CH 18

Gia did her best to try and change her attitude before she walked into L&B but Ned sensed her poor mood. “Are you sure you’re up for today?” He asked. Gia smiled at him reassuringly. “I’m fine, you know Nikolas is going to be late today so why don’t we just get started without him?” Gia suggested. “You’re right, Nikolas can catch up. OK we are meeting today with one of our new clients, his name is Jamal Woods and he sings mostly R&B music, he’s very talented and he’s a great looking kid, we just need to show the public that, that’s where you come in. Nikolas can handle the business end of this but I want you to come up with some fresh ideas for me about how we can make him a star, can you do that?” Ned asked. “Sounds like fun, where is he?” Gia asked. “He’s sitting in the conference room right now waiting for us, lets go and I’ll introduce you.” Ned said leading her into the conference room. When Ned stepped aside, Gia came face to face with an incredibly attractive young man; he looked to be about her age, maybe a little older. She was instantly captivated by his beautiful blue eyes, they seemed to jump out at her against his skin; witch was a few shades darker then her own. As he stood up to great her, she noticed his nice build as he moved. His clothes were kind of casual, a button up, blue plaid shirt and a pair of loose fitting jeans, but his black leather jacket made him look stylish. She saw the way his eyes flicked over her body, checking her out. “I’m Jamal.” He said smiling at her as he held his hand out to her. “Gia Campbell.” She said smiling back as she took his hand within hers.

Nikolas headed for the conference room of L&B, he figured that Gia would be in there meeting with Ned, as he neared, he could hear her laughter. He walked in to find her sitting next to a man he had never seen before, he must be the new client Ned told him about. Nik was about to greet him by throwing him to the ground when he saw him lean in to tell Gia something that made her laugh even louder, but he realized that would be a mistake. Ned walked up behind Nikolas as he stood in the doorway. “Oh Nikolas, you’re here.” He said patting his shoulder. Nik saw Gia crane her neck and turn her head around to look at him and his heart sank when the smile that was on her face, quickly faded. She looked at him for a moment, their eyes locking and like always it was a very powerful and intense phenomenon, but she soon broke the connection and went back to focusing on the man next to her. “Jamal, this is Nikolas Cassadine, he’ll be helping with the bookings, tour dates, among so many other things. He works hard around here.” Ned said as he and Nik walked towards the table. Jamal stood up to shake his hand and Gia stood up as well. Nikolas looked at Gia the entire time he was shaking hands with Jamal. She wouldn’t look at him though; she looked at everything but, the floor, Jamal, the table, Jamal, anything but him. “OK well you and Gia should probably discus the direction you want to go, so I’m going to go give Jamal here a tour of the studio.” Ned said. He smiled and headed out the door. “See you later Gia.” Jamal said with a smile as he stood in the doorway, Nik felt his anger flare when Gia returned his smile with a dazzling one, he wished was directed at him.

“I think that we should start with building a website, he needs to build a fan base and the Internet is the perfect place for that.” Gia said as she leaned on the table behind her. “Gia.” Nik said stepping closer to her. “What?” She asked with attitude. “Don’t what me, we need to talk about what happened this morning.” Nik said. “What’s to talk about? We’re friends OK Nikolas? Nothing more, you and I could never have a relationship, you’re family is too important to you and I just don’t fit in, I never will so we just won’t work. I know it, you’re uncle knows it and by what you said this morning, you know it too.” Gia said, stepping to move past him. She felt his hand clamp down on her wrist. “Gia, I’m sorry for what I said. I want to be with you, it’s just really complicated right now, please don’t do this. I thought we had something special, don’t give up on us, I want to try and make this work, I don’t know how but I want to try.” Nik said. Gia pulled her hand out of his hold. “We slept together a couple of times Nikolas, it was nice, OK amazing but there needs to be more to a relationship then just sex. There needs to be trust, and honesty, and you can’t give me that. It’s over Nikolas.” Gia said, she turned around and walked out of the room. She left Nik feeling like a truck had just hit him, he stood in the middle of the room and his eyes glazed with tears, he swallowed the lump he felt in his throat. His breathing was becoming heavy at the thought loosing Gia. He fallowed her out of the room, watching her magnificent body move gracefully down the hall from a distance. He saw her disappear into the studio and hurried to catch up with her. He stepping into the room, expecting to be able to talk to her but when he came in, he found that she was talking to both Jamal and Ned. “So I think that’s where we should start.” Gia said. “Great idea Gia, do you know HTML?” He asked. “No.” Gia said shaking her head. “I do.” Nik spoke up. “Great then you guys can work on it together and we’ll see what you can come up with.” Ned said. "OK." Gia said softly, Nik heard the doubt in her voice. Nik let out a long breath; this was good, it meant they’d be working together. “Gia, why don’t you have lunch with Jamal and get to know him a little better, I think that would be a good idea if you want to work together.” Ned suggested. “I would love to have lunch with you Gia, what do you say?” Jamal asked. Gia smiled and looked up at him. “Sure, lets go.” She said. Nik’s chest began to contract as he watched Jamal take Gia’s hand and walk out of the room with her, he wanted desperately to fallow them and pull Gia away from him. “OK Nikolas lets get to work man.” Ned said when they were alone. Nik nodded his head slowly and forced himself to think about work.

Gia sat across from Jamal and was fascinated by him; he was a very interesting person. “So do you know anyone in Port Charles?” Gia asked. “Only my cousin Dara Jensen.” Jamal replied. “Oh that’s nice, my brother… oh my god speak of the devil.” Gia said as she looked up from her table at Kelly’s to see her brother come in. She excused herself and walked over to him. “Gia, why haven’t you called? I’ve been worried about you.” Taggert said. “I’m fine Marcus, Seth and I are with Nikolas, you know that. We’re doing fine.” Gia said. “I know, but you know that I don’t trust that Cassadine kid, please will you just come back and live with me again? I would feel so much better.” Taggert said. “No Marc! I need to be out on my own, I have a job now and I’m hoping to move out of the cottage very soon, please stop worrying about me.” Gia said. “Well it’s good to hear that you’re not planning on staying there much longer, but I will always worry about you Gia.” Marcus said stepping closer and touching her cheek, he was shocked when she didn’t pull away. “I know Marcus.” Gia said wrapping her arms around his neck. Taggert instantly tightened his arms around his sister, finally receiving the hug he had been waiting for, for so long. “Well aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend here?” Taggert asked. Gia smiled. “Jamal, this is my brother Lt. Taggert, Marcus, this is Jamal Woods.” Gia said. “Oh hey you might know my cousin Dara Jensen.” Jamal said. He saw Taggert’s surprised look. “Yeah actually I do, she’s a great woman.” Taggert said, Jamal nodded his head agreeing. Gia noticed her brother’s odd reaction to the mention of this woman’s name; she made a mental note to ask him about her some time. “Well it was nice meeting you Jamal but I need to get my coffee and go back to work, I’ll see you two later.” Taggert said, he smiled when Gia gave him a kiss on the cheek before he walked off. “Gia I want to thank you for having lunch with me, it’s nice to have a friend around. You know I know this is a little forward but I was wondering if you would like to go out some time?” He asked. Gia thought about it, she still had strong feelings for Nikolas but she was not about to pretend they weren’t together for his uncle’s sake, maybe he needed a little bit of a wakeup call anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to let him know he wasn’t the only guy in the world. “I’d like that.” She said smiling at Jamal. He grinned and continued to eat his burger.

Gia walked into the cottage in search for Seth, when she dropped Jamal off at L&B, Ned told her to just go home, and that he and Nikolas and Jamal needed to work on some business things, so she should just leave for the day. “Seth!” She yelled into the house. She smiled as he came walking out of the kitchen with a red lolly-pop in his hand. “Hey girl, what’s up?” He asked giving her a kiss and pulling her over to the couch where he pulled her down to sit next to him. “You know Nikolas will have a fit if he sees you with that.” Gia said. “So.” Seth slurred with his candy in his mouth. “Well it’s a good thing we won’t have to put up with it much longer.” Gia said. Seth pulled the candy out of his mouth and looked at her, his mouth parting slightly to reveal his bright red tongue. “What did I miss?” He asked in confusion. “Umm nothing, hello, Seth you were here this morning when he said what he did to his uncle.” Gia said. “Oh come on, he didn’t mean that, he just said it to get the guy off his back about us.” Seth said. “Well, he barely wanted to tell him we were friends, let alone sleeping together.” Gia said. “Gia, you guys aren’t just sleeping together, you have something special, and don’t even try and tell me you don’t because I won’t buy it. You love him G.” Seth said. Tears began to fall from Gia’s eyes. “I know, but he just can’t be with me. His family won’t let him, and I can’t sit around and wait for him.” Gia said. Seth stroked her hair as she laid her head back on the couch, wiping her tears with the back of her hands. “You guys will figure something out, I know you will.” Seth said reassuringly. “Yeah well in the mean time I’m mad at him, what he did was mean. I won’t let him hurt me again Seth, I won’t.” Gia said. “Yeah he better not or I’ll kill him.” Seth said putting his candy back in his mouth. “Oh you’re just so threatening Seth.” Gia teased. Seth laughed and pulled out his sucker again so he could kiss her lightly on the lips. “Mmm cherry.” Gia laughed. “I have to go.” He said standing up. “Go? But you have the night off.” Gia said. “I’m not working OK? I’ll be back late.” Seth said walking towards the door. “Oh don’t you dare.” Gia said running up behind him and jumping on his back. “Tell me where you’re going.” Gia said pulling the candy out of his mouth. “I have a date.” Seth said pushing her off of his back and easily plucking the sucker from her hand, as she was numb with shock. “A date?” She said, a mile wide grin spreading across her face. “Oh the guy? Oh my god, I have to meet him.” Gia said. “No, Gia please come on, I don’t want you to scare him off.” Seth pleaded. “I won’t, I swear please I want to meet him.” Gia said. “Fine, will you answer the door when he gets here then?” Seth asked. Gia nodded her head and watched him run upstairs to get ready to go. When the doorbell rang and Gia went to the door to get it, she was impressed by what she saw on the other side. She thought of him as a young sailor type, very cute with short blond hair. “Hi is Seth here?” He asked. Gia nodded her head rapidly. “Come on in.” She said stepping aside to let him in. Without any warning Gia suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck. “Oh my god you are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m Gia, Seth’s best friend. Oh it’s so nice to meet you, you smell so good.” Gia was continuing to ramble as Seth came down the stairs dressed in a cream colored sweater and a pair of nice jeans. “I knew I couldn’t trust you.” He said blushing slightly. Gia released Paul from her hold and grinned at him. He smiled back. “It’s nice to meet you Gia but I’m ready to dance so if you don’t mind I’d like to steel your best friend from you for a few hours so he can show me his dance moves.” Paul said with laughter in his voice. Seth went to give Gia a kiss. “Oh my god I’m in love, if you don’t fall in love with this boy, tough cause I’m keeping him.” She said in his ear. He squeezed her in a tight hug before walking away. Gia was shocked when Paul came up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “It was nice meeting you Gia, we’ll bring you back dessert.” He said grinning and waving goodbye before heading out the door. Gia was so happy for Seth, she squealed as she plopped herself down on the couch. “See why can’t my love life be simple like that.” Gia said. As if he had heard her talking about him, Nikolas walked in and shut the door behind him. “We need to talk.” He said.