The Ninth Installment

Georgia and Nick looked remarkably happy. Happy, and definitely more mature: Georgia was sitting in Nick's lap as they ferociously devoured a triple-sized banana split.

It was Georgia who caught sight of Luciano.

Laughing, she looked up and caught his eye, paled, blinked, and looked again. "Nick," she whispered, "look who's here."

"Luciano," Nick breathed.

The Bellezzan boy smiled awkwardly.

Georgia jumped up. "I must be high on sugar, or else I'd be a lot more surprised, but this is amazing! We have so much to catch up on. Now, come and sit with us."

Luciano, slightly phased, did as he was told. "Well, to begin with, what's going on? You two certainly look euphoric."

"We're celebrating," replied Georgia in her crisp accent (Luciano hadn't talked to any Brits in such a long time). "Nicky here just won the national fencing championships, and he's got himself a scholarship to Oxford!" She kissed him squarely.

"Oxford..." mused Luciano, "How long has it been since, you know, we were all in the same place?"

Georgia took a deep breath. "It's been three years. I took a year off to ride in Scotland, so I'm a second-year here at the local University. Nick's still a fresher, but his school was absolutely dismal, and now's he's going all the way to Oxford, where he'll probably meet some brilliant girl and forget all about me."

"Don't forget to breathe, Georgia! It's not such a big deal," Nick chimed in, modestly.

"But there's so much to say..."

Nick coughed. "So, Luciano! How have you been?"

Luciano found himself grinning stupidly. "Well, I'm getting married in a couple of months. The old Duchessa hates me for it, but it doesn't really matter, because everyone thinks she's dead."

"See where we could be, Nicky?"

"See what we couldn't do if I was still a cripple?"

"You have a fair point," Georgia conceded.

Moving on, Luciano inquired, "What have Sky and Alice been up to?"

Georgia's face darkened. "It's been months since I've seen either of them."

Nick took over. "When Sky moved to California, he and Alice decided to correspond by instant messenger and stuff, but it still wasn't enough. Alice got moody and jealous, and started writing him long, romantic letters, so he decided it might be wise to come home for a while and knock some sense into her."

Georgia snorted. "Sense...and a good couple other things, too."

Luciano raised an eyebrow. Nick inhaled deeply and leaned back in the booth, absent-mindedly drumming on the tabletop. "Right," he continued. "So, Sky comes back for his Thanksgiving break, and he and Rosalind are tiptoing circles around each other. It's totally awkward – we were both there, of course, Georgia and I – and no one can say anything. Rosalind obviously wants to know everything about college, and Sky wants to know what he's been missing out on."

Georgia signaled to the waiter that they were finished. Luciano sensed drama coming up, and fixed his eyes on some dust particles being illuminated by a sunbeam.

Nick continued. "Right. So that night, after the painful dinner, Sky decides he can't take it anymore, 'cause he really does miss Alice, and texts her to come on over. She agrees, and Georgia and I thought everything was well and good and made a subtle exit." Here, he interrupted himself. "Er, Georgia, you finish. You tell this part better anyway."

Georgia took up the story. "Alice drives up to the house." She broke off, and explained, "We heard about this the next day, by the way. From both of them." She cleared her throat. "So Alice raps on the door, and Sky comes out, and he kisses her, and it's a perfect, passionate, happy-ending sort of moment. Then, they fumble their way to the garden, and who do they see, but Rosalind and Alice's dad doing it on the stone bench. Alice and her dad were equally furious. Rosalind didn't know what to say. Alice went back to California with Sky, and we haven't seen her since."

Luciano's eyes were as big as saucers. "But...how come...didn't they see each other leave home?"

Nick scoffed. "Alice and her dad weren't on very good terms as it was. He sold her favorite horse, or something."

Shaking his head, Luciano wondered over how times had changed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Georgia and Nick were having similar reactions. After another moment's hesitation, he steered their minds away. "Well, then. Let's change the subject."