CH 10

Gia scrubbed her face as the warm water rushed over it, she stood under the shower, washing away the tearstains that ran down her cheeks. She woke up with the picture on the bed next to her and had looked at it. She felt silly and stupid for letting herself get that upset. Ever since she was a little girl, it was important to her that she be strong, and would never let herself cry. She would see her mother and never once did she remember seeing her cry, she always thought that strong girls did not cry. So crying over something like Nikolas being upset with her made her feel childish. She got out of the shower feeling refreshed, and quickly got dressed. She had a shoot with Lucky later on, so she went with something simple, so that she could easily change into it after the shoot. She had on a little pink dress with a tropical floral print on it, and she had a pair of camel colored clogs on her feet. She pulled up her braids in a high ponytail and looked at herself in the mirror. To the average eye she looked beautiful, but to Gia’s critical eyes she looked terrible. She sighed and put on a pair of sunglasses and then left for the day.

Lucky set up his camera and looked into the viewfinder to see how the lighting looked against the backdrop it was pointed at. The backdrop was white in the middle, but blended into gray, and then black on the edges. He was set to take black and white pictures and he was eager to see how Gia looked in that setting, beautiful he was sure. “Hey Lucky!” Gia shouted as she rushed to her dressing room. She was a little late; she had stopped by Laura’s office to go over her vision for today’s shoot. “Hey.” Lucky turned around but all he saw was a blur of pink and mocha legs. He shook his head and went back to his camera.

Gia came out of her dressing room feeling a little shy; she had on a tiny pair of white shorts and a very small white spaghetti strap top on. It wasn’t an outfit really; these pictures were to have the elusion of nudity. Her hair was down, in rather tight curly thin braids. Her makeup was fairly light; her eyes were her only features really emphasized, that and her cheeks slightly. Gia was unable to see Lucky’s gawking as she walked up to the set, and by the time she turned around, he had shut his open mouth. Gia smiled at him, as the look on his face was rather odd. “Hi.” She said. “Hey Gia, why don’t you have a seat?” Lucky said. Gia approached the stool that he pointed to. She sat down and frowned. “I don’t like sitting down on stools like this, it makes me look fat.” She said. Lucky looked at her oddly. “Alright well you can just stand then. Why don’t you just do your thing?” Lucky suggested. Gia nodded her head, moved the stool over and began to pose for him. She folded her arms so that she appeared to be nude, she then turned away from the camera and slipped off her top, so that her bare back was revealed, lifting her arm and turning her face to the side slightly, so that from Lucky’s view in the camera, he could see the curve of the side of her breast between her gracefully bent arm. “These are going to be great Gia.” Lucky said. Gia grinned as she picked up her top and put it on. “I know.” She turned around and stared into the camera again, Lucky snapped away all the while.

“Thank you Lucky.” Gia said softly, she walked up to him after getting dressed. Lucky looked up from putting away his equipment. “No problem, we’ll need to have a meeting as soon as I get them developed.” He said. “Yeah I know, just have your mom call me when she’s ready. I’ll see you later.” Gia said turning around. “Are you OK Gia? You seemed a little sad today. Are you still upset about Nikolas?” he asked before she left. “Nikolas? Why would I be upset about Nikolas?” She asked. Lucky laughed slightly. “Come on Gia you guys had a fight yesterday and you went and cried about it in your dressing room. You were upset, you can tell me about it.” He said. “I was not upset about him Lucky, my relationship with Nikolas is complicated but I would never cry over him! Something else was bothering me actually but it’s none of your business, so just drop it alright?” She said defensively. “What happened to you being sorry because you were being a bitch to me?” Lucky smirked. Gia glared at him. “Well I guess reality sunk in or something because this is who I am, so deal with it.” She said. “Hey, calm down OK? Would you want to go out to dinner with me tomorrow night?” He asked. “Uh no. I have a boyfriend Lucky, how many times to I have to tell you that?” Gia said in annoyance. “I just mean that I’m going to be alone this week.” Gia raised her eyebrows. “Big surprise.” She muttered. Lucky shook his head at her attitude. “Look I’m not sure if you know this but I have a girlfriend, she’s just out of town for a couple of weeks. Anyway I know that you still don’t know very many people in town and I thought that maybe we could keep each other company?” Lucky finished. Gia was about to object but stopped herself, he was being so nice. “I have a better idea. I’m moving into my penthouse suite today, why don’t I fix you dinner to sort of break-in the kitchen?” She suggested. “You cook?” Lucky exclaimed. “Do you want to come or not?” She crossed her arms over her chest. Lucky grinned. “Sure Gia, I’ll come over, how does 8:00 sound?” he said. “Sounds good, see you tomorrow.” Gia said before she walked away.

Nikolas glanced up as his brother walked into The Grille, he had been waiting for him for a while, Lucky was late. As he sat there waiting, he had thought of Gia the whole time. The look on her face the day before kept popping into his head. She looked so sad. He tried to not feel bad, he still wanted to be mad at her, but he couldn’t help it, he felt awful. “Hey Nikolas.” Lucky said as he sat down across from him. “Hey Lucky, how was your day?” he asked. “Weird actually.” Lucky said. The waitress came up and took their orders and then left. “Weird? Did something happen at the shoot?” Nik couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Something is kind of bothering me about Gia.” He said. “Oh.” Nik said quickly. “Has she ever said anything to you about being fat?” Lucky asked. Nikolas was becoming interested. It was something that had been bothering him and he was somewhat grateful that his brother brought it up, glad that someone else noticed it. “Yeah she’s on a diet why?” Nik asked. “Well she’s not heavy at all, don’t you think it’s kind of bad that she thinks she’s fat?” Lucky asked. Nik frowned. “I guess.” He shrugged. Lucky knew that Nikolas just didn’t want to admit that he was concerned about her. “You know she also seemed really sad.” Lucky said. “Really?” Nik said with little revealed excitement. “Yeah and she mentioned you.” Lucky lied, kind of. “She did?” Nik said his excitement peaking slightly. “She’s having a housewarming party, you should come.” Lucky said. “Uh no.” Nik shook his head. “I think she wants to talk to you Nikolas. Something’s bothering her and I think it has so do with you. Why don’t you just come with me for a little while and then if things aren’t going good then you can go?” Lucky asked. Nik sighed. “Fine.” He said.