
"Come on Dad stop telling these stories."
"Oh no, Charlie. I want to hear more", said Giada, "I also think he should break out the baby pics."
Charlie cried, "No way are you looking at baby pics." He then pointed a finger at Giada and said; "Just you wait till I see your brother. I am going to get all the dirt on you.
"What's there to get? I was a perfect and lovely child."
Don arched his eyebrow and said, "Yeah, I have only known you for an hour and I find that hard to believe."
The Eppes men begun to clean up the supper dishes and took them into the kitchen.
Alan called into the dining room where their guest was, " I hope you left room for dessert."
Gia walked her plate into the kitchen and was promptly shooed out by Alan. "You're a guest here, the boys and I can clean up. Please go sit down."
"Okay, if you're sure."
"Of course I'm sure. I'll be out with the dessert in a moment."
Alan went to the fridge and took out the lemon merignue pie that he got from the bakery.
He stepped out into the dinning room. "I hope you like lemon pie."
She grinned. "Oh yeah definitely. After chocolate silk, lemon is the best."
The two brothers have put the dishes in the dishwasher and are finished cleaning up when Don turned to Charlie and said, "So aside from egging dad on for stories about you as a kid. Your friend seems nice.
"Yeah she is really great," Charlie, observed the looked his brother gave him and said, "What's with the look? Ah! You're getting the wrong idea about us. We're just friends. I will have to admit I had a crush on her when I first met her but that was long ago. And besides I kind of think of her as the sister I always wanted."
"Sister? What an older brother isn't good enough for you?"
"Jealous?"
Don tossed a dishtowel at Charlie's head.
Charlie laughed. "I mean, don't get me wrong, she's beautiful and intelligent but I just don't think of her like that."
"Okay buddy. She seems like a good friend."
"That she is. Come on we better hurry up. No telling what dad is telling her."
Alan served a slice of pie to Gia and cut a slice for the him self and the boys.
"So Gia, what brings you out to the L.A. area?"
"This pie is delicious. Um, I actually was offered a very lucrative position from an auction house. It was too good to pass up. Also, I missed my brother and sister so I headed out west."
Don said, "You sound like you have a huge family."
"Yeah, I do. I have four siblings and a huge extended family. They are a pain but I love 'em anyway. Anyway, it's getting pretty late and I have a full day tomorrow. I'm taking my niece and nephew off my sisters hands for the day and they are a handful." Gia mused.
Alan smiled. "How old are they?"
"Umm let's see. They are turning six in September. They're really good but they have a lot of energy and they are extremely intelligent. They question everything and anything so you have to be on your toes. She smiled, Mr. Eppes, I mean Alan. It was a pleasure to finally get to meet you. It was nice to meet you too, Don."
"You are most certainly are welcome and I hope you'll come back and visit."
Gia smiled and nodded her head in agreement.
Don said, "Yeah it was nice to meet you too."
Charlie walked Gia to the door. "Thanks again for coming over. I hope you had a good time."
"I did, it was really nice to meet your family." She gave him a hug goodbye. "I'll call you next week so we can get together with Giovanni."
"That would be great. " He closed the door behind his friend and went to join his dad and brother for another piece of pie.
Gia sat in her car for a moment. She thought it was really nice meeting Charlie's dad. She recalled how Charlie had talked about him and how Margaret had smiled every time her husband had been mentioned. A small sad smile crossed over lips. What a shame about Margaret. She could tell the Eppes' men missed her a great deal and it was a wound that would never completely heal. Gia's thoughts ended up on Don. 'I can't believe that he was that guy I knocked over. How is that for a twist of fate?' She toyed with the idea of asking him out and thought better of it. 'Why would he go out with me anyway? I am just his brother's friend and I made such a great first impression on him anyway. ' She shuddered at her own clumsiness. She sighed at the predicament. 'Well, I came to LA to escape not to fall in love. Great. Just what I need to be attracted to my friend's brother. Damn!'
She put her car in drive and headed home.
Don walked by the front window and saw Gia sitting in her car. He wondered why she hadn't pulled away yet. He saw her shake her head and wondered what that was about. He watched her pull away and head south. He thought she was a little odd but nice.