Chapter 2

I didn't get much sleep that night. Being kissed silly kind of does that to a person. Gio was falling in-love with me?! When did that start?! I was still feeling a little light-headed. He seemed to always bring out a side of me that I didn't even know was there – usually it was aggression – but lately…

There was a soft knock at my door and Hilda entered, "What was going on down there! —and don't you dare say 'it was nothing' because I know you two were out there ten minutes and most of it, I didn't hear any talking going on!"

My mouth dropped open – I blinked stupidly – "What were you doing? Watching us from the window? Hilda!"

"Tsk, No! I didn't watch, I just had the window open in my room is all." Hilda put her hands on her hips, raising a knowing brow at me, "Now, spill it."

I told her about the day, everything that had to do with me and Gio.

"Is he a good kisser?" Hilda started to laugh, "Like I have to ask—you should see your face right now! You never looked like that after seeing Henry. Just sayin'! Mmm, mmm, what did that boy do to you!"

I groaned into my pillow. I needed help. From a professional. "Many, many things—"

"Right there on the sidewalk!"

"Ew! I'm talking about him confusing me—distracting me—annoying me…" I sighed. "He makes me laugh. He makes me see things differently. I like him…"

"You like him? That's…nice." Hilda looked a little disappointed.

"I'm so confused. One minute, I'm telling him I'm not ready for a serious relationship, and the next, I'm trying to convince him that I really do like him. What is wrong with me?"

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong with you."

"What if I just think I'm getting over Henry and Gio's right and I'm just using him as a distraction?"

"Betty, I think you—"

I scooted off of my bed and went to my dresser to get my little white laptop. I opened it up and started typing.

"What are you going to do? Write? Now?"

"Nope. I…am going to find…ah-hah!" I smiled up at my sister and waved her over to see. "Online quiz. 'Is it a rebound?'"

"You're not going to figure out anything from that! That's just about as bad as making a list of Gio's pros and cons."

I raised my eyebrows. "Hmm, I didn't think about doing that…do you think I should?"

Hilda threw a pillow at me. "No! You don't need a list and you don't need that stupid quiz. You just need to think about how you felt when he was kissing you – and if you liked it, then keep doing that and quit thinking so much. Gio's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

Hilda gave me one of her 'shame on you' mom looks and said goodnight. I still took that quiz though—and it didn't help, just like she said. Totally inconclusive and vague. Well, I wasn't going to figure out anything in one night. I needed to be careful and take my time.

Time. Gio said he'd give me time. Maybe he was right.

So, I went to sleep at last. I knew what to do. I just needed to get past feeling like everything had to be mapped out in front of me; I needed to let go and just be. (Thank you, Gio) And the more I thought about it, especially the next morning as I got ready for work, the more I felt confident in the decision—I would take things slowly with Gio; I would examine my feelings over time and see how it went. Perfectly harmless.

()()()()()()()

I called Gio on my way to work; he was already at his deli and he sounded out of breath.

"Hold on, Betty--Hey! Hang this up for me, okay?"

I heard some rustling and Gio's radio in the background, and then a click.

"Okay—I got it!" Gio called out. The other line hung up and Gio's voice sounded much nearer. "Goooood morning…" I could hear him smiling through the phone.

"Hey! Uh, good morning. Are you busy?" I was confident. I had a plan.

"Why… are you stopping by? I've got some muffins for my Eater, the ones you like so much."

"I hate it when you call me that….the double chocolate?" He had distracted me again.

"And the poppy seed. You want me to bring them up? I could probably break out of here at nine…Betty, I couldn't sleep last night." Gio's voice was like velvet. My heart jumped. "I have something to tell you…two things actually—"

"I have something to tell you too!" I noticed the man next to me on the train leering at me, obviously listening in on my conversation.

"Alright, ladies first…"

Gio's voice caught my attention, but I didn't really want to discuss our relationship in front of the creepy guy. "No, you go…" I switched the cell phone to my other ear, away from the nosey eavesdropper.

"Naw, go ahead,"

"No, no, no, really—please—what is it you want to tell me." I was firm. Confidence!

Gio chuckled into my ear. "Okay, okay! Your way. But only because I am in a really good mood this morning." He paused. "So look, I thought about this a lot. I don't believe in playing it safe! I'm not one of those people who just waits for things to happen. That's not me! So, forget what I said last night. You have persuaded me, Betty. You want to be with me and I want to be with you; it's not complicated."

He sounded so happy! Now, I felt horrible! "Oh gosh…" I whined.

"Yeah..." His voice was soft. There was a short silence while I tried to think of what to tell him… "So what did you want to tell me?"

I stalled, making my way down the aisle to a seat with more privacy. "Uhhh….."

Gio sounded amused, "What? A guy can't change his mind?" He laughed softly. "You were really convincing last night…"

"So were you!" I blurted out. "Gio, uh, I think you were right—what you said about not jumping in and just taking our time…I want to take things slow."

"Ahhhhhh, well, you know, slow can be good…" he said suggestively.

I covered my eyes with my hand, shaking my head. I didn't want to encourage any more remarks out of him by letting him hear me laugh, so my voice was more business-like than it should have been, "Thank you, Gio. Well, I have some calls to make, so…I'll just talk to you later…"

"At nine."

I started to protest; I just wanted to focus on work for a little while before letting him wreck my concentration. "Well—"

"It's just coffee. And muffins."

I guess it would be a nice start to the day… "Okay! See you at nine!" I had a big smile as I got off of the phone. That had gone well overall. Gio hadn't said 'I told you so' for one thing! I was looking forward to a great day ahead of me—Gio was bringing me a treat, then I could focus on work for a while, hopefully the new issue of Hot Flash would be out and I'd see my name in print, maybe grab some lunch with Gio—in the park—it was a beautiful day after all!

()()()()()()()

"He's going to Rome!!"

"Whaaaaat? When? For how long??" Hilda's voice screeched through the receiver. I winced.

"Soon! And for like, a month! What happened to 'this is going to take time' and 'I'm not going anywhere'??" I noticed some muffin crumbs on my blouse and dusted them off.

"Maybe he meant, like, figuratively…"

I sighed heavily. "Well, it must be nice to just go take a whole month off in Italy and go discover yourself! Meanwhile, the rest of us are actually working—I saw my article--Hilda, they totally rewrote it! Four pages of my work, just butchered down to a few paragraphs! I finally get to see my first published article, and it's a mess! They stuck it all the way in the back and I'm squished against the edge of a page about birthday gifts for your grandchildren!"

"Oooooo. Well……… that's okay! Everybody has to start somewhere…I'm sure the next one will be much better."

"If there is a next one! I think I'm going to go talk to Ms. Meade about it."

"What about Gio?"

"I'm meeting him for lunch."

()()()()()()()

I tried to focus on work, but, oddly enough, there really wasn't very much to do aside from a few simple tasks and fielding calls for Daniel. This left me way too much time to think. I kept re-reading my article—the real version. I decided to go have a talk with Ms. Meade and find out what had happened. I expected her to tell me about catch phrases and appealing to readers with style and flare and snappy writing. I didn't expect her to ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I couldn't stop replaying the conversation in my head and whether I liked it or not, she was right. A person in her position had to take some risks to get there—how could I ever expect to run my own magazine and affect people's lives in any significant way if I always played it safe? I hadn't taken many risks in my life.

And look at Gio--he didn't play it safe. He could have taken back his job instead of going into business on his own, but he didn't; he took a risk. And now look at him, he had already moved beyond the kiosk in the lobby to having his own deli. And now he was going to Rome—all according to a plan, turning his dreams into reality, finding his own flare and style. What had I done so far to discover myself as a writer? What big life experiences did I have? Where was I going to get my flare? How deflating! The day just wasn't turning out like I had expected.

()()()()()()()

And then I went to lunch with Gio. When he asked me to go to Rome with him, I almost didn't believe him.

"Are you serious?"

"Very…"

It was like everything had been working together, pushing me towards something, but I hadn't known it. I wondered if I would have said 'Yes' to Gio if Claire Meade hadn't talked to me about taking risks with my life; or everything that Hilda had said about not wasting time; or even meeting Gio in the first place and seeing the way he took charge of his life. I needed to do that!

As Gio and I cut across a corner of Central Park with the two hugest grins on our faces, I felt lighthearted and excited. I was so busy chattering about what I was going to tell my family and ticket costs that I didn't notice we had stopped walking.

"Look, I know you're starving, but this will be worth the wait," Gio checked his watch. "The line usually goes pretty fast."

I saw there were about twenty people ahead of us on the sidewalk in front of a stand with smoke coming off the grill. My stomach growled. "Wow, that smells good! What is that?"

"Do you like Greek? These guys have a plate with grilled chicken—it's not even in the same league as these other chicken guys—they put it over rice with a salad and don't forget the Tzatziki sauce. Mm! I know a guy in Jersey who comes all the way over here for this stuff."

"That does sound good. Is that what you're getting?"

"No. I'm getting a burger. Best grilled hamburgers in New York City! I was making chicken salad all morning…I'm kind of in the mood for something a little beefy. Now, these guys make a great chicken salad—you thought you liked mine? They shake some kind of mystery spices over the top—it's addictive--I still haven't figured out what they put in that…"

I watched Gio as he talked about food – I felt his enthusiasm as he raved about quality ingredients, good portions, and what he hoped to discover in Rome. He was excited; I was excited; both of us throwing out ideas for what to do and see.

"We'll do things on the cheap side…" Gio said, and then he ordered for both of us and got out his wallet.

"Hey, hold on…here," I held out a five dollar bill and change, but Gio shook his head, smiling.

"I got this one. You can get breakfast--our first day in Rome!" Gio impulsively brushed my hair from my shoulder and leaned in to whisper excitedly in my ear. "It's going to be amazing!"

We took our lunch back to the park, found some shade, and sat down to eat. It was a beautiful day to be outside and for a while, neither of us spoke; we just ate our food in a sort of excited silence. Already my mind was popping with ideas for things to experience and then write about. I thought about everything I had ever seen or heard about the city of Rome, most of which was from movies. Romantic visions whirred around in my head, and as the images came into focus, I saw myself there… with Gio. My insides fluttered abruptly. I suddenly felt very self-conscious sitting next to him, this guy, who I had to admit, I didn't really know, at least not really well …and who I was now planning to run off with on a crazy adventure across the world! It definitely felt a little crazy, but somehow, it just felt right.

Gio had finished his burger; he crumpled up his paper plate and napkin and set it beside him on the grass. He leaned against the tree, stretching his legs. "You know, Betty, I always wanted to go to Italy…it's been in the back of my mind lately, like a voice or something, telling me 'it's time.' When I went to get my passport, it still didn't sink in that I was really gonna do it. And I sure never thought I'd be going with you! Well…that's not exactly true. I thought about it." Gio gave me a sideways glance and bumped his shoulder into mine. "I loved the look on your face when I asked you--ha!"

I stopped mid-chew. "Why--what did I look like?" I mumbled through my napkin.

Gio laughed again, his eyebrows raised, amused. "Kind of like that." His eyes focused on something on my face. "Hold still."

He leaned towards me and dabbed my cheek with a napkin. His face was so close for that moment, I could smell the soap and citrus scent that was uniquely his. Suddenly those quick, dark eyes of his looked directly into mine—and I thought, 'he's going to kiss me.' I set my bowl down beside me without looking away and leaned towards him slightly.

"Oh no," Gio groaned.

I blinked stupidly. "What??"

"You need a passport…"

I let out a huge breath and rolled my eyes. What a waste of a moment! I reached up and patted the top of his prickly buzzed head. "Well, I guess it's a good thing Daniel made sure I got one right after I started working at Mode!"

Gio's head started nodding, slowly. "Nice…I love it when a plan comes together. Ooo, and I liked what you were doing to my head—do it again," he ordered. His bossiness made me smile…what was annoying was now becoming…cute? Oh well, I couldn't help it.

I leaned against the tree. "Come here…" I motioned for him to lay his head on my lap, which he was very willing to do, and then I kneaded and scratched and stroked his round, bristly head. He folded his hands across his chest and gave me a spoiled smile before he closed his eyes.

"I could get used to this…" he said.

"Yeah, I bet." I smirked

"You like it too…admit it. You've been dying to put your hands in my hair…"

"What hair? You shaved it all off!"

"I thought you said you liked it!" Gio opened his eyes, raising his brow skeptically.

"Yes, I like it! Now would you be quiet? I'm trying to be nice to you…"

Gio laughed quietly to himself, closing his eyes. "Finally." He was silent a few moments and then he said, "We should go see the Trevi Fountain-- it's a must for couples and lovers. You can throw in a coin and you're guaranteed to return to Rome. How's that for exploratory phase? Just be careful you don't throw two because then we'll have to get married and I know you said you want to take things slow." Gio's dimples made a quick appearance.

He was such a brat, so why was I grinning like an idiot? I wanted to rest my hands somewhere, but I felt a little awkward with where to put them. Without opening his eyes, Gio reached for my right hand and placed it on his chest and held it there. "You should make a list… of things you want to do." He didn't speak for a minute. "The Pantheon…would be… good…"

Gio's breathing was steady and slow--he was drifting off to sleep. I stared at the hand he held over mine and just had to shake my head. I was happy! And this was crazy! Rome? With Gio? Now, just like that?

I was going to stop questioning it. Yes, I was taking a risk, but it felt so good. I took a deep breath and sighed in half-wonder, half-delight.

"Why did you sigh?" Gio's voice startled me. He was looking at me with a lazy, content look in his eyes.

I shrugged my shoulders, smiling, "I don't know."

Gio sat up and scooted around to face me. "Don't know, huh? Well…" He leaned in towards me. "If you were just gonna make a guess, then?"

I laughed. "Um, I guess…because I'm happy?"

"That's what I like to hear," he said, smiling. He gave me a quick kiss on the lips before getting to his feet. "Come on, B, the weekend's not here yet. I gotta get back to work, and you gotta get back so you can talk to Daniel about when we can leave."

I have to say, I may have been a little bit giddy on the walk back to the Meade building. As we walked, we discussed a few details—well, it was more like a discussion between me and myself, with Gio trying to keep up with my pace, and obviously amused.

I chattered about temps and to-do lists, ticket prices and exchange rates. Before I knew it, we were in front of my building.

"Heyyy, not so fast." Gio's fingers caught my elbow, brushing down my arm to grab my hand. He gave my hand a little tug towards him.

I tucked my chin, looking down, smiling and embarrassed that I had been about to run off--but seriously, this was like, the biggest news and I couldn't wait to tell everyone. "Sorry…I guess I'm a little excited."

Gio smiled back at me. And then I had the craziest impulse—I kissed him—and I took him completely by surprise. He responded at first but when I stepped in closer to him and put my hands against his chest, his arms went limp. I opened my eyes, pulling away, wondering what was wrong. His face was devoid of any smile and his eyes penetrated mine. "Not bad, Suarez. Not bad at all."

A slow, satisfied, and slightly evil grin swept over my face. "I guess that makes us even then…"

Gio blinked. "Even? Oh, no, no, no—I don't think so. Better try again." He reached for me.

I backed away, laughing.

"Ahhhh, I knew it! You're one of those!" Gio started shaking his head, his dimples deepening. I turned on my heel and waved as I started walking towards the building; he was still talking. "Oh, and thanks for making me late –-- 'ppreciate ya!" I didn't respond, trying to hold in my laughter. "I'll be working late tonight now, just in case you wanted to know!"

I stopped right in front of the door. It was my turn to give him a smug smile, "Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow at the game, huh?"

"Right."

I giggled. "Or maybe I'll stop by before I go home tonight…"

"Enter at your own risk," he warned. He smiled before turning back down the street.

Now to tell everyone my news!

()()()()()()()